Little Garden

"Have you heard? That kid Aibo built himself a house by the eastern riverbank."

"Seriously? How could a little brat like him build a house?"

"I went to see it. It's real—he made it with Mold Magic. Kids these days are incredible."

"Hahaha, the guild master said the kid learned it after glancing through a magic book twice. That's ridiculous."

"Let me count... Little Aibo can use Telepathy Magic, fire, earth, wood... three elemental magics, Mold Magic, and Crush Magic... Good grief, what kind of little monster is he?"

"That kid has only been in our guild for a little over half a month, right...? Should we open bets on how many kinds of magic he'll learn in another month?"

"Come on, come on! I'm betting on ten kinds!" "Count me in! Twelve kinds!" "Me too!"

"..."

Gray stood there, listening to the adults' heated discussion in a daze.

What was going on? What happened while I was focusing on training in new magic? When did Aibo get so amazing? Wasn't he being dragged around by Cana every day to play?

"Hey! Where's Aibo?"

"That kid's taking time off. He's probably hiding at home studying magic right now."

"Where's his house?"

"In the eastern forest near the riverbank. There's a really conspicuous house there—you'll spot it the moment you get close... Hey, Gray, what are you going there for?"

"I'm going to spar with Aibo!"

"At least put some clothes on—"

Gray jogged all the way out of town and quickly found the little house he was looking for.

Mostly because the house was far too eye-catching. It was built like a watchtower, as if... someone had originally planned to build a single-story house, then realized there wasn't enough space and forcibly raised it two more floors from underneath to prop up the original little house.

Once Gray got closer, he circled the "watchtower" once.

Wait, where was the door?

There was not even a door on the first floor. The only thing on the wall was a plaque that read, "Little Garden—Aibo's Home."

Gray took a few steps back and looked up, only to see that the doors were on the second and third floors.

But... where were the stairs?

This house was way too bizarre.

"Hey! Aibo! Are you home!?"

At that moment, a small blue-haired head poked out from the third-floor window.

"Oh, it's Gray? Aibo, Gray came to see you~"

"Levy? Hey! Aibo, why doesn't your house have any stairs?"

Aibo poked his head out of the window as well.

"Hi, Brother Gray. Wait a moment, it'll be ready soon."

Gray watched as Aibo snapped his fingers. Then, the stone-brick ground around the "watchtower" began to ripple, rows of steps rising one after another and spiraling around the tower until they reached the third-floor entrance.

"Cool~"

Gray climbed the stairs to the third floor. The moment he entered, he saw Cana lazily lying on her side atop a carpet that covered the floor, flipping through a magazine. Levy sat on the sofa beside the coffee table, pouring tea, while Aibo was arranging a set of... cards?

Directly opposite the entrance stood a huge bookshelf that occupied an entire wall. It was not completely full, but it held quite a few books. Beneath the left window was a long sofa, beneath the right window was a desk, and in the center were a coffee table and a fluffy floor mat that covered the ground.

Though the space was small, it was arranged quite warmly—far nicer than his doghouse of a dorm room.

Wait, hold on. Weren't they supposed to be studying magic at home? What were they doing?! How could they be so decadent!?

"Gray, you came at just the right time. Want to play Fight the Landlord?"

"Fight the Landlord? What's that?"

"A card game. Little Aibo taught us."

"Play... no! I came to fight Aibo! I heard you've learned a lot of powerful magic, Aibo. Let's have a match!"

"..."

The air suddenly fell silent as the three of them stared at Gray with strange expressions.

Cana irritably tossed her magazine at him.

"Are you sick? Aibo is only six years old. Are you trying to bully my little brother!?"

"Uh, everyone in the guild says Aibo is already really strong! This is a battle between us boys, Cana. Don't interfere!"

"Hah!? Come over here, then. I'll practice with you—ah! Aibo, don't stop me!"

Aibo hurriedly stopped the hissing Cana and invited Gray inside to sit down.

"Brother Gray, this is your first time at my house. Sit down and have some tea first."

Looking at little Aibo, who was a head shorter than him, Gray also felt like he might be bullying him a little. Awkwardly, he looked around the room instead.

"Umm... Aibo, this house is pretty nice. It's quite... beautiful."

"Don't mention it. I only realized the space was too small after I finished it. Especially when my sisters came over to play, there wasn't even anywhere for them to sit. So I remodeled it afterward and separated the bedroom and bathroom, putting them downstairs."

Cana repeatedly shook her head.

"If you ask me, this house needs a major overhaul later. Without a fireplace, you'll freeze to death in winter. There's no kitchen, either, and there's no room for me. You should've asked your big sister for advice before building a house!"

Levy smiled as she listened.

"Haha, Aibo already did an amazing job. We can improve it bit by bit later. It's actually pretty good now. Once I move all the books from my house here, this place will become our secret base."

Gray picked up a small cake, took a bite, and asked curiously, "Why doesn't Aibo live in the dorms anymore? Isn't it inconvenient out here? And it's far from the guild. Places without guards on patrol are easy targets for thieves."

Aibo twitched his lips, recalling those days in the dormitory. Compared to that kind of suffering, he could endure however many inconveniences there were.

"Actually... it's to make practicing magic easier. This is the edge of town, so no one cares no matter how much noise I make. As for the other problems... I'll slowly solve them later."

Aibo had no intention of sparring, and Gray was not unreasonable or particularly fond of picking fights. The group simply sat down and chatted.

"Oh, right. Everyone in the guild says you learned Mold Magic, Aibo. What about ice magic?"

"I haven't learned it yet. And I only know some very simple magic right now, so I don't really have much combat power. The only magic I have with relatively strong destructive power is Crush Magic, but I can't control it well. Otherwise, I wouldn't have needed to move out and live alone."

That was the truth. Although Aibo had learned a whole bunch of flashy magic, most of it was only LV1—he had barely gotten started.

His strongest ability was using Telepathy Magic to call the guild master for help. It really could not be said that he had much combat power.

In short, he was still in the accumulation stage, lying low until the time was right. He had no desire to go looking for a beating.

Cana came up behind Aibo, pinched his cheeks, and smiled comfortingly.

"Little Aibo is already amazing! When I was your age, I hadn't even started learning magic yet! Only shameless Gray would come running over to bully a child."

"Hey! I'm not!"

"Since you're here already, play cards with us. This game Aibo taught us is pretty fun."

Aibo hurriedly escaped Cana's grasp and sat down at the desk to one side.

"Then you guys play. I still have some things to sort out."

He really did need to carefully consider what to focus on next, mainly his plan for improving his strength.

Since he had started serializing his novel and built himself a house, Aibo was not particularly short on money for the time being.

He could set aside the matter of making money for now. Next, he needed to find a way to improve his strength as quickly as possible.

After all, if he had not truly been unable to endure the dormitory environment, Aibo would not have been in such a hurry to move out.

He actually lacked a sense of security. Besides, this world was not exactly safe. There were powerful magical beasts, dark guilds, and apparently even demons or something.

If he had not been confident in how quickly he could call for help, Aibo would never have dared to live alone.

This world ultimately respected the strong. Even secular nobles did not dare provoke wizards carelessly, and becoming stronger sooner brought nothing but benefits.

As for how to improve his strength... Guild Master Makarov had taught him before. First, he needed to learn powerful magic suited to himself. Then, he needed to increase the magic power within his body as much as possible. Beyond that, he needed to gain combat experience.

Aibo was currently stuck on the first step. He had not yet found magic that suited him.

Although he had learned quite a few types of magic, and Crush Magic was indeed powerful, it was not actually that suitable for him.

By Aibo's own understanding, the magic best suited to him should be the magic that gained experience the fastest while he learned it.

At present, the magic he learned fastest was Requip Magic, but it did not seem particularly suitable for combat either...

Next, Aibo would try to learn as many more types of magic as possible, find the one that suited him best, and then bury himself in grinding experience.

So... everyone in the guild, please teach me well!