"About magic, the first misconception you need to abandon is that it's mysterious and incomprehensible," Orville said, pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back. "Magic, like the things it affects, is part of this world. It's as real as heat, sound, or you. The peculiarity of magic is that it seems easy to control, but it's actually full of subtleties.""Easy?" I asked in surprise. "I thought magic was super difficult.""Magic is extremely precise," Orville corrected. "The reason it's so restricted is that once you grasp the basic principles of controlling it, any fool can cast a spell. The problem isn't that casting magic itself is hard, but rather that precisely casting the spell you intend is difficult. When preparing a spell, even the slightest mistake can have consequences ranging from painful to utterly catastrophic. What if you channel too much magical power? Boom! What if you mispronounce the incantation but force it through anyway? Boom! What if you're interrupted during the casting? Boom! This leads to chaotic magic, which often results in explosions or even worse situations.""Why haven't all mages been blown up then?""A few hundred years ago, a clever transmutation mage discovered the cancellation command. These are a type of spell component that you can add to terminate and revoke an ongoing spell, harmlessly dispersing the magical energy you've gathered. Before learning anything else, you must be able to perform the cancellation command flawlessly and consistently.""Spell?" I tilted my head. "I've never heard of anyone chanting spells while casting magic.""Well, you usually don't hear it. The basic principle is this: people gather magical energy into their souls and then shape this energy into the desired form to cast a spell. The magical energy released in a specific form produces a specific effect. However, shaping magical energy is, well, let's just say it's quite complex. You can think of casting a spell as making a puzzle box. When making it, you can't see inside the box; you have to rely on memory to know where each piece is and how it should move. Magical energy will change its form according to almost any external force, and the force that most people find easiest to use is movement. That's why you see people manipulating their fingers when casting spells. It's also possible to use sound, or theoretically something like heat, but that requires extremely fine control and is not very practical. Most people don't have that kind of vocal control. However, occasionally you'll encounter someone who uses sound to cast spells, and I've heard that very skilled mages use both movement and sound, which allows them to shape magical energy more quickly.""Okay, I get it. So I need to learn how to use sound to cast the cancellation command if for some reason I can't manipulate my fingers, right?""Pretty much, yes," Orville confirmed."So how do I draw magical energy into my soul?""Well, not yet. As I said, you have to learn the cancellation command first. Only after that will I teach you to practice channeling magical energy. People like Penelope have it easier; natural mages have a talent for this. You'll have to work hard like me. It will take some time until your soul has enough magical capacity to cast real magic."I tried not to show my embarrassment. Telling him the truth would definitely be a bad idea, but misleading him felt pretty bad too. Ah, I'll just take it one step at a time, I thought.For the next few hours, I was in the corner of the training ground, practicing hand movements with Orville. I understood why this kind of thing took time to master; half the time, I couldn't even tell the difference between the correct hand movements and those that seemed only slightly different but were actually completely wrong. Penelope sat there waiting for us to practice. As time slowly passed, she looked a bit bored, but she never complained once. Occasionally she would give a little suggestion, but most of the time it was just Orville and me practicing.As time went by, it became increasingly difficult for me to practice. Before long, I was doing worse than an hour ago, and Orville told me to stop."I think that's enough for today," he said. "You look exhausted, Vita. Are you okay?""I'm fine, just a bit tired," I replied."No wonder," Penelope said. "She was up all night watching me.""What? Vita! No wonder you can't concentrate!" Orville exclaimed."I'm fine, really.""You're not fine! You didn't get much sleep on the mission, and now you're not sleeping?""I have to keep an eye on that parasite.""Vita, you need to sleep," Orville insisted. "I can watch Penelope for a bit.""You can't see the parasite," I retorted."Then we'll stay by your side and wake you up if Penelope does anything strange."I glanced at Penelope, who smiled at me and gave me a thumbs-up."...I wouldn't be able to sleep even if you did," I said flatly. When did she learn to give a thumbs-up?Orville rolled his eyes."Come on, Vita, it'll be fine. Trust me."But things might not actually be fine. There really was no one else who could do what I could do. If I fell asleep and something happened, I would never forgive myself. I felt like I was missing something obvious, like there was a key part of the slime monster puzzle that I hadn't noticed, and I would definitely regret it later. But at the same time, I couldn't deny that I was almost too tired to stay conscious. I had to sleep eventually; I had to trust someone at some point."...Alright," I muttered, getting up from the ground. "I'll go to sleep. Just... keep an eye on her for me, okay? Please. And wake me up if Remus comes back."I trudged up the stairs with heavy steps, Orville and Penelope following behind. I pretended not to hear their whispered conversation behind me."Are you feeling okay?" Orville asked."Yeah, I'm fine. At least I don't think there's anything wrong with me.""But about this parasite thing, do you trust her judgment?""She's just following Remus's orders. And it's always better to be cautious than to let your guard down and think everything is fine. Do you know what the casualty rate for hunter expedition teams is?""...About forty percent?""For newly formed teams, yes. I'm not taking this lightly."Well, at least they didn't think I was completely crazy. Maybe my paranoia was just due to lack of sleep, but... unless I was hallucinating, the slime monster's soul was definitely growing larger...I returned to my room and, without any embarrassment, took off my outer clothes. I was about to throw the dress onto the bed when I suddenly remembered it was probably more valuable than I was. My face turned red, and I looked back at Penelope and Orville, who had politely turned away, silently asking what to do with the dress. Penelope smiled, came over, and took the dress, allowing me to get into bed without any awkwardness.I really, really hoped that when I woke up tomorrow, there wouldn't be any slime monsters in my head. I grabbed Roscoe (probably some kind of doll or toy), held him tightly, curled up, and quickly fell asleep, my little bird friend accompanying me into dreamland.———"Vita's asleep."Penelope's slightly discontented words, however, woke me up. I blinked in annoyance and looked around. It was light when I went to sleep, and it was still light now, but it felt like I had slept for a very, very long time. I must have slept through the last island flying overhead, and then some."Then wake her up," Remus's voice came through, but by this point, I was already fully awake and on high alert.I could sense him just outside the door; the parasitic soul within him was almost as big as his original soul... and now there were two parasites inside him. Damn it! Damn it! I jumped out of bed, quickly put on my armor, and made sure my spear and dagger were within reach, just in case."Oh, that did wake her up," Penelope said."Good, we need to get going and take her with us.""Uh... okay?"I wasn't disturbed by anything else and got dressed as quickly as possible, feeling like I had set a record. It seemed like someone had taken the time to clean my things while I was asleep and then put them back in their original places; they were quite considerate. Remus politely waited outside the girls' dormitory, and I quickly checked to make sure I had everything. Goodness, this was all so sudden; where had he been before?"Ready to go, sir! What do you need me to do?" I reported."Vita, do you feel anything different?" Remus asked urgently."Sir, you now have two parasites inside you," I said while quickly checking internally.Oh, damn! I seem to have one inside me too — no, wait, that's just the soul I absorbed from the slime monster Remus killed in the forest. False alarm. I tried moving it around inside me and then moved it outside to confirm; yes, the slime monster souls inside me were all completely dead. I was safe for the moment.
