Chapter 41: New Spell Development

Hill’s recent days had been going exceedingly well—perhaps a little too well.

Every week, she would visit the Montbatten estate to feast on delicious maiden’s blood and, incidentally, give the beautiful mother and daughter an extraordinary magic lesson. To Hill’s surprise, compared to her daughter’s slow progress, Lady Anna not only showed remarkable interest and aptitude for magic, but her talent was simply astonishing.

Even after more than ten years without any contact with magic, Lady Anna could quickly get into the groove, and within just a few weeks had caught up with her own daughter. Reportedly, after attending just a few of Hill’s lessons, the lady had privately used the Montbatten family’s connections to gather numerous apprentice-level magic books for study.

Each time Hill arrived at the estate to teach, she could sense the lady’s clear improvement. Miss Otis also seemed to be influenced by her mother, growing more earnest in her magical studies. However, everyone’s talent is different—no matter how much effort Hill put into teaching, Otis still inevitably hit a bottleneck at a certain level.

As for Lady Anna, her potential seemed far from exhausted. Just last week, she had even been able to cast spells independently. Though the spell she managed was the simplest, lowest-level Light Spell, and it only lasted three seconds, it was still quite impressive for someone who’d only attended a few magic lessons.

It was foreseeable: if things continued at this pace, this lady might truly become a mage.

When Lady Anna asked Hill if it was too late for someone of her age to start learning magic, Hill replied, “My lady, learning magic is certainly difficult, but you must know that the reason this extraordinary path is called [Apprentice] is because the Goddess requires all who embark upon it to always maintain a heart hungry for knowledge and humility. You have done very well in this regard, so I believe the Goddess would not mind your age.”

“Do you mind?” Lady Anna had asked then, her expression relaxed—not like a student seeking her teacher’s opinion, nor a senior consulting a junior. It was more like an equal, a friend making small talk.

Hill had not hesitated at all, answering directly: “Of course I don’t mind, dear lady. You may think me arrogant, but in truth, just like the Goddess of Magic, I see only a seeker of knowledge. And as an apprentice, you are young enough—the road ahead is long indeed.”

It was after this response that Hill’s salary for teaching at the Montbatten house was raised to a full eight gold coins.

Hill hardly needed to spend gold coins these days. After all, as a vampire, her living expenses were much lower than others. She’d heard of spending money to buy food, but never of spending it to torment oneself—Hill certainly didn’t want to force herself to eat those grass-like foods when alone, especially since she wasn’t hungry.

Her past life as a citizen of the Celestial Empire made her save every gold coin, not only for possible emergencies, but also for a much greater purpose: should she inherit the Hamilton family’s title and that villa temporarily confiscated by the kingdom, she’d be a bona fide noble. By then, she would need gold coins for everything!

Not to mention, just maintaining the appearance of a noble was a major expense in itself.

Clothes, appearances, gifts for banquets, not to mention the regular donations a noble was expected to make to the church…

Just thinking about these things gave Hill a headache—and those were just the costs she knew about. Once her status was officially recognized, the real troubles would arrive one after another. Even then, as both a noble and an extraordinary, she would still be powerless in the face of such matters.

Nothing could be done about it—power is truth in this world!

In the blink of an eye, winter faded into spring, and six months passed.

Hill didn’t like this season, as summer was approaching and the sun was more vicious than ever. Though direct sunlight wouldn’t kill a little vampire like her outright, it would weaken her to an unbelievable degree.

Put simply, in this season, she felt like a fish thrown on the shore—flapping helplessly and able to do nothing else. Only at night, when the temperature dropped and the fierce sun was gone, did she feel alive again.

It was worth mentioning that in these six months, aside from her Flashbang Spell, she’d tried to develop a new spell. She already had the Flashbang Spell to help her escape—she’d tested it the last time she encountered the Lich, and could still remember the look on that unlucky constable’s face.

Thankfully, that guy was just a greenhorn and, when faced with a real live vampire, wasted ages fumbling to load a silver bullet into his musket. Had it been an experienced constable, that silver bullet would’ve been loaded in a single breath, and the next moment it would have blasted a hole through her skull.

As for the new spell… allow Hill to keep it a secret for now.

Because tonight was the true moment of its birth.

Inside her apartment, Hill’s desk was covered with drafts. These drafts were cheap, but she had plenty, thanks to the money Lady Anna gave her—she no longer had to be so frugal. But for people of this era, paper and ink were still expensive luxuries.

Hill lay slumped over her little desk, nearly buried under the mountain of drafts. The magic books Inks had lent her last time looked even more worn, scattered haphazardly across the bed, floor, table, and every surface.

At this moment, the magic array she was drawing was almost complete, lacking only a crucial node.

Because of that missing node, she’d racked her brain for a whole month—sometimes even spacing out while feeding on Otis’s lap. Otis, enduring immense embarrassment, had expressed strong dissatisfaction with Hill’s behavior and nearly got caught by Lady Anna because of it.

When the lady walked in and saw her daughter’s stockings on the floor, who knows what she thought?

Time ticked by. It was as if even the Goddess of Magic favored this little vampire, granting her a flash of inspiration.

The previously fruitless Hill suddenly jolted—countless tracks of thought in her mind connected in a flash, and a train carrying knowledge and future possibilities thundered through.

Hill picked up her pen and added the final stroke to the array on her draft.

There was no special effect, no crowd applauding, and no one shouting, “Omedetou.”

But Hill was certain that, with that last stroke, she had finished the magic array.

Now, she felt a wave of elation threaten to engulf her—she almost wanted to try the spell out right there in her apartment. Unfortunately, she couldn’t.

This spell she’d devised was based on Fire Ignition, Explosion, Shrapnel, Falling Rock… and several other basic spells, plus her prior experience with the Flashbang Spell.

At this point, wasn’t the magic array’s purpose already obvious?

That’s right—Hill had modeled it after a famous weapon from her past life and developed a Grenade Spell!

Pull the pin, throw it, then wait for the explosion.

That’s how a grenade is used.

The Grenade Spell Hill had developed was almost the same: cast the spell, throw it, then wait for the explosion.

If she used it in her apartment, given Hill’s design, the whole building might end up blown sky high.

“Looks like I’ll have to test this outside of town.”

Hill was desperate to know how powerful her creation really was, but if she used it inside the town, she’d surely be branded a terrorist. Someone might even accuse her of being the evil witch’s accomplice!

She had no intention of being framed for nothing.

Should she ask Professor Inks for help?

As a Sequence Two mage, Inks would surely have a place to test spells, or at least a way to solve this problem.

But after some thought, Hill gave up on the idea.

“That teacher has been immersed in magic for who knows how many years—he may not care about my invention at all.”

After all, Inks seemed just like one of those stuffy, rigid old men.

Hill decided she would mention the Grenade Spell to Professor Inks only after she’d tested its true power and value herself.

“Maybe I should ask Otis instead.”