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After Elena was successful in casting a spell for the first time, Elena used Nowem’s mana a few more times to continue practicing. It really was an insignificant level of magic, but Elena was extremely happy every time her spell worked.
Lyla asked, “Are you happy?”
“Yes!”
Elena was able to reply to Lyla’s question with great energy.
“There’s a clear difference between having experience with using mana or not, and I’m sure this will be very helpful in awakening your mana.”
“Yes!” How great would it be if that turned out to be true? Regardless of how things turned out, Elena thought that this was definitely a good experience for her.
“Then, let’s end today’s lesson.”
“Yes? Can’t we practice for a bit longer?” Elena wanted to feel the sensation of using magic for a bit longer.
Lyla firmly shook her head. “Just look at your face right now.”
Elena touched her face. Even though she couldn't see her face right now, she could roughly judge the state of her face with just her hands. Her face was covered in sweat, and her skin seemed to have gotten rougher.
“That’s normal since it’s your first time using mana, especially mana that is not yours. Since you’re in a good mood, you’re probably not feeling it right now, but I’m sure the mental strain on your mind has been very intense.”
‘Now that I think about it…’ After Lyla pointed that out, Evelyn felt that her head was slightly spinning. Her whole body was fatigued and strained as if she had been wrung dry like a rag. Her eyelids felt heavy as if big rocks were pressing down on it, and she wanted to immediately fall asleep.
“Teacher, I really do feel tired. I think I’m going to faint if I practice more.”
“Evelyn, today is not the only day you can use mana. We’ll be helping you out for a while, so just focus on getting a lot of rest for the rest of the day.”
“Yes, Teacher.” Even though Evelyn felt deeply regretful, she obediently nodded. She looked at Nowem who was sprawled on her shoulders as if this was his house; it seemed as if he had gotten very comfortable on her shoulder in such a short amount of time.
“You said your name was Nowem, right?”
Koo.
“Thank you for today. Would I be able to ask for your help in the future as well?”
Koo!
Nowem easily nodded his head. She carefully laid out her hand in front of Nowem, and Nowem jumped down from her shoulder to her hand.
“And you’re Mr. Snoc, right?”
“Yes, you’re right.”
Elena put out her hand that held Nowem towards Snoc. “Thank you for letting me borrow Nowem.”
“Miss, this is what Nowem chose for himself. I didn’t do anything to receive your thanks. And I didn’t let you borrow Nowem, because he is not an object that can be borrowed.”
“Ah, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it like that!” Elena was startled and put her head down.
“It’s fine. You just need to be more careful next time.”
“I will definitely be more careful!”
When Snoc put out his hand, Nowem, who was on Elena’s hand, jumped onto Snoc’s hand.
Elena stole furtive glances at Snoc and asked, “Would you be able to help me out in the future?”
“You received permission from Nowem, so I’m not going to go against his decision.”
“Thank you.” Elena made a bright smile and said her goodbyes to Snoc.
Like this, Elena’s first day of using magic was over.
*    *    *
Zich and his companions rode a carriage to go back to their lodging. Walwiss had given them a carriage from his mansion. As expected of a carriage from a highly esteemed family, the carriage ride was very smooth. Zich and Snoc sat next to each other, and Lyla sat across from them. Nowem lay down on Snoc’s lap and rolled around.
“Nowem.”
Koo?
Nowem raised his head. He tilted his head as he saw that Zich was staring at him.
“You let Elena borrow your mana today. Did you feel anything strange?”
“Anything strange?” Snoc blinked his eyes a few times. He thought that they had just come to help Elena with her magic studies. However, judging by Zich’s words, it seemed as if there was another reason.
Snoc looked in front of him, and he saw that Lyla was also looking at Nowem with a serious expression. Naturally, Snoc also looked at Nowem.
Koo?
Nowem was startled that suddenly everyone was looking at him.
Zich said, “There’s no reason to get startled. Even if you didn’t feel anything strange, I’m not going to do anything to you. Just tell me your thoughts.”
Koo…
Nowem closed his eyes and fell into deep thought at Zich’s words. However, he didn’t need to think for long.
Koo!
Snoc asked, “What? You sensed something?”
Koo! Koo!
Lyla and Zich showed interest as Nowem enthusiastically nodded.
Zich asked, “What did you feel?”
Koo! Koo! Koo, koo! Koooo! Koo!
Nowem stood up with his hind legs and waved around his front legs while letting out sounds. Nowem was expressing something as he kept moving around Snoc’s knees. However, Lyla and Zich were unable to understand. Naturally, they both stared at Snoc to translate.
Snoc answered, “Ah, please wait a moment.”
Snoc listened to Nowem’s words(?) very intently. Even though he couldn’t exactly understand Nowem’s words(?), he was still Nowem’s contractor; he could roughly understand what Nowem was trying to say.
Snoc said to Nowem, “So you’re saying that you felt some kind of foreign substance when you poured mana into her body?”
Koo!
“And you also felt a bit of your mana slightly disappear, but you’re not sure if you were mistaken or not?”
Koo!
“That’s what he said.”
After listening to Snoc’s translation(?), Zich and Lyla began sharing their thoughts.
Lyla said, “A part of his mana disappeared…As expected, is there some kind of weird device or substance inside Elena’s body?”
“Since Nowem is unsure, maybe he was mistaken. But it’s still definitely suspicious.”
“It’s something we need to look into, right?”
“Yeah.” Then Zich looked at Nowem and said, “We’ll be bringing you and Snoc to Elena’s lessons for a while, so try to carefully look for anything strange inside her.”
Then Zich took out an apple from his magic box and handed it to Nowem.
Koo!
Nowem cried out in happiness as he received an apple that was a third of his body size and took a bite out of his apple. Lyla smiled slightly as she watched Nowem chew his apple and lightly flicked his nose. Nowem shook his head side to side and took one more bite of his apple.
Koo~!
The carriage slowly moved with the sound of a magical beast’s happy cry.
*   *   *
Elena’s magic training, which utilized Nowem’s mana, continued. Even though she was borrowing another being’s mana, Elena dearly looked forward to Nowem’s visit. Since she was borrowing mana from another being, her physical body easily became tired; however, the happiness she felt from being able to use mana made her forget about her tiredness. In the meantime, Nowem searched with his mana that was inside Elena’s body and became more certain of his belief.
“Although the amount is almost microscopic, Nowem says that his mana inside Ms. Dwayne’s body disappeared by a bit.”
Both Zich and Lyla nodded at Snoc’s words.
“As we thought, there’s something wrong with Elena’s body.”
“What are you going to do?” Lyla asked.
In response, Zich crossed his arms and said, “Truthfully, we didn’t gain much by just finding out that there’s a problem with Elena’s body. I mean, it’s what we thought since the beginning.”
“…That’s true.”
Both Zich and Lyla knew that Elena Dwayne would become an outstanding magician with overwhelming expertise in fire magic in the future; thus, they both knew that it was strange that she hadn’t been able to free her mana yet.
“Also, we don’t have a way to awaken Elena’s mana. At the same time, I think the fact that Nowem directly found something rather than us guessing means that we are making some progress.”
Koo? When he heard his name, Nowem raised his head while chewing the apple that Zich had also given to him today. However, Zich gestured to Nowem to continue eating, so he quickly plunged his face into the apple again.
“Then, what are you going to do?”
“I am going to let people know,” Zich laughed. “I am going to tell people that there’s something strange about Elena’s body, and if that problem gets fixed, she could possibly use magic.”
“To whom exactly are you going to tell?”
“I’m going to let Elena’s family know, of course,” Zich said. Most people like Snoc would have thought that Zich was saying this in consideration of Elena and her family.
However, Lyla, who knew that Zich suspected Elena’s family members, specifically Walwiss and Orland, thought differently. ‘He is planning to force his suspects into action.’
If one of them had done something to Elena, it was likely that they would try to do something after finding out that Zich and his companions knew the truth.
“Aren’t Ms. Dwayne’s parents renowned even at the magical tower? Wouldn’t that make solving Ms. Dwayne’s problem easier?” Since Snoc had accompanied Nowem whenever he let Elena borrow his mana, Snoc also knew about Elena’s situation. Although they only knew each other on a surface level, Snoc was quite happy that someone he knew could solve her problem.
“Well, of course,” Zich said. Although Zich agreed with him, Snoc knew to close his mouth. After being with Zich for quite a long time now, he could guess what Zich’s response meant.
‘I don't know who this person is, but they are Sir Zich’s targets now.’ Snoc didn’t know the target, but he offered a silent prayer for them—of course, it was a very short prayer since being targeted by Zich meant that the person was evil.
Koo… Even Nowem had realized the meaning behind Zich’s words, as he squeezed his body behind his half-eaten apple and hid.
*      *      *
Lyla taught Elena without missing a day. However, no matter how much Lyla enjoyed teaching and how much Elena loved learning, they couldn’t prevent their fatigue from building up. It was especially true for Elena who was continuously learning complicated, academic magic. She had reached a level where she couldn’t recover from a one-day rest.
As a result, Lyla had to forcefully halt her lessons for a couple of days. Elena said that she was all right, but she couldn’t change Lyla’s mind; and in the end, she decided to devote all her efforts to recovering while resting quietly inside her house. It was also due to Lyla’s threats that she would no longer teach magic if Elena didn’t rest quietly that made Elena follow this order well.
The next day, Lyla dragged Zich to places like they did when they first arrived at Sunewick.
“It’s been a while since I’ve had free time!” Lyla exclaimed while stretching out both of her hands.
Zich asked, “Were the lessons hard to do?”
“No, they’re fun. Elena is a cute and talented disciple.” There wasn’t a shred of a lie in her words. Lyla certainly felt enjoyment and fulfillment from teaching Elena. “But I feel like I have only been focusing on these lessons because they were fun. I couldn’t do any of the things I planned to do.”
Before they came to Sunewick, Lyla had been excited to collect information about different kinds of magic. Besides, they had to search for more information about the ancient empire, Clowon, and decipher the books, which seemed to have belonged to Clowon, that she got from the Great Adrowon Forest. But now that she thought about it, she hadn’t accomplished any of her goals.
“That’s true. I hadn’t been saying anything since you teaching Elena was also part of our plan, but I think you have gotten too deep into it.”
“You are right. I should start deciding on rest days now. It will make the learning process more efficient too.”
“I agree. But right now, we have a more pressing matter to deal with.” Zich’s pupils moved sideways. “You sensed it too, right?”
“How couldn’t I when they are moving so openly like that?” Lyla tapped the ground with the staff she was holding.
“It seems like the humans I wanted to see have finally shown themselves.”
“Thank goodness. We have been purposely wandering in places with few people for this to happen.”
“It’s always a great feeling when a plan works out.” Zich pulled down Windur that was hanging from his back. Then, he looked around his surroundings and announced, “You guys have already been found out, so come out. Let me look at your faces.”
Shadows gathered around Zich and Lyla.