Gather Divine Coins and Gacha! - Chapter 123

 "Phew...!"

I put both hands in front of my face, psyching myself up.

Somehow.

It's really just a vague feeling, but I can faintly sense something like magical power.

Carefully maintaining the swirling thing in front of my hands, I concentrate to imbue it with meaning.

This... might work.

This time, it's going to work!

"Grrrr..."

One more push, I muster even more determination.

"Huh?!"

Even though it's winter, it's still daytime. The weather is good, sunlight pouring down, but even so, I can see a faint light between my hands that isn't from the sun.

"I did it...! Hahahaha?!"

"Ah..."

My joyous voice of success suddenly turns into a cry of astonishment, and from above, Zigwald, who had been watching, lets out a voice of disbelief.

Four or five years since I learned of magic.

Though I've been secretly practicing, I never made any progress. But now, even though it's just the most basic of basic magic—just enough light to compare to a nearly dead lightbulb powered by a nearly dead battery—I've finally succeeded in magic.

◇

"I'm back!"

I finished practice and returned from the backyard to Serianna's room. I had to walk because I had removed all my items to make it easier to sense the flow of magic, but maybe I'm just tired, because it felt like a long way.

"Welcome back. Your shouts were loud enough to hear all the way here. Did you fail again?"

As I entered the room, Serianna, who had been working at her desk, looked up and greeted me.

This room is on the garden side, but could she hear me from here...? Children's voices do carry well.

"Was I loud?"

"It's no bother. So, did you hurt yourself?"

"No... I succeeded."

"Oh, congratulations. But you don't seem very happy about it. Is something wrong?"

"Mmm..."

"I can't believe I yelled over something so trivial."

"Just a bit, but I did manage to activate it. But, well, Akame ended up eating it..."

As I hesitated, Zigwald explained with a laugh.

Yeah.

My first spell was eaten by Akame the moment it was cast. It seems the lurking snake absorbs the host's magical power, and since magical creatures don't use light and a magic with no attack power might have looked like food.

Well?

I've got the hang of it now, so it's fine!

"Was my teaching method poor...?"

Fiora, who was sitting on the sofa in the room, didn't seem amused by the fact that I had succeeded in magic thanks to Zigwald's teaching.

"It's not that your teaching was poor, but I couldn't understand what you were saying..."

Their current job is to guard me and provide magical instruction. Although it was merely a convenience, since it's not good to openly gather forces too much, and we didn't have much time until we left the capital, Zigwald couldn't engage in combat, and Fiora couldn't do research, so they took teaching quite seriously.

They taught me, but Fiora wasn't very good at it.

The basic way to acquire magic seems to be recognizing the existence of magic through myths and poems and activating it by enacting those scenes. Fiora's teaching method followed the basics, but since I hadn't learned the crucial point, it didn't work out.

Even commoners and nobles apparently learn such things as part of etiquette during their childhood. Whether they can handle powerful magic is another matter, but being able to use magic is evidence that they've received such education.

The reason there aren't many adventurers who can use a certain level of magic might be because there are few from good families who aspire to be adventurers.

Of course, there are also those who can use magic without being taught, but they're probably either a handful of fools or geniuses.

In that regard, the teaching method of Zigwald, who is one of those few fools and geniuses, was simpler and easier to understand.

"Take a deep breath, tighten your core, and then it's all about determination, determination!"

What a brute force style.