Author: Torimaru Hiyoko	Original Source: Syosetu
Translator: Mab	English Source: Re:Library

The Adventurers’ Guild regularly holds training sessions.

They’re usually focused on martial skills—close-quarters combat, essentially—but this time the instructors would be teaching magic, taming arts, summoning arts, and alchemy, so I decided to participate as well.

I’d normally been staying behind, so this was my first time at the Adventurers’ Guild in a while. Instructor Barnaby is a good person, but when someone as irregular as me is around, I just end up getting in the way, so I’d been refraining.

Having abilities that can’t be measured by common sense is tough.

■■■■■

“This is the first time I’ve seen magic, nya.”
“I’ve only seen it once before.”

I swayed on Sufi’s back as we followed Noche and Filia, who were chatting excitedly.

We arrived at the training grounds next to the guild. Actually, compared to the last time I came, there were clearly more people. In addition to the group from before, there were quite a few unfamiliar faces. They all looked around ten years old… even the oldest didn’t seem over thirteen.

“Let’s sit at the edge, nya.”
“Yeah.”

It was like an open-air classroom, so seating was free. With our good hearing, even the edge would be fine.

“Whoa, Alice is here. That’s rare.”
“Eh? Seriously!? Heya!”

Nick and the others happened to be nearby, so we joined them and sat down.

“So Alice, are you interested in magic too?”
“Yeah.”

Even though I know I can’t properly use it because I don’t have enough mana, I keep wondering if there’s some way around that. My status allocation is absurdly skewed, after all…

“Ugh.”

From the approaching footsteps I’d already had a bad feeling, and Noche’s displeased voice confirmed it.

“What, even the weakling showed up? Don’t you know beastfolk can’t use magic?”
“…Ah, the instructor’s here, nya.”
“Tch.”

Just as the butcher’s troublesome son was about to start something, the adventurer acting as instructor arrived. Seeing that, the butcher’s kid clicked his tongue and backed off. Apparently he’d learned his lesson.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. We’ll be serving as instructors for this session.”

First was a man in a brown robe, probably about fifteen. Next, a man around twenty with shoulder-length hair, wearing an alchemist’s coat. The coat was gray and his badge was copper—likely First Rank, Gerator. I hadn’t seen him at the guild before.

Lastly, a woman about sixteen with a small blue bird perched on her shoulder and a bow on her back. All of them had lightly pigmented hair, giving them an eastern appearance. They were also wrapped in bandages here and there.

“I’m Reiss, a mage from the party Claw of the Wyvern.”
“I’m Hilda, a tamer from the same party. Nice to meet you.”
“I am Gildor, of the party Wind’s Trajectory. I am a Battle Alchemist.”

The moment the last one introduced himself, the area grew noisy. People were murmuring that a real alchemist had come. The girls beside us suddenly straightened up, and Nick and the others looked taken aback.

“…My specialty is archaeology and folklore. It’s only the other day I finally reached First Rank—recognized as a full alchemist. I’m still inexperienced. Today, rather than teaching how to use alchemy itself, I’ll be explaining what an alchemist can do as an adventurer. You may one day form a party with one.”

Apparently traveling alchemists are surprisingly common. There are studies that can’t be done if one stays in a single place. That’s why the Alchemists’ Guild establishes branches in many countries and maintains close cooperation with the Adventurers’ Guild.

“If we wait after you, they might stop listening. Can we go first?”
“Ah, please.”

After calming the restless audience, Gildor ceded the floor to the mage and the tamer.

I was curious about combat applications of alchemy, but magic and taming sounded no less interesting.

“Then I’ll start. Magic is the art of imposing your will onto the mana within you, influencing the ether in the atmosphere, and manifesting the phenomenon you imagine. Though I can’t speak too grandly—I haven’t formally mastered it myself.”

From there on, it was almost identical to what Grandpa had told me.

A vague image won’t activate magic—clarity of visualization is essential. Chanting reinforces the image, and the activation phrase is an indispensable step for casting.

“Heat, gather at my fingertips and kindle flame—‘Torch.’ Every human has mana, so with practice, anyone can use simple magic. This flame goes out quickly, but it can serve as a kindling, so it’s useful to know.”

He finished with a brief demonstration. It really felt aimed at complete beginners—so basic it was almost anticlimactic.

“…Can we do it too, nya?”
“Noche, Filia, you both have quite a lot of mana, so I think you can.”
“Seriously, nya?”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“………………”

Sufi looked a little uncomfortable, so I stroked her back.

Apparently, living beings in this world possess an organ that absorbs ether from the atmosphere, converts it into their attribute, and stores it. The amount of mana one holds depends on that organ’s conversion efficiency and storage capacity.

From what I heard before, beastfolk constantly use body enhancement as natural as we were breathing, so perhaps our resources are diverted there, making us poor at magic.

And yet Sufi, for some reason, has efficiency and storage capacity so exceptional that her mana is impossibly high for a beastfolk. If she used the earlier “Torch,” it would turn into something like a small flamethrower.

Compared to ordinary humans, her mana pool is probably absurdly high. But since Sufi doesn’t like fine control, she can’t regulate it well, and the scale is so large that it’s hard to practice. The current reality is that even if she wants to use magic, she can’t.

…If only I could interfere. I’ve managed with very little mana my whole life, so I’m fairly confident in my control techniques. It’s frustrating that I can’t help.

“If you apply, the Adventurers’ Guild will let you read beginner magic textbooks. Do your best.”

The mage and the tamer switched places.

“Next is me—about taming and summoning arts.”

The small blue bird on her shoulder took flight in response to her gesture, circled once over the training ground, then returned to perch on her shoulder. The way it nuzzled her cheek drew excited squeals from the girls.

…It stirred a memory from my previous life. One of the Unknowns I’d been especially close to had taken the form of a small bird. It resembled a long-tailed tit—specifically the Hokkaido subspecies, the shima-enaga—and had apparently been captured near Sapporo.

Its ability to turn its body into snow had been witnessed by a local agent—that’s what led to its confinement.

Perhaps it was furious about being locked up, because whenever it saw staff it would ram into them, peck at them, or hurl ice pellets. Despite its appearance, it was extremely aggressive.

But when my dog Kuro suddenly disappeared and I cried, it stayed on my shoulder and rubbed its cheek against mine. When it saw me watching outside scenes through CCTV, it would make gestures as if saying, I’ll let you out, I’ll take you into the sky. It had been kind to me.

“Taming is a type of magic—an art of forming a contract with magical beasts or small animals and connecting a path. It’s often misunderstood, but it’s not about dominating the other party and forcing obedience. It simply facilitates communication.”

The little bird followed her instructions precisely. When told to land on her head, it flew to her head. When told her left palm, it flew to her left palm.

“Receiving instructions like this requires effort toward mutual understanding. But if you properly form a bond, magical beasts become reliable companions… dependable friends.”