My Noble Family is Headed For Ruin, So I May As Well Study Magic In My Free Time Chapter 7

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Translator: Mr. Steak

Proofreader: Yuranon

Recently, I'd been totally obsessed with a certain something in addition to practicing magic.

I went out behind the mansion and paced around in the forest which was already more familiar to me than my own former home.
I was walking around, staring intently at the ground, looking for a certain thing.

Today…… I found it relatively quickly.

Under a tree, subsisting only on the morning dew, was a type of grass called reqkro grass.
Wherever this grass grew, the soil around it takes on a noticeably different hue.

“Gnome!”

I summoned the low-grade earth spirit Gnome.
The spirit, which had the appearance of a mole, showed up in front of me and floated there.

By the way, “Gnome” wasn't its individual name, but the name of the whole species.
Currently, I was able to use five spells simultaneously. Since summoning magic was the same, I was able to summon five Gnomes as well.
So it was extremely likely that this gnome was a different individual than the Gnomes I'd summoned in the past.

Since I didn't feel I could just say “The usual”, I explained to it carefully so that it would understand.

“I want you to dig up the different colored soil around this reqkro grass, then collect it into a sphere in front of me. Make sure there's no plant matter in it.”

The gnome nodded.
Then, without it even doing anything, the soil around where the reqkro grass was growing floated into the air and became a spherical clump next to the gnome.

Earth spirits like gnome were able to control the earth as easily as us humans can breathe air.

To continue, I produced three fireballs.
I wrapped the flame around the soil clump, completely cooking it.

“Sylph!”

Finally, using up my fifth spell slot, I summoned the low-grade wind spirit, Sylph.
When I did, the spirit appeared, looking like a completely naked human, except its skin was green and it was a third the size of an average human.
Also, based on human standards, it looked like a woman.

“I want you to control the air and make that thing burn even harder.”

The sylph nodded.
In contrast to the gnome, this one turned around and placed its index and middle fingers in its mouth like a V, then spouted air from the space in the V.

The air made the fire burn even more ferociously.

The sight of the flames billowing straight up into the air was almost like watching a long, transparent chimney in action.

Surely, just like the normal effect of chimneys, the fire would burn stronger and stronger.
[TL: is this true about chimneys? i didn't know that lol]

I had used five simultaneous spells to burn some soil.

After a little while, the soil began to melt off in thick drops.
Normal soil wasn't the kind of thing that melts easily like this.
Rather, it was the sort of thing that hardens with heat.
For something like that, I would have found clay, which would become porcelain.

However, the soil in front of me was melting.
The soil around where reqkro grass grows looks similar to soil but has actually become something different.
One difference being that…… it melts. Eventually, a crystal appeared.

A reqkro crystal.

I extinguished the fire and stopped the wind, then took it in my hand.
I held the crystal, which had the shape of a hexagonal prism, between my index finger and my thumb, then closed one eye and examined it closely.

The inside was totally clear and transparent, without any foreign particles at all.

This reqkro crystal could be sold for a very good price.
Its effect was plain to see, as the magical energy I'd spent on it had restored instantaneously.

It was obvious that I'd be able to make a fortune with these…… Which, even though I'm only the fifth son, would still be useless to me as a noble.

But since it'd only been a mere two months since taking on the flesh of this twelve-year-old, there were still a lot of feelings from my prior flesh, from my prior life, that remained in full force.
Being unable to calm down at all when I'm not working was one of those things.

That's why I was making reqkro crystals.

Since it involved a number of different steps and covered the bases of all the magic I'd learned over the past two months, making them could also double as magic practice.

As the reqkro crystals slowly grew in number, so too did my magic skills increase.

By multitasking in this way, my magical energy was also growing day by day.

☆

“Liam.”
“Ah, Father.”

Having returned to the mansion, I was stopped by my father calling for me.
I instantly rushed up to Father, who'd been looking my way.

Ever since learning that I could use magic, he would always stop me like this when we ran into each other in the mansion.

Considering I'd probably spoken to him fewer than ten times in my entire first month here, it was a striking change.

“Did you go to the forest again?”
“Yes. I was making a reqkro crystal.”
“Hm. Show me.”
“Yes, Sir.”

I took out the crystal I'd just made, and handed it to Father.
On receiving it, Father held it between his fingers in the same way I had, and surveyed it seriously, close to his face.

“This is extremely pure. 99.999%, I'd say.”
“You think so?”
“As the purity increases, so too does the speed of magical energy recovery.”
“Yes.”

Foreign particles prevent the absorption of magical energy.
That's what it had said in the book where I'd first learned about reqkro crystals.

“This level of purity would even be suitable for a commander of the Imperial Mage Guards to carry for times of emergency.”
“Wow, really?”
“How did you make this?”
“Well……”

I explained what I'd done.

How I'd employed the earth spirit Gnome to dig out soil affected by reqkro grass, heated it with three fireballs, and then used the wind spirit Sylph to increase the heat until it melted away.

I told him everything, without hiding any detail.

Upon hearing my explanation, Father looked upon me with eyes that could only be interpreted as proud of his son's growth.

“By using five spells at once, you've done work that would normally require five sorcerers to accomplish.”
“Yes.”

I'd only figured it out after learning the skill from my teacher, but the number of people who could use this technique was extremely small.

They were all mages serving the country, or adventurers registered to a guild.
It was said that no more than five such sorcerers exist in the world, “of whom we know the identities.”

Apparently, it was a rare skill on that level.

“Well done. Go ahead and keep working hard.”
“Yes, Sir.”

He'd only been my father for two months and we'd barely talked, but being looked at with those eyes, and getting praised like that, made me really happy anyway.

Translator and Editor Notes:

Don't ask me wtf “reqkro” means, because it's just as nonsense in Japanese. In case you somehow still think it's a real plant after this chapter… No, it's a fantasy plant.

All in all, that was actually some interesting world-building about the reqkro bullshit.

Besides that, nothing much happened. We got a hint toward “Liam's” future as a possible Mage Guard and/or guild adventurer. That could be fun, though I'm still waiting for any conflict at all. And no, I don't mean a monster fight that he wins easily with magic! (Though that would still be kinda cool)

I'm wondering if some of the “off” moments like completely trusting a random forest man, and being instinctively happy at his not-father praising him, are gonna lead up to some sort of revelation that the real Liam is actually still present in MC's subconscious? I very much don't have high hopes for a cool and unique reveal like that, but the parts where he's like “I instantly obeyed the man's command” make me suspicious. Then again, it could easily just be that the man was using shady mind-control magic. Or even more easily, it's just weird writing and none of it means anything.

It's kind of weird how “Liam's” only motivation for making the crystals is because they're valuable/for busywork. Like, after realizing later in the chapter that they're used for recovering magical energy, isn't it odd that he wasn't like “Yeah, I'm making these because they're helpful for a magic-user to have.” Whatever.

~Steak

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Chapter end