Chapter 11 – Gasping for Breath
White Fang by TomatoRoux
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Chapter 11
 
 
After the excitement over my summoned bread died down, I spent the rest of the night visiting with Ange and Willow before falling asleep on my new bed. It wasn't nearly as comfortable as the memory-foam mattress I'd had on Earth, but I knew expecting anything of that level would be outlandish.
 
The next day, Ange woke Willow and me, helped us both dress, and then guided us to the dining room for breakfast. Of course, before breakfast could be served, Ange insisted I summon more bread, acting a bit like a scolded puppy when I playfully refused. Apparently, her pride as an adult woman went out the door when tasty food was involved, a weakness I made note of for later.
 
“I've procured a set of wooden practice swords,” Ange noted as I finished my food. “Would you like to have our duel now?”
 
“Eh?” Was it really wise to exercise right after eating? I frowned and considered it, but ultimately decided my body was high-spec enough that I'd be fine. If Ange made herself sick, that was her fault. “Alright, let's go.”
 
“Take it easy on her,” Alex said as I stood to follow Ange outside.
 
“Don't worry, I'd never do anything to harm your daughter,” Ange replied.
 
I'm pretty sure that comment was directed at me, but oh well...
 
I gave Alex a wink and then went out into the yard with Ange. Laying White Fang on a stone bench so its passive buffs wouldn't affect me I took a wooden longsword from Ange and moved a few feet away from her. As the two of us stared one another down, Alex and Willow came out to spectate.
 
“So, what are the rules?” I asked Ange, giving my sword a few practice swings. Despite having never held a sword in real life, my body moved as if holding one was the most natural thing in the world. Yet another silent benefit of being reborn as my paladin character.
 
“Try to avoid serious injuries, first one to yield loses,” Ange replied, grinning happily. “You can make the first move, Liz.”
 
Letting me make the first move was a huge mistake. There was no doubt in my mind that I could snap Ange's sword and have my blade at her throat in seconds if I didn't hold back, which left me with a quandary. I didn't want to crush her spirit, and a quick challenge-less fight was boring. Seriously, I never understood the players who'd go hunting low-level characters for sport.
 
Thankfully this was a problem my magic could fix. As quietly as I could I spoke the slow spell under my breath, targeting myself. In the game it added to the cooldown of all non-magical abilities, making it critical for any spellcaster who needed to take down a tankier rival. Here, it made my body feel heavy, as if gravity had just doubled around me. With this, I could fight on Ange's level... probably.
 
Darting forward I swung my sword downward with both hands. It was an easy move to block, and Ange did so perfectly. Turning her sword to the side she caught my blade, and then pirouetted past me to take a swing at my unguarded back. Thrusting my sword over my shoulder, I blocked her blade, and then rolled forward to avoid a follow-up attack.
 
The two of us continued to exchange blows, with Ange showing off some incredibly impressive footwork. I should've expected this given that she used a rapier as her sword of choice, but her entire fighting style was based around finesse and speed. Her style gave her a serious advantage against my magically slowed body, but not enough to turn the tide in her favor. The two of us remained deadlocked.
 
“I'm impressed. To be this good at your age,” Ange chuckled, wiping sweat from her brow. “Even my father in his prime would've had difficulty scoring a clean hit on you.”
 
“You're good too, Ange,” I smiled, wiping away my own sweat. Ange was better than I gave her credit for, but it wasn't enough. My spell was about to end, and with it our duel.
 
Seeing that I was maintaining my distance, Ange went on the offensive and lunged for me, putting me on the defensive. I was cutting it close, her blade moved fast enough that I was struggling to respond in time, just barely parrying her away before her strikes landed.
 
Catching a mischievous glint in Ange's eyes I noticed her gaze drop and I leapt into the air right as she crouched and swung hard for my legs. I landed on her wrist, causing Ange to yelp in pain, before placing my sword against her throat. I'd won, just before the weightiness I felt from my slow spell began to dissipate.
 
“I yield,” Ange cried quickly pulling away from me to clutch her wrist. Though I hadn't intended to harm her, it was obvious I'd broke it.
 
“Ange, wait wait, stay still,” I grabbed Ange as she made her retreat. “Healing Aura.”
 
A faint light accompanied by a warm wind flowed out of me. In seconds, Ange's wrist was as good as new. “I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. Are you okay?”
 
“Yeah,” Ange gazed at her wrist in astonishment. Holding her hand in front of her face she clenched her fingers into a fist and then relaxed, before repeating the motion. “How'd you do that?”
 
“Magic.”
 
“You said you weren't the herald...”
 
“I'm not. This kind of magic is common where I grew up.”
 
“Seriously?”
 
“Very serious.”
 
Taking a deep breath, Ange wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a tight hug, suffocating me with her breasts.
 
“Hey! Can't breath!”
 
“I'm sorry Liz, I got so caught up trying to win against you I attempted something underhanded. I deserved to get hurt.”
 
“I accept your apology, now let me go!” Ange released me allowing me to take a few much-needed lungfuls of air. “Seriously, taking out an opponent's legs is a sound strategy. You didn't need to apologize, it's not like you threw dirt in my eyes or anything.”
 
“I thought about it.”
 
“You know Alex is watching us right?”
 
“I got so caught up in the fight, I kind of forgot myself,” Ange giggled. I secretly began to wonder if it was the right thing for me to try to fight on her level, perhaps I should've crushed her spirit after all.
 
“You know, if you're ever interested in doing mercenary work Liz, I could put in a good word for you. I know talented swordswomen are in short supply, and many of the female nobility would rather have a woman guard them, than a man.”
 
“If Alex allows it, I might consider it. For now though... I'm still kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop on this whole, everyone thinking I'm the herald thing. I'll probably be too busy to do mercenary work for a while.”
 
“That was quite the show, you two,” Alex said, walking over to join us with Willow right behind him.
 
“That was amazing!” Willow beamed. “Onee-chan! Ange! You're both so cool!”
 
“Your daughter is extremely talented Mister Alex. I'll have to redouble my training if I want to win against her next time.”
 
“Next time?” I raised my eyebrow at Ange.
 
“Of course! You can't possibly expect me to take a loss and live with it. I wouldn't want to bother you with it too often, but perhaps at least once a week the two of us can cross blades?”
 
“Once a week?! Forever?”
 
“Until I win.”
 
What a bothersome woman.
 
The next three days passed by rather uneventfully until finally, we had a visitor. Ange covered my ears with a hat and brought me downstairs to find an elderly man with an impressively long beard having tea with Alex. Goldie, tactfully stayed in my room.
 
“There she is,” Alex smiled. “Liz this is Master Barius, the mage I said I'd contact for you. Master Barius this is my daughter Liz.”
 
“It's a pleasure to meet you, little lady,” Barius smiled and stood, reaching his hand out. “Your father tells me you're interested in learning about magic?”
 
“Y-yes,” I bowed and took Barius's hand, shaking it before sitting at the table across from him.
 
“Magic is not an art that one can learn quickly, it takes a great deal of time and effort, often for very little results. It warms my heart to see one as young as you taking an interest in the craft.”
 
Seems like Ange and Alex are hiding the fact that I can already use magic from Barius. Guess I should play along and pretend to be ignorant?
 
“I'm willing to put in the effort! Please teach me Master Barius.”
 
“Such a lovely child,” Barius smiled. “Magic is split into the dominions of the divine quartet. The goddess Atlary governs the powers of nature, the goddess Moriya governs the powers of the soul, the goddess Delphina governs the powers of destruction, and the god Emryn governs the powers of the heavens. We are all born attuned to one of the divine, which determines what magic we can learn. I myself draw power from the domain of Delphina, but I can guide you no matter which domain your magic comes from.”
 
“How do I learn which dominion my magic comes from?”
 
“It's very simple,” Barius reached into his cloak pocket and pulled out four stones. “Clear your mind and touch each of these in turn. One of them will glow, that will let us know who's domain your magic hails from.”
 
I reached for the first stone, a lump of green quartz, the moment my fingers brushed its surface, it began to faintly shine.
 
“The green quartz symbolizes the Goddess Atlary, your magic hails from the domain of nature.”
 
“Can I try touching the others too?” I asked as Barius began to put the stones away.
 
“If you'd like, though it is impossible to draw power from more than one of the gods.”
 
The other three stones, a bright purple amethyst, a deep read sphere I assumed was a ruby, and a dark yellow quartz, all glowed at my touch. With each progressive positive result, Barius began to shake more and more heavily. I began to fear that I'd given him a heart attack, by showing him a result he believed impossible.
 
“I wasn't expecting all of them to react to me,” I mumbled. “But... I guess I really can do whatever I want.”
 
Barius turned to Alex and glared angrily at him. “You knew! You knew your daughter was special, that's why you demanded that I accept a contract of silence before meeting her! You're a fool if you're trying to hide a prodigy like her, she should be turned over to the temple at once! She could be Grand Priestess!”
 
“Just teach her magic Master Barius,” Alex narrowed his eyes as the older man. “Or I'll inform the guard of the little experiments you've been hiding in your cellar.”
 
“H-How dare you?!”
 
“A contract can be broken,” Alex shrugged. “So I paid for a bit of insurance to keep you quiet. Now then, please continue the lesson Master Barius.”
 
Barius ground his teeth before glaring at me. He took a moment to compose himself before detailing the process one needed to go through for magic to work. To boil it down to its basics, magic in this world was akin to a prayer. One used chants and their own mental image to make a request of their patron god, who'd provide the mana needed for the magic to work. The reason it took so long to learn was that prospective mages had to spend years, or even decades, forging a bond with their deity.
 
To me, it sounded like mana flowed down through a divine tube, and unfortunately, most people's tubes were too narrow for much mana to flow along. The whole study of magic was focused around expanding one's tube so that more mana could flow, and thus magic could be cast.
 
How am I supposed to teach Willow magic, if she has no mana?
 
The game had a spell that allowed one spellcaster to transfer mana to another, but what would happen if I used it on an inhabitant of this world? If I randomly charged Willow or Ange with mana from my own body, would they be able to use magic like me? Or would something terrible happen to their bodies? I needed someone to test it on, someone I wouldn't mind injuring a bit. Barius was out, of course, there was something off about him, and I was honestly already looking forward to never seeing him again.
 
“Did you understand all of that little lady?” Barius asked me as I mulled over what to do about Willow's magic education.
 
“Eh? Y-yeah... I think. Umm... do you think you could test my little sister? So that we know which dominion her magic comes from?”
 
“Of course.”
 
“I'll go get her,” Ange noted from behind me, leaving the room.
 
“While we wait on her Master Barius, do you mind expanding on what kinds of magic each domain can do?”
 
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