I made a mistake...

　I've got my head in the sand.

　We have a very serious problem now.

　There is no food for the livestock.

　How did we get into this situation? The reason is simple.

　I didn't know that horses eat so much.

　Obviously, this horse eats four times as much food as a cow.
　Why, they're the same size!

　Do you just happen to eat a lot of this guy's food?

　No. Horses are creatures that eat many times more than cows to begin with.
　Leah said, as if to refrain from doing so.

　In short, it's me who is to blame for not doing my research.

　So, what to do...

　Slaughter them?
　Tetra said as he gripped the hilt of his iron sword for self-defense.
　''Slaughter.......what a waste.......''

　It was expensive, and I don't want to kill it.
　We must find a way to maintain it.

　''Well the area around King Ferm's country was supposed to be a grassland. Why don't we just take him there?　Horses are faster than cows, so it would be easier to get back and forth in a day trip...

　Hmmm, that's it. That's the only way I can do it, but...
　I think a place where there's grass to be fed to livestock is the property of the country.
　So for us to feed horses there without permission is like a kind of territorial invasion.

　We don't want to have too much contact with them, you know? The Ferrum King.
　I haven't heard much good things about him.

　He rebelled and became king, and now he's thoroughly purging anyone who rebels against him or something.
　I suppose it's only natural for a ruler to be afraid.

　But now it's too late. I've already negotiated directly with King Loseys.
　I've negotiated with the surrounding villages frequently, so they should already be pretty well known about this village's existence.
　It's only a matter of time before we make contact.......

　As long as they don't find it.

　'Then we'll do that. As for Leah, of course....
　Brother!　I'll go, I'll go!　We don't want you to run away, and we don't want you to get attacked by a wolf!
　Rosward held up his hand.
　It's fine to be motivated, but if you get attacked by a wolf, get the hell out of there, right?　You're never going to win.

　I've managed it for now. So we're good, right?


_______________________________________________________________.


　In the middle of the night, I started to wake up.

　'It's still a beautiful full moon,'
　A large moon is shining in the sky.

　Earth's moon is said to be huge for a satellite, but this world's moon appears to be several times larger than that.
　Maybe it's the distance between them, or maybe it's just the stars themselves.

　Maybe that's why the nights in this world are quite bright.
　Of course, it's not as bright as in Japan's urban areas. But it's definitely brighter than the nights in the Japanese countryside.

　On the night of the full moon, Julia is coming.
　I have to wake everyone up.

　Most of the older members have already done enough to learn the art of anti-cursing, but the newer children don't have that skill.

　Also, members like Seo-yeon, Tetora and Lulu are very good and still have room to grow, so I can't let them skip it.

　'Let's wash their faces for now.
　The worst sleeper among the children is Tetra. It takes a lot of effort to wake her up.
　But if we put off waking him, he will sulk, so we have to wake him up first.

　It's going to be a fierce battle, and we need to keep our eyes open to win.

　I take the torch in my hand and head to the stream in the village.

　It can be used for washing up, of course, but it can also be used for agriculture, cooking and drinking water.
　But it's hard water, so I can't say it's good for you.

　''Ah........''
　The creek had a prior visitor.

　His pure white back was burned into my eyes.
　The man who had just come in noticed the presence of people, and looked back at me.

　It's Tetra.
　We look at each other.

　A few seconds later, Tetra sits down, her face bright red.
　The creek is shallow, so naturally Tetra's body is not hidden by the water.

　'....Did you see that?
　I'm just watching your back.
　"...that's the problem. Are you sure you haven't seen it?

　Are you really that uncomfortable with someone looking at your back?　I'm not sure.

　At least I didn't see anything weird.
　Yes.

　Tetra looked relieved to see if she was satisfied.
　Then she stood up, wrapping a cloth scrap around her body.

　'Take the clothes there,'
　'What?　Yeah, okay.

　I pick up Tetra's clothes that have fallen at my feet and hand them to her.

　Looking at it this way, I can see that Tetra is a beautiful girl.
　Farming inevitably results in sunburn and rough skin, but Tetra's skin is very beautiful.

　Her breasts are not large enough to be flattering, but if you take into account the fact that she's only thirteen years old, they're more than big enough.
　You can expect to see more growth in the future.

　To tell you the truth, I've made something amazing. So give me time to show it off.
　I don't mind but what the hell did you make?

　Tetra laughed mischievously when I asked her that.
　'Fun.'

_______________________________________________________________.


　Hey Julia. Do you know what Tetra made?
　Haha. Ha-ha. You'd be surprised.
　Julia smiled happily.　
　I shift my gaze to Tetra. The other members' eyes also focus on Tetra.

　'This is what I want to show you.'
　Tetra unfolded a piece of paper in front of us.

　There was a geometric pattern drawn on the paper with what looked like bright red ink.
　What the hell is this?

　"This red stuff is my blood.
　Hey, you okay?
　Yeah. I washed it down with water and doused it with liquor, just like Almus said.

　Tetra said, showing her thumb wrapped in a cloth rag.
　Even though I've taught you how to disinfect with alcohol in the meantime, I don't want you to do something dangerous because you don't know what's going to happen.

　I'll be more careful next time.

　As he said this, Tetra spread the paper neatly on the ground and placed his hand on the center of the paper.

　'Glow.'
　Tetra blurted out, and the geometric patterns began to glow faintly.
　What is this.........

　"Try it, Alms, try it.
　'What!　Me?　I don't have this kind of talent.

　Unfortunately, I have an ordinary level of talent when it comes to spellcasting, and I can only do mine.
　There are only a few girls who can use spells other than anti-curses.

　There are currently only ten sorcerers in our village who can use spells other than anti-curses. There are only three sorcerers who can use very advanced magic: Tetra, So Yeon and Lulu.

　Just...
　Tetra pushes me back.
　I don't have a choice. Let's do it.

　I place my hand in the center and mutter the same thing as Tetra.
　Then the geometric pattern begins to glow faintly!

　What do you mean?
　'There is a talent gap in witchcraft, as you know. Two reasons. One is the power of the soul there are individual differences in spell power. In general, women have more spell power than men, but even within those women, there is a huge difference. Only a handful of women are capable of spellcasting. So far so good?
　Yeah.
　I nod, and Tetra begins to explain again.

　'The problem of spell power is easy to solve. We can bring the power from outside. We can compensate with sacrifices, spellcasters' blood, and spellstones.

　A curse stone is a stone that is filled with curse power.
　It comes out of the ground.
　There are theories that it is a congealed human grudge, part of the body of a fallen god, angel or spirit, or the corpse of a fairy.
　The truth is a mystery.

　The second reason is that constructing a jutsu requires a very high level of skill. And the rule of thumb accounts for a large percentage.

　All good spellcasters are born with the ability to use simple spells without being taught.
　Hence, it is very difficult to teach people.

　Few people can be taught how to breathe if they are asked to teach you how to breathe.
　It's the same thing.

　So how do you get them to teach you?
　There is a method of speaking to the soul.

　A good sorcerer can interfere with the soul.
　He uses his own soul to get a sense of it by having it perform the jutsu.

　It seems that if you don't master it within ten times, you don't have any talent and you should give up.

　'The construction of the jutsu can be supplemented to some extent by dancing, singing, etc.

　If you want to do a spell, you can do it just by reminding yourself of it.
　However, you need to concentrate like steel to succeed in the spellcraft just by remembering.

　That's why incantations and other methods have been invented to ease the burden.
　But in the end, dancing and singing also require talent in its own right. So it's not a solution.

　There are only a handful of people like Julia, whose spell power is dozens of times greater than that of normal humans, who have steel concentration, absolute pitch and high motor skills.

　''This is a pattern of luminescent spellcraft techniques. The spell power is supplemented by my blood. It lasts roughly ten seconds.
　You mean that one? You're telling me that you've got all your witchcraft skills represented by (...) geometric patterns?
　Yeah. You can write the figure on a piece of paper and take it with you. And since the technique is already completed, all you have to do is remember to activate it.


　A lot of sorcerers were able to make the art only by the technique of song, dance, and spell. It is because they could not theorize witchcraft.
　It is easier to succeed in witchcraft while singing and dancing empirically. After all, it is such a thing.

　The success or failure of a spell is, after all, the ability of the sorcerer.
　This guy overturned all that.

　How did you come up with this figure?
　Tried a few things. That's all that's left. You just need to draw the geometric patterns according to this.
　Tetra handed me five sheets of paper.
　The formula was written all over them.

　"The root of all things is number.

　What kind of Greek are you?

　"I have decided to call it magic.
　It's a formula for "magic," so it's surgical. No change.

　Hey, doesn't that put some kind of dentist out of business?

　If that were to happen, Yulia's character would be diluted. Her personality is only a beautiful girl royalty.......or is it thick enough on its own?

　''I don't think so. There are some things that can't be expressed in a formula.''
　That's right. There are some things in this world that can't be represented by numbers, like pi and square roots. The forces of nature - making fire and wind - seem to be replicable, but they can't represent curses and wards where emotions make up a large percentage of the total.

　Thank goodness.
　I was a little worried that you'd drown me when you told me there was no such thing as a square root.

　''In other words, if you combine this technique with the spellcasting technique as before, it's the strongest!
　Lulu said, increasing the tension.

　'By the way, I know you've been quiet for a while now, but did you guys understand?'
　Tetra turned to Ron and the others, who had been silent for a while now, and asked.

　'Only that it's kind of awesome,'
　Well, that's all you need to know.

　I don't understand most of the formulas written either.
　You can't use magic, because I don't know how to use magic.

　It's not a good idea to call everything that can and can't be represented by that figure a spell. It's not the same thing anymore.

　I see. You have a point.
　It would be useful to know the difference.

　So, Armes has a name for it.
　You sure it's me?　Well how about ... how about magic?

　Starting a fire or blowing wind reminds me of magic in RPGs.
　I'd like to name it magic, but I feel like it would be better to make it magic to match the witchcraft (.).

　I'm curious about the word 'demon'.
　You know, they say witchcraft is a curse.

　Neither one of them has the same fussy name.

　'That's true too,'
　'So, starting today, witchcraft. I'm the world's oldest sorcerer.......yeah, cool. I think my two names are 'The Founder'.

　Tetra mutters with a grin.
　This guy is old enough....
　I'm worried.