Published at 25th of March 2019 9:39 pm

Chapter 32: Guilty Feelings and Ancient Magic

After returning with Yae to 「The Silver Moon」, I returned to my room to try something. I was able to enchant the app with magic. Are there other things I can do?

For instance, can it view faraway places using “Long Sense”? If I were to give that to the camera application.

「Enchant: Long Sense」

I tried to use it. I opened the camera app and looked at what was displayed on the screen. Using 「Long Sense」, I directed the image forward out of the room. It went through the wall of the next room, the room after that was Lindsey’s room. It was empty, apparently Lindsey was out. Oh yeah, She and Elsie went shopping. I then looked at the screen into Lindsey’s room as well. It was a strange feeling. The image in my head and the image on my smartphone divided between each eye. The real eye’s view and the “long sense” view. With that, I pushed the shutter button … and took a photo. Success. It took a picture of Lindsey’s room. I can use this for long distance photographing. I could also take pictures of the inside of a sealed room. I could most likely take videos the same way, probably. Oh, I heard a door open and looked up, Lindsey was inside the room. Ah, she came home. Did Elsie come home too? While thinking of that, Lindsey removed her coat and began to unbutton her blouse. Her pure white skin comes into view and dazzles my eyes. Woah!? Crap! I wasn’t paying attention but, without a doubt this is just peeping! I panicked and released “long sense” That was dangerous… A little more and I would have been able to see… huh? …almost… …? No! No no! If that were to be exposed, then I’d lose the trust I’d built. It would be nearly impossible to regain that trust. I am not wrong in my judgment! Or should be. No, even if I had watched it wouldn’t have been exposed… I think… ku.

「Touya-san. Is it ok?」 「Ha, Yes!? Wh-what is it!?」

I jumped at the sound of the door at the girl that I had just been looking upon moments ago. I hurriedly concealed my smartphone against my chest. The door opened shortly and Lindsey’s face peered inside.

「…? What’s wrong?」 「No!? Nothing’s wrong at all! Di-didn’t nyu need me for something?」

I bit my tongue. Calm yourself!

「… Today, I found this at an antique shop and bought it but… 」

Lindsey presented me something like a scroll. It was rolled up inside a wooden cylinder. When I saw the contents I couldn’t tell what was written on it.

「This is?」 「It’s probably a magic scroll. But because it’s written in ancient magic language, I can only read part of it… 」

I see. So that’s why me? I immediately took a glass from the table, a silver coin from my wallet, and used modeling to make some glasses. When the glasses were finished, I 「Enchanted」 them with 「Reading」 and completed the translation glasses. They’re different than the ones I gave to Charlotte though, she had ancient language of the spirits and these have ancient magic language. I didn’t have a clue as to how they were any different. I handed her the completed glasses. Lindsey wore them when she took them, they made her look like a book girl and they looked nice on her. This kind of Lindsey is cute too. The woman wearing glasses opened the magic scroll and looked at it.

「… ! This is amazing! I had heard about them but, I can read it without pausing.」

Lindsey scrolled down the page in and said in an astonished voice.

「What does it say?」 「It’s a single ancient magic. It looks like it’s a water attribute magic… Bubble bomb… It’s an attack magic.」

Lindsey groaned while reading the scroll. Apparently it was a great help. It didn’t really help with the guilt from peeping however, but I think it was a little compensation. Lindsey said she wanted to try it out immediately but there wasn’t any time after this and I would be her partner tomorrow as well, she gave up on today. As soon as Lindsey left the room, I immediately erased the photo of the inside of her bedroom. It wasn’t really destruction of the evidence. I just don’t want the title of “Peeping Tom jerk”. But it’s that isn’t it… [Aport] for theft… 「Long Sense」 for peeping… 「Gate」 for burglary. With the camera app and 「Long Sense」 combined for peeping photos… I think my criminal skill set is rapidly increasing… I swore in my heart to refrain from suspicious action.

The next day, I went the Eastern Forest with Lindsey. It was easy to get to with “Gate” and we went to an appropriately deserted looking spot. We won’t be using fire attribute magic because of the risk of forest fire of course. After arriving at an open place, Lindsey took out the scroll from yesterday. She read the scroll several times wearing the translation glasses, using a silver wand she began to concentrate magic.

“Come forth Water, Impact the surface, Bubble bomb”

A small mass of water swelled around Lindsey’s wand but it fell to the ground. It was probably a failure. She concentrated magic once more and repeated it

“Come forth Water, Impact the surface, Bubble bomb”

Several balls of water appeared around the wand, and in the same way they simply fell to the ground. Another failure huh? Well, with ancient magic, it’s not something you can learn very quickly. Lindsey read the scroll again and tried again. And then failed again. Although she tried many time after that, all she could do was gather water in small balls only to have them fall to the ground again. A succession of errors. After her 10th attempt she accidently staggers and catches herself on her knee. I rush up to catcher in a panic.

“Lindsey! Are you alright?” “I- I’m alright. I just ran out of magic…If I rest for a little while… it will recover… ”

Lindsey answers absent mindedly; there was no strength in her response. This is what it looks like when you’ve run out of magic? We can’t leave it like this.

“… Ah… ! To- Touya-san… !?”

As her consciousness faded I opened “Gate”. Did Lindsey, in my arms, hurt anywhere, was she sore? She was a little red in the face but she’ll just have to bear it for a little while. I entered 「The Silver Moon」 from the backyard and went up the stairs and opened Lindsey’s room door. There I laid her on the bed in the corner so she could sleep. Her face is still red but she should be alright? I measured her temperature with my hand on her forehead.

“… Ha, Hauu… !” “There isn’t any fever. Wait a bit, I’ll call Elsie right now.”

I called Elsie over and she removed Lindsey’s equipment. I who shouldn’t even be touching the body so I couldn’t remove the equipment. I left the rest to Elsie and left Lindsey’s room. To practice until your magic ran out. Whether its diligence or for dear life. Whether it’s Charlotte or another wizard, are there a lot of people with this kid of straight character? Mostly just single-minded though.

The next day, Lindsey was complete recovered. Magic recovery typically takes about a day to completely recover.

“… Yesterday, I’m sorry to have caused you trouble!”

Although that happened yesterday Lindsey humbly apologized, I don’t think there is anything she needs to apologize for? The following day we went back out to the forest, and did the same thing again. Lindsey failed and tried again, failed and tried again. I kept watch over he the entire time. After her 9th attempt, I made Lindsey take a rest…

「You need to rest a little while, Lindsey」 「… Ok」

I brought over a flask that had some tea and handed it to Lindsey.

「Do you think you’re starting to understand it?」 「… No, not at all. All magic controlled by the knowledge of that magic, because it has a big effect, because I haven’t seen it it’s quite difficult… 」

I see. Regardless of the magic, unless you’ve actually seen the magic you can’t get a clear picture of it. After about a 1 hour break, the magic hadn’t really recovered, after only failing twice Lindsey was tottering around.

The day after that and the day after that. Every day practicing for only an hour, Lindsey’s magic runs out and she has to take a long rest. Honestly, I don’t think it’s very efficient.

「Even still, you’re really trying Lindsey. Even after you’ve failed so many times you’re still trying.」 「I, it’s because I’m clumsy… after I repeat the same thing many times… I’ll finally remember the magic. It’s how I’ve always done it. So, this isn’t that big of a deal.」

Lindsey said with a laugh. She’s strong, this girl. The power of concentration. It’s important to understand that it’s important not to give up and that it will help you grow. But, it’s certainly true that it’s still inefficient. To practice this many more times… Well… Why don’t we go ask Charlotte? She is the countries #1 wizard after all. Before she ran out of magic, I stopped the practice and returned to hotel with Lindsey and took Yumina through the “Gate” to the castle to see Charlotte. Without Yumina it would have been difficult to walk around in the castle… We would have been completely suspicious people… Charlotte was in the castle’s research tower but she had heavy bags under her eyes. Apparently she hadn’t been getting much rest. Even still she decided to listen to us, although she asked for something in return. At a later date, I needed to help Charlotte with her research…

The next day, I went with Lindsey back out to the Eastern Forest. She practiced the same as always, and had repeated failures. Just before she exhausted her magic, Lindsey voluntarily ended the practice. Now it’s my turn.

「Lindsey, come here」 「? … what is it?」

I grasped Lindsey with both hands and hugged her tightly.

「Fu, fua!? What are you doing!?」 「Calm down. Relax.」 「Relax!?」 「Ah-… release the tension in your body」

In a panic Lindsey relaxed her body and I concentrated magic into Lindsey and used the technique that Charlotte had shown me. Both of my hands glowed faintly.

「Transfer」 「Eh!?」

From my hands shifted the glow to Lindsey’s body, and Lindsey received it surprised and raised her voice. Apparently it worked.

「The magic… it recovered. No way… in an instant?」

The no-attribute magic “Transfer” transfers one’s own magic to another person. Apparently Charlotte’s master taught her this magic and she had used it on several other people. Use magic until she was ready to fall over then get recovered, use magic until she was ready to fall over then get recovered. What a demon, that person. But here I was, doing the exact same thing to Lindsey. Although it wasn’t forced the way Charlotte’s master did it. I recovered her consciousness for the first time, however the amount of magic transferred to Lindsey isn’t nearly the amount required to maintain Kohaku’s existence. In other words it was in the range of natural recovery. Lindsey’s magic amount was in no ways small. Just how much is it, my magic quantity…? Anyways, with this Lindsey could continue training without worrying about running out of magic, and could continue practicing it.

「Come forth Water, Impact the surface, Bubble bomb」

After that, for hours on end, Lindsey kept practicing that magic. She had amazing concentration. However, even if her magic level is fine her physical strength won’t hold out. For the moment lets rest.

「It’s hard after all… I just can’t seem to get the outline of the spell…」 「I see… 」

It’s difficult after all. Ancient magic that is. Well, there isn’t anyone that practices that magic anymore so there aren’t any examples of it. If you aren’t able to form your own image you won’t really be able to get very far.

「… If I at least knew what Bubble Bomb meant… 」 「… … … … What?」

Lindsey admitted aloud while sighing. Eh? What do you mean?

「The meaning of bubble bomb?」 「? Yes. The name of a particular magic has significance. For example “Fire storm” has “fire” or flame… 」 「Wait wait wait wait, janakute」

Huh? English … and the like aren’t translated? Not the meaning but rather the reading of the words are transmitted directly? I borrowed the scroll from Lindsey… and read it with 「Reading」… it reads “bubble bomb” in katakana. I see, so that’s how it is… Which means they don’t even understand the meaning of the word 「fireball」. 「Fireball」「Fire arrow」「Fire storm」 etcetera have “Fire” (ファイア) or fire (火) which at least they seem to understand but. Eh? Then everyone has been screaming words for magic that they don’t even understand? What a strange story… I don’t get it. Didn’t other people use English words? Ice (アイス)= ice(氷), that’s for certain. Dear God, the translation function is strange. Bubble and bomb are the only strange ones? Neither of them are really used in every day conversations…

「? What’s wrong?」 「Ah, well… “bubble” means bubble (泡) and “bomb” means bomb (爆弾,bakudan).」 「Bomb?」 「Ah- it’s something that explodes, I guess. It’s like the “explosion” magic that you use.」

After I finished explaining to Lindsey who remained silent in thought, she lifted her head, and set her wand up and began to use her magic again.

「Come forth Water, Impact the surface, Bubble bomb」

A single mass of water surrounds the wand… no, ball like soap bubbles begin to drift away from it lightly. The ball was about 20cm in diameter. It appeared that Lindsey could move them at will, as well as drift freely in the air, after a while she threw one of the balls at a tree. In an instant, there was an extraordinary impact explosion and the tree was blown to pieces. We stared at the carnage, dumbfounded for a moment, then Lindsey muttered.

「… I did it… 」

This ancient magic 「bubble bomb」 huh? What unbelievable power… Lindsey practiced bubble bomb one more time. This time she made 6 more bubbles at the same time then she sent them toward the trees, when the first bubble hit the tree all the bubbles exploded in a chain reaction and the trees were blown away. What unthinkable power… Then Lindsey turned toward me and bowed her head.

「Touya-san, thanks to you I was able to complete this. Thank you」 「No, it was thanks to your own efforts which you stood true to. I only helped a little.」

It’s embarrassing to be thanked again. When I think about how she kept challenging herself over and over again I realized how amazing Lindsey is. For one to be so hardworking, she’s really growing up steadily. This is that girl’s essence. I’m glad I got to know a new side of Lindsey. Thinking that I opened the gate back to 「The Silver Moon」.

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