Ch. 146: Studying with Emily
The shadows grew long during the evening. I was carrying heavily packed shopping bags and walked alongside Cyril.
Today, there was a special sale at our favorite nearby supermarket. We bought mainly goods that would not perish easily and picking up this and that, a normal person would not have been able to walk 10 meters (～30 yards) carrying this many things.
Cyril: “There were so many things on sale today!”
Henry: “.....I know, but…..even then, we bought way too much.”
Cyril: “We are living in a house with a large refrigerator. We should do our best to make the most use of it. Besides, Henry, you’re a warrior that eats many times more than a regular person.”
Well, yeah. Since most of this food is going to eventually end up in my stomach, I really don’t have a place to complain……but I’m not that much of a bottomless eater.
Cyril: “～♪ ～♪”
Cyril hummed as we walked. Hearing her singing, my urge to complain evaporated.
We followed the wave of people heading in the same direction and arrived at our house…….andーー
“Good evening, you two.”
And in front of our house, Emily, who was one of the students taking the same Kroseid Magecraft Course with me, was sitting near the doorway. And though things started off in a contentious mood, Emily hit it off with Cyril just fine, and after class, they usually go have tea together.
Cyril: “Huh? Emily? I thought we said around the 5th bell rings, but did I make you wait?”
Emily: “Ohhh, I’m so sorry, Cyril. It’s my first time being invited to a friend’s house, so I got a little too excited and came early.”
And apparently, they promised to meet today, and Cyril invited her to our house.
Since we were out getting food and supplies, Cyril planned on meeting her at a later time…..but from how Emily looks, I don’t think she’s been waiting that long.
Emily: “But this is such a nice house. Isn’t it expensive to rent a house like this?” Cyril: “Well, not really. We know someone that helped us rent this place cheap. Here, I’ll unlock the door right nowーー”
Cyril scurried up to the front door first and waved us both inside.
Cyril: “Welcome, welcome, Emily. Please come in.” Emily: “Yes, thank you for inviting me in.”
And as for me……..with all the shopping bags I was carrying, I couldn’t fit through the front door. I had to place a few bags down and bring them to the kitchen a few bags at a time.
On my second trip, Cyril waved me over with a tea kettle in her hand.
Cyril: “Henry, I need hot water. Could you make some hot water for me? I need it to make Emily some tea.”
Henry: “[Fire] {Ignis} + [Water] {Eedle}”
I put some hotter water into the kettle. If she places this over a fire, it would start boiling immediately. It’s a little technique to shorten the amount of time to boil the water with Magecraft.
Cyril: “Thank you.”
Cyril bowed politely, and took the kettle back to the kitchen oven.
Emily: “You don’t have to serve me anything you knowー?”
Cyril: “Of course we do! You’re our first guest here. Please let us welcome you with everything we can. Actually, we just will whether you like it or not.”
Emily spoke up from the living room couch, and Cyril immediately turned down her request. Now that I think about it, she gets pretty bossy at times. Well, it’s only to people she knows really well, and typically, her bossy attitude just comes off as cute.
Cyril hummed a tune while she lit the stove for the kettle. She took out a special tea that we drink on our day off and to offer it to guests.
Well, I can leave the rest to her. She’s really good at making tea.
I left Cyril to prepare the welcome for Emily, and I returned out front to retrieve the rest of the groceries.
……..and when I finally got all five bags and put the contents away, Cyril and Emily sat around the living table and had tea.
Cyril: “Oh, Henry. Thank you for putting the groceries away. Please have a seat.”
Henry: “Sure….”
I sat across from Emily and on the same sofa as Cyril. After taking a seat, Cyril poured tea into my cup.
……….yes, the tea was really good.
Emily: “Wow……..that tea was delicious. Could I have another cup, Cyril?” Cyril: “Of course you can. Have as much as you want. You’re helping Henry after all.”
And I grimace slightly.
……..yeah, I really didn’t want to drag her out here at this kind of hour.
Emily: “Is it in 5 days? The Kroseid License Test. Mr. Henry has been studying really hard.” Henry: “Yeah, I’m trying to push myself, but when it’s 1st Class material, the textbook isn’t enough to help me figure out the problems……..I really don’t mean to bother you with this, but I need your help.” Emily: “Yes, just leave it to me.” The Kroseid Style Test is done once a month. In other words, while we’re in Sunwest, I have 3 chances to pass. But it will also take time to make the custom Spellcall Stone, so I want to pass as soon as possible. To be able to craft with materials that’s only allowed for 1st Class users will also take even more time.
Fortunately, my Practicum will be easy to pass, but I’m struggling a lot with the written test.
And that’s why I asked Emily who already held her 1st Class license and was surprisingly good at teaching.
Fred is smart too, but he’s only 2nd Class, so he hasn’t really studied 1st Class materials in depth.
After we had our tea, Emily placed her cup gently and elegantly on the living room table, and digging through her bag, she began taking out writing material and a textbook.
Emily: “Now then, we’ve enjoyed the tea long enough, so let’s get started.” I drank the rest of my tea in one gulp, and…….before I could move, Cyril took my cup and walked to the kitchen. She’s quick with cleaning up too.
Henry: “Thank you, Emily. I’m in your debt.” I also take out my studying material and bow my head politely. Even if she’s younger than me, she’s the one teaching me today. I need to address with respectーー
Emily: “No, no. You can address me as the beautiful and wise Miss. Emily please.”
And she immediately kicked my legs from under me right at the starting gate.
What? YーYou really want me to address you like that? I mean, I’m the one who’s asked her to teach me, so if she really wants me to do that, I will…….
え、そ、そんな風に呼んで欲しいの？ いや、無理に付き合わせているのだから、言って欲しいなら言ってもいいが……
Henry: “BーBeautiful and wise Miss….Emily?”
Emily: “Hmmmmmm…..”
Oh, she’s enjoying the moment………..is she happy? Really? She’s not just playing with me? Emily: “Yes, that was great! You just leave everything to Miss Emily! Oh, you don’t have to call me that a second time. It’s a little long anyways.”
Henry: “.........oh, yes……thank you, Miss Emilyーー”
Now, I’m the one who’s wondering if everything will be okay.
But I know Emily has the skills…….so I throw away my doubts and thoughts and compliment and support her as best as I can.
<<<<>>>>
Cyril: “Henry, Emily, dinner is ready but……..Henry, are you okay?” It was only about 1 hour since Emily began helping me with my studies.
I knew this would happen, but the Kroseid Style 1st Class test problems were so difficult, my brain began cramping.
Emily: ‘Yes, he’s doing just fine. Henry is a fast learner, so as long as I break it down and explain it step by step, he’s absorbing the information quickly.” Henry: “.........I can but…..this is incredibly hard.”
Emily: “Hmmm, yeah, let’s see. Maybe we just need to do some repetitive drills?”
Emily just stated a scary suggestion without hesitation.
……..and to be honest, even if I passed the test, there’s no way that I would be able to teach someone else how to do the same.
Cyril: “Well, keep up the hard work. I’m going to finish up the remaining dishesー”
And Cyril withdraws back into the kitchen.
I pick up the textbook, and stare at the problem in front of me once again. Yeah, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do here.”
Henry: “Emily, I’m amazed at how easy these problems are for you…..”
Emily: “Oh, well. I was bed-ridden when I was little so, I kept reading the same books over and over. It included several of my grandmother’s Kroseid Style textbooks, so that’s how I learned.”
………she’s brought up a pretty heavy subject very casually.
Henry: “Manー that must have been a very hard life.”
Emily: “Hmm, well, maybe it was somewhat.”
But looking at her, I can’t imagine her being sick and bed-ridden.
But I’m letting my curiosity take hold. It might not be something she wants to talk about so I shouldn’tーー
Emily: “Oh, Mr. Henry! Are you curious about my past! Hehe, even though you have someone like Cyril…..you womanizer!”
Henry: “I’m not a womanizer!”
Judging from her reaction, maybe it wasn’t something I shouldn’t have been so concerned about.
Emily smiled as she spoke.
Emily: “If you’re that curious, I’ll tell you my story.” Henry: “.........no, you really don’t have to if you don’t want to…..” Emily: “Don’t want to? Why not? Besides, this is my past you’re talking about! You should be incredibly curious!!”
……….sure.
Emily: “When I was, I had Self-Magic Power Incomplete Compatibility. Do you know what that is?” Henry: “Ummm, maybe just in general, a little.”
Just as Corrupted Magic can cause health issues if you absorb itーー
Regular Magic Power can affect your health negatively if it’s too strong.
Of course, in general, people who are born with strong magic power is able to contain and control that at will, but……..on a rare occasion, there are those who are overpowered by their own magic inside their body.
That is the gist of Self-Magic Power Incomplete Compatibility. In general, most people are able to grow out of it.
………I see. So that’s why Emily looks so healthy today.
Emily: “So I was bed-ridden while at home, and my mom and dad were busy with work, so it was my grandmother who took care of me. She would read me books, tell me stories about her heroic adventures, and taught me how to be a truly proper lady.”
……….ah, so Emily was brain-washed about how to incorrectly be a lady from a very early age.
Emily: “Oh, I almost forgot. They told me that I would feel much better if I can exert Magic Power outside of my body, so she would take me outside to practice Magecraft.”
Wait one second.
Henry: “.........Emily, when did you start using Magecraft Spells?” Emily: “At the innocent age of 3! My grandmother helped me control it at first.” That’s incredibly dangerous!
To allow a child with large amounts of Magic Power to use Magecraft……if you didn’t have someone who was a living Magecraft Legend there to support her, she would have exploded from the attempt.
Henry: “But looking at you now, it’s hard to believe that you were bed-ridden growing up.” Emily: “I only got to get out of bed when I practiced Magecraft. So everyday, it was about 3 to 4 hours.”
Henry: “That’s……..quite the training regimen there.” Well, is it training? The goal is to exert Magic Power outside your body so……..but I can tell that her training has established her Magecraft foundation very well.
Emily: “And well, that’s why I started to want to become an adventurer and…….around 13 or 14, my body was feeling much better, and I started the real training. And that brings us to the present day.”
Henry: “Uh huh……..”
Well now. That’s……how to put it.
Even with her grandmother around, I’m sure that life was not easy for her, but Emily spoke with a bright and cheerful expression the whole time.
………but maybe I was overly concerned over nothing.
She has a…..really strong heart…….or rather, just really thick skin.
Cyril: “Henry, could you help carry out the dishes?” Henry: “Yeah, be right there. Hold on.”
I stood up and headed towards the kitchen.
And after a while, we had one more seat arranged at the dining room table andーー
Emily: “Wow, Cyril. You’re really good at cooking!”
Cyril: “Yup!”
Since we had guests, Cyril worked really hard to make more dishes than usual, so dinner looked very elaborate. And Cyril’s pride only escalated with Emily’s compliments.
Cyril: “Emily, this pork fritter came out really well. Please try some.” Emily: “Yum～ it’s so delicious…….but I need be careful or else I’ll gain some weight.”
But in response to Emily’s womanly words, light faded from Cyril’s eyes.
Cyril: “It’s fine. As long as you’re training hard, you won’t gain any weight. Rather, if you don’t eat a lot, you’ll turn to just skin and bones. …….Henry, Henry, isn’t that right?”
Henry: “Yeah, you’re right.” I nod strongly in agreement.
We trained Cyril’s physical body to be on par with an average adventurer……or well, at least be strong enough to defeat a wild bear in single combat, and of course, to do so, eating your meals was important.
It wasn’t as much as me, but Cyril can eat as much as a fully grown man. Well, she hasn’t developed any muscles, but I think that’s just how her body is. …….but she’s gained a lot of stamina, and that was the result of our effort.
Cyril: “.........Mr. Henry, what kind of training did you put Cyril through?” Henry: “Huh? It was just regular training. A regular regimen. In fact, it was a little lighter than regular.” That’s if you look at the standard regimen required to survive in Ligaleo.
Emily: “........Henry, I think Cyril has gone through much more than I have. Look at her eyes. They’re completely dead.”
Well, at the time, Cyril was pretty weak overall, so I’m sure the training just felt that much harder but……the regimen was perfectly normal.
But I did feel a little bad seeing how much trauma it caused her.
……….and our meal progressed very peacefully. It really did.
And until the day of the test, Emily came over every night till pretty late to help me study.
ーーand just barely, just very barely, I was able to uphold my teacher’s reputation by passing.
But, I forgot everything I learned as soon as I passed the test.
<<<<>>>>
CREDITS
Semi-retired Adventurer Lives Leisurely
Written by Hisagushien
Translated by: ChonkyTranslator
Japanese Title:
セミリタイアした冒険者はのんびり暮らしたい
作者: 久櫛緑（ヒサグシエン）
http://kuontenrin.ehoh.net/
Original Source:
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n1161ft/146/
Book 11: Preparation for the Conquest