Chapter 89: Mass destruction!

"Oh, honey, you’ve been lost in your thoughts for a long time—which means... can you use magic now?"

"...No! I’m just reviewing what I currently know about this world."

"Honey, don’t do boring things. Focus on learning magic. I want us to be able to cast spells the next time we merge."

"If you’re in such a hurry, you can try doing it yourself."

"Ugh... I’ll pass. I don’t want to study. That book you’re holding is way too thick."

"It wouldn’t hurt for you to study and think a little (ㆆ_ㆆ)"

"But honey, I’m thinking too. I’m thinking about advancing the defensive technique to the third stance and turning the first one into an attack technique, though I’m still undecided whether to make the second one a long-range move or a movement technique. What do you think, honey?"

"Just do whatever you think is best."

Well, she’s better than me at this kind of thing, so it’s better if she just does whatever she wants.

"Okay, so it’ll be a ranged attack. Hmm, but what do I do? Throw the axes?.. If I can use the Rage Strike skill, hmm...."

Well, she’s busy with her own stuff too and seems to be really thinking it through, which means she’s taking it seriously, so I don’t have anything to worry about.

I’ll get back to what I was doing.

Although I’ve come to a conclusion: for warriors, combat arts are a fundamental pillar of their strength and provide almost everything they need.

The same isn’t true for magic-based professions or mages.

Breathing techniques—all they do is accumulate mana in what would be the magical nervous system, which only serves to make you stronger and move up in rank.

Only a few high-level breathing techniques had certain effects, such as improving mana flow, increasing movement of this, calming the mind, and providing minor support; and that’s where their functionality ends.

They don’t provide a foundation for actual battles and have nothing equivalent to combat techniques.

But magical professions have something that ensures this shortcoming doesn’t affect them: runes and their ability to cast a wide range of spells.

In this world of professions, magical classes obviously have skills specific to their profession.

A basic example is fire mages, who have skills like Fire Arrow.

Now, since it is a skill, the person who possesses it can use it instantly without really understanding how it works.

But the inhabitants of this world eventually realized that there was something behind those skills; that something was studied, and finally—perhaps with the help of the gods—the existence of runes was confirmed.

A kind of language that, when properly constructed, can recreate skills.

The Fire Arrow, which was once exclusive to fire mages, could be used by other professions that didn’t have it by default.

And so, the abilities of multiple magical professions were broken down, making them something that could be learned and replicated.

Of course, it didn’t always work, since there are abilities so strange and so difficult to break down that it became impossible to extract their runes and recreate how they functioned.

But today, runes are essentially a language—one through which spells can even be created without needing a reference skill—making them the mages’ greatest strength.

Their versatility surpasses that of warriors, although in a head-on battle between opponents of equal rank and profession, the match remains very even.

So, potentially, if I learn the language of runes—and how to use and combine them to recreate phenomena—I can cast any ability or, as they’re now called ’spells’ of any element and profession.

Of course, this involves a process of creating various runes, then combining them into a magical formula to create the spell, and finally, its manifestation.

Because of that, it can take minutes, but mages try to reduce the time to a few seconds—and, from what I’ve read, it can even be simplified to gestures or keywords with enough practice, mastery, and understanding. It all depends on the person and their talent.

It lags a bit behind those who have it as a skill and can cast it instantly, but the versatility makes up for it.

A purely offensive magical profession without defensive abilities will obviously want to learn defensive spells, and the same applies in reverse.

Since Iris and I can merge, I’m personally interested in spells that boost physical strength and enhance abilities—or, as Iris puts it, "buff" spells.

Our last battle taught us that we need a way to attack from a distance. Iris is working on something, but it wouldn’t hurt to learn a few spells like that as well.

Anyway, that’s my understanding of magic and spells after reading that book, *Introduction to Magic*.

"Okay, now I get it."

"So, honey, can you cast any spells yet? Have you learned magic?"

"...No, I haven’t learned anything yet, and I can’t cast anything."

"I see. /_ \"

Iris was really impatient, but this book was just an introduction. It didn’t really contain any information on runes or spells.

I had to buy other books for that; the problem was that there was one book per spell, and the cheapest ones cost 500 Myrr.

There are books that cover an entire branch of magic, but in that case, the cheapest ones cost 30,000 Myrr; however, since there were dozens of spells in those branches, it was more cost-effective.

"Hmm... love, is there a spell you want?"

Well, I think it’s better to save up to buy a whole branch, but until then, I’ll buy at least one to satisfy Iris’s curiosity.

"Oh! One for mass destruction!\(＾▽＾)/"

"￣へ￣... Those kinds of spells are beyond our current budget, and I really don’t know if I’m capable of learning one as a total beginner at this. I mean something more basic, you know, like Fire Arrow, Wind Blade, Water Bullet, or Stone Stake."

"Oh! So basic ones... Hmm, honey, are there any rare elements like infernal fire, poison, gravity, or spatial magic?"

"...Yes, there are, but they’re also out of our budget."

Iris is making this harder than I thought. In fact, there were those elements and things that, as Iris says, are peculiar elements.

But they’re very expensive. The most basic spell of those elements cost 10,000 Myrr, and let’s not even talk about the entire branch. Plus, they didn’t seem easy to learn either.

At least, I don’t think I should start with those.

"Honey, you’re making this hard for me... Okay, I know. I want telekinesis magic."

"...Okay."

Telekinesis magic was among the basic spells, and while it wasn’t one of the expensive ones, it wasn’t one of the cheap ones either. It cost 2,000 Myrr, but it was within budget, so I agreed.

"Hehe! Once you learn it, our repertoire will expand. Huhuehue~! The possibilities are endless!"

"눈_눈"

I wonder if she was seeing this as a way to increase our power—and, by extension, our chances of survival—or if she was thinking of something else.

That perverse laugh of hers made me doubt her intentions.

Well, it doesn’t really matter. In any case, it’s true that it’s useful.

And it’s not a bad place to start.

So I bought it and started learning.

Alright, let’s see if this is really within my capabilities... Hmm. But that aside, shouldn’t she be here?

There’s something that’s been bothering me a little.

We’re more or less at the time Azalea said she’d be back. In fact, based on my understanding of our last meeting, she should have arrived by now.

I wonder if something happened... The best-case scenario is that she’s just busy. After all, she’s a noble.

As for the worst-case scenario...

*****

POV: Third person

******

"(≖_≖)... ~Tsk, shameless."

There was a soft whisper accompanied by a look of contempt, but in this silent room, where the only sound was that of two people typing, it could be heard clearly.

But there was no reaction. Neither the person who said it nor the one it was directed at.

Both continued with what they were doing. The silence lingered for quite a while, until once again...

"(≖_≖)... ~Inmo—"

"Ahem! okey! With this, the funds and personnel have been properly redirected, the margrave won’t cause any trouble for at least half a month, and it’s now been confirmed that that earthquake isn’t the one from the prophecy. "I-I really have to thank you, Silvia. You always make everything easier."

The soft murmur was interrupted, and Azalea—who had finally finished her work—began to speak.

She didn’t hesitate to thank Silvia, who, despite a few ’hiccups’ along the way, had helped her complete it.

"Yes... Just make sure to reflect that gratitude in my bonus, as always."

"Great! I promise I will. It’ll be an especially generous one. Did you see anything you liked? I know you really love clothes and shoes, and that you keep up with the latest trends."

"Yes! I saw some nice shoes at the store. They’re a little expensive, so... (≖_≖), no, that’s not relevant right now, my lady. Now that we’ve finally—and at the cost of hours of sleep—finished a lot of our pending and upcoming work, may I ask what you plan to do?"

Yes, for Silvia, there was something more important than talking about what she would do with her money; itwas something she simply couldn’t put aside.

"Ahem!. Well, I’m just going to take a walk to relax and clear my head, as I usually do from time to time."

Azalea replied calmly, as if to make it clear that she wouldn’t be doing anything out of the ordinary.

"I see, but my recommendation is that you just rest, since you’ve sacrificed a few hours of sleep these past two days."

Silvia, on the other hand, as her trusted maid and assistant, recommended a better option, but Azalea didn’t seem to entirely agree with that.

"No, I don’t really feel tired. Hey! You know, I may not be very strong, but I’m in rank four. I can be perfectly fine without sleeping for a few days. Ahem, anyway, since we’re done, you can go ahead and rest. I’m giving you the rest of the day off."

"(≖_≖)... It’s nice to know you’re giving me a rest. As it happens, I also feel like going for a walk. I think I’ll go with you."

"I-I like to walk alone. Besides, didn’t you want some shoes? Isn’t it better to go? If you take too long, someone else might have snatched them up."

"Ugh... I’d rather walk with you, my lady."

"You’re lying. I can tell by the look on your face that you really want to go get those shoes. You must like them a lot. Besides, like I said, I’d rather be alone."

It seemed they couldn’t agree on this matter, and things appeared to be taking a peculiar turn....