Chapter 8 - Instructor

—-- Roxy Migurdia —--

Watching the rural scenery pass by, I take in a deep breath of the fresh air, before releasing a sigh, "Let's hope this one goes well…"

I had come to the Citadel of Roa after hearing about a new tutoring job request from the Adventurers Guild, but as soon as I arrived, I was turned down.

Was it because I was a demon? Or perhaps it was my problematic hair colour? It could even be due to my size.

Either way, I quickly found my hopes dashed, but as if fate had cast its blessing on me, I found a new tutoring job posted the next day.

The pay was paltry for someone of my status, but considering it was from a low-rank knight in some unknown village, it was to be expected.

But seeing the details of getting a free room and board, along with plenty of free time, I decided to take the chance.

Besides, some quiet and stable country life would be good for me. I had decided to quit being an adventurer because of the instability of the lifestyle, after all.

Getting directions to the knight's house from the coachman, I take my luggage before heading down the dirt path of the village, and before long, I find the place I was looking for.

A beautifully crafted wooden house, overlooking the quaint and ordinary rural settlement.

Yep. That's Asuran nobility for you. 

But at least it wasn't nearly as gaudy as the capital of Ars.

Making my way up to the front door, I can't stop my gaze from drifting over to the beautiful walled yard and flowered garden.

Yeah… a place like this… I could get used to it.

But first, let's meet my new prospective students!

Rapping my fist against the door, it doesn't take long before it opens, revealing a beautiful blonde human woman, a handsome man, and a toddler, held in the woman's arms.

Alright. Let's do this, Roxy.

I give the family a respectful nod, "I'm Roxy. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Perfect!

Looking back at the silent couple, I notice that the two are at a total loss for words.

Haa… it was always the same with humans. Even though I was nearing my 40s, I still looked like a child to them.

"Oh, uh, are… are you the home tutor?" the woman asks.

I was about to answer before the man scratched his head, "Aren't you a little, uh…"

"You're little," the toddler finishes.

How rude.

"You're sure one to talk," I snap.

Ah, shoot… I wanted to get hired by this place, but I just lashed out at a child who didn't look like he had even had his first birthday.

"Oy. Don't be mean to your new teacher, Rudy," a childish voice speaks up from behind me.

Turning my head, I see a young child, likely around the age of seven, with shoulder-length golden hair and a red scarf wrapped around his neck.

'Cute', I thought.

I suppose this was one of my students?

Wait… what did he say again?

That the toddler was also supposed to be my student?

Haa… I guess there were parents like this, huh? A kid shows some flashes of growing up quickly, and then the parents think they have some special talent.

"What was that?" the mother says.

Oh… did I say that out loud?

"Umm… a little bit, Miss Roxy," the boy says from my side. "But don't worry. I assure you we'll be worth your while! Here, let me take your suitcase."

The boy then takes my luggage out of my hand, and surprisingly, lifts it with ease.

…Were children supposed to be that strong?

Humans are known for their quick growth compared to other races, but this was a bit much.

"Thank you, umm…"

"Leon. Leon Greyrat," he finishes for me with a smile.

I see… Leon, huh?

Yeah… definitely cute.

"Oya? What's this? Such a gentleman, this son of mine~" the father, I presume, says teasingly.

"You always told me to be nice to pretty girls," Leon responds.

P-Pretty?

While it was a bit embarrassing to admit, hearing such words did force a blush onto my face, even though it was the innocent words of a child.

After all, I had been called 'cute' many times before, but that was all by perverts who enjoyed the fact I looked like a child. Perverts whom I would rather not associate with.

At this point, I had a feeling that romance would be an impossibility for someone like me. Especially with my childish dream of being saved in a dungeon by a handsome adventurer…

Yeah, I was definitely a bit delusional regarding romance. I was a bit sad now.

But even if it was just the words of a kid, hearing myself be called 'pretty'... it felt quite nice.

"Wait. That's not it," Leon says. "You also told me that's how you would get them in your room, and then-"

"Ahh! Stop there, Leon! It's fine to stop there, right?" the father pleads.

"Paul," the woman says icily.

So his name was Paul…

"W-What is it, my beautiful wife?"

"What exactly are you teaching my innocent Leon?"

Ignoring their family feud, I turned to look at the toddler who was held in the mother's arms.

Would he really be able to be taught? Much less understand the intricacies of magic?

Instead of answering my unvoiced question, the toddler sends a wink my way before turning to Leon with a slight glare.

…I didn't know.

"Well… thank you for having me. I'll do what I can."

But I would carry out my lessons regardless. And I'll be sure to not make the same mistakes as my 'master'.

—-- Leon Greyrat —--

"Okay, so… how about we go through what you two know about magic? Or rather, what you can use," Roxy says, placing her magic textbook on the bench.

It seemed that our new teacher was underestimating my brother and me, but for some reason, I only found that endearing rather than annoying.

And from how my chest seemed to tighten whenever she cast her glance my way… was this a crush?

I suppose it makes sense.

While she only looked to be in her teens, still a bit too old for a kid like me, she was much closer in age compared to the women I had come to know.

And also… she was cute. Really cute.

I don't know if it was the exotic factor of her blue hair, or if it was her reserved yet confident demeanour, but overall, she was quite charming.

But why was Rudy glaring at me? Was it possible that he felt the same?

No… he was only three years old, so that shouldn't be the case.

But a demonstration, huh?

I was quite excited to see what a magician could do in combat, as Mama always saved her mana for healing, and Talhand was more of a magic knight than a pure mage.

"Let's start with a basic magic, Waterball . Commonly thought of as the most useful magic in the world, not for its attack power, but rather for its ability to summon fresh, potable water."

Rudy and I both nod at her words.

"Now I'll demonstrate. Let the vast and blessed waters converge where thou wilt and issue forth a single pure stream thereof- "

Oh shoot, she was aiming for one of the trees.

Mama will be pretty mad if it gets damaged…

" Waterball! "

Just as the ball of water floating on the tip of her staff shot forward, I stomped my foot, raising a pillar of earth that blocked the attack right before it hit the tree.

But to my surprise, my earth pillar was demolished upon impact, creating a cloud of dust as I felt the control of the earth crumble.

Whoa… her magic, while simple, was extremely powerful.

Maybe traditional magic would be useful to learn after all?

"Sorry, Miss Roxy," I say. "I don't think Mama would be very happy if you destroyed her favourite tree."

I remember the face of pure rage she had when Paul cut down a few of its branches during a spar.

My words seem to break the girl out of her shock, "I-I see- No! W-What was that? Chantless magic!? Do you do that normally?"

"Hm? Yeah. And Rudy does too," I say as I summon a ball of blue fire.

"Wow… and he does too, huh?" she asks, turning to my brother.

Wearing a confident smirk, Rudy summons a ball of water, before shooting it into what remained of my earth pillar.

Ah… I should level out the ground, shouldn't I?

"I see… I get it now. That makes sense…" Roxy says, tipping down her hat to cover her face.

She quickly regained her composure by convincing herself that it made sense, even though I was sure it didn't.

After all, she was probably wondering if the two of us could even cast magic at all, much less without a chant and with such ease.

She then cracked a smile. Different from the bashful one from before, "I think it's worth training you two after all."

Umm… she said things out loud pretty often, huh?

I guess honesty was a trait of hers, for better or worse.

"Alright, let's move on to the next spell!"

As Roxy begins excitedly flipping through her textbook, Mama makes her way over with a tray of drinks.

"So? How are Rudy and Leon?" she asks with a smirk.

Roxy flinches before scratching her cheek in shame, "Well… they are certainly something. I want to test their limits first before teaching them anything, so that's where we're at now."

"I see~ That's good~ Just don't forget that they have sword practice in the afternoon. But for now, have some juice," Mama says, setting down the drinks.

"Ah, thank you…"

With Mama skipping her way back inside, visibly ecstatic about her two sons' praise, I take my cup before sitting next to Roxy.

"Miss Roxy… your magic… it was amazing," I say.

Despite how pretentious it sounded, my words were not a lie.

And luckily, from the way the corner of her mouth curled, she didn't misunderstand.

Perhaps it was because I had practiced quite a bit at using the elements freely, I knew just how skillful and precise her control was, allowing for the power of her spell to be amplified accordingly.

While I don't usually use incantations, I did use them to study each spell and element I was practicing at the time, so I knew how rigid the system was.

To go beyond that, and maintain the 'balancing' aspect of incantations while increasing the power… Roxy was quite amazing, huh?

"Ahem! Is that so? Well, thank you for the compliment, but… you two are even more so," she says her blue eyes dulling a bit at the end.

"B-But we still need help with learning, right Leon?" Rudy pipes up, raising his head from where it was before.

Wait. He wasn't looking up her skirt, was he?

…Actually, that might be par for the course for him, being Paul's son and all.

I thought he kicked those perverted habits after learning magic, but blood doesn't lie, I suppose.

"Precisely. You can only learn so much by yourself. So please continue the lesson, Miss Roxy," I say, glancing up at her with a smile.

That seems to do the trick as her face visibly brightens.

"I-If you say so! Now, let's see how you two deal with ice-type spells..."

And so, that's how I gained my first instructor in this life, save for Mama and my father, and possibly… my first crush.

—-- Information on the Six-Faced World —--

Seven Great Powers

The Seven Great Powers refers to the seven strongest warriors in the world. This selection came to exist following the end of the Second Human-Demon War as a means for the Technique God to find worthy opponents. 

The order of the powers refers to their strength relative to each other, with the first four being referred to as the 'upper' ranks, and the remaining three referred to as the 'lower' ranks.

The rankings only change once someone is defeated or dead, thus, the ranks do not directly correlate to combat prowess.

The Seven Great Powers and their respective ranks are as follows:

1 - Technique God - Laplace - Missing

2 - Dragon God - Orsted - Active

3 - Fighting God - Badigadi - Missing

4 - Demon God - Laplace - Sealed

5 - Death God - Randolph Marianne - Active

6 - Sword God - Gal Farion - Active

7 - North God - Aleksander Rybak - Active

—-- Leon Greyrat —--

A few weeks had passed since Roxy became our tutor, and as a result of our new lessons, our schedule had changed to be like so:

Mornings were spent doing magic lessons, and around lunchtime was free time, which coincidentally, I also used for magic practice. Afternoons were then used for sword practice, where Rudy would work on strengthening his body while I sparred with Paul. And then after dinner, Roxy would teach us things unrelated to magic, such as geography, history, and other life skills. 

Which just so happened to be right now.

"-Thus, in dungeons, and any closed-off space, you shouldn't use fire magic as it causes the air to be poisoned."

Hmm… what Roxy was referring to was likely carbon monoxide poisoning, or perhaps the general loss of oxygen from the combustion reaction known as 'fire'.

I wonder though…

"Do you think the air could be cleansed or recycled by casting wind magic?" I ask.

At my question, Roxy tilts her head to the side, tapping her finger against her chin.

"Perhaps… it depends on the spell being cast though. Most wind magic is simply taking control of the air around it, so that wouldn't help, but for the ones that create air, such as Water Breathing , it would likely alleviate such problems. Good thinking, Leon," she then pats my head as a reward, which causes my face to heat up.

"T-Thank you," I say with a bashful smile.

"Hee~? You're being quite cute, Leon."

Averting my head in embarrassment, I noticed that my baby brother was fast asleep on his bed.

"Ah. I suppose it is a little late," Roxy says. "And since we touched up on multi-casting, he must be quite tired. Are you ready for bed?" 

I shake my head, "No. I'm still okay. But… let's leave him alone. If you're tired, we can end the lesson."

"No, we can continue. Paul fixed up your room, right? Let's head there," she says while packing up her textbooks.

"O-Okay."

For some reason, the prospect of having Roxy come to my room excites me in a way different than the excitement I felt when learning magic and practicing swordplay.

Dammit… Paul's sinful words were getting to my head, weren't they?

I'm definitely telling on him with Mama. Lilia too, for that matter. Actually, wait… That might be too embarrassing.

With both of us sitting on my bed, I look down at my twiddling thumbs before Roxy breaks the silence.

"Hey, Leon… can you… can you tell me how you use magic without incantations?" she asks, averting her eyes in shame.

Hm? Why would she be ashamed-?

Ah. So that's it.

It must be pretty hard to ask the person you're teaching, especially a kid, to teach you about something regarding magic.

But talking! Yes, talking was a good way to distract myself from these feelings!

"Chantless magic? Yeah, sure! So… I guess I'll explain how it started," I say.

Roxy then pulls out a quill and notebook before nodding, "That would be very useful."

I then think back to when I first used magic with Mama, and while it was years ago, the feeling was still quite fresh as I did something similar each time I learned a new magic. Where I would feel how it flowed with an incantation before repeating the process without one.

"So, it all started when I used my first spell, Healing . When I repeated the words while concentrating, I noticed the mana flow through my body," I explained.

"Wait. The way you said that, it sounds like you could use magic instantly," Roxy interjects with confusion.

"Hm? With Beginner-rank magic, yeah. Just focus and repeat the incantation, and then… there."

My explanation falls on deaf ears as Roxy looks at me perplexedly before rubbing her temples.

"That's not- No, never mind. Continue, please."

"Okay…" I say, confused. "Anyways, I was able to feel the mana flowing through my body and into my hand, guided along by the incantation and then being pushed further by my will."

She nods her head at my explanation, "...I think I understand. While traditionally, the 'pushing mana' part is seen as part of the incantation process, you, on the other hand, divide the two in your head… I see…"

She catches on awfully quickly.

"Yeah, anyway, next I tried to do the same without the 'guidance' of incantation helping me," I continue. "But with that, I was only able to make the mana 'appear' correctly, if that makes sense It didn't have an element, or any substance to it. To get the right effect, I had to picture it happening in my mind."

The level of understanding one had toward the effect also played a part. Like how imagining the combustion process scientifically rather than a simple flame allowed my fire magic to turn blue. But that was a little too advanced for this first explanation.

"Hmm… image… control of the mana… these are similar concepts to how one reduces the incantation, though the concept of incantations 'guiding' the mana has yet to be explored…"

Roxy then sets down her quill before raising her hand with her palm facing upward.

Her nose scrunches in concentration as she tries to put my advice into practice, but unfortunately, to no avail.

…Cute.

"Haa… I suppose it would be conceited of me to think it would be so simple," she says sadly.

"D-Don't worry, Miss Roxy! While it takes a lot more control than incantations, I am sure that if anyone can do it, it'd be you. I think the main thing is breaking the habit," I say.

She turns to me with a questioning expression, "Breaking the habit?"

"Y-Yeah."

She still looked perplexed.

Hmm… how to explain it…

"Here, try writing your name with your left hand," I say, pointing toward her quill.

She does as I ask, and the result is quite sad. It reminded me of my first few attempts at writing.

"See? Isn't that pretty messy compared to your usual writing?" I ask.

"Of course it is!" Roxy exclaims.

"But there's not really a difference between your two hands, right? Then why would your right hand be better?" I ask.

"Because I started writing… this way…" Roxy responds with wide eyes.

Her lips spread into a smile as she pulled me into a hug, "I see now. Thank you, Leon."

H-Her scent! Her warmth! I-I felt like I was going dizzy.

"Y-You're welcome!" I squeak out.

Seemingly noticing my predicament, she quickly lets go of me, and I am met with the beautiful sight of her embarrassed face, as she quickly averts her eyes with a cough.

"Ahem! A-Anyway, yes. Thank you."

The silence in the air is palpable as I suddenly find the sight of the flickering candle flame very interesting.

"I… I can keep trying to help you with chantless magic, you know? At night time like now…" I eventually say.

"...Are you sure? I'm supposed to be the teacher here, you know," Roxy says.

I swallow down the spit that had unknowingly gathered in my mouth, "T-Then… how about we trade? You can teach me the Demon God tongue, and I'll help you with chantless magic."

Yes. Demon God tongue. The language of the Demon Continent.

It had all stemmed from one of her talks about the various races of the world where it was revealed that she was, in fact, not a human.

I didn't care, of course, but it did explain her peculiar hair colour.

I would try to not remember how I immediately asked if different races could have children together.

…Luckily, they could.

Anyway, as for why I wanted to learn her language?

Well… it was always useful to learn another language, but I would be lying if I said that was the reason.

Instead, it was a much more embarrassing and simple reason: I wanted to get closer to her.

Gaah! Just thinking about it sounds embarrassing!

"Sure. That sounds… nice."

Turning my head back, I feel my breath catch as I see her bashful smile, with her face glowing orange as her finger twirled around her hair.

Noticing my gaze, she immediately averts her eyes as she starts picking up her things, "W-We can start tomorrow, then. Goodnight, Leon."

"G-Goodnight, Roxy."

With the door closing behind her, I let myself fall onto my bed as I blankly looked at the ceiling.

Wow… crushes really were quite something, huh?

I think I could understand a bit why Mama acted so silly back then around Paul before having Rudy.

"Hee~?"

Startled at the noise, I turn to see Mama, Paul, and Lilia all looking teasingly at me through the crack of the door. Their three faces piled up atop each other like a totem.

"You work fast, son of mine. I'm proud of you," Paul says, wiping a tear from his eye.

"Uuu~! An embarrassed Leon is so cute!" Mama adds.

"You are indeed quite charming, Young Master."

Even Lilia! And she reverted to the 'young master' stuff!

"S-Shut up! I'm going to bed!"

Casting a wind spell, I slam the door shut before digging myself into the covers, but with the sound of my heartbeat thumping against my chest… I found it hard for sleep to find me.

—-- Leon Greyrat —--

Another year went by, and as the snow melted and the grass thawed, I found myself as an Intermediate-ranked swordsman in all three styles and an Advanced-rank magician in all four schools of elemental magic.

Quite a good resume for a six-year-old.

During this time, I also began practicing magic with Rudy, with both of us working on exercises focusing on precision and speed, such as crafting sculptures with earth magic, making clothes fly with wind magic, and making warm bath water with fire and water magic.

Though… that last one was more of a chore that Mama and Paul asked of us… But it was still practice!

An interesting thing I began to learn about my brother during this time, was that his magic… it was… different than mine.

Somehow, he had more reserves than me, despite me being older and starting magic younger, but I suppose that could be due to the fact Mama was his biological mother and getting a head start gene-wise.

But that wouldn't explain why his mana was stronger.

If he used a regular Waterball through an incantation, it could demolish the stone wall in our backyard, while when I did it, it would only make a dent. 

According to Roxy, my Waterball was the normal one, but that still didn't explain why Rudy's was so strong.

And it wasn't anything to do with technique either, as I was probably ahead of him in that regard. His mana was just… better, I guess.

I wasn't jealous though. I was more proud than anything about my little perverted brother's abilities. 

And besides, I had the edge in precision and speed of magic, likely due to my efforts of melding it with my swordsmanship, so I was content to lose in the strength department.

My lessons with Roxy were also quite fruitful.

Not only did she help me reach the Advanced rank in magic, but I was also now fluent in the Demon God tongue, at least when it came to talking.

Still needed to work on my writing and reading though.

Anyway, I had my night lessons with her to thank for that.

She also taught us about the world around us as well as various customs, like how nobility and trading worked, all stemming from her own experiences from when she came to the human lands for the first time, as well as the things she picked up while adventuring.

During this, she also told us about casting melded magic, such as how when you used Waterfall, Heat Island, and Icicle Field together, you would form the spell Deep Mist , which caused a dense fog to fall on the surroundings.

Her face when I simply had the water in the air condense to create the same effect was especially cute.

Yeah… my bond with Roxy had definitely grown over this time too.

While teaching her chantless magic and her doing the same with the Demon God tongue was nice, what really catapulted our relationship was us both learning barrier magic together from the book I got for my birthday.

There was something… different, about learning something at the same pace rather than one person teaching the other, even if it was an equal exchange in the end.

But, as my romantic feelings for my tutor increased, so did my despondency.

Despondency at the fact it would take a while, if ever, for me to be seen as a 'man' and not a 'boy'.

I was not so stupid as to think that the age gap between us couldn't be circumvented. After all, years had little meaning when Demons often had such large lifespans.

Instead, I was worried that she would find someone else before I even became an option.

I mean, I had already spotted her, ahem, 'treating herself', to the open door of my parents' bedroom, so she definitely had sexual needs that needed fulfilling.

Needs that I… couldn't. At least not for a while.

But crying about it wouldn't change anything, so I would remain headstrong until I was finally old enough.

As for what I was doing right now?

Well, I was taking a walk around town, of course.

With my magic lessons finished, and Paul not returning home for another few hours, I decided to kill the time by walking around the village like usual.

I had been trying to take Rudy out of the house with me too, but for some reason, my little brother was scared of going anywhere past our walled garden. Instead opting to make his 'figurines' or just laze around inside.

Sometimes, I would be blessed with the presence of Roxy with these walks and we'd do a few menial tasks for the villagers. But lately, she had been doubling down on her own studies in trying to use chantless magic. With such consistency, and her general intelligence with magic, I was sure she would eventually get there, but… I was feeling a bit lonely with her holed up in her room.

"Get out of here, demon!"

"Disgusting! Leave us alone!"

Hearing the scornful, childish voices, I quickly make my way over the hill before spotting the source of the noise.

There were three kids about my age, all surrounding the crouching form of another smaller kid.

"Yeah! Go back to the forest, and stay there!"

The three older ones, alongside the verbal attacks, were kicking the poor kid on the ground.

"Hngh! S-Stop! Please!" the kid on the ground pleaded.

But their cries went unanswered.

This was bullying, right? 

Yeah… I didn't like it at all.

"Hey! You three!" I shout. "What the heck do you think you're doing!?"