Chapter 152

As she spoke, Livra raised her hand to demonstrate her current condition.

【Low-rank Water Element】.

A small water sphere formed along with droplets swirling, gathering in Livra’s palm. But just from this alone, her expression turned solemn, and it was clear that she was struggling.

Ssshhh—

In the end, the water sphere never solidified. Its shape grew increasingly irregular before bursting apart.

—splashing water all over Sheffy’s face.

“Ah… sorry! Miss Shaya, are you alright?!”

“It’s fine. I wouldn’t be defeated by just a bit of water magic, it’s just a little unlucky.”

Sheffy pressed her palm against her small face, wiping the droplets that had covered her cheeks from top to bottom.

Her damp silver hair clung to the side of her face, and she didn’t notice how Livra suddenly swallowed nervously, because Sheffy was lost in thought.

“It shouldn’t be like this… Just now, when you used magic, your magic density was fairly high. Why couldn’t you cast it?”

“Uu… I don’t know either. Attack magic, defensive magic, I can’t do them well…”

Livra was never one to slack off.

Every morning she would go to the target behind the bedchamber and practice the basic 【Fireball Spell】, not missing a single day.

And yet, after over ten years, that target was still as new as ever.

Sheffy muttered quietly to herself.

“Could it be… that the direction is wrong? Oh right, Livra, you said you could talk with birds, right?”

“It’s not talking, it’s more like I can sense what they mean.”

“That’s close enough. Language exists for communication in the first place. If you can directly understand their meaning, then language itself becomes unnecessary. Other than birds, have you tried communicating with other creatures?”

“I have, I have…! I even tried with snails!”

“You crossed species that much?!”

“Mm, I tried asking a snail that had crawled far away to crawl back, and it really did come back… though it took a long time…”

“Word Spirit Arts…?”

“Salt… salt what?”

“Livra.”

“Mm?”

Sheffy suddenly stood up.

Her slightly widened eyes carried a glimmer of expectation, as though some kind of hope was flickering within them.

Sheffy impatiently pointed toward the lake surface and pushed Livra to the lakeside.

“Quick, try it, try it! Livra, just imagine that you can speak with the big fish in the lake, then tell them to leap out of the water! Go on, try it!”

“Ah…? Will that really work…? Well, since Miss Shaya says so… I’ll give it a try.”

Livra calmed her heart and mind.

She clasped her hands before her chest and faced the tranquil lake surface. Like a prayer, she remained utterly still and serene.

With Sheffy beside her, Livra rarely felt so at ease and focused.

The wind lifted the girl’s dark hair, blending her peerless beauty with the shimmering brilliance of the lakeshore. Within the calm, it was breathtaking.

As if no matter how long she stood there, the scenery would remain frozen in beauty, letting the tranquility last forever.

But then…

Sheffy narrowed her eyes.

She noticed that the lakeside was beginning to change.

At first, it was only ripples spreading across the calm surface.

Soon after, bubbles began to rise from the lake.

And finally…

With a great splash, a large fish leapt out of the water, flopping and struggling onto the shore…

Hot on its tail came another, and another—dozens, even hundreds of large fish surged wildly upward.

The sight was truly spectacular!

Amid this scene, as though heaven itself were raining down fish, Sheffy jumped high in excitement.

She gave Livra a big thumbs-up, her joy impossible to conceal!

“Livra, you’ve seriously underestimated yourself! This is a divine skill! Absolutely a divine skill!”

“Eh?!”

62. An Uninvited Guest?

For a fisherman, nothing could be more blissful than this moment.

Sheffy, beaming with delight, swiftly ran along the lakeshore collecting the lively, flapping fish, tossing them into her expanded 【Storage Magic】. The joy of such an abundant harvest was incomparable!

Livra just stood there in a daze, unable to comprehend what had happened.

By the time Sheffy had swept up every fish along the lakeside like autumn wind scattering fallen leaves, she wiped a bead of sweat and returned to Livra, looking every bit like a capable little fish-hunting girl.

“Phew… not bad, not bad. Livra, you did great.”

“R-really…? But Miss Shaya, I feel like this ability of mine isn’t useful at all…”

“Nonsense! How dare you belittle yourself! I’m willing to call you the strongest in the world!”

“The strongest…! I understand now, Teacher Shaya! I won’t belittle myself again!”

“Good, that’s the spirit!”

“But I still feel like my ability is completely useless!”

“You little brat!”

Uu, Livra really did feel it wasn’t useful.

She had long known she could communicate with small animals, but when it came to actual combat, she couldn’t exactly command cute little birds or rabbits to perform reckless charges against enemies, could she?!

That wouldn’t be an attack—it would be delivering food to the enemy.

Livra thought of small animals as her friends… she couldn’t possibly let them die in vain. And besides, even if they did, their attacks would hardly have any effect…

The big fish: You might want to take a look at whether what you just thought and what you just did are the same thing.

Just from Livra’s tangled and lonely expression, Sheffy could already guess what she was probably thinking.

Ah, well, there was no helping it. The environment she lived in had determined her outlook.

Think about it: she was a princess of the kingdom, not from a family of generals. The teachers who had once taught her magic likely never tried to explore her potential. They must have just gone through the motions, treating it as a formality.

For nobles, learning magic was just for amusement. Even if she mastered it, would they ever actually want a princess to fight on the battlefield, risking her life to protect the country?

This was the difference between the values of the Demon Clan and the Human race. The Demon Clan revered strength, and naturally, a princess was expected to lead at the forefront.

And as for a human princess?

Managing government affairs, cultivating herself, living a comfortable life in the bedchamber—wasn’t that enough?

Unfortunately, Livra didn’t want to accept such ideas that had been forcefully imposed on her.

She still wanted to live as the person she wished to become.

And so, Sheffy did not hesitate to act as her true enlightenment teacher.

What they never taught you, then let me reluctantly be the one to tell you~

“In my judgment, your ability should belong to a type of 【Word Spirit Arts】. This ability is quite rare. Even within the Demon Clan, not many have been seen.”

“Word Spirit Arts?”

“Among your Human race, there are probably very few records at all… Word Spirit Arts means that you can use your own magic to convey commands to living beings. That command’s magic is like threads, and the living beings are like puppets. To control all things through words and make them fight—that is how a Word Spirit Arts user battles.”

“This… this is the first I’ve ever heard of it… But isn’t this very dangerous? If a Word Spirit Arts user used this magic to control humans, wouldn’t that be…!”

“Oh, oh, I forgot to mention. This magic can’t control beings with high intelligence, such as humans. It can only control little fish, little birds, kittens, and puppies.”

“Then isn’t it still completely useless?!”

Livra deeply realized that perhaps she might never have a day to shine.

However.

Sheffy stepped forward.

She raised her hand, shaping it like a knife, intending to lightly knock Livra on the forehead.

But when her hand lifted into the air, Sheffy frowned slightly.

“…Tsk, too tall, I can’t reach. Lower your head a bit.”

“Oh, alright… ow!”

I actually lowered my head on my own just to let you hit me!

Sheffy gave Livra no time to reflect on the foolish moment she had just committed.

Instead, words heavy with meaning had already left her lips.

“You can’t use Word Spirit Arts to control highly intelligent beings… but, I never said this magic couldn’t work on high-rank magical beasts, did I?”

“!”

“That’s why I told you from the beginning—don’t belittle yourself. You have tremendous potential.”

This world did not only have those cute little animals.

In uninhabited deserts, rainforests, snowy mountains, and even molten magma, all kinds of powerful magical beasts dwelled.

For instance, dragons—one of the pinnacles among magical beast species in this world. It was said that an adult dragon was enough to rival a Five-Winged Demon, or a Human around the Ninth Rank.

Unlike the various races of the world that formed their own communities, these dragons lived isolated in wilderness far from settlements, almost entirely cut off from society.

Of course, that was referring to high-rank magical beasts. As for low-rank magical beasts like slimes, they could be found everywhere.

“They possess intelligence, but what’s strange is… the magic of a Word Spirit Arts user can still affect them.”

And furthermore, Livra—your potential did not end there.

A typical Word Spirit Arts user could only control a few creatures at most, since the “threads of magic” couldn’t sustain too many at the same time.

But Sheffy clearly remembered what she had just seen: the number of birds circling around Livra had been at least several dozen.

And the fish that had leapt from the lake just now… must have already exceeded a hundred.

Livra herself might not have realized what this meant, but Sheffy understood it very well.

“Another day, I’ll go and catch you a Three-Headed Lion Beast. We’ll see if you really have that kind of potential.”

“A Three-Headed Lion Beast…? Ah! Isn’t that the most terrifying and ferocious magical beast on the western side of the Demon Domain?! If I can’t do it… Miss Shaya, surely… you’d help me a little, right?”

“Don’t count on any lucky breaks. Didn’t you say you wanted to rely entirely on yourself~? If you can’t do it, then just get eaten~”

“Damn it, it’s only been a few days, why do I feel like I’m facing death all over again…”

But still…

I will do my best!

…………………………………

The grand and radiant cathedral, shining in brilliance, echoed with sacred hymns, the colors of its stained glass reflecting off one another.

A priest steadily holding the holy scripture heard footsteps approaching from the depths of the cathedral. With reverence, he carefully closed the book, turned, and withdrew.

From the four corners of the resplendent cathedral, crescent-shaped golden ornaments hung, swaying without wind, colliding with one another like wind chimes, producing a crisp echo.

And when the footsteps stopped in the empty cathedral, all sound vanished, and in an instant, everything fell into a deathly silence.

Pope Gustana VII, holding his scepter, halted at the very center where the stained glass light converged.

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