After the ceremony was over, he was officially made a court mage and was immediately summoned by Mathur.
On the throne sits a beautiful elf with a crown on his head that resembles an ivy plant.
He looked to be in his late twenties, but if you asked, he’s already over 300 years old.
“Keith. I hope you will continue to serve us well, for the sake of our country and our people.”
The voice echoed solemnly in the distance, like the rumbling of the sea on a moonlit night, and all he could do was say “Yes, sir” and keep his face down.
Mathur continued to Keith.
“By the way, I have a favor to ask of you, though you’ve just arrived at …….”
“Anything that is within my power.”
“Humu, send Naia over.”
As soon as Mathur’s voice rang out, an elf emerged from the back.
It was a woman, with a face that was still as young as a little girl.
She was dressed in a pure white dress and her face resembled that of Queen Mia, who sat next to Mathur.
Her platinum hair was long, and her small breasts, faintly visible, stood out beautifully amidst her thin limbs.
“Father.”
The girl who came to her father’s side, Naia, looked at Keith with a smile.
“This is my daughter, Naia. She was also at the appointment ceremony.”
Keith did not recognize her. But.
“Yes, I’ll never forget that beautiful figure.”
Naia’s face flushed with embarrassment at Keith’s bright-eyed compliments.
“Actually, my favor is in regards to this girl……”
“The Princess’s ……”
“Mmm ……”
He looked at Naia as if to confirm and then continued.
“As you know, we elves are very skilled in magic and witchcraft. I’m proud to say that we have a significant advantage over other races, especially when it comes to spirit magic.”
“True.”
“However, it seems that my daughter, Naia, has no aptitude for magic, …….”
He says so and looks at his daughter.
Keith was unaware of how embarrassing it was for an elf to be unable to perform magic.
But all he had to do was look at the way Naia was fidgeting with her hands while looking at the floor.
“So. If you don’t mind, I’d like you to be Naia’s magic instructor.”
Everything clicked for Keith at this point.
He realized that he had been hired with this intention in mind.
For Elves, using magic is as natural as birds flying in the sky and fish swimming in the water.
This is why they are not very good at teaching others.
So, if you need to “learn” magic and witchcraft, you need to ask a human to teach you.
He just happened to be in the right place at the right time. ……
This is, of course, Keith’s own imagination, but once he believed it to be so, he could only feel self-mockery.
“What do you think? Would you mind?”
“What? Yes, of course. I’ll do my best.”
“Really?!”
It was Naia’s voice that was the first to respond to Keith’s words.
Keith looked up to see Naia running up to him from his father’s side.
Naia knelt down and took Keith’s hand in hers.
“Thank God! I wasn’t sure what I would do if you said no! I’m so glad. I’m so glad I begged Father!”
“Ha, haa.”
“Will I be able to use magic? What do you think, Lord Magus?”
Naia asked him innocently, but Keith’s heart began to falter.
(Oh no, I’m her plaything. ……)
That was the only thought that came to his mind.
“Hey, Naia! That’s a little shameless.”
“I’m sorry, …….”
“Ha-ha-ha, you’re such a naughty girl.”
This cheerful scene made Keith’s mood even worse.
- §§
The magic lessons for Naia began immediately the next day.
The knight took him from his room in the court to Naia’s room.
Once inside, Naia, who was having her hair combed by a maidservant, spotted Keith and rushed over to him gleefully.
“Master Magus! I’ve been waiting for you!”
Naia’s smile brightened up her face like a sunflower, as she took his hand in hers.
But then a voice said,
“You insolent man!”
They froze at the sound of that voice.
The words weren’t directed at Naia.
“How dare the likes of a lowly mage like you lay hands on Naia-sama!”
Except, it was the girl who grabbed my hand tho…….
With this thought in mind, he looked towards the voice and saw an elf with brown skin standing there.
(Desert Elf?)
They are a clan of elves that live in the desert regions in the East.
Because of their brown skin and silver hair, and their unique religious beliefs, they were once called Dark Elves and persecuted in the past, but this is no longer the case.
However, their presence in this region is quite rare.
“Aisha ……”
Naia pouted and said to the desert elf named Aisha.
“It’s not polite to talk like that! Apologize to Master Magus!”
Aisha was troubled by her words.
“But, Miss…”
“Apologize!”
Aisha looked at Keith with eyes that were clearly not apologetic.
“Sorry.”
Is that supposed to be an apology?
I couldn’t help but think so. However, it was no use caring about such things in this country.
“No, don’t worry about it.”
“Are you not offended by ……?”
“Not at all.”
“Oh, thank God!”
Aisha continued to glare at Keith with a bitter expression on her face at the sight of Naia’s reaction.
“Oh right. I’ve never introduced you two. Mage-sama, she is my escort knight, Aisha. Aisha, this is Master Keith, the Grand Court Magus.”
He bowed and offered an introduction, but Aisha only replied, “Hmph!”
He couldn’t tell how old she was, but he was a little miffed at being scorned by someone who looked like a young girl.
“Again, Aisha!”
Seeing as how the conversation wasn’t going anywhere and honestly, I just wanted to get it over with.
“It’s okay. Let’s just get started please.”
“Yes, yes!”
Naia breathes deeply through her nose and psyches herself up.
For the moment, he opened a simple grimoire and a few other things, and the maidservant left the room, but Aisha stayed behind.
“Aisha-sama, are you going to stay the whole time ……?”
“Of course! I have no idea what insolence you bastard might inflict on Naia-sama! To be honest, it’s a pain in the ass.”
To teach, you need to be able to reprimand and even be a little bit rude. This is what teaching and learning is all about.
To have her stand watch over me and complain about my every move would be unbearable.
“What, you have a problem with that?”
“No, ……, I mean,……, I complain….”
He thought for a while and realized that being watched by the knight was going to make him go crazy. So, he decided to stop caring.
He decided to stop caring, but only for Aisha.
“Can you please leave? You’re in my way.”
“What? What the hell!!!”
“I’m distracted by your presence. I can’t teach well.”
“You, you bastard!!”
Aisha put her hand on the rapier at her waist.
However, Keith, who had been chased all over the place with claymores and halberds by ten members of the vicious Order of the Sacred Knights screaming, “I’ll kill you, you evil bastard!”, wasn’t afraid of a lone little girl.
“You could kill me, but then you’d have to teach the princess magic.”
“Damn you!”
“Stop it!!”
Aisha’s movements stopped at Naia’s words.
“Na…. Naia-sama.”
“It’s as Mage-sama says. Aisha, get out of here.”
“But…!”
“Get out!”
She’s like a dog.
In fact, Aisha looked back over and over at Naia like an abandoned puppy, as she left the room with a faint “Excuse me”.
She took a breath and spoke
“Well, let’s get started, shall we?”
Then Keith proceeded to imitate a tutor.
- §§
As it turned out, Naia didn’t have even the most rudimentary knowledge of magic.
Maybe it’s because she views it as intuitive?
I don’t know if that’s the case with all elves, but this is a problem.
Keith is a retired instructor of some sort.
In academic terms, he is the equivalent of a university student.
This was like giving a kindergartener a math lesson, and he honestly had no idea where to start.
Perhaps sensing Keith’s frustration, Naia said.
“I knew it…… impossible for me….”
It seems that the disappointment is even greater because of her high expectations, and her depression is extremely severe.
“No, it’s …….”
I thought desperately.
He thought about the results of an experiment conducted by some magic society, where they had made a lowly monkey learn magic through repetition.
Monkeys can do it. There was no reason why elves couldn’t do it.
At any rate, start from the very basics and work your way up. This is the basic principle. He thought to himself.
“Don’t worry. Let’s take it slow.”
Yes, let’s do it slowly.
After all, we’re dealing with elves. She has plenty of lifespan to spare.
And the longer it takes, the more time Keith has to work in this court, so it’s a win-win situation.
He smiled at the thought.
“Magus-sama…… you’re so kind……I’m so glad.”
Keith was a little perplexed when she smiled at him at such close range.
As if to deceive himself, he said.
“For today, let’s just try using magic to levitate an object. I’ll assist you. Anyone can do this as long as they have magic power.”
“Yes, yes!”
Keith placed a piece of paper cut out in the shape of a butterfly on Naia’s hand and placed his own hand underneath it.
He slowly drew out her magic and tried to levitate it.
In this way, he was trying to get her body to learn the act of gradually drawing out her magic.
“…………”
It doesn’t float.
It doesn’t even twitch.
“…………”
This is ridiculous.
Even a normal human being can do this, so there’s no reason why an elf can’t do it.
After all, they’re a fairy race. They’re living balls of magical energy.
Strange…… he thought, she had been told that anyone could do it, but she couldn’t, and at last her eyes filled with tears,
“I, I knew it…… It’s imposhible forr me…… Uaaa!”
“Please don’t cry!”
He had no idea how to deal with a crying little girl, so he stood up and stared at Naia, trying to find the cause.
She was an elf, no matter how you looked at her.
It was a perfect elf. It wasn’t a human cosplaying.
I wonder.
“Excuse me, may I touch your head?”
“Heh……, yeah. Gus …… is fine.”
He asked for permission and placed his hand on the top of her head.
He closed his eyes and began to look inside her body. It’s like a CT scan with magic.
However, it is not the internal organs that are being looked at, but the placement and flow of the internal magic channels. And then.
“Ohhh…….”
He finally understood the cause.
- §§
“It’s an anomalous formation of magic pathways ……?”
Keith nodded yes.
“It’s a …… kind of thing.”
“All living things have channels that allow magic to circulate in their bodies. You can use magic power by letting it flow through your body and refining it. Your body doesn’t have the proper channels to formulate magic power.”
“That …… no way.”
“This is something that you are born with, and it doesn’t affect you in any way when you live a normal life. But when it comes to magic and sorcery, it’s ……”
“So, …… will I never be able to use magic?”
The reality of the situation suddenly hit her, and her white skin turned even whiter in despair.
But Keith’s response to her was.
“It’s okay.”
Keith replied matter-of-factly.
“What?”
“If it’s made abnormally, we just need to make it right.”
“Really? You can do that?”
“Yes, I’m actually a specialist in that field.”
In fact, Keith’s specialty was the amplification of magic power within the body and the application of psychic healing.
He was said to be the worst in the history of attack magic, but when it comes to minor magic, there is no one better.
He has been called the “Little man Keith” by many people.
“I, I’m very lucky to have a …… Mage like you… …I am.”
If you were truly lucky, you wouldn’t have been born an elf suffering from an abnormal formation of magic channels.
He thought but his mouth did not speak.
“Let’s get that treatment done right away!”
“No, we have to prepare for it, and it will take time, so we’ll do it tomorrow.”
“It’s …… yes.”
“Well, that’s it for today, then. ……”
Then, as he was packing up his things and leaving the room, a voice came from behind him.
“Master Mage!”
“Yes?”
“May I call you …… Keith-sama?”
“What? …… Yes. No problem. ……”
Keith’s words brought a big smile to Naia’s face.
“Then, Keith-sama, see you tomorrow!”
As he was walking out of the room watching her, Aisha came out from the shadow of a pillar.
“Whoa!”
He stopped, startled, and Aisha gave him a look that could have shot him dead.
“Don’t get carried away, you fucking human. ……”
“Huh. ……”
“Take advantage of Naia-sama’s kindness and do something insolent to her. …… I’ll skin you raw and make a rug out of you.”
As I watched the back of Aisha as she headed towards Nia’s room.
“Scaryyyyyyyyyy!”
I got goosebumps all over my body and rushed back to my room.
In the room, Ruu was curled up on the bed with his fur shiny for some reason.
“…… Oh, welcome byack, Master.”
“…… Nice fur on you, cat.”
“I’ve been getting brushed by the maids ever since earlier today. …… It’s heaven here.”
“Your master is getting threatened with being skinned alive, and you, the familiar, are busy grooming. …… Hahahaha, I’ll make you a stringed instrument one day.”
Declaring a firm commitment, Keith lay down on his bed.