New Magic

"Haha, I knew it. Of course you can, and our shop is famous for being a couples' cake shop."

There wasn't anything like that written on your sign...

Cain pursed his lips, silently grumbling as his face reddened. But seeing Teacher Roxy happily selecting pastries and cakes in the shop, he ultimately gave up arguing and smiled faintly.

As long as Teacher Roxy was happy, that was enough.

In fact, it was written on the shop's sign, but Cain could not read it because he did not understand Beast God Language.

Of course, Roxy understood a little. She recognized it, but she did not say anything.

Roxy selected a relatively cheap little cake from the glass display case, while Cain pursed his lips and blushed as he endured the beastman owner's rather intrusive questions.

"You two don't look very old. How long have you been together?"

"You look like adventurers. What rank are you? When are you planning to have a kid? I know some cheap houses around here."

Cain turned his head away, his face growing redder and redder as he had no idea how to answer.

"Boss, we'll take this one."

After Roxy chose the cake, Cain quickly placed an Asura Gold Coin into the owner's hand.

"N-No need for change."

As he spoke, he grabbed Roxy's little hand and fled the cake shop as though escaping for his life.

"You're still short two silver coins..." The dogman owner's mouth twitched violently.

"Honestly! The night is still young, so there's no need to rush off to find an inn..."

The owner chuckled helplessly and shook his head. Young people these days really were impatient.

"S-Sorry, Teacher Roxy..." After walking for a while, Cain turned back with a red face, scratching his cheek as he looked at Roxy, whose face was also slightly flushed.

"I-It's fine. We saved quite a bit of money this time, though." Roxy pursed her lips into a sweet smile and waved the cake in front of Cain.

"Let's go back and eat together. I bought two of these."

"Okay."

Late at night, Roxy and Cain lit a candle in Cain's room on the second floor of the inn. They sat at the table, eating little cakes while discussing magic over a spellbook. Of course, it was Teacher Roxy teaching him one-sidedly, since Cain understood no theory and only knew practical combat.

Studying magic was somewhat dull, but with Roxy beside him, Cain felt it was rather nice. Of course, Cain had also discovered something wonderful.

Whenever Roxy ate cake, she wore an utterly blissful and adorable expression. Resting his chin on his hand, Cain occasionally watched Roxy's exceptionally cute smile, and for some reason, he found himself smiling faintly as well.

She sucked the cream from her fingers and smacked her little lips twice, savoring the soft, sweet taste. Then Roxy cast a longing gaze toward the untouched little cream cake on the porcelain plate in front of her disciple, Cain.

That was right. Another reason Roxy had come to tutor Cain in magic that night was because she had set her sights on the untouched little cream cake in front of him.

"Ahem, Teacher Roxy, we're companions and teacher and student. If you want some, you can just tell me."

Cain looked rather amused by Roxy's yearning expression. He put down the spellbook and pushed the little cake in front of him toward his teacher.

Roxy pursed her lips, her large blue eyes blinking as she glanced at Cain's gentle smile.

"...T-Then I won't stand on ceremony. Of course, I'll definitely treat you next time."

As she spoke, Roxy pulled the cream cake close to herself like a kitten guarding its food, making Cain worry that cream would get on her clothes.

Cain flipped through the spellbook and smiled helplessly, waving his hand.

"I don't really like sweets, Teacher. You can have it."

Roxy blinked and tilted her head slightly at his words. Cain did not like sweet things? How strange. Sweets were such precious food on the Demon Continent, and they were truly delicious.

Out of politeness, Roxy decided to ask what he liked, so she could repay this favor later.

"Um, is that so? Then what does Cain like to eat?"

"Me? Actually, I..." Cain thought about it and realized he did not have anything he particularly liked. If he had to name something...

"I quite like meat, especially fragrant grilled meat with seasonings, sizzling and dripping with oil."

Just thinking about it made Cain swallow.

Of course, whenever he defeated a Demonic Beast, Cain would cut off a piece of its meat to taste. It was an old tradition of the Sword God's Holy Land: defeat powerful Demonic Beasts and eat their flesh to gain strength. Naturally, Cain did not believe that. He was simply craving meat.

"Is that so? I understand."

Roxy smiled faintly, scooped up a spoonful of cream cake, and put it into her mouth. Covering her cheek with one hand, she once again revealed an utterly blissful smile.

Cain looked at Roxy's smile as though he had seen something wonderful, then quickly lowered his gaze back to the spellbook in his hands and gently stroked it twice.

Teacher really was considerate. The words in the spellbook were in the language of the Central Continent, so Cain could quickly learn their names. There were also diagrams of the spells in the book, which could help him grasp magic quickly.

"The total amount of magic power is a major factor in determining a spell's strength. The reason you, Cain, can use the advanced composite spell Frost Nova with the power of an Emperor-class spell is mainly because of this. You possess an astonishing reserve of magic power within your body."

"Oh, is that so?"

"That's right. But please do not become arrogant."

Roxy cleared her throat twice, puffed out her small chest slightly, raised one finger, and spoke in a solemn tone.

"Your magic has the same flaw as that of other mages: it has power, but lacks precision."

As Roxy thought about it, she felt it might be unnecessary to say. With the power of Cain's Frost Nova, its range and intensity seemed to surpass even the Emperor-class spell Absolute Zero. It was essentially an all-area coverage spell that did not require much aiming.

"I see... Then, Teacher, I want to conduct an experiment."

"An experiment?" Roxy tilted her head slightly in confusion.

"Yeah. Since accuracy can't be improved in a short time, I want to make up for it from another direction."

As he spoke, Cain slowly opened his palm and began to try.

Sensing, compressing, shaping—he completed it all in one motion. The temperature in the room rapidly rose as a dazzling fireball condensed in Cain's hand, then was compressed again and again.

[Emperor-class · Purple Demon Flame Bullet]

Seeing the system prompt that told him he could gain proficiency by casting it, Cain rested his chin on his hand and nodded slightly. Naturally, he would not cast magic in a place like this.

Roxy stopped eating her cake, staring blankly at the marble-sized, blazing purple sphere of flame in Cain's hand. Then she abruptly came to her senses and hurriedly stopped him.

"T-That's too dangerous! Cain, don't let it take shape! Cancel it quickly!"

Once a spell took shape, it could not be canceled.

Teacher Roxy's displeasure was not without reason. With the magic power inside Cain's body, even if he created a low-level spell, it could cause enormous destruction to the entire inn.

Cain smiled faintly. He was not reckless; he naturally had a certain degree of confidence in doing this. He could feel that he was able to control magic even after it had taken shape.

Of course, this was something basically impossible for all other mages to accomplish. It was an ability granted to him by the system.

This differed from what was recorded in the spellbook Teacher Roxy had given him. The book clearly stated that a formed spell could not be canceled. Of course, perhaps his spell had not fully taken shape yet.

Thinking this, Cain saw that Teacher Roxy looked frightened. He blinked and quickly canceled the little purple fireball in his hand.

In any case, Teacher Roxy seemed a little angry. She lightly chopped Cain on the head with her hand.

"Idiot disciple, do you know how dangerous that was just now?! Please don't cast such dangerous magic where people are around. It makes me very troubled!"