How to Raise a Dumb Wolf - Chapter 52

Several months later.

Sunlight streamed through the window and spilled into the classroom. Eyes closed, Aisha manipulated the golden light in her hands. The potted plant beneath her spell visibly sprouted denser foliage. Every branch flung itself upward with reckless determination, only to droop limply and spread out to either side when it could no longer bear its own weight. The golden light in Aisha’s hands did not stop, and the green leaves continued to grow… and grow…

Tick, tick, tick… click!

At last, the vines stopped growing. Eric snapped his pocket watch shut.

“That is enough,” he said.

Aisha slowly exhaled, weariness already visible on her face. When she opened her eyes and saw the alarming mass of green vines sprawling before her, even she jumped.

“Not bad.” Eric wrote something on the paper before him and frowned as he evaluated her performance. “You took less time than last time. Did you use more than two-thirds of your mana?”

Panting lightly, Aisha shook her head.

Eric lowered his gaze and recorded several more notes. Meanwhile, Thorne had already begun skillfully draping the great tangle of vines outside the window. Before Aisha’s next practice session, they would damage the excess growth in various ways and leave her to “heal” it. Once the vines were hung in place, Thorne casually closed the curtains again, darkening the room so that the magical arrays, patterns, and the paths of the spells themselves would be easier to see later.

By then, Eric had finished recording the results. He pursed his lips as he studied the data. “Your magical capacity appears to have increased. I will schedule another magical-capacity test for you after some time and see how much progress you have made. Next week, try increasing your speed a little further. And next time, hm… we will practice after burning the vines. Now then… Aisha, rest for a while. Thorne, come to the laboratory table.”

Thorne nodded and went directly to the table. As he passed Aisha, their gazes happened to meet. Aisha gave him a friendly smile. Thorne paused, gave her the slightest nod, and moved on.

Withdrawing her gaze, Aisha closed her eyes and began to meditate. It would help her recover the mana she had just expended more quickly.

Before she knew it, several months had passed since Eric began teaching her innate magic. Aisha’s magic had improved rapidly during that time. Although she had not yet undergone a second magical-capacity test, she needed no crystal ball to tell her that the reserve of mana within her had grown considerably.

According to the theory Eric had developed through his research on several other gifted students, the key to increasing a gifted mage’s magical capacity lay in their innate magic. An ordinary mage’s capacity naturally grew when they practiced any form of magic, but gifted mages were different. Practicing ordinary magic had only a limited effect on their capacity. Only the use of innate magic could produce a comparable result.

That was precisely why studying innate magic was so vitally important to gifted mages. According to Eric… if a gifted mage’s ordinary magic could reach the level of an ordinary mage, then their mastery of innate magic would far surpass most mages’ command of even their strongest form of magic—including other gifted mages’ mastery of their own innate abilities.

There was no denying that Eric possessed considerable experience in this field. In only a few months, he had given Aisha an entirely new understanding of her innate magic.

When Eric began teaching her innate magic, his first task was to determine its true nature. He found all manner of things and asked Aisha to use her ability on them. After a period of experimentation, they had established several basic facts with reasonable certainty.

Aisha’s power was healing, and it could affect an extraordinarily broad range of subjects: sapient races, animals, and plants. It even had some effect upon lifeless objects. However, all she could do was “heal,” not make something grow or strengthen it.

For example, Aisha could restore energy to an exhausted body, but that did not mean she could strengthen its muscles. She could heal an animal’s wounds, but could not make it grow from a juvenile into an adult. She could even heal a diseased tree, but could not drive away the insects infesting it—and might heal the insects at the same time. If the tree’s illness had been caused by the infestation, the problem would very likely return soon after Aisha’s treatment.

Her magic had a very limited effect on lifeless objects, and the direction of the healing often ran contrary to her intentions. It could only restore an object to its most “natural” state, which was not necessarily the same as “repairing” it from a human perspective. If Aisha tried to mend a small ornament carved from stone, for instance, her magic could only turn it back into an unworked piece of rock. Such restoration was more than ten times as difficult as healing a living creature. It required extreme concentration, consumed more mana than usual, and might also require a sudden burst of power.

Moreover, Aisha’s healing could only restore something to a state it had previously occupied before being injured. The potted vine she practiced upon had therefore been carefully cultivated for a long while so that it would produce such an extensive mass of growth. Before every practice session, the excess vines were severed in different ways, and Aisha restored them. She could not make a single branch grow even one cun (about 1.3 inches) longer than it had been originally, just as she could not make a person young again.

The complexity of the injury also determined the difficulty of her spell. A cut made directly with scissors was unquestionably easier to heal than a section burned away by fire.

Once they had determined the precise limits of Aisha’s magic, her practice became far more focused, and she improved rapidly. Eric did not deny the possibility that, as her abilities increased, her innate magic might eventually accomplish far greater things.

By the time Eric finished instructing Thorne, Aisha had recovered some of her mana. Hearing Eric call her over to practice the equally indispensable discipline of ordinary magic, she hurriedly opened her eyes, rose from her meditation, and joined him.

As her innate magic improved and her magical capacity expanded, the highest level her ordinary magic could reach rose with it. A mage capable only of innate magic could never be called a true mage. Aisha could not afford to neglect that side of her studies either.

Before long, the morning lesson ended once more. Aisha released a long breath and began packing her things while Eric continued speaking to Thorne.

She heard him say slowly, “…You have been in excellent form lately. You can now cast even complex spells with considerable precision. Judged by the Tower of Magic’s usual standards, you must have met the graduation requirements at least six months ago. Come to think of it… you have studied under me for more than four years now, have you not?”

“Yes, Teacher.” Thorne’s tone was calm, as though Eric’s words did not surprise him. “Are you planning to let me graduate? When? What do I need to prepare?”

“…There is no hurry.”

Eric fell silent for a moment, as though weighing something, before he continued.

“Have you thought about when you wish to graduate?”

Thorne shook his head. “…I do not know.”

After a few seconds, he added, “There are still many areas in which I fall short, and much I wish to learn from you.”

Eric considered this for a moment. “Then think it over carefully and tell me once you have decided.”

“Yes, Teacher.”

Thorne nodded solemnly.

Their conversation made Aisha prick up her ears in spite of herself, and she stared in surprise.

Thorne had only recently turned sixteen, yet he was already considering graduation. And… according to Eric, he had actually met the usual graduation requirements six months earlier. He was so young.

Thorne had been there from the moment she enrolled, and he was her only “classmate.” To Aisha, the idea that he might graduate felt somewhat unreal.

…

But nothing had been decided. Even if it were settled, preparing the necessary graduation paperwork would probably take Thorne a considerable length of time. Aisha was surprised only briefly before putting it out of her mind. Compared with Thorne’s graduation plans, which did not even have a definite date, the matter directly before her was more important. For example…

Aisha returned to her room and opened the wardrobe. She stared absently at the man’s military coat hanging at the far end.

She had not seen Major General Les Wolf again since their last meeting. Whenever she remembered him, Aisha regretted forgetting to ask how she could contact him. He had helped her so much, yet she had not even remembered to return his coat.

Sometimes, Aisha searched for the man at the Free Arena, hoping for some miraculous chance encounter. Judging by what had happened before, he seemed quite familiar with the arena. Unfortunately, no miracle ever occurred. As time passed, Aisha had no choice but to admit to herself that the beastfolk major general had very likely returned to Beast…

In truth, the fact that he had given her the coat and never asked for it back suggested that it might not be important. On closer inspection, it bore neither insignia of rank nor medals. Perhaps he was simply accustomed to military dress and wore it as ordinary clothing. It might not matter if she never returned it.

Even so, Aisha felt faintly disappointed, for reasons she could not explain even to herself.

Only… whenever she thought that she might never see that man again, her heart felt strangely empty.

Aisha sighed and began closing the wardrobe. Before she had pushed the door all the way shut, however, something suddenly moved close beside her. Already lost in thought, Aisha jumped and released her grip. The wardrobe doors slammed together with a bang. Startled, she turned, then relaxed when she saw the giant wolf Les standing beside her.

“Is something wrong?” After collecting herself, Aisha asked with a smile, “Would you like to take a walk in the forest together? I am sorry… Teacher has been giving me so much work lately that I have not had time to keep you company.”

Her voice was full of apology, and every word was sincere. Eric was teaching her in earnest now, which naturally made him far stricter than before. Aisha was also a gifted mage and had to study both innate and ordinary magic. Before she knew it, her workload had grown enormous.

She still went to the Free Arena to treat the injured as well. Eric considered it an excellent opportunity for her to practice healing human bodies and had not stopped her. He merely set deadlines and standards as though it were another assignment. With so much to do, Aisha had almost no time left to herself. Fortunately, the giant wolf was gentle and intelligent, but that only made her feel even guiltier toward him.

She had grown increasingly accustomed to living with the giant wolf. Sometimes, however, his eyes seemed melancholy. Could it be… that he was unhappy with her? Or did he have troubles of his own?

Aisha was deeply worried.

What she did not know was that the giant wolf certainly had troubles of his own. He had courted her as a wolf for several months without making the slightest apparent progress. He wanted to appear before her in human form, yet could not think of a natural excuse. He could hardly ask Pal to invite Aisha out every time, then arrange a chance meeting and impose himself on their outing. That would be far too strange… In reality, Aisha was barely acquainted with his human self.

The situation left Les restless. Yet Aisha’s actions in opening and closing the wardrobe had taken him by surprise.

Aisha normally had no reason to change her clothes at this hour, but she had stared into the wardrobe for a long time… If there was anything unusual inside Aisha’s wardrobe…

Of course, he might simply be imagining things. But could she have been looking at… the thing he had left behind…

His coat?