Volume 1 Chapter 4 Warrior Barbara
Al decided to take on the investigation request and spent some time talking with Ruella and Kane about their middle school days. Al didn't make many friends at school and often focused on practicing spells during breaks, so this might have been the first time he really talked with the two of them. According to Ruella, all her friends said Al was a weirdo who kept mumbling to himself.
"Well, it wasn't mumbling, I was practicing spells."
Al muttered, looking a bit unhappy. Ruella chuckled lightly at his reaction.
"I didn't know that. Everyone said you were just bad at talking. So, it was really refreshing to see you talk with my dad."
"Well, I see. I was just so busy trying to memorize spells."
Al said with a hint of disappointment. Next to him, Kane couldn't hold back his laughter.
"How many have you memorized? You can use not just the Magic Missile spell but also the Illusion spell, right? You must remember the basic Light spell and the Magic Sense spell too... 4?"
Counting on her fingers, Ruella asked excitedly. Al, looking a bit flustered, started counting on his fingers too.
"Um, I think I have a total of 8."
"Wow, that's amazing! You can use that many. Even the magicians hired by my dad can't use that many spells. What can you use? The Fly spell or something?"
"Hey, hey, there's no way I can afford such an expensive 'spellbook'. I can't even buy regular spells. Still, I wanted to memorize as many spells as I could while I was in school, so I begged the teacher to lend me some. In the end, half of the 4 spells I got are from the first tier, and the other 2 are technically from the third tier, but they're all unpopular ones. I can't really say what they can do, but honestly, they're not that great."
Al hurriedly denied it. That said, when aiming to become a magician, it's normal for someone to have learned 3 spells by the time they graduate middle school: Light spells, Magic Sense spells, and Magic Missile spells. If someone remembers one or 2 more, that's considered a lot. Being able to use 5 spells is indeed impressive, but it also means they spent most of their time learning spells instead of having a normal student life, like studying or hanging out with friends. In that sense, Ruella's friends weren't wrong to think of Al as a weirdo.
Just then, a tall woman with brown skin approached the 3 of them. She was about 180 cm tall (≈ 5 ft 11 in), with short chestnut hair. Her sky-blue eyes were sharp, and she wore reinforced leather armor. At her waist hung a long sword over a meter long and a large knife. On her back, she carried a backpack along with a short bow and a quiver of arrows, and her left arm had a small shield secured with a belt. She looked to be in her late twenties. From the way she observed her surroundings, she seemed quite skilled. Ruella and Kane appeared to know her, and when they saw her, they promised to meet again in the border city of Lester before heading back to their carriage.
"Are you Alfred? Huh, I thought you'd be more refined since you went to middle school with Sir Naresh, but you seem to fit in just fine. I'm Barbara. As you can see, I'm a warrior. I'm also good at scouting. It's for an investigation, but since Sir Naresh and Lady Ruella's safety is the top priority, it looks like I'm the only one who can go. Nice to meet you!"
She walked up to Al and extended her hand. He reached out and shook it lightly.
"Nice to meet you too. Alfred is a long name, so please call me Al. I mainly focus on scouting, but I can use a bit of magic too. I'll do my best not to be a burden."
Until now, he had mostly been a student, so he hadn't had much time to team up with regular adventurers. Because of that, he felt a little hopeful that he might gain some good experience this time.
"Wow, really? I heard you killed the leader of a gang of bandits. Are you used to killing?"
"Killing... I have completed requests to defeat bandits before."
Hearing that, Al remembered the scene of the bandit leader collapsing with blood gushing from his neck. Barbara might be trying to provoke him on purpose. Feeling that way, he lightly shook his head and replied. After seeing Al's reaction, she thought for a moment, shrugged lightly, and smiled.
"Hehe, not bad at all. Okay, I'm sorry for trying. I'll call you Al from now on. It's amazing that you can use a spell to take down an opponent in one shot, especially at such a young age. I think it's more than just a little impressive. Sorry to keep you waiting, but it looks like it might rain, so let's hurry up. I hope we can catch up before it gets dark."
The two decided to first move to the place where Al and Naresh had fought the bandits. They wanted to check the footprints on the ground to see how many there were and which direction they had escaped. The bandits seemed to have had no time for camouflage, as traces were left everywhere.
She seemed curious about the way they fought, and while they were tracking, she asked in detail how Al noticed the bandits. And how he managed to cut off their heads with magic. She claimed to be a warrior, but it seemed she knew a bit about magic too, and with her knowledge, what Al said seemed very hard to believe.
"Is it true that you can aim for vital points with the Magic Missile spell? I've never seen or heard of anything like that before."
She was puzzled. While the Magic Missile spell can become more powerful with practice, allowing for longer distances and more shots at once, she thought that such skillful things were impossible.
"People find it hard to believe, but I can actually do it. The spellbook for learning Magic Missile says to aim at the target, extend your palm, and focus on the line connecting you to the target. But it's unclear where exactly to aim on the target. When learning this spell, I'm told to picture the target and strongly imagine connecting right to the center of them. Everyone just takes that at face value and doesn't question it."
Al smiles mischievously, looking quite pleased with himself.
"The first time I noticed this was thanks to the Light spell. It's a story from my childhood, but my grandfather often used the Light spell to show me magic when I begged him to see it. I realized something back then: for some reason, my grandfather's Light spell was brighter than anyone else's. Did you know there could be a difference?"
Al looks at Barbara. She tilts her head. To her, a Light spell is just a Light spell. She seems to want to say that. But Al continues explaining. According to him, the difference in brightness of the Light spell depends on how each person interprets the symbol of sunlight in the spellbook. His grandfather came from a northern kingdom where there's a lot of snow, and there, the impression of sunlight is completely different.
"Sunlight is something warm and gentle, you know?"
His grandfather, who was born in the northern country, explained it like this. For him, sunlight is an irreplaceable thing that is important for nurturing and growing life. This image is definitely different from those who grew up in the southern country. Because of this, the strength of light in the light magic spell changes. It seems that the way people receive the inspiration from the spells written in the spellbook and the symbolic images representing them can change many things. By consciously changing that, he was able to change the brightness. He explained it like that.
He really seemed to love magic, and he couldn't stop talking. The details were too complicated for Barbara to fully understand, but what he was doing sounded quite groundbreaking.
"Wow... is that really how it is? I see... But if that's possible, it seems like it would be more talked about."
"Well, you see, I explain this to acquaintances too, but unfortunately, no one can make it work well. The reason isn't clear. I think it might be because they have a fixed idea when learning magic from the spellbook, but there's no way to test it. I've asked my old elementary school teacher to have any students learning magic try it out, but it hasn't worked out yet."
"Hmm, it sounds like it would be really useful if it worked... Oh, it looks like we should take a break here for a moment."
The two of them stopped and examined the traces. Some people seemed to have sat down on the ground. There were also spots of blood here and there.
"It looks like they split into 2 groups. Maybe 8 and 5?"
Al murmured, and Barbara nodded in agreement.
"I think that's about right. They must have managed to escape this far and talked about what to do next while giving each other first aid. It seems like 4 or 5 people went northwest, and the rest went northeast. Since they were in a hurry, there might have been some disagreements among them. It's a tricky split, but I guess we have no choice but to chase after the larger group."
The two of them nodded at each other while glancing back and forth between the northwest and northeast.
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