Chapter 47

"Alright, there's no need to be so tense. Can you use healing magic to treat scars, right? If you can do that, you shouldn't have much trouble with offensive magic. If I teach you, you might be able to use it by the end of the day."

Offensive magic.

I was taught by a customer as a token of gratitude for healing them, but I couldn't use it at all.

However, the basics of offensive magic are not much different from healing magic.

It's all about manipulating mana and casting spells.

Basically, that's all there is to it.

But there are two differences between offensive and healing magic.

First, faith and knowledge of the human body do not affect the power of offensive magic.

Second, offensive magic requires much more precise manipulation of mana compared to healing magic.

Unlike healing magic, which is assisted by faith, offensive magic has no such assistance.

You have to manipulate your own mana to reproduce natural phenomena like fire and lightning.

I don't know the details, but it seems that chanting with mana-infused voice can make control easier to some extent.

However, even the chanting itself requires precise manipulation of mana.

Why couldn't I use offensive magic?

Thinking about it now, I probably just lack the skill to manipulate mana.

I've only been in this world, where mana exists, for a few months.

Moreover, I have an amount of mana that far exceeds that of an ordinary mage.

It's like asking a newborn baby to handle the amount of mana that even hundreds of people couldn't manage.

For example, when I first came to this world, a simple Heal spell could heal as much as an ExHeal.

I intended to heal a minor finger injury but ended up erasing all scars on my body.

When I healed Eito's leg, I got so anxious about the severe injury that I ended up healing unrelated areas as well.

Thinking about it, even with the assistance of faith, healing magic often goes out of control.

...I'm glad I can only use healing magic.

If I could use offensive magic in Japan, I might have exploded and died as soon as I came to this world.

Now, I can control it to some extent, though.

"Well, are you ready?"

"Yeah... but I probably can't use anything other than healing magic."

"You won't know until you try."

However, Fran decided to teach me magic despite my protests.

Moreover, she has a no-nonsense attitude.

If I refuse, I might get hit with another Fireball.

Well, the idea of being able to use offensive magic isn't bad.

If I can use it, I might become the strongest mage in terms of mana.

"Here, hold this."

Then, Fran handed me a thin metal plate.

It's about the size of a business card.

I thought it was just a piece of iron, but it has intricate lines carved into it.

It must be some kind of magical tool.

"This is a common teaching material used in magic academies. If you can channel your mana along these lines accurately, it will glow faintly. I want to see your skill. Can you try it?"

Looking closely, the pattern on the plate becomes more complex from left to right.

If I can perform this delicate manipulation of mana, I might eventually be able to use offensive magic.

I tried to infuse a tiny bit of mana.

--Crack.

A sound was heard.

It came from my hand.

The metal plate Fran gave me had split in two.

"Ah, wait, wait! You infused too much mana! I said to channel it along the lines, not to use all your power!"

I didn't use all my power.

I didn't even use a fraction of it.

"Well, I guess there's no helping it... I have a spare, so use this one."

Saying that, Fran handed me another metal plate.

I thought she might say, "That's it! If you're not serious, I'm leaving!" but she seems to want to continue.

Maybe she's more patient than I thought.

As I reached for the metal plate Fran was holding, I felt my impression of her change slightly.

At that moment,

"Ah..."

My hand touched Fran's.

Her slender hand tensed for a moment.

"Ah, sorry."

--Crack.

As I apologized, the metal plate cracked again.

I thought it was my fault at first, but I didn't do anything.

So, Fran must have channeled the mana.

"Ah, I can see now that your mana manipulation is really bad."

"No, wasn't it your fault?"

Fran tried to cover it up, but I didn't even infuse any mana.

"No, no! I don't leak mana just because I'm surprised. You did it."

Fran blushed and argued.

I understood; she was surprised when our hands touched.

I wanted to point it out, but I didn't want to get hit with another offensive spell.

I kept quiet.

"This is the last one, so be careful."

Fran handed me the metal plate with a look of lingering frustration.

I took it carefully to avoid touching her hand.

Looking at it, it had the same intricate pattern as the previous one.

But how do I channel mana carefully?

If I do it normally, it will probably break again.

My mana is too much, like trying to carve with heavy machinery.

As I was thinking about this,

--Crack.

Another sound of something breaking.

The metal plate in my hand split in two.

This time, I didn't touch Fran's hand or infuse any mana.

"Why! I told you to be careful!"

"Wait, I didn't even infuse any mana yet. ...Is this a defective product?"

"No way! ...But, maybe..."

Fran seemed to realize something and took out a round crystal.

As she brought it close to me, the crystal began to glow brightly.

"Figures."

After looking at the crystal, Fran turned her gaze to Sera.

Sera looked slightly surprised at the glowing crystal, then lowered her eyes and shook her head.

What's going on?

The atmosphere feels bad.

"Mana leakage syndrome. And at this concentration... it's quite severe."

Fran said with a serious expression.

"Mana leakage syndrome?"

"It's a congenital mana disorder where you can't retain mana in your body. It's like having a hole in your mana container. And with this glow... it means that almost all of your mana leaks out as soon as it recovers. You probably have very little mana most of the time."

What does that mean?

I have more mana than probably anyone else in the world.

Is it because I'm not originally from this world?

...No.

"Hey, do ordinary mages not leak any mana at all?"

"Ordinary mages leak a little, but this amount is abnormal. It can only be mana leakage syndrome."

I see.

I probably don't have the mana leakage syndrome Fran is talking about.

The cause is that I have too much mana.

My natural mana recovery rate is absolutely higher than anyone else's.

For ordinary mages, even if all the recovered mana leaks out, it's negligible. But for me, it's different.

It leaks to the extent that Fran might mistake it for a disorder.

No one would normally think that a person in front of them has the amount of mana that even hundreds of mages combined couldn't match.

"You don't have the talent for magic."

Then, Fran stated firmly.

"...But, you can use healing magic, right?"

But she quickly remembered that I could use healing magic and started to worry.

"Wait... But... That's strange... You can use area spells that consume a lot of mana..."

This is bad.

She shouldn't think in that direction.

I don't want to be known by powerful people, especially not by a noble's daughter.

Then, Fran looked at me with a realization and said in a small, apologetic voice.

"...I seem to have misunderstood you a little. You must be a very devout follower of the gods."

That's a misunderstanding.

"You must have studied hard at the church, right?"

I've never been to a church.

That's a misunderstanding.

"I thought you only had lewd thoughts, but you're not like that. As a daughter of Mailhartz, I apologize. I'm sorry."

That's very considerate.

I'm sorry for causing the misunderstanding.

I do have lewd thoughts.

...But I can't say that.

Well, it's a good misunderstanding, even if it is a misunderstanding.

If my true power were known and the fact that I cast healing magic on the whole town were revealed...

Fran's family is noble.

I might be forced to marry into a noble family, like a lord.

If I marry a woman who can throw a Fireball at me for a minor provocation, I'll probably die on the wedding night.

...Looking at the meek Fran, I felt a bit guilty, but I decided to let the misunderstanding stand.

Life is more important.

"But, if you have mana leakage syndrome, it's almost impossible to use offensive magic. What should we do?"

Fran muttered.

Honestly, I don't need the lesson anymore, but it seems she wants to continue.

"Fran, it's starting to get dark. Can we continue this another day?"

But Sera called out to Fran.

...Right, it's almost dark.

"Yes, Sera... I guess we have no choice. Let's go home today."

If she says "today," there will probably be a next time.

But it's better to wait until she gets over her habit of throwing offensive spells.

"Here, I'll give you this magical tool. If the amount of mana leaking decreases, the light will dim. Even though it's a congenital disorder, with years of effort, the leakage can be significantly reduced."

"Okay."

Fran handed me the crystal with a gentle voice.

I felt a sense of care.

...Even though it's a misunderstanding, her attitude has changed a bit.

She was so misogynistic that she didn't even thank me for healing her the first time we met, but now she seems to care about me as a man.

Maybe she's grown a lot.

Sera looked at me and Fran with shining eyes.

I returned to the clinic with a slightly gloomy mood.

In the end, I couldn't come up with any ideas to improve Elise's healing magic.

It's hard to teach her knowledge, and I can't boost her mana financially.

Gathering faith like the Saint of Medine is also problematic.

It seems I have to do it the hard way.

But if Elise goes to train, it won't work.

While thinking about this, I returned to the clinic,

"Elise, what happens to the evil god after this!?"

"The evil god will be sealed by a saint who borrows the power of the Medine god. A saint is a great person who emerged from the church in ancient times."

"Which is greater, the saint or my master?"

"Ah!? Well, that is..."

Elise and Yuel were reading a book.

Elise was showing the book to Yuel, who was very interested.

I rarely see Elise reading a book.

I wonder what they're reading.

I'm a bit curious.

"What are you reading?"

"Ah, Master, welcome back!"

"Ah, you're back. It's the holy book of the Medine religion."

The holy book.

So there is such a thing.

"I don't really like this book because it feels like a fairy tale, but I thought it might help increase my faith. And it will help Yuel's studies too."

It seems Elise is making a lot of effort to improve her healing magic.

I don't think it's necessary to go to such lengths.

But Elise wants to improve her healing magic because of her parents, who died in an accident.

I guess it can't be helped.

"By the way, Elise, are you interested in the Miss Contest?"

I remembered something when I saw Elise's face.

If she participates in the Miss Contest on the festival day, she might gather some faith.

I'll just suggest it.

"No, I'm not. ...I've seen it once, but the participants wear almost nothing and stand in front of people. They get some money for participating, but I can't do it."

I see.

But this time, I'm out of ideas.

Is there any other way?

...No.

I've tried everything and it didn't work.

I can't give up on seeing Elise's large breasts up close.

Elise hasn't said she's leaving for the capital immediately.

I still have time.

I'll keep thinking of ways.

After dinner, in the bedroom just before going to sleep,

"Master, amazing, amazing! You're glowing!"

Since I couldn't think of any ideas, I decided to play with the crystal Fran gave me.

This crystal glows brighter the closer it is to me.

Looking at it again, it's shiny and cool.

If I place the crystal behind me to create a halo effect, Yuel is very happy.

If I use it for catch, it glows brightly every time Yuel throws it to me, making it feel like I'm using magic. It's very fun.

It's definitely a misuse, but it's very useful for playing with Yuel.

It seems to be glowing brighter than when Fran gave it to me, but Yuel is having fun.

Fran does something good sometimes.

"What are you doing..."

But as I was playing, Elise came into the room with a bewildered expression.

She seemed to have finished changing and was ready to sleep.

It was a good moment, but I had no choice.

I decided to put the crystal in my item box.

"Wait a moment."

But she stopped me.

"What is it? Do you want to play catch too?"

What's wrong?

Did the shiny ball stimulate her childlike curiosity?

"...No. This magical tool, could it be..."

Elise took the crystal from my hand.

Then, she started doing mysterious things, like placing the crystal on the floor, holding it up to the ceiling, and going outside with it.

Did she want to play?

If she wanted to play, she should just say so.

I'm willing to play with her, whether it's a child's game or an adult's game, from doctor's play to things I can't describe.

"Sure enough... the mana concentration in this room is abnormal. It's much higher than the spiritual ground where I trained."

But Elise said seriously.

It seems she wasn't playing but measuring the mana concentration.

"The spiritual ground where you trained to increase your mana?"

"Yes. ...By the way, you have a lot of mana too... The mana leaking from your body might be creating a pseudo-spiritual ground in this room."

"Um, so...?"

"The closer you are to me, the more my mana increases. ...Now that I think about it, I felt my mana increasing a little compared to before. I didn't know the cause, so I thought it was just my imagination..."

What a surprise.

The increase in mana is probably minimal, but if it increases to a noticeable level in a few months, it might be enough to use High Heal in a few years.

"So, the capital?"

"There's no need to go."

I see.

So the solution was there from the beginning.

...I didn't have to do anything.

I thought a lot and tried hard, but I didn't need to.

But if I hadn't received the crystal from Fran, I wouldn't have noticed.

Well, the past effort doesn't matter.

Elise won't go to the capital.

I'll just accept that.

And just now, Elise said the closer I am, the better.

"If being close is better, should we sleep in the same bed?"

"...No, I won't."

Did you hesitate just now?

Did you hesitate?

...I feel like I should push her, using healing magic as an excuse.

"Master, I'll sleep with you."

But Yuel hugged me from behind without hesitation.

Well, that's how it goes.

I can't drag Elise into bed in front of Yuel.

Then, Yuel said,

"I want to be able to use magic too."

...You want to be able to use magic too, Yuel?

If I stay close to me, my mana will increase, and with Elise and Fran, who can teach you, you'll probably be able to use healing and offensive magic in a few years.

You'll be able to do close combat, ranged combat, and support and healing.

And you're sensitive to presence and have good night vision.

How strong will you become?

Will you become the strongest?

"...Hey, what do you plan to do from now on?"

Elise suddenly said.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for example, if you change where you live, you won't be able to increase your mana, right? It shouldn't be left halfway..."

Is she indirectly telling me to leave because she's going to the capital to train?

No, Elise would say it directly if she wanted me to leave.

I don't think she's out of patience yet.

...But, a week ago, I peeked at Elise changing.

I only saw a glimpse,