It was a meal like any other.
Yerna had a 100% vegetarian elven diet, while Luke had a salad like Yerna’s but added canned tuna to his meal.
“Hah…”
However, today Luke sensed that Yerna’s mood was unusual.
Sure enough, after gulping down all the food placed in front of her, Yerna opened her mouth.
“Luke, I have something to say.”
Luke placed his fork down delicately, as if he already anticipated this, and looked at her as he replied.
“What is it?”
“When you’ve been alone these past few weeks, have you done anything?”
“Well… It was the same as usual.”
He studied Class Magic, and when he got some studying done, he read books to understand the overall historical context. Sometimes when Lua came home, they talked and played training games, and he handled chores like laundry and dishes for Yerna.
“Hah, right? You didn’t do anything special, did you?”
Yerna sighed heavily with a face that suggested as much.
Luke, worried about Yerna’s expression, asked.
“Indeed. But is something the matter?”
“Well, this month’s mana bill…”
Yerna, pressing her forehead, responded in a whiny tone.
“It came out to 3 million gil! What should I do…?”
“…3 million?”
3 million gil?
Luke immediately began to calculate that amount into units he could comprehend. His bus fare was 500 gil, so he could take the bus 6,000 times. The canned tuna that he often ate cost about 1,600 gil each, so he could buy around 1,900 of them. The clothes he was wearing were priced between 10,000 and 30,000 gil each, so he could buy about 300 to 100 outfits.
Having quickly completed his calculations, Luke nodded and thought to himself.
‘That’s quite a lot of money.’
Fortunately, Luke had a sense of finance that was relatively normal compared to other mages. This was due to his experiences as a grand mage and a headmaster at an academy.
Most mages didn’t even keep ledgers.
However, there was something he couldn’t understand.
“But, what is this mana bill? Are they placing a price on mana itself?”
“Well, yes. There’s no such thing as free in this world.”
“…?”
Mana exists abundantly in the world.
To place a price on something as common as air, Luke had no idea how this world worked.
“Isn’t mana available everywhere? Why is there a price on it?”
“Oh, Luke, you’re too young to understand.”
Yerna sighed with a touch of frustration, pondering how to explain the concept of ‘pricing mana’ to a child.
Mana.
Mana is originally a resource that exists everywhere.
However, its density can always differ, and as the population density increases, the consumption of mana rises unprecedentedly.
In Luke’s era, magic was so rare that only the chosen class could even catch a glimpse of it, and therefore, the concept of circulating mana was not all that important.
However, since the emergence of Class Magic, magic became widely available to everyone, making the circulation of mana incredibly significant.
Many attempts were made thereafter.
From inhumane ideas of creating mana potions to feed mages, to buying and selling mana with rechargeable mana stones, to the concept of building cities in mana-rich forests.
In the end, humanity finally chose a way to develop, which was to construct cities around forests cultivating the World Tree, building these cities circularly around it while establishing facilities that ‘produce’ mana at the center.
Moreover, the mana produced is refined and sent to each household.
Consequently, this is how so many people enjoy magic without depleting mana.
Thus, it is unavoidable to place a price on the ‘service’ and ‘technology’ that makes all this possible, isn’t it?
“…”
But after such a lengthy explanation, there was no way a child could understand it.
So, Yerna averted her eyes and simply replied.
“I’ll explain later.”
“….”
Luke looked at Yerna with a dissatisfied expression.
She treated him like a child, failing to satisfy his curiosity.
However, Luke thought that Yerna wasn’t teasing him on purpose, and he rubbed his brow to relax his frown as he responded.
“Well, I understand. Then I will listen later. But why is the bill 3 million gil? Is mana that expensive?”
He couldn’t even grasp the concept of pure mana being priced, let alone it being 3 million gil.
Wasn’t that outrageous?
“No, originally, it didn’t come to even 30,000 gil a month…”
Yerna took a deep breath, pressing her forehead again.
“When I asked Gerard as a precaution, he suggested to suspect mana leakage in such cases. So, I’ve called a repairman.”
“I see.”
“So, Luke, I think we might have to vacate the house for a few days.”
——–
Since they had to vacate the house, Luke was designated to Yerna’s workplace, a women’s lodging in Luke Forest.
“Understand, Luke. The forest is dangerous, so you must absolutely not go out carelessly, okay? Monsters might appear.”
“I understand.”
As Luke nodded, Yerna patted his head once and then went out on patrol.
“Hmm. Monsters.”
In a mana-rich forest, monsters are always lurking.
With such an abundance of mana, the appearing monsters likely wouldn’t be limited to just small kinds.
Sometimes even large varieties might show up.
“Yerna must be quite a strong Forest Keeper to do ‘Forest Keeper’ duties in a place like this.”
Luke began to find Yerna impressive.
Sitting on a bed that seemed to be used during her duty, he started reading a book titled ‘The Distribution of Mana and Its Evolution’ that she had handed him, when he began to be cautious of footsteps coming from outside the door.
“Yerna, hey. Are you in there?”
A male voice could be heard.
Is he a colleague of Yerna’s?
Luke perked up his ears to focus on him, quietly rotating the circle he had stored in his heart.
Moments later, the man outside spoke again.
“Hmm, she wouldn’t have gone anywhere with the lights on.”
That was a comment that didn’t need to be said out loud.
So, it meant he intended for someone inside to hear.
Thus, it was likely a threat and a question.
To simplify that meaning:
‘Hey inside, answer up.’
Luke cast the highest level of ‘Shield’ he could currently invoke in case of any unexpected situations.
While it was only 1st Circle, the amount of mana it comprised was ten times that of an ordinary spell.
Believing that any substantial physical force wouldn’t touch his body, Luke approached the door and spoke.
“I am Luke Irushi, currently residing with Yerna. But may I ask who you are?”
“…So you are living with Yerna.”
His voice turned cold.
At that moment, Luke sensed ‘something’ immediately.
Bang!
The hinges broke, and the door was smashed to pieces, scattering debris everywhere.
As Luke charged his mana into the shield he had cast ahead of time and braced himself, the flying fragments and broken door couldn’t inflict any damage on him.
Luke scanned the man who burst through the door with Magic Sight.
“Oh, he seems to have enhanced physical strength similar to the ‘Strength Enhancement Support Magic’ that Gerard used before, but it seems he has upgraded the output. Although there are subtle differences in the spell, what mainly distinguishes it must be that cane he’s holding.”
A sturdy man with red hair.
He stood with extreme tension, readying for combat.
“This amount of mana… Is he a monster after all?”
“That couldn’t be! I said I am staying at Yerna’s house.”
“I know Yerna to be single. There’s no way you could be here.”
He extended his hand, gripping a cane shaped like a gauntlet, and shouted.
“Ahat, Bion!”
In an instant, Luke recognized the shape of the magic being arranged.
‘Something fired in a straight line. This is a formation I’ve never seen before.’
Luke smiled as he understood the mode of projection.
Whether it’s magic or swordsmanship, the most crucial factor in a fight is not being hit.
Therefore, when identifying magic, understanding the casting direction and the nature of its projection is of utmost importance, repressing his impulse to look further into it.
If it’s a linear type of projection, the response is simple.
‘Mana Bolt.’
As Luke gestured lightly, the will and mana that spilled from the circle in his chest manifested as the basic 1st Circle magic, Mana Bolt.
It formed and floated into the magic path of the man pointing his finger at him and dispersed that spell at his fingertips.
Identification!
“What?!”
As the blue sphere hit and vanished, blocking the man’s magic.
In that fleeting moment, Luke interpreted the phenomenon triggered by Mana Bolt once again.
‘Hmm, it’s a mix of electric energy and mana retention that causes the muscle rigidity. If hit, a mild current and muscle rigidity would indeed freeze the target. It could be seen as some form of restraint magic.’
The man with red hair, whose spell was canceled by Luke’s 1st Circle Mana Bolt, exclaimed with disbelief in his expression.
“No way, without incantation?!”
With heightened vigilance, he regained his stance and charged at Luke again.
“You might actually be quite a dangerous monster!”
Luke thought that he had no choice but to subdue him.
“It seems you are Yerna’s ally, but I shall take my leave.”
‘Light.’
Snap.
As Luke snapped his fingers, overwhelming light burst before the man’s eyes.
“Ah!”
The quantity of light was such that it overwhelmed his sight, taking it away along with a sharp pain.
‘Grease.’
Another 1st Circle magic cast almost simultaneously, Grease changed the coefficient of friction beneath his shoes to nearly 0.
Though initially, it would only give a smooth oil-like slip, since the user had been an archmage who had seen the extremes of past magic…
Vwoosh!
To him, it was as if the floor turned into ice in an instant.
As he attempted to run, he lost balance and couldn’t steady himself.
“Ugh-!”
Crash!
He slid straight into the wall, tripping over a table and crashing to the ground, shattering it with a loud noise.
“Kwaah!”
“Ugh!”
Luke flinched slightly at the sounds released by his body.
It seemed that he had fallen quite painfully.
After all, if one couldn’t see and the floor suddenly became slippery, it wasn’t surprising to end up that way.
“Ugh…”
As the man tried to get up, Luke approached him and placed a hand on his forehead.
He opened his eyes wide in surprise at the touch he couldn’t see well.
“Damn it, to fall so easily…!”
“I am truly sorry. So please, let your head cool for a bit.”
‘Spark.’
Zing-!
A mild current penetrated into his mind, causing him to shudder and faint.
