Chapter 13

Chapter 13 Strongest Sage, Feigning Ignorance

"Reich-sama killed the monster!"

I changed my voice with magic and shouted out loud toward the villagers .

"Eh? Eh?"

I lower my voice and speak to my brother Reich who couldn't grasp the situation .

"I'm not here . The monster was killed by Reich-niisan . OK?"

"Why would you do that . . . ?"

"If they found me being outside, it'd only lead to trouble, and I don't need to gain a meritorious deed or anything anyway . Besides, if Reich-niisan doesn't become the family head . . . . "

Just thinking about Biffgel becoming the family head is terrifying .

I wouldn't be able to leave the territory in peace .

"But stealing the credit is–"

"Then please support me so I can smoothly get out of the territory . See you!"

The people were coming here while we were talking .

It would have been all for naught if they found me so I took some distance away at once and decided to watch over them while erasing my presence .

"The . . . . the monster has been killed!"

Once the villagers had gathered, Reich awkwardly proclaimed .

I'll give him a minus point for looking guilty–but apparently, no one noticed it .

Not saying who killed the monster nets him a point .

Now then, I should go back before someone finds me outside .

–By the way, Biffgel was left with only a slight wound since the monster's claw hit his armor's toughest part by chance .

What a lucky guy .

◇

Two days later .

For some reason, I was called by our father Castor who has gotten back home .

Alone at that .

"Here you are, Mathi . "

Once he confirmed that I was present, father spoke .

"D'you know about the matter the day before yesterday?"

"Yes . Reich-niisan beat the monster didn't he?"

"Yeah . Looks like 『Reich』 killed a Zenith-class monster . I saw the body, it was cut splendidly . "

"That's cause Reich-niisan is a master swordsman!"

Due to father's guidance, my brother Reich is famous in the territory as a master swordsman .

By the way, Zenith Monster seems to be a designation for the kind of monsters with small body and dense mana .

There doesn't seem to be a precise standard, but apparently, that bear monster is classified as a Zenith Monster .

"Yeah . Not many guys can cut the neck of a monster of that rank in one slash . If he did that with the swords I gave to you brothers–he's already at the level of monster . "

"Reich-niisan is really amazing!"

He didn't just check the type of the monster but the way it was cut huh .

This is . . . . he might have found it out already . Feels like he emphasized the 『Reich』 part too .

"No . I'm sorry to say, but it's impossible for Reich . It might be a different story in the future, but it's not possible for the current Reich . If there's someone who could do that in this territory, that would be–"

"Biffgel?"

"Don't be stupid . No one else but you could do that . "

" . . . . w-whatareyoutalkingabout . "

No well . Though I said it myself, I also didn't think Biffgel could do that .

Bringing up the name of some random farmer old man would have been more persuasive .

"Well, it's not like I don't know how you feel . I'm also the same, I want Reich to be the next family head . . . . That's why, I won't pursue the matter if you're fine with it . "

He even knew my intention .

Since he's going to leave it alone, let me accept the kind offer .

"However, putting aside the credit, the spoil of war should be given to the one who won it over . Dealing with the raw materials is troublesome, so I'll cash it in and give it to you when you're leaving the territory . Reich also gave his permission–or rather, it was Reich that suggested this . "

. . . . I feel like I understand why father specially confirmed my perspective .

He would have looked suspicious if he suddenly said he'd give me the materials .

"Now that's clear, I'm giving this to you . The magic stone from the monster that Mathi . . . I mean Reich defeated . This one's easy to keep and has many uses . "

"Thank you . "

Father gave me the magic stone and went somewhere .

Magic stone huh .

If it was the past me, I would have processed it myself, but . . . . The quality would drop severely with a crest other than the First Crest .

I guess I should keep the magic stone with me and find some skilled craftsman to help process it later .

However, the size of this magic stone is tricky . It's a bit too small to make a powerful magic item with yet too big for a general purpose one . Since its purity is not too bad, maybe I should just crush and make it into an ingredient for magic medicine– .

"Mathi, I have a favor to ask you . "

My brother Reich called me when I was walking while thinking about the magic stone .

"If it's about the materials, father already–"

"No . It's unrelated to that matter . Those are Mathi's to begin with . It's not about that, I'd like you to teach me magic . "

"Magic?"

"Yeah . In order to formally dispossesses the position of the next family head from Biffgel, I have to do it through magic . But there's no one who could teach magic in this territory . Or so I thought . . . . Mathi, you used magic when you killed that bear didn't you? And it was chantless too . "

He noticed me using magic huh .

Although the magic I used back then isn't as showy as something like fire magic, but neither it's invisible unlike 【Mana Strike】

Of course, I've got no problem teaching him magic to drag Biffgel down .

However, there was a part I don't understand at the end .

"It's true that I can use magic . . . . But what is 'chantless'?"

Chantless . . . . Never heard of it .

The magic I used back then didn't really have a name, but I wonder if it has one in this age .

"Chantless is when you don't chant you know?"

" . . . . Chant?"

C-h-a-n-t? It really doesn't sound familiar . . . .

No . Come to think of it, a long time ago, I might have seen the term in some kind of history book somewhere .

I think the book had something like 'you need to recite a set sentence every time you want to use magic' written in it, but since it was too inefficient and pointless, I immediately threw that book away .

Now that you mention it, Biffgel did seem like he muttered some pointless rambling whenever he casted his magic-like thing (if you can call that magic, I think it's a sacrilege against magic . )

"You don't know about Chant even though you can use magic . . . . ? Chant is that thing Biffgel did . . . . Would you like to see?"

After saying that, Reich stood before a tree at the edge of the forest and thrust both his arms forward .

"Fire mana that dwells in my body, become a straight arrow and pierce my enemy!"

Reich recited the same exact sentence Biffgel did .

And then, he also replicated the parts where the accumulated mana was diminutive, the conversion rate was the worst, and the extremely weak power .

No . The power is even worse than Biffgel's, probably because of the Crest .

In case you don't train at all, the First Crest (in present time, it seems to be called Glory Age) is the strongest .

"This is what we call a Chant . Since Mathi used magic without a Chant, it's called Chantless . And I think it's a considerably high-level technique . . . . "

–I see .

Magic in the present world is in a lot worse situation than I originally thought .

If the aim is Biffgel's 'that', surpassing it is easy . On the contrary, making it so he doesn't surpass it would be more difficult instead .

However, I need to ask him one thing before I get to that .

"Reich-niisan, do you want to learn magic in order to win against Biffgel? Or do you want to walk the way of magic combat?"