Embracing Magic - E.M Chapter 75 (Part 1)
The sun had set, and darkness descended. Though no one instructed them, the two children who had been crying gathered around Rodin.
“Sigh, have you said your goodbyes properly?”
Nod, nod.
“Alright, then let’s send them off. Magic Hand. Dig!”
Using magic, he lifted the corpses and dug the ground.
There were 31 bodies found here, along with 7 from where the children had been rescued, making a total of 38 graves. One by one, the corpses were laid into the ground.
‘What a tiring day.’
If there had been no survivors, Rodin would have dug one large pit and buried them all together. That’s how he had handled the bodies they encountered on their way here.
“Do you want to say a final goodbye?”
Nod.
“Light.”
Rodin conjured a ball of light that floated in the air. Under its glow, the children looked at their pale, cold family members.
Just as it seemed like they were holding back their tears, one of the two, the girl, started to cry. Once she began, the boy also burst into tears.
Rodin let the children cry as much as they wanted. Emotions, if suppressed, can turn into illness.
‘Time to start getting ready.’
It was already late for preparing camp. At this rate, they would end up sleeping out in the open without any windbreak.
‘Though it’s not that cold.’
Luckily, it was early summer now, well past spring. A small campfire would be enough to keep them from catching a cold during the night.
“Are you alright?”
Nod.
The children, who had been crying for a while, gathered again. Rodin collected some nearby branches, started a fire, and prepared a simple meal.
The meal was just jerky boiled in water. Rodin wasn’t as skilled as Baker, so there wasn’t much to expect in terms of taste.
He served the meal. The children barely ate, just glancing around nervously.
When Rodin left his seat for a moment, the children hurriedly stuffed the food into their mouths.
Rodin returned only after the children had finished eating. Their faces were smeared with soup, pretending to be indifferent.
“Do you want more?”
Shake, shake.
“Th-thank you.”
The older-looking child among them bowed their head slightly, embarrassed, and then looked down again.
“Since we’re talking, I’ll ask your opinion. Do either of you have any other family or relatives nearby?”
Shake, shake.
“No.”
One shook their head, the other responded in a barely audible voice.
“Looks like you’re headed to Lanse, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Nod, nod.
Again, the boy answered softly, while the girl just nodded.
“If you want me to, I can take you to Lanse. It’s your choice.”
“Um… um…”
“You don’t have to answer right now. We’ll be staying here for the night, so think about it until morning.”
Rodin took off the pack he had carried, pulled out blankets, pillows, and bedding, and spread them out.
“Sleep here. We’ll talk in the morning.”
“Yes.”
Leaving the children, Rodin sat a little distance away.
The children whispered quietly among themselves. The voices were faint, but if he listened carefully, he could hear them.
‘Looks like it’ll be another sleepless night.’
Rodin used inscribing magic to draw a mana condensation magic circle on the ground. He then closed his eyes and summoned the lesson from his pocket watch.
Fortunately, the children didn’t disturb him. After whispering to each other for a while, they eventually fell asleep, huddled together tightly.
Rodin focused on the pocket watch’s lesson. Although it was still basic, his progress was faster than before, as he was gradually understanding the language.
About three hours later, he stepped into the center of the magic circle and performed two cycles of mana cultivation.
Even when staying at an inn, Rodin never skipped his mana cultivation routine. Accumulating mana was just as important as gaining new knowledge.
After finishing his cultivation, he resumed the lesson from the pocket watch. His focus sharpened, and the content of the lesson began to imprint more deeply in his mind.
‘Hm? Frouval?’
It had been over two months since he started these lessons, but he still didn’t know what species his teacher belonged to.
From the front, they looked somewhat human, but with scales on their back and a blunt tail. He had casually referred to them as “Scale-folk” in his mind until now.
But today, for the first time, the teacher mentioned their species’ name.
Frouval.
It wasn’t a particularly meaningful word. Like how dwarves are just called dwarves, and elves are just called elves, Frouval were simply Frouval.
The teacher spoke with great pride, boasting about their people as “the great Frouval,” much like how humans might talk about “the great humans.”
‘Frouval. I’ll just remember the name.’
After all, they were a different species. Whether the Frouval thought themselves great or not, Rodin didn’t feel the need to consider himself extraordinary by association.
He refocused on the lesson.
By now, Rodin could understand over half of the basic lessons without needing to piece things together from context.
‘Is this about the language level of a three or four-year-old human?’
There was still a long way to go, but what mattered was that he was making steady progress.
Rodin was quick-witted. Although his learning speed was slow due to his lack of foundational knowledge in the language, once he overcame that hurdle, he would pick up new knowledge at an alarming rate.
‘If only I could grasp a vocabulary level of a ten-year-old.’
Even now, he was quickly learning the language used by the Frouval. He believed that within six months, or at most a year, he would surpass the point where the slow pace of education held him back.
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