“Alright, the first step of runic magic is this!”

A rough old looking book without a cover was dropped in front of Yuri, and then another, and another. Until the pile of books had grown so large it would pose a significant threat of it toppled over on Yuri.

“…..So much.”

Shocked by the amount of books on display, which were only the ‘first step’, Yuri began to feel discouraged. Luckily Mako spoke up before Yuri felt like complaining.

“Before you start reading all of this, I should probably give you a demonstration of how it all actually works, hmm that would be best I think”

Taking out a small sharp looking hairpin from inside her hair, she held it in front of her face.

“Like I said before, Runic magic can be written on almost anything, as long as you follow two simple steps. Make sure the symbols are in the correct order and that you have enough mana to siphon into your runes. Since rune magic is slow and tedious, there’s almost no chance of you running out of mana, as it would replenish enough in the times it takes you to write it. But it’s still nice to not worry about mana consumption, since your knife has seemingly unlimited mana, lucky you~”

She gave Yuri a wink and put the pin between her lips.

“If I was really lucky, I wouldn’t have had less mana capacity than a rock now would I…” Yuri sighed slightly.

“Seems there is fortune in my misfortune…seems my luck is just a splinter of what it used to be..probably used it all up when I survived that fall..”

Mako continued the lesson while Yuri muttered quietly to herself.

“Since it takes a while to write a runic spell, most people just write them in advance on some portable item for later use, in an emergency. Like a healing spell when you’re bleeding out or something. But it’s still rare..since the amount of people who bother with rune magic is quite low..due to it’s tedious nature, so the items inscribed with runic spells can be sold for a fair bit of coin..”

A pair of glittering eyes smiled at Yuri, which greatly unnerved her.

“I’m not going to become a rune magic producing machine in order to pay off your debts….”

Accurately guessing Mako’s thoughts, Yuri smiled awkwardly as Mako’s face grew flustered.

“I wasn’t thinking that at all!”

Denying the claim while shaking her head, Mako pouted slightly.

“I’m the Head Bishop, I can solve the problems I’ve caused myself!”

Mako continued to pout, seemingly upset over being accused.

“….Well anyway”

Quickly composing herself again, Mako scratched a few Runic looking symbols with her sharp hairpin. After a few minutes of tedious looking work, she finally stood up and admired her work.

It was sloppy work at best, even Yuri who has never seen a rune spell before realised this. As it looked like something a child would draw.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“Hehe~ impressed are we? Well you should be! This is a runic spell drawn and infused with the mana of the archbishop herself! Be amazed!”

Quickly swiping her hand across the runic writing, she caused the writing to glow, quickly disappearing. Leaving in its place something far from amazing.

A fireball similar to the one Mako created earlier had appeared out of the surface where the runes were etched.

Yuri deduced that it was the rune magic equivalent of the fireball spell. There was one major difference between the two fireballs however. This one was barely half the size of the previous one, and it seemed to struggle in order not to disappear, flickering slightly and wobbling in a funny manner.

“Pffft. Yes it’s indeed amazing, as expected of the Master Bishop..”

Barely managing to say this without breaking out into a full laugh, Yuri snickering quietly while covering her mouth.

“Uuuuuuu…it was supposed to be bigger since I poured more mana into it…”

Puffing up her cheeks, Mako looked down in shame and pouted slightly.

“Well at least it’s cute right?”

Not being able to resist saying the same thing said to her, Yuri teased Mako slightly.

“Uuuuu…mocking me…fine then! Show me how you can do it so much better than me then!”

Raising her voice, Mako quickly replaced the atmosphere of a lesson with that of a children’s argument.

(How am I supposed to do that when I have never done anything like that before…)

Thinking to herself, Yuri tried to think of what to say in order to calm Mako down.

Yuri glanced over at Mako while thinking. Who was staring at her with a teary eyed expression while making a face like she would cry at any moment.

(Geez..and you’re supposed to be the adult here..no wait. Aren’t I the adult, I’m older than her, or is it my appearance that counts..? Well whatever I just need to draw the spell and fail to make her feel better)

Making her way towards the wall, Yuri began to draw the runes with her knife, attempting to copy the ones Mako drew to the best of her ability. Stepping back after finishing and looking satisfied, her work was vaguely similar to Makos, although it was obviously incorrect. Which Yuri figured meant it wouldn’t work. Finally finished with the writing, she swiped her hand across the runes, copying Mako from earlier.

As expected, nothing happened. A smug smile creeping onto Makos face, Which Yuri responded to with a sighing smile, that seemed to say. “Well what else did you expect”.

Just as Mako was about to declare her obvious superiority, the runes began to flicker with a reddish glow.

The runes suddenly disappeared. A giant red ball of fire slowly and menacingly flowing out of the wall in front of them.

The ball was slightly squirming in a disconcerting fashion. It looked like a mix between between a melting globe and a water balloon that was being squeezed over and over.

Worst of all the heat it gave off seemed to almost burn Yuri’s eyebrows off, and the pair were frozen in place due to their shock and fear.

The giant fireball loomed over them, before suddenly flying off in a random direction, with the speed of a long bow arrow. Bouncing off the walls of the room while leaving burning dents wherever it slammed itself.

Yuri attempted to run over to the door and escape, but the ball concentrated its bouncing around that part of the room, as if it somehow knew that was their only escape.

Meanwhile Mako was trying to fight off the rampaging ball of fiery death with some water spells, but all the water simply evaporated before even touching the ball.

While the pair were running around in panic, they accidentally tripped over each other. The red fireball’s bounce seemed much more powerful than the previous one, as if it actually knew this was the finishing blow.

Just as it was about to hit him, it’s heat causing their skin to prickle, and them having resigned themselves to their fate of being turned to fried burgers.

The fireballs body split into two right before hitting them. Flying on each side of the pair and crashing into the wall behind them, with a loud bang which forced them to cover their ears.

In place of the fireball that was about to incinerate them, stood a man with raven black hair and a drawn long sword in his right hand.

“What have you done this time, Mako?”

The man sighed at the pair and offered Yuri a hand.