Looking Forward to Another World

Twilight Manor, Courtyard.

In this small courtyard, shaped like a circle around the central tower, Riezel stepped out from the manor, carrying a slender sword as his main weapon.

Several towers stood side by side, causing the courtyard to be somewhat dimly lit. Despite well-cared-for flowers and plants flourishing around, shadows still lingered.

This resulted in a peculiar situation where, even though it was broad daylight, the light in this place wasn't quite sufficient, making one question if it was still nighttime.

Fortunately, the courtyard was equipped with small fountains and magic stone lampposts. The soft glow from the magic stone lamps alleviated the inconvenience, at least to some extent.

Walking through the courtyard, Riezel made his way to the corner.

*Swish—!*

Suddenly, the sound of something slicing through the air resonated. It was the sound created by the movement of a sword swinging through the air.

Riezel halted his step, turning his gaze towards the source of the sound. In the next moment, he laid eyes on the girl he was supposed to meet here.

The doll-like girl with golden hair held a bright silver sword, engaging in training.

Her calm expression turned indifferent and her eyes became extremely sharp. With each swing of her sword, she cut through the air sharply, creating flashes of silver light, astonishingly fast.

Chopping vertically, slashing horizontally, cutting diagonally, thrusting forward, and making swift slices—a girl, as beautiful as an Elf and as mysterious as a Goddess, stood on a lush green patch of ground, continuously wielding her beloved sword.

It was as if she perceived an unseen enemy right before her, or perhaps feared that she might come to a standstill. She danced alone in an intense swordplay, lost in the rhythm of her own movements.

Observing this scene, Riezel remained silent, refraining from disturbing her or making any unnecessary moves, simply standing in place and watching with his eyes bright and focused.

He was learning.

Learning her swordsmanship and attempting to understand the trajectory of her sword swings.

Unfortunately, her sword was too fast, to the point where he couldn't keep up with her movements. All he could see were silver streaks dancing in the air, and nothing more.

Despite this, he did not feel bored. He continued to watch attentively until the sunlight descended from the sky, illuminating the entire courtyard.

"Huff..."

Finally, Ais stopped.

She raised her sword upward, then sheathed it. After finishing her exercise, she turned towards Riezel.

"Sorry..." Ais said somewhat apologetically, lowering her eyes slightly. "Made you wait."

"No." Riezel shook his head and calmly responded. "I should thank you for letting me observe your training."

"Really?" Ais tilted her head, seeming a bit puzzled, and hesitated. "Was it helpful for you?"

"Of course..." Riezel paused, then nodded. "After all, as you can see, like you, I also wield a sword."

He raised the weapon in his hand, bringing it into Ais's view.

"A sword..." Ais was somewhat surprised and somewhat astonished. "You're really not a mage?"

"At least, I'm not the kind of pure rearguard mage..." Riezel responded and thought for a moment. "I prefer charging into the enemy directly rather than staying at the back and using magic."

'After all, that's undoubtedly more exciting.' Riezel said the true reason in his mind.

Ais then recalled Loki's remarks from yesterday.

—I think this kid seems to be of the same type as Ais, both being problem children who won't settle down unless they go on a rampage amid the monsters.

As she thought about that, Ais couldn't help but feel a bit of closeness to him. She just felt that this rookie, highly praised by Loki, was quite similar to herself in various aspects.

Now, he even wanted to learn her magic.

Just thinking about it, Ais couldn't help but feel a complex mix of emotions.

"...Can I ask you a question?"

Driven by these complex emotions, Ais turned her head to Riezel and asked.

"Go ahead."

Riezel seemed to have some idea of what Ais was about to ask, with his expression remaining unchanged.

"Why me?" Ais carefully chose her words but ended up saying them somewhat clumsily. "Riveria is willing to teach you. Even with the strongest mage in Orario offering to do so, why choose me when you could learn from her?"

'My magic isn't as flashy as Riveria's or Lefiya's, with powerful effects and range.'

That was how Ais saw her own magic.

Riezel also knew that if he wanted to be powerful, generally accepted magic in line with people's expectations of the term, learning from Riveria would be the best choice. Her magic was known for its firepower, capable of incinerating enemies even higher-leveled than herself, or scorching a large area around.

In comparison, Ais's magic, though unique, lacked that decisive power and firepower. Therefore, under normal circumstances, one would prefer to learn Riveria's magic.

Unaware of Ais's thoughts, Riezel had his own considerations.

"As I mentioned yesterday, I personally believe that your magic is the most suitable for me at this moment."

He explained while looking directly at her face.

"As everyone knows, all magic in the world shares a common usage requirement—you must recite a fixed chant, also known as chanting."

As she heard his reason, Ais nodded in agreement.

Chanting was the only way to use magic.

It served as the trigger for magic, stabilized one's 'Mind' to smoothly convert the basic ability of 'MAG' into fuel, and released the phenomenon known as magic.

This held true in both the main world and this world.

Generally speaking, the longer the chant of magic, the more time it took to chant, and the more astonishing the power and effects of the said magic.

However, this didn't mean that magic with a lengthy chant was a good thing.

"Magic with a long chant may indeed be extremely powerful; on the other hand, the time it takes to cast becomes long, leading to various problems."

That was how Riezel saw it.

"Setting aside interruptions and unexpected events during casting, for the growth of status, having magic with a long chant is not a good thing."

Magic that took time to cast inevitably had many limitations in its usage, with few opportunities to use it.

And if there were fewer chances to use magic, the growth of 'MAG' became less optimistic.

Whether it was 'MAG' or other basic abilities like 'STR', 'END', 'DEX', or 'AGI', the way to make them grow was to use them frequently.

If one didn't get the chance to use them regularly, it meant that basic abilities related to the power and effects of magic, such as 'MAG', were challenging to improve.

Because of this, many mages put a lot of effort into finding opportunities to unleash their magic.

However, the power of magic was extraordinary, a supernatural force that could cause massive destruction with just one strike. Inside the city, it was generally difficult to find opportunities to use it.

Even when entering the dungeon and casting magic in it while facing attacks from monsters, whether mages could maintain their composure and focus to smoothly chant their magic was another uncertainty.

Therefore, the improvement of 'MAG' was acknowledged to be more challenging than other basic abilities and considerably more so.

Similarly, once this ability was enhanced, the direct impact was a significant improvement in one's magic power, effects, and more.

The reason Riezel chose Ais's magic was that, in his view, within the entire Loki Familia, only her magic was the easiest to use.

"If I'm not mistaken, your magic should belong to the ultra-short chant type, right?"

Riezel's inquiry was met with a confirming gesture from Ais.

Basically, magic was divided into ultra-short chant, short chant, long chant, and ultra-long chant.

The longer the chant, the stronger the magic, but the usage time and convenience would decrease. Conversely, the shorter the chant, the weaker the magic, but it would possess the convenience of being able to be activated quickly.

"Ultra-short chant magic is the easiest magic to use."

Riezel stated his purpose clearly.

"I just want to learn magic that's easy to use, magic that can be used frequently. That's the way to train 'MAG'." Riezel calmly smiled and continued. "And once 'MAG' is improved, the scale and effectiveness of magic will also increase. When I learn other magic in the future, the power and effects of the magic won't be limited by the low 'MAG'. They might even show stronger power and effects because my 'MAG' has been improved."

He had long decided that his first magic had to be an ultra-short chant magic. Only by getting a hold of ultra-short chant magic first, could the growth potential of his future magic be ensured.

Of course, this would inevitably cause a problem.

That was, the magic he learned would inevitably not have too much power and effect. However, in the face of the swordswoman before him, this problem did not exist.

Because the only magic Ais possessed, classified as an ultra-short chant magic, actually belonged to an extraordinary type.

Its effects were not only not weak but rather acknowledged as strong.

How strong?

Strong enough that Ais, despite being only Level 5, while there were influential figures at Level 6 and Level 7 above her, could still stand out and become the strongest swordswoman in everyone's eyes.

Therefore—

"Could you please use your magic?" Riezel requested with an earnest expression.

"..."

After a moment of silence, Ais responded.

"Tempest."

*Whoosh—*

The wind began to swirl around her body.