It had been the same way with Felmenia, but Suimei hadn’t actually sat down and studied the magicka of this world yet. In Suimei’s world, grimoires—esoteric books on magicka—were something not aimed at beginners. It wasn’t like someone could pick up magicka just by reading one. They weren’t instruction manuals. They were serious tomes for serious learners. Just reading one properly required a fair amount of time and resources.
That was why Suimei hadn’t attempted to study magic here. He’d assumed it would take too long to decipher anything on the subject, and decided it was better to spend his time studying this world, its nature, its legends, and the history of its magic instead. That’s why he’d restricted himself to those books when he visited the castle library.
Also, part of Suimei wanted to embrace the simple joy of discovering magicka in the middle of a fight. He was anticipating mysteries that he still knew nothing about to move and excite him... Today, however, there would be nothing of that sort.
“Well, whatever... Let’s continue. We were both taken by surprise, so that makes us even. You don’t mind, right?”
When Suimei prodded him with these words, Enmarph began angrily chanting.
“Oh Wind! Thou art the power of eternity! Become a circle—the circle of tyranny! The uncountable destruction born from the air, rush towards my enemy with your righteousness! Loud Tyrant!”
Enmarph’s keywords for the spell—Loud Tyrant—rang out through the room as he shouted them. With Enmarph as its center, a vortex of wind rose up into the air in an instant. Then, as if all the air in the room was affected, several other whirlwinds began forming around it. Unlike the single fist of a whirlwind he’d shot at Suimei before, this was a barrage of wind. Using the power of numbers, he intended to arrogantly overwhelm Suimei’s shield. However...
“Secundum moenia, expansio corroboramentum!”
[Second rampart, strengthened expansion!]
That was Suimei’s defensive magicka. The golden magicka circle began to shine much brighter than before as the storm of oppressive wind rushed towards it with violent turbulence. Individually, each strike carried more power than his previous attack, and there were ten or twenty this time—no, more than that. It was a continuous, rapid-fire bombardment.
However, as each whirlwind struck the golden rampart, they would vanish in an instant. This happened over and over, each and every time. Not a single breeze of the whirlwinds was able to reach Suimei. After a while, the last whirlwind dissipated and the wind died down, leaving dust from the floor flying across the entire room.
Suimei cast a cold gaze at Enmarph as if to imply he was bored. Enmarph was not only no longer able to speak, he could no longer even move his hands. He was simply frozen in place with his staff still pointed at Suimei. There was a moment of silence in the still room, but then Suimei heard the sound of someone kicking off of the ground with all their might. It was Rikus.
“Don’t get...”
“Cocky” is what he surely was going to say. He had his sword ready in both hands and was leaping right at Suimei. He’d waited for the exact moment Enmarph’s spell ended, and timed his attack accordingly. But he wasn’t anywhere near fast enough to catch Suimei off guard. Suimei moved the arm he’d had pointed at Enmarph towards Rikus, then expanded the first rampart.
“Primum moenia, expansio localis!”
[First rampart, local expansion!]
“...cocky, damn it!”
Both men yelled, and sword and rampart collided with an ear-splitting shriek like metal gears violently grinding together. Rikus’s sword met Suimei’s shield deployed in full anticipation of his attack. But it was completely meaningless for a sword to strike a castle rampart. That applied here as well. Suimei’s defensive magicka circle didn’t show any signs of buckling, but Rikus’s sword was nearly blunted from the collision.
“You’ll never reach me like that.”
“Ugh, hrrgh...”
Rikus was simply standing there glaring at his opponent after his attack, a truly ridiculous sight. Seeing Rikus’s anguish as a perfect opportunity, the moment Rikus shifted his grip on his sword, Suimei took a graceful stride to the left of Rikus, whose strike had now completely missed its target. Then stepping around to Rikus’s side, Suimei snapped his fingers strongly with the intent of defeating him.
“GUAAAAAH!”
With the sudden burst of power at his side, Rikus was sent flying. Without even watching how far he went, Suimei shifted his stance and faced Enmarph. Enmarph was still standing there with his staff pointed at Suimei, and as he was about to start chanting again...
“Are you sure you wanna do that? Your magic won’t work, you know...”
“Ugh! Even so―”
He was still going to go for a magicka battle. Suimei saluted Enmarph’s spirit internally. While Enmarph began chanting with zeal in an attempt to strike down Suimei, Suimei also began his own spell.
“Buddhi brahma. Buddhi vidya.”
[Awaken power. Along with great knowledge.]
“Oh Wind. Thou art the power of eternity—blow fiercely!”
Modern magicka and magic. They were prepared in different ways, but victory would surely be determined by the speed of chanting. However, before a magician who used the Notarikon of the Kabbalah, magic that required time to mediate with an attribute was simply the height of stupidity. Comparing speed alone, it was obvious the mage would lose.
That was assuming, however, they were casting spells of the same strength and level.
“Gale!”
The first to finish and invoke their keyword was not Suimei, but Enmarph. Surprisingly, he’d gone with a short chant that only required two or three verses. However, that meant a weaker spell, which had no chance of harming Suimei. So why had he bothered setting up the timing like that? The answer to that question became apparent soon enough. Enmarph’s mana, which built up into a gale, was blowing in from behind Suimei.
So you can do it after all...
Feeling the cold premonition behind him, Suimei flashed a warped smile. Enmarph hadn’t been looking for a head-on magic battle; it was a tactic. He was risking everything and leaving himself completely defenseless to attack Suimei from a blind spot. Suimei felt like credit was due for that, and the words of admiration he let out were the rest of his spell’s chant.
“Buddhi karanda trishna!”
[Thus, surrender yourself to the sweet voice’s thirst!]
“Trishna,” meaning thirst, was a word used ceremoniously in over five religions. Thus, it was simple to use for magicka and a very powerful word in Sanskrit. When used in Suimei’s magicka, it carried the mysteries of Esoteric Buddhist systems. A magicka circle formed below Enmarph’s feet with a completely different structure than any circle he’d seen before. It was a magicka circle that embodied thirst.
“Not yet!”
With a flash of determination, mana began to flood out of Enmarph’s body. He intended to resist the spell by forcefully overpowering it with his own mana. This was a last resort taken to defend against magicka when backed into a corner. In general, before unknown magic, it wasn’t a bad choice. Unfortunately for Enmarph, the magicka Suimei had used was that of Kalavinka’s sweet voice. It wasn’t a direct attack, but one designed to suck all the mana out of its target. In other words...
“Wha― GAAAAAAAAH!”
As he screamed, mana was being released from Enmarph’s body at an accelerated rate completely out of his control. Before long, once all the power drained from his body, the mage fell to his knees.
“OOOOOOOOH!”
Suimei then heard a war cry from Rikus behind him. He had been splendidly blown away earlier, but seeing how quickly he charged in now, he was clearly trying to cover for Enmarph. But nevertheless, Suimei did not lose his composure. He spun around and tossed his mercury katana into his other hand. As he twisted and kicked up dirt like a whirlwind, he turned to strike in an instant. Compared to the heavy sword Rikus was using in both hands, the blade Suimei swung wa
s a flash faster.
“Guh, ugh...”
Stopping his sword right at Rikus’s neck, Suimei declared his victory.
“And with that, I think we can call the match mine, can’t we?”
There wasn’t a single protest to be had.
★
As Suimei slowly withdrew his mercury katana from Rikus’s neck, Rikus fell to the ground and exhaled roughly. Behind Suimei, Enmarph was also still sitting on the ground with an exhausted look after having all of his mana forcibly drained from his body. Verifying their conditions, Suimei quietly undid the spell and released the mana holding his mercury katana together. Like watching it be made in reverse, it spilled to the floor as a liquid and then channeled itself right back into Suimei’s vial. As the present guild staff member, Dorothea had been attentively watching over the fight. And after witnessing his two opponents fall, she turned to Suimei with a grand expression of admiration.
“Wow... You really defeated both of them...”
Dorothea was a bit stunned at this unexpected outcome. As for Lefille, who had been watching at her side, she was shooting a very serious, intent stare Suimei’s way. It felt almost like it would pierce right through him, so he was relieved to see it fade into her usual gentle smile.
“Wonderful!”
A single word of admiration. It seemed that the atmosphere in the air was flipped on its head in an instant. Dorothea then stepped towards Suimei.
“Suimei-san, that was a spectacular fight. There aren’t many who could defeat both Rikus-san and Enmarph-san at the same time. Even among the guild members currently in Metel, there are only a handful of people.”
“Thank you, but it was only because my strategy worked out in the end.”
Suimei was humbly implying his victory had been by chance. Dorothea gave him a sly smile as if to say she didn’t like how he’d put it, then took a jab at him.
“Again with the humility... As I suspected earlier, you’re quite a skilled mage, aren’t you? Even in the Mage’s Guild, I think you’d be considered top-tier, right, Lefille-san?”
“Yeah, I’m not familiar with the strength of the members of the Mage’s Guild in Metel, but surely your skills are something else.”
“...So, compared to the amazing mages you do know, how was it?”
Suimei was really asking how he stood up to the mages of this world. He had called them idiotic and haughty before, but that that was strictly in reference to their technical approach. He still didn’t have a clear picture of what the ultimate mages here were really like.
Technique was important, but if someone had enough mana and poured an increased amount of it into a spell, just about anything could be menacing—large-scale magic in particular.
In addition to that, the Elements or whatever would play a major role in determining the strength of a mage, dependent on the amount of mediation they provided for their spells. This all pretty much applied to combat, but―
“So you’re interested in that kind of thing, huh? I knew it! Suimei-san is a boy, after all...”
“W-Well, yeah... So?”
“Heehee. If you ask me, I think you’re quite good. It may not be much compared to the S-ranked mages of the Twilight Pavilion, though...”
Dorothea’s voice tapered off towards the end of her sentence. She seemed to be suggesting that comparing his performance just now to that of an S-rank mage would be presumptuous. In that case...
“Got it... By the way, how would the famous White Flame from the castle compare to those S-rank mages?”
“Lady Stingray? Her Ladyship is more famous for her research than her strength in combat. I don’t think she can really be compared to those who make their living by constantly facing life and death situations, you know?”
“Hmm...”
Dorothea was proudly boasting of the Twilight Pavilion’s guild members, and Suimei was completely absorbed by what she was saying. He wouldn’t say that Felmenia was skilled, but as a mage, her talent was quite promising. He certainly didn’t think of her as a top-tier mage, but to hear someone suggest she wouldn’t hold up favorably against mages who actively participated in combat was certainly an interesting take.
“So what do you think, Grakis-san?”
“...I didn’t think you were the type to be so fixated on strength.”
“I’m not. I just want a point of reference. Just a general idea of my level. It’s normal to be curious about how you stack up, isn’t it?”
“Mm, that is true... This is merely my opinion, but... Purely based on people I have witnessed myself, the amount of mana I felt from you wasn’t enough to surpass the stronger mages. As for the destructive power of your magic, what you showcased just now doesn’t serve as a very good point of reference.”
“Destructive power, huh?”
As expected, much like in nature magicka, these people put an emphasis on that aspect of magic. The magician feared most in Suimei’s world, Wolfgang, had immense magicka that would certainly spoil the mages here. So comparatively, just how much destructive power was there behind the magic of the highest ranking mages?
“Of the stronger mages I mentioned earlier... There are some who can blow away entire forests or towns with a single spell. Though it may be somewhat discourteous to say so, comparing your magic to such feats... I can’t really say they are on the same level.”
“For example, if we’re talking about Geo Malifex-sama from Nelferia, I hear she can crush an entire battlefield all at once. But when we’re talking about people like that, it’s just one outrageous thing after another...”
“Mm, yeah...”
Suimei had gotten a fairly good grasp of things at this point. In his current state where he had yet to ignite his mana furnace, it seemed there was a fairly large gap. It wasn’t like these top-tier mages could flatten mountains or destroy entire peninsulas, but they still had a terrifying amount of destructive power. Granted, even in his own world, there weren’t all that many people who could do such things, but that wasn’t the point.
“Thank you very much. This has been most informative.”
“Don’t mention it. I wouldn’t have you thank me over something so trivial.”
“Please. I’m still very ignorant and have a lot to learn.”
Suimei returned a bow to Lefille. Dorothea then cocked her head to the side and continued talking in wonderment.
“Nevertheless, who exactly are you, Suimei-san? You’re able to fight that well, but I’ve never once heard your name before. Just where did you come from?”
“Oh, uh, I’m... well, from pretty far away... If I said from the east, would you understand?”
Suimei recalled the maps from the castle as he tried to answer. In preparation for a conversation like this that would test his knowledge of geography, he’d studied the maps quite thoroughly. As far as he could tell, Astel didn’t have much in terms of diplomatic relations or even basic information on the lands to the east. That made it the perfect answer for a question like this.
“I see. It’s true we don’t know much about the eastern part of the continent. Then is your magic characteristic of the kind they use in the east?”
“Well, yeah.”
Suimei tried to sell a lie as the truth, but it seemed to pique Lefille’s interest.
“Characteristic magic, huh...?”
“Is something wrong?”
“No, I was simply admiring the splendid techniques that you displayed. Destructive power aside, the speed of your invocations and your defensive abilities, needless to say, were all excellent. There is still much of the world that I don’t know of.”
“Well, yeah...”
She was certainly right. They were techniques from another world, however, so the phrasing might have been a little off. Dorothea then turned to Lefille as if she’d suddenly remembered something.
“Now that I think of it, you’re headed towards the Nelferian Empire, right, Lefille-san?”
“Hmm? Yes, that’s r
ight.”
Dorothea confirmed Lefille’s destination with her, which turned out to be a large coincidence for Suimei.
“Hmm... Are you going to take up activity in the Empire, Grakis-san?”
“Yeah. From here, I plan to take part in activities at the Twilight Pavilion while commuting to the Magic Institute in the Empire.”
“The Magic Institute... If I remember right...”
The Magic Institute. According to the documents Suimei had read, it was a large institution in the Empire that served as a magic think tank. It gathered students from Astel, Nelferia, and Saadia to research and develop magic, and had the added benefit of keeping the balance of power between the three allied countries equal.
“Since I’m not particularly familiar with magic, I was hoping to start studying from scratch so that I can strive to improve myself.”
“You want to learn magic?”
“Yeah. Up until now, I’ve never seriously made an effort to study it, after all.”
Suimei nodded when he heard this, but Dorothea let out a sigh as she began talking.
“Someone as skilled as you, Lefille-san, surely would have contributed greatly to the guild here in Metel. It’s truly a shame that you’ll be moving to another branch. But I still have hopes for our new mage, Suimei-san!”
“I’m sorry, but once I’ve finished up here, I intend to head straight for Kurant City.”
Dorothea looked at him blankly for a moment, her face flush with pale dread and disbelief.
“WHAAAAAT?! What about helping our guild out as Metel’s shining star of a newbie mage who’s carrying all of our hopes and dreams?! Weren’t you going to show the mages over at the Mage’s Guild what’s what with a little wham, bam! And what about receiving a title from Twilight-sama?!”
Suimei was wondering just where her overactive imagination had taken her.
“No, unfortunately.”
“No waaay! To think that we finally got some new members who exceeded our expectations after so long, but you’re both just up and leaving...”
“Sorry. I also have things to do.”
“What’s a girl to do? Since the both of you are headed towards your goals with such unshakable resolve, there’s nothing we can do to stop you.”
The Magic in this Other World is Too Far Behind! Volume 2 Page 6
