This chapter was brought to you by AnmesicCat.
Growing up a little
I was currently watching the birds hiding inside a slightly remote and lush forest.
At the moment, the birds were pecking at their food, when they suddenly stopped and tried to fly away. However, on my palm of my hand, I produced a magic called ‘Vacuum Wave’ and shot it towards the birds.
When the birds tried to fly away, the vacuum wave attacked one, cutting its neck, and it fell defenselessly.
“Alrighty!”
I approached the bird I killed, dug a hole using magic, and held onto the foot of the bird, letting its blood drip from its neck into the hole.
If one kills an animal and does not drain it of its blood, the flesh of the animal will become bloody. And when it becomes bloody, its scent will attract other animals.
Even when the birds had gathered together, it was not a problem for me, since I had the ability to probably kill them all. However, I did not want to engage myself in unnecessary killing.
I stored the bird that had been drained out of blood inside a spatial created by magic. Since the amount was sufficient, I headed home.
Somehow, I have turned five years old.
The grandpa who helped me had given me the name “Shin.” And because he raised me as his own grandson, with grandpa’s family name being “Walford,” I thus became Shin Walford.
The name of the grandpa is Merlin Walford.
Grandpa has a considerably vast knowledge when it comes to magic, and he taught me kindly.
Grandpa has a young vibe to him, and even though he has already retired deep in the forest, people would still occasionally visit him.
Furthermore, they were different kinds of people such as an uncle who dresses considerably well, a witch-like old woman, and a Knight-like person with various amount of amazing looking equipment.
…I wonder what kind of person grandpa was…
However, that was the past. Now, he looks like an ordinary old man you can find anywhere.
I had a lot of fun being taught magic by grandpa. Most of the time, he compliments me on the way I use magic. He also praises me for the amount of food I am able to procure by hunting inside the forest.
It was really fun to hunt in the forest using magic. Well, my real intention is to have fun anyway.
Speaking of being taught how to use magic… The way to use magic in this world is not by chanting long incantations, saying the name of the spell, or the like.
Magic is ‘imagination.’
The phenomenon known as magic is the caster’s ‘imagination’ and their ability to materialize it.
But since it is difficult to ‘imagine’ using magic when one first started learning magic, they would have some kind of visual in front of them to make it easier to imagine.
So it seems everybody pretty much cast the similar magic.
The reason for this is because of ‘imagination.’
Although the majority cast the similar magic, there are also those who differ.
For example, me; an original resident of modern day Japan, overflowing with creativity who was then transported into this world. Since incantation wasn’t needed, it was easy enough to reproduce things you would usually only see in animes and mangas.
Next, I was taught how to control my magical powers.
Even if a person’s imagination is stable, if something goes wrong and the magic is not properly invoked, it could turn into chaos.
Magic control is needed to conjure magic. Magic is present anywhere and everywhere in this world, but there’s no one who can control all kinds of magic perfectly.
Because this is a world where magic exists, people here will unconsciously use magic at a level where their body will act on reflex. Truthfully, it was at a point where if one cannot use magic, it will hinder the activities of their daily lifestyle. For example, to produce drinking water, one would have to generate a small flame.
But without reasonable magic control, it would not possible for anyone to produce the Vacuum Wave I used a while ago.
Other than not being able to imagine it, they also would not have enough magic power to imitate it.
The reason why I was able to produce it was thanks to my daily magic control training with grandpa; he taught me and helped me verify the extent of what is and isn’t possible with magic.
* * *
After a while, I arrived home. To describe the wooden house and its arrangement, it should be a 3LDK (living room, dining, and kitchen)?
There was a sink in the kitchen but there wasn’t a faucet, a portable cooking stove ignited by magic, and a dining table for six people.
In the living room, there was fireplace, a coffee table, and an L shaped four and two-seater sofa. As expected, the fireplace was not one that burns firewood, but fire was supplied by magic.
Other than my own room, the other rooms were my grandpa’s bedroom and his study room.
Incidentally, there was no second floor; it was a single-storied house.
“Grandpa, I’m home.”
I said while entering the house.
“Oh, welcome home.”
“Sorry to bother you.”
Said a visitor who was together with grandpa. It was one of his acquaintance, a Knight-like uncle who had wonderful equipment.
“Welcome, Michel-san.”
This uncle named Michel-san looks like a considerably young man with green eyes and short blonde hair. As for his physique, although he didn’t look macho, he wasn’t thin either; he had a lean but well-built figure.
However, I don’t know what he does.
Sometimes when he comes to visit grandpa, apart from magic, he would teach me martial arts, swordsmanship, fighting using spears, and archery.
Although grandpa can also use martial arts to some extent, his main focus was magic, and thus was inferior compared to Michel-san.
“Hohho, I wonder, what did you hunt today?”
Grandpa wanted to know the results of today’s hunting expedition.
“Today’s catch is a Hollow Bird and a Forest Rabbit.”
…Please pardon me if my words are hard to follow. It’s quite often when you read of reincarnation, or being summoned to other world, one often doesn’t have some kind of cheat to immediately learn the language. In addition, I’ve only been in this world for 5 short years…
“Hehh~ In addition to hunting a rabbit, you were also able to hunt a Hollow Bird?”
Ah… This is bad, I have a feeling something terrible is about to happen.
“Although I used a knife to kill the Forest Rabbit, as for the Hollow Bird, I had to use magic to kill it?”
Phew, that was dangerous. Because a Hollow Bird’s vigilance was very high, even skilled hunters wouldn’t be able to easily hunt it. In addition to Hollow Birds being extremely difficult to hunt, they were exceedingly delicious and remarkably expensive.
After practicing martial arts, my usage with weapons such as a knife, and bow and arrow seemed to have graded up.
Although I love practicing magic because it’s very interesting, I’m not so much a fan of training martial arts because it’s a lot tougher.
“Hmph, there’s no need for you to be so humble. Although magic was indeed used to kill the Hollow Bird which boasted to have strong vigilance, it was instantly taken down. If that’s the case, it seems you’ll only need a little bit more of harsh practice.”
Impossible! Can it really not be avoided?!
I saw grandpa leaning back while thinking. Help me out, grandpa. Your grandchild is in a pinch!
“Hohho~ He’ll be in your care then.”
There was not a single ally inside this house.
* * *
T/N: To be honest, my plan was to finish this yesterday and post it, but the phone app I was using suddenly stopped working… I went to take a nap, and when I woke up, it was still wasn’t working.
So, I consulted my sister… she replied with “have you checked if there was an update?” I tapped my phone and opened Google Play, and there it was… an update…
Sigh, I swear, the fever has made the gears in my head rust.