13 Merilin’s Worries

"Big Brother... I have something I want to talk about..." Merilin spoke softly.

Actually, now that I focused on her expression, I can see that she's extremely depressed... Umm... What do I do now? I've never been good with people's 'feelings', that's why I usually threw my emotional luggage out the window if I couldn't get advice...

"Let's go somewhere else first." I said while holding her hand in order to take her somewhere private. I really don't want anyone to think I'm bullying her! I didn't do anything!

On the way, I tried comforting her by telling her about the various things that happened before with Mark as a lighthearted joke, but her silence really made me quite worried...

What actually happened to her? Wasn't she with Anna just moments ago? I hope Anna's thick-headedness didn't cause some misunderstanding.

Hmmm, Anna is kinda dense in some areas. It's possible she said something she shouldn't have by accident. Damn her! Can't she pay attention?! Merilin's usually very sensitive about stuff... No, actually... despite her immaturity, this sister of mine was sharp-witted when it came down to it.

"Did Anna say something?" I asked after entering our parent's room. She lifted her head and looked into my eyes with a mix of anxiety and worry.

It's not that our parent's weren't capable enough to buy personal rooms for both of us, they just wanted to have more rooms for other servants of the Swordwick Household. That's why they decided it would be okay for Merilin to not have a room of her own for now.

I, of course, was considered different from her since I was responsible enough to keep a tidy room and didn't really need help with doing my chores. A little can go a long way when it comes to keeping everyone satisfied with my personality.

I knew that the worry in Merilin's heart wasn't unfounded just by looking at the seriousness in her youthful eyes. It's strange since she had always been a smart girl who could work her way past anything she puts her mind to. There's a chance I wouldn't be able to help even if I knew something was troubling her.

"Auntie Anna said... my affinity is weak... She said I'll be bullied if I became a Sword Mage...!" Merilin pitifully cried. My mind suddenly went blank as I panicked inwardly after seeing her tears, not knowing what to do. My thoughts started to race as I tried to comfort her with words...

Damn it! This is so stressful!

"Don't cry, don't cry, I will get sad too if you start to cry." I said in panicked tone. Wait... Weren't my words more like a threat? Calm the heck down!

Damn! I don't want her to cry but I have literally ZERO experience in taking care of children. What am I supposed to do when she cries?!

Her little shoulders trembled a little after hearing my words, then she wiped away the tears on her face. She held back the sadness in her heart...

"Big Brother, don't be sad...! I'm fine now." She said with a straight face.

I felt my heart soften as I heard her words. She's such an angel~! To think she's still caring about me even though she's the one crying. How adorable~!

"Come here and sit down. You know how smart and creative I am. Any problems for you are my problems as well. You should remember that you have Rank C Magical Talent. Even if your affinity's weak, you'll still decimate those ordinary Specialists of the E Rank. So please have more confidence in yourself! Honestly, this big brother of yours is even worse in the talent department... Someone with Rank F Magical Talent like myself only counts as less than an ordinary person... How sad~! My tears are overflowing~!" I consoled her jokingly as I led her to the seats near father's desk. My words seemed to have encouraged her as she snickered.

"Don't be so hard on yourself and tell me more about your affinity. Even if you can't become a fighter, you could still become a Healer, can't you? Isn't that the most special property of all Light Ether?" I asked my sister who was still giggling uncontrollably after hearing my previous harsh self-criticisms. Well, she looks fine now.

Hah... Finally, I can calm down...

Merilin was well-aware that I didn't care about my status as someone with low Magical Talent and understood I was only saying such things about myself in order to cheer her up.

I'm a lot more gifted than a 'regular' Rank F Magical Talent after all.

And on a side note: Light Ether was something all Humans were capable of controlling to some degree. Though usually most people aren't able to do any more than use it for illumination.

"Mom said I have a water affinity and that water affinity is really special! She said there were the best at healing injuries, and curing sickness, and fighting bad people near the sea at the same time." She responded as her expression was full of anticipation.

Seems like she really trusted me when it came my ingenuity with magic...

Hah... An affinity to Water Ether, eh? I really don't know how to answer...

Unfortunately, I clearly understood about why this world's magical society viewed Water Specialists as the weakest type of Mages and Swordsmen on land..,

Being able to control Water Ether using Mana meant being able to control the natural element of water itself. Near the sea is where one would be in their most powerful state due to the excess amount of water that's surrounding them, but anywhere else: A Water Specialist wouldn't be able to do much.

A Water Specialist would be able to manipulate water into blades or freeze them into icicles that can also be manipulated the same way. They could be considered to be the most flexible type of fighters on both land and water to some extent...

However, such advantages were limited compared to Earth Specialists that could even fight near oceans and Wind Specialists that could use their abilities to their full potential anywhere above ground level. Even Fire Specialists had a greater advantage than Water Specialists because they could enlarge even the smallest spark of ember into a raging flames using Fire Mana or Ether.

"Can you show me your current control over Water Ether is like?" I asked curiously. Besides the Duke, I don't really know many people who have an affinity for water.

Merilin smiled and pointed her finger at a glass of water that was left on the table. A beam of blue light shot out of her finger and entered the cup, it's contents being connected to her mind in the process of imbuing it with her Mana. Then the water within it lifted up and levitated before us.

[Spell Conjuring- Water Manipulation]

She gestured her hand in various motions, and with every movement of her finger, the water changed it's form to look like a different pattern or shape. It responded to her will almost like it was some kind of living entity.

Seeing how her Water Manipulation had reached such a level really astounded me. A regular person would barely be able to shape water manipulated through this method as the intricate control of Aura and strong inner visualisation needed to control External Energy (Ether) are very difficult for beginners to comprehend.

You could even say that most Elemental Specialists with fighting capabilities were actually Martial Artists who're unable to control Ether.

Her easily being able to shape objects through Water Manipulation at such a young age really spoke wonders about her natural talent! Though even with that talent, she needs a better strategy against opponents fighting on land. There is no Warrior who would ever give another person enough time to manipulate Ether anyway.

Now that I think of it... Why don't I try adding science to her magic? Her strength will definitely increase as long as she's able to visualise my thoughts correctly. It looks like some experimentation is in order~

"Can you turn them into little particles of ice?" I asked her meaningfully. A curious light appeared in my eyes as I mentioned knowledge from Earth.

"What are these 'particles'?" She seemed confused and asked back in return. There weren't any scientists on Sphera so it was natural that some words I know of don't exist yet. This could perhaps be considered the difference in language that stemmed from the lack of research on science.

"Forget it. First make extremely tiny balls of icicles, then start to hit them together while imagining that each ice ball is gathering electrical charge." I moved on by instructing with a serious look on my face. Merilin was probably confused about what I'm talking about... and it's only natural for her to think this way.

After all, the people of this world believed that all lightning belonged to the Lightning God and that electricity couldn't be produced without imitating electricity using Mana.

A storm cloud was the only place one could find Lightning Ether on Sphera.

It wasn't that the knowledge of Sphera's residents was wrong on this point since according to what I've been taught from a young age, the Lightning God was the one who gifted humanity and the Beast Race the ability to manipulate an imitated form of lightning in return for neutrality.

In fact, one of the biggest reasons those residing in the Blood Nation were cursed as 'Barbarians' was due to how their Blood God didn't exchange anything for land.

All they did was invade the lands of Sphera and killed others ruthlessly.

Merilin studying with Anna seemed to have paid off as imagining things from a description alone wasn't something talent alone could replicate. There needed to be diligent heart underneath great talent if anyone wanted to initiate creative forms of Spell Conjurings.

Even if she doesn't understand what I meant by  'charge', she DOES know what 'electricity' is. However, a look of confusion appeared on her face as she was unable to understand how smashing together a few tiny icicles could generate 'electrical charge'...

"I don't now if that will work." She said doubtfully but followed my instructions anyway. Merilin may not believe that this would succeed but she trusted I wouldn't joke around with her feelings right now.

The ball of water above her hands turned into a plethora of small icicles that rapidly collided together at high speed. With her outstanding control over water, not even one part of the icicles ricocheted into our faces.

The process was became somewhat tiring over time until Merilin finally saw a spark within the artificial cloud-like battery she created.

"It's lightning! Wow, look~! I can make lightning now!" Her face was flushed red with excitement as various ideas popped into her head after seeing my experiment actually succeeded. This discovery opened a new world of endless possibilities for her.

The only reason Humans of Sphera were able to gain an affinity to the five elements of nature such as Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, and Lightning, is due to their interaction with those five elements at a young age. It was only natural that every child would gain a deeper understanding to the elements they had spent time with throughout their lives rather than things they have never actually seen before.

Even if they were born with an affinity for lightning at birth, they still wouldn't have the ability to conjure lightning bolts without the knowledge of how itself lightning came into existence. It was like having a strong tool but not knowing how to use it.

Unless a child was born in a place where they'd constantly be electrocuted by lightning, the chances of a Lightning Specialist appearing was practically nonexistent.

From what I could tell by looking at Merilin's new Spell: She could only produce a 'Blue Lightning' that wasn't in any way similar to the mystical lightning created by the Lightning Attribute. This must be because 'Blue Lightning' was the product of a water spell and therefore a natural occurrence instead of a 'magical phenomenon' created through Mana.

Whoa! I think my brain just fried from over-thinking. I'll try to experiment myself when I have the time since this is actually interesting.

"Calm down. You can try to slowly experiment by yourself now that you've found out how to generate lightning. No one would be able to bully you once you've got the hang of it. Just try to remember one thing: You can't control the lightning itself. The only method to control it would be to find a way to control where the Blue Lightning will strike." I walked out without even letting her ask any questions after explaining to her exactly what she needed to know. There's no way I'd be able to explain where I got my knowledge from so I'd rather let her figure it out herself.

Perhaps she wouldn't understand even if I explained everything to her anyway, and even if she did, she wouldn't know how to properly apply the knowledge I've shared with her to create her own personalised Spells.

The most effective way to help her would be to show a new direction to grow her abilities and allow her to slowly figure things out by herself.

Although lightning is incredible, the dangers of being unable to properly control it have turned into stories that are usually told to scare kids.

I'm sure her inner fear of it will allow her to gain better understanding regarding how to manipulate it as safely as she can. Even if there are some accidents, I'm entirely sure she isn't stupid enough to generate enough lightning that could hurt her.

I looked at my hand after entering my room and unleashed my own personal Aura Manifestation at full power, allowing a diamond-like glow to surround me like a supernatural flame of energy.

This extremely pure Light Aura created by my Sun Attribute is amazing many different ways. The first of them being how it allowed me to manipulate a sort of 'Sun Ether' around my body.

The faint golden glow fused into it symbollised that I was one of those who had extremely deep comprehension and intrinsic control over Light Ether. If I had more Mana then I'd probably be able to test just what I could do with this affinity.

Hah... Well, it isn't something a person at my level of Magical Talent could master for now. My motive for releasing Aura Clad was different.

I tried using my strong 'Sun Aura' to imitate Water Ether, causing its luminous gold-like glow to turn blue like a sapphire. This Water Aura created from my 'Sun' Mana allowed me to improve the dexterity of all my bodily movements by tenfold!

I was not done yet as I remembered the phenomenon caused by Merilin's Spell and turned the water into countless icicles which collided together to form electricity. Merilin herself was probably unable to understand much about her 'Blue Lightning' just by seeing that demonstration, but I myself felt enlightenment! The sapphire glow on my hand slowly turned a shade of amethyst purple before I clenched my fist. A small amount of lightning generated around my hand to control.

For now, I can just barely control my own personal Lightning Affinity, but what will it turn into once I've thoroughly mastered it? This will be my trump card for any enemies in the future! A thing to help comfort the paranoia that's always haunting me...