Chapter 16. Graduation

During my 5th birthday Roxy said that it's time for my graduation, as she no longer had much more to teach me.

Even though what she said was not wrong, I felt that her decision was a bit sudden.

She seemed comfortable and happy living in the village, but she also longed to go out into the outside world to pursue her own dreams.

It was difficult to judge Roxy's emotions from her expressionless face, but over the last 2 years she developed a bit of an ability to guess that it is what should be on her mind.

Still, I did not plan to stop her.

Two days later.

The graduation test was to be held outside the village.

Ever since I came to this world, I have not left the house.

It was not because of my fear of the outside world.

I still never went out, but it was because I wished to limit the level of my influence outside of the Greyrat household, limit my influence on Fate of the world.

Why?

In short, on the off chance that Nanhoshi will come to this world for some reason, I did not want to shift the timing of the Mana Disaster by hastening the appearance of the red orb over Roa.

As it was explained in the novel, Rudeus's actions after he reincarnated changed the fate of the world and the fate of various people, and eventually weakened the barrier around the world, which allowed Nanahoshi's summoning to begin.

It happened at the point when Rudeus was 5 years old, when Roxy left to wander the world and when he met Sylphy, changing the fate of both of these.

It was just one of the explanations, at least.

Logically, Nanahoshi's appearance in this world had no practical basis, but so did my own reincarnation.

Because there was little reason for me to go outside before this anyway, I didn't have much to lose. I stayed on the safe side to keep my metaknowledge advantage in case I happen to relive the events of the novel.

Today it was time for me to go outside for the first time.

Zenith and Paul stood together at the porch, holding hands and looking toward me with encouraging and doting looks.

I feel they thought I might be afraid of the outside, since I had never shown an inclination to go beyond the stone fence…

'Well, whatever.'

I looked up at the huge horse in front of me. Paul's beloved horse Caravaggio.

In the eyes of a child like me, that horse was an enormous beast.

Years ago as a toddler I was quite startled by it.

I was even scared, to be honest. It was too big.

I have gotten used to it a bit more after being close to it throughout the years.

But it was still such a huge horse. It would be very difficult for me to climb it.

'I could float up,' I secretly thought.

My acts of suddenly levitating in the past had startled all Lilia, Zenith and Roxy quite a bit when I was practicing Gravity Magic.

When it first happened they stared at me with stunned expressions as if I had grown a second head, often dropping whatever they held in their hands.

Good times.

Paul was also startled, but instead pulled out his sword at me and thought I was a ghost.

It was scary.

"Well, here you go." Roxy lifted me up high, then carried on her shoulders.

I didn't struggle.

I knew I was light, but just how strong was this little girl? Was this a demon's blood?

At least, I knew that Roxy was quite strong for her small size.

Like this, Roxy threw me onto the back of the horse, and I somehow managed to climb up.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," Roxy replied with her monotonous voice, very slightly smiling, then also climbed up. She sat behind me and took hold of the reins in front.

The horse begins to pattern forward toward the short stone gate of the property.

"Good luck, Seraph!" I heard Zenith's voice behind me.

…

The horse slowly moved forward in the village.

"Make sure to hold on while we're riding," Roxy said.

I stretched out my hands slightly behind and held onto her legs.

"I mean to hold on to Caravaggio," Roxy added.

"Yes."

To be honest, there wasn't much for me to hold onto in front. I stretched out my hands and placed them against the horse's neck, helping me keep my balance and not fall down.

As we rode silently, from time to time, the villagers would throw us unreserved gazes.

Some of them greeted Roxy.

"Good morning, Roxy."

"Hello, Roxy."

"Roxy! Would you like some fruit?"

"-Thank you for the offer, but I'm currently working," Roxy replied in a serious tone.

At a slow pace, we continued through the village.

Roxy knew where to go, and the villagers mutually knew her.

As people stared at us, my body was slightly tense, but it was just a bit of anxiety.

I did not feel very comfortable with people looking at me or judging me because of my past experiences, but I'd rather refuse for something pathetic like this to stop me from living the way I wanted, even if it was uncomfortable.

Gradually, my body's tension faded away.

The surroundings entered my eyes.

Fields and houses stretched out into the distance like in a painting.

The scenery of a village from a fantasy world.

I could see a considerable number of people within this huge radius.

Though I knew that the population of the village was not large. Only about 30 families or so.

A small rural village, like the starting town of a protagonist in a novel.

How peaceful…

It would be a shame if the village met a disaster.

I thought of this. Usually the protagonist would be an orphan and his parents are dead, for plot purposes, or the peaceful town of the protagonist meets a great disaster, for plot purposes.

Mushoku was not free from this pattern.

'Hmm, come to think of it, Fang Yuan in Reverend Insanity was the same.'

He was an orphan and his clan met a disaster.

Except that after regressing, he was the one who brought a disaster to his clan instead.

In the future, a disaster would also strike Buena village…

'I'll worry about it later.'

I leaned backwards comfortably, resting my back against Roxy to relax.

The back of my head seemed to hit Roxy's flat chest.

I turned my head up and looked up.

She didn't seem to mind.

And Roxy was still so much taller than me.

"What is it, Seraph?" Roxy asked, looking down on me.

"You're big."

"It's you who's tiny."

"Yes."

Yes, I'm still tiny.

Although I grew up over the last 2 years, and Roxy didn't, I was still small.

Still, I didn't miss Roxy's slightly happy mood.

Happy that I said she's big?...

Following that, after a while I became conscious of the silence.

"Teacher, it seems you're well liked," I commented at one point, breaking the silence.

After what Roxy had told me about her adventures and experiences, the discrimination against the demon race was quite severe in this country.

During her travels she was often treated unreasonably, insulted, scammed, used and refused jobs, just because she was a demon and looked like a child.

Roxy had often downplayed what she went through, but I could sense the agitation in her voice whenever she talked about it.

Still, she has already established her position in the village.

Within a short period of 2 years, she has become a figure who everyone is willing to greet.

"Well… I've just been using magic to help the villagers. It's only for a small change though."

"A small change?... It feels like a waste of time," I said offhandedly.

Just how much money could villagers have?

It's often that money is heavily concentrated in the hands of the rich and the peasantry has very little.

Roxy was a Saint-ranked magician. It was honestly quite a waste of her to even take up a job of tutoring a kid in a village like this.

However, she seemed to be very poor when she first came here.

During her travels she seemed to have often been strained for money; she told me about it.

That was the reason she picked up this job; she was broke.

As if to confirm it, Roxy said, "Every bit of money counts."

"I see… Teacher should be helping others because she's kind-hearted," I said, secretly joking.

"I am not. I'm doing it for money," Roxy rebuked me.

"Ah, so Teacher is a cheapskate."

"..."

"Just kidding."

I chuckled.

It was fun to tease Roxy. She always took things quite seriously.

A while later, Roxy spoke up with a slightly apprehensive voice: "By the way, Seraph. You have always called me your teacher, but you never called me Master. I am not complaining, but why was that?"

I could feel she was anxious when she asked this. She might have thought I never called her Master because I secretly looked down on her.

Which, even if understandable, of course was not the case.

Even though she's clumsy and acts a little stupid sometimes.

I knew that Roxy didn't like being called Master, so I saw no reason to do it.

She was a hired tutor, so a 'Teacher' was most appropriate.

"It's because you never asked me to."

"Hm?"

"A teacher is a person who teaches, so I thought it's fitting. But taking in a disciple is a big deal, right? So if Roxy didn't consider me as her disciple, I couldn't call you Master."

"...I see. It isn't that I don't consider you as my disciple, but I'm not qualified to be your Master. I would be ashamed to call myself one when you're much more talented than I am. Soon enough, you'll easily surpass me. No, you probably already had…"

"...I don't think it's right. Even if I'm more talented, if you're more knowledgeable than me now, you're qualified to be my Master. You could be my Master while you're teaching me in the village, but you don't need to be in the future."

After hesitating for a while, Roxy said, "I suppose you're right."

"Then I'll call you Master, until the day you leave," I said after making up my mind. It wouldn't hurt to boost Roxy's self-esteem a little more.

"Okay. If that's what you want."

"..."

"..."

"Master, you'll leave soon, right?"

"Yes… After teaching you the last spell, I'll leave."

"..."

"Are you disappointed?" Roxy asked.

"Yes. But I understand… It will be difficult for you to improve if you stay in the village."

Roxy looked down at the little blonde boy in front of her with a deep look.

'Right. This boy is far more mature than I was…' Roxy thought, self-reflecting on her time back in the Migurd village.

Roxy said, "Yes… I would like to stay in the village, I really like it here, but I want to keep walking on the path of magic. Although I don't know how far I can get."

'I also want to meet someone… Someone intelligent, tall and manly, with a childish playfulness to them. In the depths of a labyrinth,' Roxy secretly thought, her cheeks blushing in embarrassment.

"Master, if you learn new magic, you'll share it with me, right?" I asked, making use of this chance.

"Oh, okay."

"Then I'll help you too. It's a promise."

"Hmm."

It's a promise!

It's settled.

Roxy, you now can't back down when you learn the King-rank Lightning spell.

…

Approximately another hour passed.

There aren't any fields surrounding us anymore. We have arrived in a completely untouched grassland area.

We came all the way here because Roxy's spell could have hurt the villagers or damage their crops otherwise.

In front of us was a grassland that stretched endlessly towards the horizon.

Not quite endlessly, perhaps, as at the furthest one can barely see some hints of a mountainous area.

It was a beautiful view.

At least in my eyes as someone from modern Earth.

"This place should be fine." Roxy directs the horse to a lone tree and ties the reins onto it.

Then she brings me down from the horse.

I was finally on the ground again.

I stretched myself a little.

I have always done flexibility training while weight-lifting and my body was young, so I didn't ache after riding the horse for an hour. Just being a little stiff after sitting still for that long.

I observed the grassland before me.

How beautiful.

A beautiful scenery in front of me, an even more beautiful young-looking magician girl behind me.

My young body was brimming with talent and power.

Every day I was growing stronger.

The whole world was in front of me.

How wonderful.

"Seraph," Roxy called out to me after being done. "I'm going to use the Saint-rank water attack magic, Cumulonimbus. This technique is a magic that creates lightning strikes with violent rain."

"Mhm."

"Please copy what I do."

Roxy is about to use her highest-ranked spell. 

Actually, I secretly believe that my blue-colored Explosion should be reaching the King-rank of power at this time, as well as some of my other enhanced spells from different elemental schools.

But I didn't feel like mentioning it.

Cumulonimbus was the first legitimate Saint rank spell that I would learn, and it's different from the other spells I know.

I focused on Roxy.

Roxy: "Because I'm only demonstrating, I'll just maintain the spell for a minute before dismissing it, and then… You pass if you can make the rain last for an hour."

"Okay."

"I'm starting."

Roxy raises her hands to the skies.

"Oh great water spirit, the son of the lightning emperor who ascended to the skies! Fulfill my wishes, rain down your ferocious blessings, and show me your strength to this tiny existence! Let your godly hammer strike the anvil, and demonstrate your authority, and devour the earth with water! Ah, the rain! Destroy and wash everything away! Cumulonimbus!"

She chants every word out like an aria, making a brief pause in between each sentence. It lasts over a minute.

The surroundings turned dark immediately when the chanting ended.

A few seconds later… extremely heavy rain fell from the sky.

Violent winds sprung up around us, nearly blowing me off my feet, while lightning appeared in the midst of the dark clouds.

Among the sounds of the waterfall-like rain, streaks of purple lightning ran through the clouds, causing loud booms.

The electricity in the clouds slowly became stronger.

The lightning continues to grow, as if to make the light become stronger.

…It falls down.

And it strikes the tree.

A bright flash.

CRASH!

And a deafening sound of a nearby lightning strike.

My eardrums were buzzing and my eyes were in spirals.

I almost fainted.

"Ah!" This is the sound Roxy utters when she makes a mistake.

The clouds disperse in an instant.

The lightning and rain stop.

"Ahh, hhh…"

Roxy's face turns green as she runs towards the tree.

The horse that we brought has collapsed with smoke rising from it.

Ah, seriously?

I formed a wry smile. I guess Cavaraggio receiving life-long trauma here was simply fated.

Roxy brings her hand over to the horse and begins chanting. "Oh merciful mother of gods, please heal this one's wounds, and let him recover with a healthy body, X-Healing!"

Roxy used the Intermediate-ranked healing magic in a panic, and after a while, the horse woke up.

The horse showed a frightened expression, and Roxy's forehead broke out in cold sweat. "Phew, phew… That was dangerous."

Yeah, hell yes it was dangerous! What if the lightning hit us?

"Please, keep this a secret?" Roxy said in a half-crying voice.

Paul takes great care of Cavaraggio everyday, and would sometimes ride it outside far away with a smile…

Even though it's not a famous breed, it is Paul's long-time companion.

One might even say that his love for the horse is just below his love for Zenith. Such is the importance of this horse. (I don't know where I rank here.)

Of course, Roxy, who has lived with us for 2 years, knows it.

"Don't worry, I won't tell Paul."

"Uuuu… Please do so." Even though Roxy is in a half-crying state, she quickly shakes her head, slaps her cheek and looks at me with a serious expression. "Then, it's your turn. Please go ahead and try. I will take care of Cavaraggio."

The horse still showed a frightened expression and was ready to run away at any time now, but Roxy clung to it tightly with her body and reined it in.

Even though it looked as if she was unable to restrain it, the horse slowly calmed down.

After observing all this, I said, "Yes, but what if the lightning hits us? Did you not aim the spell correctly?"

I don't think the lightning from Cumulonimbus could be aimed…

But what would be the chance it hit the horse?

"No. The lightning from Cumulonimbus can't be aimed. But there's no need to worry, the lightning won't strike us. Lightning tends to hit things like trees, and it was the only tree in this place. It was my mistake tying up Cavarragio to it," Roxy explained with a flustered face.

Ah, right.

Lightning is attracted toward things like trees, I forgot about it.

It always takes the fastest path to Earth, typically striking the tallest object reaching the clouds.

And in this huge plain this tree was the only one, so it's normal that lightning had a good chance of striking it.

It was not by chance.

After thinking for a moment, I said, "I see. But in this plain we're now the only other things that stand out, so there's still a good chance that lightning might hit us, right?

The tree wasn't gone, only slightly fried.

It was the first closest object to the sky, but I would be second.

It did not happen in the novel or the anime, but I still didn't like the chances. It would be plain stupid to cast a Saint-rank spell that had a fair chance of killing you!

There seemed to be some randomness to it, but in open areas like fields or golf courses the fastest route for lightning may be by striking a person. 

Roxy should also not stand near the tree, as then she would be in danger of receiving a side-flash, acting as a short-circuit for the electric current just like the horse did earlier.

If you are standing beneath a tree or near a tree that is struck by lightning, you may become electrocuted residually - so always avoid standing under trees during a storm, keeping at least one meter distance from it.

Although all of these thoughts flashed across my mind, only 0.1 second passed in reality.*

"Uh, oh… You're right… There's still this chance," Roxy muttered in realization, looking both troubled and embarrassed.

"Then let's make something that will attract lightning," I said.

"Something that will attract lightning?"

"Something like a fake tree," I replied. "Wait here, Master!"

I ran out into the field with a wand in hand, running for a while.

Then I cast a spell.

'Earth Lance.'

A dark hardened stone pillar rose up from the ground.

I poured mana into my spell, and made the stone pillar 3 meters thick in the middle of it and extremely tall, around 30-40 meters tall.

Done.

As long as I create something that's exceedingly tall like this, the lightning would always be attracted toward it, acting like a lightning rod.

As I returned, Roxy looked at me with a curious look.

"You made it so it won't collapse?" she asked.

Usually low-ranked Earth magic only lasts as long as the user keeps pouring mana into it and keeps maintaining the structure.

Things like city walls can also be built using Earth Magic, but usually higher ranked magic is used for this.

"Yes."

"Right."

I made it have a cone shape, with a very thick base to support the entire structure like an Eiffel Tower.

"O-okay. Then it should be safe now. Right?" Although Roxy tried to sound confident, she looked at me for a second opinion.

"Yes. The tower will now attract lightning."

As long as we stay within a certain radius around it, the lightning rod will protect us.

I thought about it again - as long as we were at a distance around 3 meters from the tree, the tree would also receive the beating and we would most likely be safe.

But it wouldn't hurt to be safe and run a little experiment to see if the tower would be hit.

"Mhm, then you can go ahead. As long as you can maintain the rain for one hour, you pass!" Roxy said with a solemn expression, then held onto the horse and started chanting something.

And then the two of them are covered by earthen walls.

This was the Advanced-ranked earth magic, Earth Fortress.

I hesitated for a while, then decided to tease Roxy.

With an uncertain voice, I said, "Master. Should I fail this test? I'm not sure if you'll be safe in the outside world by yourself…"

Seeing how nervous she was earlier when I mentioned it, it seemed like she never even considered the possibility that we might be struck by lightning.

Roxy frowned. "I feel as if you and Zenith have forgotten, but you do know I traveled alone as an adventurer for decades, right?"

"Right. I was just worried."

"Don't worry about useless things. It's your turn to cast the spell."

"Yes."

Alright, time to start.

Let me recall what the chant was…

The chant was so long and it was said before all this commotion, I have almost forgotten about it.

But the power of anime was on my side, a near-eidetic memory. Maybe it was the side-effect of the Laplace Factor?

"Oh great water spirit, the son of the lightning emperor who ascended to the skies! Fulfill my wishes, rain down your ferocious blessings, and show me your strength to this tiny existence! Let your godly hammer strike the anvil, and demonstrate your authority, and devour the earth with water! Ah, the rain! Destroy and wash everything away! Cumulonimbus!" I said it all in one shot.

The clouds started to gather.

At the same time, I understood the process behind the Cumulonimbus spell.

It created clouds somewhere in the middle stratosphere along with complex movements to form storm clouds. It was something like that.

If mana isn't continuously poured into the formation, the clouds will stop forming and dissipate.

I clearly remember that Rudeus modified the spell to make it sustain itself, basing it on some knowledge from TV of how clouds are formed.

Here, I wasn't sure if I could do the same.

My knowledge about such a random thing was too vague.

It was one thing I felt Rudeus had an advantage over me. Though it was arguable just how useful it was…

In general, I don't think Rudeus ever put his knowledge from Earth to much use apart from maintaining Cumulonimbus and boosting the Stone Cannon. Perhaps some knowledge on electricity helped with the manipulation of Lightning magic and generally helped with some melded magic, but that should be about it.

In fandom people greatly overestimate the usefulness of Rudeus's modern knowledge in regards to his power as a mage.

In this word, my magic was mostly strong thanks to my ability to condense a lot of mana into my spells.

Apart from making melded magic simpler, things like visualizations and imagination only helped slightly with concentration and focus.

For example, if you know how combustion works, it's easier to cast powerful fire spells.

But the major part of it is my talent to overload spells with mana thanks to chantles magic.

Though, of course, through the spirit of creativity it was also possible to modify spells and boost their power significantly more by using Earth knowledge and physics, like it can be done with Stone Cannon.

I would probably just cast the Cumulonimbus for an hour here to pass the test, then experiment with it later.

I should succeed in maintaining it eventually.

But let's still try.

Let's see.

There are still some of the clouds that Roxy made earlier.

The formation of clouds…

It's something about how water vapors spiral up. For this to happen, you need the bottom to be warm.

Since warm air always goes up.

'Something like this.'

And I need to ensure that the upper section is quickly cooled down…

When I tried to do this, a decent portion of my mana was actually taken away.

I never allow my mana to recover fully each day and today was the same. My mana has not fully recovered from yesterday's training.

But I still had a lot of mana left.

If this fails, I'll just return to casting the spell normally.

Lightning built up in the sky.

Suddenly a bright light flashed.

A lightning struck the tall stone tower that I built.

And a very loud sound echoed in my eyes.

Boom!

Good. As expected…

Meanwhile the storm actually seemed to hold itself together…

I observed what was happening and gradually stopped pouring mana into Cumulonimbus.

Surprise flashed across my face.

I wasn't sure how to do it, but it seemed I did it!

Uh.

I didn't need perfect knowledge on cloud formations. The basics of it were already included within the design of the spell.

Warm up the bottom, cool down the top, create a tornado and rain clouds, that was basically it.

While looking at the rainstorm above, I enter the fortress made by Roxy while feeling satisfied.

Roxy is sitting in the dark corner, her hands holding onto the horse's reins.

She saw me and nodded. "This fortress will disappear after an hour, so you can stop the magic when that happens."

"Mhm."

"Don't worry. Caravaggio is fine."

"Mhm."

"Don't just humm. You need to control the clouds outside carefully for an hour."

"Hmm…" I thought for a moment, then smiled at Roxy. "I made it so I don't need to maintain it. That was the test, right?"

"Hm?" Roxy looked at me with a puzzled face. "Huh? What?!…"

After a while Roxy, who seemed to have noticed something, ran out of the fortress.

The fortress immediately began to fall apart.

Hey, hey, aren't you going to continue controlling it?

The horse will get buried alive.

I quickly took over Cavaraggio, then walked outside.

Roxy stares blankly at the skies. "…Is that so, the spiraling tornado brings the clouds upwards!…"

The skies were filled with the ever-growing clouds that I created.

I think I did a pretty good job.

At one point in the past I should have seen it on discovery channel, the process behind huge tornadoes.

Even though I can't really remember its contents.

I just tried it relying on my instinct, and in the end I seem to have done it pretty well.

A bright flash and a crashing sound!

Another lightning strike hit the ground somewhere far away.

Roxy turned toward me. "Well done. Seraph. You pass."

"Mm. But will you really be fine? Maybe you should stay," I called out through the storm as I looked at the collapsing earth fortress.

"Don't worry about it. But can you make the clouds disappear?"

"Yes. Give me a moment…"

I reversed what I did earlier. I lower the temperature at the bottom part of the storm while increasing the temperature of the top. Then I create an air flow towards the ground.

What was left was using a gust of wind to forcibly blow the clouds away.

And so a gust of wind I used.

Roxy stood slightly in front of me.

"Aaah!" She called out in a fluster as her robe suddenly started fluttering in all directions from the wild wind.

She bent over to hold down her robe.

And her white panties became visible.

Together with a nice small bubble butt.

My eyebrows slightly rose.

Nice.

But, seriously…

Wearing panties and a short skit without any underpants or shorts…

It's her fault she ended up like this!

But it wasn't a bad view.

I'll commit it to my memory. My last memory of Roxy was not a bad one.

…

By the time I finished dispelling the Cumulonimbus, Roxy and I were completely soaked.

"Congratulations. You can now call yourself a Saint-ranked Water magician," Big sister in front of me with water dripping from her fringe announces it to me with a rarely seen smile.

I smiled.

I felt a little accomplished here.

And I was grateful for the praise.

Officially, I reached Saint-rank in Water magic.

The rest of my true power I could keep to myself for now.

While we were still away from the village, I tried to make use of this chance to experiment with Cumulonimbus, the only standard Saint-rank spell I knew.

I cast it once again.

Unfortunately, I found out it seemed impossible to isolate lightning from this spell.

The Saint-rank Cumulonimbus didn't include any control of lightning in itself. It was only about creating storm clouds that naturally formed lightning.

I felt I would need to learn the King-rank Lightning spell to finally grasp Lightning Magic, just like Rudeus did.

…

When we returned Caravaggio was still frightened while the reins and saddle were burned.

Things couldn't be hidden.

Paul noticed that something terrible had happened to his horse and cried. 

Zenith scolded Roxy for putting us both in danger.

Roxy hung her head down in shame.

"Master, you didn't just screw up. You gained experience," I told Roxy, placing a hand high up on her shoulder to comfort her.

I sent her my brightest trained smile.

Roxy looked at me.

"Seraph... You're right." She nodded with a serious expression, then gently smiled and ruffled my hair.

Rudeus's Ero-game lines are too powerful!

I noticed Paul and Zenith looking at me with varying expressions.

After a moment's lag, Paul nodded thoughtfully, while Zenith began to grin.

"My son is going to break many young girls' hearts. Perhaps I should begin teaching him how to deal with girls," Paul said.

"Maybe it would be better if you didn't!" Zenith rebuked me.

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(AN: A 5k word chapter, because it felt wrong to cut it and the plot didn't progress much. Next chapter on Monday, shortly before Power Stone reset.)