"I'm sorry, you were confined to the temple because of me, weren't you?"
These were the first words Turan heard when he visited Meisa's room.
He carefully chose his words before giving the most neutral response to this noble lady's apology.
"It was necessary. More importantly, I'm glad you're safe."
If he had apologized for making her do something unreasonable here, it would have seemed like mocking her by implying "I can do it but you can't."
As if recognizing the calculation behind this answer, Meisa exclaimed as if remembering something she had forgotten.
"Ah! Come to think of it, that magic that makes animals rot. Could it be an unknown bloodline magic? The magical power consumption was unreasonable."
"No. If you understand the principle, you could use it sufficiently too, my lady."
During their conversation, Turan's keen sense of smell caught an unfamiliar scent.
Something mixing a slightly spoiled but rich aroma with a sour stench...
'Did she vomit?'
The smell that came when accidentally cutting open the stomach while butchering animals wafted faintly from Meisa's mouth.
He had clearly heard she didn't eat, so why?
Turan started to say something but quickly closed his mouth, realizing his comment would be inappropriate in many ways.
Given that it was barely perceptible even to his sense of smell, she must have cleaned up thoroughly, and if he mentioned smelling it, they would suspect he had a bloodline specialized for that.
While he was lost in thought, Meisa, thinking Turan had stopped speaking because he didn't want to share the magic's principle, smiled slightly and probed.
"So you won't tell me for free. But without explaining the method, there's no proof it's not bloodline magic, is there?"
"I don't particularly mind if I didn't win."
The two held each other's gaze silently for a moment.
Meisa was the first to surrender.
"Since it feels unsatisfying to end like this, if you tell me that magic's secret, I'll teach you one of Arabion's secret techniques. Fair?"
"Alright. Then—"
Turan explained that there existed organisms too small to see, and that decay was these organisms eating larger living beings.
And that the principle of the magic was giving power to these small organisms to accelerate the decay process.
Just that explanation alone seemed enough for Meisa to understand the principle of the magic, as she exclaimed "Ah!"
"So... it was fundamentally organism enhancement magic?"
"Yes."
"No wonder. Using it without knowing that, no wonder the efficiency was so poor. There, could you catch me another rat?"
At Meisa's request, the maid standing respectfully behind asked in shock.
"A-a rat...?"
"Yes. In such a large house, there must be at least one living somewhere."
Shortly after, Meisa nodded as she put down a rat that had rotted and collapsed while still alive.
The maid who had caught the rat looked like she might vomit at any moment seeing this, but neither Turan nor Meisa paid any attention to that.
"Then I lost the contest. Though I succeeded at the end, it was by forcefully pushing through with power."
"I considered that part of the competition too."
"That's not right. When talking about skill in handling magic, we usually don't include magical power amount."
After saying this, Meisa suddenly spoke with what seemed like an embarrassed expression.
"Um, could you tell Asiz it was a draw? I don't want to see him get cocky."
"Understood."
"Then I should pay my debt. Let's see... this should work."
Meisa took a comb from beside her, combed her long hair a few times, then quickly lifted it showing how the hair stuck to and rose with the comb.
"As you can see, when objects rub together, a phenomenon occurs where they attract each other. This is—"
"Static electricity."
Meisa's eyes widened at Turan's response.
"...You knew?"
"Yes."
He had encountered such knowledge when learning about the principle of lightning striking from clouds in the library.
Though he hadn't properly understood the more difficult explanations about lightning occurring due to contact between positive and negative charges and such, he at least knew that lightning originated from electrical force and that friction could create a similar phenomenon on a small scale.
To demonstrate, Turan rubbed his fingers several times to create a small spark with a crackling sound.
By applying this, he could even use electrical shock magic to shoot lightning directly, though not as powerful as lightning magic.
Though it was still only at practice level, not refined enough for actual combat.
"Even this is quite a profound secret..."
Muttering "this is troublesome," Meisa heaved a deep sigh and said.
"Can I think a bit more about how to repay you?"
"Of course."
Turan didn't say the compensation wasn't necessary.
One of the realizations he had gained since coming down from the hill was that if you give knowledge, you should receive something in return.
After a moment of silence, Meisa shook her head and brought up an unexpected suggestion.
"Then until I think of sufficient compensation, how about we continue together..."
"You mean magic practice?"
"Yes. I think we could learn quite a lot from each other."
"Alright."
Since he was planning to diligently practice magic training every day anyway, competing achievements with a high-level wizard would provide good motivation.
"Then let's meet in the garden at sunset every day starting tomorrow."
==
The next day after meeting with Meisa, someone came looking for Turan early in the morning.
It was Haram, the guardian bloodline noble who had briefly practiced swordsmanship with him in the temple yesterday.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Ah... yes. But what brings you here?"
"Have you thought about what I said yesterday?"
Turan recalled what he had said yesterday.
Was it about taking time to train his body when possible?
When he mentioned this, Haram nodded and declared.
"Come."
"Surely not for training?"
"Do you dislike it?"
After brief consideration, Turan agreed and left his room.
Though Asiz had asked him to go watch plays today too... but learning something would be more rewarding than playing.
As he was about to call a servant to send a message canceling the appointment, Asiz appeared in the corridor.
"Hey, Turan! I heard there's a really amazing play today..."
Asiz's bright voice instantly shrank when he saw Haram standing beside him.
"Asiz."
"Ah, hello. Uncle."
"Will you come too?"
"What? No... I'm still tired from traveling outside recently, so..."
Though Haram hadn't even said where they were going, Asiz stammered before quickly fleeing back the way he came.
Shortly after, Turan could understand why he had reacted that way.
"One more time."
"Huff..."
"Last time, one more."
In House Berk's eastern section, inside a training ground surrounded by four buildings, there were several devices that seemed to be magical items.
From metal bars that became heavier as magical power was infused, to spaces where the body became tremendously heavy upon entering.
Haram had Turan perform various movements repeatedly in such places, overworking every muscle in his body.
Generally, nobles' strength wouldn't be overwhelmed by their own body weight, but here was different.
"That's enough."
At Haram's words, Turan withdrew the power he had been infusing into the bar, threw it down, and collapsed.
He could feel his sweat-soaked hair sticking to his face.
"Is it hard?"
"Yes..."
It felt like he was even more exhausted than when fighting the dark elf necromancers.
Then he had just been in poor condition from being rammed by the buffalo death spirit, but this time he had truly worked every muscle from neck to toes.
At Turan's answer, Haram showed a grotesque smile that barely lifted the corners of his mouth.
"Still, consider yourself lucky that as a wizard, once is enough."
"Is it different for non-wizards?"
"Originally, muscles will disappear again over time even after being built up through training. You have to train constantly to maintain them. But for wizards, since magical power maintains the body in optimal condition, once you build your body, it won't weaken."
After saying this, Haram pointed to the sky and added.
"Plus, isn't it refreshing to exercise and get some fresh air?"
"It is... indeed."
Turan hesitated briefly before agreeing with Haram's words.
Certainly, there was a strange sense of elation lying sprawled out after sweating through your whole body.
Similar to when reading books, a sense of achievement that you were becoming something better than before...
Haram grumbled for a while at the sprawled Turan about how all wizards—especially nobles—were fools for neglecting physical training despite having such good bodies for it, then stood up and gave another instruction.
"You should be rested enough now."
"No, not yet—"
"I know. You've rested enough. Now I'll teach you weapon skills and martial arts."
After spending the morning in such hellish training, Turan walked on shaky legs to a small dining room and asked the servants to bring food.
Before long, Asiz appeared from somewhere and plopped down opposite him.
"How did you end up caught by Uncle Haram?"
"Well..."
When Turan explained about receiving Haram's teaching last night, Asiz burst out laughing in disbelief.
"You got hooked."
"Hooked?"
"Uncle is someone who believes all nobles should be capable in close combat. I got caught by a similar method when I was young too."
Apparently, his fixed pattern was to demonstrate elegant swordsmanship on the side while asking "Want to try this?" to lure people in, then drag them to the training ground and work them to exhaustion.
Asiz said that after going through such hardship when he was young—at age twenty-five—he wouldn't even go near when asked to train.
"But he said even training once has good effects?"
"It's still too hard! Magic training is better. Besides, you're a guest so you can just say you want to quit."
At Asiz's suggestion, Turan hesitated briefly before shaking his head.
"No, I want to continue for now."
Though Turan had never done any physical training besides walking, running, and throwing stones his whole life, he could instinctively feel that Haram's teaching method was quite systematic.
Moreover, this place was full of training devices made directly by House Berk's artificers.
He didn't want to miss the opportunity to borrow the power of such items.
"Why don't you join too?"
"Me? I'm too old now..."
Asiz, who only looked like he was in his early twenties in appearance, said with an awkward smile.
==
For the next three weeks, Turan's daily routine was thoroughly fulfilled.
Physical training with Haram in the early morning.
After thoroughly working every muscle, replenishing nutrients with a quality lunch, then going to town with Asiz in the afternoon to watch plays or read books at the library—though of course it wasn't like the library in Orem city.
And at sunset, returning to the mansion to practice magic with Meisa, during which they grew quite close.
By the time three weeks had passed, they had become close enough to call each other by name.
Considering that at their first meeting Meisa couldn't even properly remember Turan's name, this was remarkable.
"Not going well, Turan?"
"Well, I'm not Arabion after all."
At Meisa's teasing tone, Turan scratched his chin while looking down at the burn marks covering the wall before him.
The traces of lightning bolt, magic that shot electricity generated by finger friction at the target.
His current task was to hit targets accurately with this, but still two or three out of ten shots would hit around the center rather than the bullseye.
Rather than Turan's magic being unskilled, lightning magic itself tended to not hit accurately.
To overcome this, he either had to perfectly understand the principles of how lightning travels and satisfy them, or increase his proficiency.
"I can't really help. I've never thought about aiming lightning magic."
Born with the storm bloodline, she could naturally handle lightning, so she couldn't give advice to Turan who was going through trial and error.
After all, how could someone who had been running since birth teach walking to someone who crawls?
"I'll have to work hard at it."
While heaving a deep sigh, Turan recalled that the magical device would be completed in about a week.
And that he would have to leave then.
'...Somehow, I don't want to leave.'
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that life at House Berk had been the happiest time since Turan was born.
Needless to say the standard of living as a great house's stronghold, he had teachers and partners to train both body and magic, and friends to enjoy hobbies with.
But he couldn't stay here forever.
He was just a guest after all.
Though there was no worry of being discovered now, there was no guarantee he could hide his true identity forever...
"There you are, Lady Meisa!"
In the midst of being lost in thought, an unfamiliar voice rang out in the garden.
For some reason, a man in his early twenties whom he had never seen before was looking at Turan with a strangely hostile expression.
"My lady, this man is..."
"None of your business. More importantly, why are you here? I'm sure I said no one from the main house should approach while I'm recuperating."
Meisa's attitude toward the man, who appeared to be from House Arabion, was utterly cold.
Even to the point of feeling hostility.
The man, who briefly trembled, bowed his head deeply and said.
"The head has summoned you, my lady."
"For what?"
"That is..."
The man glanced at Turan.
As if telling him to get lost because he needed to discuss important matters.
But before Turan could react, Meisa sharply pressed.
"Answer quickly. If it's for a useless reason, you'd better be prepared."
At her fierce attitude suggesting she might blast him with magic if he hesitated even slightly, the man hastily answered.
The content was shocking even to Turan who was quietly listening from the side.
"Dark elves have risen up en masse in the south! They say three cities have already fallen, so they're forming an expedition force..."