It had been about a full year since Roxy had arrived to tutor him, but the progression of his spells didn't really reflect that.
After semi-successfully casting Ice Sword, and studying his Mana in motion, he arrived at a conclusion from his observations
His Mana could best be described as too intense. The speed and power of it was well above what was required for a spell.
And he couldn't quite control it in its raw form, as he was simply inept at manipulating it in his Mana Veins. So even though he was operating at a loss, if he formed Magical Energy with it, then he could at least sort of cast spells.
By attempting to cast a spell with the mindset of firing an arrow, he would sometimes succeed in a loose sense of the word.
Unstable was probably the best description of his magic. Ice would shatter. Wind would dissipate. Fire would fade. Water would evaporate. So far, only Earth would remain intact after being fired.
And when night came, and he trained his own magic, the futility of learning spells only became more pronounced.
He could create about two hundred steel arrows for the cost of casting Earth Spear.
The only advantage of the magic of this world was the efficient transfer of Mana to mass.
If he focused enough to cast the initial spell, without carrying if it failed, he could create a massive amount of Water or Rock.
The temperatures of Fire and Ice could both reach extreme limits. And Wind could be pumped with an abundance of force.
If he had managed to actually use the spells proper, he had no doubt they would be invaluable.
However, he just couldn't do consistently enough to matter.
His Elemental Affinity was Sword, and so was his Origin. The overlap had opened the door for him to learn UBW, but it also closed the doors on most other elemental magics.
Roxy had been observing him and even herself, it seemed she was following up on what he had said about Affinities under the label of talent.
She had begun taking notes almost every day, but that wasn't the only thing she was observing.
Mana Veins, what he called the pathway through which he generated Mana, he had brought up the topic in passing, and it had also caught Roxy's interest.
On the other side of his development, he had been rapidly learning swordsmanship.
After confirming he was physically fit enough, Paul had begun to teach him the basics. He quickly burned through those, and then came actual practice.
He couldn't manage the same form of enhancement that Paul did, but he made up for it with Reinforcement.
In a few months, he had reached about a sixth of Paul's skill, and about a fourth of his strength. Or course, his actual fighting prowess was halved when he was using a nameless blade against another nameless blade.
He probably seemed odd, his skill with magic and swords would shift around wildly depending on the circumstance.
However, his other skills were developing along a study slope of improvement.
He had a passing sense of literacy, and so he was also now being taught more topics. And with his twentieth century high-school education, he breezed past most of them.
Zenith and Lilia were also responsible for teaching him other more housekeeping-like skills.
He was taught about different vegetables, herbs, and how to grow, prepare and cook them. He was also taught how to sew and properly maintain clothing.
Zenith, Paul, and Roxy were all very impressed with him, however Lilia only grew colder with each passing day.
Her hatred wasn't vocal, but if she didn't have to spend time teaching him, she would find something to do far away from him.
Perhaps if Zenith and Paul weren't blinded by pride in their son, they might've noticed. Roxy was just too consumed in her notes to pay attention to the subtle things.
And he had thought he was the observant member of the house, but one day during lunch, he was just as shocked as everyone else when Lilia had stood up and spoke.
"I'm pregnant."
The light chatter between Paul and Zenith died immediately.
The quill in Roxy's hand froze.
Silence filled the house for a moment.
"C'mon Roxy, let's give them some room."
He simply got out of his seat and dragged his shocked magic tutor away.
As he exited the house, he heard a few screams and shouts.
The sun was shining bright in the clear blue sky.
He could feel something itching in his mind.
They had been doing the deed almost every night, until Zenith became exhausted. He had simply ignored the noises, and didn't think about it in the slightest.
At some point, the noises would continue even after Zenith went to sleep, and again he didn't offer a single thought on the topic.
But now it was clear in his mind, what exactly he had been hearing.
'Paul, you've dug your own grave.'
Although he had a desire to save people, he wasn't one to help someone out of messes they made themselves. Mistakes were part of maturing and correcting those were a step to become a respectable person.
A few hours had gone by, but the shouting in the house hadn't really lessened much.
After their magic lesson was over, Roxy had retreated to her room.
He wasn't exactly in a hurry, and he hadn't thought the argument would last so long, however from what he was hearing, it was mostly just circling around pointlessly, fueled by Zenith's fury.
Paul and Lilia were sorry, but aside from that, they had little to respond with.
Lilia was fine with leaving, as was Zenith, however Paul didn't want anything to change.
Obviously, the future of their lives was the main topic of the argument.
As Paul was the one teaching him how to fight with a sword, and was paying for his magic lessons, he would probably try to stay with him regardless of everything else.
"It's clear you guys aren't getting anywhere with this."
He didn't want to involve himself in the affair, but he could lend a hand.
The three adults shifted their focus to him.
"I don't really have much to say."
He didn't really have experience giving relationship advice, in fact he only experienced what love might've been a few days before his death. It was now a bitter-sweet feeling.
"Zenith, take some time to think about your future."
Right now her emotions were probably blinding her, but she needed to be logical with her decisions.
"Paul, you don't really have any grounds to object to anything Zenith wants, you've made a mistake, it's up to her how she'll deal with it."
He was already pretty passive, but he was also stubborn with his desire for everything to remain the same. However, that wasn't his choice to make.
"Lilia, the best thing you could do is explain the reasons behind your actions."
She was a reserved person by nature, so she probably hadn't felt the need to say her side of the story.
"I wish I could give some actual advice, but I can't. So just know that I'm thankful for this life, and you've all done a great job taking care of me."
Then he left for his room.
He hadn't really provided anything useful to the conversation, but he hoped it would help calmer minds prevail.
…
…
A few months after they reached an agreement, Lilia finally gave birth.
Aisha Greyrat.
That was the name they gave the newborn girl.
The air inside the house had been awkward for quite a while during the pregnancy, but eventually Zenith warmed back up to Lilia.
He wasn't privy to all the details of the resolution, since he had given them privacy as it was an important topic.
But the nighttime noises had ceased all together, and as a result, Paul had a lot of pent up energy. So their sparring matches grew with intensity with each passing day.
He wasn't complaining, it did help him grow stronger, so a few bruises and cuts were meaningless.
Today was slightly different though.
Paul was using his real sword and he had given him a real sword as well.
"Sorry, Aisha's birth kinda overshadowed you turning five yesterday, we'll celebrate in a while after things return to normal. And from now on, I'll be training you for real."
Paul went on to explain his version of a chivalric code, it was pretty basic for a knight of the people.
"Of course." He nodded along, he would have no trouble striving to protect the weak, and attempting to defeat evil.
As he held his own personal sword in his hands, he knew his overall skill had dropped with the unused blade, but since it was real steel, the danger it held had risen exponentially.
Reinforcement, a spell from his world, used magical energy to fill in the gaps of objects and enhance its purpose.
When it was used on a dull wooden training sword, it had focused on making it more durable as the item wasn't made to be sharp.
But on a real sword, a weapon designed to cut, slice, slash and stab, it focused on enhancing the sharp blade.
So, he traded skill for danger.
Roxy was watching them, ready to heal him up if necessary. She appeared nervous as real blades were being used.
As the unfamiliar steel rested in his palms, he stood a distance away from Paul, and they stared at each other, waiting for the first move.
Paul had taught him everything he could when it came to basic sword fighting.
A loud boom reached his ears as Paul lunged forth, his legs stopped but his arm kept moving. At the moment, the sword would smash against his own and the tip of it would graze along his ribcage.
He twisted his sword, pulled his arm in, and shifted his feet on the ground.
Sparks danced through the air and his feet dug small trenches as he struggled to stay standing.
Paul stared down impassively as he put more force into his sword.
He barely managed to deflect it as he jumped away.
For the rest of the sparring match, Paul would use the same amount of overwhelming strength, and every time he would just barely be able to block or dodge the strikes.
And when the match came to an end, he was physically exhausted but unscathed.
Paul seemed proud, his impassive mask melted away and he cheerfully lifted and spun around his child.
Roxy sighed in relief that her service wasn't needed.
And then before his magic lesson began that day, she handed him two things. "I had a hard time locating someone willing to create them in time."
The first was a bow, it was made of a similar material as the wand and had a Mana Gem embedded into the grip.
During his training, he had made use of the Mana Gem shards, he had achieved various results, most of which allowed him to cast a stable spell.
He had displayed an interest in archery and he began dabbling in the basics, mostly as an excuse for his familiarity with it.
He firmly gripped the wood and gem, he aimed at a distant rock, and as he chanted, his body followed along.
As he drew back the bowstring, he felt a connection form between his two hands.
Since he lacked fine control of his Mana, he had learned that he couldn't actually do everything that a standard spell required, instead he could only focus on a single aspect.
"Let the great protection of ice be on the place thou seekest."
Mana flooded the link, and a cool breeze drifted off. The spell was incomplete, he stopped it before it could manifest and shatter.
And then he opened another link to the Mana Gem.
"I call upon the chill of a biting frost here and now. Ice Sword."
As he released his hold on the string, the link from his back hand was cut off and it snapped to his other forehand.
The loaded up Mana and incomplete spell information was forced into the Mana Gem which held the rest of the information.
A crystal clear blade of ice manifested and shot forth at dazzling speeds, it pierced clear through the boulder about a few dozen meters away.
"Thanks Roxy, this is a great gift."
"I'm just glad it came out okay, now I finally feel like I've done something right as your tutor."
As he placed down the Mana Bow-Wand, he then shifted his focus to the second gift.
It was a Mana Wand in the shape of a sword hilt.
"Let the great protection of ice be on the place thou seekest. I call upon the chill of a biting frost here and now. Ice Sword."
There weren't any gimmicks he used, he just focused on controlling one aspect of the spell, and he discarded the rest.
A blade of ice grew from the Mana Gem crossguard. After giving it a few good swings, he dismissed it.
"Really, thanks Roxy."
He finally had an actual way to use the magic of this world.
AN: Baby Drama over.
Honestly, I think it was a weird topic in the first place. From what I've read about, the sisters don't really play a part in the story aside from some emotional beats.
I know that's on purpose, something something about how the story of the world is realistic.
Regardless, this is my fanfic, so I have written it as so.
Aisha is going to be a normal baby, as a direct contrast. And Norn won't be born here.
Anyway, what do y'all think about this way for using spells?
In regards to Magic and Magecraft. I've mentioned Nasu's Magic as True Magic, and Shirou was using the term Magecraft in the first chapter in reference to the unknown spell the blonde woman was doing.
After learning of this world's magic, he has dropped the term Magecraft from his lexicon, but he hasn't quite gotten used to calling it magic yet. He's been referring to as "this world's magic" for now.
Oh, and this whole Lilia thing should be clear, but apparently it isn't, so next chapter with have an extra bit after the main content.
Oh! And I added two bits of extra content to the previous chapter.