Time flies really quickly and it has been 10 years since we started living in the «Empty Wilderness».
Selene turned 10, and her appearance was now rivaling ours.
I guess we might be like sisters with different hair colors or a band of same-age friends from a stranger's perspective.
I can already feel that time approaching when Selene would soon overtake me in appearance and instead, I would be seen as her younger sister.
"Okaa-san, I want to learn magic!"
"Magic, huh? I can teach you but......"
Selene's mana was also gradually increasing as she aged and in fact, she already had around 3000 units of mana when she was just 5 years old.
As such, I was really reluctant to teach Selene about magic with her ever-increasing mana. I don't want her to become a loli-baba like me and Teto because as her magical power increases, the surplus amount of mana efficiently circulating in the body will slow down her aging.
So when I explained to her the adverse effectsー一
"Really!? Then I can be with Okaa-san and Teto onee-chan!"
Oh god, where did this angel come from? I feel like I will die from cuteness overdose even if I'm immortal.
That's how I ended up teaching her magic but the problem was that I used the magic mostly following my Intuition. In most cases, I would bulldoze my way relying on my overwhelming mana reserve.
Thus, I asked the goddesses Liliel and Lariel to teach me about the magic in the dream oracle, and as a result 一一
From Lariel 一一 「I will teach you the «Body Hardening» spell, the superior version of «Body Strengthening». To describe it simply, the user clad their body in a high-density mana layer. 」
Apparently, the «Body Hardening» magic spell helps in defending against attacks that «Body Strengthening» fails to defend against.
Beforehand, Teto had been sliced apart by the Death Scythe Mantis and the reason for it was the sudden upsurge in the magical power of the scythe of Death Scythe Mantis which was apparently due to invoking «Body Hardening».
The ability to handle this spell was one of the dividing lines between a B-rank individual and an A-rank individual it seems. Teto and I had learned it.
From Liliel 一ー 「The way you use your spell is too crude. Be more conscious of the key elements that form a magic spell.」
The key elements in a spell were divided into Strengthening, Alteration, Emission, Manipulation, and Materialization.
Take the water attribute «Aqua bullet» as an example, the water is first ‹Materialized›, the formed shape is ‹Strengthened› and at last, it was ‹Emitted›.
In the same but more advanced spell, the key element ‹Manipulation› would be used to give it the function of tracking.
After learning the detailed information, not only was I able to reduce my mana expenditure, the spells I reconstructed after parsing through their respective key elements even boosted their power.
This discovery once again changed my perspective and I couldn't help but agree with the fact that a magician who has received systematic knowledge would definitely achieve a lot more than what a random stranger with superficial knowledge could achieve.
In the same fashion, the result of teaching Selene what I had learned from goddesses was一一
"Haaaa!"
"Nice blow-nanodesu!"
It was Selene and Teto who were fighting using «Body Hardening».
It didn't take a long time to activate it and judging from Selene's muscle strength, she should be able to easily take down monsters like orcs without breaking a sweat.
The water magic water cutter that she could use was also quite sharp.
The lands in the «Empty Wilderness» were pretty much intact, so there was no problem with whatever magic they used, and, at the same time, the used magic would soon break into mana and assimilate into the atmosphere which was just a plus point.
In addition, the low-density mana environment here was also a kind of practice field for them where they can learn how to cope with the situation where they suddenly found their mana being absorbed or sealed.
My gaze turned to the distant sky after looking at the two rowdy bunch.
(一一To the unknown birth mother of Selene. Dear Madam, I think I may have taught your daughter a bit too much, and probably made her a tomboy.)
That being said, I believe she won't become a ruffian with the power in hand, nor I will let her. That's right, it's just for self-defense only, I said to persuade myself.
Anyway, after five years of magic training and eating the «Mysterious Fruit» mimicking me occasionally, Selene's mana reserved at the age of 10 had been increased to 20,000 units.
She was already on the same level as a full-fledged court magician.
"Selene, Teto. I think you guys should call it a day now."
" "Yes (-nanodesu!)" "
The two stopped their mock battle when I called out to them.
Teto had never stopped fighting mock battles against the Adventurers in the town whenever she visited it. She has learned not only human adventurers' combat techniques, but even the combat techniques of beast tribe adventurers over the course of so many years. She had even taught Selene all these combat forms.
(She was able to learn the combat techniques in their raw form, improvise on the spot, and even taught Selene. Teto, she too is one hell of a monster.)
The upper limit of Teto's mana reserve hadn't increased so much since she hadn't had any chance to eat magic stones these past few years but even so, one could underestimate her magic prowess but never her refined movements and «Body Hardening».
"We're going to the town today, so get ready."
"I'm going to wash off the dirt at the fountain!"
"Teto, incoming!"
"Don't forget your change, you two."
Water had begun to spring forth from many locations in the «Empty Wilderness», which we had been cultivating for 10 years, a few years ago.
We immediately took control of those watering places, created fountains and rivers, and had them merge with the rivers of other countries.
They were just a nice place to cool off the heat from a hot day or to take a dip after an intense mock battle like just now. The emergence of rivers and fountains also improved the environment in these plains.
Fish breeding was also underway after releasing freshwater fish into the fountain.
I spend my time enjoying the changes I brought into this place where there used to be nothing but barren lands and then left for the town when Selene and Teto came back.
As Selene, whom we usually leave in the nursing home, had gradually grown up, she was now helping out in the guild as an apprentice staff once a week.
I immediately sensed the strange atmosphere when we entered the guild together.
"Chise-san, Teto-san and Selene-chan too! You have come at just the right time!"
"What happened? You look so anxious......"
Over the five years, there was also a gradual change in the receptionist line-up of the guild. However, the big-sis cat beastkin receptionist, now married, was still continuing her reception duty as usual. So when I asked her the reason for her anxiety, apparently,
"A dungeon has appeared in the neighboring territory!"
"Hmm, I don't think there's any need to sweat over it?"
"No need to sweat? I'm telling you it's a huge matter, HUGE! Because the location the dungeon had appeared was at the dead center of the region that is the breadbasket of the Beastkin nation! To make matters worse, the dungeon has a lot of fire-breathing monsters, and, my word, if the monster outbreak were to occur by chance, the region would definitely be left in cinders and many would die from hunger in this country!"
When the demerits outclassed the profit that could be earned from the dungeon and the management seemed hard, it would be of utmost importance to secure the dungeon core and remove the dungeon.
"What is the rank of the dungeon?"
"It's estimated to be at least B-rank or above. That's why I have been waiting for you. Also, we have C-rank Adventurers stationed at the entrance of the dungeon to look out for any appearance of monsters just in case."
The fall harvest season was just right around the corner.
Even if the subjugation looked impossible in the short term, I guess they are thinking of at least being able to safely end the harvest and somehow sail through fall.
In that case, I can understand.
"I would also be in a pinch if the price of the foodstuffs were to increase. But Selene...... "
"I want to help Okaa-san! I don't want to just wait here silently!"
Ever since I had subjugated the small-scale stampede, we have been occasionally asked to handle B-rank quests.
B-rank quests usually happened once or twice in a single month, so most of the time they would be handled by strong adventurers. But in case they happened to be unwell or their equipment maintenance can't seem to be finished on time, Teto and I would handle those quests.
At that time, Selene would be left in the care of the nursing home, even for the night.
However, as the goal this time was to clear the dungeon, there was no telling how much time it would take.
"...... Fine. However you will not be coming with us on exploration, you will only be helping out in that region's Adventurer guild. Can I ask for you to prepare a reference letter for Selene?"
"Leave it to me! A healer would be greatly welcomed there since there seem to be many injured people because of the fire-breathing monsters!"
In this way, after hearing the story about the dungeon in the guild, we immediately headed for that location.
The other Adventurers were using carriages, but we traveled on the flying carpet at several times the speed of a carriage.
We stopped once for camping during our journey and it wasn't until the morning that we arrived at our intended location.
