The Master of Language - T.M.L Chapter 14 (Part 2):

“You saw the water earlier. It’s water I’ve nurtured for over a hundred years. I’ve infused it with magic bit by bit during that time. Now that I’ve confirmed it can extinguish your fire, if I use a little more force I could kill your familiar.”

“…”

“Kalasta sent you, right? I don’t want to antagonize him. So if you put away your staff now, I’ll welcome you as a guest.”

At those words, the red-haired mage’s eyes narrowed fiercely.

“Don’t use Master as an excuse!”

The red-haired mage swung her staff forward sharply. The small flame behind her flickered and once again took the shape of a bird, then flew towards Master Abana.

“How foolish.”

Master Abana raised her staff one more time. The cabin door opened again and an even fiercer stream of water gushed out to engulf the flame bird. The flame bird flapped its wings several times within the water, but eventually lost its shape and fell down like a small ball of fire.

Master used psychokinesis to bring it to her and put it inside her robe.

The red-haired mage swallowed hard with a tense expression.

Master Abana looked at the red-haired mage and said coldly:

“Your staff. Put it away.”

At those words, the red-haired mage’s eyes once again shone with an intense light.

“Absolutely not!”

I’ll give her credit.

She’s a woman with impressive pride.

The red-haired mage spread her left hand. There was a small explosion with a bang, and a magic book appeared and fell into her left hand.

Master Abana spoke quickly:

“Even without your familiar. You think I’ll let you read spells?”

The red-haired mage paid no attention to those words and began reading a spell.

Master Abana swiftly swung her staff upwards from below. Thick wooden vines shot up from the ground beneath the red-haired mage and wrapped around her staff.

Because of this, the red-haired mage had to stop reading her spell and grab her staff with both hands to avoid having it taken. Her magic book disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared.

It seems I can help too.

I stretched out both hands and sent psychic power to make those wooden vines even stronger.

“Thank you, Ran. That gives me some breathing room.”

Master made the magic book disappear, then raised the index finger of her left hand. The stream of water split into dozens of strands and formed the shape of a prison, flying towards the red-haired mage.

“Ugh!”

Just as she lost her staff, she was trapped in the water prison. The water continuously poured over her, tormenting her.

“Will you give up now?”

The red-haired mage could barely speak properly due to the falling water.

“Blub. Blub. Ne-never. Blub. Blub.”

“You’re incredibly stubborn.”

Shaking her head, Master pulled her left hand. The water prison slowly began to move, then floated up on its own and hung from a branch of one of the trees forming the cabin.

As if it were some kind of decoration.

“Let me know when you decide to become a guest. I’ll let you out anytime.”

After saying that, Master Abana opened the cabin door and went inside.

I stared up at the red-haired mage.

Are all mages beautiful?

I asked her:

“Why are you being so stubborn?”

“Blub. You. Mere. Blub. Blub. Appren-tice. Blub. How. Blub. Dare. You. Blub.”

Alright then.

She’s not someone I can have a conversation with.

I stared at her for a while longer, then followed Master into the cabin.

“Mint?”

Psyche, calmly pouring water in the kitchen, asked me.

She didn’t seem to have suffered any harm.

“You. Are you alright?”

She turned her head away and put mint tea leaves in my cup too.

No matter how long I waited, there was no answer.

Since she’s acting normal, I guess she’s fine.

“Sit down. Judging by that girl earlier, she’s no ordinary person. It’ll take quite a while to break that stubbornness.”

I sat across from Master.

Master was holding a small, dark ball in her right hand.

“Is that her familiar?”

Master looked at it this way and that as she answered.

“Yes. I really meant to kill it, but it didn’t die. That’s probably why she sent it so boldly.”

“That’s not dead?”

“It’s an egg. If it’s given enough flames, it will be born again from here.”

Just then, something passed through my mind.

“A phoenix?”

Master looked at me with wide eyes.

“Oh. I don’t think I ever taught you about that, how did you know?”

Hmm. Where did I hear about phoenixes?

I’m not sure.

I must have heard it somewhere.

“You know, the bird that never dies. Right?”

Master stared at me intently for a moment, but then answered.

“That’s right. It’s extremely rare. It would have been incredibly difficult to make one a familiar, so she must be a mage with surprisingly great talent. It’s just that she’s inexperienced and simple-minded.”

“Come to think of it, you said she was at a similar level to you, right?”

“At least, that was the level I sensed. It’s impressive. At that age.”

I tilted my head.

“You said mages don’t age much, right?”

“She’s young. When we say mages don’t age, it means there’s no aging after growth is complete, not that they don’t grow at all. She’s still in her growth period, so she’ll look her actual age.”

Now that I think about it, Psyche was the same age as me too.

“If she’s at a similar level to you and has such a rare familiar, could she be Kalasta’s favorite disciple?”

“That’s probably the case. Judging by her appearance, she far surpasses human standards.”

“Ah, that reminds me of something I was curious about. Why are all mages so beautiful?”

Thud!

I was startled.

I looked at Psyche, who had suddenly slammed my teacup in front of me.

Psyche nonchalantly placed a cup in front of Master and then sat on the chair between us.

Then she crossed her legs and looked out the window, her face still expressionless despite her rough actions.

“Magical aptitude, or majesty and control. Well, all of these come from ‘specialness’. A beautiful face is the most common form of specialness. That’s why it’s common to find beautiful mages. However, as you advance in level, you’ll come to understand. There are differences even within that.”

The most common form of specialness.

What an interesting expression.

“Will Kalasta stay quiet? If she’s his favorite disciple, he won’t just let this go.”

“She was wrong to cause trouble at someone else’s castle first. She set fire to my castle. Even Kalasta himself wouldn’t do that. Honestly, he’d have no right to complain even if I killed her.”

“…”

“The question is why she suddenly came. Did Kalasta send her?”

I shrugged.

“Doesn’t seem like she’ll answer easily.”

“That’s right. Still, a mage who studied fire being trapped in a water prison, after a few hours she’ll want to escape regardless of pride.”

Master Abana picked up her cup and drank the mint tea in one gulp. Elven tea was cold since they don’t use fire.

“Anyway, I’m going to rest for a bit. My head feels like it’s going to split after using magic repeatedly. Psyche. Don’t show yourself to that girl by any chance. Ran. You can rest too, or study psychokinesis if you want.”

With that, Master went up to her room.

Contrary to Master’s expectation, the red-haired mage had not given up even by the next morning.

Dangun

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