The Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Shizukuku
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 082 – Magic [B]
Magic.
It was a method of performing miracles that had been handed down since ancient times in this world.
The results of magic, that could cause various phenomena using a special energy known as magic power, which was generated within one’s body, varied depending on the individual talent.
Those without talent wouldn’t be able to use magic, no matter how much they studied and tried to understand magic. It was said one needed at least some talent accompanied with knowledge to use magic.
In addition, there were several schools of magic divided by element and each person had their respective affinities for certain elements, which would decide the direction of learning. That, however, didn’t mean they couldn’t use magic from other elements at all.
The most basic system of magic, offensive magic, consisted of five attributes.
They were fire, ice, lightning, light, and darkness.
First of all, select one of these attribute and use the magic power conversion method mentioned before—
“—I see.”
“Leonhart-sama! I want you to turn to the next page sooner!”
“…Please give me another copy.”
—Leonhart had taken the book he got from Ssulal and was absorbed in studying magic for a while.
“Oh, Leonhart-sama. What are you doing here?”
“…I’m studying.”
He read books between work—
“Leonhart, what are you doing during mealtime?”
“Don’t talk to me. I’m trying to memorize this right now.”
He stuffed the theories into his head, even during mealtimes—
“Turn one’s consciousness inside one’s body…”
“Kuh! Hey! It’s annoying for me to see you studying even when you’re in the midst of combat, okay…?!
“Hm… Aah, sorry about that. It will be meaningless unless I can use it in combat, so it serves as good practice for me, and it also serves as a good handicap for you. Perhaps you should use this chance to land a win, you know?”
“Kuh… I will make you regret such composure…!”
Even during sparring, he practiced circulating his magic power and, whenever there was an opening, he took any chance he could find to study magic.
And earlier than he expected — the moment came.
“—Sorry to keep you waiting.”
“…”
The one who received Majin Leonhart’s words stood naturally without saying anything.
It was a demon. The demon known as a troll was just standing there in a section of the labyrinth. It was the labyrinth that Leonhart visited previously.
Therefore, this troll was likely the same troll. However, the troll, which was supposed to be a mere demon, confronted the majin in front of him without hesitation. 1
Seeing that, Leonhart revealed a fearless smile.
“Fuhn, as expected of you, I guess. You didn’t even flinch when you saw me in front of you. Did you think someone like me is unable to serve well as your opponent?”
“…”
The troll said nothing. However, Leonhart continued to talk one-sidedly without minding that.
“Well, I guess it’s natural. My attacks are invalid to you after all. No matter how hard I try, I can’t win against you. That is a fact—”
Leonhart put his hand over his face, as if he had said so in self-deprecation. A bitter smile could be seen on the revealed part of his face.
But then, Leonhart opened his eyes and stared at his opponent.
“—If I were the same as before, that is.”
His words were filled with fighting spirit. The troll still did not flinch. It was as if the troll was sneering at him because he didn’t see Leonhart as a threat to him.
—But that’s fine.
After all, Leonhart was indeed defeated before and here he was, challenging the victor once again. From the perspective of his opponent, Leonhart was nothing but a weakling who had no choice but to escape during their last encounter.
Whether he was a majin, or even the Supreme Majin, didn’t matter as such status held no meaning in this battle. Regardless of whether his opponent was human or demon, only one thing was important. With that in mind, Leonhart spun his words.
“For one month — I’ve been giving my all, just to overcome you. All for the sake of being stronger than you are…!”
Indeed. The only important thing was — which of them was stronger, that was all.
It was so simple, yet it was the ultimate element of battle. This battle was to prove such a thing to his opponent.
That was the purpose of Leonhart coming back to this place today. For the sake of challenging an opponent he lost against before,
“Ku, kuku…! I will overcome the wall known as you…!”
“…!”
The opponent took his battle stance. Leonhart also took his battle stance accordingly.
Leonhart didn’t wield his sword. Only for this one battle, it was something unnecessary. Leonhart rejoiced as he opened his palms lightly so his opponent could see them.
“Hahahah!! Look! This is a technique I learned for the sake of defeating you…!”
With that said, Leonhart put his right hand forward.
He pointed that hand toward his opponent, and spoke the name of something he had learned over his month-long training — his new strength.
Leonhart shouted the name of the technique as if roaring. The edges of his mouth distorted,
“—Fire arroooooooowwwww!!” 2
“—?!”
A lump of fire popped out from the palm of Leonhart’s outstretched hand.
The troll was astonished as he saw the big burning flame — well, not that big, just a size of fist. The flame flew toward the troll. Even as the troll tried to avoid it,
“Kuhaha, it’s useless even if you want to escape! Magic is guaranteed to hit its target…!” 3
“—!”
As Leonhart had promised, the fire arrow chased after the troll,
“Burn!!”
And it hit the troll’s head as it was.
The flame instantly reduced the troll to ash — well, not that exaggerated. Really, it just burnt the troll to some extent and,
“—”
Thud, such was the sound of the troll collapsing on the dungeon floor and turning into a corpse.
As Leonhart confirmed that,
“…Ku.”
As if unable to suppress his feelings of joy, his expression distorted and,
“Ku-kuhahahahahahah—!! See that, folks!!”
“Yes! I saw it properly! Leonhart-sama!!”
“…”
He laughed out loud and called out to the people behind him. They were Carol, Ssulal, Hunty, and Kesselring. All the people who were present during Leonhart’s request to be taught magic were all present now, but Carol was the only one who replied to him. Everyone else had subtle expressions.
But ignoring such situations, Leonhart called out to Carol,
“Did you see that, Carol! I-I used magic… and finally managed to surpass him…!”
“Congratulations! It’s amazing! As expected of Leonhart-sama!”
“Hahah! Don’t praise me too much, Carol!”
Carol pulled out confetti, which she took from seemingly out of nowhere, and tossed it around while circling Leonhart.
“Leonhart-sama is not only a genius in swordsmanship but also in magic! You’re the greatest in the demon realm! The greatest in the whole world!! Please show me more of such magic!”
“It can’t be helped since you said it like that! Watch and learn! — Fire Arrow!!”
Leonhart shot Fire Arrow at the wall. Carol who saw that was in delight once again.
“Amazing! I want to see more!”
“Kuku, it can’t be helped then! —Fire Arrow!!”
“As expected of Leonhart-sama!”
Leonhart was in a good mood and shot another Fire Arrow at the wall, as Carol bounced merrily and spread confetti around once again. Looking at the master and servant from a distance away, Hunty, who had the same master, sighed with tired eyes.
“Aren’t they too excited just for casting a mere Fire Arrow…”
“Perhaps he is happy about casting magic for the first time…? I didn’t expect him to be that happy…”
“He did learn quite fast though…” 4
The three people who could use magic analyzed and talked about Leonhart and Carol’s excitement.
Leonhart had been studying and practicing magic recently, and the only magic he learned to use was the rudimentary magic of the fire element — Fire Arrow.
It could be called the simplest magic among the offensive magics, and many demons within the Demon Army who could use magic wouldn’t even bother using it. It was because they preferred to use more destructive magic instead. Any magic user with decent talent would at least use Fire Blast instead.
“However,” muttered Ssulal, as she observed Leonhart who kept shooting his Fire Arrow,
“But well, that Fire Arrow… Doesn’t it have greater firepower than a common one…? I think he has talent and magic power… If he continues to study and practice, I think he could become better at it.”
“…My sparring with him will become harder if he grows too strong though…”
Hunty held onto her head. She already had a hard time in close combat, so it would become even more troublesome if Leonhart used magic as well. Such was how she took it.
“But Leonhart can already send his slash flying to begin with, so I don’t think he will concentrate on magic all that much?”
“Well, that’s true. But magic has the nature to always hit its target, so I need to cancel his magic somehow, and considering it’s Leonhart, he would catch me while I was doing that and proceed to hit me with his simultaneous slashes… I could evade it with Instant Movement, but Leonhart could easily predict where I’d move using that…In that case—”
As Hunty answered Kesselring’s question, she had already begun to prepare her future tactics, just in case he really used magic in sparring from now on. Looking at Hunty’s behavior, Kesselring smiled and said,
“…But looking at how happy he is, I guess teaching him was worth it, isn’t it, Ssulal-sama?”
“…You’re right. He looks quite cute somehow…”
As Ssulal blushed with a complicated gaze, they saw how Leonhart and Carol were still enjoying their moment,
“Okay, Carol! I’ll wipe out the demons in this dungeon using only magic! Follow me!”
“Yes, Leonhart-sama! I will follow you everywhere!!”
With that said, they proceeded deeper to the dungeon.
Seeing that, Kesselring had a wry smile,
“I guess we should accompany them for a bit longer.”
“You’re right. We’re still their instructors after all… Then let’s—hey.”
As Ssulal turned to Hunty to call her,
“If Leonhart is going to use magic from now on, he should only use it to limit my actions. It might be possible to use it as camouflage to hide where the real attack is coming from, but I could evade that one with Instant Movement, so magic wouldn’t be effective enough as a proper attack. I could just move away, beyond the magic effective range… As expected, the problem is his absurd swordsmanship—”
“…It seems she is still thinking of tactics.”
“…So did Hunty also become a battle maniac now…?”
“Perhaps it is Leonhart’s influence…?”
As the two wondered, Hunty was still concentrating on coming up with tactics for her future battles against Leonhart. Hunty finally noticed the two after a while, apologized to them while embarrassed, and asked them to keep it a secret from Leonhart. The three then chased after Leonhart.
—From then on, Leonhart began to add magic practice to his training menu.
Author Note:
Carol : “Magic, I’m envious-… I also want to use it.”
Ssulal : “Well, it’s not like it’s impossible. In fact, many majins and apostles use magic as if it were the most obvious thing to do after all…”
Hunty : “Bluntly said, theory and practice is unnecessary. According to the original universe, while some degree of education is necessary, most casting is done instinctively, right?”
Kesselring : “I wonder? There are some characters that look like they could use magic but actually can’t. Perhaps there are unmentioned circumstances in the original universe…?”
Galtia : “Well, I also can use magic, you know?”
Launea : “………… (Which is correct? Should I think of a setting based on the original universe…?)”
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