Water Magician

A short distance from the City of Rune.

“So … nothing happened on this journey either …”

“…… Ha?”

Ryo’s mutter was heard by Abel walking next to him.

“Ryo, who can say that after his left arm was sliced off, is beyond my comprehension.”

Abel really thought so.

“No, to be clear, isn’t it normal for light novel-like events such as a bandit attack or rescuing a noble lady to happen?”

“Yeah, I really don’t understand what Ryo says.”

“Look, normally, when you’re walking down a road, you’ll be attacked by bandits and kill them, and gain the treasures that the bandits have accumulated. Or you would save a noble lady attacked by monsters or bandits and you would gain various conveniences provided by that noble house?”

Ryo enthusiastically talked about light novel contents and the importance of said events.

“I don’t think such things happen.”

However, Abel denied him ruthlessly.

“Hey, Ryo.”

“What? Money again?”

“No! I’ve never borrowed money from you!”

Abel snapped in an instant and returned to normal after a while.

“It’s a serious conversation. I’m wondering why Ryo didn’t encase her in ice when you fought that Leonor.”

“Oh……”

When asked by Abel, Ryo remembered the battle with Leonor and looked at his left hand for a moment.

There were no more cut wounds left.

“Simply put, I can’t freeze everyone.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. I don’t know if it’s a case of magical power or something else, but basically, I can’t freeze a powerful Magician. At least not yet.”

“Not … yet …”

Abel reacted to what Ryo said at the end.

“No one knows what will happen in the future, right? That’s what I mean. So I had tried freezing Sera before, but I couldn’t do it at all. Well, in Sera’s case, she’s an Elf. It may not have been possible because of that.”

“Protection of the spirits?”

Abel murmured with knowledge from his royal family time.

“You know about it! Sera said that too. Also, I had the opportunity the other day, so I asked to try on Arthur from the Court Magic Group, but I couldn’t do it either.”

Arthur Verasis, the advisor of the Court Magic Group.

A core pillar of the Kingdom who came all the way to Stonelake after being called by Ryo.

“You tried all kinds of things … even at the expense of Arthur …”

“That’s rude! I just asked him to cooperate in the development of magic. I wanted to know how much I can do with my magic after all. Well, that’s why I didn’t try on Leonor directly but she probably can’t be frozen.”

Ryo said with his mouth turned down at the corners. :<

It would have been easy if she could be frozen … was what he wanted to say.

“In the first place, it shouldn’t be possible to freeze people?”

“Oh …. Arthur told me that too … I wasn’t able to do it from the beginning. When I was in the Rondo Forest, I tried it on a monster, but in the beginning, the magic was repelled off the surface of the monster’s body. I practiced a ton until I was able to do it.”

“I-is that so …”

“Hard work is the strongest tool.”

For some reason, Ryo bragged with a proud look.

“By the way, I also wanted to ask Abel.”

“What?”

“Sheesh … that’s where you should reply with ‘What? Is it money again?’ … Abel is still a long way off.”

“What on earth are you looking for in me!?”

“Of course, the talent for comedy …”

“Ryo, should I make it impossible for you to laugh for the rest of your life?”

Then Abel pretended to put his hand on his sword.

“Of course it’s a joke, sigh …”

Ryo said and laughed loudly.

Ryo understood that Abel’s high-speed blade draw was quite fast and it was disadvantageous for him at this distance.

Ryo, who was always thinking about fighting in his head … maybe he was quite a battle fanatic … that is, he had muscles for brain.

“What I want to ask is about fighting skills and sword techniques.”

Fighting skills were 『Skills』 acquired by those who fight with weapons, such as Swordsmen and Spearmen.

From Ryo’s point of view, it seemed to be something different from the techniques that one learns after training.

Yes, like magic or something.

“Are fighting skills physical magic?”

When Ryo asked that, Abel’s eyes opened a little wider.

“It’s true that there are researchers who insist on that idea, though I’m not really sure.”

“You’re not sure even when you’re using it?”

“Yeah. In the first place, you don’t know everything about magic either, right?”

“Well, that’s true.”

Ryo answered while thinking about with various magic of other Magicians, including his own.

“Some people can cast magic like Ryo while others can’t cast it unless they chant it. Not only humans, but some monsters also use magic too … Speaking of which, there are ridiculous monsters capable of nullifying magic too …”

Abel recalled the battle between the Behemoth and Wyverns that they had seen before.

“Yeah, chanting! I, Sera, and … well, I’m reluctant to include him, but even if we omit ‘that Fire-Attribute Magician’, everyone else chants. Thinking back, in a village I went to previously, the Baba-sama who worshiped the Earth Goddess did not chant and said to Etho, who accompanied us, “I do not chant. In fact, there was no such thing as chanting in the beginning. From some time ago, chanting and the like began to spread as a matter of course.”

“Is that so? I didn’t even know that … By the way, I was told a long time ago that fighting skills appeared in the Central Nations 100 years ago. Perhaps it has something to do with that…”

“And … the Hero Roman party members don’t chant …”

Ryo remembered when they fought together at the catacombs.

“Now that you mention it, that was the case. They only used trigger words …”

Ryo’s face lit up when he heard that.

“That’s it!”

“What is it?”

Abel was surprised by the intense reaction from Ryo.

“The word 『trigger word』!”

“Eh? Um words that … invoke magic, right?”

“Not the meaning but the word 『trigger』! Do you know what it means?”

Abel, who didn’t understand why Ryo was excited, thought while tilting his head.

“I don’t know what you are getting at … trigger word is just trigger word …”

He answered while tilting his head.

『Trigger』 meant a ‘trigger’ for a gun or ‘trigger’ for something on Earth.

It was very symbolic to call the word that causes the last magic activation a 『Trigger word』.

Because it was symbolic, it was a perfect match … but why that word?

After all, there probably wasn’t a gun on 『Phi』 yet, right?

The 『Black powder』 was finally being manufactured but under national-level confidentiality.

On Earth, 『Black powder』 was gunpowder in English.

It was probably gunpowder or its derivative.

At the stage when such things are beginning to appear, the word ‘trigger’ was already common and it seemed that it had been used for a long time.

From Ryo’s perspective, it felt strange.

And Ryo remembered another related matter.

“There’s also that! The highest level of Wind-Attribute Magic that Rin casts? The one with a long chant. Didn’t she fire it that time during the Great Tidal Bore?”

“Oh … was it 『Bullet Rain』?”

“Yes! Do you know what ‘bullet’ means?”

“No … Bullet Rain is just Bullet Rain …”

Bullet was English for a ‘bullet’ on Earth.

In other words, Bullet Rain was a rain of bullets.

But that’s why.

In a world where there shouldn’t be a ‘bullet’ yet, why is there magic named 『Bullet Rain』?

“I really don’t understand.”

Ryo thought while frowning.

“Well, the only question Ryo had that I could answer is fighting skills.”

“Oh … it’s okay. I’ll ask other people other than Abel.”

“I feel like I’m being ridiculed … I’ll let it slide. It’s said that fighting skills spread to the Central Nations about a hundred years ago. There are no records of who started using them first.”

Abel introduced the beginning of fighting skills.

“A hundred years ago? That’s quite recent.”

“Well … I’m not sure if you can say 100 years ago is recent …”

“Because it’s half of Sera’s age …”

“Yeah, well to Elves, most things will be ‘recent’.”

Abel sighed and replied to Ryo’s way of jumping to conclusions too much.

“Adding on, I don’t know if fighting skills are considered magic, but as I said earlier, researchers haven’t come to a conclusion either.”

“I see … it would be great if those fighting skills can be used in magic nullification spaces.”

Abel froze at Ryo’s words.

However, he brought his thoughts back.

“No, well, you would rarely encounter a magic nullification space.”

“In a battle with monsters …”

“No no, it’s unlikely that you’ll be fighting the Behemoth class. Fighting skills won’t matter anyway since it’s impossible to win.”

The only magic nullification that Abel had seen was the magic nullification space that Behemoth seemed to have created.

“As an Assassin Hawk evolves, they will acquire the ability to nullify magic.”

“Seriously …”

Ryo experienced the one-eyed Assassin Hawk that activated magic nullification during their final battle.

Upon hearing that, Abel passed the realm of surprise and felt anxious.

Assassin Hawks were by no means common monsters in the Central Nations, but they were not impossible to encounter either.

They were one of the most feared monsters because they could kill without the target being aware of them.

“At least the Assassin Hawk I fought could nullify magic at the end. It was scary.”

“Ryo … I’m surprised you survived.”

Abel commented from the bottom of his heart.

A Magician without magic … meant death.

“Thanks to this.”

Then, Ryo pulled out Murasame from his waist and showed it with its blade.

“It’s the one you used to fight with Leonor. Is it an ice sword? The blade is thin but curved? It’s a strange shape.”

“It’s called Murasame. Legend has it that it is a splendid sword that will cause ice to scatter once you pull the blade out.”

“O-oh.”

Abel looked a little taken aback by Ryo’s appearance of looking lovingly at Murasame in his hand.

“Is that an ice blade in the first place? It feels like a sword dedicated for Water-Attribute Magicians.”

“That’s right. I got it when I made the first strike against my master.”

“I see. That’s … deeply emotional.”

Abel didn’t know and answered while touching the sword on his waist.

Afternoon on that day.

The two have finally reached a point where they could see the City of Rune.

The season was March.

Spring had come to the City of Rune, which was located further south in the tropical Kingdom of Knightley.

Ryo saw the City of Rune for the first time in two months.

Initially, he planned to return in about 40 days, but he stopped by the Royal Capital from the Inbury Duchy and was involved in the chaos …

“It’s been a long time.”

Ryo muttered.

Abel also said after looking at the City of Rune for a while.

“Alright, shall we?”

TLN: End of the short but definitely fun side-arc. New arc next week!