Chapter 17 - Just as Planned

After Ray's treatment and taking care of my needs, I immediately went to visit great mage Alfonse in the noon despite Jane asking me to rest some more. I want to quickly meet Sir Alfonse as I got the feeling that I would get something good from him. Alas, as I have been unconscious for a day. I need to take care of my body first so I would be more presentable when I go out.

And eating actually takes the most time. I don't know why but I feel extremely famished. Well, I can guess why but the amount of food that I consume doesn't follow the common logic of how much a normal human could eat. Maybe only people who compete in eating competitions back on Earth could rival the amount of food I devoured just now.

What's more, I don't even feel bloated or uncomfortable from the amount I ate. It's like my digestive system melts those foods in minutes, seconds even.

Of course, if you look at my condition and my battle yesterday, it doesn't seem weird that I would need a lot more food to refill my energy. I feel like I'm turned into that glutton rubber man or that alien from vegetable planet but that feeling of satisfaction I get from stuffing my stomach to the brim is just divine. And I feel like I won't get fat from eating that much. I am also training my body after all.

Now that I am ready to go, I walk out from the front door. Unfortunately, or in this case, fortunately, I still don't have enough maids and butlers in my mansion to sufficiently fill the necessary job so no one opens the door for me. Not that I mind as my mindset is still that of some commoner from Earth.

Anyway, in the usual noble's common sense, it is the most embarrassing thing to do daily life things on your own as they should be done by your servants. And I have to open the door myself because I still lack workers but that made me realize one thing as I deformed the door knob with a gentle squeeze.

Seems like I have advanced into a tier 2 knight.

A while later.

Even if I noticed that I have advanced to tier 2 knight, There’s nothing much I can do with that nor do I want to have a celebration. It is just a small jump and not yet a noteworthy power level. Moreover, I still have something more important to do. Visiting Sir Alfonse.

“Good afternoon, Sir Alfonse. It is an honor to receive an invitation from you. And good afternoon to you too, Princess Isabella. You are as charming as always”

“So you mean that I am not charming because I am never charming for you?”

“Dear, mind your manner. Welcome young Emilio. I hope I won't disturb you too much with my sudden invitation”

When I reached Sir Alfonse’s residence, I found out that Princess Isabella was also present. I tried to humor her a bit with some courtesy but it seems like she still holds some grudge from when I scolded her and ran.

Sir Alfonse then gave me his permission to sit so we could start talking about the business he had in mind for me.

The mage squad? Sir Alfonse said that he wanted to talk with me first so he had them wait in the next room.

“I’m sorry for my impatience sir, but what kind of business that you want to discuss with me?”

“Straight to the point, eh? Indeed you are experienced in military activity”

"Haha, I'm just not good with small talk. Please forgive me for my inability to entertain you longer, sir"

"No, you don't have to. It is good to clear the urgent business first before taking our time for small talk"

I let out an apologetic laugh while asking forgiveness for my impatience and Sir Alfonse seems to not mind it. But his mood suddenly turns serious. Here it comes I guess.

"Young Emilio Stadford. In short, I want you to be my disciple"

"What? You can't do that!"

The one answering was Princess Isabella. It seems like the Princess didn't know of Sir Alfonse's intentions of taking me as a disciple and vehemently rejected the notion.

"Dear, you know how talented young Emilio is, right? I hope that if I take him as my disciple, you will also get more motivated to improve yourself. Or at least you have someone who can help you when you are stuck in your study and I am not available at the moment"

"But, but, he's a man"

"I have observed him for some time now and I have a good feeling about him. So you don't have to feel afraid that he will harm you. And you should know about 'that' too right? So even if he is a man, you don't have to worry too much"

Oh, the headstrong princess seems to be very tame in front of her grandpa. Well, he is the only family she had left from her mother after all.

"Sir, before I accept your offer, can I ask you why you asked me specifically to be your disciple? I know I am talented but I have a different elemental affinity from you. Isn't most masters accept only disciples with the same affinity?"

"You should be grateful and accept grandpa's offer if you know what is best for you instead of questioning it"

"Now now dear. You can blame young Emilio for asking. It is indeed out of the norm after all. Then young Emilio, let me answer your question. For one, it is indeed because of your talent. And albeit you have darkness affinity, you could also cast magic from the other elements, and most importantly, you can cast lightning magic. Even when you don't have lightning affinity, you are still an acceptable disciple material. After all, I also wish to learn how you manage to learn casting other elements of magic beside your affinity and even teach them to others”

Sir Alfonse said that as he looks at Princess Isabella. Oh, he wants me to teach her so she can cast magic from the other elements as well? This is indeed a good transaction if I have to say.

“The next reason is that because what you said yesterday moved me. What was it again? Mother of learning? Indeed I see the merit in doing a discussion. Mashing the creativity of the young and wisdom of the old into one will surely give birth to a new discovery. That word made firm my decision to take you as my disciple. I feel that I can find more inspiration from having you as my disciple”

Well, there’s actually more to that but let's listen to him until the end first.

“And lastly, I just simply like how you still learn zealously even when you are already this strong. How is it? Did my answer satisfy you?”

“... Thank you for answering my question even when it sounds rude. One last question before I give my answer. Does Sir Alfonse have a way to cure my family’s curse?”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“You are really rude. Why would a disciple question their soon-to-be master like that?”

“Now now, dear. I can understand young Emilio’s feelings. It is an important choice in life to choose a master after all. It is one own future at stake there. And unfortunately, young Emilio, I don’t have a way to help you with your family’s curse. So you are free to decline my offer to become my disciple. I understand your difficulties”

“On the contrary, I will gladly accept your offer. This disciple greets master”

“Oh, you accept it? Hahaha, that’s great, that’s great. I thought you wanted to find others who can help you with your curse”

“This disciple indeed wants to cure the family’s curse which is also this disciple's number 1 objective but this disciple's vision isn’t narrow enough to decline the offer from the kingdom’s renowned great mage. Actually, receiving master’s favor is the best for this disciple as this disciple is just a family member of an earl house who would soon become a commoner after my older cousin took over the family. And having the large umbrella of a great mage really helps this disciple find peace in living here”

“Hahaha, still as shrewd as usual. You really didn’t disappoint me, disciple. You can just act normal. I don’t like it when you act overly polite like that”

“Thank you, Master. Then please just call me Milo. I will be in your care from now on”

“Good. Let’s learn deeper into the mysteries of magic together, Milo”

“Yes, Master”

“I don’t agree with this!”

Ah, the princess finally can’t hold it anymore. This is gonna be a headache.

“Dear”

“I don’t agree!”

“Master, how about you let me handle this?”

“You? Want to handle me? Who do you think you are?”

“... Alright, then go try it”

“Thank you, Master”

I want to let out a sigh but that would make the cat become more suspicious. Well, let’s try it anyway.

“Princess, if you are wary of me becoming your grandfather’s disciple, then your suspicion is indeed on point as I will use this new status as a great mage disciple to the best I can. But rest assured that I would not do anything excessive that could smear your grandfather’s name. I swear it on my family’s name”

“You are really not afraid of showing your desire. Aren’t you afraid that grandpa will hate you because of that and cancel your apprenticeship with him?”

“Princess, even if your grandfather knows that I would use his name to my advantage, he would still turn a blind eye to it if it is not past his bottom line. Why you ask? It is because this is the basis of human relations. Because the master-disciple relationship between me and your grandfather brings benefit to both of us we gladly get along”

“... Then what about me?”

“Oh, you want to get benefit too princess? At least you start to figure out the rule of society”

“Don’t be too long-winded. What benefits will I get if you become my grandpa’s disciple?”

“Alright, my princess. I can’t really name one right now as I don’t know what your highness desires. Would you highness please enlighten me on what you want from me?”

“...”

“And it is better to be honest. You don’t need to be ashamed if your wish is not something evil. After all, I can’t read people’s minds”

“Teach me how you move around with your shadow then”

“Oh, that? Well, first of all, I only put that into practice just yesterday out of necessity so I don’t really understand it enough to teach other people about it. But even then, I think it will be impossible for me to teach you that movement technique”

“...”

She seems to be trying to control her emotions so she won’t erupt with anger. Nice going there, princess. You are one step further into learning more about interpersonal relationships.

Finally, she managed to control her anger and continue asking.

“Can you explain to me why it is impossible for me to learn that so-called movement technique”

“The simple answer is because you don’t have darkness affinity, your highness. Do you still want the long answer?”

The princess opened her eyes in surprise. She seemed to realize how stupid her request was. She is someone with lightning affinity, just like her grandfather. So learning shadow control is almost impossible for her.

“Forgive me for the stupid request then. I don’t think it through”

“But it is still possible for you to learn the lightning version of it”

“... Are you perhaps teasing me?”

“I’m sorry your highness, I can’t resist”

Oh oh oh. She puffed her cheek and her face also reddened. I feel like I got a new toy. But I should not bully her too much or she would just use her position as a royal to punish me to death. Let’s quickly tell her what she wants to hear.

“So your highness, I said before that there are a longer reason. 2 reasons in total. Well, no, 3 reasons for you in total why it will be difficult for you to learn the movement technique even if it is now in lightning element as the darkness element is impossible for you”

“Okay, I’m listening”

“First of all, this technique is derived from how knights utilize their mana. As you might have known, knights use their mana inward in their bodies while mages use their mana outward as a spell. I mixed this self-enhancement technique and basic mana training method to control my shadow so if you want to learn this skill, you need to learn the way of knights too. Second, I mentioned it before but you need a good basic mana control level. Maybe at least 5 or more simultaneous casting? I’m not sure about this. And last, Shadow is not a harmful element to control while lightning is. So you need to find a way to harness the power of lightning, controlling it without hurting yourself”

“Thats… So many prerequisites to learn”

“Are you sure I can also listen to that secret, Milo?”

“Of course you can, Master. I have just created the technique after all and I want to grasp it deeper so I can get my subordinate to learn it too. If master is also interested then it can help me save some time”

“Is that so? Then allow me to correct some points that you said before. Mages will also learn how to use mana internally so you don’t really have to learn the knight path to understand how to utilize mana inward. And casting multiple basic mana control training is not an effective way to train your mind as magic on the higher tier spell can do the same for you. But I can see the merit of doing those two things as getting to a higher level as a mage would take years. it might be inefficient but it feels like a shortcut”

“Did I just invent a faster way to cultivate as a mage then?”

“Not really that groundbreaking but I can see the merit. But do you have anything in mind on the 3rd problem? I also got shocked by my own magic a few times before but I never found a way to protect myself from getting harmed by my own magic”

“According to my knowledge about knight technique, there are two ways to enhance oneself with mana. The first is the usual, let your mana circulate within you or within the part that you want to enhance, and the second is to cover the surface of the part that you want to enhance. As I don’t have lightning affinity myself, maybe teacher can try that technique to let us see the effects? After all, if it is only about circulating mana, I don’t think it will turn into lightning that can damage the body”

“Circulate the mana inside the body and cover the body eh? So like… this?”

Master Alfonse’s body suddenly lets out a faint light and electric charges start to jump out from it. As expected of master, he can do it after my rough explanation about simple body enhancement. I don’t have any subordinates with lightning affinity so I have never seen someone using lightning enhancement on their body so this is the first for me.

“As expected of master. You managed to do it. But well, as Master is the first one I know using lightning enhancement, I don’t really know the characteristics of the enhancement. Why don’t you try moving around a bit to see if there’s anything that got empowered by the enhancement magic?”

“Alrigth, let’s try it…”

ZOOM! BOOM!

I can see a flash of light moving instantly towards the wall and get past it which causes the wall to explode. What has happened?

A moment later, Master shows his face from beyond the wall with a disheveled appearance while smiling wryly.

“Whoops, I used too much power. Well, more like, I can't control my body well enough”

… As expected from a great mage.

Time - skip

Afterward, Master and I agreed that this kind of magic should only be tested outside as it is too volatile to be tested inside. Master has never trained as a knight after all so his control over his body is not as good as a knight.

We will continue our experiment and have lessons on another day in regard to my condition as I am still recuperating from my wound. Master also finally brings in my mage squad. He offered them to help him in his experiment. To have them work as a lab hand. Albeit not having as good treatment as being a disciple, they can still learn a lot from Master Alfonse. It seems that Master Alfonse regards me highly as he even bothers helping my subordinate get stronger.

But well, before I get home, how about teasing the princess one last time?

“Hmm, I should call you senior sister now, shouldn’t I?”

“Yes. I am technically grandpa’s first student as he is my grandpa. Well, I am actually the 3rd though as there were 2 seniors above me having been taken in by my grandpa as a disciple before I was born. But you are the 4th. So yes. You need to call me senior sister”

“So you need to work your hardest so the position won’t get disturbed. Isn’t it funny to have a senior that is weaker than I am… isn’t that right, junior sister?”

“Are you asking for a fight?”

“Yes. I am. Come to tier 3 quickly if you still want to be the senior”

“...”

And the cheek is puffed again for the second time today. Thank you for the cute service princess! Work hard to not let me call you junior sister!