Here"s chapter 27 for Netooku

Managed to get it done by tonight  (it"s 2am now so I guess it"s morning?)
Going to sleep right after this   (?_-*)???

Chapter 27:  The smell of magician in the other world"s magic

We went inside after paying the admission fee of 10 El per person. (Total: 30 El for the three of us). Based on the estimation of 1 El = 150 yen, the entrance fee for each person should be 1500 yen. It was slightly expensive but it couldn"t be helped since it"s a festival price.

The interior looked pretty simple with a stage at the back and rows of chairs lined up on the floor for the audience. The chairs were placed on the steps installed so the stage would be visible for the audience sitting at the back row as well.
It didn"t seem possible to find any available seats in front judging from the number of customers coming in so we decided to grab the seats in the middle.

“Have Diana or Marina come to a place like this before?”  [Jirou]

“If I have 10 El with me, I can use them as my food expenses for 5 days…… Besides, the place Marina was staying was situated in a rural area.”  [Marina]

“This is actually my first time too. I"m quite excited about it.”  [Diana]

Then it"s the first time for all of us.
Come to think of it, since the people in this world do not have something like a television, if they were to watch a magic performance all of a sudden, it didn"t seem likely for them to not be engrossed. Although I have seen a magic show performed by the natives from Africa in one of the programme before, the response was fairly laughable. Even if this show might not reach that degree, it may still be somewhat close.

Diana aside,……..I might be able to see a nice reaction coming from Marina……
Rather than watching the magic show, it should be more interesting observing her instead……

“……..? I-Is there something on Marina"s face? I-It"s really embarra.s.sing if you were to keep looking at me.”  [Marina]

Marina fidgeted. Whoops. It was a false start. My observation ended up being too obvious unintentionally. I wound up checking out her face, her hair and etc.

As soon as I seated myself next to her, she was looking at me with upturned eyes…….That has quite a high destructive power.
?Since the inside of the tent is dark, it will be alright to hold onto her……?
That thought crossed my mind for an instant but my sense of reason managed to win over at the last moment.

No, my arm was twisted at the last moment! It"s quite painful!
But it"s alright! My arm will not be broken easily just by the strength of Diana"s slender arm.

By the way, Diana is sitting on the other side, next to me. A flower in both hands. I am currently in such a blessed state if you exclude the part where my arm was being twisted.

“Diana. It"s feeling quite painful so can you release it soon?”  [Jirou]

“It doesn"t seem that painful to you. I"ll need to learn the right way to do this from Rebecca the next time…..”  [Diana]

It"s fine even if you don"t learn it!
If my arm were broken in this other world, I have a feeling that they might connect my arm back using a mysterious treatment. To begin with, why is she twisting my arm…….

“That"s because goshujin-sama is a liar.”  [Diana]

Diana answered it as if she heard my inner monologue.
Well I do understand that I am certainly not the honest type. I have swindler as one of my vocation but I don"t think I can bring myself to say that out loud honestly……

However I am not really lying about anything in particular now so I don"t really understand what this High Elf-sama"s talking about.

Just as I thought of arguing back, the stage was illuminated by a strange bright light all of a sudden. The show seems to be starting.

The song played using the violin and harpsichord prime the audience"s expectation as to what will follow. Audio recording and playback equipment don"t exist in this world so real live performance is used as the BGM.

I am not sure what are the worth of musical instruments in this world but if I were to bring them over from the other side, they might be able to fetch quite a good price in my opinion…. I"ll be adding this as one of my subject to research as well.

While I was thinking of various things as I stared off into s.p.a.ce absent-mindedly, an elderly man who appears to be the ?so-called magician? got up the stage and seemed to be making some kind of preparation. Although, the setup done appeared to be indescribably poor.
My antic.i.p.ation of watching an illusion magic is completely shattered now.

After a while, the elderly man who was finally done with his preparation turned to the audience.

“A good day to everyone here today. I"m Jiri Balazs the magician…… I would like to extend my appreciation to all the audience for coming to my booth today. Well then, please take your time and enjoy my various demonstration of mysterious magic from the Country of Fire!”  [magician]

After saying so, he fluttered his mantle and withdrew back once to the inner stage.

The audience started applauding or whistling, building up the excitement. As I thought, there aren"t much entertainment in this world. It has been many years since I last heard something like that……

The magician re-appeared again after a short while with a gla.s.s bottle in his hand.

“Now please watch this carefully as I perform this mysterious water magic. In just a moment, I will fill up this empty gla.s.s bottle with water!”  [magician]

Uhhiyo~ what an old fashioned trick!
But it might still be interesting to watch.

The magician closed his eyes as he looked up and spread both his hands out. He seemed to be murmuring a chant. He stretched both his hands out to the bottle and cried out loud as he opened his eyes.

“Oooouuu! Rise up from the atmosphere, fill this up with rain! Water! Heed my demand now and make your appearance–! Oooouu—!!!!”  [magician]

After the magician shouted that line out, water could be seen filling up the bottle little by little.
It"s quite a cla.s.sic magic method but it"s not that bad. Though is it a way of attracting the attention by overflowing the bottle with water?

The audience still appeared to be excited nonetheless.
As I have expected, Marina was astonished by that sight. “It"s amazing. It"s mysterious.” She kept repeating those lines over and over.
However, it was unexpected when Diana also seemed impressed as she muttered, “It"s unbelievable for him to be able to perform that miracle with his own power….”

After that, the magician performed various kinds of magic one after another.
An apple teleported from point A to point B ?Teleportation?.
An apple that was thrown was stopped in mid-air ?Telekinesis?.
Making his body float up 1m above the ground ?Levitation?.
An audience was asked to write a symbol down and he was able to see through it and guessed it correctly ??.

Is the magic in this world something similar to ESP?…….
I recalled a special supernatural program shown on television before in the olden days…..

So, does it mean that using psychic power is the same as using magic? Since this is the other world, I can"t deny that possibility but it"s hard to tell if this is a fake or a real thing…..
Even when I tried asking Diana and Marina, all they replied back was, “What magic trick?” In the first place, it was their first time seeing a magician themselves. Well I guess I should stop looking at everything with a curious penetrating gaze.

“Then this is my final great magic! I"ll show you a fire magic!”  [magician]

So the last one is Pyrokinesis?
But a fire magic should be the most magic-like one among all the magic shown so far. It"s the basic magic even in RPG.

“But before this, I would like to invite the audience here to try challenging themselves and try using ?Fire Magic? as well! In fact, it is actually a custom in the Country of Fire. Anyone who reaches adulthood would be able to use ?Fire Magic?. It"s a magic that can be used by anyone.”  [magician]

Oo! What a nostalgic idea! It"s the one by which they invite the audience to do it together! So isn"t it that? The person with psychic power will then face the television and all the attention will be diverted to him.

The a.s.sistant started up a bonfire on stage and cut off the stage lighting, leaving only the brightly lit up bonfire as the source of light.

“As everyone knows, this is fire. But has anyone actually ever considered how a fire came to be? I bet everyone has light up a fire themselves before, or putting out a fire, or some might have even experienced getting burnt by fire before. But have you all seen an uncontrollable fire before? What about burning cinders? …….There are an infinite types of fire but all of them are the very same fire. You should get to know that fire and understand it. That is what made it possible for us to use fire magic.”  [magician]
(Rinkage: I translated it as “uncontrollable fire” here since the word “?” was used in all the earlier parts but “??” is used here instead. They are actually both “fire” but “?” is more of a generic word for “fire” while “??” refers to a situation related to fire itself or an uncontrollable fire.)

While saying so, the magician lit up a small fire on his fingertip. The size should be similar to the fire usually seen on a candle. It"s just a small flame.

“Then try raising your finger the way I did then build a strong image of fire there in your mind. Try looking at the bonfire. It might be good to visualize it strongly with the intention to reproduce the same thing as the bonfire. This might be the same as trying to seize the clouds in the sky to you but I can a.s.sure you that this is something that can be done by anyone.”  [magician]

I see. I don"t get it.

Diana seemed to have tried it a little but she gave up immediately after while Marina was chanting, “Appear~, appear~, fire appear~” repeatedly.
I have also given it a try but it really is the same as seizing the clouds in the sky…..
Be it ESP or magic, it didn"t appear to be possible….

“Diana has given up already? Or do elves have bad affinity with fire?”  [Jirou]

“Aa no that"s not really it, goshujin-sama…….Even though elves are accustomed to using magic related to spirits, we do not have the apt.i.tude for demon element related magic or any other magic.”  [Diana]

“Demon element? Te– aa….I think I heard it from Rebeccsan before. There will be monsters appearing in woods that have dense demon elements and those monsters will attack humans with strong magical power. Something like that?”  [Jirou]

“Demon element is an invisible substance that drifts around this world similar to air. The magician will then use this as his own magic and converts this into the form that he wants by envisioning it. That is what you call magic, goshujin-sama. That magician has not relayed that important point. It"s cunning of him.”  [Diana]

“Do I have magical power too? If I do not have any to begin with then will I not be able to use any magic?”  [Jirou]

“Magic is something that everyone has. Of course goshujin-sama has it too…..To put it briefly, demon element is something that enters a human body through the air…..”  [Diana]

“I see. I"ll see if I can give it a try.”  [Jirou]

The audience around seemed to be on the verge of giving up soon. Well that was obvious. I wasn"t sure how much the people here know about demon element (with exception to Rebecca since that person is knowledgeable) so it didn"t seem likely even if they were told to produce fire by just praying…..

“Even though I have magician as my vocation, it still took me one year before I am able to use fire magic successfully for the first time. However there are some people with natural talent in it too so they managed to succeed in a shorter period of time.”  [magician]

It took him one year?
If it had taken him one year to do it even when he has the vocation, then it doesn"t seem plausible to succeed by giving it a try in a place like this. Marina seemed depressed now after failing despite trying numerous times. She looks really cute when she appears so down. I"ll comfort her later!

Come to think of it, I have magician as my vocation too.
I am still not really sure if this person is a magician or someone with ESP but I should give it a try on my part. Being a magician might be quite regrettable but if there is a possibility that I possess the ability to use mysterious power after going through great pain in this other world then it"s worth the challenge!

“Oya oya, has everyone given up already? The strong image of fire, the heat from the fire, the force from the fire, the light from the fire. You need to recall them and put all of your experiences with fire up till now into practice. To make ?fire? appear in this world, you need to first manifest your own thoughts into the principle of this world. That is also one of the basis of magic. There are still many hidden mysteries.”  [magician]

While paying no heed to the preaching of that talkative magician, I tried challenging myself in summoning the fire.

I tried to envision demon elements gathering around my fingertip.
The condition of ignition is fairly easy. A s.p.a.ce to light up the fire is required and I should have the source of ignition. The fuel can be use as inflammable then it should be completed overall with the oxygen after.
In this case, I should be creating the source of ignition using magical power instead of the heat. I guess I can supplement the fuel with the demon element. There should be oxygen around without a doubt as a theory.

I was able to concentrate unexpectedly.
I wasn"t sure if it has anything to do with my vocation but I was able to make all the noises around disappear and focussed my thoughts on my fingertip.

I could feel something that felt like demon elements gathering around my fingertip.
This sensation could only be described as mysterious all in all.

I wonder if I should convert all these elements into inflammable substance. The easiest image should be gas but….as I thought when it comes to gas, all that came to mind were something explosive. For safety should I visualize the image of evaporated alcohol?……. No, that might explode too……
I"m down to my last source of ignition but well, a spark should be good enough.

By a.s.sociating it with a lighter"s flint I had thought that I might be able to create a spark from the tip of my finger but well, I guess it"s no use trying from a useless source from the start!

I stared at the bonfire and strongly visualize the same image on my fingertip.
Then, after gathering enough elements, I converted all into evaporated alcohol. (visualizing it)

Finally, there are sparks coming out.

*Bou*–!!

A flame larger than what I had envisioned flared up. It"s a success!
The fire lit up and burnt out in an instant. It might be due to the visualization of the vaporized alcohol so the combustion ended in just a short while.
I had never expected myself to succeed as well so I was surprised and lost my concentration.

“Wwwa, it"s amazing. It"s really amazing! Was my liege a magician previously?”  [Marina]

“S-Since he"s my goshujin-sama, it"s natural that he"s able to do this much.”  [Diana]

Marina"s eyes were shining brightly as she drew closer. Your breast! Your breast is. .h.i.tting me!
Diana was surprised too but she looked pleased at the same time. It"s fine even if your breast is. .h.i.tting me!

I could hear the other audience whispering about it too but it didn"t really matter since it"s dark inside this tent. Since that happened in an instant, there were many other guests who did not notice it so I didn"t need to worry about standing out needlessly.
No, I was already attracting a lot of attention with Diana and Marina.

“Oya oya. My bad since I didn"t know there is someone among the audience who is in the same line of profession…..Alright! Since we"re also short of time, I"ll be showing you the grand fire magic to conclude today"s show!”  [magician]

Although it was felt great to be treated as his peers, the magician rushed in the final performance to mark the end of the magic show. I have worked so hard in succeeding the fire magic so I actually wished he had said something more….

The magician produced a ball of fire and moved it around freely then used it to burn the paper that hung up. It was quite a sight to behold watching the fireball flying around in the dark. It was a pleasant stage show to me.

The stage show finally ended with the fire magic performance.

Even though I did enjoy the show myself, I was really glad to have come here since Diana and Marina were enjoying themselves. As expected, the most important thing in a date is to entertain the girls.

……But, magic is it.
As I thought, was my vocation the reason I was able to succeed from the beginning?….

However that magician took one year despite having the same vocation too. Could I possibly have some kind of special talent?…….I started having strange expectations….

That magician did say that fire magic is something like the basic to the mystery of magic. I guess I should try studying it myself to tackle the various possibilities.