It Seems That the Demon King Is Among the Members of the Hero’s Party

64.『Meteor』

“Did something happen with Eclair?”

Why does Sasha (this woman) always know things I don’t want her to know? We used her magic to fly to a place where magic wouldn’t affect us and met up.

On the way, Sasha was glancing at me with a sly grin. I had a bad feeling, but it seems I was right.

“What’s going on?”

“Don’t try to deceive me.”

Sasha looked at me and laughed. It seems she’s convinced about something. What’s going on? I know she has a keen observation eye, but how does she always manage to hit the nail on the head?

“Are you surprised?”

“Yeah, why did you think that?”

“There are two reasons.”

“Two things?”

“One of them was yesterday. I had a promise with Kyle, and I went to pick him up at the inn.”

“Yesterday’s incident, I did something inexcusable.”

Originally, I had planned to practice magic yesterday, but after what happened with Eclair, I couldn’t focus, so I postponed it by a day. I also needed time to calm down.

“I happened to run into Eclair at that time.”

“Eclair?”

“I was about to go out, and we exchanged greetings. It was a long time since we’d seen each other, and she looked really happy, like a child who’d gotten what they wanted. When I asked her where she was going, she said she was going to the hot springs, and I thought about it too.”

“…………….”

“The deciding factor was you, Kyle.”

“Me?”

Sasha chuckled and approached me, placing her hand on my neck. I could tell she was stretching her arm to its limit due to our height difference. Her legs seemed to be trembling, but I wasn’t sure if she was really straining herself.

“There’s a hickey on your neck.”

Sasha’s face didn’t look like she was lying. Eclair must have given it to me. I hadn’t checked carefully enough.

I see. That’s why Cecil was in a bad mood when I gave her the letter. She must have seen the hickey.

It looks like another problem has arisen.

“Oh, you’re not going to deny it?”

“That’s right.”

“That’s not very interesting. Didn’t you listen to my confession properly?”

“I did.”

“Then you should understand my feelings. Hug me before Eclair does.”

She seemed tired, and her hand finally left my neck. If we were sitting down, it would be fine, but since we were standing, our height difference was a problem.

In reality, she’s older than me, and she talks like an older sister, but due to her petite stature, it doesn’t quite fit.

“Are you teasing me?”

“Yeah, I’m serious.”

She’s still smiling cheerfully, but I doubt she’s really serious. If I react too much, Sasha might find it amusing and tease me even more.

“What if I get serious?”

“I’ll respond accordingly. I want that too.”

I looked at her again.

She’s probably around 130cm tall, a bit shorter than the average dwarf. Today, she’s dressed as a mage, wearing a dark blue robe like Maxwell’s. Despite her small physique, her chest is large, and I’ve seen customers at the tavern glance at it.

When I looked at her chest, I realized she might tease me, so I quickly averted my gaze.

Her chestnut hair, which reaches her neck, is tied up, and she has a loose side tail that falls forward from her right shoulder. My younger sister in my previous life had a similar hairstyle, and I suddenly remembered it.

Her big, bright eyes are the same color as her hair, and her eyebrows are shaped like a crescent moon. Her cheeks are slightly red, probably due to drinking.

Without bias, I think she’s a beautiful woman.

As I looked at Sasha from top to bottom, I thought to myself…

This is incredible. She’s already an adult, and she’s lived several decades more than me. While it’s generally not good to talk about a woman’s age, there’s a huge gap between her actual age and her appearance. Sasha looks like she’s over 500 years old.

“Hey, didn’t you think something rude just now?”

“Yes, I didn’t think that.”

“Why are you speaking in a fake accent?”

I think she’s a woman with a sharp intuition. Her observational skills are also good, and I feel like I can’t hide anything from her. That’s aside from the point, though – I want to get to the purpose of my visit here.

“No, sorry. Anyway, what should I call you, Sasha?”

“What’s wrong with you all of a sudden? Call me like you usually do.”

“No, I’m about to learn magic from you, so I should show some respect.”

“Oh, stop it. I don’t care about that. Just call me Sasha like you always do. And if you really want to, you can call me ‘Beloved Sasha’.”

“Please take care of me, Sasha.”

“Just relax a bit, okay?”

I can see that things are going to get troublesome if we keep going like this. I’ve got Durandal with me, so Noelle can hear our conversation too. I shouldn’t say anything careless.

“So, how far should we go with the magic lessons?”

“I think I know the basics. But I don’t know the incantation for ‘Meteor’. I didn’t think I could use it, so I didn’t bother to learn.”

“Well, the incantation is easy. But I think you just read about it in a book and didn’t actually practice it, so let me take a look and correct you.”

“That’s reassuring.”

Now, let’s review the magic basics again. To use magic, you need magical power and attribute compatibility. If either one is lacking, the magic won’t activate.

Even if you have magical power, if your attribute compatibility is off, no matter how many times you try, the magic won’t activate. The same goes for the opposite case. If your attribute compatibility is correct but you don’t have enough magical power, you can’t use magic.

In my case, it’s the latter. Or rather, most people who can’t use magic lack magical power.

As for attribute compatibility, you can learn about it at the church, so you won’t struggle with it.

Scholars are desperately researching, but as of now, there’s no way to increase innate magical power. Therefore, your talent as a mage is decided at birth. There’s a wall that you can’t overcome no matter how hard you try.

I couldn’t use ‘Meteor’ because I lacked magical power. But I was able to make up for it with Durandal’s accumulation. It means I can finally use my long-desired magic.

Now that I’ve prepared the minimum foundation for using magic, I just need to make sure I don’t mess up.

Magic requires different flows of magical power depending on the attribute. If you don’t flow the magical power correctly, the magic won’t activate. That’s why you need to learn about attribute compatibility at the church.

The key to flowing magical power is the start and end points. You need to accumulate the necessary magical power at the start point, circulate it through your body like blood, and bring it back to the end point.

If you know the flow of magical power and the name of the magic, you can use it even without an incantation.

The ‘Meteor’ I use is classified as fire attribute. The start point for fire attribute magical power is the right hand. It flows from the right hand, through the head, left hand, left foot, and right foot, and returns to the right hand.

The start and end points vary depending on the attribute, so you need to be careful when using multiple magics.

Except for a few exceptions, the start and end points are usually the same, and the magical power circulates through the body and returns to the start point.

For example, ‘Lightning’ starts at the head, ‘Water’ at the left hand, ‘Earth’ at the left foot, and ‘Wind’ at the right foot. Each attribute has its own unique flow of magical power.

The exceptions are ‘Holy’ and ‘Dark’. ‘Holy’ starts at the left hand and flows counterclockwise through the body, returning to the start point.

‘Dark’ attribute starts at the right hand, flows counterclockwise through the body, but unlike other attributes, its start and end points are different. It flows from the right hand to the right foot, left foot, left hand, and finally ends at the head.

It’s no wonder that the demons couldn’t discover the unique flow of magical power for ‘Dark’ attribute on their own.

I’ve learned the flow of magical power and the name of the magic. I’ve also accumulated the necessary magical power.

And just now, I learned the incantation for increasing the magic’s power from Sasha. I’ve finally been able to use the ‘Meteor’ that I gave up on because of my lack of magical power since I was a kid.

“Your eyes are shining, Kail. You’re that happy?”

“Yeah! I’ve been looking forward to this day since I heard it from Sasha.”

“You can make such a face too. You’re cute.”

I’ll ignore Sasha’s words, or it’ll get too long. It’s ‘Meteor’ time! ‘Meteor’ is one of the most powerful magics in games and manga.

It’s the same in this world too. ‘Meteor’ is a top-class destruction magic.

I can finally use it. I’m so excited!

I’ll draw out the magical power accumulated in Durandal, start from my right hand, and circulate it through my body. I need to focus and make sure I don’t mess up the flow of magical power.

I’ll recite the incantation that Sasha taught me without mistakes. Perfect! The magical power has reached the end point, my right hand. Now I just need to cast the magic!

“‘Meteor’!!”

The magical power that was circulating through my body disappeared. When I look up, a huge red magic circle is floating in the air.

The target is already decided. Fall, ‘Meteor’!

The red magic circle glows. A meteor wrapped in flames appears from the magic circle and falls straight towards the target I designated.

At this moment, I realized. It’s smaller than I thought. About 30cm in length? Is that not small? The magic circle is so big, though…

The ‘Meteor’ released from the magic circle hits the ground, creating a crater about 1 meter in diameter.

───My ‘Meteor’ was pathetic.