"I'm sorry, you were confined to the temple because of , weren't you?"
These were the first words Turan heard when he visited isa's room.
He carefully chose his words before giving the most neutral response to this noble lady's apology.
"It was necessary. More importantly, I'm glad you're safe."
If he had apologized for making her do sothing unreasonable here, it would have seed like mocking her by implying "I can do it but you can't."
As if recognizing the calculation behind this answer, isa exclaid as if rembering sothing she had forgotten.
"Ah! Co to think of it, that magic that makes animals rot. Could it be an unknown bloodline magic? The magical power consumption was unreasonable."
"No. If you understand the principle, you could use it sufficiently too, my lady."
During their conversation, Turan's keen sense of sll caught an unfamiliar scent.
Sothing mixing a slightly spoiled but rich aroma with a sour stench...
'Did she vomit?'
The sll that ca when accidentally cutting open the stomach while butchering animals wafted faintly from isa's mouth.
He had clearly heard she didn't eat, so why?
Turan started to say sothing but quickly closed his mouth, realizing his comnt would be inappropriate in many ways.
Given that it was barely perceptible even to his sense of sll, she must have cleaned up thoroughly, and if he ntioned slling it, they would suspect he had a bloodline specialized for that.
While he was lost in thought, isa, thinking Turan had stopped speaking because he didn't want to share the magic's principle, smiled slightly and probed.
"So you won't tell for free. But without explaining the thod, there's no proof it's not bloodline magic, is there?"
"I don't particularly mind if I didn't win."
The two held each other's gaze silently for a mont.
isa was the first to surrender.
"Since it feels unsatisfying to end like this, if you tell that magic's secret, I'll teach you one of Arabion's secret techniques. Fair?"
"Alright. Then—"
Turan explained that there existed organisms too small to see, and that decay was these organisms eating larger living beings.
And that the principle of the magic was giving power to these small organisms to accelerate the decay process.
Just that explanation alone seed enough for isa to understand the principle of the magic, as she exclaid "Ah!"
"So... it was fundantally organism enhancent magic?"
"Yes."
"No wonder. Using it without knowing that, no wonder the efficiency was so poor. There, could you catch another rat?"
At isa's request, the maid standing respectfully behind asked in shock.
"A-a rat...?"
"Yes. In such a large house, there must be at least one living sowhere."
Shortly after, isa nodded as she put down a rat that had rotted and collapsed while still alive.
The maid who had caught the rat looked like she might vomit at any mont seeing this, but neither Turan nor isa paid any attention to that.
"Then I lost the contest. Though I succeeded at the end, it was by forcefully pushing through with power."
"I considered that part of the competition too."
"That's not right. When talking about skill in handling magic, we usually don't include magical power amount."
After saying this, isa suddenly spoke with what seed like an embarrassed expression.
"Um, could you tell Asiz it was a draw? I don't want to see him get cocky."
"Understood."
"Then I should pay my debt. Let's see... this should work."
isa took a comb from beside her, combed her long hair a few tis, then quickly lifted it showing how the hair stuck to and rose with the comb.
"As you can see, when objects rub together, a phenonon occurs where they attract each other. This is—"
"Static electricity."
isa's eyes widened at Turan's response.
"...You knew?"
"Yes."
He had encountered such knowledge when learning about the principle of lightning striking from clouds in the library.
Though he hadn't properly understood the more difficult explanations about lightning occurring due to contact between positive and negative charges and such, he at least knew that lightning originated from electrical force and that friction could create a similar phenonon on a small scale.
To demonstrate, Turan rubbed his fingers several tis to create a small spark with a crackling sound.
By applying this, he could even use electrical shock magic to shoot lightning directly, though not as powerful as lightning magic.
Though it was still only at practice level, not refined enough for actual combat.
"Even this is quite a profound secret..."
Muttering "this is troubleso," isa heaved a deep sigh and said.
"Can I think a bit more about how to repay you?"
"Of course."
Turan didn't say the compensation wasn't necessary.
One of the realizations he had gained since coming down from the hill was that if you give knowledge, you should receive sothing in return.
After a mont of silence, isa shook her head and brought up an unexpected suggestion.
"Then until I think of sufficient compensation, how about we continue together..."
"You an magic practice?"
"Yes. I think we could learn quite a lot from each other."
"Alright."
Since he was planning to diligently practice magic training every day anyway, competing achievents with a high-level wizard would provide good motivation.
"Then let's et in the garden at sunset every day starting tomorrow."
==
The next day after eting with isa, soone ca looking for Turan early in the morning.
It was Haram, the guardian bloodline noble who had briefly practiced swordsmanship with him in the temple yesterday.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Ah... yes. But what brings you here?"
"Have you thought about what I said yesterday?"
Turan recalled what he had said yesterday.
Was it about taking ti to train his body when possible?
When he ntioned this, Haram nodded and declared.
"Co."
"Surely not for training?"
"Do you dislike it?"
After brief consideration, Turan agreed and left his room.
Though Asiz had asked him to go watch plays today too... but learning sothing would be more rewarding than playing.
As he was about to call a servant to send a ssage canceling the appointnt, Asiz appeared in the corridor.
"Hey, Turan! I heard there's a really amazing play today..."
Asiz's bright voice instantly shrank when he saw Haram standing beside him.
"Asiz."
"Ah, hello. Uncle."
"Will you co too?"
"What? No... I'm still tired from traveling outside recently, so..."
Though Haram hadn't even said where they were going, Asiz stamred before quickly fleeing back the way he ca.
Shortly after, Turan could understand why he had reacted that way.
"One more ti."
"Huff..."
"Last ti, one more."
In House Berk's eastern section, inside a training ground surrounded by four buildings, there were several devices that seed to be magical items.
From tal bars that beca heavier as magical power was infused, to spaces where the body beca trendously heavy upon entering.
Haram had Turan perform various movents repeatedly in such places, overworking every muscle in his body.
Generally, nobles' strength wouldn't be overwheld by their own body weight, but here was different.
"That's enough."
At Haram's words, Turan withdrew the power he had been infusing into the bar, threw it down, and collapsed.
He could feel his sweat-soaked hair sticking to his face.
"Is it hard?"
"Yes..."
It felt like he was even more exhausted than when fighting the dark elf necromancers.
Then he had just been in poor condition from being ramd by the buffalo death spirit, but this ti he had truly worked every muscle from neck to toes.
At Turan's answer, Haram showed a grotesque smile that barely lifted the corners of his mouth.
"Still, consider yourself lucky that as a wizard, once is enough."
"Is it different for non-wizards?"
"Originally, muscles will disappear again over ti even after being built up through training. You have to train constantly to maintain them. But for wizards, since magical power maintains the body in optimal condition, once you build your body, it won't weaken."
After saying this, Haram pointed to the sky and added.
"Plus, isn't it refreshing to exercise and get so fresh air?"
"It is... indeed."
Turan hesitated briefly before agreeing with Haram's words.
Certainly, there was a strange sense of elation lying sprawled out after sweating through your whole body.
Similar to when reading books, a sense of achievent that you were becoming sothing better than before...
Haram grumbled for a while at the sprawled Turan about how all wizards—especially nobles—were fools for neglecting physical training despite having such good bodies for it, then stood up and gave another instruction.
"You should be rested enough now."
"No, not yet—"
"I know. You've rested enough. Now I'll teach you weapon skills and martial arts."
After spending the morning in such hellish training, Turan walked on shaky legs to a small dining room and asked the servants to bring food.
Before long, Asiz appeared from sowhere and plopped down opposite him.
"How did you end up caught by Uncle Haram?"
"Well..."
When Turan explained about receiving Haram's teaching last night, Asiz burst out laughing in disbelief.
"You got hooked."
"Hooked?"
"Uncle is soone who believes all nobles should be capable in close combat. I got caught by a similar thod when I was young too."
Apparently, his fixed pattern was to demonstrate elegant swordsmanship on the side while asking "Want to try this?" to lure people in, then drag them to the training ground and work them to exhaustion.
Asiz said that after going through such hardship when he was young—at age twenty-five—he wouldn't even go near when asked to train.
"But he said even training once has good effects?"
"It's still too hard! Magic training is better. Besides, you're a guest so you can just say you want to quit."
At Asiz's suggestion, Turan hesitated briefly before shaking his head.
"No, I want to continue for now."
Though Turan had never done any physical training besides walking, running, and throwing stones his whole life, he could instinctively feel that Haram's teaching thod was quite systematic.
Moreover, this place was full of training devices made directly by House Berk's artificers.
He didn't want to miss the opportunity to borrow the power of such items.
"Why don't you join too?"
"? I'm too old now..."
Asiz, who only looked like he was in his early twenties in appearance, said with an awkward smile.
==
For the next three weeks, Turan's daily routine was thoroughly fulfilled.
Physical training with Haram in the early morning.
After thoroughly working every muscle, replenishing nutrients with a quality lunch, then going to town with Asiz in the afternoon to watch plays or read books at the library—though of course it wasn't like the library in Orem city.
And at sunset, returning to the mansion to practice magic with isa, during which they grew quite close.
By the ti three weeks had passed, they had beco close enough to call each other by na.
Considering that at their first eting isa couldn't even properly rember Turan's na, this was remarkable.
"Not going well, Turan?"
"Well, I'm not Arabion after all."
At isa's teasing tone, Turan scratched his chin while looking down at the burn marks covering the wall before him.
The traces of lightning bolt, magic that shot electricity generated by finger friction at the target.
His current task was to hit targets accurately with this, but still two or three out of ten shots would hit around the center rather than the bullseye.
Rather than Turan's magic being unskilled, lightning magic itself tended to not hit accurately.
To overco this, he either had to perfectly understand the principles of how lightning travels and satisfy them, or increase his proficiency.
"I can't really help. I've never thought about aiming lightning magic."
Born with the storm bloodline, she could naturally handle lightning, so she couldn't give advice to Turan who was going through trial and error.
After all, how could soone who had been running since birth teach walking to soone who crawls?
"I'll have to work hard at it."
While heaving a deep sigh, Turan recalled that the magical device would be completed in about a week.
And that he would have to leave then.
'...Sohow, I don't want to leave.'
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that life at House Berk had been the happiest ti since Turan was born.
Needless to say the standard of living as a great house's stronghold, he had teachers and partners to train both body and magic, and friends to enjoy hobbies with.
But he couldn't stay here forever.
He was just a guest after all.
Though there was no worry of being discovered now, there was no guarantee he could hide his true identity forever...
"There you are, Lady isa!"
In the midst of being lost in thought, an unfamiliar voice rang out in the garden.
For so reason, a man in his early twenties whom he had never seen before was looking at Turan with a strangely hostile expression.
"My lady, this man is..."
"None of your business. More importantly, why are you here? I'm sure I said no one from the main house should approach while I'm recuperating."
isa's attitude toward the man, who appeared to be from House Arabion, was utterly cold.
Even to the point of feeling hostility.
The man, who briefly trembled, bowed his head deeply and said.
"The head has summoned you, my lady."
"For what?"
"That is..."
The man glanced at Turan.
As if telling him to get lost because he needed to discuss important matters.
But before Turan could react, isa sharply pressed.
"Answer quickly. If it's for a useless reason, you'd better be prepared."
At her fierce attitude suggesting she might blast him with magic if he hesitated even slightly, the man hastily answered.
The content was shocking even to Turan who was quietly listening from the side.
"Dark elves have risen up en masse in the south! They say three cities have already fallen, so they're forming an expedition force..."
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