After everyone finally calmed down, we get back to Mister Milton's office. Sitting in front of me is Mister Milton, Sheena and Albert.
They are all looking at me with a serious expression, demanding an explanation for the abnormal phenomenon that just occurred a moment ago.
I am sitting with my back straight, with both hands on top of my lap. I decided not to tell them the whole truth yet. Naturally, I will let Sheena know later since she is technically my "Master".
"Miss Sylvia!" Mister Milton had a VERY serious expression on his face when he shouted my name and continued, "I think you have kept enough secrets from us already. I will ask you again, just... what are you? First... you race is questionable, and then there's the Dark attribute and now that strange ability..."
My body shuddered for a moment before I opened me mouth to explain, "Well... about my race and why I have affinity with darkness, I also have no idea. Previously... I was a human. But I don't think I have any malevolent intention or grudge before I died."
Albert and Mister Milton were wide-eyed after they heard this. Both of them said in sync, "You... you were a human?!"
Then they started storming me with various questions;
"You died once?!"
"How is that possible?!"
"Then... does that mean you are a ghost?!"
"What happened after you die?!" And so on...
"Uh... ah... wait! I can't answer all that in one breath!" I was flustered by their maelstrom of questions, but Sheena was just sitting there at the side without making much of a fuss since I had already told her about this in advance.
"More importantly..." Sheena suddenly raised her voice, and the room became quiet again. Everyone had their attention focused on her.
Now that she had our attention, she asked, "What about that strange ability of yours?"
After Mister Milton and Albert heard this, they also started to inquire me about my ability, "That's right! What is that ability of yours? In all my life, I have never seen something that bizarre before!"
"I have seen most of the hero's abilities but none of them are as crazy as this! Just what in the world..." Being a royalty, Albert had naturally met some of the Heroes before.
"Well... this is just one of the abilities I gained upon sealing the familiar contract with Sheena. You know how I was able to insta-cast earlier right?" I looked at Sheena and Albert, and they both nodded in affirmation, but Mister Milton suddenly jumped up and shouted in shock, "What...?! You... YOU CAN INSTA-CAST?!"
I ignored him and continued, "Anyway, that is not important... "
But I got cut off again by Mister Milton, "N-not important you say... but that's..."
I raised my hand and put my palm in front of his face to stop him, "Please listen to my explanation first, you will understand everything after I finish explaining."
After hearing my word, Mister Milton reluctantly nodded his head and sit down.
"Then... allow me to continue... I finally know how my ability works!" After I said that excitedly, all three of them including Sheena jumped up from their chair again and shouted in unison, "WHAT?!"
"I frowned and also jumped up from the chair unhappily, "Mou! [1] Stop getting surprised after each and every sentence of mine! I haven't even started yet! Muu... [2]
I vented my frustration of being stopped mid-sentence every once in a while, and puffed my cheeks after I finish the sentence.
"S... sorry... "The three of them sit down and apologized, "Please continue... we will try to keep our shock in check..."
I was still a bit unhappy so I warned them, "Hmph... you better... or I won't bother to explain anymore..."
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The three of them quickly nodded their head and kept their lips tightly shut.
I nodded in return before I continue, "Alright... so as I have said, I have found out how my ability actually work. When we were testing for the magic aptitude earlier, we assumed that it would consume 100 times more Magic Power than the spell's original consumption rate to register the spell. But that assumption was wrong..."
I took a deep breathe and looked at the three in front of me, it seems they are shocked but they didn't make any sound at all so I nodded and continued, "My ability seems to consume a fixed rate of Magic Power to activate. The runes on my left hand consumed most of the Magic Power to activate and the one on my right consumes the rest. I can't say how much exactly."
Sheena just can't help it and raised a question at this time, "What... does it mean? What ability did those runes granted you?"
"Hehehe..." I giggled and answered, "Glad you asked! I'm not 100% sure of the runes on my right hand yet but it seems to increase my casting speed. But the one of my left hand seems to be able to absorb the spell sequence as you saw earlier."
"Mrgghhhh!" Mister Milton almost shouted out loud again but Albert covered his mouth and prevented him from doing so.
"But... doesn't that mean it would consume just as much Magic Power to activate those ability again to Insta-Cast?" Sheena asked worriedly.
I retorted, "That is not the case. In fact, it doesn't consume a lot of Magic Power at all to activate Insta-Cast! I think the fact that it consumed that much Magic Power in the first place was because it requires a lot of Magic Power in order to completely absorb the Magic Sequence!"
"I see... that's good then. If it requires that much Magic Power to activate every time, it's practically unusable." Sheena was relieved after she heard my claim.
Mister Milton's face was a little ugly to behold, "Sigh... so you took advantage of me and stole my strongest spell..."
"Um... Mister Milton... I'm... sorry... ?" I do not know how I should react to that so that's all I could say.
But Mister Milton suddenly looked at the ceiling and put both hands on his tummy before laughing out loud, "Hahahahahahahahaha! It's fine~ It's fine~ That's perfectly fine for me, Miss Sylvia! I knew you were a gem in the rough, my insight didn't fail me! I really look forward to the day you join the Ranks of the S Class Adventurer!"
"Um... Mister Milton? I have... a question..." Mister Milton was acting a little funny so I was a little hesitant to ask.
"Hahaha... What is it Miss... no... Hero Sylvia! You can ask me anything, hahaha!" Mister Milton seems very delighted for some reason and started to change his way of addressing me.
"D-don't call me a Hero! Muu..." I puffed my cheeks but to no avail.
"Hahaha... there will come a day when everyone recognizes you as a Hero, get used to it! Hahahahaha!" It doesn't seem like Mister Milton will change his way of addressing me as a Hero no matter what I say.
"Sigh... I don't care anymore... Anyway, Mister Milton... What is the name of this Spell of yours?" I gave up on trying to change his way of addressing me and get on the main topic instead.
Mister Milton stopped laughing and proudly hit his chest, "My strongest spell is the only Rank 6 spell in this entire continent, its name is..."
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Author's Note
Oops... a cliffhanger? xP
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References
1. Mou is the SFX for a sound or groan of frustration or protest.
2. Muu is the SFX for a sound of pouting.