Dark Fantasy Normalized – Chapter 19

“My disciple? It’ll be tough, but could you hold the situation steady for a moment?”

“Just leave it to me.”

Boom!

As Ricir confidently replied, the mana and wind collecting in his hands scattered everywhere.

Since the magic was created relying on momentary instinct and instinct rather than honed experience and knowledge, it collapsed the moment willpower entered the equation.

“…What I meant was, just to leave it to me. There’s no guarantee I’ll return it—”

“Ooh, rebellion.”

Loera roughly tidied her hair, which had been tousled by the wind, and laughed playfully.

“Rebellion? Loera, do you think Ricir would do that? In fact, I might have misspoken. I meant to say to withdraw the magic immediately, but my tongue got tangled? Ricir just caught on to that, right?”

“Damn. Pamon. It’s kind of heartbreaking, isn’t it? Even a discarded cousin wouldn’t be as pitiful. How did it come to this?”

“I’m sorry, Master. I was trying to concentrate, but it only got more distracted—It seems it’s because I relied on my momentary sense to cast the magic.”

Even while joking around, Pamon was already analyzing the scattered mana energy in the area.

Her silver eyes stared into the void. Long fingers brushed the air as if testing the surface of droplets.

“Is this the result of relying on momentary sense?”

Pamon mumbled meaningfully, then began to look around.

“What’s going on? Is there an intruder—”

“No, no. It’s not that—”

Pamon calmed Loera, who was rising with her sword, and continued.

“I just checked the state of this place? I thought there might be some peculiarities that I missed. For example, the wind energy being unusually strong, perhaps?”

“Oh. So that’s why he was able to make something like that wind arrow earlier?”

“I thought so too—”

“…thought so?”

She spoke while looking at Ricir.

“My disciple?”

“Yes, Master.”

“Are you alright? Is there anywhere you feel uncomfortable?”

Ricir calmly reflected on his state at Pamon’s words.

“I feel a bit tired, but it’s nothing to be concerned about.”

“Thank goodness. Then, my disciple? Could you reproduce that one more time?”

Ricir nodded his head and immediately entered concentration.

“…”

A mass of mana formed, then—

before it could take the shape of an arrow, it scattered.

Ricir tilted his head. He repeated the process again.

Again. Again.

“Whew… Whew…”

This series of processes was repeated several times.

His breathing had definitely become rougher. Multiple droplets of sweat glistened on Ricir’s face.

“…”

Loera didn’t know magic.

So she didn’t understand Ricir’s condition right now, and the more she didn’t, the more worried she became.

Loera looked at Pamon.

That… Is it okay to keep going?

She thought to ask that, but in the end, Loera put the question away again.

She dared not offer an opinion as an outsider, and Pamon had an extremely serious expression on her face.

The silver eyes, hidden behind a bright smile, gazed at Ricir with a hint of something unusual.

“Is this really okay?”

A blank mumble.

Loera couldn’t fathom the meaning behind it.

*

“Haah… Haah…”

His clothes were already soaked with sweat.

Trembling legs.

Thud.

Ultimately, Ricir’s legs gave out, and he sat down in a hurry, checking his palm.

“Phew…”

A relieved smile spread across his lips.

The wind arrow he had completed just before was still there, holding its position.

Its size had distinctly shrunk compared to before.

This wasn’t just to make it easier to control.

‘Then?’

A question and silence.

Ricir couldn’t answer his own question.

Currently, his knowledge lagged far behind his abilities.

In other words, his abilities were growing at a speed that his knowledge couldn’t match.

Ricir keenly felt the magical arrow he had created. Moreover, he began to manipulate it.

“Oh…”

An exclamation escaped Loera’s lips.

The wind arrow, about the size of a bead, moved freely at Ricir’s gesture.

“Master?”

Ricir immediately raised his head to gauge Pamon’s reaction.

“…”

Deep in thought. That was Pamon’s response.

She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the wind arrow Ricir had created.

‘Certainly—’

Pamon recalled the wind arrow Ricir had created originally.

It had taken the form of a typical arrow.

Its structure was also honest.

After shaping the mana into the form of an arrow, he manifested the properties of the wind.

The problem was.

Ricir still hadn’t learned mana shaping.

Let alone controlling the properties.

Mana shaping is a crucial next step after mana control, while property control is an entirely separate category.

It’s not even an element included in the basics of magic.

‘How many steps did he skip?’

Countless stairs to cross from mana shaping to property control.

Was it truly possible to skip those stairs and reach the destination?

It was a phenomenon Pamon couldn’t comprehend.

Probably, no magician would understand it either.

Thus, Pamon formulated one hypothesis for comprehension.

Perhaps—

He might not have skipped the intermediate process.

He might have already traversed all those intermediate steps.

Just not realizing it.

“Ha!”

As her thoughts reached that point, a chuckle escaped Pamon’s lips.

“Master…?”

“Hehe. What’s this? Hey, Ricir. I don’t know what it is, but you must have made a ridiculously silly mistake. In any case, you were so full of yourself—”

Loera interpreted Pamon’s laughter in her own way and mocked Ricir.

The scene of the illegitimate child sitting on the ground and the wind arrow floating above his hand looked surprisingly pitiful.

“What’s this? A scene of bullying? An illegitimate child destined to be scorned?”

“Pfft…!”

But the ensuing laughter corrected their misunderstanding.

Pamon sat down.

Her back shook repeatedly.

And intermittent laughter echoed, not fully swallowed.

A moment later.

Pamon finally raised her head.

“I’m sorry, Ricir. You see, the sight of you cutely playing with that magic arrow is just too adorable!”

“…I think I’m going to be a bit hurt by that.”

“And—”

Pamon fell into thought.

“Puhah…!”

And once again burst into laughter.

“Ricir?”

“Yes, Master.”

“What the heck are you?”

“…Huh?”

Pamon squished Ricir’s face with both hands.

“Where did such a mysterious and precious being drop from?”

“Uh…?”

“My disciple?”

“Yes, my disciple.”

Feeling mana.

Controlling mana.

And once able to shape mana into the desired form, one finally transcends into a qualified magician.

Shaping magic.

That was the benchmark for proving a magician’s qualifications.

Ricir had proven his magical qualifications.

And— and— and—

He didn’t know.

What Ricir had proven.

What he had achieved.

“Congratulations?”

“…Huh?”

Thus, Pamon decided not to define it.

She simply blessed his talent and qualities.

*

After pouring all of his mental and physical energy during a brief moment of concentration, Ricir dozed off as soon as he took a break.

Pamon, Loera, and Duran.

The remaining three resumed their meeting.

The topic of the meeting was thoroughly tailored to Ricir.

The possessions held by Bendel.

Among those, what could help the current Ricir?

It was at that moment that talk of Bendel’s secret vault arose.

In fact, there was nothing “secret” about it.

In a prestigious family like Bendel’s, it was common knowledge that there was a secret vault hiding family treasures.

It was a public secret known by anyone who could be expected to know.

The issue was the location of the vault and its contents—

“Only the head knows that.”

“Oh~ that’s convenient~”

“…Convenient?”

With a meaningful remark, Pamon left the residence.

A few hours later.

Pamon returned as if nothing had happened.

Accompanied by a monstrous plant zombie carrying a massive crate beside her.

“…”

For a moment. Just for a moment, Loera thought.

Ah.

Is she just going to go back to Bendel?

Ricir and Pamon.

In this moment sharing with the two of them, Loera’s world was crumbling little by little.

“Well then. The business is done. Shall we start preparing to depart? Haiearn.”