Re:Beginning: A Job-Filled Reincarnation | Chapter Nineteen: The Mad Dog's Tutor and an Elf's Rolling Days
"Then if you apply this method, it should be easier to use magic… At least in practice, it is. That doesn't mean it's for everyone, though." I looked at the two infront of me—a look of contemplation on one and frustration on the other.
"I think…I get it—maybe." Ghislaine whispered as she looked down at the notes I had given her. It was nothing too special—just the rudimentary basics of magic. Of course, it didn't help that she couldn't read quite yet. But that let me use them to teach her how to read while I also taught her magic. It was just my way of cutting out the middleman.
"I still don't get it!" On the other hand, the other person I was teaching had no such luck in her studies. So far, that is.
"Magic isn't the easiest thing in the world, Eris. Not everyone can just do it in such a short amount of time." Eris was having absolutely no luck in magic. That didn't mean that she wasn't trying, though. If anything, she was trying to learn magic more than she was trying to learn how to read or do math, but I could understand that. I, too, would rather be flinging fireballs around than be stuck doing equations and reading all day.
"But you make it look way easier than it is!" Eris was practically fuming now. It wouldn't be long before she started trying to beat me up and running off, but at this point, I was pretty much used to that kind of violence… Also, how is that my fault exactly?
One singular month had come and gone since I arrived in Roa—one month of pure, unadulterated agony that was teaching Eris Boreas Greyrat.
I'd be lying if I said it was easy. I'd also be lying if I said at some moments, I didn't feel like ripping the poor girl's head off in frustration. But I didn't let that stop me. I'd only be doing Roxy a disservice if I stopped teaching a girl who needed my knowledge. Of course, it wasn't like I would just up and leave Eris to her devices. What I was doing had a purpose. I had a job to do. One that I intended to fulfill no matter what.
The only problem now was that the girl I was supposed to teach typically decided that she didn't feel like learning that day. So it isn't like I didn't have my hands full. Still, trying to convince Eris, of all people, to learn was miles better than dueling some god.
Still, there were times when Eris didn't seem like she would back down. This was one of those times.
"It's easy for me because I've spent years learning how to do it." A small flame formed on my fingertip with a flick of my fingers. Learning even a little bit of magic proved immeasurably valuable when it came to adventuring. Being able to light a campfire at will or fill a canteen in the middle of a desert just made everything easier in life. "I'm sure you can be just as good with practice." She didn't seem all that persuaded. In fact, it appeared she was poised to bolt for the door any second.
I glanced toward Ghislaine for help, but she sat by the window, utterly unfazed by everything happening.
It looked like I'd be doing this alone.
"What could I do to convince you?" I guess all I was left with was bargaining. Eris never made negotiation easy.
"Hmph!" She didn't seem too intrigued by that either. She stood in her usual defiant stance. I'm honestly surprised she hadn't hit me yet and ran. I guess that means she does want something.
An idea clicked in my head at that moment. "What if I show you some magic that'd be good for swordsmanship?" With those words, I could see her interest start to show.
"Magic for swordsmanship? I've never heard of it." Ghislaine spoke up after my declaration. It seemed I even managed to get her attention.
"Well, it's not particularly for swordsmanship alone, but it is handy if you are one—"
"Just out with it already!" Eris yelled all of a sudden. She was getting impatient.
"Sorry." Managing her mood swings definitely made this job more tricky than most would care to deal with. I could see why so many tutors were already fired—and I'm still the only one that's managed to get this far even. At the very least, I could expect some tolerance from Eris whenever I taught her. It seemed she admired my strength in some capacity, it seems. "I'm talking about healing magic."
Ghislaine and Eris stared at me. The look of confusion plastered on both of their faces. Could they seriously not understand why it was so helpful? Isn't it kind of redundant? "Is that seriously it?!" Eris was really pissed now. In fact, she was already swinging.
I let it hit me as I was sent flying back. If there was one thing Eris was good at, it was physicality. I could never understand why Philip even had the slightest hope that he could shape her into a prospective noblewoman. Even at her age, she seemed awfully determined to learn the sword. She even had the talent for it, but nobility doesn't think like me. Even Philip has ulterior motives. It's a good thing that I have my own as well.
I propped myself back up on my hands as I rubbed the cheek she had hit. It hurt like hell, frankly, but I'm sure being run through hurt more. This was nothing in comparison. By the time I looked up at Eris, I had expected her to either run away or continue her onslaught, but instead, I found her looking at her hand with a grin on her face… Was she that happy that she finally hit me? That's kind of rude of you, young lady.
"You can at least warn me when you're gonna punch me, you know?" She looked down at me and frowned.
"That takes all of the fun out of it, and besides. You explain things weird and frustrate me, so you deserve it." That's an awfully succinct answer, Eris.
"Then how about I let you hit me so long as you listen to me?" I spoke before I could even think about the consequences of that promise.
Before I could take my words back, Eris turned her head away from me. "Fine." Her tone was low, but she was at least pleased with that outcome.
It looks like I'll be using a lot of healing magic on myself now. "Oh, you mean using healing magic on yourself whenever you're in a fight, right?" Ghislaine, who hadn't spoken in a while, interjected as I brushed myself off as I healed the bruise on my cheek with a quiet chant.
Did it take her that long to figure that out? "Yeah. You're bound to get cuts and scrapes whenever you fight, and you never know if you might need some magic to make it out alive."
"I'll just make you heal me then!" Eris went right back to her usual attitude.
"I can't always be with you whenever you get yourself into some scrap." She frowned.
"Rudeus, I'm teaching Eris the Sword God style. If she kills whoever she's fighting with one attack, there isn't any need to heal. Besides, the incantation you mages use for healing spells takes too long." So that's why Ghislaine was confused about what I said. I guess it would be confusing for a woman who ends conflicts with a single stroke of her blade. But for people like me, it made complete and utter sense that being able to heal any kind of laceration or deep cut with a couple of sentences outweighed dying.
"I can understand where you're coming from, Ghislaine, but even you have to have had moments where you've almost died from some wound you've gotten."
"I guess you're not wrong."
"Besides, Eris still has some time to learn the chant-less versions of spells."
"What about chant-less?! Tell me!" You could maybe not yell right into my ear when you demand something from me.
"You usually have to learn magic without incantations around the age of ten to do it. So you only have a couple of months till that period is over. Of course, I know a person who's been able to do it with a lot of practice and learning magic from the ground up, but it's significantly harder after a certain age. So I'd like you to bear with me for a while."
"I still don't get it!"
"Being able to heal your wounds mid-fight without needing a chant sounds too good to be true." Ghislaine looked at me with sincerity. It seemed she was genuinely thinking about what I was saying with a serious outlook now. "Eris."
"Yeah, Ghislaine?" The girl looked worriedly over to the beast woman.
"Do your best to learn it. It'll be good for your sword training." With that, it seemed the woman's mind was made up.
Eris looked at her with a surprised and hesitant face. "If you say so." If it meant improving her sword skills, Eris was bound to agree. But she still looked unsure of what she agreed to.
"Okay then! Let's get back to studying." With a clap, I went back to where Ghislaine was sitting. She immediately perked back up and started focusing.
As for the other person in the room… "Don't wanna!" With that, Eris ran out and disappeared from eyesight.
What a troublesome child. I lamented with a long, tired sigh as I left to find her.
A wooden sword came in with a quick motion. But it was quickly brushed aside with a simple parry. While she had a lot of bite and bark, Eris was still a beginner with the sword. It felt nice being better than her at the sword for once.
"Keep pushing him, Eris!" Ghislaine shouted out from the sidelines. She always watched our mock duels whenever we had training. It was helpful for Eris and helped me fill in any holes in my technique that I realistically could. "Don't let your strikes be so obvious! You'll never hit him like that!"
"He just keeps dodging! What should I do if I can't even hit him?!" She was slowly getting angry. This was how most of our sparring sessions were going. We would spar, and I would avoid all the hits I could. Then, at the end, I would end our duel with one riposte. It wouldn't take long for Eris to get strong enough that I would need my gauntlets, but they weren't required for now. Still, all my training with her only seemed to make the girl hate my guts even more. Which I wasn't necessarily against. The more distance that remained between us, the better. I was just doing my job here.
"Of course, he's dodging! He's a mage and a Water God swordsman! Less thinking, more swinging!" Ghislaine's approach to training helped Eris but did absolutely nothing for me. I was a repetitive learner at the end of it all. When I began training with the sword, it was the same. I just kept doing the same swing over and over again. That was how it was for years until I started working under Orsted.
Orsted. I wonder how he's doing. I hadn't thought about him in a while. He was the only person I knew in this world besides Kharn. Knowing him, he's probably off doing something that'll make Hitogami mald. So, something utterly worthwhile.
"What're you making that creepy face for?!" Eris swung toward my face. Too bad for her that it was sloppy.
It was a simple trick. With a flick of the wrist, her blade was knocked off course, and with a simple and quick motion, mine met her neck with a light tap. "I win." It was with that simple declaration that Eris looked back at Ghislaine. The woman nodded with a deft movement, and in the next moment, Eris threw her wooden sword down on the ground and sat down angrily. I didn't even know someone could sit down angrily, to begin with, but leave it to Eris, I guess.
"This isn't fair." She grumbled to herself. In essence, she wasn't wrong. Sure, she wasn't naturally better at the sword than I was, but I had more than a few years on her, and unfortunately for her, a lot of that was combat experience.
"Rudeus is advanced in Water God. Of course, he's going to beat a beginner in Sword God. Doesn't matter how good you are, Eris. It's just the state of things." Ghislaine approached us and gave a slight nod to me. What it meant, I had absolutely no idea. Swordsmen and swordswomen were so hard to understand that I was only really ever able to tell what Eris was thinking on any given day—and I guess Jino too, but that was different.
"Doesn't mean it's fair!" She crossed her arms in defiance as she stayed sitting.
Flawless logic, as always, Eris. As I looked at the girl, I pushed down the smirk that wanted to form on my face.
"If it makes you feel any better, Eris, I can't form any kind of aura, so you'll beat me out eventually." Consoling her was the only way we could continue. So, I figured this would be the best way to do it.
Ghislaine looked at me, stunned for a second. "What do you mean by that?" She sounded unsure of what I said.
"I guess this was going to come up eventually." It's not like my inability to form any touki bothers me anymore. It sucked, but that was about it. I made up for it with my magic skill. "Father always said it'd come eventually, but it hasn't… It never came because I can't use it to begin with. So I'm only ever gonna be as good as I am now." That was a partial lie. If I had my armor with me, I was technically better, but that was only because I was basically cheating.
"Seriously?" Ghislaine seemed slightly stunned. I guess she hasn't seen a swordsman without a touki. Honestly, I couldn't blame her. Paul had made me out to be some kind of prodigy, but at the end of the day, I was just some loser who was reborn one too many times.
While Ghislaine was somewhat flummoxed about what I said, it only put the wind back in Eris' sails. "Of course, I'd eventually be better at you than at the sword! It's only right for you to be better at magic! Yeah!" The girl seemed awfully happy at my expense, but that was fine.
"You'll get there eventually, Eris. But for now, you might want to focus on your technique. It's still too easy for me to block and parry any of your strikes." The girl looked down at me—literally and probably metaphorically.
"Hmph!" She turned her head as she assumed the Eris pose.
"So you seriously can't use touki at all?" Ghislaine still seemed confused.
"One hundred percent. It's impossible. At the most, I can use magic around my body to protect myself and to help my speed, but other than that—nothing."
"Then why are you advanced? You have to have some kind of touki to be advanced."
"Father's stupid. I fooled him with magic."
"That makes sense. He doesn't think about his swordsmanship, I guess. He just does it."
"Anything you teach me isn't really going to stick. So sorry if I disappointed you, Ghislaine." One of the main reasons I was even allowed to come here in the first place was that Ghislaine would oversee my sword training, but I didn't have the cards in my hands to be able to be a swordsman. So, at the very least, I could be apologetic.
"Why would I be disappointed?" Instead of the retort I had expected from the woman, she hit me with an answer I hadn't necessarily expected. "If anything, you're stronger than what Paul said. You've got more to you than meets the eye."
Ghislaine praising me? That's unusual. "Thank you for that, but I'm afraid I'm still too weak for your words. I still have a long way to go." It felt gratifying to hear a Sword King praise me for my efforts, but I, no matter what, couldn't allow myself to become complacent. I needed to be better. To be stronger. It was for that reason that I was here.
"Come on, Rudeus! Let's get back to training! I want to kick your butt!" Eris dragged me off as she grabbed my arm.
It was good that she was feeling enthused. As long as she got stronger, I was okay with this life. As long as everyone was safe, it would all be okay, even if I wasn't here.
As Ghislaine watched the two begin sparring, she couldn't help but think about what Rudeus had said. She didn't know what he meant by what he said, but she couldn't help but think of her master when he said it. For some reason, Paul's son gave her a feeling she had only ever felt from the Sword God himself.
A feeling of superiority. For some reason, when Rudeus said he was weak, she realized just how strong Paul's son was. Ghislaine knew that only the strong could call themselves weak when they had the power to change things. Ghislaine knew only the strong were allowed that luxury. A luxury she has never had.
Needless to say, Ghislaine was going to enjoy her time teaching the boy whatever she could. "This will be an interesting five years, that's for sure." She quietly spoke to herself as she watched the two continue their spar.
Sylphiette
"Is this good enough?" Putting down my hands, I looked over the fields I had been watering. Compared to their slightly dry appearance a few minutes ago, I'd consider this a job well done.
"Looks plenty fine to me, Sylphiette! Thanks for your help. You're a real doll for that." Mr. Peters gave a slight bow toward me.
"It's no problem, Mr. Peters. It's what my Master always did." The mention of Roxy left a somewhat melancholic feeling in my throat, but I patted that down. There was no reason to be sad for something like that. I'd see her again after all. "Just make sure to give Father the money." I hope I didn't sound too demanding.
"Of course." Contrary to what I may have thought, Mr. Peters didn't seem fazed by the mention of payment. Instead, he seemed pleased with his fields as he looked back at them. "You mages always make the best harvests. I'm sure he would've loved to see them like this." The look in his eyes was sad.
That's right… Mr. Smith used to help him with his fields. The thought of the man no longer dredged up immediate response from people, but his absence was undoubtedly still felt by everyone.
"Well, I'm sure you have someplace else you ought to be missy. Don't let a sad old man like me keep ya." With a bit of motion for me to leave, I waved goodbye to the man and approached my next destination.
One month has come and gone since Rudy left the village. Since his 'farewell', and ever since I've been helping around the village just like Roxy used to. It felt gratifying to help people like this. It wasn't even that long ago when I was being bullied every day for my hair. Now, I was helping people with their livelihoods and making money from it. Of course, I made sure all of it went to my parents. I never left the village, so there really wasn't any need for me to have money. I couldn't use it anyway, and it wasn't like there was anything that I wanted. I already have everything I ever did now.
I continued walking as I passed through the fields. Everyone was busy with work, but they'd see me and wave occasionally. "Thanks for the other week, Sylphiette!" That was Mrs. Peters.
It made sense to see her next to her home at this time of the day. "No problem!" I called back to her as I continued walking.
Buena was peaceful now. No one was hungry, and everyone seemed happy. It was nice. The only thing missing now was Roxy and Rudeus being here. I still had a lot of things I had to do before then. So that would have to wait.
"Afternoon, Sylphie! You help out the villagers again?" When I came into eyeshot of the house, the man out in the front yard had already seen me.
"Like always, Mister Paul!" Rudeus' father stood in the front of his house—training, of course, like always.
"You know a kid your age doesn't need to do all that, right?"
"Rudy would be doing the same thing if he was here, so I'm just picking up his slack." Helping people felt nice. It was like I was needed, and that made me feel better. Besides, it isn't like I had any other friends I could talk to and play with. "Father also lets me get away without doing chores as long as I'm helping the village."
Paul flashed me a big grin as I finished speaking. "Little trickster, aren't cha?" He turned his head to look back at the house, almost as if he was saying I could go in. "Zenith is inside if you need to speak to her, but if you want to play with the kids, they're asleep right now." He thumbed his chin for a second, but he must've brushed off whatever idea he had as he shooed me away. "Just make sure to act like a kid every now and then. You guys are gonna worry your parents to death." I could only assume he was including Rudy in that comment.
I don't know why, but I doubt I worry my parents as much as Rudy.
I walked up to the house and opened the door into the home.
Unlike the many times I had paid the Greyrat home a visit, dinner wasn't being prepared this time. Instead, Zenith was sitting in the small living area of the house as she watched Norn and Aisha sleep. I couldn't see Miss Lilia anywhere, however. She must be out getting some supplies or something.
I stepped closer to the woman as she turned at my footsteps. "Oh, Sylphie? It's good to see you. You still running around helping the village out?" In a hushed voice, Zenith spoke as she stood up and stepped closer to me. The woman always seemed so radiant in my eyes. Even now, she was smiling. The only time I had ever seen her without one was when Rudeus' nightmare had reared its head. That was a rough day for all of us, though.
"Yep. I came over to get the notes Rudy left me." With a gentle nod from the woman, she spoke.
"You can go on upstairs. I haven't touched anything there, so you should know where everything is."
"Thank you, Lady Zenith."
"You don't need to add the 'Lady', Sylphie. It makes me sound old." The woman deadpanned at me as she scratched her cheek.
"You aren't any older than my mother, Lady Zenith." The woman didn't seem any happier hearing that. Was it because my parents were older than her?
Seeing as the day wasn't getting any longer and I still had some responsibilities at my house, I decided to head upstairs and get the things I needed.
Unlike the rest of the home, his room hadn't been touched since his departure. For what reasons was that the case? I didn't know. I didn't ask either. It felt like I was already overstepping my boundaries by coming over next to every day and taking my study materials. "Mister Paul and Lady Zenith are still kind to me." I didn't want to betray that kindness.
The notes in question were on his desk. Alongside them was the book we always studied. Though, in Rudy's case, he, more often than not, just taught me what was in it. Looking down at the stack of papers was still bizarre. They were neatly organized into a stack. A small binding to hold them together. Usually, people would be shocked to find anything like this. It was a book at the end of the day, and books were anything but cheap. But I knew it wasn't a book that anyone else had. The handwriting was unmistakably Rudeus'. The same handwriting I used to study to learn how to write and read. Which meant it was made for me. The thought alone made me giddy.
Could I consider this an early birthday gift? Rudy would be gone for another five years, so it wasn't like I couldn't believe it as one.
Still…five more years until I would see him again. "What if I was avoiding you?" The words he spoke that day were still in my head. No matter what I did, I couldn't get them out of my thoughts. No matter how much I tried not to think about it, I always returned to that day. Especially the day he left. The way he left sounded like he was leaving me. It sounded like he would never see me again—but of course, we would see each other again. He was only going to be gone for five years. Then he'd come back, and we could go on some adventure and meet up with Roxy. Then we could settle down somewhere and get—
"Maybe I should relax a little." I still had a lot of time to think things over. "Father's been telling me to take my life a little slower… So I should do that." With the notes and book nestled underneath my arm, I left the Greyrat home.
"I still have no idea what most of this means." More often than not, trying to make out the information in the notes confused me. Whatever information I had thought I had known about magic from my studies seemed almost useless while trying to understand Rudeus' writings. When I initially looked at them, I got a headache just trying to think about it all and decided to look at the magic book… That wasn't any better.
For some reason, Rudy went through the entire book and scribbled out most of the text, saying it was 'wrong'. All the while, he filled the margins with corrections for the text. What he meant by the corrections was anyone's guess, but over the past month, I think I had started to understand what he was trying to get at.
For example, a page in the book discussed mana capacity and how it was dependent solely on birth—needless to say, that entire page was corrected. The page about casting styles had chant-less spell casting added to it. Of course, those were things I knew about from my training. What intrigued me more was what the notes he left me had inside them. To be frank, whatever I read could imprison me in some city, mainly because of the covered topics.
There were more than a few mentions of taboo things, like teleportation, but he only went into them in depth a little. Then, there were a few pages of saint-level spells from different magic trees. Fire, wind, and even healing and detoxification. If I remember correctly, Roxy told me Millis locked away healing and detoxification spells in Millishion, which begged the question of why Rudeus had them.
Initially, I wanted to think that Rudeus was just brilliant, but some things weren't adding up. It sounded weird, but I was starting to believe that my friend was a blessed child. It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibilities. He was smart and knew exactly what to do in any situation. Blessed children seemed to have all sorts of abilities, based on what Roxy had told me. So it wasn't like Rudeus couldn't be one. But for some reason, I couldn't believe that either.
All I knew about my friend was that he was intelligent, caring, and going through things I couldn't know about nor allowed to know by the boy himself. So, I could only read his notes and try my best to learn all I could.
Which was still a monumental task.
There was too much information for me to finish it all in a short amount of time. So, instead, I was going to have to take it slow and steady, just like when I started learning underneath Roxy.
At least it was fun. That was the best part about doing these kinds of things. Rudy left some things to help me out, so at least he didn't leave me with nothing. "I just wish he left some explanations for some of these things." The notes didn't exactly tell you what you could do to help the process. It just sort of told you things, but I guess he jotted everything down reasonably quickly, so I wasn't going to get mad at him… It wasn't like I was going to get mad at him for anything else either, for that matter, but that's beside the point.
Making headway into everything wasn't going to come quick or easy, but it almost felt like he was testing me or something, and it wasn't like I could just leave the gifts he left with me unstudied.
"What happens when I finish all of this, though?" That thought almost scared her. It only made sense. The notes infront of me were the last thing he left with me. So it only made sense that I never wanted them to end, but eventually they would—and I wouldn't have anything else to do when they did. Or at least anything new to learn from them. "So I guess I could work on my control." Rudeus' control of his magic was always so precise. I wanted to be able to make the figurines he did one day, but I could tell that was something that I probably wouldn't ever be able to do. The gap in our skills seemed too big in that aspect.
"Then, should I finally start sword training?" The question left me a little perplexed and more than a little uneasy. I had never even considered picking up the idea of sword training until my graduation when I had mentioned it to Roxy. It was only then that the idea started to fester in my head. I wanted to become someone who could help Rudeus, and no matter how I looked at it, he didn't need help with magic from someone like me. So that really only left the other avenue. Picking up a sword. It wasn't like there weren't different ways I could help him, but I could figure those out later. Besides, learning how to use a sword was always helpful for self-defense.
A mage knight. Or a spellsword. Whatever the terminology was. I asked Mister Paul about it once, but how he explained it confused me more. "Even if I wanted to start, I don't know where… I don't have anyone who could teach me." That was the other issue at hand with that idea. Sure, I could always ask Mister Paul to teach me, but he had already taught Rudeus most of what he had known, and now he was off learning underneath some master swordswoman. "If I asked Mister Paul, I would lag behind Rudeus again. Just like always…"
No matter how I looked at it, my only solution was to find someone more skilled than Mister Paul…in Buena.
So I was basically screwed.
Still, I couldn't let that stop me. "I'll worry about the teacher part later. For now, I should just work on everything infront of me. I'll worry about the sword stuff some other time." I already had enough on my plate as is. Helping out the village, visiting the Greyrats, and continuing my magic training, it felt like I could run myself ragged by adding another thing into the mix.
"Is this how Rudeus felt whenever he did all those things?" Whenever we were younger, he seemed to live twice as fast as everyone else. Were things just as hectic for him as they are for me? No, it was probably even worse. Even now, I don't really mind all that I was doing. It was fun, but maybe that's because there was a reason for what I was doing.
I wanted to be ready for Rudeus when he came back. "I'll be here, Rudy. So I hope you'll come back." The words almost sounded like a prayer. I was just hoping that the farewell he gave me wasn't the last thing he would say to me.
So, I will continue to do my best for my dream to come true just as I have been.
Author's Note: Monday rears its head yet again. Chapter 19 this time, and with it, more Eris tormenting Rudeus daily. Of course, he doesn't seem to mind much, but his intentions are still questionable, to say the least. I decided that to spice some things up during Roa we would go back to Buena every now and then and see how everyone's faring back at our favorite village. This is a way to give me some reprieve from writing Rudeus constantly moping and also to develop some other things going forward.
As always, all feedback is appreciated.
