9. Magic Warrior Kakeru

I tried things on the mountain ox.

Caught it from the front, lifted it, dropped it on its head.

Dropped my hips and met it with a punch it did not see.

Low kick. High kick. Roundhouse. Combinations.

All of it dropped an ox on the spot.

Three cashed in. Income secured. The actual goal — using the power well — did not move.

I was still leaning on the body, not on skill.

Button-mash a strong character and you still win.

Not interesting. I wanted it to work better.

「Better to learn it properly. Sword. Fist. A dojo or something.」

After the three oxen I walked town and thought that.

At this rate I would keep hunting with sloppy punches. Ugly.

A passerby in magician clothes.

Long robe. Staff.

Magic. Almosso had thrown fire at me. That counted as a skill, I guess.

「Come to think of it…」

Can I use magic.

⸻

「As it turns out, yes.」

Salamus, who I already knew.

I went to the Trading Company and said I wanted to use magic if I could. He said yes.

He knows things I do not. Useful.

「Really.」

「Yes. If you are human you have magic. The question is how much, and whether you can shape it.」

「Everyone. No exceptions.」

「None. Sometimes too little to use.」

「Huh.」

「Would you like a test. You will not cast from it, but there is a quick way to see how much you have.」

「Here?」

「A moment.」

He went to the back and came back with a crystal.

On the counter.

「This is the tool. Palm open, like this…」

Clear until he touched it. Then a light in the center.

Feeble. A dying bulb.

「Out of line, maybe… that means you are weak?」

What it looked like.

「Yes. No talent. Best I can do is check a royal crest.」

「I see.」

The gate soldiers had done that.

「I just touch it. Nothing else.」

「Touch it and it shows. That is what it does.」

「Got it.」

Palm on the crystal.

A beat. Light in the center.

White. Hard to look at.

It blew out. The crystal burst.

Shards across the room.

「Th-this is…」

「So… what does that mean.」

「A moment.」

He went back and brought a larger one.

「Again.」

Broken unit, maybe.

Palm on the large one.

Center lit. White spread — same as before. This time it held.

「This shade is…」

「What is going on.」

「That is a great deal of magic, sir.」

A little admiration.

「Roughly a hundred times an average adult man. …Oh.」

「A hundred times. About right.」

A little disappointing.

The skill was All Abilities ×777. A hundred times normal meant the base was low.

No. Think. A Japanese person having usable magic at all would be the strange part.

Zero times 777 is still zero. That I would have believed.

That tracked.

I was fine with it. Salamus was looking at me oddly.

Surprise and respect stacked.

「I underestimated you. Court-rank magic as well.」

「I have enough to use it. How do I actually use it.」

「Two ways. One: a proper teacher. Find what you are good at and learn that. The correct method.」

「And the other.」

「Offense only. If you take a spell into the body and it matches a gift, you learn it. Dangerous. It can kill you…」

He frowned.

Take it in and you can use it.

I held up a hand. Careful.

「Pretty sure Almosso’s was fire…」

A fireball left my palm.

Oh. I can use it. Absorb it once and it sticks.

Then I do not need a teacher. It will accumulate.

Magic, though.

If I have fire, I want ice next.

Left hand flame. Right hand ice. Like that.

「Oh! Ice as well. As expected of Yuuki-sama.」

He said it. I was the one surprised.

Why can I use ice.

⸻

「Master!!!」

I came home and Miu hit me with a hug, crying.

「What is it. Welcome-home fluff…」

「Master! Master!」

Clinging. Shaking.

「What.」

「It-it came out.」

「What did.」

「It came out!」

「I asked. What.」

「Uuuu…」

Face in my shoulder.

What came out.

A rat. A cockroach.

Either, with her.

Snap. Something burst.

「Hiiiii!」

That sound.

From the house.

Dry crack. Then a rapping.

「Ah. Right. This place is haunted.」

「Eeeeeeh! Master…」

About to cry.

「Sorry. I forgot to say. I plain forgot.」

It really was. Normal days had wiped it.

Fine for me. Not for Miu. Something had to be done.

I looked at the house and thought.

「Nnn? It lit—」

Ice magic from the mansion.

Ice arrows. At me.

I knocked them down.

More.

「Amazing. Like a fort.」

It was kind of fun. I was getting into it.