Magic Warrior Chapter 14 (Patreon)

Archaeological Survey Team

It has been a few days since I left the wooden sword I was working on with father.

The new building they were building in the village was going to be a tavern or an inn or something, not a private home.

The exterior walls are finished and carpenters are working inside. From the occasional voices I could hear, I knew that the work was scheduled to be completed by the middle of autumn.

Living a free life as usual, I watched the construction almost every day. I would just glance at it and go home.

I also followed Claire to church on her study days.

[I looked into the "Crystal of Time", a magical device that shows the current date. The day I looked into it was August 20. To be precise, it is said that August 20 is the 20th day of the eighth month of the year.

Since Claire's birthday was in the middle of autumn, the date would have been October 28, the day of the Gods.

This magic machine is installed in most churches, but it is said that most of the nobles, not to mention the public, are not interested in it, and almost no one owns one personally.

It is not possible to set up a time unless people can confirm each other, and a promise that it will be done in a few days or by the next season is sufficient, so it may not be widely used because people don't feel the need for it.

I even tried listening to a lecture on magic, but before I knew it, I was lost in a dream.

It seems that a few children who are said to have magical qualities or who are interested in magic attend each class, but I found out that Claire is very talented. As expected of my sister.

I wondered if there were any scriptures or books for study, but the church in this village doesn't have them.

There are no bookstores unless you go to the town, and peddlers don't bring things they don't know they can sell, so they don't buy them.

It is only a day's drive to the nearest town, so if I really need it, I can go there to buy it, but it is not something the church really wants.

It seems like they can't reach such an itch.

I asked him if he could design a magic machine by himself, but he told me that it requires expertise in magic engineering, which is similar to the research of a magic circle. I heard that there is a school if you go to the royal capital.

I don't think I can study magic.

Other than that, I was writing down what I knew about [SeveChro] that I suddenly remembered. Although my knowledge is quite biased, I am satisfied that it is useful to a certain extent.

I will add more as soon as I remember them.

◇

"Here, it's done!"

When I returned from watering the fields as requested by my father, I received a new wooden sword.

The handle is wrapped with a cloth to prevent it from slipping. I test it out by swinging it a few times. It was slightly thicker and heavier than the wooden sword I had broken, but it was well-balanced and easy to swing.

"Thanks, Dad!"

"I used the last one lightly, so I made it heavier than before, but it looks okay. ...And let's do this one too."

After checking the wooden sword, my father held out to me the iron sword still in its scabbard.

Looking at the scabbard, it was obvious that it had seen a lot of use.

"Oh, you can't have one made of metal, can you?"

"Oh, don't wear it when you walk around the village. When you take it outside, if you just carry it in a sheath in the village, you can deliver it or make some other appropriate excuse."

"I'm almost to adulthood myself, so you don't have to make excuses to carry it around with you right now, do you?"

"I'm about to go exploring the ruins, haven't Mina and Claire explored them once? The adventurer I requested wants me to give them a tour, just in case. I told them they're underage, but they're not."

In that case, he decided to give me an iron sword as well.

He seemed to know the adventurer who received the survey, but I wondered if he was an old acquaintance of my father's. I took it out of its scabbard and looked at it.

It seemed to be an old sword, and the engraving on the tip of the hilt was smashed, and there were many marks on the tsuba as if it had been bumped or scraped.

However, there was no rust or dirt on the blade, and even to the untrained eye it was clear that the sword had been well cared for.

"That sword was the one my father used when he first registered as an adventurer. I couldn't part with it for some reason, so I kept it after I got a new, better weapon, and I thought it would be a good choice for Mina to use. It's just lying around in storage and I don't use it, so if it breaks, it won't be much of a loss."

Dad scratched his cheeks with his fingertips and spoke a little nostalgically. I understood that it was a memento of my father's.

If it was really just lying around in storage, there was no way he would have taken such good care of it.

I'd like to make sure I don't accidentally use the magic sword and break it, even if I had to use it. I'm afraid to leave it propped up in my room, so I'll just put it away in the wardrobe for now.

...Isn't that why weapons are sometimes found in wardrobes in RPG role-playing games?

I have discovered a new truth. I wish I could tell this to my old self, who used to say, "There's no way I'm going to store a weapon in a place like this".

That day, I spent the rest of the evening mindlessly swinging to get used to my new wooden sword.

"So you got a new wooden sword."

"Yeah, yeah, it looks good."

It seems that Claire, who has been studying at the church every day for the past few days, has returned.

My sister is very diligent, unlike me. We finished our sword practice and went home together.

We took a bath and had dinner. Lately, I have been taking a bath every day to make the most of the extra time I have.

Although my walking time has decreased, I think I can strengthen my legs and back a little, since I have to walk to the river and back several times. It seems contradictory, though, to want to take a bath in order to sweat, but to sweat in order to take a bath.

◇

A few days later, just as my father had said, a group of people were coming to the village to investigate the ruins.

The group is supposed to consist of three adventurers who are acquaintances of my father, and my father and I will join them.

Claire seemed to concentrate on studying magic.

She had been depressed for a while since the day we explored the ruins, and she seemed to have recovered recently, but I guess she was still traumatized by the attack of the Living Statue.

On the day the adventurers arrived, they told me that they were going to have dinner at my house to meet each other, since I would be participating in the survey.

Since they would be arriving in the evening, the actual survey was scheduled for the following day.

The table in the house was too small for the three of us to eat at, so my father had arranged a table and chairs that he had borrowed from somewhere in front of the house. We also have a light for the magic machine so that we can stay up late.

As I was waiting with Mom and Claire, preparing the food, I heard them talking outside.

"Hey, long time no see, Alphos!"

"Hey, Mark! It's been about 10 years, right? Claire-chan has grown up!"

"Yes, she had grown up to be a beauty."

"Hmm, she's become a beauty, indeed."

Claire seems to have laid out the food. The adventurers seemed to have arrived, but they seemed to know Claire.

I heard a man's voice and two women's voices agreeing with me. I went outside to have a look too.

"""..."""

All three of them stopped as if shocked to see me.

...Did I do something?

I observed that the male adventurer was probably Alphos-san, whom my father had called out to. At first glance, he looks like a handsome man with a spear on his back.

The other two were a tall, well-trained woman with red hair and a petite woman with dark hair, both of whom carried no weapons.

In our world, hair and eye color are not necessarily inherited, so there is a wide variety of hair and eye color, but this was the first time for me to see someone with black hair and eyes.

I feel a sense of familiarity with the Japanese-like color, even though their facial features are not so different from mine.

My hair is ice silver over here, though.

"My, my, my, my, Mark, who's the young lady here?"

"Mina, what are you talking about?"

Alphos-San's question got a look from my dad that was saying, "What the hell is he talking about?".

I was surprised to see that she looks like someone I know.

"Maybe it's the color of your hair, but you certainly look like her."

"Hmm, Goddess."

Apparently, the adventurers mistook me for someone else.

Maybe silver hair is as rare as black hair. I don't see it in the village.

I don't know, anything, about any Goddess.

"I'm Alphos, the redhead over there is Gina, and the dark-haired one is Mirell. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you."

Gina-san was the older sisterly type, and Mirell-san was the type who didn't talk much.

After I finished serving the food, my mother and Claire took their seats and a small dinner party began.