Chapter 124 (2/2)

“-Rise, Sancta Boundary!”

The Craft Circle suspended itself high up, illuminating the night sky with its dazzling light. In fact, it must be so bright that Bruce and Lala down below couldn’t open their eyes.

There we go – Bruce and Lala promptly broke away from the spot, while the Shade gave chase, seeing it as an opening to strike. All within my calculations.

Except… well, they already were caught.

Unlike the other Boundary crafts, one was able to move within the Sancta Boundary’s perimeter. As usual, the only way for one to get out, aside from the caster disengaging the craft itself, was to force the wall open with one’s own arcane energy. It was most likely to confine all monsters up to Rank S, however. I would have used it more liberally if not for the hefty consumption of arcane energy and Circle drawing time.

“Wow, just wow! Really feelin’ the magic here – and I’m a warrior, man!”

“Ooh~~ sparkly sparkly~~”

Lala’s eyes sparkled as she observed the magecraft’s invocation process. And so did Tifa’s.

As for Lina… I don’t know if I should have expected this, but she was looking at me. Really, why?

…Then she turned snappingly away once Bruce turned around.

“So, Asley? What now?”

“Rise, A-rise! Gatling Lightning!”

I drew up the spell – one that had enraged a Heavenly Beast once before – and wedged it into Sancta’s Boundary magecraft formula.

The Gatling Lightning was then unleashed inside the Boundary’s perimeter.

The spell’s bolts, having no place to go, zapped around within the perimeter, burning the Shade down to a crisp.

“Whoa……”

“Impressive…”

Two whispers, likely from Tifa and Tarawo, entered my ears.

By the time all the sounds and magical lightning bolts within the perimeter disappeared, the unexpected enemy also vanished without a single trace.

“It’s… it’s perfect…”

Lina was the one to make the last remark. Seems like she would be remembering this scene for quite a long time.

As for how this magecraft came to be, it had been completed by Tūs after I had gone to him to discuss its earlier form, which had been an old stalled invention of mine.

I suppose the final result could be considered a collaboration… right, Pochi?

I turned to her, asking the question in my mind as if to reaffirm myself of my opinion, but was instead met with her glare. Huh, whatever made her look at me like that this time?

“Master, when will you let me go?!”

I just realized the Deca Boundary was still active, confining Pochi within it.

“Sorry. I forgot.”

I hurriedly disengaged the Deca Boundary with a bolt of arcane energy. Once released, Pochi gave me a stern stare.

Haha, I’ll have to pamper her a bit some time later…

“Man! That was awesome!”

“Yeah, stupid awesome!”

In expressing her cheerful surprise, Lala imitated Bruce’s manner of speaking. Always interesting to see how quickly her expression changed.

I’d been noting how Lala was quite… erratic when it came to emotional ups and downs. She’d regularly look bored out of her mind with half-sleepy eyes, but once something caught her attention, her eyes would spontaneously sparkle up full of hype. The peak of her expression would be when she was doing farm work. Well, that applied to Tzar as well.

Hmm, maybe I should teach her a thing or two as well, what with her also being a mage of considerable skill – all right.

“Lala, you wanna try learning magecraft as well?”

“-!”

Rendered speechless by sheer surprise, Lala stared at me. Then she proceeded to nod repeatedly. Oh, ain’t she a precious little scarecrow.

…Whoa, she’s nodding so quickly that I’m feeling the wind from up here.

I’d never realized how much she wanted to learn it.

“Heck yeah! I’M SO IN!”

Lala clenched both her fists – she was so happy that she didn’t even notice Tifa glaring at her.

I wonder what compelled Tifa to glare at Lala like that…

Anyways… that was how I took up the responsibility of teaching yet another student. I’ll have to push myself harder than ever from now on.

Index