I turned ten years old and began studying magic.
My attribute was water, the same as my mother's. I could create water from magical energy and manipulate cold temperatures. High-level magic users could even interfere with the weather and cause rain.
Hexil, who also had the water attribute, said it was useful in the summer.
I agreed, but I wondered if there were other ways to use it.
I could create water balls and freeze standing water. I didn't have trouble with the basics of water magic, but I struggled with advanced magic.
However, the success rate for learning advanced magic was less than 40%.
There were two types of magic users: knight-types who excelled in advanced magic and mage-types who focused on attribute magic. Only about 10% of magic users could do both.
So, I was probably a mage-type, but my father and sister were both versatile types, and I wanted to be like them. It was selfish of me, but my sister had supposedly mastered the use of advanced magic on the day she was taught, so I wanted to as well.
I wasn't completely incapable of using advanced magic. It was difficult to distribute magical energy throughout my body, so I could only partially enhance certain areas. If I used too much movement while in that state, the weakly enhanced areas could become strained and potentially injure myself, so I had to be careful.
Feeling inadequate, my sister offered to teach me.
"Shall I teach you?" she said.
I readily accepted.
I was overjoyed that my busy sister was willing to spend time teaching me.
Furthermore, noble children attended the school in the capital city once they turned twelve. The time I could spend with my sister before she left was precious.
Excitedly, I waited for my sister at the training grounds.
Hexil teased me for being so enthusiastic, but I didn't care. My sister's advanced magic was so powerful that even the captain of the knights couldn't match her. She might even be the best in the country. There was no way I couldn't be excited about being taught by someone like that.
I had learned that if you didn't grasp the fundamentals of a magic spell when you first learned it, it would be difficult to use that spell in the future. However, my sister had extraordinary control over magical energy, so I couldn't help but wonder if she could teach me to be like her.
"Sorry for making you wait, Carmine."
Everyone froze at the appearance of my sister.
Well, except for the guys, including Hexil, who quickly turned their faces away before freezing up.
Why, you ask? Well, my sister was wearing a full-body spandex suit!
From her fingertips to her toes, every inch of her was covered, including her beautiful blonde hair which was tucked away inside the suit. Only her face was visible, peeking out from the open part of the suit.
As her family member, I couldn't care less, but there was no way any man could ignore her in that outfit. It revealed every curve of her body, but lacked the sex appeal that such a revealing outfit normally brings.
"My, my sister, what's with that outfit?" I asked.
"It's my practice gear for the enhanced magic I came up with!" she replied proudly.
Looking at the expressionless face of Fran, who was standing behind her, it was clear that nobody could stop her from doing what she wanted.
"I've prepared one for you too, Carmine. So go ahead and change."
"What?! Me too?"
Did she predict this situation? When did she prepare it?
I felt hopeless.
With her kind smile, there was no way I could say no to her. Her innocent smile didn't hide any malice.
Hexil, trying to hold back his laughter, looked like he was about to hit me. His shoulders were shaking so much.
My aides, who couldn't bear to look at my sister, were standing guard at the entrance of the training ground in a rather awkward position. The enhanced magic practice had begun, and it was a relief that my sister's aides, excluding Fran, were staying away.
It took me a while to gather the courage to return to the training ground after changing.
Despite its unattractive appearance, the training outfit was undoubtedly effective.
The image of magic thinly spreading and wrapping around the entire body was visualized and easy to understand. Additionally, the material was made to change colors when magic flowed through it. By observing the concentration of magic, one could objectively evaluate areas they were weak in.
When I saw myself in the mirror, still covered in uneven patterns from imperfect strengthening, I felt like crying.
But in just half a day, I had managed to learn a strengthening magic that I had been so weak at before. I could easily activate it even without wearing the tights.
"Congratulations, Carmine!"
My sister congratulated me repeatedly, as if it were her own achievement.
As for my embarrassment...let's forget about that.
"Onii-sama, I didn't really think I could learn it. You're amazing, Scarlet-sama."
On the way back from the training ground, I exchanged opinions with Hekshill, who still had blue marks all over his body.
"Yeah, that training outfit is really amazing. I think a lot of people besides me could learn it if they used that outfit to practice."
"Do you really think so?"
"My sister probably doesn't think she did anything special, so I think it would be good to report it to Father."
If the percentage of those who learned strengthening magic changed, the military and the knights would greatly change their strength. If there were many people who could do everything, it would significantly increase tactics and even affect strategy.
"...That's frightening."
"Yeah, even with just the tights, or materials that react to magic, I don't think we could have learned this easily without the material changing colors. Even if we made clothes with materials that change colors, it wouldn't be enough to complete the image."
"Normally, a noble lady wouldn't practice magic with full-body tights."
"I wouldn't think a noble young man would either."
Even if I had thought of it, I wouldn't have done it. And because I didn't think of it, even if I knew about the material, I wouldn't have been able to come up with the combination.
"Through this experience, I realized that being too excellent can make things incomprehensible to ordinary people."
"I don't think Carmine-sama is ordinary, but this was quite intense."
My sister, who is the cause of all this, doesn't realize how much she's done wrong, so she needs the support of those around her. Since my sister has Fran, she's probably already started dealing with issues such as keeping it a secret.
In my case, I can't leave everything to Hekshill just yet. So I have to look at myself and avoid actions that will confuse those around me.
"I still admire my sister, but I'll stop wanting to be like her."
My sister was not a bird, but a dragon. We shouldn't compare her just because she could fly.
As a side note, this strengthening magic training outfit was officially adopted in the Northmark territory and achieved great results, spreading throughout the country. Later, Scarlet, who would be called a great sorceress, was remembered for this as her first great achievement.
As a revolution in strengthening magic, many books contained pictures and photographs of Scarlet in her full-body tights. In her later years, Scarlet learned of this and reportedly cried out to burn them all!