Chapter 38

The Kingdom of Carp has no distinct four seasons like Japan.

Technically, due to temperature changes, if you were to arbitrarily divide the twelve months (or thirteen in a leap year) into three-month periods, you could call them spring, summer, autumn, and winter. However, it's not as if the leaves turn red in autumn, nor does it snow or plants wither in winter.

However, the only exception is the three-month period equivalent to 'spring.' During this time, whether noble or commoner, the people of the Kingdom of Carp cannot help but feel, "Ah, it's that time of year again."

It had been ten months since Zenjiro arrived in this different world. He was experiencing his first 'rainy season' in the Kingdom of Carp.

"It really does rain a lot."

In one of the rooms in the harem, Zenjiro, looking out the window, couldn't help but mutter.

The rain, which continued to pour with a sound, was not as cute as the rainy season in Japan. Although it wasn't accompanied by strong winds, the amount of rain was reminiscent of a typhoon. The wooden door was open now, but even if it were closed, the sound would have echoed indoors.

Lady Octavia, the Marchioness with chestnut hair, who sat opposite Zenjiro, kept her soft smile and answered, looking out the window.

"Yes. In this area, most of the annual rainfall is concentrated in these three months. For the next while, it's best to expect rain on two out of every three days."

Although this was clearly a digression from the lesson content, Octavia probably thought it was important to explain the kingdom's climate and geography. She paused the magic lecture and began her explanation.

"Is it that much? Then, wouldn't work outdoors be delayed during this period?"

In response to Zenjiro's question, Octavia nodded slightly and answered.

"Yes. Therefore, during this period, activities are generally kept to a minimum everywhere. In rural and fishing villages, they are busy just preventing fields and ports from flooding, and even the army during wartime usually observes a natural truce during the rainy season and the scorching summer."

"I see. But, wouldn't it be a problem for so much rain to be concentrated in one period? There could be river flooding or landslides. Conversely, wouldn't there be water shortages during the dry season? Also, if work stops for three months, it would be a significant blow to the poor."

To Zenjiro's straightforward questions, Octavia answered in a pleasant tone.

"Don't worry. The Kingdom of Carp is 80% forest, so the risk of landslides is low, and the water stored in the forests during the rainy season is available as rivers and springs, so there has never been a case of complete water depletion during the dry season. The problem of the poor losing their jobs during the rainy season has yet to be fundamentally resolved, but since the war, there have been almost no deaths from starvation. In cities with large populations like the capital, there is still work available even during the rainy season.

However, the term 'rainy season day laborer' is sometimes used as a metaphor for 'a foolish person without foresight.'"

"I see. Like the grasshopper in the fable of the ant and the grasshopper..."

"What? Ant and...?"

"Never mind. It's a story from my world. Anyway, is it safe to say that the problems of the rainy season have been largely resolved?"

"Yes, that's correct. Of course, unexpected flooding is heard of almost every year in various parts of the country, but it hasn't led to a significant decline in national power."

Zenjiro, who seemed to be trying to gloss over it, nodded.

(I see. Still, as long as there are actual damages and job losses among the poor, it would be better to do something about it, but I, a layman, don't have any useful knowledge.)

If he were a modern Japanese civil engineer or a dam designer, he might have come up with some good ideas, but unfortunately, Zenjiro was a salaryman at a small to medium-sized company with less than five years of experience. He probably wouldn't be much help. Still, if he could think of any useful ideas, he would suggest them to Aura or Secretary Fabio. Zenjiro kept the flood story in the back of his mind.

Sensing from Zenjiro's demeanor that the conversation about the weather had come to an end, Octavia returned the lesson to its main course.

"Shall we continue with the magic lesson, Zenjiro-sama?"

"Ah, sure. More meditation, right?"

"Yes. Close your eyes and sit naturally, and try to 'see' me consciously."

"Hmm..."

Zenjiro closed his eyes as instructed and focused his mind. Among Octavia's lectures, the time spent on 'meditation' felt the most boring and unproductive. He was told that he would suddenly awaken his ability to see magic power through this meditation, but in practice, he just sat with his eyes closed for nearly an hour, doing nothing. It was the most boring and longest part of Zenjiro's daily routine. The hardest part of awakening a child's magic power was making them meditate every day, which made sense even to an adult like Zenjiro. Making a child under ten years old meditate without moving for an hour every day was quite a challenge.

"Being able to see magic power is commonly referred to as 'opening one's eyes.' As the phrase suggests, it happens in an instant. Until then, it may feel fruitless and unproductive, but the daily effort is slowly lifting the 'lid of the third eye.'"

"..."

Zenjiro had been hearing these words for over eight months. They didn't make much sense to him, but when he asked Aura, she said, "It's like that in the early stages of learning magic," so it was probably true.

Still, the sound of the rain pouring outside was distracting, and he couldn't concentrate. Was this kind of meditation meaningless?

(Ah, right. I remember, this afternoon, both Aura and I had no plans. When I get back, I'll listen to the baby's movements in Aura's belly. It's grown quite a bit, hasn't it?)

Recently, Zenjiro's greatest joy was putting his ear to his wife's belly and listening to the baby's movements. Just as he was thinking about this, something happened.

"!?"

A strong light pierced the vision of Zenjiro, who was 'closing his eyes.'

"Ugh!?"

"Zenjiro-sama?"

Zenjiro, who had instinctively stopped meditating and opened his eyes, saw Octavia's worried face leaning over him.

"What's wrong, Zenjiro-sama? ...Could it be?"

Zenjiro stopped the tutor, who had leaned forward in her chair, as if she had realized something.

"Yes, probably as you imagined. The scenery I see now, the light emanating from you and my body, is this 'magic power'?"

In response, Zenjiro's vision showed the full smile of Octavia, who was radiating a strong light as if in a mist, looking delighted.

---

Later that afternoon, in one of the rooms in the harem used as a living room, Zenjiro, who had just reunited with his wife Aura, took a step back with a tense expression, as if he had encountered a tiger in the middle of the street.

Seeing her husband's suspicious behavior, Aura tilted her head in confusion for a moment but then smiled.

"From your reaction, it seems you've really started to see magic power. Congratulations."

Hearing the words of congratulations from his wife, Zenjiro, who had regained some composure, approached his heavily pregnant wife, wiping cold sweat from his back, and responded.

"Yes, thank you. Thanks to you, I can finally see magic power. Still, it's amazing. This is the real magic power of the royal family, isn't it?"

Holding Aura's hand, Zenjiro marveled at the magic power emanating from her body.

Lady Octavia, who was his magic tutor, had a much more powerful magic aura compared to the harem maids, but even she had only about half the magic power of Zenjiro himself. Therefore, Zenjiro had somewhat understood her statement, "Royal family members who can use bloodline magic have a different level of magic power," but comparing himself to Aura made him realize how limited his own abilities were.

"Probably about 30% more than mine, or maybe 40% at most. I don't think it would be 50% more."

Aura, who was led to the sofa by Zenjiro, took a deep breath and responded.

"About that much, yes. My magic power is relatively high among the royal family of Carp. Thanks to this, I can cast time-space magic, which consumes a lot of magic power, multiple times unless it's a particularly powerful spell. It's very helpful."

After about seven months of pregnancy, Aura's belly had grown to a size that was clearly noticeable as a pregnant woman. Zenjiro, while pouring hot water from an electric kettle into a mug of cocoa he had brought from Earth for his wife, who was relaxing on the sofa in a loose dress, responded.

"I'm just a 'quasi-royal' level. Yes, I can feel it."

"Don't be so pessimistic. With your level of magic power, you should eventually be able to use 'teleportation' twice a day for yourself. If you can do that, you'll be recognized as a competent user in the royal family of Carp."

"I see, just barely competent. Well, considering my lineage, it's still quite impressive. Here, drink this."

Aura, who received the warm mug of cocoa from Zenjiro, nodded slightly.

"Yes, thank you. That's right. Originally, I only expected you to have the minimum magic power to pass on bloodline magic to the next generation. The fact that you can use 'time-space magic' is a stroke of luck for us."

Sipping the hot and sweet cocoa, Aura continued.

The coolest time of year in the Kingdom of Carp is the three months before the rainy season, but it feels colder during the rainy season due to the rain. In the Kingdom of Carp, warm cocoa and coffee are preferred over iced drinks only during the first month of the rainy season.

Recently, Aura's fingers had been particularly cold, possibly due to her pregnancy or the restrictions on physical activity. She held the warm mug with both hands, warming her fingers with its heat.

Zenjiro, holding a mug of instant coffee for himself, sat next to Aura and sighed deeply.

"Well, I can only think it's better that I can use time-space magic. Oh, by the way, Octavia said something like, 'It would be better to learn from Your Majesty Aura from now on.' What did she mean by that?"

Seeing her husband's attempt to move the conversation forward, the queen looked at him with narrowed eyes, thought for a moment, and then spoke with a look of understanding.

"Oh, the first magic to learn for controlling magic power. Yes, that's my domain. With your level of magic power, using one of the four major elements of magic could cause a disaster."

"What do you mean?"

Tilting her head, Zenjiro asked, and his heavily pregnant wife explained carefully and clearly.

"Once you can see magic power, the next step is to control it. It's the technique of infusing the appropriate amount of magic power into the spell you're casting. To learn this, you start with a spell that consumes an amount of magic power closest to your 'leaking' magic power."

Zenjiro remembered that in this world, a spell wouldn't activate if the infused magic power was too little or too much.

In simple terms, for a beginner with a leaking magic power of 50, the easiest spell to cast would be one that consumes 50 units of magic power. A small spell that consumes 1 unit of magic power would be as difficult to cast as a powerful spell that consumes 99 units.

"I see. Even at the lowest level for a royal, my 'leaking' magic power is quite high from a general perspective, so casting one of the four major elements of magic could cause a disaster, right?"

The four major elements of magic, as the name suggests, are spells that create or manipulate earth, water, fire, and wind. No matter which attribute of magic was cast, it would likely cause significant damage within the harem.

"That's right. In comparison, the royal family's bloodline magic, 'time-space magic,' consumes a lot of magic power but has relatively modest effects. It would be better for you to start with 'time-space magic' to learn magic control."

Aura's logical explanation was easy for Zenjiro to understand.

"I see, that makes sense. So, can you teach me now? What spell do you think I should practice first?"

Excited about using his first magic spell, Zenjiro leaned forward to ask his wife, who was sitting next to him on the sofa.

"Yes. Dr. Michelle has forbidden the use of movement spells because they are harmful to the fetus. Time manipulation spells consume too much magic power, so they are also excluded. Therefore, it would be best to start with a barrier spell. Zenjiro, place your left hand on my right hand."

"Um, like this?"

In response to Aura's words, Zenjiro obediently extended his left hand and placed it on Aura's right hand. Their palms met, mirroring each other.

Then, Aura focused on the magic power emanating from their overlapping hands and adjusted her own magic power to match Zenjiro's.

"Your leaking magic power is... yes, about this much. With this, the spells you can cast are..."

Having a rough idea of Zenjiro's leaking magic power, Aura recalled the spells he could cast with that amount.

Eventually, she found a suitable spell and released her hand from his.

"Yes, this would probably be the safest. It shouldn't cause any harm, but just to be safe, don't move. Here we go."

"Ah, wait a moment."

Stopping Aura, who was about to start casting the spell, Zenjiro quickly went to a corner of the room and returned with a digital camera.

"While we're at it, I'll record the spell. That way, I can use it for practice later. Okay, Aura, go ahead."

"Yes, here we go."

With the digital camera in video mode, Aura leaned back on the sofa and began casting the spell.

"From the tip of my fingers, cut a spherical part of the world. In exchange, I offer 359 units of magic power to the air spirits."

Magic language was a mysterious thing. Even though Aura only moved her lips slightly, Zenjiro heard a long incantation.

While Zenjiro was thinking about this, Aura's magic took effect.

A hemispherical dome of light formed, enveloping the black leather sofa where Aura and Zenjiro were sitting side by side.

"Wow, that's amazing."

"It's a simple barrier spell. It isolates a space to block external interference. The defense is strong, but like most magic, it doesn't last long. In practical use, it needs to be combined with time manipulation to extend its duration."

While Zenjiro was looking around, the barrier disappeared. It seemed to last less than thirty seconds, which made sense given its limited use.

However, the effect range was small, and it wouldn't cause any damage to the surroundings when cast. It seemed to be a good spell for practice.

"Alright, let's give it a try."

Zenjiro immediately played back the video he had just recorded to confirm the spell Aura had used. Since the magic language recorded by the device doesn't activate the spirit words, it allowed him to learn the correct pronunciation of the magic language.

"Moetimuba?"

"Um... Myotimuba, maybe? ...Since the spirit words aren't translating, it's probably wrong. Magic language is really hard to pronounce."

Zenjiro tried to mimic the spell Aura had just used, but the magic language wasn't as easy to pronounce correctly on the spot.

"Well, for a while, you'll be practicing the correct pronunciation of the spell. Normally, to learn the correct pronunciation of magic language, a teacher would suppress their magic power to prevent the spirit words from activating and repeat the spell many times. In your case, the 'digital camera' gives you a significant advantage."

"Right. I'll practice in my free time. After all, I can't do anything if I can't pronounce the spell correctly."

With that, Zenjiro turned off the digital camera and placed it on the table. Now that he had taken the first step in using magic by being able to see magic power, he had a desire to practice, but he couldn't indulge in it.

"Well, that's how it went this morning. I finally made some progress in learning magic. How about you?"

Switching the topic, Zenjiro asked, and Aura answered honestly.

"Well, I had a secret meeting with the envoy of the twin kingdoms this morning. We're close to signing a secret agreement. You'll need to be present at the signing