Chapter 41

Everyone was so stunned that my awesome smug face went to waste.

When I released the paper knife's magic, the naturally flowing magic power also disappeared, so I returned the knife to Shell.

When I got back to Arschain, he took a stance to carry me, even though he was still stunned, and I landed in his arms, my weight bringing him back to his senses.

“Haaaaa—”

He let out a long, deep sigh.

The others also snapped out of their daze and sighed in unison.

Chief Tailsmya looked at the piece of wood I had cut, which was now thoroughly frozen, and asked,

“Did you use ice magic, Keita-sama?”

“Nun, mijumaho (Nun, water magic).”

“It’s frozen, though?”

“Mizu no ondo wo sageryu to, kori desho (If you lower the temperature of water, it will freeze).”

Chief Tailsmya examined the piece of wood again.

Yugram, Digree, Arschain, and the intelligent yakuza teacher also came over to look.

At first, only the cross-section was frozen, but now the entire piece of wood was frozen.

I had lowered the temperature a bit too much.

“Keita, was that sword a magic sword?”

“Shoyo, mariyoku wo ken ni nagashite, mahou kakecha yo! (That’s right, I channeled magic power into the sword and cast a spell!).”

“Channeling magic power into a sword...”

Arschain handed me over to Shell, took out his own sword, and moved a little away before starting to channel magic power into it.

Just as the sword started to glow, it exploded with a light pop!

He must have channeled too much magic power at once.

Digree shouted, “The prince’s sword!” but it turned out to be a practice sword, so there was no problem.

I was relieved too!

“Hain, yururi yo, yururi—”

I warned him, and he took out a new practice sword from his magic bag and started to channel magic power more carefully.

The magic power flowed smoothly, and the sword began to glow faintly.

“Ooo—!”

Everyone gasped in unison, but the real show was about to begin.

Arschain, being more cautious this time, started to activate the magic.

He used the same water magic as I did earlier.

The sword, which had glowed softly, became moist with water.

“Ooo—!”

Shell placed another piece of wood on the ground.

Arschain slashed at it with his magic-infused sword, but the cut was no different from a regular practice sword.

He looked at me curiously.

“Shurudoi, yaiba no imee chita? (Did you imagine a sharp blade?)”

He exclaimed in surprise, thought for a moment, and tried again, but the blade wasn’t sharp enough, and the cut wasn’t very good.

My image of a sharp blade was based on a Japanese sword I had seen on TV, which is different from the swords in this world that are designed to cut with a chopping motion.

So, I created a ball of water in my palm, approached Arschain, and stretched it into a thin, circular blade.

I showed him how it looked and then brought it close to the piece of wood, rotating the water blade, which cut through the wood with a loud “Gyuiiin.”

Next, I made the water blade even thinner and sharper, showed it to Arschain, and cut the wood again, which was sliced with a light “Shuin” sound.

The cross-sections were jagged and smooth, respectively.

Arschain nodded and began to refine the water blade on his sword, making it thin and sharp.

When he slashed the piece of wood, it was cut effortlessly, and Arschain was stunned by how easily it happened.

Shell and I high-fived, and then—

“Keita-sama, Keita-sama, Keita-sama! I want to do that too! Can I do it with a dagger?”

Digree rushed over, and I told him to practice.

He took out his dagger and started to channel magic power into it, but it began to vibrate, so I quickly stopped him.

When I examined his dagger, it was a well-crafted, well-maintained, and cherished weapon.

So, I advised him to start with a practice dagger, like Arschain did, to avoid any accidents.

He nodded and ran back to the room to get a practice dagger.

I noticed that Chief Tailsmya was channeling magic power into a staff-like object with gems, and the intelligent yakuza teacher was doing the same with a weapon that had small axes on both ends of a long handle.

Yugram was channeling magic power into a large baton-like object, each trying to wrap their weapons in magic.

The intelligent yakuza teacher, who seemed to have a good affinity with fire magic, was the first to succeed in wrapping his axes in fire, and he swung them around excitedly, looking very dangerous.

Indeed, fire magic could be used as an attack just by wrapping a weapon in it.

Chief Tailsmya and Yugram, on the other hand, seemed to be overthinking it and were struggling to channel the magic power.

The other classmates and upperclassmen were watching us as if we were something terrifying.

I thought about inviting them over to teach them, but no one came near.

Digree returned, carrying a large bag and panting heavily.

He took out a practice dagger and started to practice, but he channeled too much magic power and the dagger exploded immediately.

He was silent for a moment.

After taking several deep breaths, he took out a new dagger and tried again, channeling the magic power more slowly.

The dagger glowed faintly, and he felt the magic power flowing, but when he tried to wrap it in magic, it exploded again.

What kind of magic was he trying to wrap it in?

Digree failed many times, sacrificing countless daggers.

“Digree, nani no mahou nigate no? (Digree, what kind of magic are you trying to use?)”

“Aah, Keita-sama, I want to use lightning magic, but my affinity is weak, so it’s not working at all.”

“Kaminari, dono imeeji de? (Lightning, what kind of image are you using?)”

“Eh? Lightning is like, ‘Goro goro don bi shasha sha—’ right?”

This isn’t going to work.

I had no idea how he planned to recreate a bolt of lightning with his dagger.

He looked at me, puzzled.

“No, but Keita-sama, Yugram’s lightning magic is super powerful! If I could do that with a dagger, it would be the strongest!”

He insisted.

Boys seem to be fascinated by the strongest and the legendary, no matter the time or place.

In my past life, my fourth brother, Shuta, always sought the strongest and challenged my older brothers and me every day.

He always lost badly.

He was beaten mercilessly by his older brothers, verbally attacked by his twin sisters, and made to cry so much that he had hiccups, but he never gave up and kept challenging someone every day.

Shuta was a silly but lovable little brother.

Seeing Shuta’s determination in Digree, I felt a sense of brotherly responsibility.

In this world, there are magical tools, but no electricity.

It’s understandable that Digree’s image of lightning is limited to bolts from the sky.

I don’t know Digree’s affinity, but magic is about imagination, and there’s no harm in trying.

So, I held out my palm and created a ball of electricity.

I showed him the crackling ball and said,

“Digree, kore ga kaminari no moto (Digree, this is the source of lightning).”

He examined it from all angles, then looked at me skeptically.

“No, no, Keita-sama, lightning isn’t that small! It doesn’t look powerful!”

I lowered the voltage a bit and said,

“Shawatte mi—?”

He touched it hesitantly, and the ball of electricity crackled, making him reflexively pull his hand away.

He looked at his fingertips curiously, thought for a moment, and then seemed to have an epiphany.

“This is it! It’s like the static electricity you get from touching a doorknob in winter! But if this gets stronger and bigger, it becomes lightning? Really?”

He still seemed skeptical, so I increased the voltage and directed the ball of electricity at a piece of wood, which split in two with a flash and a crack.

The others, who had been practicing, turned to see what had happened.

Digree looked back and forth between me and the wood, his eyes gradually lighting up.

“Keita-sama, keita-sama! Lightning magic is awesome! I’m definitely going to master it!”

He was fired up.

After that, everyone continued to practice.

The intelligent yakuza teacher successfully wrapped his axes in fire magic and swung them around, Arschain settled on ice magic instead of water, Chief Tailsmya managed to fire magic from his staff, and Yugram also succeeded in firing a ball of fire from his baton.

Digree managed to wrap his dagger in lightning magic, but the cutting power didn’t improve.

That’s it for today’s practice.