“Should I place some of my gravity traps around it?”
“What do your traps do?”
“Um... even though I say trap, I think it is more accurate to call it a barrier. It's the kind of barrier that increases their weight so that the beings within it are pulled to the ground.”
“Wow... that's some impressive magic...” Fran's words were not meant in any sarcastic way at all. In fact, she had wanted to know about that kind of magic beforehand.
After all, she had only learned about a few details of Rina's gravity magic in the past during the lessons. Naturally, she wasn't naïve enough to think that she knew everything about Rina's abilities, but she had never thought, that the twelve-year-old girl could cast such promising spells. Fran couldn't help but think of the possibilities if such magic were used on a much larger scale.
Furthermore, what if Rina had still hidden more spells like this?
Fran couldn't help but both shudder and rejoice at the thought.
Unfortunately, she also knew she wasn't in the position to question Rina about the capabilities she was still hiding, or maybe even being told to hide by the Dragonherz.
Luckily for Fran, Rina considered Fran one of the most important people in her still very young life. So, when Rina saw, that Fran kept opening her mouth halfway, only to close it again shortly afterwards, Rina knew that her teacher was curious about the effects of the yet-to-be-set traps.
So she decided to explain it without Fran even having to ask her.
“For now, I can place a sigil on the ground beneath the orphanage. That way, as soon as a demon crawls out, it will be immediately pulled to the ground and we will have an easy time killing it... How does that sound to you?”
“That sounds great... too great, in fact. But many demons specialise in physical strength, so increasing their weight by a small margin will only be a slight inconvenience to them... So, by how much can you increase their weight?”
“Um... I haven't really tested out the maximum... but it also depends on how large the area is and how much Mana I still have left. For now, it's easy to double the weight of everything in a small area.”
After hearing Rina's assessment, Fran thought to herself for a moment, before speaking up again. “Hmm... I doubt that a factor of two would be enough to immobilise them. Weaker demons, yes, but I think the stronger ones will have no problem escaping that trap. How much higher can you go?”
“As I said, the higher the factor, the smaller the area... I think I can go up to ten times, but then the diameter of the barrier would only be ten metres at best.”
“Sounds more than enough. Then, let's go with that,” Fran said and stood up to approach the cloud's location. But after taking a few steps, she noticed that her red-haired pupil was hesitating to follow her, so she turned around to face her. “Rina?”
“...” At first, Rina already regretted the suggestion to set up traps. After all, in order to place an effective barrier that increased the gravity by ten, she would have to get at least five metres close to the cloud. And even though the Demon-Spawning-Cloud itself wasn't that large, only about one metres in diameter, Rina didn't want to be any closer to it than possible.
Even an outsider wouldn't have a hard time guessing why. After all, she had already been through a literal hell when she had touched those mists twice. So it was only natural that she had developed a tremendous fear of those clouds. However, she didn't want to betray Fran's and Marianne's expectations by backing out. So, she took a few deep breaths to prepare her heart.
'It's not like I have to touch it again. Just get close to it, place the seal, then back off again.'
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When she had finished gathering her courage, she stood up and formed two small black seals on each hand. “Fran, Marianne, do you mind if I put these seals on you?”
“No, go ahead.”
“What do they do?”
While Marianne simply agreed, mainly because she had no knowledge of magic and trusted Rina, Fran wanted to know more.
“My barrier increases the weight of every living being within the area of the seal. This would also include you. That's why I want to leave a mark on you so that I can exclude you from being affected by the increased gravitational force on you if you were within the seal.”
“I see... okay, go ahead. I'd rather avoid imploding as soon as I step in... but seriously... your magic is really handy...”
“... Mhm... I'm sorry for the secrecy until now... As soon as we get back, I'll tell you both and Clara what I can do...”
“Yes... That's for the best... wait, not even your mistress knows about all your powers?”
Rina shook her head at the elf's question. “Three years ago, when I officially became her personal maid, I asked her to wait and she simply agreed. Since then, she has never asked me anything concerning my powers.”
As Fran listened to Rina's explanations, she blinked her eyes a few times in confusion. When a noble hired a personal assistant, they usually wanted to know everything about the person. After all, the assistant was supposed to be the employer's most trusted companion for life, in most cases even more trusted than their spouse, since political marriages were quite common.
So for Clara, eldest daughter and heir to the famous Dragonherz family, to let her personal maid have secrets, especially regarding her magic powers, was quite rare, unheard of even.
However, Fran didn't have to think long about why Clara gave Rina so much freedom. “She's really into you, isn't she?”
Fran had only intended to mumble her sentence so that neither of the girls in front of her could hear it. But when she saw Rina blushing like a ripe tomato, it was clear that her muttered words were heard. To make matters worse, witnessing the red-haired-girl's reaction, she couldn't help but feel, once again, a little envious. Of what, or whom, only Fran herself could know.
Funnily enough, Marianne felt the exact same way as the blonde elf. That was why she gently tackled the red-haired girl from behind to bring Rina's mind out of the clouds.
“Whaa!? Marianne!? It's dangerous!”
Marianne, however, royally ignored Rina's protest and just pointed at the two sigils in Rina's hands. “Don't you have to put them on us soon?”
In response, Rina puffed out her cheeks and glared angrily at the brunette. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to have any effect as the brunette just grinned back. So Rina exhaled in resignation and slapped the seal on Marianne's back.
“Muuu... I would have preferred you to put it on my breasts.”
This time, it was Rina who royally ignored Marianne's statement and repeated the same action with Fran. Once both seals were placed, Rina then looked back at Marianne. “Okay, enough joking for today, please wait here at a safe distance, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, I'm not going any closer to that thing... Be careful, okay?”
After hearing the brunette's confirmation, Rina nodded and then turned to face her teacher. “Um... It's the first time I'm going to place a seal with this much power... so I might need a few minutes to concentrate... So, can-...”
“Obviously.” Before Rina could even finish, Fran had already agreed. “Let's go. You just need to concentrate on creating that barrier, seal, trap, or whatever you call it. I'll stand beside you and warn you or pull you back if a demon suddenly appears.”
With that, Fran and Rina nodded at each other and walked the few dozen of metres to the cloud, until they were within a few metres of it.
Arriving at the spot where Rina had deemed the centre of the barrier to be suitable, she exchanged one last glance with Fran. Then she closed her eyes, crouched down, and placed her hands on the ground.
This was the first time in her life, that she was about to cast a spell of this magnitude, so before she could even pour the Mana out of her body for the Loading Phase, she first had to gather all the innate Mana within her body.
However, doing so, especially with such a large amount of Mana, required all the concentration she could muster. Therefore, once in this state, she was no longer fully aware of her surroundings.
That was why Rina couldn't perceive Fran starting to scream her name, as soon as she began to pour her Mana out of her body. Or rather, she was able to hear Fran's loud voice, but since Rina was doing her best to maintain her concentration, she wasn't able to register the elf's panicked words. In fact, Rina found the background noise coming from Fran rather annoying.
Only when she had finished gathering her Mana outside her body and was ready to form the seal, did she have the leeway to turn her attention to Fran and glare at the elf.
While Rina didn't think much of the fact that Fran was strangely standing further away from her than before, she was still annoyed by the elf's constant shouting, as it was making it much harder for her to keep her concentration. That annoyance, however, disappeared, as soon as Rina saw Fran's already pale face grow even paler.
“RINA!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR!?“
Unfortunately, Rina had just drained about ninety percent of her Mana from her body. This had taken a huge toll on her mind and body. On top of that, her job of creating the barrier was not even finished yet, as she still had to create the seal. So, because of her mental fatigue, while she could see that Fran was panicking, she couldn't truly register it. The only thing Rina managed to do with her current mental capacity was to watch as the former High Priestess shouted at her for some reason.
“HURRY UP AND GET OUT OF THERE!”