Chapter 93 – Voice Magic #2

What saved Lily’s life?
I immediately realized what the dark-haired witch was talking about.

It happened when I just signed a fixed party with Rebecca.
In the first quest I received then, I had saved the life of Lily, who was her client. She had eliminated her giant goblins that were threatening her with her magic orb.

“Thank you, adventurer-. It looks like my nephew was indebted.”
“No. It’s only natural to protect our clients. But are you the owner of this store?”

From Lily herself, I heard that the manager of the magic shop is Lily’s relative.
A relative of Lily who was born as a collateral descendant of a wizarding family.
I was able to notice the true identity of the black-haired witch in front of me.
The dark-haired witch nodded her head as if it were her correct answer.

“That’s right-. I’m the manager of this store. My name is Grace. The adventurer’s name is Luke, right?”

I answered yes to Witch Grace’s question. I know it’s rude, but I couldn’t help but look at Grace curiously.
I’d been passing by this store like on my way to work for two years, but I’d never seen Grace. If it was a witch with such a dark appearance, she would have been memorable.

“You don’t go to the store very often, do you? I’ve never seen Mr. Grace while passing by here.”
“I have a wanderlust. I always wander outside the city when I get a chance. If it’s a job, I can leave it all to Lily-“

I’m so jealous
Traveling to your heart’s content and then returning to the store to make money. Isn’t that a total cheat? I also wanted to become a building owner like this witch one day. She was a building owner who was said to surpass the Creator. Even in this world, the law that landlords tremble is no different.

“Leave all the work to Lily? That’s complete child exploitation-.”
“Shh-! You can’t argue too deeply-. I don’t want to turn Mr. Luke into a frog. Finish your business and go home. Show me what you brought to sell.”

At my point, Grace quickly changed the subject with a deep smile.
Does talking about Lily any longer make her a frog?
Is the child exploiter witch in front of me?
I took out the orb while breaking out in a cold sweat. Later, when I saw Lily again, I made up my mind to ask her about her circumstances.

“Here it is. An orb embedded in a pagan totem. She says it amplifies the power of magic?”
“Oh. It’s a black jade orb! If it’s this thick, I can hit it with 30 silver. There are some cracks here and there, but I’ll close my eyes to that much. Mr. Luke is an adventurer who saved my precious Lily-.”

Grace pulled out a sack of silver coins from under the checkout counter. When I counted the silver coins in the sack, it was exactly 30 silver coins. There was a suspicious witch in front of me, but I felt like I was going crazy with joy at this moment.
To accept 30 silvers as a lump sum! He didn’t know that if he solved a few more quests in the future, his money might exceed 1 gold. You can touch the shiny gold coins with your hands.

“Thank you, guest-.”

Grace bowed her head at me. But I didn’t want to leave the magic shop yet. The reason I came to the store was because I wanted to buy a new magic book. I made money, but it wouldn’t be bad to invest in spec up.

“It’s not out yet. Is there a basic magic book you can recommend? I want to buy it right here.”
“Basic spellbook? Oh, Mr. Luke is a wandering wizard? I think I can help you with purchasing a spellbook.”

He offered to help, but Grace for some reason refused to get up from the checkout counter. He was just staring blankly at me.

“Aren’t you going to give me a magic book?”
“Before choosing a spell book, I want to measure Luke’s magic skill first. Then I can find an appropriate spell book-“

You say you measure my magic skills?
Are you a scout wearing a human mask? I was embarrassed for a moment, but Grace was a wandering wizard with a lot more experience than I did. She seemed trustworthy to have her skill measured by her.

“Does it measure every time you choose a magic book? Lily doesn’t.”
“Originally, I don’t do things like this. Mr. Luke saved Lily’s life-. I’m providing a special service.”

Is this a free service!
I never thought that saving Lily would be rewarded this way.
Before Grace had a change of heart, I quickly began to sign. In front of Grace, I cast the magic I had learned so far one after another.

“Please take a good look.”

A magic missile that summons a magic sphere.
Water that creates droplets.
A liquid that manipulates the flow of water.
Boiling to raise the temperature of water.
A fire that puts out a small flame.

A total of five spells unfolded on my hand. Grace was watching my magic demonstration with an expressionless, incomprehensible expression.

“How are you?”
“The number of magic you’ve learned is small, but you’re good at using it. You’ve been learning magic for quite some time, right? Since childhood.”
“Yes?”

That I’ve been learning magic for a long time?
What is this witch saying now? Is she a quack by any chance?
However, as if saying something obvious, Grace’s expression was calm.

“If you have that level of magic proficiency, you need to learn at least 3 years. It seems that you only learned fire magic relatively recently.”
“What are you looking at and judging?”
“It’s Luke’s hand sign. You’re unfolding the optimized hand sign. Considering that almost no ‘original’ form remains.”
“Is there a separate original for the hand seal?”
“Yes. I’m talking about the hand signs listed in the magic book. The most popular type of hand gesture. Wizards continue to practice magic and modify the hand signs to suit them. It took a long time to find the best hand signs for them. Answer.”
“That’s right.”

I asked with a puzzled expression. All I did was just copying the beastman’s handiwork shown in the book. Four magics except fire magic. I never thought that would have been the best form of beast for me. After all, are books different from ordinary magic books?

“So, how good are my magic skills?”
“Among the wandering wizards, their skills are above average… According to the hierarchy classified by the Mage Tower, they are the second rank from the bottom. At least, they are not the same as the common wanderers rolling around the streets.”

Does that mean there is a separate hierarchy for classifying mages?
However, Grace did not go into detail about her hierarchy.

It was the moment I nodded.
Suddenly, Grace looked at me and brought out his unexpected proposal.

“Instead of buying a magic book, why don’t you learn magic directly from me?

I was taken aback by Grace’s words.

Magic master!
Grace had offered to be my teacher. In fact, all the wizards I’ve seen around me have been nothing but idiots.
Even if he tried to find his teacher, he had no idea where to find him. It goes without saying that meeting a good teacher is better than self-taught with magic books.

“I didn’t know that I would be able to have a priest’s kite in a place like this.”

I didn’t know how to treat Grace at this moment. First of all, can we cool it down from the old jirye like martial arts? However, as I was making a fuss, Grace was staring at me with a puzzled expression.

“A priest’s kite? Wandering wizards don’t have anything like that.”
“What did you say?”
“Because it’s about buying and selling magic for money-. Rather than ‘teaching’, the word ‘selling’ would be more appropriate. Being bound by affection is what the gentlemen in the Magic Tower do. We wanderers only teach as much as they are given. That’s why It’s hard for you to treat me like a real teacher.”

It was Grace who clearly drew the line.
Could this be the world of wandering wizards? It was a world more like a gutter than I thought. Thanks to that, I was able to calm myself down and ask Grace for a lesson.

“First of all, please tell us what class it is. Then we can decide whether to buy it or not.”
“I will teach you the basics of voice magic. Because that lesson is what Luke will need the most right now.
“What’s the difference between making a hand sign?”
“You’ll know when you see it with your own eyes.”

Grace inhaled from his seat and uttered a brief incantation.

“Water-.”

I just recited the starting language.
A large drop of water had already been completed on the counter. I recognized at once that it was water magic. Then I couldn’t help but be surprised to see the water droplets. Calling out drops of water without even forming a water sign? What kind of miracle did you do?

Grace spoke to me, who was perplexed.

“Using the beast sign as a medium of magic is the most basic method. If you rely only on the beast man magic, you cannot reach a high level as a wizard. I mean.”

A representation of the magic principle? Is the kernel empty?
Difficult words come out and my head gets complicated.
Could it be that she is also a witch who inherited the lineage of a wizard family?
To be honest, I don’t like magic principles like that. However, I really wanted to learn how to use magic just by sitting down and reciting a spell. I didn’t even point a finger at her, but magic came out of thin air.
Isn’t it completely raw?

“The tuition is 1 silver.”

Towards me, Grace held out her palm.

“How far do you teach with 1 silver?”
“Until you can cast water magic with just your voice. If there’s any magic you want, I’ll do something else. Liquid? Boiling? Anything you say.”

Looking at it, it seems that 1 silver goes into each order. It is to convert the medium into voice, not handwriting. In fact, I wanted to upgrade all five magics I was learning, but I couldn’t trust the witch in front of me yet. Once I listened to one class and it was okay, I thought it would be better to purchase another class.

So, which of the five magics to choose?
After much consideration, I chose water magic. In fact, it was magic that became the basic axis for me, who was active as a water mage. It was because the rest of the magic was connected by creating water droplets. If water droplets could be summoned with just one mouth, making water whips would be tremendously fast.

“I’ll choose water magic. Let’s learn it first. Can you teach me right now?”
“Of course. There are no customers anyway, so I’m free-. The basic theory class will probably be over in an hour. The rest is just helping with practical skills.”
“Please.”

So I learned voice magic from the witch Grace.
There are ten days left until the promotion.

If you learn something in it, it will be of great help. It was a promotion match, not knowing which trolls would appear. I will learn magic with the intention of carrying it by the collar.

It’s a promotion match with healers mixed in, but aren’t people unaware of what’s ahead? Surprisingly, that healer might be a troll. Even though she was a nun in the first place, it was suspicious that she still remained in the bronze rank. It was normal for nuns with skills to be promoted to silver at high speed.

Bronze Sister.
In that combination, there was a person who suddenly came to mind.

‘No way?’

Hopefully not.
I believe we won’t be facing each other in the promotion match.

Kate.