Acquiring Light Magic

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Apparently, the training where you applied magic energy to your voice was supposed to be done little by little, as you continued with magic manipulation training.

However, since I had started without doing that, I struggled even more than Father Zenrima expected. And so three months passed without the ‘Prayer’ skill appearing.

I went down on my knees in front of the statue of Lord Memrikia, folded my hands, bowed my head and closed my eyes. Here, if you chanted the holy scripture of light and imbued them with magic, you were supposed to be able to acquire the Prayer skill.
I had attempted it many times during the past three months. I could mutter the holy scriptures in my sleep.

Father Zenrima folded his short, thick arms and nodded.

“As a believer, I offer myself to the great Lord Memrikia. I beseech you to grant me this blessing, and allow your wondrous miracle to reside in this body.”

…However, nothing happened!

“I failed today as well…”

As I sighed, a hand patted me on the shoulder. That had also happened many times.

I got back up to my feet and clapped my hands.

“Well, I will get back to work.”

I said as I bowed to Father Zenrima.

Even if this had happened many times, it still hurt. Not a day went by where I did not think, ‘This time!’ It just meant I was always disappointed.

In order to distract myself, I cleaned the chapel with a duster. It was then that I noticed a beastkin child staring at me from behind one of the pillars near the entrance.

With sudden inspiration, I started to wave the duster in front of the child. And then just as expected, the child’s tail stood up. When I moved the duster to the left and right, its eyes followed it. Yes, I could tell that it wanted to chase it.
I tried raising and lowering the duster, and the child’s tail would wag as it was ready to pounce.
Hehe… Won’t be long now…

Bonk!
I saw sparks as something suddenly bashed me over the head.

“Ouch…”

As I held my head…

“Stop playing with my child!”

Ms. Pemeri said angrily.

“Mother!”

The beastkin child threw its arms around Ms. Pemeri.
The child was Nemera. A four-year old who would occasionally visit her mother at the church.
Even if they were beastkin cats, perhaps I had gone too far.
Yes, Ms. Pemeri was married. And so she had retired from being an Adventurer and settled in her hometown where she became a nun.

There were no rules that forbade those of the church from getting married. There were a lot of differences compared to the church that I was familiar with.
While her family must be worried, as she was so busy at the church, she always returned home for dinner, where her husband stayed and took care of the house.

“Do you really have time for that right now? Weren’t you going to have your leg repaired today?”

“Ah, that’s right.”

My failure with the Prayer skill had made me forget. The mines and the desert had been too much of a burden on my prosthetic leg, and it had broken. I was currently wearing a spare that was made with extra parts. Thankfully, as I was no longer traveling, I wasn’t limited as much with belongings.

And so I notified the people of the church, and then headed towards the only smithy in Rokuidol. After all, there were hardly any trees around the town, which meant little firewood or coal. The town had gathered funds to build this smithy, and a great magic furnace had been installed. It was shared by several blacksmiths.

“Hello. Is the chief here today?”

I entered the door of the building which was much larger than an average smithy.

“Aye, wait one moment.”

Replied a dwarf blacksmith who had been working.
I stayed in a corner so as not to get in their way, and watched them work.

Clang. The chief struck. Cling. Gong. The apprentices struck.

The perfectly timed striking of the hammers created a comforting rhythm. I felt like I could watch them forever.
As I stared at them vacantly, I started to feel that the chief’s ‘clang’ alone was lingering strangely in my ears.

Clang…cling, gong. Clang…cling, gong…

Maybe it was just me…? Hmm… A little more…

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

Unfortunately, it seemed like they had finished their work for now, and the sounds of the hammers ended as the chief approached me.

“Here’s the part that you ordered. Try using it, and then let me know if you have any trouble with it.”

He said, handing me the spring made of iron board for the prosthetic leg. When fighting in the sandy deserts, I had noticed what was insufficient for stepping forward with the prosthetic leg. The ‘twist’ and ‘dig.’
For the twist, a gentle curve had been added to a corner of the bottom side. Furthermore, in order to dig into the ground a little, an angle had been added to the curved part of the heel.
It was made for longer strides than usual, and prioritized combat.

“Thank you. Do you mind if I ask you a question?”

“Well, if you keep it short.”

“To me, your hammer alone sounded different. Is there a reason for that?”

“Of course it is. The angle, strength and timing affect the sound. Besides…”

The boss lifted his hammer with a grin.

“My hammer is very special. It is filled with magic.”

That’s it!!

“Boss! Please let me watch you…listen to you work!”

“Listen to me work? What a strange thing to say. Well, as long as you don’t get in the way.”

Clang…cling, gong. Clang…cling, gong…

I closed my eyes and just focused on the sounds of the boss’s hammer.

Clang…clang…

And then I chanted the holy scripture of light to the rhyme of the hammer. I compared every word with every clang.
At some point, the sounds had stopped, but I barely even noticed as the sounds continued to ring in my ears.

“Hey… Hey!”

Someone was shaking my shoulders.

“It’s evening…”
“Chief! Thank you!”

The town had turned red under the setting sun as I ran back to the church.

“You forgot the part for your leg!”

He shouted something at me, but I didn’t hear it.

I rushed into the church. Everyone was gathered there, probably for the evening service.

“Ajifu! You! Where were you wandering around!”

“Ms. Pemeri. Everyone. I’m sorry. But please! Father Zenrima, allow me to try the holy scriptures prayer once more!”

Ms. Pemeri looked angry, but Father Zenrima looked me straight in the face.

“Hmm. Very well. You may try.”

So saying, he gave me space in front of the statue.
And so I went down to one knee, folded my hands, lowered my head and closed my eyes.

“Tsk! If you are going to do it, you better get it right!”
“You can do it, Mr. Ajifu!”

Everyone was cheering me on in the back. Even though I had inconvenienced them all by being absent for so long. And so I had to get it right this time.

“Relax and concentrate.”

I heard Father Kifume’s voice. That’s right. I could not be too excited either. And so while keeping my eyes closed, I exhaled and checked the magic energy in my body, which was now flowing smoothly.

Let’s go then!

“As a believer, I offer myself to the great Lord Memrikia. I beseech you to grant me this blessing, and allow your wondrous miracle to reside in this body(Tashi mare san ni kuka. Ga ku yo rima na uo tsu hi ni ru ki suu uto ki).”

The holy scriptures were converted through the magic energy! Yes! I had succeeded!
And the statue of Lord Memrikia began to glow, and the light spread out and enveloped my body. I shone there for some time, and then the light began to fade.

“Woahhh!!”
“You did it!”
“Congratulations!”
“Mmm, well done.”

Their voices rose as they all congratulated me. And when I checked my status, I saw the Prayer skill. Yes! It had finally done it!

“Thank you. All of you. Thank you so much!”

As we shook hands and embraced, Ms. Pemeri slowly pulled out a knife.
She used it to prick the tip of her finger and draw blood. Then she offered the finger to me.

“Now, try it. You can, can’t you?”

I grinned.

“Of course.”

I had read the holy book I received in the royal capital church many times. And so I didn’t need to look at anything to remember the scripture for healing.
Brother Kifume allowed me to borrow his staff, which I held over the cut on her finger and chanted.

“The miracle of healing light! Heal!(Me lei moto sei)”

One the words were converted by the magic energy, Ms. Pemeri’s fingertip glowed a little. She then wiped away the blood, showing that the cut had disappeared without a trace. I had activated light magic!

“Yes!”

I raised a fist into the air.

Compared to three months ago, my stomach was tight with muscles.

—

Long ago, in the realm of the gods.

Memrikia: I am troubled. If all one has to do is apply magic energy to their voice, then healers will turn combat magicians into a joke.
Ibitrayme: Well, there is no job system.
Memrikia: The gods should limit their involvement when it comes to the matters of humans. I want only to bestow the blessing of skills.
Ibitrayme: In that case, why not make it so that each skill requires a lot of training?
Memrikia: We’ll go with that.

Next Chapter

Ossan Boukensha no Jimichi na Isekai Tabi