"Good job, Sylphiette!" I shouted to the girl in front of me, creating a gust of wind that whistled through the air.
It's been a few months since I met the girl.
The temperature has dropped so much that the villagers no longer work in the fields; it's already the middle of winter, which means Roxy started teaching Sylphiette in earnest because she no longer needed to help with the crops.
Although she was never forced to help them.
I, most of the time, accompanied Roxy when she tutored the girl.
This allowed her to teach us both simultaneously.
Unfortunately, this meant her attention was divided between us instead of focusing entirely on Sylphie or me. Of course, some things can't be fixed quickly, considering we both occupy very different positions in our curriculum.
Today we are alone on the hill where we usually play. Roxy returned home to prepare everything for my graduation; that reminds me that today is also my graduation from Roxy's classes. She said, "You're ready," and left it there.
"Rudy! Call me Sylphie!" The girl pouted at me as she ran back to the tree she was sitting under, the magic book in my lap.
"Sorry, Sylphie," I rubbed my head. Unfortunately for me, Sylphiette had been getting closer and closer over the past few months, but I guess there wasn't much I could do there, considering I was her only friend.
I made a small fire in the palms of my hands. Even though we were both wearing coats, it was still quite cold.
"You shouldn't feel bad, Rudy." Sylphie sat down next to me and gave me a tender smile as she held out her hands to warm herself by the small fire.
"What magic should we try now?" She leaned down to look at the book in my lap.
She still struggled to read, but she was learning diligently, so for now, I would read the spells from the book for her to repeat, and then perform them without the spell.
I didn't know if it was because Roxy and I were teaching the girl together, but she was definitely learning much faster than when I taught her alone.
I guess that shows what a good teacher Roxy was.
Sylphie was also making steady progress in math, so everything was going well for her so far.
Her magical skills slowed down when she reached intermediate spells, but she was still a beginner, so her progress so far could be considered exceptional.
"Do you want to try combination magic?" I asked. I added water to the fire from where I held it, causing steam to rise.
She nodded and, after a second's thought, opened her mouth.
"Rudy, why can you perform magic so easily?" Excellent question, my dear student.
"I don't have perfect control of it, at least not yet." She didn't seem happy with the answer when I looked at her and saw her disgusted expression.
"I do it by making figurines with earth magic." She looked at me in confusion, so I scooped some dirt from the ground next to me and quickly transformed it into a crude stone figurine of her.
It wasn't up to what I'd normally consider a finished piece, but it was pretty impressive considering how quickly I made it.
Her eyes widened in amazement.
"That's amazing! How do you do that?" Sylphie reached out and, for a moment, conjured a wobbly mass of stone that she tried to form, but after a few seconds of inaction, she gave up.
"Yeah, just as I thought. Rudy is amazing!"
Don't get my ego too high, Sylphie...
"Right now, I think it's vital that you increase your total mana. So you should focus on increasing or decreasing your magic so that it drains you more than usual," I said.
After scanning the statue in my hands several times, she looked at me with a tilted head.
"Why would you want spells to consume more mana? Wouldn't that be counterintuitive... counterintuitive...?"
"Ignorant." She thanked me timidly. Whenever she struggled with a word, I helped her.
She seemed to like the way I spoke in front of others and often tried to copy my grammar.
It must have been interesting to a kid like her.
It was hard not to praise Sylphie whenever she did something, and it's not like I didn't praise her for trying her best.
Personally, I blame her for being such a cute kid most of the time.
"Anyway, a mage should conserve their mana, you're right. After all, magic is usually their first and last line of defense." She nodded; I could see her breath come out in a puff of smoke in the cold air.
"I told you you should use more mana than necessary because you're increasing your total mana pool." She seemed a little confused by my explanation. I wasn't surprised; I was talking to a four-year-old as if she were an academy student and telling her she'd understand without further ado.
Simply put:
"how many 'Water Balls' were you able to make the first day you used magic?" It would be easier to explain it that way, considering I already understood arithmetic.
"Uh, three? I'm pretty sure..." she said, scratching her ear as her voice trailed off.
"Remember how many you could make the next day?"
"Six, I think..." she replied, her voice trailing off again, but now, along with her uncertain look, I could feel the gears in her head starting to turn wildly.
"As you might guess, you'll consume your magic every day, preferably until exhaustion. From there, you should expect your total mana to double the next day. Put like that, it seemed simple. After all, I couldn't already recover my mana in a single day."
"Really?! Couldn't I become incredibly strong if I do that?!" Ten more points for Sylphie! However, the thought of what that entails scares me more and more every day, especially considering I've been doing precisely that for the past few years.
"Anyway, Sylphie, do you remember what Master told you about your schools of attraction and opposition?" She nodded.
"My wind and water magic are my strengths and are better than my earth magic, and fire is my weakest point, right?" She was awfully bright for a four-year-old.
"Well done!" I patted her head. No matter how hard I tried to restrain myself, I couldn't help it.
"Because you have an affinity with wind and water. I recommend you focus on fire magic. You can even try my control method with earth magic if you want."
"Why would I pursue something I'm bad at?" She was still stuck with beginner-level fire spells, but that didn't mean she could stop trying to improve. In fact, that should serve as inspiration. Besides, in my experience, leaving a school behind isn't good for overall survival.
"It's important to cover all your bases when it comes to this sort of thing."
"Cover my back?" She murmured in confusion.
Oh, right. A different world and all.
"It means you should try to be a little good at everything you do. If you do, you should keep improving every day."
"I'll do my best!" She put her fist in front of her face as if to say, "I've got this covered."
"Ah, but... Rudy doesn't have any problems." She didn't seem bothered by the idea, but rather irritated by her talent.
"I don't have any opposition schools like you do, and I have attraction schools in water and earth, that's why I find them easy to work with. You're brilliant, so I have no doubt you'll be an amazing magician! Although I think we should thank our Master for being such a good teacher." I gloated, while Sylphie blushed at my compliment and then chuckled at what I said about our Master.
"The Master is brilliant, after all!" She said.
One hundred points for Sylphiette! I'm glad someone other than me recognizes Master Roxy's fantastic qualities.
Sylphiette deserves my friendship!
A moment later, I felt a few drops of water on my face.
I looked up and saw that storm clouds had slowly engulfed the entire area.
From all our talking and bragging about our teacher, it seemed like clouds had formed around us.
How strange, is it raining, not snowing? Well, I didn't have much time to think about it.
Tucking the magic book under my arm, I stood up.
"Sylphie, let's go back to my house! It's closer!" The girl nodded, a light blush spreading across her cheeks as she chased after me.
Going to a boy's house is usually embarrassing for someone her age, right? As far as I could remember, there wasn't any such stigma in this world, so it shouldn't be a problem.
I ran with Sylphie hot on my heels. It was raining pretty hard for such a late-night storm. We'd been expecting snow for a while, but rain?
By the time we arrived at my house, we were completely soaked and freezing. Lilia greeted us at the door with a towel ready.
"The bath is ready, young master." She looked at Sylphie. "I see you've brought a friend. I'll bring another towel up, miss." From what I remember, Lilia was always wary of me as a baby.
I kept my suspicious activities a secret this time, so she seemed less apprehensive.
On the other hand, she seemed to be keeping her distance.
It was probably because I was such a smart kid that she only thought I had ulterior motives, but I didn't much care.
She was right to suspect me, but Lilia was practically a mother to me, so I treated her with all possible respect.
I took the towel from Lilia with a polite bow.
"Thank you, Lilia. Sylphie, it's up here." I nodded toward the stairs and went up, Sylphie hot on my heels.
Roxy was standing at the top of the stairs, apparently heading down before we met her halfway.
"Oh, Rudy, Sylphie. Are You back yet?" She was wearing her usual clothes and holding her cane.
Didn't she know what the weather was like?
"What do you mean, master? It started raining!" Roxy looked at me with a puzzled look, but when she looked out the only window in the hallway next to her, she seemed to realize what was going on.
"Raining? That's weird... I thought it was going to snow..." She seemed to think the same thing I did.
"Well, we'll have to hold your graduation ceremony tomorrow." I looked at her quizzically, as if asking why we couldn't today. She gave me a small smile.
"Some farmers planted late seeds, so it wouldn't be good if it just stopped the rain out of nowhere." Oh, that makes sense. "You should warm up..." She looked back and sighed.
"Sylphie will freeze if you don't."
And lo and behold, as I looked around, I saw Sylphie trembling. She must have been waiting for me to finish speaking.
"Sylphie, you go in first." I pushed her through.
"Open the door and give me your clothes before you come in so I can dry them." Without protest, the young girl came in behind our teacher and closed it.
"You won't do anything perverted to little Sylphie, will you?" Roxy said with a mocking smile.
"I wouldn't do that to Sylphie; she's a child," I said with a frown.
"You are a child too"
"Yes, but I'm not a pervert," I said, crossing my arms.
"Whatever you say." Once the interrogation was over, Roxy walked past me and went downstairs, leaving me, my coat soaked, freezing in the hallway.
Sylphiette was probably getting into the bathtub.
"R-Rudy, here are my clothes." A soft whisper came from behind the half-open door, and a small, pale arm shot out from behind the door, wet clothes in its hand.
"I'll dry them for you; just make sure you stay indoors long enough to avoid catching a cold." Even through a doorway, I noticed her nod as I took the bundle of clothes from her. The door closed as her arm disappeared, and I had more luggage to dry. I wasn't one to complain, though.
I don't feel an ounce of attraction to Sylphiette. I supposed it must be my body's fault.
A few minutes passed while I waited While thinking about what graduation would be like, according to Roxy, it would be with a saint-rank spell.
"Rudy, are my clothes dry?" The voice was so soft I could barely hear it.
I almost forgot where I was for a second. Wait, her clothes?
"Oh, yes. They're ready." I handed her the already dry clothes. It didn't take long to dry them; the perks of being able to work magic with anything you wanted.
"Thank you." Her hand grabbed the slightly warm bundle of fabric in my hands and she quickly retreated into the bedroom.
It took her a minute to dress, and the door opened again.
"You can come in now, Rudy. Are you still wearing clothes?! Aren't you freezing?!" Her eyes were concerned.
Oh, right. I forgot to take my clothes off, or even dry them. For some reason, I forgot I was freezing in the hallway.
"I'm fine, Sylphiette." When i called her name, she pouted and, with a few steps around me, pushed me into the room with the bathtub and closed the door. I could hear her footsteps quickly coming down the stairs.
It seems I made her angry. Maybe I should apologize?.