《Of course I can! What did you think? Every now and then I take a look to see how you're settling into your new life. I see you already managed to surround yourself with endowed women, in a dime-a-dozen pervert fashion…》

「Actually, I'm just learning magic. But that reminds me…」

Straf lowers his eyes back onto Emilia, who is exchanging confused glances with Cycelia. She's about to say something, but he interrupts her.

「Say… That was one of the beginner spells, right?」

「Um, yes. Honestly, it's pretty incredible you managed to output so much power from such a simple spell, mister- Um… I just realized I haven't got your name.」

「I am Straf. Katastrof. Vindict.」

The last rays of sunlight disappear beneath the horizon from behind Straf as he introduces himself. The dark forest contrasts heavily with the still faintly lit sky, and its pink band stretching wide just above the treeline above him. Though his face is enveloped in darkness, it is still bright enough outside that his sharp features are visible, and only further accentuated by the shadows.

Emilia's eyes scour Straf's face from behind her glasses, blinking rapidly as she connects his name to his handsome face. Her nose reddens and her cheeks follow shortly as she's stuck in a daze. Cycelia fingers her sapphire-gemmed medallion and looks to the side at Emilia.

「N- N- Nic… M…t…」

「I'm Cycelia, by the way!」

She notices Emilia is mumbling and struggling to exchange a pleasantry, so she intervenes and introduces herself as well. She leans in and smiles, giving Emilia a light wave with her hand.

「Aaa-! Nice to meet you!」

She turns to face Emilia who bows slightly over and over, her massive hat jiggling on her head as she finally manages to say a coherent greeting. She adjusts her glasses and turns back to Straf.

「A- Anyhow… Mister Vindict-」

「Call me Straf.」

Ba-dump.

Emilia attempts to continue her thought from before, lifting the brim of her hat slightly to see Straf, but he interrupts her. She hides her blushing face beneath her hat again.

「Um… Straf. It's a really impressive result for a beginner spell.」

「Is that so? Then, can you show me what's the most powerful spell that you know of?」

《Heh. Once again I have outdone myself. Why learn for an exam when I can copy the answers?》

「I- I don't really know that much magic, so it's not the most powerful spell, but…」

She turns away from Straf and walks away a few paces. She points at a lone tree in the distance, a fair walk away from the walls.

「It would be kind of dangerous to try this on the archery targets, so… I'll demonstrate on that tree.」

Straf and Cycelia walk behind her as she once again lowers her head and stretches her arm out towards the tree, fingers pointing at it ever so slightly…

「Vortex, vortices, swirling winds, become tame for my gain. Pleasant breeze and breath of life, bring my adversary a final gasp!」

She lifts her head and focuses her eyes on the tree in the distance as she recites the last sentence with energy in her voice.

「『Windbolt』!」

《New spell memorized.》

Space in front of Emilia's hand blurs momentarily, then the blur shoots forward at an incredible speed with a horrible noise, as if a tiny fighter jet on full afterburner just flew out of her hand.

Though a normal human wouldn't be able to see it anymore, Straf has no issues following it with his eyes as it reaches the thick tree. The dirt in front of the tree kicks up slightly as its roots are pulled out of the earth, the spot that was hit by the blur explodes into countless tiny splinters, woodchips and bark fragments.

The upper half of the large tree shoots up about a half the tree's height with a loud rustle of leaves, and is knocked away onto the ground with a dull wooden thud. All that remains of the tree is a mangled stump, surrounded by its pieces big and small.

「Not bad.」

《Alright, that was mildly cool. I'll admit it.》

「Eheheh… Well, I am a wind mage after all…」

Straf's minor praise makes Emilia smile ear to ear as she walks back to them. He walks past her and points his hand like an invisible gun at a large oak, far in the distance on top of a hill.

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「Now me. I'll try that oak…」

「Ah- That's way out of range. Even if you hit it, it'll be just a little gust of wind- Eh?」

Similar blur materializes in front of his fingers, but much, much larger. Whereas Emilia's was the size of a fist… Straf's blur is the size of a large watermelon, or a bowling ball. It shoots out forward, with a terrible sound like an explosion, but continuous. Emilia blinks, her mouth slightly agape.

「Did you just-?」

The oak simply disintegrates into fragments that scatter into the air like ripped up pieces of paper thrown in a tantrum, a pale yellow-brown-green cloud of confetti. Additionally, a shallow channel in the dirt appeared on the hill, right in front of where the tree was… Emilia's eyes and mouth open wide.

「Whatwhatwhatwhat?! You didn't even need to call out the spell name?!」

「Huh? Yeah, I guess.」

《I don't need to yell 『Translocation』! ...Either, after all. You really screwed up, Athea.》

「That's pretty incredible, isn't it?」

Cycelia asks, impressed by Straf but unable to fully appreciate it due to lack of understanding.

「And you are a novice?! Of course it's incredible! I heard of cases where someone didn't need to do the incantation, or simply used a trick to shorten it or something… I never heard of anybody who didn't need to call the spell's name out!」

Emilia keeps shouting in amazement, her shyness apparently overridden by the sight of a magical miracle.

「I should play along and at least mumble some nonsense to not immediately cause an outrage everywhere, huh…」

「You should go to the Academy of Magic and tell them everything!」

「Aca- Wait, there's a magic school too? I guess magic tropes never end. Onto the list it goes.」

Straf looks around, even the pink band on the horizon is now fading slowly.

「We should probably head back, but before that… What's the weakest, most worthless spell you can think of?」

「…Huh? Why?」

「Just out of curiosity. I want to know your opinion.」

《And I want to know something precise and accurate. How about a little laser, or something?》

「Well… I don't think any spell is truly useless, but…」

She points her finger to the brim of her hat and starts reciting a spell…

「Stir and move at my whim, by my command cease your deathly still.」

Unlike her previous incantations, her tone remains the same the whole time. She focuses on the gap between the brim of her hat and her finger pointing at it.

「『Force ray』.」

《New spell memorized.》

She says with a confident voice, but at her usual volume. A needle-thin cyan ray shoots out from her finger and hits the hat, kicking it up ever so slightly. It disappears as suddenly as it appeared.

「...That's it?」

「Mhm… And it costs a lot of mana, too. At least for me.」

She nods her head gently, her massive hat swaying back and forth.

「What is it even good for? That did nothing.」

「Well… I suppose you could nudge someone from a distance with it. Or knock something small over… Admittedly, it's very situational. I can't think of many use cases.」

「Why does a spell like this even exist? Well, whatever. I asked for it.」

「It's all down to spell components, really. A component of force and linear motion-」

She explains as she adjusts her glasses, but Straf interrupts her.

「Let's head back, shall we?」

「It got really dark… I hope we don't trip on the roots.」

Cycelia comments as she looks at the shadowy forest in the way back.

「Ah, don't worry about that. Let's go, and I'll cast a spell while we're walking…」