For about a week or two, Lilia would read and explain the words and letters from the books they had to him for most of the day.
As he heard her speak, he realized and remembered what she had occasionally said to him when he was still an infant.
"What are you looking at, you stillborn demon?"
"If you try anything with me, I'll smash your skull in."
And similar words.
It seemed like she disliked him. To a bizarre degree even.
There wasn't much he could do about that, so he just let it be. He did try to make their lessons as short as possible, he would prefer not to force someone who disliked him to spend more time with him than necessary.
It didn't take long before his magic tutor arrived.
His parents had painted the image of an old scholarly man with a long beard, so the young sleepy-looking girl at the doorstep was unexpected.
"I'm Roxy Migurdia, I look forward to working for you."
Eventually, Zenith overcame her shock. "Are you here for the magic tutoring job?"
Roxy nodded. "Yeah, I'm ready to start immediately, so if you would introduce me to my pupil."
"Aren't you, uh…" Paul trailed off as he looked over the blue haired girl.
"I graduated from Ranoa Magic Academy and I'm a Water Saint-class Magician."
"Oh." Paul nodded.
"If that's all, I really am ready to start right away."
"Hello."
Roxy looked down at him.
"My name's Rudeus Greyrat, it's nice to meet you." Introducing himself with a different name felt a little awkward on his tongue.
Roxy knelt down. "Nice to meet you too, could you introduce me to my student?"
"I'm pretty sure I just did."
She blinked at his response, and then she sighed and held her head in her arms. "Ah, of course, what did I expect from a job out in the sticks?"
After getting over her disappointment, she stood back up and questioned his parents.
And after explaining what had happened so far, she finally appeared to be taking this job somewhat seriously.
"So, how much of this book have you read?" While pacing around the backyard, Roxy asked as she flipped through the magic book he had been using, scanning the information on the pages.
"All of it."
"And how much did you understand?"
"Um, well, I understand what I think I understand, but I'm probably mistaken."
The memory of Tohsaka Rin explaining how he had been activating his Magic Circuits incorrectly for ten years was still clear in his mind.
Roxy sighed again. "Well, most of the things here are pretty clear, however some could be explained better. Was Ice Sword the only spell that even somewhat worked for you?"
"I think I got close with Fireball and Earth Bullet too, but yes, Ice Sword was the only spell to cause a clear change in reality."
"Hmm, have any Wind spells gotten close to working? And how exactly did you decide on that criteria?"
"Nope, none so far. And mainly by how much Mana seemingly disappears instead of just evaporating."
Roxy paused for a bit. "Can you attempt a Water Ball for me?" She asked as she began flipping through the pages of the book.
"Let the great protection of water be on the place thou seekest. I call a refreshing burbling stream here and now. Water Ball!" Finally he shouted as loud as possible, however it didn't affect the spell much, he still failed.
"Ah, well good job memorizing the incantation." She closed the book. "Can you try again?" She moved in front of his outstretched hand.
He nodded and closed his eyes, the illustration of the book's Water Ball and the image of Zenith's Water Ball were traced from his memories, and he chanted once more.
And once more he had failed.
Roxy visibly shuttered, her entire form bristled. "Uwah, gross." She waddled away, and took a moment to compose herself.
"Is everything alright?"
"Yeah yeah, just… you definitely did something pretty interesting."
"Do you know where I'm messing up?"
He half expected her to turn around with a confident pose, one arm crossed and the other pointing up. However, she nervously looked back as she pulled the brim of her hat over her eyes.
"N-no, not yet."
'Ah, of course, Tohsaka was one of a kind.'
Even after learning of her true colors, she still inspired respect for herself in him.
"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."
He picked up on the scent of a salt and garlic soup stock.
From the Mana Gems of Roxy's large staff, a well crafted sword made from ice manifested and stabbed itself into the ground. "Can you tell me how your sword appeared?"
The sword was truly excellent, aside from its material, it was indistinguishable from a regular blade.
And since it was newly created, with such a simple method, it was easily stored and accessible from Unlimited Blade Works. Meanwhile, Roxy's Staff was still in the middle of the processing stage.
"Rudeus." She called out for his attention.
"Oh, sorry. It's just your blade was so beautiful I got lost in it."
"Uh… thanks? So could you tell me the differences?"
"For one, my blade was about the size of a small and skinny dagger, it mostly appeared to just be a regular icicle, and it was manifested without a clear handle."
"Oh! My bad, it slipped my mind. Give me a second."
Roxy ran into the house.
As part of her job, and because the village had no inns, she would be given room and board here. She had already left her bag in her room.
In under a minute she reappeared, with a small wand in hand.
"Here you go, it's a training focus, it should help with learning how to use beginner magic."
"Thanks." He took the offered wand.
After Analyzing it, everything except the Mana Gem was ready to be Projected.
Even though his brain understood it, his soul simply couldn't store it yet, he could still make a hollow copy if he wanted. Or he could Reinforce it.
"Go ahead and try Water Ball again." Roxy said and moved out of the way.
"Let the great protection of water be on the place thou seekest. I call a refreshing burbling stream—"
The red gem at the end of the wand shattered in an explosion of water.
About a gallon of water dispersed into the immediate vicinity, the gentle midday breeze eventually swept it all away.
"Sorry." He apologized for breaking the wand.
"…It's okay." Roxy said as she wiped her face dry, her blue hair was slightly frizzled.
He bent down and began sorting through the grass for the bits of the gem.
He had managed to collect about seventy percent of the gem, he guessed about five percent was still in the yard, and the remaining twenty-five percent had been turned to dust.
Roxy had mostly just watched him in silence for a while, she seemed to be observing him, and then she began going into detail about the origin of magic.
Nature Spirits had taught High Elves, and then Humans mimicked them, and then Demons modified it further.
'So this is Spirit Invocation Magic?'
"But I don't feel any spiritual beings around."
"Ahem, uh that's a little more complicated, you probably wouldn't get it. Give me another second."
Then she went back inside. And then came out with a small bundle of parchment, a quill, and an almost empty bottle of ink.
"Fortunately, I still have some left. I keep forgetting to restock. Anyway, let's try something else."
She sat down on the steps and began drawing a Magic Array.
She made a circle, surrounded it with various symbols, and then finished it off with three curvey loops in triangle formation in the center. After waiting for the ink to dry, she placed a finger against the outer circle and then the grainy black ink shone as a light gust of wind shot up from the parchment.
"Now you try, limit yourself if you can, and slowly raise the amount of Mana."
He nodded, and then he placed an index finger against the dry ink, he opened a link between himself and the array before he began channeling Mana.
Almost immediately it went wrong.
The paper exploded and was torn to shreds.
Wild lashes of razor sharp winds shot out like shrapnel.
Fortunately the cuts were shallow, however they still bled a lot.
"Sorry."
Luckily it seemed that Roxy's clothes took the brunt of the blades, her skin was only slightly scratched.
And Rudeus had various cuts along his arms and face.
Roxy quickly performed a Healing on him and herself after calming down.
And then she sulked in her knees and arms.
It didn't take long for her to speak up.
"I… I don't think I'm qualified to help you."
"Oh. I see."
"I think it's something like a manifestation of an internal factor, or maybe an overload of sorts, but either way, I know nothing of magical complications."
'Oh.'
"I only know how to use magic, I didn't study anything else. A true Magician would have the actual knowledge required to help you. I'm… just a… fake. And this I just another one of my failures."
Her words seemed to be aimed more towards herself as scorn than any excuse.
'I had thought I could do it because it's another world, but I guess I was mistaken.'
"Why can birds fly? Why can fish swim? Why can humans walk? It's only natural, because birds have wings, fish have fins, and humans have legs."
Roxy looked up, her eyes appeared slightly moist and filled with bewilderment, and then she realized she was looking at a literal child.
He didn't really know how to explain this, but he had to try to get his point across without revealing too much.
"Some people are born smarter, or stronger, or more skilled than some. There's something called talent, it is what we call being naturally good at something. So perhaps, I simply have no talent for magic, it's simply not in my nature."
Roxy wiped away her budding tears.
"However, I doubt that means I was born defective in everything, I just have to discover where my talent lies. What is in my nature as R-Rudeus Greyrat?" He almost stumbled over his new name.
"Well, I guess some people do use different amounts of Mana to cast a spell with similar strength, so maybe you're right. But still, this just isn't my area."
"Then you can simply make it so. I need help, any help would do, and I want to repay you for breaking your wand. I wouldn't mind if you studied whatever is wrong or different about me in the meantime."
Roxy sniffed and looked away. "It was supposed to be a gift for new students anyway, you don't owe me anything."
He stood up and walked in front of Roxy.
"Regardless, you could still work and live here until you make up the cost, and then you could leave, or you could continue to teach me while learning about uh, people's personal connections to elements."
He tried to make his conviction clear as he stared into her eyes.
He was sorry that he broke her wand, even if it was a gift, and he doubted anyone would be truly qualified to help him.
This girl was young, and yet she already graduated, clearly she was a prodigy of sorts, so maybe she could reach an understanding about what was wrong and then lead him to an alternative.
If not, then he would just solely focus on getting his Magecraft to work.
Roxy cleared her throat as she stood up and she used the brim of her hat to cover her smiling face.
"Ah well, if you really want my help that badly, I guess it can't be helped. Still, don't expect any miracles."
She muttered that final part.
"Thanks Miss Migurdia, I look forward to learning from you."
AN:
Oof, Lilia really doesn't like abnormal babies.
And in case I need to spell it out, Roxy's insecurities stem from her inability to connect with her clan. I personally imagine it gave her something of an imposter syndrome, or a similar complex. Also her life was pretty marked with failures in recent times.
I'd also like to imagine that graduating from a magic academy with just some skills in using spells isn't as impressive as actually learning and researching something.
And in case I really need to spell it out, Shirou is insinuating that he lacks the ability to use elemental magic because he has lacks an affinity for them I'll probably explore this topic more later on.