Chapter 62: The Exiled Marquise and the Second Son of the Impoverished Viscount Household 1
I instinctively looked away from the Goat Majin and towards Erika.
My eyes caught Erika, who wore a dazzling smile, and, incidentally, Shara, who was earnestly examining her own chest.
That smile was that one.
It was the same smile she had when she firmly refused the Prince of Faltar’s attempt to insert himself into an outing planned just for Erika and the Maiden of Light.
Did this smile, this “I’m leaving the rest to you,” mean that Erika-san was angry and telling me to take responsibility…?
Tentatively, I pointed at the Goat Majin, then pointed at myself.
Erika nodded with a smile that seemed to say, “Well done.”
Shara gently placed a hand on her chest with a serious expression. How could she be worried about that with a Majin right in front of her?
“What about our Vows of Marriage?”
I asked, shifting my gaze back to the Goat Majin, even though I knew it was probably pointless.
“We are adventurers now.”
What did that mean?
Huh? Did that mean we weren’t husband and wife?
A cold sweat broke out all over my body.
No way… Did this mean… divorce?
Calm down! Calm down, me!
I desperately tried to quell the part of my mind that impulsively started searching for a cliff to jump off.
It was only ever a promise for one year, it just ended sooner.
This was always going to happen eventually, wasn’t it? It’s not something to despair over.
…No, it’s hopeless. I should just die.
Erika asked me to take care of that thing. So, I’ll kill that Goat Majin, and once I’ve killed it, I’ll die. Yes, I’ll die.
“Well, if an arm or a leg happens to get blown off, perhaps I shall recall those Vows of Marriage.”
So, if I get an arm or a leg blown off, I can avoid divorce? Knowing Erika, she surely didn’t mean she’d step in to help if I lost an arm or a leg.
It meant she’d forgive me, that she wouldn’t divorce me, if I just lost an arm or a leg. How kind she was.
Erika… kind… I… like her.
I was thinking my left arm would do, and since she said ‘an arm,’ it probably meant from the shoulder, when Erika continued speaking.
“Though it is surely needless worry to think that the man calling himself my husband would suffer such an injury against a slightly large, hairless goat.”
Alright, unscathed it is.
I’ll take its head without a scratch.
“My apprentice, you are quite the thorough efficiency enthusiast, aren’t you?”
My master, “Kind Barbara,” addressed me as I held a Magic Tool that grew heavier the longer time passed—a tool whose purpose I couldn’t fathom.
Having held it for about an hour now, I was already near my limit and couldn’t even nod properly.
“No, I’m talking about how you use magic, apprentice.”
My master answered, perhaps sensing the question in my gaze.
“Your Magicka capacity is average, apprentice. It’s only natural you’d end up focusing on maximizing strength, output, and duration like that.”
While desperately wishing the Magic Tool would consume its Magic Stone quickly and free me from this weight, I was still curious about what my master was trying to say.
My kind master probably thought I’d get bored with just Physical Enhancement magic training and decided to throw in a lecture as well, but I was too distracted to focus.
“If you ignore duration, if you want to quickly increase strength and output, you just need to pour more Magicka into the Magic Circle.”
“It’s what you’d call increasing the pressure,” my master said.
But doing that would quickly push the Magic Circle past its limit. The Magic Circle wouldn’t hold.
“Exactly, apprentice.”
My master picked up on my unspoken question as if it were obvious.
“Simply increasing the Magicka poured into the Magic Circle will quickly reach its limit. So, what do you do? That’s right, you increase the Magic Circle’s strength.”
Hey, wait, what is this master planning? What’s that Magic Stone in her hand?
The tool was already so heavy I couldn’t even tell if the weight was still increasing, but I desperately kept raising the strength of my Physical Enhancement.
“There are mainly two ways to increase a Magic Circle’s strength. One is to increase the Magicka used to construct the circle itself. Well, that’s the method for geniuses. Someone who’s just a bit more confident in their Magicka capacity than others probably couldn’t even construct the circle properly.”
Master approached me, holding the Magic Stone.
“The other method is simple. You just need to train the medium upon which the Magic Circle is constructed. A high-quality body increases the Magic Circle’s strength. In other words, apprentice, you just need to train your body.”
“So, I shall give my apprentice an additional Magic Stone.” Saying that, my master added the Magic Stone to the Magic Tool.
Her face showed genuine satisfaction at being able to be kind, wearing a smile that seemed ready to ask, “See? Aren’t I kind?” at any moment.
I can’t handle that kind of kindness right now!
I desperately tried to squeeze out my dwindling Magicka, but I could only foresee a future where my arms would be crushed to pulp in a few minutes, making me want to cry.
Beside me, my master mentioned, “There’s also increasing the amount of Magicka flowing through the Magic Circle, but that’s also a genius’s method. It’s surprisingly inefficient,” but I no longer had the mental capacity to think about it.
We adventurers have a rough understanding of how to handle Magicka.
When we say ‘pour Magicka into a Magic Circle,’ it’s ambiguous whether we mean increasing the volume of Magicka flowing through it or increasing the pressure of the flow.
We mostly just use the word ‘pour’ based on the situation’s context.
That’s because we adventurers don’t learn magic systematically like nobles attending an academy. Well, in my case, it was because I was too delinquent as a student.
It’s nothing to brag about, but I’m confident I spent more time looking at Erika than at the blackboard.
“So, I have a question for you, Goat Majin.”
There was no way it could hear my inner thoughts recalling my master’s teachings. I sensed something like confusion flicker across the Goat Majin’s face, not understanding the ‘so’ part.
It does possess Intellect after all.
Slowly, deliberately slowly, I approached it and continued speaking.
“Unlike you lot, my Magicka capacity is average. So, what would someone like me do if I wanted to increase the strength of my Physical Enhancement right now? That’s the question.”
A Magicka Thread traced over my body, following the Goat Majin’s gaze.
I could clearly tell it was debating whether to use tentacles or magic.
I stopped just within range where either would be a viable option.
I was still only using standard Physical Enhancement.
“This just happened a little while ago.”
I forced myself to ignore the revulsion and discomfort welling up from my gut every time I spoke to it.
“I realized it while I was clashing swords with the Ogre Knight. I don’t have the Magicka to construct a robust Magic Circle, nor the capacity to pour vast amounts of Magicka into it, and it’s not like my body can suddenly become strong enough to reinforce the circle.”
“Kind Barbara’s” lecture on interpersonal combat.
If you can’t seize the initiative, disrupt the opponent’s timing as much as possible.
“Then it suddenly occurred to me. Huh? Physical Enhancement can even be applied to armor? The clothes enhanced by Physical Enhancement were fine even when my arms were getting crushed?”
Having Intellect in that form must be inconvenient, having to listen to my pointless rambling like this.
Are you that concerned about Erika behind me?
“If Physical Enhancement can pass through it, then isn’t that basically my body too? A sturdy part of my body, sturdier than my actual body?”
“So, like this.”
Before I could finish, the ground beneath my feet exploded.
Several times faster and far more vicious than the long-range attack from before, a tentacle strike gouged the earth.
But the ground exploding was mostly my fault.
Because my inexperienced self had scraped away a huge chunk of the ground, like a rookie adventurer who had just learned to use Physical Enhancement.
Staring at the human-like neck supporting the goat’s head from behind, I said:
“Why not just construct a Physical Enhancement Magic Circle on the armor too?”
Finishing my sentence despite the sickening feeling, I swung my Sword at the neck of the Goat Majin, which still hadn’t located me.