Chapter 31: Magic Part 1

Traveling west non stop till night fall, we stopped further on the road side to give the horse their much needed rest. We made a camp and sparked fire, and while everybody else did their assigned duties I checked the overall condition of our goods.

Fifteen carts of unknown potion made by the local alchemist in Bilford. In accordance to the very small information that the client had given me, these potions needed to reach their destination unscathed. It seriously made me wonder how serious he was back then, but a job is a job, and I decided not to further pursue the topic at hand since the client seemed hostile about it. Good thing there wasn't any broken bottle when I opened the crates. I was afraid that my limited driving skills would get it roughed up, one way or another.

Nevertheless we did a good job on our first night out. I marched back to feed the horses, but the evening chill whipping me across the face made me glance skyward. For a moment I thought I saw the image of a high bird passed across the face of the moon. An eerie full moon.

Living in this world, I came to realize plenty of different things. Months are mirrored after the titles of some Great dragons - or so I had heard - and in this month, the month of the water serpent, a full moon signifies the month’s end.

It reminded me of a friend. When Cliona first told me that a spirits like her can only perform a proper contract on these types of nights, I had wondered what she meant. But, after having a good look at the face of this full moon, there was something about its soft glow, something about its mysterious light that demanded my attention. And that very same light guided me into a sudden melancholy.

“Boo,” a girl’s voice, soft like a ghost’s whisper, resumed the passage of time in my head. I had never once thought that staring into this moon could start these feelings of loneliness in my chest. At the very least I was thankful for her sudden interference.

“What’s up?” I asked, and looking past Emily, August waved a single hand at our direction, the wide grin plastered on his face told me that dinner was served.

“Let’s eat first,” Emily said, dragging me by the arm to sit in front of our campfire beside her. Sitting crossed leg, August handed me a bowl of herbal soup, the contents similar to the leaf lettuces in my world. A vegetarian’s meal, since there was basically no way to keep meat fresh when traveling on the road.

“Master, this will be my first time traveling off land. I’m kind of excited,” August said, extending his hand on the crackling fire.

“Ah, have you seen the sea?” I said, sipping on my bowl.

“Of course I have,” he shrugged. “But I had never left the central continent.”

“Same here.”

“I wonder what the land across the sea will be like?”

“No doubt it’ll be beautiful.”

“And beautiful girls,” August added.

“Indeed.”

The moment I realized I was sucked in by the conversation, someone pinched my face. It didn’t hurt. It was more like an act of pouting, but I had to act like I was hurt, just to reassure her. Emily seemed thorough with her bowl, and seeing it made me smile. However something felt different in this mushy atmosphere. Noticing the absence of another person, I shot a quick glance around us, but Lepust was nowhere within my sight.

“Where did Lepust run off to?”

“In solitude. Probably,” August answered, preventing himself to chuckle.

I sighed. “Hopefully this will teach him to be more serious.”

“Really?” Emily butted in. “I think he’s a lot more serious than what you two give him credit for.”

I remained silent. There was no reason to rebuke her. I myself knew how true those words were, and so did August, but it was part of our bond to make fun of each other. Reaching behind me, I sought a perfect place to rest. I lay on my back and intertwined both hands behind my head, a small yawn slipping out of my mouth.

“Well, I’ll go look for Lepust. Wouldn’t want him tripping in this darkness,” August said, mocking his little brother with another small laugh. He took the short sword laying on the trunk beside him and stood up. In time he disappeared to a place where I could no longer see.

Some honest guy he is. Although he was quick to ridicule, he was also quick on his footing to see his brother to safety. For some reason that image when I first met them two recurred inside my head. Like a wild animal; that was the best word to describe August back then. He’s calmed down a lot ever since. I wasn’t sure if it was due to the stress on living in the streets, worrying every damn minute if they’ll be having supper or not, or the huge responsibility of keeping his little brother safe, but he took in a considerable amount of weight once he started living in the orphanage. I knew it was a still source of much anxiety, but it was great seeing him smile and laugh like this.

Damn it had been one hectic day.

Shifting on my side I saw a rather familiar circle drawn on Emily’s palm. Where was it that I had seen those? Driven by the strong desire to know I grabbed Emily’s fiddling hand, and water suddenly splashed on my face.

“Ooops.”

“What the hell was that?”

“Umm, a spell?”

“Can you explain it in words I can understand?”

I ran my fingers through my hair, sweeping it back, and sat right up. I knew for a fact that magic was something regular in this fantasy world. However the knowledge I obtained after meeting Celes for the first time was something so small, it barely made any sense at all. After her short attempt in mocking me, I just hadn’t found the time to learn more about magic myself, or rather my circumstances pressured me to not have the time.

Emily looked at me. “I’m not sure you’d like to learn this method.”

“Why?”

“Literally, drawing magic circles is a lot more troublesome than it appears.”

“No, hold on. Can we start on the basics?”

Emily tilted her head and pursed her lips together, looking slightly amused.

“Very well. Do you know where Magic originates from our body?”

I held my chin with one hand, musing her question in my head.

I remember Celes explaining the basic principle; that magic power is based from a person’s soul. Even Cliona once told me a similar thing; that for her to materialized, she needed my mana. But there’s one problem. We didn’t have a proper spirit contract, and because of that, she needed to suck my blood frequently. So is it blood after all?

“Is it blood?” I murmured.

“Yes.”

“But from what Celes had told me, I first needed a spirit contract to be able to use magic.”

Emily snorted. “Perhaps to the Effu’s, since they basically live alongside spirits themselves, that’s what they considered normal. Since we can’t see Spirits like they normally do, we adapted to use magic in a different way.”

“So you can understand Spirits as well?”

“Not as much as your friend. But I did took the time to study.”

“Then how do you use magic?”

“Oh, Reimuz,” she tilted her head and leveled her eyes to me, smiling an impish grin. “You’re too eager for information it shows your innocence.”

I think she’s doing this on purpose.

“Well, sorry for being innocent, Miss-know-it-all,” I grumbled.

She leaned closer and kissed the edge of my mouth, whispering her desire with a blow of her breath.

“Since you ask too nicely, I have no choice but to show you then.”

Well for a small spoiler, I hope you all haven't forgotten how Wein used Magic in Chapter 16.