The day after Arx asked his uncle, Crabbe, to be his magic teacher.
　The class was held in the garden of Arbent's mansion in the royal capital, and included a demonstration of magic.


　The person in front of Arx is, of course, Crabbe Arbent himself.
　He has silver hair, a bandana, a national army coat pulled over his short-sleeved shirt, and his thick, tanned, muscular arms crossed in front of his chest. He looks more like a martial artist than a mage, but even so, he is said to be a researcher of magic who can be heard in the country.


　Of course, he's also a soldier in the national army, so he's probably as good as he looks.


Now, let's see how much you understand about magic.

Yes!　I'm looking forward to it!

Oh!　You're up for it!

Yes, I'm going to make my father and mother pay for this!

Ha-ha!　Yeah, I'm gonna get even!　Yeah, that's the spirit!


　Crabbe laughed heartily as he listened.


First of all, on a basic level, how much do you know about magic, Arx?

Well, the book says that in order to use magic, you must first learn the Arts Glyphs and the Ancient Arts Language, and then use your magic power to cast spells made up of them. ......

I'm sure you're right. That's what it says in the book. So, what do you need to learn the Arts Glyphs and the Ancient Arts Language?

"Yes. Dictionaries and vocabulary books.

That's what you need to learn them quickly. But that's no good if you want to become a mage.

Is that so?

Yeah.


　Seeing Crabbe nod, Arx was more than a little surprised. To be honest, it was surprising. He had been using them basically for studying at home, and he thought that was fine - but this was going to be a much more basic study.


　Crabbe says, "Here," and pulls out a bunch of horribly thick books from his bag.


"This one's called .......

"This is what they call the Book of Ages. From the end, there's the [Tenchi Kaigakuroku], which describes the creation of the sky and the earth, the [Seirei Jidai], which tells the story of the age of spirits, the [Kuraki no Prophecy], which predicts the beginning and the end of this world, the [Dai Seisho], which describes the life of a scholar who followed the stars and the sky, the [Mages no Minka], which describes the time when magic culture was at its peak, and the [Shogun no Hikyoku], which describes the four demon kings and the destruction of the world. The four demon kings that destroyed the world and their songs of destruction are written in [Demon King at the End of the Century]. It seems that all of the [ancient arts language] is described in these six books .......

What do you mean, "apparently"?

What do you mean by "apparently"? "Well, no one really knows if all the words are in these books. And no one can read them all.

Even your uncle?

Yes. Especially this guy, he can't read most of the prophecies of Kraki. I have no idea what it says.


　My uncle, who can't help laughing, smiles cheerfully.


"So this is the basis for your study of the ancient arts language?

"Yes. Even if you just memorize words and phrases, if you don't understand their origins and the situations in which they were used, you won't be able to draw out the power of the words. So, if you want to study [Ancient Arts Language], it's best to read this. I mean, if you want to be a decent mage, definitely read this.

"I understand.


　After receiving the book, my uncle said.


"This is only part of it. I'll have my servants take them away later.

"How many of these thick books are part of the ......


　My face tightened at the prospect of the tremendous amount of books I had to read.
　Then, a strange expression appeared on his face.


Arcs. The annals are profound. It has been studied since long before we were born, but there are still some letters that we don't know what they sound like, and there are still many letters that we know the letters of but still don't know their meanings. So even if you can read them, you'll be eating worms, and you won't even know what some of them mean.

"So, if you can decipher all this...

"Then if you can decipher all of this, you'll have your name in history for a long time to come.　Well, that's a long way to go, isn't it?


　That would be true. But Arx now has the knowledge of the world of men. In other words, they have concepts that have not been understood in this world. Maybe...


(But to do that, you first have to learn the known magic glyphs: ............ It's a long story.


　For now, I'll concentrate on Crabbe's story.


I'm going to concentrate on Crabbe's story for now. "So, what's the other thing you need to learn in addition to learning the language?

Magic manipulation?

Yes. Okay, okay. You know exactly what I'm talking about.


　Crabbe seemed satisfied that he could answer without hesitation.
　Yes, magic is something that consumes magic power to work. However, it does not mean that the necessary amount of magic power will disappear by itself when you cast a spell, you have to prepare it by yourself.


　In other words, you need to be able to adjust the amount of magic power you use.
　Therefore, it is essential to be able to manipulate magic power at will.


You've already learned how to control magic, right?

Yes.



"To review the very beginning, ...... a person with magical power can feel as if there is warm water inside his body. That is magical power, and magical manipulation is the act of moving it, separating it, or moving it out of the body through thought.


　As my uncle had said, I closed my eyes and turned my attention inside my body. Then, I could feel something warm and indefinite in the place called "dantian" in the man's world.


　That strange liquid-like gas is the magic power.
　It is an absolutely essential power for the use of magic.


Arx. Whenever you have free time, move the magic power in your body. Then you'll be able to control it as easily as moving your limbs.

Yes, sir.

The goal is to be able to do simple tasks while working at the same time. The goal is to be able to do simple tasks in parallel, so that you can do them every day without fail.


　I nodded at Crabbe's words. I nodded at Crabbe's words. If he said so much, it must be important.
　Then he said


"By the way, when you master this, you will be able to feel magic power that is far away from your body.

Is that so?

Yeah. I'm the one who discovered it, after all. Isn't it amazing?


　I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that I'm not the only one.


You know I left home, but at the time, people made fun of me for giving up the heirship to Josh. I was so frustrated by that that I went around looking for a way to increase my magic power.

I heard that.

During that time, I did a lot of things. I ate a lot of food that was said to increase my magic power, and I used my magic power to the limit, like you do to gain strength. It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're looking for.


　Crabbe looks quite proud. There was no mention of detecting magic in the instruction manual, so I guess my uncle was the first person to discover it. His specialness (uniqueness). It's natural to be proud of him.


　But then...


"Did you notice?

"Yes. If you can sense the presence of magic, then you'll be able to tell where people and demons are, right?

That's right. Humans and demons have magical powers.

Maybe that's how they know how many people there are.

Yes. Of course.


　It's a human detector.
　Assassinations and the like will be completely pointless to this guy.


Well, it'll take a while before you can feel it. But it's very useful.　The more you train now, the sooner you'll be able to feel it.


　Crabbe said, and then, with a mischievous look on his face.


"By the way, Josh can't do this, can he?


　So, I guess you can look Joshua in the eye just by learning this.
　That's true, too.


You didn't tell your father about this?

Well, you don't teach your secrets to strangers, do you?　We're brothers, after all.

So your uncle and father don't get along too well?

They weren't always like that, though. Well, I'll tell you more about that in a bit.


　Crabbe then patted Arx on the head.