Thereafter of An Exiled Magician

“We finally made it back home-!!”

Coming back to the village, Aria raises an elated voice.

She talked about fighting successive battles, but now she appeared ready to collapse.

Well, I can’t blame her either.

We were chased by quite a few monsters on our way home, after all.

“There were more of them, than I expected.”

“A lot, came after us.”

By the last stretch, we were practically sprinting towards the village.

It was all because of the magic stone we were carrying back.

Magic stones are a lump of magical power.

To a monster, they’re nothing more than a tasty treat.

That’s why, you’ll get chased by monsters if you’re holding onto one.

I have no clue how they sense it, though.

“That’s why I said, we should have left the magic stone where we defeated the monster.”

Demonstrating her poverty, Aria dismissed that proposal and brought back the stone.

However, she also seemed a bit regretful, seeing the number of monsters that came after us.

“It’s no problem! I had lots of fun!”

“Geez. Reno…”

The still energetic Reno says that with a smile on her face, creating a tingly attitude.

Reno looked forward to a monster-free return trip the most since she worked the hardest as a scout, but she endured it.

“More importantly, let’s go defeat more greywolves!”

“Aah, wait a minute.”

Saying that, I head to the workshop and bring back the earth attribute magic extract.

“After a fight, repair your equipment with [Equipment Repair].”

“No need to. It’s fine, see?.”

Saying so, Aria turns her shield towards me.

There were some small scratches on the surface, but otherwise it seemed brand-new.

“It may be fine this time, but it’s better to create a habit out of casting [Equipment Repair] post-battle. If it breaks during battle, it won’t end pretty.”

“…If Lain insists, then I’ll do it.”

Saying that, Aria hands me her equipment.

Following suit, the other four also hand me their armors and weapons.

They seem to have been using them cleanly, so there were next to no scratches or marks on them.

No, Reno’s weapon was slightly bent since she rammed a monster with it.

There were also some big scratches.

Did she use it to cut some branches on her way?

“Reno, did it feel uncomfortable while you were waving this?”

“Nope. I did feel slightly sick after battle, but got over it quickly.”

“I see.”

Reno truly possessed good sense.

She immediately reacted to the bent in the weapon.

“Would you prefer to fix this distortion?”

The magic itself wasn’t very difficult.

If you remember the initial state of the weapon and cast magic on it, the weapon will get restored.

Since it required earth attribute extract in this case, we didn’t make use of it till now, but now there wasn’t an excuse not to, due to its abundance in the Demon Forest.

“Alright.”

Kili resolves herself, and stands in front of Reno’s dagger.

She takes a deep breath, as if to calm herself.

“….. [Equipment Repair]!”

The moment she activated her magic, the extract amount gets reduced, and Reno’s dagger gets repaired.

After a while, the dagger became as-good-as-new.

“Oooh! Awesome! Thanks Kili-nee!”

Taking the blade from Kili’s hands, Reno waves it around in order to test it.

She seemed satisfied with how it felt.

Seeing her, Kili also pats her chest in relief.

“Okay. You did great. From now on, keep in mind how the raw materials get used up, and be alert so as to not repair things beyond how much they need to.”

“? What does that mean?”

“To be precise, this magic returns objects to their exact original state, given enough raw materials and magic. However, you don’t always have to completely restore them, right? That’s why it’s best to stop right before complete restoration.”

In formation spells, the very last part which sorts out the finer details, is the most expensive one as well.

In reality, you don’t need to reach this point either.

Whether some molecules are not in order, or if there are some unnoticeable scratches, it’s unlikely to cause any harm.

That’s why, you typically stop the magic right before its final stage.

That’s also why, object-formation magic is designed to be stoppable in the middle.

“Now, keeping that in mind, you can repair Aria’s shield.”

“Got it.”

Keeping those instructions in her head, Kili activates her next [Equipment Repair].