Magic Maker - How to make magic in another world - - Chapter 35

Magic Maker – How to make magic in another world –

Chapter 35    Monster subjugation 3

Rough breath, the sensation of sweat clinging to the skin.

The heartbeat is intense, and the lungs are screaming.

Fatigue is accumulating throughout my body, yet I forcefully moved my legs.

Even my magical energy seems to be running out.

My body feels sluggish, and it doesn’t move as I wish.

But such lamentations won’t change the reality.

“Shion!”

My sister, who is fighting Kobolds a few meters away, shouted.

Without waiting for instructions, I crafted magical energy and immediately unleashed a Line Bolt.

The electric shock released from both hands headed towards several Kobolds.

Upon contact, the creatures screamed, convulsed, and fell to the ground.

I don’t know how many enemies I’ve defeated by now.

This is probably the fifth village.

I’ve taken down over a hundred, of course, most of them were defeated by Dad or Glast.

“Hey!”

“Hmph!”

Dad and Glast, near us, easily defeated the Kobolds.

Dad is faithful to the basics with a one-handed sword.

Glast uses dual short swords.

Both are too powerful, making them seem beyond reference.

My sister is amazing, but these two are on a different level.

Thanks to them, my sister and I could relatively easily handle the Kobolds.

And then, I dropped to one knee.

Oh no, this is bad.

My magical energy is on the verge of depletion.

If I use more, I won’t be able to move.

I’m nearing my mental limit, feeling an impulse not to do anything.

About a minute passed after that.

“Hmm, seems like they’re all wiped out.”

“That’s it after the one earlier? Not much of a challenge.”

Dad and Glast sighed as if it wasn’t enough.

But my sister and I were quite on the edge.

“Haa, haa… Is it over?”

“Seems like it, yeah.”

The two of us fought in constant coordination.

It felt like we were in sync, but it was our first battle.

It was quite awkward, and there were countless challenges.

Still, we achieved quite a bit.

The Kobolds seem to be wiped out from the earlier battle.

I don’t sense any monster presence in the village.

“…I can’t go on… tired.”

“Me too… it’s really, the limit.”

My sister and I sat down on the ground side by side.

My sister practices swordsmanship every day and keeps herself physically fit.

I always run around, so I was confident in my stamina.

But it was clearly not enough.

Dad and Glast weren’t even out of breath, and they seemed to have plenty of energy.

Catching up to those two seems quite challenging.

“But, we’ve learned that we can fight.”

“Yeah, just knowing that makes today’s battle worthwhile.”

“Indeed… but we need to get stronger. Learned a lot of things.”

It seems my sister also found her own challenges.

Practice and actual combat are indeed different.

There’s much more to realize in actual combat.

“Now, let’s gather the Kobold ears and loot. You two, take a rest.”

Dad and the others seemed to be searching for Kobold loot within the village.

Kobolds have a reasonable level of creativity, but not as much as humans. If they possess something valuable, it’s likely stolen goods or resources like minerals.

After striking the enemy’s main base, collecting loot is a fundamental part of post-battle activities. So, Dad and the others are exploring the village.

Since we don’t have the energy to move, we take a break. After resting for a while, our breathing stabilizes, but the weariness doesn’t fade away.

I might not be able to move tomorrow, I think to myself.

While contemplating this, I suddenly raise my head. There was no specific trigger. Somehow, perhaps unconsciously, my attention is drawn to a particular tent.

Standing up, I slowly move toward it.

“Shion, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, but it feels like… something might be there.”

There’s no basis for it, but something seems to be calling out to me.

Come here, it says.

I stagger toward the tent, and as if guided, I enter.

Inside, there are several decorations made of bones and wood. The interior looks somewhat luxurious, and perhaps a Kobold of relatively high status lived here.

Entering the dimly lit interior with my sister, I suddenly notice a specific area illuminated.

I’m drawn toward it, as if guided.

“S-Shion, it’s dark and dangerous!”

Her voice trembles slightly.

There are no monsters here, but apparently, dark places are frightening. My sister grabs onto my arm and cautiously starts moving forward.

I move closer to the light, and when I realize its true nature, I gasp. A humanoid creature in a birdcage. It illuminates its entire body and looks down sadly. Sitting down, its wings, growing on its back, seem to droop.

It has a humanoid shape, resembling a girl, but the eyes and hair color are not human. I’ve seen it once, from a distance.

She’s a “fairy.”

When she notices me, she shivers in fear. Was she captured by the Kobolds?

Approaching unexpectedly, the fairy moves away from us to the other side. That’s when I suddenly notice.

The light she emits doesn’t illuminate the birdcage. Although it’s dimly lit, I can see the surroundings, but her light doesn’t spread to the area.

In other words, it’s a magical light, I intuitively understand.

The fairy is imbued with magic.

Goblins were like that, and the Kobolds we fought until a moment ago were the same.

Magical beings have magic within them.

Well, it’s dangerous to get closer, so I haven’t tested if there’s a magical reaction. More importantly, for now, it’s the fairy.

“W-What is this?”

“I think it’s a fairy.”

“A fairy? Come to think of it, you mentioned something like that before. Different from monsters, right?”

“I wonder. But I don’t think it’s as dangerous as monsters. Probably.”

She’s clearly afraid of us and seems to be a weaker creature. However, she must have gone through something terrifying. She looks quite emaciated, and her body is dirty, although she doesn’t seem to be injured.

“So, what are we going to do? I mean, having a fairy in the shop might be profitable.”

“I’m not really into that.”

Although I, who was once interested in a fairy shop, say this, I have reservations about selling living beings. Especially when they are humanoid. It feels like hypocrisy, and it’s just pitiful.

“How about setting her free?”

“If Shion wants to do that, it’s fine, right?”

My sister smiled a little happily. It seems she had the same idea. I approached the birdcage. The fairy, trembling, created small lights of magic around her mouth. What is that? They appeared and disappeared intermittently, eventually vanishing altogether. Despite my curiosity, I opened the cage. It didn’t require a key and opened easily. Do Kobolds lack such knowledge or dexterity? As I opened the cage, we stepped back. The fairy looked at us, her eyes darting around, creating a small magical light. Staring at me, she hesitantly stood up. Still wary, she moved to the entrance of the cage and cautiously stepped outside. In the next moment, the fairy fluttered her wings and flew up.

“Oh, she can fly after all.”

“…Beautiful.”

Countless particles of light slowly fell to the ground, captivating our eyes with their fantastical display. The fairy seemed delighted to be free, fluttering around above us, but eventually, she stopped in mid-air. Creating magical lights around her mouth, she then flew away. I hope she can safely return home.

“She seems healthier than I thought.”

“Yeah, and it was nice to see a fairy.”

I had a curiosity about what fairies were, but with recent activities like studying magic, discoveries, and helping Glast, my attention hadn’t focused on that aspect. Fairies and monsters – there’s still much to learn about both. Well, that might have to wait a bit longer.

As I pondered these thoughts, Marie let out a small scream. I quickly turned around to see Marie stumbling.

“A-Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”

“N-No, I’m fine. Just a little lightheaded. I think it’s because I’m tired.”

Certainly, both I and my sister were quite fatigued. Despite our training, we were still children. Everything was a new experience, making us even more tired. I approached Marie to lend a hand, but she gently rejected my offer.

“Ngh, I’m okay. I can walk.”

“Okay. As long as you’re fine.”

True to her words, she seemed to walk without any issues. There was no sign of injury, just fatigue. I felt relieved internally and, with Marie, returned to where Dad and Glast were.

○●○

About the way back…

We were clearly moving at a slower pace due to our fatigue. Amidst this, something caught my eye, prompting me to stop.

“What’s wrong, Shion?”

“Dad, there’s a lake over there.”

I pointed, and indeed, there was an ordinary-looking lake in the distance.

“That’s true. Since it’s a forest, it’s not particularly unusual.”

“Do you think there are Trout’s over there?”

“There probably are. Lakes around here usually have them. Is there something you want?”

“Yeah. Can we stop by for a bit? There’s something I want to investigate.”

“That’s fine.”

With Dad’s approval, I headed towards the lake.

It was an ordinary lake with no distinctive features. Moreover, it wasn’t the spawning season for Trout at this time, meaning the trouts wouldn’t be engaging in courtship behavior. This also meant they wouldn’t be producing the magical light associated with it. Not that it mattered much; it was more certain that way.

However, what I wanted to know wasn’t related to that. I stared at the lake. I kept staring. And I continued to gaze intently.

“What’s Shion doing…?”

“I have no idea.”

“It looks like he’s staring at something, though.”

The three of them were watching my actions from behind. I had been gazing at the bottom of the lake for a while, but then I stood up.

“Alright, let’s go.”

“Are you done already?”

“Yeah. I figured out what I wanted to investigate.”

“So, what was it that you wanted to find out in the end?”

In response to my sister’s question, I glanced at the lake.

“I wanted to know if the Trout in this lake possesses magical energy. And I found out. The Trout in this lake doesn’t have magical energy.”

Through the long hours of practicing magic manipulation, I had developed the ability to sense the amount of magical energy in a given target to some extent. Whether it was a Goblin, a Trout, Marie, Rose, or even myself, magical energy circulated throughout the body. By concentrating, I could discern whether something had magical energy or not.

So, I found out. There is no creature in this lake with magical energy.

In other words.

The only Trout with magical energy is the one living in the lake near my home. We should consider that there might be something in that lake. For now, that’s all I know, and that’s enough.

“Alright, let’s go.”

When I said that, the three of them seemed a bit perplexed at first, but they quickly regained their composure. Leaving the lake behind, we returned to Istria.

At the guild, we reported the successful completion of the quest, and then we returned home.

Quest Details: Kobold Extermination

Completion Conditions: Exterminate five or more Kobolds.

Reward: 5,000 Lirem for each five bodies.

Actual Number of Exterminations: One hundred twelve Kobolds.

Total Reward: 112,000 Lirem.