The Strongest Wizard Becomes a Countryside Guardsman After Taking an Arrow to the Knee

Chapter 82 – Collette and Millet’s Decision

The next day after Vi-Vi drew all the magic circles.

I was at my guard post, and Collette came up to me.

「Old man!」

「What is it, Collette?」

Collette approached with a serious look on her face.

Femm was sleeping next to me, but its ears suddenly pricked up.

On the other hand, Moofy and Shiggy happily looked on.

「Moo moo」「ryaa」

Moofy dipped her head and rubbed it into Collette.

Shiggy was bouncing around on top of Moofy, but jumped down onto Collette’s shoulder.

「Moofy and Sthiggy, sthop bothering me!」

「Moo?」「ryaaa」

Moofy looked confused.

Shiggy didn’t move. It just flapped its wings and burrowed its head into Collette’s hair.

「Sthiggy, sthop it!」

「ryaa ryaaa」

I picked up Shiggy from her shoulders, as Shiggy cried out, a bit confused.

I petted Shiggy’s wings in order to calm it down.

「There there.」

「ryaa」

Shiggy calmed down. It closed its eyes and looked pleased.

「Okay, Collette. What is it?」

「Old man! Teach me magic!」

It was an unexpected question, so I was a bit lost.

Also, I had never taught magic to anyone before.

「Why do you want to learn magic?」

「Cause it’sth stho cool!」

「I see.」

「And it makesth thingsth stho easy!」

Well, magic is cool and it does make things easy. Simple to see why a kid would like it.

I started learning magic when I was five. An old wizard in town taught me.

The old man used to be one hell of an adventurer too, and he taught me all the basic magic I needed to know.

He died just before I became old enough to strike out as an adventurer.

「Hm…I wonder…」

「…you won’t?!」

Collette looked taken aback.

Well, I was taught by an old wizard, I guess it was my turn to teach someone else.

However, I couldn’t just teach her without permission.

「If Millet says it’s okay, then I will.」

I had to get permission from her guardian.

Collette’s face lit up with glee.

「Okay! I’ll asthk her!」

Collette turned and ran off.

I watched her run, while Femm said,

『Are you going to teach her?』

「Well, I guess I could…a little.」

「Wuff」

After a bit, Collette came back. She was with Millet and Vi-Vi.

Millet walked up to me quickly.

Was she angry at me? She might be rushing to tell me not to teach Collette such things.

Ever since I learned magic and became an adventurer, my life was enveloped in danger.

That’s why many parents forbid their children from learning magic.

「Mister Al!」

「H…hey. I guess you don’t want me to teach her, right?」

「ryaa ryaa」「Moo Mooo」

Shiggy and Moofy also happily reacted to Millet arriving.

Moofy stuck her head between Millet’s thighs.

Then Shiggy flew straight into Millet’s chest and nestled its beak between her breasts.

「Moofy! Stop…Shiggy!」

「Mooo!」「ryaaa」

Now Femm got up and started to prowl a bit.

If I let Femm be, Femm would probably jump on Millet too.

「Shiggy! Stop bothering her. Moofy too. Stop messing with Millet!」

「ryaa?」「Moo?」

I plucked Shiggy out of Millet’s cleavage. Vi-Vi led Moofy away from Millet.

「Okay, again, Millet, you don’t want me to teach Collette?」

「No, that’s fine. But I want you to teach me too.」

「Whaa…」

More unexpected words.

「Won’t you?」

「No…I mean, I can…how old are you again?」

「I’m 15.」

I was told that you had to start teaching a disciple magic from a very early age.

I think that 15 is a pretty late age to start teaching someone magic.

But it’s not so old that you could just refuse someone.

I thought about it, but then Vi-Vi said bluntly,

「15 is too old for magic.」

「Vi-Vi, why do you say that?」

Vi-Vi said it so bluntly that Millet was a bit shocked.

Vi-Vi meant that 15 was too old of an age for someone to start learning magic.

I explained as politely as I could.

「If you teach someone magic, it goes best if the child is very young.」

「Why so?」

「Well, it’s just said that children can feel the glow of magic better and so they learn it easily.」

「I see…」

「There are those that have learned it after the age of 30, though…」

Even without talent, you could still teach a young child magic.

But after a child hits puberty, it has to have some kind of special talent for it to understand magic.

After I said that, Millet looked a little happier.

「Why do you want to learn magic, Millet?」

「Um…well I can be useful to the village. And if something happens, then I want to be able to protect Collette.」

「I see.」

Sounds like an exceptional reason to me.

Wanting to protect someone gives you strength.

And after that demon attack, Millet might have seen how dangerous the world can be.

「…also, it’s kind of cool.」

Just like her sister.

Magic equals cool. But, it’s true.

「Okay, then I’ll teach you.」

「Yeaaaay!」

「Thank you very much.」

But, in the midst of their happy reaction, I had to warn them.

「However, magic takes more talent than fencing. If you have no ability in magic, I will tell you. If I tell you to give up, you need to just listen and give up.」

「…」「…」

They both looked at me silently.

「It hurts when your teacher tells you that you have no ability to use magic, so if you don’t like that, you might want to not even start.」

「No, I’ll learn!」「Me too, old man!」

「If I don’t think you can learn, I’ll tell you as soon as possible.」

I think that’s the kindest thing you can do.

「I can do it, old man!」

「I hope so.」

I rubbed Collette’s head.

I had talent. I only needed five years until I no longer needed my master any more.

Someone without talent for magic would take 10 years to just get the very beginning magic down.

It’s better to just give up before you spend decades trying to learn something that required pointless hard work.

「I know I keep saying the same thing over and over, so let me just say that I’ll begin instruction tomorrow, so take it easy today.」

「OKAY!」

「Thanks, Mister Al.」

After they left, Vi-Vi said,

「Have you ever taught magic before?」

「Nope.」

「Are you going to be okay?」

「Maybe.」

「Can’t trust a statement like that.」

I wondered where Vi-Vi learned the magic she used…

Devils like her probably learned by a completely different process.

「How did you learn magic, Vi-Vi?」

「Me? I learned from my older sister.」

「You have a sister?」

「My older sister was a VERY good magician.」

Vi-Vi said, with a distant look in her eyes.

Something must have happened to her.

That’s why I didn’t ask where her older sister is now…