Chapter 397 – Lilty
The next day after school.
It was Lilty who came to Almark’s extra lessons.
“Huh?”
Lilty looked at Radmar, who was standing by the wall with his eyes closed and a grim expression, with a slightly frightened look on her face.
“What’s wrong with that kid?”
“It’s okay, Lilty.”
Almark said.
“He’s just meditating.”
“Meditating?”
Lilty blinked as he whispered.
“He looks like he’s in that much pain?”
“Yes.”
Almark nodded, and Lilty tilted her head.
“If you’re meditating, I think you should relax a bit.”
“I think so too.”
As Almark said this, he looked at Illumis, who was standing in the center of the practice area.
“Since Professor Illumis is teaching me, I thought it would be best if I didn’t say anything unnecessary.”
“Is that so.”
Lilty looked at Radmar again timidly.
“It would make me dream.”
“Just don’t look over there.”
Almark gave a bitter smile.
“Let’s get started. Lilty, please.”
Lilty nodded, as if regaining her composure.
“Okay. Well, today we’ll practice lightning magic.”
She said it in a loud voice in her own way.
“Lightning magic, huh?”
Almark was surprised at the name of the magic, which didn’t really fit Lilty’s image.
“That’s Leila’s specialty magic.”
Lilty tilted her head at Almark’s words.
“Really? I haven’t seen Leila use it that much though.”
“Ah, I guess so.”
Hearing that, Almark remembered the first time he saw that magic in the Spring Cave.
In the dark cave, Leila was using flashes of lightning to sweep away traps disguised as doors and countless demonic shadows.
Leila was so brave at that time.
The flashing lightning looked like Leila’s pride.
“That’s a cool magic, isn’t it? I’ve always wanted to get better at it.”
“Yeah. Well then, I need to practice.”
Lilty said in a low voice and placed the stone on the floor a short distance away.
“Okay, Almark. Try hitting that stone with lightning.”
“Okay.”
Almark readied Marth’s staff.
He took a deep breath and concentrated.
He transformed the magical power he had poured into the staff into the power of lightning.
Sparks flew from the tip of the staff.
“Here I go.”
With that, Almark swung his staff at the stone.
The lightning shot from the staff hit the stone directly, causing it to smoke.
“Good.”
“Nice.”
Lilty nodded.
“This should be fine.”
Perhaps a simple and straightforward magic like lightning magic suited Almark’s nature, as he was able to control it with less difficulty than other magic from the beginning of his learning.
“I’m pretty good at lightning magic myself.”
Almark puffed out his chest.
“But my magic isn’t enough, is it? Come on, Lilty. Teach me.”
“No.”
Lilty shook her head frankly.
“If you can do this much, I think your lightning magic will be enough.”
“Eh?”
“Then my extra lessons are over. Good job, do your best, Almark.”
“W-wait a minute.”
Almark hurriedly stops Lilty as she tries to leave.
“Eh? Is this all?”
“Eh, okay.”
Lilty nods.
“Well, if I wanted to teach you lightning magic, you can do it well enough now.”
“But, you know. Is there any trick to get a little better?”
But Lilty shakes her head.
“If it’s for the exam, if you can do this much, your lightning magic will be enough.”
“Th-something about that.”
Almark pleaded.
“I want to absorb everyone’s methods. Can you teach me something? Even other magic is fine.”
“Hmm…”
Lilty looked troubled and thought about it for a while, then she nodded.
“Okay. Then I’ll try a different spell.”
“Okay.”
Almark smiled with relief.
“That’s good. I’ll do my best.”
“I’ll try the Spring Water magic.”
Lilty said in a weak voice.
“Can you do it?”
“That’s a magic that Raido is good at.”
“Really?”
Lilty blinked.
“I haven’t seen Raido use it much.”
“Oh, is that so?”
Come to think of it, Almark remembered that Raido had used the Spring Water magic in the Spring Cave.
As expected, magic used in actual combat left a strong impression.
“Okay, I’ll try it.”
“Okay.”
Almark stood next to Lilty and transformed the magic power he had put into his staff into water.
“That.”
Water spurted out from the staff, splashing on the floor.
“Okay.”
Lilty nodded.
“You did it.”
“Thank you.”
After stopping the water, Almark turned back to Lilty.
“I wonder.”
“I think it’s good.”
“Um, any advice?”
“Nothing.”
Lilty shook her head.
“Well, you’re good at it.”
“Well.”
Almark looked at Lilty with a confused look.
Lilty looked at Almark with the same expression.
An awkward silence flowed for a while.
“Shall we finish?”
Lilty asked, looking up.
“Hmm…”
Almark groaned.
I wanted to get some concrete advice from Lilty, but I couldn’t force her to say anything when she didn’t have any.
But at least I got Lilty’s approval on the Lightning and Spring Water magics.
She probably had her own studies to study, so maybe it would be better to call it a day.
“I understand, Lilty.”
Almark nodded. “Thank you. Well then, that’s all for today.”
“Ah.”
Lilty suddenly spoke up as if she had just thought of something.
“Almark, I’ve got an idea.”
She said this in her usual whispering voice, and Lilty smiled.
“What is it?”
“Something I can teach you.”
And then, Lilty took Almark’s hand.
“We’re bothering him here, so let’s go outside.”
“Eh?”
Ignoring Almark’s surprise, Lilty pulled Almark’s hand and walked towards the exit.
“W-wait a minute, Lilty.”
But Lilty pulled Almark with a force that didn’t suit her delicate body.
“Teacher, I’m going outside for a bit.”
Almark had no choice but to call out to Illumis and went outside alongside Lilty.
The sun had already set and it was getting dark. After walking away from the school building, Lilty finally stopped in the shade of a tree.
“I guess this is fine.”
She muttered to herself and turned to Almark, who had a confused look on his face.
“Then sing, Almark.”
“Eh?”
Almark’s eyes widen at his sudden words.
“Sing? What?”
“Anything is fine.”
Lilty smiled.
“I’ll put my magic into your singing voice.”
“Put magic into it…?”
Almark looked suspicious for a moment, but then remembered and spoke up.
“Magic chanting technique?”
“Yes.”
Lilty nodded.
“There’s almost no chance it’ll be on the exam, but it’s my favorite magic, so if that’s okay with you.”
She looked up at Almark and said that.
“Turning the song itself into magic…Is that okay?”
“That’s it, Lilty.”
Almark exclaimed happily.
“I was waiting for something more like you.”
“Really?”
Lilty bowed her head with a smile.
“If that’s the case, you should have said so from the beginning.”
Chapter 398 – Melody
“Song?”
Almark crossed his arms.
“I’ve never sung properly.”
“Really?”
Lilty said curiously.
“Even before you came to the academy?”
“Yes.”
Almark nodded.
“Before I came here, I wasn’t in an environment where I could sing.”
Lilty blinked at his words.
“An environment without singing.”
It must be unimaginable for a Lilty whose parents were musicians.
“But then, what happened when you practiced the singing technique in class?”
“I got Morgen, who was paired with me, to sing.”
Almark answered.
“I put that into the cloth.”
“I see.”
“Yeah. I put magic into Nelson’s song when we were practicing the magic of chanting.”
“Right. You didn’t sing it yourself.”
Lilty acted like she was thinking for a moment.
“It’s true that it’s easier to infuse magic into someone else’s singing, and you can concentrate on controlling the magic. But if you infuse magic into your own singing, you can distribute the magic more freely through your singing.”
Lilty’s voice is still as small as ever, but she speaks with a firm tone.
“That’s what you said in class, too.”
Almark nodded.
“But it’s a highly advanced technique.”
“Yeah. Because you’re using magic while singing. It’s hard if you’re not used to it.”
Lilty nods in response.
“But I think it’s actually more advanced to infuse magic into someone else’s song. Of course, if you do it normally, you can infuse magic into it to a certain extent, but the true power of song can’t be unleashed unless the image of the singer and the person infusing it with magic match.”
When talking about favorite music, Lilty also becomes talkative.
“I see, that’s right. On that point, if it’s your own song.”
“Yeah. The image won’t shift when you infuse magical power into it.”
Lilty nodded and smiled at Almark.
“Well, I’ll show you first.”
“You’ll sing?”
Almark also smiled and took a step aside.
“I love your singing.”
Lilty shook her head blushingly, then took a serious look and took a deep breath.
A moment later, a beautiful voice began to flow from Lilty’s mouth.
Almark sighed in admiration.
It was a song about the forest scenery in early summer.
It was the first time Almark had heard that song.
However, as Lilty sang, the image of a majestic landscape spread out before Almark’s eyes.
A great green forest stretching into the distance.
Among them, standing at the base of a huge tree with spreading branches, they listened to the sound of leaves rustling.
As she continued singing, Lilty glanced at Almark.
It was a signal that she was about to infuse her magical power into it.
Lilty’s singing voice took on a mysterious radiance.
Of course, the voice was invisible to the naked eye.
But the change in Lilty’s singing voice could only be described as having become more radiant.
At the same time, Almark felt his heart become lighter.
It was as if he was not in the shade of the trees behind the school building on a winter night, but actually beneath the sunlight filtering through the trees in early summer.
A fresh breeze blew through.
The song freed his heart.
When Lilty finished singing, Almark couldn’t help but applaud.
“Amazing, Lilty. Your singing voice is already amazing, but when you infuse it with magical power it becomes even more so.”
“How effective is the magic?”
Lilty asked in a faint voice, her voice louder than it had been before.
“Did something change after listening to my song?”
“My heart feels so lighter,” Almark replies.
“It’s like my anxiety is fading.”
“That’s good.”
Lilty smiles.
“The power of song is very strong. Sometimes it can have an effect that you don’t expect.”
“Really?”
Almark is amazed.
“But I could see a green forest, just like the lyrics.”
“That’s because you sang it honestly.”
Lilty mutters.
“Of course the lyrics are important, but I think of song as melody.”
“Eh?”
“I’ll sing it again.”
Ignoring Almark’s confusion, Lilty speaks again.
She starts singing the same song as before. But something is different.
The melody is a little sad.
Lilty adds her magic to it.
“Ah.”
Almark couldn’t help but raise his voice.
Lilty’s singing voice enveloped Almark with the sharpness of a sharp blade.
That sense of tension.
What came to Almark’s mind wasn’t the sunlight filtering through the trees in early summer.
A cold dining table in a home somewhere, where your heart freezes.
Watched by his stern-looking mother, a boy timidly reaches for his food.
There was no conversation. The only sound was the short whip of his mother’s whip whenever a child broke one of the dietary rules.
Lilty was singing the same lyrics as before, but what he was shown was a completely different scene.
A dark feeling welled up in Almark’s heart, like a mist.
After Lilty finished singing, Almark looked at her in shock.
“Is it not words?”
“Yes.”
Lilty nodded.
“The power of melody exceeds the power of words. Sometimes melody amplifies the meaning of words, and sometimes it tramples them.”
Words expanded the world.
Those were Norish’s words.
These words resonated with Almark with a strange freshness.
In order to expand the world, Almark had actually carved it out with his own feet, his arms, and his own strength.
But it was not something that was impossible to imagine.
Even Almark knew the power and importance of words.
He had been saved many times by the words of many people.
So, even if he couldn’t immediately understand it intuitively, he was able to understand with his head that such things could happen.
But now, Lilty had given Almark a glimpse.
The power of music.
She had calmly depicted something that was completely contrary to the meaning of the words through melody.
It was a world Almark could not yet imagine.
“Norish isn’t good at this.”
Lilty said as if she had read Almark’s mind.
“That’s because Norish values words very much. She can’t help but get tied down by the meaning of the words in the lyrics.”
“Is it different for you?”
Almark asked.
“Do you sing without being bound by the meaning of the lyrics?”
“I like singing while respecting the meaning of the lyrics the most.”
Lilty answered.
“But you can also sing the lyrics as just sounds.”
“How does that sound as a song?”
“Some people might not think it sounds very good. For people like Norish who value words.”
Lilty laughed a little sadly.
“Maybe it depends on the time and the situation. But if you think of lyrics not as meaningful words, but as just sounds to play a melody.”
Lilty’s eyes looked at Almark with a strange strength.
“You can bring out the power of the melody to its fullest.”
“So, can you do something like what you just did?”
“Yes.”
Lilty nodded.
“When you use magic, you put the magic power into the image you have drawn. It’s the same thing. You put the melody into the image. If it’s close to the meaning of the lyrics, it’s easy to put it, and if it’s far away, it’s difficult. But neither is impossible. That’s all there is to it.”
“What an amazing world.”
Almark shook his head.
“I’d never thought about that. That the melody itself has meaning.”
If you sing about the mountains, you think about the mountains, and if you sing about the sea, you think about the sea. I thought that was natural.
“You may not have thought about it, but I think you’d understand.”
Lilty said.
“You cried listening to the music at the music hall, right? Did that music have lyrics?”
“…It didn’t.”
I see.
The image that spreads just by hearing that song.
When I heard that song, I immediately thought of a group of mercenaries sprinting across the grasslands.
That’s because the melody itself had that meaning and image.
“What if that song had lyrics?”
Lilty said, and looked at Almark.
I don’t know.
Almark shook her head.
Lilty gave a quick smile and began to sing again.
“Mercenaries of the Grasslands”
It was the song from the north that had brought Almark to tears that day.
I was first surprised at how Lilty had effortlessly reproduced the melody of a song she had only heard once.
The lyrics that Lilty sang to that melody were far from what Almark had imagined.
A lover’s meeting. A faint feeling of love.
That was certainly what the words meant. And Lilty was by no means slacking, singing passionately.
But the image of the mercenaries sprinting through the grasslands remained in Almark’s mind. The image of the lovers did not come to mind.
“…How is it?”
After finishing the song, Lilty looked at Almark.
“Amazing.”
Almark answered honestly.
“It’s like the world has changed.”
“I know that’s an exaggeration,”
Lilty smiled.
“But music can change a person’s world.”
That must have been what Lilty’s parents had said.
“I feel like I want to try singing too.”
Almark said.
“Is it okay, Lilty?”
“Yeah.”
Lilty nodded.
“I’d like to hear Almark’s song too.”
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