Shinde Hajimaru

Shinde Hajimaru: Chapter 8

Spell battle

“...I'm glad I used soundproof barrier just in case... or else we would be kneeing down apologize our neighborhood...”

“I'm sorry!”

I blown up the garden at 7 in the morning, now it's already 12 a.m.

It took about 5 hours using earth arts to restore the ground. Oh, and in these time, I became able to control my magic power output to some extend.

How hot was that, I wonder... Here and there I could see some soil melted, to cool them down water arts was also used...

So, after all, thanks to this incident, I became able to use 4 elementary attribute arts, excluding light and darkness. It's supposed to be a happy achievement...

“I'm not angry anymore. Thinking about the result, you learned strangely fast. You seems to be able to control magic power already. Unlike Enchant where you keep magic power within your body, manipulating magic power outside the body is supposed to be a hard task...”

“As expected from onee-chan! You have aptitude for magic like that of a monster!”

“Monster... In that way, do you not have strength of a monster?... How come you are fine with running straight from 4 to 9 a.m.?”

“I stopped to drink some water though?”

“That's not it! That's not! I meant your physical strength!”

(You are only 4 years old know, understand?)

(There is no need to use telepathy... And by the way, us being waked up at 4 a.m. to train is not normal at all for 4 years old, you see?)

(...That's right..)

Even though my body without Enchant would not be able to stand? Just raising up my body is enough to make me out of breath... What's up with this training?!

“Yeah yeah, time to stop your union and let's have lunch.”

““Ye~s””

Certainly, we don't have time to waste, I have to master over 100 elementary attribute arts within 4 months anyway.

“Ah, mother... does the fire attribute spell earlier have a name?”

“It's called <Bomb>, a basic fire attribute spell.”

“By the way, what it the lowest magic power consumption of that spell?”

“About 10, same as Status. Well, lowest consumption level is only used to conceal yourself.”

I see... Let's confirm that. <Status: Ability (Status)>. Of course I'm able to use Status without chanting now, you know?

○Ability (Status)
HP：100/100
MP：161400/210000

If I'm not wrong, my MP was 163400 before training started. The total consumption for Status, Earth art and Water art was 1000, so, <Bomb> used 1000... that is 100 times more than the lowest level.

“How was it? How many was used?”

“After subtracting the amount I used for water and earth arts later... about 10 times...”

“Lies.”

“You are lying.”

Looks at their certainty...

Am I that easy to read? This is making me ashamed.

“....ugh...”

“Did you say something? I couldn't hear you.”

“100 times! It was my bad!”

““....””

“....uuu... That wasn't intended... And didn't you also do it while demonstrating to me?...”

“...”

“.... *stares*”

“Uh... even Elise... Alice, I was wrong for pressing you. So cheer up, please?”

“... Breakfast, kupi donburi...”

“Yes yes, got that.”

Kupi donburi is an dish made from meat of animal similar to pigs, making unfathomable weird sound 'Kupiiiiiiiiioi~'. It's like a beef version of pork donburi. But, this dish is more delicious than the beef donburi I ate back in Earth!

… I'm not telling you this to hide my embarrassment, you know?

Absolutely not!

“Hmm, it's alright then.”

“Since we still have kupi meat left, there is no need to go out to buy. Continue your training in the afternoon. I won't step back on this, prepare yourself.”

“...U...understood...”

“Elise, build up your strength.”

“Running again? Even while running is fun...

Well, it's fine, I guess. Is this time combining Enchant and Wind art enough?”

“That's good. But I don't know much about martial art, so think about applying to martial art by yourself.”

“Ye~s. Since I'm finished eating, I will start running after resting a little bit.”

“Hmm, I'm finished, too.

...Let's begin training now.”

“What's with your sudden motivation?... Kupi donburi?...”

Kupi donburi is justice.

Mother and I go to garden again. Since I was able to use fire, water, wind, earth attributes, only light and darkness left to complete 6 basic attributes.

This training is for my own sake anyway, let me do my best!

At me renewing my spirit, mother smiles silently, then she parts her lips.

Mother seems about to give an explanation about light and darkness arts.

“Light and darkness attribute arts are basic for interference. Light can deceive eyes, darkness can hide and interrupt.

Offensive spells also exists, but they are mostly belong to intermediate level. But since you can just stick with <Material Guard> included in light arts, and <Mind Guard>, for every magician who have aptitude for light and darkness attribute, it can be said that these spells have highest priority in their training.

Every life is valuable, especially in a small country where war happen a lot...”

Somehow, I can feel the sadness in mother's expression.

It is regrettable that the me now can't do anything for her. I'm without knowledge, neither is strength. I can't even encourage mother, let alone protecting her.

I feel... frustrated...

In order to not have this frustration in the future... for now, I have to listen to her explanation carefully.

“What's else... eh... A lot of light spells are effective against Undead, darkness can create protection against mind effects.

Well, <Mind Guard> is unnecessary for you, Alice, let's exclude that from your training.

Since I don't have aptitude for light attribute, I won't be able to teach you... But I'm a specialist among specialists in darkness arts, as you can guess from my eyes color. That's why I will teach you, listen to your heart content! Let's begin!”

“Yes!”

That was how, I started my 4 months of training magic everyday, until the following year.

Of course, <Spirit magic: Mind resistant>, <Enchant: Endurance> and <High speed magic power recovery> was forcefully utilized to maximum.

-----I never expected, mother has such a plan for me in the last day.

December 31st, that day was Oomisoka on Earth. It was 12:00 noon.

Mother took me to a competition in town.

Yes, a competition. For the reason, I couldn't think of any. At bewildered me, mother said:

“Wait here.”

And left me behind. I had an extremely unpleasant premonition.

After about 30 minutes of waiting, a staff member from of competition organizer came to me.

“Alice-sama, please follow me.”

So he said. I still didn't know anything. Still, I went after him in confusion.

I walked through a dark corridor with shady atmosphere.

And then, ahead of me was...

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming to our store today.

...Well, there are only Serena-sama and Alice-sama though...”

A woman in beautiful clothes appeared and bowed to us respectfully.

Hah...? Store? Isn't this a competition...

My head stopped working for a moment. Of course, I still had an odd feeling.

As I stopped thinking, the conservation continued somehow.

“Hah... Why am I doing....”

“Are you saying something?”

“No, absolutely not. Our match today is between the strongest explo..”

“I will kill you, you know?”

“... My impoliteness. Serena-sama and Alice-sama. It's a showdown between mother and daughter. Against a little 4 years old girl a training, what a de...”

“I, by my command”

“Aaaaaa~~ My apologize! Please stop that! If Serena-sama use that, the barrier protecting our competition will be blown up!”

I did not follow too well since my thought stopped, but... What is this, a comedy?

All right, since we had not done this for a while, let's organizing our established facts.

1. As mother asked, I was took to a competition.

2. This seems to be a dome, mother is facing at me from about 30 metres away.

3. On our arms, there is a bracelet with 3 spheres of light.

Conclusion: Mother and I will be fighting, it seems.

“The rules are: who takes 3 hits first lose. The bracelets on arm of each participant function as a special field, while it can transform magic power, but it is designed to active only when a spell is almost touching you, so please be careful.

The numbers of flashing light spheres is the remaining number that it can active. The participant who has all spheres dimmed is defeated. Shots within 10 seconds is counted as one. For the fairness of the match between Serena-sama and Alice-sama, only Elementary level spells are allowed. Alice-sama's Spirit magic and Enchant are allowed, but using addition magic power to raise efficiency is forbidden.”

Even with the rules explained, it wasn't like I could take them in... I barely recognized the situation just now...

Well, leaving aside this someone explaining things...

Let's ask mother.

“...Mother, what is this?”

“Keep silent and listen, you will understand.”

Mother didn't feel like answering at all.

“If Alice-sama win, today and tomorrow dinner will be kupi donburi. If Serena-sama win, the training program will be increased by 1.5 times. Or so I've heard.”

4. Okay, let's win. Let's do it.

Because kupi donburi is justice.

“The judge will be me, Nicol, the owner of this competition. Now, two participants, prepare yourself!”

From mother's side, I could feel a life-threatening atmosphere. No, to me, I think losing also means life-threatening, seriously. 1.5 times...

...Suddenly, I felt an even stronger motivation than that I had after hearing about kupi donburi.

“3, 2, 1. Start!”

Fast! What's with that kind of counting?!

For now, I have to attack, or else I will be killed!

“<Fire arrow>”

“<Water arrow>”

First strike first win! … or so I intended. As expected from mother. She thought the same as me.

Then this would be a battle about numbers, and casting time.

The shortest time I need to invoke a spell is 2 seconds.

At that, mother fired 5 <Water arrow>, almost instantly.

Our level was that much far away... If mother went full-force, I would absolutely have no chance...

But she seemed to be going easy on me. Casting time aside, she waited for me to complete my preparation.

And so, I dispatched my directed and prepared <Fire arrow> at mother.

At that, <Water arrow> that mother prepared is... not coming?!!

“Just shooting won't make you win, you know?”

“Wha... !? <Magic Guard> ~~! Heavy!”

Mother didn't fire away her <Water arrow> immediately. Of incoming arrows that she could dodge, she evaded them splendidly, those that couldn't be dodged no matter what, she intercepted them with her own arrows.

And with her remaining 2 <Water Arrow>, she fired at me.

To think she dodged 8 arrows, just exactly how fast her reaction can be? The speed of those arrows were at least 50 metres per second! And even more, she even had room to take it easy fighting me!

As I guarded against <Water Arrow>, I took a glimpse toward mother.

“You are too slow! <Fire Lance>.”

“Eh!?”

Again, she created a flying spear of fire in almost no time. Her <Fire Lance> aimed at my heart accurately.

The <Magic Guard> spell I used is a defensive barrier around my body, capable of intercepting spells. It's convenient, but of course, there is also weakness.

That is, on the time of activating, I can't remove it. It's the problem with operating magic power.

But, the problem was even before activating it. If I can move through my wall, there is no need to create that wall from the start.

To sum it up, I'm in a position where I can't move... furthermore, my <Magic Guard> which barely stopped mother's <Water Arrow>, can not possible to take on a powerful <Fire Lance>.

My <Magic Guard> shattered with a sound like breaking glass, returning to formless magic power. <Fire Lance> pierced straight to my unprotected heart.

----

---And penetrated through my back---

“It's....not hurt?”

I was about to die for sure, or so I thought. But I was still having consciousness. There wasn't even pain.

“What happened? It definitely went through me...”

“That's it. It looks like pierced your body. But the spear disappear right before it touch you.”

...Disappeared?

…...Ah, was that because of something the competition officer mentioned about...?

“Anyway, you were hit once, do you know? Two more and you will lose, do you even have time to talk? By my command, come forth water spears that penetrate everything. <Water Lance>”

Uwa~!? Dangerous!

Mother! While certainly she can invoke spells silently, she chanted on purpose! Does that mean she doesn't need to silent cast against me?! I will show you otherwise!

“<Wind Blade>! Ya~!”

Close range spell, <Wind Blade> cut water spears into pieces. And continued flying toward mother. While it took up her attention!

“<Water Arrow> <Fire Arrow> <Wind Arrow> <Rock Arrow>! Go!”

“Only with number? That much won't be able to make a scratch on me, you know?”

“<Water Lance> <Fire Lance> <Wind Lance> <Rock Lance>!”

Each arrow spell fires off 10 arrows, 40 arrows in total flied toward mother. Before they could reach her, I dispatched 3 lances from each lance spell, 12 spears lying in wait.

And, while my arrows landed on her, I threw all of my lances!

“Ugh!? <Magic Gua...>”

“<Wind Cutter>!”

“Argh”

Fufufufu... Mother, you will be in trouble looking down on me, you know?

“How did you realized?...”

Yes, behind me, mother with her figure hidden by darkness spell <Shadow>, asked me while revealing herself. On the bracelet on her hand, certainly one light sphere dimmed. Yes!

“Before I readied my arrows, I knew you were preparing a spell. It wasn't <Magic Guard>, and also no attack came at me, so I guessed that must be a concealment spell.

And so, I knew you could avoid my arrows. So I used my lances to counter your concealment. After that I used <Wind Cutter> after knowing your position.”

“I see...impressive...

But you are being too neglecting, you know? Your foothold is all unguarded.”

“Belo..?!”

“Told you it's too late! <Bomb>”

“Ugh! <Flash>!”

On my bracelet, another light sphere dimmed.

Only one left.

But still! Preparing accumulating magic power for fire spell while I was talking! How is she an adult!

Taking a direct impact from <Bomb>, I used light magic <Flash> as diversion, tried to create a gap between mother and me. No... A gap was created between us...

“That was a hasty decision. While avoiding an attack, you should make sure not to run to another one. <Fire Trap>”

Suddenly, in front of me, pillars of fire appeared.

And, from mother's direction, I could sense something powerful... No, it's a spell, obviously.

“Firstly! <Magic Guard>”

"<Fire Arrow> <Water Arrow> <Wind Arrow> <Rock Arrow> <Fire Lance> <Water Lance> <Wind Lance> <Rock Lance> <Fireball> <Water Ball> <Wind Ball> <Rock Ball> <Fire Bullet> <Water Bullet> <Wind Bullet> <Rock Bullet>"

“☆☆☆○○☆○☆?!”

Anyway, I couldn't escape from <Fire Trap>. I activated <Magic Guard> to defend from follow up attack. There wasn't anything wrong before that point. But the problem is after that.

I wonder if taking a hit from a 4 years old child, 1 day to 5 years old, hurt her pride. Because a barrage of 400 units of offensive spells was hurled at me after that.

… How can I defend against something like this! This is idiotic! This is madness!

“Dokyaaaaaan!”

“I did it too much...”

“Have a little self respect, can you? This idiot parent...

...Winner, Serena.”

And thus, my first magic battle left me with a trauma of having a large quantity of spells with various color coming at me, my defeat closed its curtain.

Duel finished, time to go home...

“Mother, I think you were means on the last attack.”

“Teehee☆ I kinda did it ☆ ”

“Don't try to mislead me!”

“I'm sorry, I was too happy seeing my daughter growth!”

“And, while you were at it, let me experience a disaster that can leave me a nightmare!

That was really scary... Having about 400 different sparking colorful things coming at me, each of them has the power to be fatal. All of them rushing at me like hunting its prey..

Mother, do you want to try experience that?”

“No.., let me restrain on this... Really, I'm sorry.”

I wonder if she imagined that scene, her face turned blue, she shook her head rapidly.

“Well... it's a good thing I experienced my first time fighting with someone... It was fun, other than the last attack... And I landed a hit on you, too”

“Y...yeah! If you think it as a good memory”

“By my command”

“Wait! I'm sorry!”

Hah... this mother of mine... while she has many good points, she also has many bad points in contrast...

“Ah, Alice, you aren't forgetting, right?”

Was that another diverting?

Without intention, I asked mother, squinting my eyes.

“What is...?”

“Don't play dumb. About the condition if you lose.”

…..Ah..

Remembered the talk before our match, I turned blue, suddenly I felt hopeless.

“No... no way...

Demon! Ruthless! Evil! Mon...”

“More than that and you will lose your life.”

“...Yes...”

Ugh... so means... so unreasonable...

And so, after 4 months of training elementary attribute arts, from that point, my training program is multiplied by 1.5.

A little late now, but is there any chance that battle earlier was arranged to increase my training...?

------------

I indulged in some other things and had problem finding a balance. Sorry for the wait.
Good news: The author of this series continues to release new chapters after a slump. Well, I think I just entered my own slump though...