Chapter 22
THE NEXT MORNING…
Because Emilia’s private lesson was to be in the afternoon, Mira spent the morning doing things like chatting with Mariana, playing with Luna, and going about her research. Before noon, she left her tower and leisurely made her way to the academy while enjoying Mariana’s packed lunch in her wagon.
She arrived at the academy about twenty minutes before afternoon classes were due to start. Dotted about the campus grounds, she saw students enjoying a brief moment of respite.
Word of Mira had spread. She noticed several students calling out, “It’s the Spirit Queen!”
From what they said, she could tell that the students’ perceptions of evocation had changed for the better. Surely, everything she’d been doing, along with Cleos and Hinata’s hard work, was finally starting to pay off. Having observed this, Mira strolled cheerfully toward the training hall.
Despite it still being before their lesson, she found Emilia already ready and waiting in number two.
“Good morning, Miss Mira. I’m ready for today’s lesson!”
Judging from her prompt greeting and the anticipation on her face, she must’ve been looking forward to this quite a bit.
Seeing Emilia like this, Mira considered something else. The fact that summoning was once more gaining recognition wasn’t only due to her, Cleos, and Hinata’s hard work. It was because of the brand-new generation of summoners who were giving evocation their all.
“Hrmm, it’s a bit early, but why don’t we get started?”
Now thinking a bit differently, Mira dove into Emilia’s private lesson.
A few hours had passed under Mira’s instruction. Emilia was assiduously practicing immediate simultaneous summoning while being given signals by Mira.
“Hrmm, you’re getting there. With that speed, you can probably use it in actual combat.”
This was the foundation of Danblf’s simultaneous evocation technique, which he’d poured his knowledge and know-how into creating.
Thanks to her raw talent and Mira instructing her in the basics of the technique, Emilia’s speed had increased dramatically. So much so that it far outclassed the simultaneous evocation that she’d demonstrated at the Spell Symposium.
“Th-thank you!”
Despite being utterly exhausted, Emilia was happy to hear the praise. At the same time, she was surprised. Her concerns that she’d plateaued had vanished. Basking in this happiness and surprise, she smiled as if everything she’d worried about up until then had gone out the window. But when it came to summoning, Mira was uncharacteristically strict.
“Don’t let that go to your head. You’re only just getting started,” Mira reminded Emilia sharply. She then told Emilia to set her goals higher before demonstrating her own simultaneous evocation.
Mira didn’t need a single gesture to execute the technique. Yet she’d instantaneously summoned two dark knights before her. Not only that…she did it twice. Then three times.
“Incredible…”
It was beyond what Emilia even imagined possible. It took a substantial amount of focus and concentration just to use simultaneous evocation once, and Mira had done it without batting an eye while talking and showing no sign that she was about to do so. From Emilia’s point of view, it must’ve seemed superhuman. And yet, she wasn’t discouraged by the sight, simply filled with childlike surprise. She hastily asked Mira to teach her whatever was next.
Seeing the fiery passion burning in Emilia’s eyes, Mira proposed a question to her before moving on to the next subject.
“That’s the spirit. All right, in that case… Emilia, what do you think are the advantages of simultaneous evocation?”
“The advantages?” Emilia’s excitement had yet to die down, and she regained her composure upon hearing Mira’s question. And after thinking it over for a moment, she gave her answer.
The benefits of simultaneous evocation were first that she could muster greater fighting strength while only summoning a single time. Or she could distract the enemy by summoning multiple evocations, all the while cutting back on the summoning slots one used.
She seemed to have thoroughly studied the basics.
“Hrmm, those are all correct. However, that’s not all.”
Nodding her head as if impressed, Mira nevertheless said it wasn’t fully correct. Dismissing all of her dark knights, she used some rather conspicuous gestures to perform a summoning technique. And right beside Mira, a dark knight appeared. However, Emilia tilted her head inquisitively, having noted that there was only one.
They were talking about the benefits of simultaneous evocation, and yet, she’d only summoned a single knight. What had been the purpose of doing so?
However, Emilia had been hasty to jump to that conclusion. It only looked like Mira had summoned one.
A solid hand fell on Emilia’s shoulder with a thud.
“Huh?”
Turning around in surprise, Emilia then cried out. Amazingly, there stood five dark knights in a line.
The technique Mira had used moments before had been simultaneous summoning. But this time, she had set all the summoning points but one behind Emilia’s back.
“Summoning points are quite versatile. You can utilize them even more effectively when using them with simultaneous evocation like I just did.”
What Mira had shown her was a technique that had the potential to turn the tables during battle in an instant. After a moment, Emilia finally comprehended what’d happened and was astonished.
The more skilled a mage was, the greater the range they could set summoning points at. For a mage as skilled as Mira, it was possible to summon anywhere within a sixty-five-foot radius around herself.
Using that technique, she could encircle an enemy in the blink of an eye. As if that weren’t enough, were she to summon one evocation in front to distract them, she could even cut off their escape route without them realizing it.
This was another potential advantage of using simultaneous summoning.
“All right, how about we get started?”
“O-okay!”
She would need to expand where she was able to set summoning points. Mira began teaching her that this was another crucial element when it came to simultaneous summoning. The first thing she checked was Emilia’s summoning range. She was pretty good at this, summoning an evocation about sixteen feet in front of her.
However, she only summoned a single evocation.
“Hng… What’s…this? What’s going…huh?”
She was attempting to use simultaneous evocation sixteen feet ahead. This wasn’t necessarily an issue. But, due to a miscalculation, the spell itself ended up failing.
When she split up her summoning points, she used to set one immediately in front of her and the other farther off. Until now, every time she’d used simultaneous evocation, it’d been to summon two evocations right next to each other.
But the goal this time was simply to summon one of them elsewhere.
Despite this being all she had to do, Emilia struggled with it more than she had with anything that day.
“Miss Mira…” Emilia almost always took on whatever was thrown at her but now seemed to be at the point where she just couldn’t figure out what she was doing wrong. Utterly exhausted, she beseeched Mira for help.
“Well, it is your first time, after all.”
Simultaneous evocation demanded a high level of skill. But despite it being one technique, there were various hurdles that needed to be cleared to use it. Using separate summoning points was but one of these very hurdles.
“Listen up. The way you direct your mana isn’t much different from how you would normally summon…”
Having keenly watched how Emilia was executing the technique, Mira told her where it was that she was making a mistake and thoroughly explained how to avoid doing so. A lot of it had to do with feeling, and so the most important element wasn’t knowledge but experience.
Following Mira’s instructions, Emilia doggedly practiced again and again so that she might pick up a sense for it. But, as one might expect, it took time. Emilia didn’t manage to do it that day, but thanks to Mira’s advice, she seemed to have gotten a feel for it.
“Oh my, it’s gotten pretty late. Let’s stop here for today,” Mira said, bringing the lesson to a close after hearing the final school bell ring.
Her reluctance to leave was written all over her face, but Emilia said, “Miss Mira, thank you for today!” before bowing.
“There’s no need to thank me. I’m teaching you because I enjoy doing it,” Mira said cheerfully, answering Emilia—a serious student who burned with passion for her studies. Then she added, “So I’ll see you at the same time tomorrow.”
And the moment she did, the look of exhaustion on Emilia’s face turned to one of utter shock.
“Huh?!”
And the moment Mira saw this look, a dark thought flashed through her mind. Had she been too strict with her? What if Emilia dreaded the thought of having to practice the next day?
But she needn’t have worried. Far from dreading the thought, Emilia had thought their special lesson would be one day only, so she’d just been surprised to hear Mira say that she’d see her tomorrow.
“Can we do tomorrow, too?!”
Sure enough, the fatigue and weariness that’d been on her face seemed to vanish as she smiled broadly.
“Hrmm, if you’d like to and have time. We certainly can.”
“I would! And I do! I’d really love to!” Emilia answered immediately. Her passion when it came to summoning seemed to be the real thing.
She must’ve been quite happy, as she proudly chatted to the butler about how she’d be having special lessons tomorrow when he came to take her home.
Tomorrow, we’ll continue what we were practicing today… But what else should I teach her?
Thinking about what her plan would be for the following day, Mira hopped into her wagon and headed home. Feeling that Emilia was very much a student worthy of teaching, Mira was quite happy herself as well.
After getting back to her tower and resting a moment, Cleos returned. This meant it was now time for Cleos’s special lessons…
But before that, they had their daily chat, which had become a new routine. The topic of these chats usually had to do with the classes at the academy, with Mira asking what it was that Cleos would be teaching next. They also used the time as an opportunity to discuss how Emilia had been doing or how the curriculum was progressing.
“Everyone’s working their tails off, aren’t they? And I bet Emilia will become a fantastic example for them to follow.”
“You think so? After just one day…?”
Beginning that day, the School of Evocation had begun full-fledged lessons on simultaneous summoning. Unsurprisingly, no one had succeeded in successfully executing the technique. But they had all begun to get a sense for it.
Mira laughed that the other students, not to be outdone by Emilia, must also be worthy of teaching. Cleos chuckled bitterly that she was teaching Emilia too quickly. Having overcome the same hurdles himself, Cleos knew this very well.
Wrapping up their discussion, Cleos threw himself into his intensive training. Today, he appeared to be raring to go.
It’d been one week since the Spell Symposium…
Mira had been working on her research, experiments, and Cleos’s intensive training. She’d also been continuing to give Emilia private lessons the whole time. Thanks to Emilia’s hard work and Mira’s instruction, the girl’s abilities had improved dramatically. As a result, she was now even able to use simultaneous evocation from a distance of over sixteen feet. Her ability to do so surprised even Mira.
“Hrmm, you sure can feel the youthful energy at the academy in the morning.”
Emilia’s private lessons usually took place in the afternoon. But in order to get ready to bump her lessons up to the next step, Mira had come to the academy in the morning. Emilia’s simultaneous evocation had reached a point where Mira thought she could reasonably use it in combat. So today she planned on having her practice using it against monsters…
They were to meet in the lobby of the training hall. Poking her head inside, she heard Emilia’s jovial voice.
“Good morning!”
“Ah, you’re already here.”
Mira had arrived a little bit earlier than they were scheduled to meet—and Emilia had come even earlier than she had.
“I woke up a bit early and just couldn’t wait.”
She must’ve been excited. She had the vibe of a child the night before a school field trip.
“Hrmm, in that case, why don’t we head out early?”
They’d head out to do actual combat. Emilia appeared to be in such high spirits that she didn’t seem the least bit anxious.
…Perhaps it was confidence. Or arrogance.
Sure that today would be a big day for Emilia, Mira steeled herself and took the girl outside. Getting into her Garuda wagon, the two made their way to a beginner-level forest.
“Ah, the city is already so far away… I wonder how far that mountain range goes. I can see the forest now!” Emilia was very much amped up by the view from high up in the sky.
But that wasn’t all she was excited about. It must’ve hit home that if she could master summoning, then she could do all kinds of things. Mira could tell that she was getting more and more fired up.
Just like that, they arrived in front of the forest. After taking a quick look around, they finally ran into their first monster.
“Hey, there’s one. Emilia, can you take it?”
Upon having Mira check with her, Emilia strode forward. “Yes, I sure can!”
Fearlessly facing down the real-life monster, Emilia began to do battle with it as Mira watched.
The girl’s capabilities were the real thing. Regardless of the fact that it was her first real battle, she used simultaneous evocation and secured a flawless victory.
“Well, color me surprised. To think that you were able to defeat it right off the bat…”
Hearing such unreserved praise, Emilia cheerfully replied that it wasn’t the least bit surprising.
“It’s all thanks to everything you taught me. I knew if I just did what you said, I’d be fine.”
The reason she’d faced the monster fearlessly was because of what Mira had taught her.
“Hrmm, really? I admire your attitude.”
Being Emilia’s teacher, Mira set her eyes in a firm gaze, even as her mouth unintentionally crept into a smile after hearing her words.
After finishing her first battle, Emilia went on to fight several more monsters. But the last encounter they had was with two monsters, which proved to be difficult foes for the inexperienced girl.
She’d managed to pull through and win by a hair, but there was room for improvement.
“I knew what to do, but I just couldn’t move the way I wanted…” Emilia lamented. And yet, she didn’t lose her spirit. With her eyes brimming with enthusiasm, she said that she felt fortunate to have been able to experience such a tough battle so soon.
She certainly was a tenacious girl. Seeing as much, Mira said they might next work on how to fight multiple opponents, deciding what she’d be teaching the girl next. At any rate, having experienced real battle, there was no doubt that she’d grown.
It was a little after noon by the time they wrapped up their excursion to the forest and got back to the academy.
“Thank you, Miss Mira. I’m excited for our lesson after school as well!”
While she ought to have been tired after fighting so many battles, Emilia ran eagerly toward the school building so that she could make her afternoon classes.
“All right, then what should I teach her after?”
They’d be having their after-school training just like usual. While thinking up some combat techniques that could be used to combat multiple foes, Mira headed toward the castle while pondering which exactly would suit Emilia best.
Mira waited for class to end while crafting blasting stones like Solomon had requested.
After school, Emilia began her intensive training with Mira in training area two. Focusing on the areas where they’d realized she needed to improve, Mira was giving her a lecture on how to take on multiple opponents.
“…And so you can also use it like that. What’s wrong, Emilia? You look a bit down.”
Emilia usually listened to Mira with a fiery look in her eyes. But today, it seemed as if she couldn’t really concentrate. They’d been doing special training from early in the morning, so perhaps she was tired.
Emilia responded, “I apologize,” before opening her mouth as if she’d made up her mind to say something. “Um, it’s just that the portrait of Master Danblf that hangs in the banquet hall… Well, someone…”
Emilia’s voice was filled with a fury that Mira had never yet heard.
She said that the banquet hall was the place where they hosted various events and functions. Hanging in that room were large portraits of all Nine Wise Men, and it was the school’s most sacred space.
“Today, I was on cleaning duty for the banquet hall. And I went up to pay my respects before the Danblf portrait…” Then, while trying to contain the anger that was simmering within her, she shouted, as if unable to bear it any longer, “And someone had scribbled horrible things over Master Danblf’s, and only Master Danblf’s, portrait!”
“What…did you say…?!” Hearing this, Mira also found herself at a loss for words.
Had someone scribbled over all the portraits, then it could be considered just some troublemaker’s prank. But this wasn’t the case if someone had only done it to the portrait of Danblf. In that case, it was undoubtedly a deliberate and premeditated offense.
“I see. Okay, I got it. I can understand how it’d bother you that whoever did that is still out there.”
Targeting only Danblf like that was utterly unconscionable. It was surely someone’s way of declaring war. Having come to this conclusion, Mira roared, “For the time being, we’ll put training on hold. If whoever did that wants war, then we’ll give it to ’em!”
With the criminal still out on the loose, Emilia would be distracted and unable to focus on her special lessons. And Mira wouldn’t be able to settle down if she allowed such a thing to go unpunished. Mira was feeling fired up.
“Okay, let’s get ’em!” Emilia answered, with the same sharp, hunter-like glint in her eyes as Mira.
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