Chapter 11. Roxy’s lessons, Barrier Magic and a pervert’s heart

During the next two months of being tutored by Roxy, she went with me through all of the Elementary and Intermediate attack spells.

Because I was skilled enough at using them already and because Roxy had free time in the evenings, I soon also started having night-time classes.

I then adjusted my schedule to also have time for strength training in the morning and enough time for my own magic training.

I discovered that a magic tutor was really not necessary to make me a powerful mage, since that was mostly just about talent and personal training, but there were still many things that as a newcomer to this world I could learn from Roxy.

Among them, there was various miscellaneous knowledge, magical theory and history of magic that is known to the world, information about the world, her own experiences, melded magic, some magic spells that were not included in the guidebook and others.

Of course, if Roxy's lessons were completely useless, there would be no point in her teaching Rudeus for a whole 2 years.

Roxy's a good teacher, I could say that.

She was teaching me progressively according to my understanding.

Even though I probably seemed like a genius and appeared exceedingly insightful in certain fields, if I didn't know or understand something, she'd still teach me patiently.

This made me respect her a bit more.

She was a smart, capable and hard-working girl.

There were things about magic that she could not explain to me or teach me, but that mostly stemmed from the fact that probably no-one in this world knew about it.

Compared to studying back on Earth, Roxy's classes were also easier to understand and actually interested me. A class where I'm learning something that I genuinely want to learn.

In this kind of situation of course my studies would progress smoothly.

One of those days I asked Roxy: "Teacher, can you teach me Barrier Magic?"

Roxy replied with her usual indifferent expression, "I'm not familiar with Barrier Magic. Also, even if I knew, I couldn't teach you. Barrier magic is the speciality of the Milis Church. They control and monopolize the knowledge on Barrier and Divine magic. It's forbidden for members of the Millis church to teach Barrier Magic to others."

"I thought so," I mumbled quietly.

This is also the answer I previously got from Zenith when she was teaching me Healing magic.

Zenith did learn the Elementary ranked Barrier magic back in Millis, but it is forbidden to share this knowledge.

If it is found out that someone had broken this rule and taught others Barrier magic, they would be persecuted and hunted down by the church.

Zenith herself is especially serious about obeying the law, keeping promises and those kinds of things, so she would not relent.

As for Roxy, she could only tell me miscellaneous information about Barrier Magic.

…

A bit later, I approached Zenith in regards to Barrier Magic once again.

This time with a plan.

"Mom, I know you can't teach me, but can you show me Barrier Magic?"

"Show you? Well, alright. Let mom show you what she can do!" She stretched out her hand, then graciously recited, "I call for my God to protect me from harm. I fear no danger, for you are with me, and your divine power shall shield me. Magic Shield!"

A mostly transparent spherical barrier formed around Zenith out of nowhere.

"Okay. I got it." I nodded. "I call for my God to protect me from harm. I fear no danger, for you are with me, and your divine power shall shield me. Magic Shield."

As I repeated the chant perfectly, I felt mana flowing through my body in a set pattern. I controlled this feeling and allowed the spell to activate.

Then, a semi-transparent barrier formed around me as well.

I smiled.

Too easy!

I then looked up at Zenith who looked a bit stupefied.

I quickly said, "Mom, you didn't teach me. I just heard an adventurer say the Incantation, and l learned it. It's okay, right?"

"..." Zenith was silent as she stared at me intensely.

A few seconds passed like this.

'She won't be angry, right?'

"Aaaaagh!!! My son is so smart!" Zenith screamed out loudly, then started tightly hugging me.

She was crushing me.

Uhh….

Am I smart?

I don't know.

I think people are just stupid to have not thought about this!

Though, most people seem to require a period of training to master a new spell.

But It had nothing to do with me. Simply knowing the Incantation was enough for me to intuitively grasp just an Elementary ranked spell like that.

And like this, I have learned the most basic spell of Barrier Magic - the Elementary ranked: Magic Shield!

After this I was able to cast it silently as well.

As for the effect of the Magic Shield, it was average.

I was even a little disappointed.

[Magic Shield] forms a barrier that blocks magical attacks and follows the caster as long as it's continuously and consciously maintained.

It also has the power to isolate flames or cold, or reduce their effect. But it only works on magical flames and cold, not on environmental heat and cold.

As for physical magic attacks like shooting out stone bullets and icicles… It also works!

I guess it's because these things are created by mana and are basically crystalized mana, so they're still blocked.

It has no effect on pure physical attacks like sword strikes and arrows though. It was a purely magical barrier.

But the worst part of it all was that... it also blocks your own spells from going out. Once you create a Magic Shield around yourself, it will also block your own spells from going out if you dual-cast them.

According to Roxy, the Intermediate rank Stone Wall and Advanced rank Earth Fortress are stronger defensive options. This, or just having a swordsman protect you and cut down magic spells for you.

The main problem was that it was only an Elementary-ranked barrier. Even if I could overload it with Mana to make it stronger, it took a significant amount of time and wasn't very powerful because the base-rank of the spell was too low. And it would also be shattered by my own magic going out.

Other downsides are that the shield can only be maintained if I'm within it, it cannot be cast away from the body, and the only shape I can make it is spherical in nature. Basically, it was a good trick to know to have more options, but it wasn't overly useful in combat. 

It's also said that there are other kinds of 'barrier magic', such as barrier magic that heals light wounds and one which promotes the creation of specific hormones in the brain to lessen the feeling of pain, but Roxy and Zenith both don't know these.

…

Shortly after starting lessons with Roxy, I asked her one of those days to cast a Fireball.

She was confused by my sudden request, but still went along with it as I persisted.

"Well, alright," said Roxy expressionlessly and then stretched out her hand.

Flames began gathering in front of her palm as she chanted, "Let the great protection of fire be on the place thou seekest. I call a refreshing..."

I stretched out my hand as well and sent out my mana to interfere with the spellcasting.

Disturb Magic!

Roxy continued, "...burbling stream- Ah?"

Roxy suddenly cut her incantation short and a confused expression appeared on her face as her fireball suddenly extinguished and her cast failed.

"Seraph… Was that you?" Roxy looked at me, her slightly lazy-looking eyes filled with surprise.

"Mhm." I nodded.

It was the first time that I used Disturb Magic on another mage, but luckily it succeeded.

I feel that Roxy didn't put much focus into her spell casting either, so that might have made it easier.

"Aah, Disturb Magic?!" Roxy screamed out with an expression of shock.

I raised my eyebrows.

Roxy knows about Disturb Magic?

"How did you learn Disturb Magic?" Roxy questioned curiously.

"Uh, I just sent out my mana to interfere with your spell. That's all… I thought it might work, but I wasn't sure," I said softly while playing with my thumbs like a good boy.

"Ah. You just sent out your mana…" Roxy replied with a stiff smile.

"Teacher, what is Disturb Magic?" I asked curiously, faking ignorance.

Roxy looked at me for a moment, then explained patiently, "Disturb Magic is said to be legendary magic which allows a magician to cancel other people's spells. I've never heard of anyone being able to use it though. I don't think even the professors in the University of Ranoa where I studied can use it."

"I see…" I muttered.

So it seems that Disturb Magic is not an entirely unknown type of magic in the modern world. There is some information floating around about it, but it's mostly a legend.

Come to think of it, I think the Principal of University of Ranoa was shocked when Rudeus displayed Disturb Magic during his enrollment test, but he still accepted it rather easily. I guess he had heard about this before and was simply surprised that Rudeus could use such a high-level technique.

In practice, interrupting someone's spell wasn't overly difficult. As long as someone is able to manipulate pure mana, I suppose.

All that you need to do is stir up the mana a bit and mess-up their process of formulating a spell.

It's like the enemy magician building a huge house of cards while casting a spell, but you just flick away one of the cards at the bottom, making the entire structure collapse.

It required very little mana too, but was extremely effective.

I guess it would be even more effective since most people had never encountered it before and would have no experience of having someone interfere in their spell-casting. As if being able to cast magic chantlessly and instantly was not enough, it was an ultimate and simple counter against most magicians.

Following that, Roxy questioned me on how I was able to grasp Disturb Magic.

I feel she wanted to learn some secrets that might allow her to learn it herself.

"Well, I don't know. I just did it." My answer was vague.

It was not entirely because I didn't want Roxy to learn Disturb Magic, but because I didn't think she had any chances in succeeding when she couldn't even cast magic without a chant!

If she focused on trying to learn Disturb Magic, while even Sylphy with Laplace Factor and talent in chantless magic had difficulty grasping it, then she would be simply wasting her time.

Roxy looked a little bit disappointed that I couldn't provide her an answer.

But of course, I didn't just show this to her to lower her self-esteem or to show off.

"Teacher, how about we practice together? You can try casting magic and I will try to disrupt it. By training like this, maybe you'll be able to improve your focus."

Roxy's eyes secretly lit up when she heard this.

From this point onward, I began practicing Disturb Magic with Roxy.

Roxy would focus on her own spellcasting and try to resist the interference of my mana while I focused on improving my use of Disturb Magic to interrupt her spells.

Roxy should have thought that this way she might be able to improve her own skill and maybe even learn Disturb Magic.

While I don't think it might necessarily help her to grasp Disturb Magic, it shouldn't be a bad training method to improve her spellcasting focus itself.

Most importantly, I proposed all this because it was a good practice method for me.

Before this I could only practice Disturb Magic while dual-casting, and I wasn't the best at both just yet.

As I can finally put my full focus on using Disturb Magic, I could feel my skill steadily improving as I practiced with Roxy from time to time. This way I mastered the ability to completely shut down a Saint-rank magician's spellcasting!

***

A typical day in the Greyrat household.

Middle of the night.

"Aaah! Aaaah! Ooooh!"

Irritating yelping and moaning noises were sounding out through the house once again.

Where were they coming from? Of course it was from Paul and Zenith's bedroom.

They were at it again. Busy at work. This happened every day.

With this, I could not sleep again, so I practiced magic.

I maintained a yellow <Explosion > fireball with an annoyed expression and continuously tried to compress it more and more.

I would slightly loosen it, then once again try to compress it.

The more mana I put in, the stronger the pressure, the higher the heat…

Stronger, harder.

"Aaaah, dear! I can't!"

"I'm only getting started!"

My left eye twitched as the voices were clearly reaching all the way to my own room.

Then I lightly gulped and started imagining the scene in the bedroom.

Damn. How much fun would it be to smash an Adventurer hotty like Zenith like this?

Zenith herself was hot, and so was Lilia, so in this fantasy world the standards of beauty should be rather high.

With my looks of Kid-Gilgamesh with blue ocean eyes and my strength I'll surely be attractive among girls.

I can't wait to grow up…

No, back to work.

My heart is calm and focused. Only perseverance remains in my heart…

I continued training, and continued applying pressure to my fireball.

There were other kinds of magic training that I also did, like creating stone figurines, improving my ice magic and also manipulating spells like Flamethrower to have it enter into a loop of continuously blasting out fireballs, but I often defaulted to practicing by simply working on my Explosion spell, I'm not entirely sure why.

I always had some water in my room for drinking, so I would sip some from time to time as I trained to stay hydrated.

Drinking at this hour might have not been the best decision, but it was my habit.

And because of this at one point I felt like going to the lavatory.

I quietly opened the door leading to the corridor.

But another guest was there already.

The blue-haired girl's squatting in the dark corridor, peeking into the room through the door's gap.

Her face flushed and she was holding in her quickened breath, but her eyes glued into the inner rooms.

I can see her hand reaching beneath her robes, doing some inviting movements.

I quietly returned back to my room.

I gulped.

That childish and cute magician-girl who's so innocent and sincere was actually secretly peeping on a couple having sex while masturbating.

Oh Roxy, how inappropriate!

I guess everyone has urges, even a decent girl like her.

To be honest… Roxy is impossibly pretty, as you could expect from a fantasy world. Her chest is small, but her small bubble butt is great and she has nice hips with nice curves... How do I know? Well, that was an accident - she forgot to close the door whilst changing.

She has the body of a teenage girl and acts a bit silly, but I guess it would only be rude to consider her a child.

After all, she is still a 40 year old woman that traveled the whole damn world by herself while killing many monsters and people! She went through and experienced more than most people will in their entire lifespans.

And just look at this scene… a girl in heat.

I personally wish she were a bit more developed, but it isn't something I can change.

A this moment I had thoughts of walking up to her to tease her with some childish talk, but I decided I'll just pretend I never saw this. I don't want her to always feel ashamsed and uncomfortable around me in the future.

But I don't think I'll be able to forget this scene.

Whilst keeping this in my mind, I once asked Roxy later, "Teacher, how do you relieve stress?"

"By studying."

It seemed that a shota hentai development was not fated for me.

Either way, I was just joking. It isn't like I can even get it up at 3-4 years old.

At best I could kiss her here and there. It might be fun to do that and hear her moan in pleasure...

Ah, why am I even thinking about this?

Right, it's because of these damn yelping moaning noises EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT.

They often don't even bother closing the door to their room, even though we have a guest! Does that arrogant Paul want everyone to hear just how good he is in bed? Is that it?

Damn you, Paul! You're raising me as a degenerate!

Yeah, I'll just blame Paul, everyone seemed to be doing that online back on Earth.

I swear I'm not a pervert.

.

.

.

Yeah, that's probably a lie… I'm just not as vocal about my desires as some others.

But I don't care.

If having thoughts of potentially romancing a demon magician girl and wanting a harem after reincarnating in a fantasy world makes someone a pervert, then I'm a proud pervert and I feel bad for anyone who isn't one because they'd be missing out big time.

That's my honest attitude.

I feel I'm still better than someone who outwardly and shamelessly groomed, groped and lusted after kids, masturbated to his own niece bathing using a hidden camera, peeked on his infant sisters' crotches and stared at Zenith's breasts like a dog as she was feeding them, worshiped and regularly sniffed unwashed stolen panties in pleasure, and spent his youth finding a cure for Erectile Dysfunction while having such pathetic and dull-witted mindset throughout the entire Mushoku Tensei that it was difficult to read…

***

Time passed.

As a live-in teacher, Roxy had begun to become a part of the family.

Sometimes she would go out to do small jobs in the village, sometimes Zenith would try to teach her some cooking recipes at home.

I thought that it wouldn't be difficult for someone like Roxy to just follow the steps of a cooking recipe, but she was strangely clumsy when it came to cooking.

Although a bit childish, she was way brighter than I initially thought. Still, it would seem that the easier something was, the clumsier Roxy got. The Roxy Paradox.

"Zenith-san, how did you end up with someone like Paul-san?" Roxy asked Zenith one of those days, curious.

"Well, he does have his good points… But it's probably because we traveled together for so long," Zenith said. "Although he was never able to keep his hands off of… Ah! Roxy-chan, has he?!"

"Not even once," Roxy replied with a somewhat flat expression.

Hm? Was she annoyed that even a man like Paul never showed interest in her? From what I remember, he only likes woman with big boobs.

I could see that Roxy had zero interest in Paul. She should only be self-conscious of her small size.

"Teacher, I think you're very pretty," I quietly spoke up from beside her.

"No, you don't need to comfort me." Roxy maintained a blank face.

I guess she wasn't interested in the opinion of a 4-year old.

"... I'm not lying. I think you're pretty," I said after a moment's hesitation, then shot Roxy a cute and innocent smile as I looked up.

"…Thank you for the compliment, but you should leave that kind of talk for a girl you like in the future."

"But I like Roxy."

Roxy said, "Okay. If you haven't changed your thoughts 10 years later, we will talk about it again."

"Okay. Then it's a promise!"

And even though it was reflected lightly, I didn't miss Roxy's slightly happy expression.

I could see Zenith smiling silly at this scene as well.

To be honest, I didn't expect anything from this, and Roxy also didn't take it seriously. But I guess it wouldn't hurt to plant the seed here. I might tease her about it in the future.

Through the months I grew to like Roxy quite a bit

My poor opinion of her has changed. She was definitely a girl I would want as my partner, if I could.

Meanwhile Paul: 'Is Roxy really alright? She's not growing, and her chest is still flat… Maybe we should have more meat from now on. She should look like this…' [Insert hot Roxy pictures here]