Chapter 8: Elementary Magic?
At Podan-san’s general store, I completed my purchase for necessary items like frying pans, pots, a chopping board, a cooking knife, plates and etc.
I also bought enough rations like dried meat, biscuits, dried fruits, nuts and such to help me survive any disasters. Water bottles and a simple tent were acquired as well.
Normally, it would be impossible for a person travelling alone to carry all these items by themself. However, I have a very convenient item that is the Magic Bag, so I can hoard all I want.
By the way, I agreed to pay 8 gold coins for the magic stove, and if I give him the Full Moon Flower, he will then reimburse me with 3 gold coins afterwards.
Since I bought lots, I ended up having close to zero cash left. However, I plan to look for the skin of the White Snake and Moonlight Grass alongside searching for the Full Moon Flower and sell it later, so everything’s dandy.
Materials are overflowing in the forest. With Detection and Appraisal, discovery is not hard at all.
With that in mind, I returned to the inn in a jolly mood with my tools all bundled up.
“Yo, Shuu. We meet again!”
Suddenly, the person who came out to receive me was not Anna-san, but Roland-san who was standing guard at the entrance.
He waved at me with a friendly smile.
“Eh? Is Roland-san also staying at the inn?”
“How is that possible? I’m a resident of this village, did you forget?”
Well yeah. There’s no reason for a villager like Roland to go out of his way and pay to stay at an inn.
In that case, why is he here then?
“Dad, I’m homeー!”
Tilting my head in confusion, Nico, who was next to me, innocently raised her voice and ran to hug him.
“Welcome back Nico! You went to the general store with Shuu, right? Was it fun?”
“Yup! It was fun seeing lots of materials I never saw before!”
“I see, I see. That’s great!”
Roland tenderly caressed Nico’s head with his large, rough hand.
“By ‘Dad’, you mean Roland-san is Nico’s father!?”
“Yes, that’s right. I’m amazed you forced my lovely Nico to go on a date with you on your very first day. Did I allow a no-good human inside the village?”
“No, it wasn’t a date. I just asked her to help guide me to the general store…”
While Roland was radiating a threatening aura, the atmosphere somehow became dangerous.
He is being way stricter compared to the time when he allowed me to enter the village.
This person, he’s the type to dote on his daughter, huh?
“That’s enough out of you.”
“Ouch! What the heck, Anna!”
As I was worrying over what to do, Anna-san appeared from behind and hit him on the head with a tray.
“Don’t threaten our precious customer. Stop accusing people and help out with dinner already.”
“……..I got it. Shuu, we’ll prepare dinner so wait for a while.”
Anna-san then pulled Roland towards the kitchen.
Looks like the person with more power in their marital relationship seems to be Anna-san.
“So Roland-san not only works in the vigilante corps, but also at the inn as well.”
“Since we’re an inn out in the countryside, the income’s too tight with only what we earn here since we don’t have many customers.”
I was surprised by the candid words that came out of Nico’s mouth.
Unexpectedly, managing an inn out in the countryside is pretty severe.
Unlike inns in big cities that have a lot of daily visitors, they seem to only receive clients like the occasional traders or coincidental travellers like me.
Back in Japan, occupations like samurais and farmers also worked at multiple jobs simultaneously as well, so I guess it’s quite common.
“It’ll take a bit longer until dinner is done, so take it easy for a while.”
Nico also headed to help out in the kitchen.
How admirable. A 10-year-old girl helping out with not only the chores but even cooking as well.
Now then, what should I do now? I still have some time left before dinner.
I am tired out from walking around the whole day but if I sleep now, I won’t be able to sleep at night.
I wanted to stroll around the village, however, they won’t be able to call me when dinner is finished. There’s no excuse for letting the food Roland and Anna-san made for me to go cold.
“In that case, let’s try out Elementary Magic then!”
The magic manual granted to me by God, placed alongside other items within my Magic Bag.
With this, even someone like me should be able to use magic.
Since I want to experiment while looking at the manual, I decided to head outside. Still, I stayed nearby in case dinner was finished.
Circling behind the inn, there was an open, spacious piece of land there. I sat down on a nearby rock.
Pulling the Magic Manual out of my bag, I started to read it again from the beginning.
Magic is manifested through the image each individual envisions; it is what one wishes for.
If one pours magic power into a strong image, powerful magic can be released.
Magic attributes consisted of 【Fire Magic】【Water Magic】【Earth Magic】【Wind Magic】and 【Null Magic】
Humans are able to use any of these attributes. However, if you have the affinity but lacks enough talent, you won’t be able to cast spells.
It seems like magicians who can cast multiple attributes of magic are very rare.
Continuing on, this manual seems to have compiled various elementary magic spells of each attribute with instructions and tips included.
“Hmm, what attributes can I use though?”
I don’t know my affinities. How can I find out?
Reading further on, it was written that the fastest way to find out was to try using each of the attributes one by one.
In other words, I should practice magic according to the instructions written in this manual, and if I don’t receive even the slightest of responses from that attribute, it will mean that I don’t have the affinity for it.
I don’t know what ‘having no aptitude’ feels like, but for now, let’s try it out.
In the first page of the manual, there was a section explaining about the foundations of how to start releasing magic. However, since I had activated Detection over and over again, I already knew how to operate magic power.
Like this, feel the energy deep within your chest and will for it to move.
In any case, it seems like I have overcome the first barrier: be able to feel and move magic power.
Well, since it was due to the power granted to me by God, I can’t grandly boast of it however.
…….So magic is all about the image.
I am someone who has digested countless of games in order to collect materials. Flashy spells commonly seen in online games were shot so often by myself therefore I have confidence in my imagination. No more talking, let’s get on it.
On the top of the elementary spells list was Fire Magic.
The very first spell was a basic spell to call forth a small flame. It seems to be useful when lighting coals or firewood.
If I can use this spell, it will be easy to light fires outdoors. However, as I cannot freely control the flame strength like with the magic stove, it’s a bit inconvenient to use this for cooking.
“Fire Magic…… I don’t know if I will be able to cast it or not, but I’m a bit scared of it actually succeeding……”
I am a novice magician. Even if I light just a small spark, there’s still the possibility of me causing an accidental fire remaining.
In this situation, let’s experiment with a non-hazardous spell.
As I flipped through the pages, I found the spell Light Ball listed which can create a ball of light to be used as illumination.
Even if I fail, this spell shouldn’t explode nor cause any damage to the surroundings.
In addition, from what I can see, the inn does not have any electricity. If I have to light a candle when it gets dark, then I won’t be able to relax and fall asleep.
Since that would be incredibly inconvenient, I shall prioritise learning this spell first.
Okay, let’s cast it immediately.
The manual told me to imagine the shining sun, however that’s hard to visualise, so I’ll use the image of a bright lightbulb instead.
After visualising that clearly within my mind, I held my hand out and shouted.
“Come, Light Ball!”
At that moment, a small ball of light appeared above my outstretched palm.
“Ooh! So sudden――”
The instance I felt elated over my success, the light ball flared dazzlingly bright.
“Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaa! My eyes!?”
Having looked into the dazzling light all of the sudden, my sight turned completely white and I couldn’t see anything.
I consequently feel off the rock I was sitting on.
W-weird. It was at ordinary brightness for a moment, why the sudden intense light?
“What was that just now!? Did something flash really brightly outside!?”
“Was it lightning!?”
“But there was no noise, right?”
Maybe they noticed the light ball that flared up so Roland, Anna-san and Nico all came outside to take a look.
Other villagers were also coming out of their houses while raising their voices in confusion.
This is bad.
“Shuu-san, was there this super bright light just now!?”
“S-sorry. I casted the Null Magic’s Light Ball for a bit…”
Somehow I managed to answer even though my eyes were still seeing stars.
“Oh, it’s amazing that you can use magic. But, was Light Ball supposed to let out that much light?”
That is something I would like to know as well. What’s going on with my magic?
Peach Knight Translations 
Thanks for the chappies
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