Chapter 11
The snowfall lasted until evening and covered everything in a thick layer of white.
According to Ludis, it had been nearly ten years since Anatol had seen so much snow.
Though the sight filled Maxi with wonder, Riftan was not overly pleased.
Early the following morning, he left the castle with his knights to inspect the land for damage.
The servants worked hard to clear away the snow, meticulously sweeping steps and paths, and covering stores of firewood and horse fodder. The sentries, too, busied themselves sweeping their patrol routes all morning.
As Maxi strolled in the garden admiring the snow, she noticed that the servants’ faces were red from the cold, so she asked Rodrigo to provide them with extra firewood before returning to her room.
She considered going to the library, but she could not muster the motivation to read after yesterday’s discouraging attempts.
Instead, she spread a blanket in front of the fireplace and played with the kittens.
They had gained weight after weeks of devoted care and tumbled about energetically.
Maxi picked them up one by one and placed them on her lap, tickling their bellies as she warmed herself by the fire.
Laura and Ron mewed indignantly and quickly escaped, but Roy, the black kitten, purred and snuggled into her lap. Maxi laughed at the adorable sight.
“Shall I warm up some milk, my lady?” asked Ludis as she stoked the fire.
Maxi smiled and nodded. Ludis placed a kettle of milk in the fireplace and, as the pleasant scent of milk wafted through the room, the kittens slowly approached Maxi and crawled up into her lap. Even Laura, who usually ignored anyone who called to her, stealthily crept toward her.
“D-Didn’t they eat just a l-little while ago?” Maxi asked, laughing as the kittens clambered over her, mewing hungrily.
“They had a bowl of fish porridge, but they are still young. Their appetite knows no bounds.” Ludis shook her head but smiled.
Once she heated and then cooled the milk to a lukewarm temperature, Ludis poured it into the kittens’ bowl and the tiny creatures plunged their noses in, soaking their whiskers as they drank.
Soon, the bowl was empty, but Maxi poured them some of her own milk and looked on fondly as the kittens devoured that too.
A knock sounded at the door, followed by the voice of a maidservant.
“Forgive me for interrupting, my lady.”
“W-What is it?”
“The mage is here to see you. Shall I let him in?”
Maxi’s face fell. Had Ruth come because she had not gone to the library? Or had there been some sort of accident?
She grew tense as she stood, but when she opened the door, she was met with the sight of Ruth yawning, looking as disheveled as ever. Her shoulders sagged in relief.
“W-What is it, R-Ruth?”
“Good morning, my lady.” Ruth yawned again and performed a satisfying stretch.
It was well past noon, but Maxi did not correct him.
“I just thought of a good training method,” Ruth said. “Would you care to come outside with me?”
“A g-good t-training method…?”
Ruth nodded vigorously, an earnest expression on his face. In spite of her disappointment yesterday, Maxi felt a glimmer of hope rise in her chest. She hastily threw on a robe.
“T-Tell me about th-this method.”
“I shall accumulate the mana for you. You aren’t able to collect it on your own, but you have an impressive ability to absorb it. Given that fact, I’m almost certain this method will work.”
Maxi grew anxious. How could he possibly infuse her with mana? She recalled Riftan’s warning about Ruth dragging others into dangerous experiments and gave the mage a dubious look.
“A-And is th-this safe?”
“Of course! It’s completely safe, I assure you.”
Maxi remained skeptical, but she followed Ruth out of the castle. After surveying the options, Ruth chose a spot in the garden that had been cleared of snow. Using a stick, he drew one of the basic magic runes she had been studying on the ground.
“I am going to activate this rune,” Ruth explained, “which I assume you’ve already memorized.
” He retraced the lines of the rune using the stick as he continued.
“I shall circulate the mana through this route. Here, I shall divert its flow to your mana pathway. The mana will travel from the palm of your hand to your core, then back out again and into the rune, completing its circuit. In other words, you’ll become part of the magic rune! ”
Maxi rolled her eyes at his overly enthusiastic explanation. “And that’s s-safe?”
“Your mana pathway should have developed enough to handle it. This is an expedient solution, but I am certain it will help you learn how to manipulate mana.”
Maxi was still uncertain; after all, this was the same man who had handed her impossible equations and expected her to solve them without trouble. But she was tired of practicing with the magic stone in vain, so she nodded.
Ruth held out his hands, palms facing up, and flashed a self-assured smile. “Hold out your hands like this.”
Maxi hesitantly stretched out her palms. “L-Like this?”
Ruth nodded and positioned his hands above hers, hovering close but not touching. As she tried to anticipate his next move, she felt a slow heat flow down from his palms and flinched in surprise.
“You must focus,” Ruth chided. “I’m creating an artificial flow of mana. Remember this feeling.”
“I-I understand.”
Hearing his serious tone, Maxi concentrated on the tingling heat seeping into her hands.
It felt as if she had immersed them in warm flowing water.
She became absorbed in the gentle palpitations of energy.
Eventually, she felt an invisible thread pierce her skin and enter her body, and she shuddered at the odd sensation.
“Maintain focus,” Ruth said.
Breaking into a cold sweat, Maxi focused her attention on the flow of mana.
The delicate thread slithered its way up her forearm, passed her elbow and armpit, and then shrouded her heart before leaving through her other arm.
Once it left her body, the thread of magic traced the complex paths of the rune.
If one imagined mana like a finely woven fabric, magic was a loose thread. Performing magic was like removing strands of thread from the larger fabric, winding them around inside one’s body, and weaving them into a new pattern.
Maxi finally understood Ruth’s repeated explanations. She stared at her palms in awe as magic swirled inside, pooling in her hands. The magic began to radiate an intense heat and emitted a pale burst of light.
“They say that the first thing God created was light.” Ruth smiled as he looked at the light in Maxi’s palms, fainter than the glow of a firefly. “Remember. This rune is the foundation for all magic runes.”
“My hands f-feel hot, and I’m a little ou-out of breath.”
“If that was enough to exhaust you, we’ve got a problem. Mages circulate mana at double this speed when they perform advanced magic.”
Maxi nodded, trying to catch her breath. She was starting to understand why Ruth always looked so weary after using magic.
“Now,” Ruth said, “I shall slowly remove my hands. Try to keep the mana circulating on your own without losing speed.”
Ruth moved his hands away, and Maxi found herself at a loss for what to do.
She tried to steer the mana along the lines of the rune and was able to sustain the speed for a few moments, but the current soon became erratic.
The heat that had collected in her hands began to slip through her fingers like sand.
She desperately tried to hold on, but the last few rays of light faded away.
Her shoulders slumped in disappointment.
“Don’t be so disheartened,” Ruth said. “You did well for your first try.”
“R-Really?”
“Have you ever heard me give empty compliments? If you did poorly, I would tell you so.”
Maxi did not doubt it. She smiled wryly, amused to find solace in the mage’s insolence.
Ruth smiled back and rolled up his sleeves theatrically. “Now then, shall we have another go? You’ll begin to grasp the process after a few attempts.”
“A-All right.”
Following Ruth’s instructions, Maxi did her best to harness the mana on her own.
After seven attempts, she managed to sustain a faint ray of light for about a minute.
Elated, she turned to show Ruth and he clapped his hands.
It was somewhat embarrassing to show pride in such a trivial accomplishment before a great sorcerer, but she could not suppress her excitement.
Though the light she generated was too faint to illuminate even a single room, her heart swelled as if she had managed to re-create the moon.
“Once you’ve grown accustomed to controlling mana, I’ll teach you healing magic. Until then, keep practicing with this basic rune. It should help you progress with your mana accumulation.”
“I-I don’t think I can d-do it on my own.”
“No harm in trying. I’ll gladly assist if you find that you’re unable to.” Ruth rubbed his nose, which was red in the cold.
They had been outside for quite some time, but Maxi noticed the cold only now. She had been so engrossed in her task that she hadn’t paid attention to anything else.
“Let’s go inside now. My nose is running.”
“Sh-Shall we go to the k-kitchen for a warm bowl of soup?”
“Excellent idea, my lady. I’ve hardly had anything to eat today. I’m starving.”
Ruth hugged his arms around himself and strode toward the great hall. Maxi followed, smiling to herself. She was shivering with the cold, but her steps felt as light as a feather.
—
Over the following days, Maxi diligently practiced magic as Ruth had instructed.
He needed to guide her twice at the beginning, but after that, she was able to create light on her own.
The more she practiced, the brighter the light she could manifest. Soon, she was conjuring enough light to rival a candle.