56. No Talent?
[A/N: Also checkout my new books
1. Overpowered Corruption in Another World
2. My Heroine is Too Sexy
3. Tragedy of the Imperial Princesses]
“So, brat. What are you planning to do now?”
“Now…?”
“What are you spacing out for? Your life is being targeted, right? I’m asking if you have any means to protect yourself.”
“Protect myself… Well, like I said earlier, this kid here is my bodyguard.”
“Then what? You yourself can’t do anything?”
“Yeah…”
“Why would someone like you even have people targeting your life…?”
Roro-jii looked at me, completely dumbfounded, but he didn’t abandon me.
“It can’t be helped. What kind of magic can you use, brat?”
“I don’t know.”
“There’s no way you don’t know. You must have at least tried using some attribute of magic once or twice before, right?”
“Well… I grew up in an environment where that kind of thing didn’t exist, so I’ve never tried any.”
“What kind of environment was that…?”
Well, at the very least, there was no such thing as magic. Instead, there was science—an environment that could achieve super-dimensional things that would seem like magic to an ordinary person. Of course, I didn’t say any of that. He wouldn’t understand anyway.
“Alright, put your hand out in front of you.”
“Like this?”
I turned my right palm upward and held it out. Roro-jii placed his wrinkled hand on top of mine.
“Can you tell something from this?”
“Just stay quiet for a bit.”
As instructed, I waited silently. After about a minute, Roro-jii removed his hand from mine.
“I don’t feel anything from you at all.”
“Which means…?”
“It means you can’t use most magic.”
The dream of using magic in the otherworld I had longed for was crushed so easily.
“Really…?”
“Why would I lie about something like this?”
In the first place, I was born in a completely different world. It might actually make more sense according to the laws of nature that I can’t use magic. But everyone I’ve met in this world so far looks, speaks, and lives exactly like me. That’s why I couldn’t accept that I alone couldn’t use magic.
“Isn’t there any way I can use magic? Like using tools, or drinking some kind of medicine…?”
“Those are only methods to enhance magic you already have an aptitude for. They can’t create something from nothing.”
“So… does that mean I’ll never be able to use magic for the rest of my life…?”
Just because I couldn’t use magic didn’t mean I couldn’t survive, but I had lost one of the blessings I should have gained by coming to this world.
“Listen carefully. Like I said earlier, you can’t use most magic, but you should still be able to use magic itself.”
“R-really…?”
“Yeah.”
A single ray of light appeared just when I thought it was hopeless. No one could calm the pounding in my chest even if they told me to calm down.
“Gramps! How do I use magic!?”
“Calm down! Geez, are you a child?”
“I can’t help it! Using magic has been like a dream for me since I was a kid.”
“Just what kind of environment did you grow up in…?”
Leaving me alone in my rising excitement, Roro-jii disappeared into the back of the room. A few minutes later, he returned with a book in hand and placed it in front of me.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a beginner’s magic book that I wrote. Try various things while looking at it.”
I picked up the book Roro-jii had placed down and flipped through the pages. It was filled with careful diagrams, like a cookbook or an origami instruction book.
“Hey, Gramps. What kind of magic can I use?”
“That’s why I told you to look at the book and try things out. You really don’t listen, do you?”
“Anything is fine. Fire magic, water magic, anything—”
“Shut up.”
The moment Roro-jii said that, I became unable to speak. It wasn’t because I was overawed by his intensity. Some unknown power had sealed my mouth shut.
“You don’t have the aptitude for magic that handles fire or water. Therefore, you probably can’t use the magic that ordinary people use. That’s why I told you to start from scratch with that book. Got it? There isn’t a single spell I can teach you!”
After he finished speaking, the restraint around my mouth suddenly loosened, and I could speak normally again.
“W-wait a second. Doesn’t that basically mean I have no talent for magic?”
“To put it bluntly, yes.”
Then even if I read this book, I still wouldn’t be able to use magic. I’m not young enough to struggle desperately when I have no talent. I’m not a child who would cling to a 1% chance when I already know it’s impossible.
“So, I see. Then I don’t need this book. I’m not a kid who keeps trying to do something I know I can’t.”
I handed the offered book back to Roro-jii.
If I could use magic, it would’ve been great to become the strongest mage. But if I couldn’t, then I just had to think of another way. I could have Lena learn magic instead—that would secure our safety. We fell behind this time precisely because we didn’t have magic, but once Lena learns it, she’ll become even stronger than before.
There was no point dwelling on things I couldn’t do. I just had to focus on what I could do.
“Tsk, the young really do give up quickly…”
Muttering to himself, Roro-jii turned his palm toward Lena.
“Listen up, brat. Magic is still a developing field. Therefore, even if I can’t use a certain magic, others might be able to. And the reverse is also true.”
While speaking, Roro-jii kept his palm pointed at Lena. Suddenly, Lena began moving both of her hands.
Wondering what she was doing, I looked over and saw Lena placing her right hand between her legs and her left hand on her left breast. Naturally, I was shocked, but Lena herself—who was the one moving her hands—looked equally surprised.
“W-what is this!?”
“Hey, Lena. W-what are you doing…?”
“I want to know that too!”
Lena’s hands reached their destinations and began stimulating her own sensitive areas. The sound of clothes rubbing could be heard from the seat next to me. Even with me and Roro-jii right in front of her, Lena started firmly massaging her still-small breasts with her left hand, sinking her fingers deep into them.
“Don’t panic. This is all my magic.”
“T-this is… magic…?”
From my perspective, it only looked like Lena had suddenly started masturbating on her own. At most, Roro-jii was just pointing his hand at her the whole time. While I was focused on her hands, I noticed upon closer look that Lena had spread her legs apart. From Roro-jii’s angle, even though she was wearing a skirt, her panties were completely visible.
“S-stop…”
Lena desperately tried to resist, but the pleasure from her own caresses involuntarily increased. She frantically tried to think of what to do while feeling the shame of being watched by others. Her cheeks flushed red from the rising excitement.
“This is a magic I created myself. Interpersonal masturbation magic. Just as the name suggests, it forces another person to masturbate. Not many people can use this. After all, only those who bought the magic book I wrote know about it.”
When Roro-jii lowered his hand, the magic on Lena was apparently released. She quickly closed her spread legs, curled up, and glared at Roro-jii.
“Moreover, it only sold about thirty copies. And that’s because of all the complaints saying the magic didn’t work at all. Some people even doubted the existence of the spell. Well, I never intended to use it on men anyway, so in the end, this magic became something only I and a very limited number of people know.”
Despite having embarrassed Lena, Roro-jii showed no sign of remorse and continued speaking.
“Magic has affinities. Starting with the three major attributes—fire, water, and wind—there are also enhancement and weakening magics used in combat, recovery magic, and many others. There are also various daily-life magics. Everyone has an aptitude for some of them. But even if someone has no aptitude for any of those, there are still people who can use magic.”
“Wait, Gramps, are you saying…?”
“By the way, I can use all of them.”
“I see…”
I almost felt sympathy for a moment, but quickly pushed that feeling away.
“The magic I just showed you doesn’t belong to any of the ones I mentioned. It’s treated as a unique magic that only that person can use.”
Hearing him say that, I finally understood what Roro-jii had been trying to tell me all along.
“Go and find the magic that only belongs to you.”
What Roro-jii wanted to say wasn’t that I couldn’t use magic. He meant that I didn’t have any of the aptitudes he knew about. In other words, the possibility that I could still use magic remained.
“Thank you, Gramps. I’ll borrow this book. As for payment—”
“I don’t need any. But in return, come back here again in three days.”
“G-got it. See you later.”
“Bring the young lady with you too.”
With Roro-jii’s words at my back, I ran back toward the inn.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen one… A person with no aptitude…”
In the back of the room where Roro-jii lived his daily life, there was a Buddhist altar—a part of human culture. Roro-jii sat down in front of the portrait of a woman placed there.
“It’s been since you, huh… A person like that.”
He reminisced about memories from over a thousand years ago.