From Earth, I didn't think that life was that different. Maybe there wasn't any electricity, but a magical lantern existed. There was no water heater, but the tap water was connected to a magical-based water heater. Still, some aspects were pretty much backwards in this world.
Again, in the library, gathering information about this world always guaranteed a rather interesting result. Let's just say that the concept of advanced 21st-century chemistry didn't exist yet here. So, pathogenic diseases treatments weren't as advanced as on Earth. Still, this world had some knowledge about it and how to handle it.
This world still used medieval warfare for the most part. You could expect people to carry swords and bows. Still, it didn't mean it didn't have its own variety. For example, I heard that a legendary sword was this family treasured belonging. They said the sword was called Borealis due to its colourful appearance. I hadn't seen it though, I only had heard it.
"Reading, again?" Joseph asked from the door. He was standing there; only God knew how long. He was one of the people that accompanied me in the library, besides the maids and butlers. My younger brother played in the backyard with my second eldest brother.
"Yeah," I replied as he walked towards my table.
The book in front of me was thicker than my body and probably half as tall as my body. The one that brought it was one of the tall butlers, and he wondered why I'd read a book about medicine. To be honest, I was just curious. I was involved with medicines for years. Why shouldn't I know about it in this world?
Joseph looked at the book which I was reading. The book itself was titled "Internal Working of Medicine by Smith&Dickson." Not really something that a nine-year-old would read, but it was something I'd read. This book had rather intriguing pictures, so I probably could fool my brother using that.
"Cathleen, that's quite a heavy read you got there. Are you sure you are not too young to read that? Even I won't understand anything on mom's book," Joseph said.
The book was mother's. She used to be a doctor before she married my father. Needless to say, we were quite a happy family in comparison with the other families in this village. Although not all of them worked as farmers, we were still the richest family in the village. That's nobility for you.
"Nah, I'm just looking for the pictures," I replied, pointing my hand at the picture of a brain.
"What are you even scribbling there?" Joseph pointed his hand at the paper that I put beside the book. Shit. I should have hidden it better. Now he would read it, wouldn't he? "Posterior medulla what? Cathleen, I can't even understand what you're writing."
"It isn't anything important," I put the paper between the pages of the book, "When will you teach me magic anyway?" I wanted him not to ask me questions about that scribble. I just wrote it for safekeeping, in case I needed it in the future.
"Yeah, sure, let's go, I'll be waiting for you in the backyard."
I closed the book and put it back to where it should be. My mother had not entered the library for a long time. Unless Joseph ratted me out, there shouldn't be any problem for me in the future. But if she read it, I might be able to play stupid.
I went to my bedroom to change into a more proper outfit. I understood that a noble must always look respectful. Still, other times, with how I prefer flannel and cargo over a regular skirt or anything like that, it just felt awkward to wear a dress which bottom parts could only be described as an infernal contraption.
I changed into the usual training clothes, a white shirt, black pants alongside leather boots. I changed because I didn't want to get the dress dirty, and I didn't want to limit my movement. I wondered, though, did they teach magic to someone as young as I did?
The answer would probably be yes, then again, besides the memories of Cathleen and my own memory, I really didn't remember what magic was. So, I concluded magic would be taught at an older age. Still, I better get to the backyard. Joseph would be waiting.
In the backyard, several people made from hay were placed. Besides one of the targets, Joseph held a wooden training sword in his hand. Why would he hold a sword? He was supposed to be teaching me magic, wasn't he?
"Cathleen, come here, we have a change of plan?" He waved his hand at me.
"Coming," I walked towards him, "What change of plan? I thought you were going to teach me magic."
"I did, but as per our father request, I need to teach you swordmanship. To be precise, magical swordmanship," he gave one of the smaller swords for me. It felt light. Well, it was a wooden sword, after all. It shouldn't be heavy.
"Alright, first of all, this is very basic. Can you channel your magical energy to the sword?" Joseph asked.
"Huh? Is that even possible?" Making magical energy flow to the tip of my fingers were one thing, but transporting it to an inanimate object was another. "I meant, I can't even feel it if I try to."
"Just try to do it. Look at me," he showed me his sword that started to glow in white. "Impressive, huh? This is using the same basic mechanism as the light spell. Why don't you try it?"
Shouldn't it be too hard? I guess. I tried channelling the magical energy in my body to the sword, it felt like bleeding out of my fingers, but it wasn't painful. After it, I channelled my mind into making the sword glow brightly. It glowed just like my hand, but what was the purpose of this spell at all?
"Cool, huh?" Joseph waved his glowing sword.
Yeah, it was cool to see, but I doubted it would be practical. I didn't even remember a spell called [Swordlight] in the game. That was my made-up name anyway, but my point still stood. That was nothing more than a vanity spell.
"Yeah, it's cool," I looked at the wooden sword that glowed like a flashlight. I let go of the handle, and the sword stopped glowing. It seemed that the whole energy came from my body. I held it again and redid the entire process.
"It's very basic, I know. However," Joseph put the wooden sword on the ground. He picked up an iron sword. It didn't glow this time, but the sword was covered in thin fire. "Now this one is useful, This is the [Blazing] spell. It heats up your sword to a certain temperature, and it holds it there."
Burning sword, eh? It seemed impressive, but besides turning your sword hot, what was the other purpose? I mean, I'd like to add extra damage to the enemy, but I didn't think this would be useful in real combat situation. "It looks cool, but what would you do with it?"
"Well, this is also a basic combat spell. Though, heating up your blade is more useful in a utility situation instead of combat. However," Joseph made the fire bigger, at least, an inch thicker, "If you make the fire bigger, you create a flaming sword that would be able to set your target ablaze."
Now the flame was bigger, not just a thin layer covering the metal. Joseph then swung his sword multiple times at the target dummy. He wasn't lying, the dummy that made from dried hay was now on fire. But the wind made from fire that flew from his sword when he swung it was the main reason why the target was on fire now. "So, use this on an enemy that is using something flammable?
"Exactly." He extinguished the fire on his sword.
Burn the clothing of your opponent, it sounded rather great to be honest. However, I doubted that it would be feasible in close-quarter combat. It was more useful in mid-range combat where the usage of a bow would be too dangerous, but your sword would be too short to reach the target. Yeah, basically, a niche spell.
I'd prefer self-sharpening blades myself, It might not be as flashy as that thing, but I would be sure that I'd be able to use it to its intended purpose. For example, cutting through stuff would be way useful than using flashy thing like that.
Still, I appreciated my brother's show. There might be a more specific purpose, but I doubted I'd want to use that in a practical situation. Perhaps, there was another purpose of teaching me these spells that I hadn't known yet.
"Joseph, is this the most useful spell in combat?" I asked him.
"No, in fact, this spell would only be useful at animals or low-rank monsters. However, you need to crawl before you can walk. For combat, I use another spell, want to take a look?" Joseph offered.
I nodded.
Joseph put the iron sword in the ground and grabbed the wooden sword. He then held it firmly and threw it. The blade flew towards the target. I couldn't believe what I saw. The blade spun like a fan with great velocity towards the target, probably cutting anything on its vicinity. The wooden blade cut the target in half before returning back at Joseph's direction. Even more amazing that the sword flew back with Joseph precisely catching its handle.
I just opened my mouth widely, not believing what I just saw. "What. Was. That?"
"That's one of the combat spells that I used. [Whirlwind Blade] is its name. Although only ranked as C-rank spell, it is still quite potent against unarmored target."
"C-rank spell? What's that?" I hadn't learned anything about it yet. It was probably one of the details that I skipped in the book.
"Read the book more, alright? You'll find out sooner or later."
That concluded our training. Although not much, now I knew inanimate object could also be manipulated with magic. It was not like there was a spell to throw your blade in the game. I swore, so far, nothing had connected that much for me. Let's just see how it would go.