Introduction to Magic

In the end, Subaru ate lunch alone.

At a little restaurant in the village run by an Oni, he worked up the courage to order a fried steak said to be made from white seal. It tasted ordinary. He couldn't call it bad, but it certainly wasn't delicious, and it fell far short of the delicate cooking of little Rem's steamed sweet potato.

It seemed Rem really was a genius when it came to cooking.

Rem hadn't declined to eat lunch with him because she disliked him, though. She had to go home and eat with her parents and older sister.

Before leaving, however, Rem had promised to teach him magic that afternoon.

"What's going on? My body's burning up. What did you give me to eat?"

That afternoon, Subaru braced his hands on his knees, feeling as if his whole body had been set on fire.

"Rem already told you, it was a Pock Fruit. It can stimulate the Mana inside your body. Your talent is the worst Rem has ever seen, so this is the only way."

Subaru finally understood what the white fruits he had found in the forest earlier were.

Pock Fruits couldn't fill a stomach. Eating one stimulated the Mana lying dormant in the body, along with some rather unpleasant effects. If given to someone with too much Mana, excessive stimulation could cause their Mana to run out of control, creating a situation that would be difficult to deal with.

"Rem can already feel the Mana in your body being expelled into the air. Hurry and try to control it. Otherwise, you'll have to suffer through this all over again."

At Rem's warning, Subaru clenched his teeth and endured the strange sensation that his body had become an unstable bomb ready to explode at any moment. He raised both hands and tried to control the energy he couldn't see at all.

"Super Fire Summoning Technique!"

"Sunlight Spear!"

"Explosion-!!"

"Tens of Thousands of Proverbs!"

Each time Subaru shouted the name of a move, his voice grew louder and his presence more imposing. Yet the space before his palms remained empty. Forget magic-not even a spark of static appeared.

Just as he was at his wit's end and preparing to rack his brains for an even more impressive name, a passing villager seemed unable to watch any longer.

"Kid, that's not going to work."

The speaker was an utterly ordinary-looking middle-aged farmer carrying a hoe. He looked at the sweat-soaked Subaru, then at Rem standing helplessly to the side, his gaze passing back and forth between them.

"You're... Lady Ram's younger sister, aren't you? Why are you teaching the kid magic like this?"

"That's right, Rem is her older sister's younger sister. Can't Rem teach him this way? That's how Rem learned."

"That won't do." The man shook his head and explained, "An ordinary human with no horn and unremarkable talent can't be like us Oni, who can cast simple magic by feel even without an incantation."

"Huh? Is that true? Why didn't Rem know?"

"Well... probably because you haven't reached the point where you need to know yet. I think you'd be better off looking after yourself before teaching someone else."

The man scratched his head. His words were blunt, but his tone held no malice. He raised his head and felt the fluctuations in the air. "But things have already gotten this far. If we leave it alone, he'll probably be uncomfortable for quite a while. The Mana in the air seems to be yin attribute. Kid, try saying this: 'El Minya.'"

"El Minya!"

Subaru roared the syllables.

The next moment, the searing heat rampaging through his body, threatening to burn through his blood vessels, suddenly found an outlet. It stopped rushing about and, drawn by an attractive force, began gathering in front of his palms.

"Crack!"

A purple crystal suddenly formed in the air, flickering with a faint, cold light-but after lasting a single breath, it shattered, dissolving into tiny flecks of light that vanished into the air.

Subaru collapsed onto his backside, soaked in sweat, but the relief of the heat settling down felt better than any air-conditioned room.

"It failed... but that's what it feels like, right? I can use magic! Haha! Thanks, mister!"

The passing Oni man, however, didn't look pleased. Instead, he looked with pity at the black-haired boy sitting on the ground and grinning foolishly.

"Kid, I think you'd be better off learning a trade."

The man explained, "Oni aren't much different from ordinary humans when we're not using our horns, but the gap in our racial talent is just too great. Lady Ram's younger sister is already very poorly gifted, but her first attempt was much better than yours. Kid, your talent for magic isn't very good even among humans."

Shaking his head and remarking that humans really were fragile creatures, the man slowly walked away with his hoe over his shoulder.

"...Seriously. He's a good guy, but he sure knows how to crush someone's confidence."

Muttering, Subaru climbed to his feet and brushed the dirt off his pants. He then turned to Rem, intending to thank her for helping him take his first step into magic, but before he could speak, he saw her biting her lip, her little face full of frustration.

"Don't take it to heart. That man only saw what was on the surface. What does he know about poor talent? You're still so young, Rem. Who can say what the future holds? Maybe you're a late bloomer."

"No, he was right. Rem is just what was left over from her sister... She can't do anything right. She can't even teach magic properly. And she made you..."

"Feeling guilty? I'm a little touched that you're thinking so much about me, Rem-chan. Besides, I finally figured out how to cast magic, and that's all thanks to you, Rem."

Rem raised her head, confusion filling her big blue eyes.

"If I'd asked anyone else to teach me magic, they surely would've refused impatiently. I don't have anything to bargain with, and I don't have any money. You're the only one willing to help me, Rem."

"My talent probably really is terrible. I didn't understand a word of what you said at first. But you didn't give up on me, and you even came up with the idea of having me eat a Pock Fruit. After that, you didn't know what to do next... That was pretty uncomfortable, but there weren't any side effects, right? If you hadn't helped me get started, and I'd tried to learn on my own, I would've been running around like a headless fly."

"We've made it this far-and Rem, you definitely deserve sixty percent of the credit. That man gets forty percent at most."

Rem stared at the boy before her, his face beaming and his eyes full of gratitude. There wasn't the slightest hint of insincerity in a single word he said.

"...Really? Did Rem really help?"

"Yeah! You helped a lot! Thank you so much!"

Hearing that, Rem slowly lowered her head. Where Subaru couldn't see, the corners of her mouth quietly, uncontrollably curled upward, and an expression like relief appeared on her impassive little face.

"...I see. You need Rem's help."