Volume 2Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – Magic Lessons and Royalty

I’m in the ducal house’s carriage with Lady Catherine, on the road to the royal palace. A few weeks have gone by since I cured Her Highness’s illness. That day I went straight back to the ducal house and home to my family the day after, and then a letter came from the ducal house with the schedule for the princess’s lessons in it, so yesterday I came back here again. She’s recovered steadily, and by all accounts she’s well enough now that a magic lesson won’t do her any harm. Which is the best news there is.

“To be allowed to come along with you. I am honored. You are going to teach me healing magic as well, are you not?”

“I cannot promise it will be of any use to you, Lady Catherine, but I shall do my best to teach you.”

“There is no need to be modest. You cured Her Highness’s illness and Alban’s besides. You are a far better hand at it than I shall ever be. I have been looking forward to today enormously.”

“It means a great deal to hear you say so. Thank you.”

On the day I cured Her Highness, Lord Richard and I sat down with Lady Catherine at the ducal house and took her through the whole course of things. She was overjoyed that the illness was gone, and even more delighted, if anything, at the news that she’d be learning healing magic alongside the princess. Lord Richard says she’s always been like that: curious to a fault and mad for anything new.

And it’s true that Lady Catherine’s eye goes a bit predatory now and then. When it does I want to put some distance between us. Well. She isn’t a bad person.

I swayed along in the carriage with her, and after a while we arrived at the palace. We got down and a palace servant showed us through the building to a drawing room, and Lord Alexis and Her Highness were inside.

“Your Majesty. Your Highness. It has been a long while.”

“Yes, yes. There’s no need to stand on ceremony to that extent. It has been a while, Catherine.”

“Lady Catherine. It has been a long while.”

Lady Catherine did the greeting; I’m officially her attendant, so I stood behind her and waited quietly. There followed a stretch of greetings and pleasant nothings, and at the first gap in the talk Lord Alexis cleared the room.

“Everyone withdraw. The techniques Catherine is to teach must not spread in a garbled form, and for that they had better not be overheard by a crowd.”

“Just so, Your Majesty. Healing magic touches human life directly, and I believe the danger of inaccurate knowledge spreading should be shut out as far as it can be. …However, my attendant is needed for the teaching of magic, so I should be grateful if he were allowed to stay.”

“Very well. Then all of you except Catherine’s attendant may withdraw.”

Whatever they made of that, it satisfied them, and out they went. The door was shut and there were four of us left in the room.

“Leon. You may sit on the sofa.”

“Thank you. Excuse me, then.”

I sat down, a little tense with it. Palaces get to me when it’s been a while.

“Martine, I came myself because today is the first of them, but from the next time you are to clear the room yourself. The reason has been given now, so it should go smoothly enough.”

“Certainly. Thank you, Father.”

Her Highness looks entirely well again. She’s filled out a little and she’s very pretty with it, and she seems a shade older than she did the day she came to our restaurant, with more of that fineness about her. It’s honestly an unfair face to have. And when she smiles, multiply that by ten…

“Leon. Thank you for coming all this way.”

I was in the middle of that idiotic train of thought when Lord Alexis spoke to me. I jumped a little, and turned to him with as level a face as I could manage so nobody would guess what I’d been thinking about. We were on two-seater sofas facing each other, Her Highness across from me, Lord Alexis across from Lady Catherine.

“Not at all. It is no trouble.”

“I should like to ask for about once a week from here on. Will that do? And for you, Catherine?”

“I am free at any time, Your Majesty.”

“The same for me.”

“Then that’s settled. Once a week from now on, and would you come on Healing Day?”

“Certainly.”

A week in this country is five days, if I have it right: Fire Day, Water Day, Wind Day, Earth Day, Healing Day, and around again. So the lessons come once every five days. Now that I think about it, I still don’t know how many days or months make a year here. It’s never once come up. Leon’s own memories and his age tell me a year exists as a unit, and past that I’ve got nothing.

Well, the chance to find out will come along. For now I’ll make sure I have the week straight.

“Then let us have today’s lesson without more delay. May I listen in as well?”

“Of course. Then I shall begin. First of all, are you aware that the mana a spell costs can be brought down by the image you hold?”

“I heard a little of it from Leon the other day, but I did not know it before that. We are certainly taught that a spell will not fire unless the image is firm. That the image improves how efficiently the mana goes, I have never heard.”

That was Her Highness answering.

“Nor have I ever heard such a thing.”

If the King of the country doesn’t know it, then it isn’t known in this country at all.

“Very well. Then, Your Highness, Lady Catherine, you both use magic of the healing attribute to close a wound, I think. Do you know why a wound closes in the first place?”

“Why…? Is it not because magic was used?”

She said it as though it were the plainest thing in the world. Magic exists here and it’s tremendously convenient, so probably nobody’s ever thought hard about why the thing happens at all. The reason is that it was magic, and that closes the question.

“But a wound will heal in time even without healing magic. Have you ever wondered why?”

“A wound heals without healing magic?!”

Er… we’re starting from there?! Royalty and the high nobility must have a magic user standing by who closes so much as a scratch on the spot. I suppose that’d mean never once seeing anything heal on its own. But there are servants and guards about, surely?

“When you were hurt, was it always healed with healing magic?”

“It was cast on me at once, always. And I hardly ever came to any harm to begin with.”

Fair enough, if you never handle a knife. Royalty really is something else.

“What about the guard knights, and the maids?”

“They were all healed at once as well.”

Never to have seen a wound close by itself. What an environment to grow up in… they must be curing genuinely trivial cuts.

“Your Highness, then here is the thing I would ask you to learn today. A wound will close without healing magic. Healing magic is more like a hand held out to help it.”

“I see…”

“Yes. And if you understand the mechanism by which a body heals itself, and hold that as your image while you use healing magic, the mana it costs comes down.”

From there I explained natural healing as far as I understand it myself. They’d almost no idea how a body is put together, so getting it across was hard going, but I think in the end they had it. My knowledge is shabby enough, but next to knowing nothing at all it’s got to be an improvement.

I’d been sure today would be the day somebody asked where I got it from, and I had a whole set of excuses lined up: a traveler told me, I read it in a book. In the event nobody asked, and the lesson went along smoothly.

“I think I have the shape of it!”

“I understood it as well. I should like to try it in earnest.”

“I am glad.”

Over an hour to get them there. Still, it landed. Practice next, and since I can hardly put a cut on royalty or nobility it’ll have to be my own finger…

“I think the best thing would be for me to cut my finger a little and have you try it on that. Does anyone have a blade?”

“I have one.”

Lord Alexis produced a smallish knife from inside his coat, and lent it to me. Is this the hidden blade for when things go wrong? Terrifying. Right. Best not to think about it.

I took the knife gingerly and cut my finger.

“Then, Your Highness, if you would begin. Fix the image firmly first.”

“Leon, does it not hurt?”

She seems genuinely worried about my having cut myself.

“It is quite all right. Though I would be grateful if you healed it sooner rather than later.”

“Yes. I shall do my best.”

Her Highness used Heal, and my fingertip glowed faintly, and when the light went out the cut was gone without a trace.

“How was the mana?”

“Astonishing! It took far less than it usually does. If I could normally use the spell once, I believe I could manage four more times.”

Which makes it about a fifth of what it cost her before. Total success. Lady Catherine tried it after her and brought the cost down the same way.

Both of them managed it, which is the main thing. Though I’m extremely tired. Teaching somebody who knows nothing at all, from the beginning, is this hard. Compulsory schooling back in Japan deserves more credit than I ever gave it. We’ll finish here for today; cramming too much in at one go would only muddle it, and I’ve had enough.

Curing illness starts next time, I suppose. Not that being taught means she can do it. The real problem is mana capacity. With something like a cold, would healing it a little at a time over several goes get there? Well, that’s for next time too.

“Then let us finish here for today. Please practice before the next lesson.”

“I will! Leon, thank you, truly.”

“I am glad Your Highness is pleased.”

“You need not be so distant with me… Leon, will you not call me Martine? And you may leave off the formal speech. Since you are my teacher now, ought I to be calling you sir?”

No, no, no, there’s no possible way of doing that to a princess! And I haven’t done enough to have anybody call me their teacher…

“I could not possibly call Your Highness by name alone. Please let it stay as it has been.”

“…Well. Perhaps that cannot be changed just yet. But we shall become better friends than this, shall we not?”

Her Highness smiled at me, wide and warm. That’s the smile I’ve got no defense against! I felt my face going red and dropped my eyes in a hurry, and just at the right moment Lord Alexis cut into the conversation.

“Leon. Do these images of yours exist for magic besides healing? If you are willing, would you teach me the image for fire magic?”

Now? I’d like to say no, because I’m tired, except I’m going to be in Lord Alexis’s debt for a long time yet, so… right. Nothing for it. A bit more effort.

“Certainly.”

From there I explained the idea of air, and of oxygen. Another hour or so. It was worth the trouble, though, because Lord Alexis appears to have got it thoroughly. Explaining a concept this world simply doesn’t have is genuinely hard work.

“Now, if you would make a small Fireball.”

“Very well. …Ah. That’s remarkable. The mana it costs has come down to something like a tenth.”

Lord Alexis marveled at it, and then his face went difficult and he sat silent. He must be turning over how far this ought to spread. Spreading it carelessly could strengthen an enemy, which is what makes it dangerous.

“Leon. What is your own view on spreading this method?”

“Yes. For the present I do not intend to spread it widely. It would strengthen our enemies as well, and I think that is dangerous. But I do believe it may be taught to people who can be trusted, as it was today.”

Lord Alexis nodded at that as though it settled something, and his face eased a little.

“Good. I’d thought the same. And when Leon graduates from the Royal Academy, I should like you to take up the work of teaching people how to use magic. Only those I trust and those you trust, of course.”

When I graduate from the Royal Academy. I haven’t even enrolled and my career after graduation is being settled?! Honestly, something that far off is beyond me, but it isn’t a bad offer. And I do think Lord Alexis can be trusted.

“It is still a long way off, so I cannot promise anything for certain, but I think I would be glad to take it on.”

“Truly?! Thank you. Then until that time, take care not to let it be widely known.”

“Certainly.”

“Though you say a long way off. It isn’t so very long.”

The Royal Academy runs five years, so it seems fairly long to me…

“The Royal Academy holds a graduation examination at the end of every winter, and the students of every year sit it. Whoever passes graduates, so a first-year who passes graduates in one year. Three or four years is the usual, but there are those who graduate in one. My own opinion is that Leon will graduate in one.”

So that’s how it works. Interesting. But I’d rather he didn’t expect that much of me. I’m not actually clever. All I have is the memory of having studied in Japan and the thinking power of a grown adult. I may have to go at that graduation examination for dear life…

“I had no idea that was the system. I shall work hard.”

“Yes. I can arrange you any number of positions, so put your back into it. My own aide would do… though that’s hardly possible straight away, so perhaps assistant to the Chancellor…”

Somehow my career is being decided in a place I have no part in. I’m grateful, I’m extremely grateful, but this is too sudden and much too early!

“Well, there’s more than a year yet. I shall think about it. To change the subject: my wife and Martine’s twin brother would like to thank you today, and to make you a gift as well. Would you meet them after this? Both of them know everything about your abilities, so there is nothing to worry about.”

The two of them, which means the Queen and the Prince?! And Her Highness is a twin, with an elder brother at that. That’s another thing I never knew. I’ve met so many extraordinary people lately that my sense of it has gone strange. I know perfectly well that it’s extraordinary, and I’m less startled than I was. Which is probably better for my nerves, if anything. Going tense over every single one of them would finish me off.

“I have no objection at all to meeting them. Only, as for thanks, I have already received what Lord Alexis has given me, and that is more than enough…”

“Do not say so. Take it. What I gave you has no shape to it, and she’s been throwing herself into choosing the gift with tremendous energy.”

Lord Alexis said it with a wry smile. A present a royal has thrown themselves into is a frightening thing to be handed. It’ll be something expensive, won’t it? I’ve got a strong feeling I’ll have no idea what to do with it. But there’s no refusing, obviously.

“Certainly. Then, gratefully…”

“Thank you. I shall call my valet in, so would you go back to being Catherine’s attendant?”

“Certainly.”

Once I was in place as Lady Catherine’s attendant again, Lord Alexis rang the bell, called his valet and asked him to fetch the two of them. We waited a while, and then two people came into the room giving off a royal aura you could feel: a woman with very beautiful golden hair and pink eyes, and a cool-looking boy with golden hair and blue eyes. This has to be Her Highness’s twin brother, the elder of the two, though for twins their faces aren’t all that alike. The prince takes after Lord Alexis and Her Highness after the Queen.

The two of them sat down on a sofa and Lord Alexis sent the servants out again, which left the royal family, Lady Catherine and me: a set of people that rather raises the question of what I’m doing among them. The aura is a bit much. My stomach is starting to hurt…

“I am Elisabeth Lathlasia, First Queen.”

“Stephane Lathlasia, First Prince.”

So Martine’s twin brother is the First Prince. Which makes him very likely the next king.

“Lady Elisabeth. Your Highness. It has been a long while.”

“I am honored to meet you. My name is Leon.”

Lady Catherine and I made our greetings in turn, and I sat down again on the sofa I was shown to. I might have been less tense standing.

“There is no need to be so formal. Today is not a public occasion. I wanted very much to thank you myself, Leon. You saved Martine’s life, and I am grateful from the heart. Thank you.”

“Leon. I should like to thank you as well. You saved my younger sister’s life, and I am grateful for it.”

Both of them bowed their heads to me as they said it. Being bowed to by royalty is something I can’t sit still under. All of you, please stop bowing to me!

“Er, please raise your heads. I am truly glad that I could help Her Highness.”

“Yes. Thank you, truly. …I have had a great many gifts prepared for today. I do hope you will like them.”

In front of Lady Elisabeth, as she said it, was the pile of things a maid had carried in a little earlier. That surely can’t all be gifts. If it is, it’s far too much!

“Er… the truth is that I have already received thanks from Lord Alexis…”

“Oh, thanks from Alexis and thanks from me are quite separate things.”

Are they. They look much the same from where I’m sitting. Still, refusing would be the greater discourtesy, so I’d better take them honestly and be glad.

“Then I shall accept them gratefully. To be given gifts by Her Highness the Queen is a very great honor.”

“I am glad they please you. And Leon, you are to call me Elisabeth, too. You use Alexis’s name, and Martine’s.”

“That goes for me as well. You may call me Stephane.”

Why does the royal family of this country all want me using their names? Well, never mind. I’m going to stop thinking about it too hard.

“Certainly. Then I shall call you Lady Elisabeth and Lord Stephane.”

“Do that. Now then, let us begin handing over the gifts!”

Lady Elisabeth’s face as she said it was shining with enjoyment. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

“I chose every one of them with real care, so I shall explain them one at a time.”

Thoroughly pleased with herself, she picked up the gift nearest to hand. She isn’t going to take all of them one at a time, is she?! There’s no telling how many hours that would run to. But a request from the Queen isn’t a thing you refuse.

The only person who can stop Lady Elisabeth is Lord Alexis. I turned my eyes to him on that thought, met his for an instant, and watched them slide casually away. Lord Alexis, you aren’t going to stop her?! Don’t tell me the King of this country is under his wife’s thumb?! No good. There’s nobody here who can stop Lady Elisabeth. It’s an honor, when all is said, so let’s be introduced to them…

“Thank you very much. I am looking forward to seeing what they are.”

I got a pleasant smile onto my face with some effort. It probably came out stiff at the edges…

“This is the first. It is a brooch, but it is made of a magic stone rather than a jewel. A magic stone changes color according to the mana you put into it, which makes it a very fine ornament. And it will cast nothing at all unless it is set into magic iron, so there is no need for concern.”

They turn a precious magic stone into jewelry. I’d rather make it into a magic tool. And this brooch is worth a fortune, probably.

“It is very beautiful. If it turns so many colors, it should be possible to match it to the color of one’s clothes.”

“Just so! You can change the color to suit the mood of the day as well. I do think it is worth having one.”

“Thank you. I shall take it.”

“Yes. Then the next. Next is this clothing. I had it made by our own tailor. The finest thread there is, worked up into something truly splendid.”

Right. That’s very splendid indeed. Isn’t that the sort of thing Lord Stephane wears? Handing it to me is no use to anybody. I can’t picture a single occasion for it: you couldn’t wear anything that splendid even to a formal occasion, and wearing it as ordinary clothes is out of the question…

“I am very grateful, but I cannot think of an occasion where I would wear this…”

“Oh, but Leon is to be given noble standing once he graduates from the Royal Academy, is he not? I heard that you asked it of Alexis as thanks for curing Martine.”

I did say I wanted standing. Is it already settled that I get a noble title?

“Would standing as a noble be given to a commoner as easily as that?”

“Not as easily as that, no. But Leon has an achievement behind him, and he looks likely to leave a great many more. I think standing as a noble is well within reach. Is that not so, Alexis?”

“It is. Once he graduates from the Royal Academy it’ll be possible. To begin with, every attribute alone makes ennoblement possible on graduation. I have a number of things in mind, so look forward to it.”

“Yes… thank you.”

A number of things. I’m pleased, and also a little frightened. In my head I’d been picturing a knighthood, or a baron’s title, something in the lower ranks. Does an outfit like this mean something further up? It’s plainly clothing that would look wrong on anybody below a ducal house.

Standing is worth having, but the duties that come with it must be heavy, and moderate would suit me. Things are going to get difficult from here. No, they’re already difficult…

“You would do well to keep this clothing carefully. It has been made on the large side, so have it altered when the time comes to wear it.”

“Certainly. Thank you very much.”

“Then the next. Next is…”

After that the introduction of the gifts ran on for over an hour. Splendid ornaments and clothes, and cloth not yet made up into anything. Every one of them is a wonderful thing and I’m grateful, but I’m also very tired. Everybody else looks fairly tired too. Lord Alexis, Lord Stephane and Her Highness all had a wry smile on, so Lady Elisabeth running away with herself may well be a regular event. She must simply love clothes and ornaments.

“That is all of them. Have they pleased you?”

“Yes. To be given so many splendid things at once… thank you, truly. I shall use every one of them with care.”

Lady Elisabeth is smiling, thoroughly satisfied. That’s that, at any rate.

“It would look odd for these to have been given to Leon, so shall we box them all up and have Catherine carry them back to the ducal house as gifts from Elisabeth to her? Catherine is to be teaching Martine healing magic, so a gift is nothing out of the way.”

Lord Alexis put that in once he had confirmed that Lady Elisabeth was satisfied.

“Certainly. I shall carry them back on that footing and have them stored carefully in Leon’s room at the ducal house.”

They’ll keep them at the ducal house. That’s a relief. Taking this lot back to my own house would be terrifying, security being what it is. At the ducal house I can be easy about it.

“Is that all right with you as well, Leon?”

“Yes. Storing them at my house would be difficult, so that helps me a great deal.”

“Then let it be done that way.”

With the keeping of the gifts settled, the air finally turned toward an ending.

“Then, since a good deal of time has gone, let us close here. Leon, Catherine, will you come again in a week?”

“Certainly.”

“Thank you. Leon, back to playing Catherine’s attendant.”

I took my place at Lady Catherine’s shoulder as her attendant again, and Lord Alexis rang the bell for the valets and the guards.

“These parcels are to go to the ducal house, so I should like them carried out to the carriage.”

At Lady Catherine’s word several palace servants were brought in and carried the parcels out. I took one myself and followed her out of the room.

“Then we shall take our leave of you all. I shall come again in a week.”

“Yes. We shall expect you.”

We made our way back to the carriage, and I returned to the ducal house with Lady Catherine. Once we were back it was settled that the guest room I’ve always used is to be mine and nobody else’s, and the gifts were all carried into it. I looked the whole pile over again, and it really is nothing but splendid things. I can’t believe this room is my room.

“Roger. These are all extremely fine things, aren’t they.”

“Yes. The quality is such that there would be nothing amiss with them in a ducal house.”

I thought as much. The title I’m going to be given is frightening all over again. I’d better start now on becoming a person who deserves it, even a little.

Then, with the tidying finished, I went home to my family that same day. The next lesson is in a week. Today’s tired me out thoroughly, and until then I mean to take it easy at home.