I bought soft white bread from the bakery.
The high-quality flour from Sad Medieval Land was expensive and hard to get.
Because of that, the common people of Sad Medieval Land used cheap grains like rye, barley, and oats for baking, which resulted in hard and dark bread.
However, Happy Medieval Land was a magical world.
Flour was cheap.
Salt and pepper were also cheap.
Everyone could happily eat white bread.
Of course, only certain aspects developed, and the rest stayed the same, but still, eating only hard bread would make a person depressed.
Once that was addressed, most problems were effectively solved.
I walked down the street, the lantern with a round flame jingling in my hand.
“Guide.”
“Water.”
I could hear children whispering from afar.
Those “Guide” and “Water” titles were my nicknames.
In this world, there was a legend about a goddess who carried a lantern to guide adventurers, and because I had been carrying a lantern for years, those nicknames stuck.
“Try talking to her.”
“You talk to her.”
The children pushed each other and argued.
Among them was a blonde boy, the neighborhood bully.
What was his name again?
Was it Zed?
I knew his father was an apprentice knight, so Zed had learned proper swordsmanship and magic.
Although I had never talked to Zed, my information-gathering skills didn’t miss such details.
Just walking around the market was enough, as the women wouldn’t stop talking.
There was no escaping it.
I had already been living in this village for three years and some months, but aside from Kelton, I hadn’t made any close friends.
Partly because I stayed in my house all the time, and partly because I wasn’t particularly interested in making friends.
How could I make connections when I wore a robe to hide my face, afraid of being recognized?
I was still too young to be independent, so it was better to live hidden until then, avoiding my parents.
Even if they did come, I’d just tell them I had become an apprentice mage, and they’d quietly leave.
But I kept a low profile to avoid causing trouble for Kelton.
Leaving the hesitant children behind, I walked back home.
The lantern jingled and swayed.
Inside the lantern, the round flame I had ignited illuminated the world without the slightest movement.
For all this time, I had lit the flame in the lantern every day.
When my magic was still there, I used it to light the flame.
When my magic ran out, I used oil to light it.
I kept doing it nonstop.
It had been about two years.
Then, suddenly, I recognized my actions as a rule.
Waking up in the morning, holding the lantern, and lighting the magical flame seemed like a law I followed.
Yes.
All fairness was completed by following the rules.
That was how I reached the 2nd tier.
When I reached the 2nd tier, my magic underwent a change.
Now, when I activated magic inside the lantern, it consumed much less mana.
My repeated actions had created a “rule.”
It was still limited to small flames for the lantern, so the mana consumption was reduced only in that aspect.
But if I repeated other actions, new “rules” would be formed. There was plenty of room for application.
“That lantern… you carry it like it’s part of your body.”
“It practically is now.”
“By carrying it all the time, didn’t your magic develop in that direction?”
“But it did develop, didn’t it?”
Kelton, sitting in the rocking chair in the yard, chuckled at my words and tapped his pipe to put it out.
“Didn’t you say we’re doing practical training today?”
“Wait a moment.”
I went to the kitchen to prepare food.
I sliced the bread and spread raspberry jam on it.
Then I stacked ham, cheese, lettuce, and tomato on top, layering them before covering it with more bread.
By repeating this, I made several sandwiches.
After putting some herbal tea in a bottle, I packed the sandwiches and the bottle in a basket and went outside.
“Let’s go.”
Kelton and I headed toward the forest near the village.
The weather in May was very clear.
It was perfect for a picnic.
“I’ve said it countless times, we’re not here for a picnic.”
“I didn’t say it was a picnic.
I just said the weather was good for one.”
The forest near the village was dense with trees.
Even during the day, little light reached the ground, making it quite dark.
It was when we were walking briefly through the dark woods.
Grrr.
A strange sound echoed.
Something leapt out from behind a tree.
It was the size of a child, with green skin.
A goblin.
“Well, there’s one.
Do it.”
At Kelton’s words, I opened the lantern and activated my magic.
Whoosh. A round flame appeared inside the lantern.
At the same time, the flame shot forward like a bullet.
Kieek!
The goblin, struck by the flame, clutched its head and rolled on the ground.
I fired consecutive flame bullets to finish it off.
From the 2nd tier, it became possible to launch elements remotely.
That’s why practical magic was usually used from the 2nd tier onward.
“Was it perfect?”
“The magic’s power isn’t all that impressive.”
“Well, I’ve also developed in the direction of conserving power, just like you, Kelton.”
“Until you reach the 3rd tier, avoid facing monsters alone.”
I nodded and then asked,
“Is it over now?”
The only monsters near the village forest were goblins.
Goblins were small and weak, and even a child with a weapon could kill one.Sometimes, goblin shamans could be dangerous, but such creatures only appeared in large goblin settlements.
You wouldn’t encounter them in a rural village like this.
In fact, that’s one of the reasons why this village even existed in the first place.
“No.”
Kelton answered briefly and raised his hand.
Then,
Grrr.
Goblins appeared in groups from afar.
Indeed, goblins were small and weak, low-level monsters, but even so, there was a reason why they were still considered monsters.
Goblins lived in groups.
Even a small goblin settlement usually had at least 10 goblins living together.
They weren’t monsters that an ordinary person could just charge at without thinking.
That’s right.
In other words, goblins weren’t much of a threat to a mage, who was far from ordinary.
Kelton’s eyes coldly gazed at the goblins.
The ranks of mages were divided into nine levels, but the low-ranking mages, commonly known as regular mages, only reached one of the first four tiers.
1st tier – “Gyeonwi” Mage.
This was a mage who had discovered elements, essentially marking the beginning of magic.
2nd tier – “Suwi” Mage.
A mage who started manipulating elements, and this was when a mage began to look like what common people would imagine a mage to be.
3rd tier – “Yeonwi” Mage.
A mage who had come to understand elements.
Once one reached this level, they could live comfortably for the rest of their life.
Finally, the 4th tier – “Dongwi” Mage.
This was a mage whose understanding and mastery of elements had reached the level of perfection.
It was the last stage that could be reached through “effort,” and only a step away from becoming a high mage.
The gap between an ordinary person and a mage was vast, but still, up to the 3rd tier, a skilled non-magical person could, by sheer luck, manage to kill a monster.
But the 4th tier was different.
Even if one was careless, the 4th tier mage’s abilities were too refined for a non-magical person to deal with.
And the 4th tier was where Kelton stood.
“I offer this as payment.”
Kelton murmured quietly, and the released magic swirled and engulfed the goblin in a fiery wave.
The goblin turned to ash without even a scream.
I clapped my hands.
“Really, Kelton-nim.
For a 4th-tier mage, goblins are like lunch sandwiches, huh?”
“Yeah.
I got it.
Since I brought it, let’s eat outside today.”
“Just like Kelton-nim, as always.”
We left the forest and headed toward a nearby field.
I spread out a cloth I had prepared earlier and set the basket on it.
I took out a sandwich from the basket and handed it to Kelton before taking a bite of mine.
The sweet jam, fresh lettuce and tomatoes, and the salty ham blended together perfectly in my mouth.
“It’s delicious.”
“You really are amazing at cooking.”
“Are you saying everything else isn’t good?”
“Do you lose at Arcanum Chess to me every time or not?”
“We do get occasional draws now.”
A breeze blew.
The grass in the field bent and swayed in the wind.
It looked like waves crashing across the ground, and I stared at the scene absentmindedly.
“I’m glad we came out for a picnic.”
“You’re calling it a picnic after all.”
“The weather is really nice.”
The sunlight was just perfect.
I stretched lazily, and Kelton, putting a pipe in his mouth, spoke.
“You have something in common with my master.”
“Really?
What’s that?”
“You both like to bask in the sun.”
Kelton gazed into the distance as he puffed on his pipe.
When he spoke about his master, he always made that expression.
Huff.
Kelton exhaled the smoke slowly before continuing.
“And you both have a sweet tooth.”
“Did I put too much jam?”
“You added too much sugar.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
I mentally adjusted the recipe I had been keeping in mind.
By the way,
“Kelton-nim, you must have spent quite a long time with your master?”
“I trained with them for about 3 years.
Why do you ask all of a sudden?”
“You never really talk about it, so I was curious.
Is there a reason?”
“There’s nothing particularly memorable to talk about.”
It had been quite a while since I started living with Kelton, but I hadn’t heard much about his master.
The most I knew was that she was an 8th-tier mage.
In three years, that was basically all I had heard about her.
“There may not be anything impressive, but I still want to hear it.”
After all, she was an 8th-tier archmage, the pinnacle of human magic.
I wouldn’t lose anything by hearing a story or two.
Kelton hesitated for a moment, then flicked his pipe to put it out before he began to speak.
“There’s an episode where the second son of a baron couldn’t recognize my master and tried to make advances on her.”
“You’ve been hiding such a funny story?
Please, tell me now!”
Time passed by quickly.
Five years had passed since I met Kelton.
Finally, I had turned 15, which was considered adulthood in this world.
And yet, I was still at the 2nd tier.
Things hadn’t changed much in the past two years.