So, training, I headed with Celestial since I said I was gonna do so, still, now that I actually have to put effort I felt zy for some reason, it’s for the better I’d like to believe, given the st couple of pathetic dispy in my fights, more power is always welcomed, plus there’s a few things I do want to learn, so.

  “Let’s go to my mountain, I’d be dangerous here in town”

  “Yeah, good idea, we would level buildings to the ground in here”

  “Ok, then let us go”

  And so Celestial made a portal as she has done several times before.

  “That! See, I wanna learn that”

  Teleportation sounds useful and I tried to do so as I do all my magic but it just didn’t work, I made a portal that was kinda like a mirror, but not really teleported anything, it was weird.

  “Oh! Sure thing, actually maybe the basics of magic could be useful to learn”

  And so I headed with Celestial, her mountain is really pretty and awe inspiring, we’re not inside the carved part but rather outside, at the foot of the mountain, I can see up and recognize that we’re still on the same mountain though.

  “Ok, so, how do you use magic?”

  “I just think of something and it happens, kinda like a woosh! And then wind appears”

  Oddly unspecific, but it’s the truth, even though I don't know how I do things sometimes, I wonder what’s the limit though, I never tested it, I can’t teleport sadly enough. With my expnation, Celestial simply chuckled a little bit.

  “You remind me of a very young me, yeah that seems about right, so let me expin from the beginning”

  “Ok! Let’s hear it”

  “Magic at its core is the use of mana, a form of energy in every living creature, to do or apply a certain action”

  “Right, well it makes sense”

  “There’s two approaches with magic, finesse and power, actually the analogy your mother gave me is the one that helped me understand it better, imagine mana as water”

  “Un!”

  “And using magic, a spell to call it, is pouring that water into a gss”

  “Ok, so far so good”

  “You can skillfully pce the water gently into the gss to fill it, thus completing the spell with finesse”

  “Sounds logical”

  “Or you can dump an ocean on top of it, and fill it that way, that would be the power way, essentially bruteforcing magic”

  “Pff! Ok, well I guess they both accomplish the exact same thing”

  “Yeah, which takes us to the way we both use magic, pretty inefficient but as long as it works”

  “What!? I’d like to believe I’m pretty skillful myself!”

  “Not really, the few times I’ve seen you use magic, there was absolutely no rhyme or reason to how you used your mana, simply shoving it around”

  “That means that if I learn control I would get stronger!?”

  “Correct, but also not necessarily, Hestia taught me the gss of water analogy, because at the end of the day it, the ways of magic serve no difference, the result was the same, a gss of water was filled, mana is like a muscle, it grows the more you use it, and this is true for every living creature, so there’s always ways to increase both, and an increment in either aspect would simply mean that you can cast more spells, although there is a benefit to each individual kind”

  “Oh! And those are? I doubt you’re telling me this if it’s completely pointless”

  “Yeah, better finesse can allow you to cast more complicated and intricate spells, where more power would augment the strength of it, which takes us to the teleportation you wanted to learn”

  “Oh! So you’re telling me I can’t use it because I’m not skilled enough?”

  “Probably, give it a shot and show me”

  “Well, here it goes!”

  I will try, Celestial told me to be skillful at it so instead of doing my haphazard attempts, I simply tried to concentrate to make it as intricate as I could, I mean if it’s a matter of skill, I just have to take my old advice and just ‘git gud’.

  “Aha!”

  It's the same result as st time I tried.

  “Well, almost there, it’s quite incredible for a first attempt”

  Second, but if you say so!

  “It kinda works, I can see on the other side of the portal, but I can’t quite go through it”

  “Well, it depends a lot of on what you visualize, it’s the same as skill, but keep trying, you’ll make do in no time at this point, and regarding finesse, there’s none at all, you’re just kinda shoving mana indiscriminately”

  “Thanks! So it’s not a problem of skill then?”

  “None at all, remember that if you can’t be efficient, you can always fill the gaps with more mana, in this case the spell works as intended, just that the intention and desired result are different”

  “Is that so?”

  “Well, let’s go to the next lecture”

  “So fast!?”

  “Well there’s not much you can do about finesse, it’s a thing that’s different for everyone and only practice will help, same with power”

  “Right, then it was useless then”

  “Not really, you have the basics, fortunately your mana is strong enough that you can practice with functioning spells, this first point is the reason that some can’t learn magic ever, they don’t have enough mana to even attempt spells, so they can never get better by themselves, and it varies from species to species, dwarves have it almost impossible to learn magic, while elves are able to do so since they’re children, a good example given they’re opposites”

  “So elves are skillful and dwarves are strong?”

  “The opposite, elves have strong mana, and dwarves have great skill, but they ck the counterpart, elves have a ton of mana so they can manifest spells and get better, dwarves are skillful, but have so little mana they can’t express it, so they never develop it”

  “I see, this is getting a bit dull though, when are we going to practice?”

  “You really remind me of a younger me, it’s fine, have this, a basic guide your mother gave me eons ago, it has the basics of construct and runes and other stuff”

  Celestial then handed me a book, I looked inside, skimming through and understanding none of it.

  “I can’t read this”

  “Figures, runes are not a nguage, essentially it helps people to visualize the spell but have no real meaning, you can use words and symbols to visualize, simple as that”

  “So I can write anything and it counts as a spell? Like the things Rushka makes?”

  “Those are the visualization of the caster that infuse the spell, the symbols are there to help visualize, but literally anything works”

  “That means that if I write ‘potato’ it can count as a spell?”

  “As long as you visualize it, yes, the runes are used because they mean nothing, and people can visualize them with spells, if someone else reads ‘potato’ they’d think of the vegetable and won’t be able to infuse it”

  “I see! That makes sense, even if it’s completely ridiculous!”

  “This is actually knowledge that is not given until someone can use spells, if not they might never be able to visualize, I tell you this because for you, it boils down to how you visualize magic”

  That means you gave me a book of literal gibberish, oh no, there’s an index I can read, it just says what they do, it’s nonsense then!

  “This is useless!”

  “Yep! To us it is, to normal people, it gives a standard and uniformity, so try to learn that for regur people’s sake”

  “Sigh, are we done with expnations?”

  “Almost, I have put a lot in summary, these are concepts that people have troubles getting their head around, it just came as instinct to us, now to wrap up theory, practice”

  “That’s a contradiction, you’re not helping”

  “Yeah, theory was never my strong suit, that was your Hestia’s, anyways, mana, it doesn’t have to be from you”

  “What?”

  “That’s what catalysts are for, mana crystalized, you can use them instead and not use your own”

  “So that’s the point of the shiny rocks?”

  So essentially magic batteries.

  “Yep, a spell is separated into three categories, a simple spell, one you do with your own mana, a cast, something you do using a catalyst or device, and a third type that goes by different names, but usually called a curse”

  “A curse?”

  “Yep, simple spells work until you stop using it, consuming your mana, casts uses catalysts or devices, and when the device runs out the spell ends, but there’s a way to use the mana of the world itself to cast spells, these are called curses, since they run forever, and are autonomous”

  “Oh wow, if you can do that, then you don’t need mana!”

  “You do, is a construct into reality itself, doing that requires mana, and an absurd amount, so far You've only seen one curse I think”

  “The bck goo?”

  “Yes, the anathema, it’s a curse because it works by itself, and a rather aberrant one since it’s the closest I’ve ever seen of creating life using magic”

  “Sounds cool and disgusting at the same time”

  “It’s a, it’s nothing, you can tell curses when you approach them, from the disturbance in the surroundings”

  “Oh! So that’s what it was!”

  No wonder I could tell the two times I saw them.

  “Then let’s practice finally, genetics have a lot of py in specialities, that just means the things your naturally good at, for your mother it was water and healing spells, so give it a try”

  “Ok? What should I do?”

  “Just make water, I’ll tell you how well you did”

  “Sure! Ocean incoming”

  And so I created a small pond! Pretty good if I do say so myself!

  “Yep, same as Hestia then, it’s the most efficient I’ve seen you be”

  “So natural talents mean I’m better at water magic than everyone else?”

  “Nope, that just means you can learn it faster, remember the end goals are the same for every living creature, and everyone is capable of doing any spell with enough practice, it can be just difficult and take time”

  “I see, so healing and water from mom, and what about dad?”

  I mean, he was legendary and conquered the world for a reason,I’m sure he had some kickass magic.

  “Eh, not specifically...”

  Hmm, that kinda felt like a lie, kinda, maybe like a half truth? It was weird.

  “Celestial, what are you hiding?”

  “It’s nothing, nothing you should worry about”

  The first half was definitely a lie, my senses are back it seems!

  “I want to know! Maybe I’m also good at it, but I won’t know if I don’t try!”

  “It’s nothing that he was naturally good at, he was simply obsessed and gained his skills through a lot of training!”

  “Ok that wasn’t a lie, what was it!?”

  “You want to know that badly? He was a master at weaving and dispelling curses, he tried to make the world his oyster and that’s why he was so obsessed!”

  “Oh, then that means that I could get good at them as well?”

  “Why do you want to do such a thing? You’ll become good at anything you practice constantly”

  “Well, maybe it is genetic! Let me try to combine them, and see the results!”

  And so I shaped earth into a cylinder to hold water, and then I made water inside.

  “Now I shall curse the water!”

  And the water turned a purplish hue.

  “That’s not a curse, you used your own mana, not the world’s”

  “Bu! Then what is this? Just yucky liquid?”

  I was thinking about stagnant water, so I’m guessing that’s what this is?

  “Probably just poison or something nasty?”

  “Maybe it has corrosive properties?”

  I poured it onto the grass but nothing happened.

  “Painted water? I really don’t know”

  “One way to find out!”

  Down the hatchet it goes, it uh, besides the ugly color, it just tastes like normal water.

  “I don’t know, it’s probably just gonna make you sick if you drink it maybe? I don’t feel any different”

  “Your own mana can’t harm you, so even if it was poison, it probably would do nothing to you”

  “Hmm, I would have to keep testing it then”

  It’s like everything that’s been going around tely, stagnant, not moving, stuck in the same pce, for being good with water I sure as hell can’t make things flow, same with a power increase since I’m gonna have to grind it, it seems, and the same with the war, stuck in pce, I really need to think of something and-

  “Oh!”

  “...Marisa, why the devious grin?”

  I couldn’t help but think of something, something so vile and stupid it’s gonna turn the tides, but I need to prepare a couple of things!

  “Celestial, I have a pn to put an end to the war~”

  “Oh really? let’s hear it”

  “Well~”

  There’s no one else in the mountain to hear my pns, so this is perfect! I proceeded to tell my pns to Celestial, with luxury of detail, to which she looked at me with both disgust and amazement in her face.

  “That’s mean, are you sure that would work?”

  “Maybe, it makes a couple of assumptions, so experimentation is in order but, if it works, we can minimize casualties to hopefully negligible for both sides!”

  “Hmm...”

  “Pretty please! I’m gonna need your help!”

  “More like the little dwarf’s, we’re gonna have to build two ptforms, and the cost in catalysts would be ludicrous”

  “Can’t we substitute them?”

  “Maybe, you’d need us on different sides to power them then, I would work one, and you the other, I’ll teach you this ter then”

  “Ok, sounds like a pn!”

  “Almost, you’re missing things yet”

  “It’s fine, I know just the girl that can help me, now to negotiate with her, and finally the guild!”

  “That one will only work using money”

  “Such is life, let us go back, get things ready!”

  Shit training as I did nothing, maybe another day but it did help me somewhat to think, for now I headed towards the pace and looked for Heather, so we can go negotiate with the guild.

  “I’ll meet you girls in the guild in about an hour, I have something else to do beforehand”

  “Yes milord”

  “Of course Marisa”

  And like that, I headed back to that run down orphanage. I knocked properly on the door this time. They seemed to have fixed it, good for them.

  “Yoh~”

  The lizard girl looked dumbfounded to see me again, but I didn’t let her sm the door in my face, so I let myself in.

  “Hey, I know you can’t speak but just move your head to affirm or negate what I ask ok? That means yes or no questions”

  The girl looked at me and just nodded in agreement.

  “Great, why do you steal money? Is it for the kids at the orphanage?”

  The girl nodded once again.

  “Then how about working for me? Would you like that?”

  And then she said no.

  “I’ll pay handsomely~”

  I put a bag of money that was way bigger than what she stole yesterday, this isn’t any small amount of money, turns out the piggy was hoarding funds so we’re not that hurt in money as I thought, still saving as much is a priority but this is important, the budget in bankruptcy, but we’re not rich either.

  The girl's eyes shone at the sight of money, but then looked at me worried about the job.

  “Worried? You should be it’s a dangerous job, but as you can see it’s pretty well paid~”

  She’s just looking at me.

  “Will you accept?”

  Rejecting an amount of money you could probably never earn in your life it’s a hard thing to do huh? I understand, I really do but this is a once in a lifetime chance for her, more so since she’s obviously hurt for money. In the end she agreed to my offer by a reluctant nod.

  “Great, I’ll tell you the pn ter, come to the pace in the afternoon, and to show you my gratitude for listening, have a part right now to see I’m serious”

  It’s about ten percent of the payment, but it’s free money. Whether she comes to pick the rest, it’s up to her.

  “I hope I see you there”

  And then I left for the guild.

  ...

  …

  “Phew it’s been a while since I was in the guild”

  “It has been hasn’t it?”

  I entered and as the previous time, everyone looked at me, I picked attention everywhere I went but this one is particur in the sense they look at me like a child, but everyone stopped looking when Celestial entered as well. I forget just how imposing she can be, it seems it’s an instinct for adventurers to tell when someone is powerful, even if it’s not animalistic like mine, since they feel unfazed by my presence.

  “Marisa right, please come here”

  Eh? The receptionist is calling me, did she finally realize my greatness?

  “Can I borrow your guild card for a bit?”

  “Hmm? Sure”

  I handed it to her and then she did something then gave my card back.

  “What!?”

  “You’ve been demoted for inactivity and failing the only mission that you shouldn’t took to begin with”

  I look at the card where there’s only one bronze star left.

  “Heather”

  “Y-yes?”

  “Change of pns, I’m burning this pce to the ground!”

  “Marisa please don’t...”

  “I don’t get it Heather, why do you put up with this child?”

  “You little-“

  “That’s enough”

  The guild master came by to scold the receptionist! serves her right for treating me like a kid!

  “What can we help you with today, miss?”

  “At least the guild master have manners, I think it’s better to speak in private”

  Since everyone is looking at us and all that.

  “You’re right, please come to my office, you too Delia”

  So the receptionist's name was Delia, that’s news for me.

  Anyways we went to the guild master conference room, since it doesn’t really look like an office.

  “First up, let me congratute you for receiving the title of town lord”

  “Oh~ how did you find out old man?”

  “You don’t get to be my age without a few tricks up your sleeve”

  “Wait! Celestial is the new town lord?”

  “No Delia, Marisa is”

  The receptionist looked at me, so I couldn’t help but grin with extreme malice. I shall make my smug smile a part of my brand. It seems she’s self conscious about how she treated me, repent!

  “Anyways, I’ll cut to the point old man, I want to hire adventurers”

  “It’s always a pleasure to do business with the local government, but if I may be so bold to ask, why would you need adventurers? Between you and Celestial I doubt there’s anyone that wouldn’t be a hindrance in a fight when you’re there”

  “I know, but I need troops”

  “As in like soldiers?”

  “Yeah, I’ll raze the empire if I could but that would only bring more problems than what the empire is worth”

  “I see, I can see that but the guild is an international association, we can’t ally in wars”

  “I pay handsomely~”

  “It’s not a matter of money, the guild has it strictly forbidden to help in invasions”

  “Tch... ah! You said invasion?”

  “Yes”

  “Then how about national security? We’re not invading, just defending ourselves”

  “That can work due to technicality but having a paid defense like that will be expensive and impractical, since you’d have to pay a lot of money constantly”

  “I see, no I need it only like maybe a couple of times tops, what do you say?”

  “I say you’re probably going to do something stupid, but fine, we will not turn down a request from the town lord for no reason, still, understand that all we can do is defend and nothing more, are we clear?”

  “That’s all I want”

  “Then how many people do you need?”

  “How many people can you get me?”

  “I’ll put the request, just tell Delia here the specifics”

  “Great, but it’ll have to wait, I’ll tell you with 24 hours in advance when it happens”

  “That’s a tough time frame, I doubt you’ll find many strong adventurers in time willing to participate”

  “That’s fine, I’m an adventurer after all~”

  “You’re gonna join us?”

  “Of course, I’ll camoufge of course, if I destroy a city that would be eye catching, if an adventurer is with other adventurers on a mission it’s a mundane thing no?”

  “Right, well I don’t need to tell you this but if you pose as the request taker as well you can’t fight at that time to gain territory or you’ll be expelled from the guild for breaking the rules”

  “She just demoted me, I have very little interest in this pce to be honest, if I wasn’t so nice I would have destroyed this pce already!”

  “Ahem... it’s fine I’ll restore your rank as the guild official, but don’t do anything harmful to the guild please”

  “Thanks, I knew you were reasonable, let’s go Heather, Celestial”

  I feel a bit bad for Heather, having to go around without a leg. Maybe I shouldn’t push her that much as my assistant. I’m gd she’s so loyal but... maybe Rushka will do something about it ter.

  Anyways, for now we sit down, let’s get our cards ready. I told them that for now before we move into action there’s a stalemate, so nothing moves. I made a point to be loud enough to be heard so the spies realize this.

  Meanwhile at night, the mute lizard girl came as promised.

  She was stopped by the pace guards, but I told them she could come inside.

  I then made her follow me to my room, to my surprise when I opened the door I saw Heather in lingerie, so in a fraction of a second before this other girl could see anything I smmed the door shut.

  “Maybe not here! Let’s go talk in the next room ok!?”

  I said very loudly so Heather could hear me. I’m really sorry for her, I’m actually really looking forward to it but! Hnng!! So frustrating.

  Anyways, I told her to sit down in the room next door, but honestly the image of Heather in lingerie is all I can think of right now!

  “Sorry to call you so abruptly by the way, but it’s an important job”

  Don’t! junior! Now it’s not the time!

  “I...”

  Looking at this girl isn’t helping either! Her clothes are a bit tight accentuating her modest curves even if they're a bit tattered! And her face is so pretty!

  “I want you to work as my concubine!”

  ...

  No stupid! That’s not it! She’s just looking at me, very dumbfounded, after realizing what my words mean she made a bashful expression as she covered her body with her arms!

  Ghh...

  “Sorry! That’s not what I meant! It’s just...”

  Ah, how do I expin myself now!!

  “It’s just you’re really pretty and- no! Wait no! I mean you ARE pretty, but that’s not the reason I called you!”

  Dammit my horny self, maybe ter, not right now, there’s a time and a pce said the tree person!

  “I just gave the worst impression possible, haven't I?”

  She just nodded with a smile on her face.

  ...

  “...wait here a minute”

  I got up, stiff as a rock, went to the bath, washed my face with water, spped myself with both my hands a bit, and then went back with the girl.

  Only to find her undressing...

  “W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?”

  She just smiled at me again. This is a trap! I know that but even so the tent I’m pitching is making my intentions more than obvious!!

  To my remark, she, now in her underwear, chuckled a bit, and then made a gesture, like writing in midair. Right! If she can read and write then communication is possible!

  “One sec”

  I ran to my room to fetch paper and a pen, Heather was fully dressed by then.

  “Did you bring someone over?”

  “Yeah, sorry I’ll get to you ter, for now I need a pen and paper”

  “M-Marisa, that...”

  “Ugh!!.... I know it’s your fault for making me like this! You know how awkward it feels to try to negotiate like this!”

  “Sorry, maybe I can-“

  “Don’t! We’ll get to that when we get to that, for now sit tight and wait please”

  Heather just ughed a bit.

  “Good luck~ I’ll be waiting~”

  Ugh...

  ...

  ...

  “I’m back”

  Handing her the paper and pen over, I intervened before she could write anything.

  “Before anything, what’s your name? We haven’t introduced yet”

  To which she responded by writing.

  -Lassie-

  Like the dog!? Don’t make mean remarks, me. People have weird names around here!

  “Lassie, I’m Marisa, a pleasure to meet you”

  -the pleasure is mine-

  “Then let’s get to the point, how good are you at hiding?”

  Lassie looks confused, I know we were going over the concubine thing, but national security is a priority.

  -I’m pretty confident in hiding my presence-

  “Great, actually~”

  Just in case someone is listening, I proceeded to write in the paper as well.

  _for how long can you hide yourself_

  “I want to py a prank on Heather see~”

  Obviously what I say and write doesn’t match at all, but that’s the pn, she just looks dumbfounded.

  _there might be people hearing us_

  As if immediately catching my intentions, she wrote.

  -a couple of hours tops-

  “Hmm... do you have any ideas? I was thinking on putting a bug on her clothes or something~”

  _I want you to enter enemy’s barracks and pce something in them_

  -are you crazy!?-

  She looks more shocked than what the paper conveys.

  “Hmm... then how about swapping the salt and sugar in her house? She still goes there from time to time”

  _dead serious, someone will overlook the operation and teleport you out if things go wrong_

  She’s obviously struggling, maybe the amount of money is not enough? But I really need her to take this job for me! Anything to keep me and Celestial out of the enemy’s mind!

  -I don’t know-

  “Hmm...”

  _what can I do so you take the offer?_

  She’s thinking... but ultimately she just wrote on the paper.

  -fine, but I have a proposal instead of the money-

  Eh? Now I worry a bit but.

  “State your price, it will be fun!~”

  -I want the government to take support of the orphanages back! If you can keep them running properly then I’ll help you!-

  “That’s all? You got a deal”

  I stopped the writing since the conversations aligned. But now I’m back to write a final message.

  _I’d need more info that that, but you got a deal for now, let’s talk the details in your orphanage next time_

  It’s odd to have her come and go like this, but my boner is killing me, so I’m gonna go drill Heather now!

  “Thanks for coming by, I shall drop by your pce tomorrow~”

  And yes, I will py a prank on Heather to make her invitation align~

  Joanne_carper