The Second Strongest Has Returned

Chapter 15

Friend

[Father-in-law!! Give me your daughter!!]

My head was already dizzy and felt like it would split open, but that old man spewed nonsense as easily as breathing. If he weren’t a ghost, I would have bashed his face with a bat until it was swollen and sewn his mouth shut.

“…That question is too broad. What do you mean specifically?”

First, I asked calmly and rationally. This was likely another test to confirm Leonardo’s resolve, so I had to proceed calmly and rationally.

“Well, what do you think it means, Leonardo?”

As expected, he was a tough opponent. He didn’t even allow for a moment of probing.

In that case,

“I can’t describe Ariasphil in one sentence.”

There was no choice but to face it head-on.

“Oh, is that so?”

Gladio smiled a little at the flexible yet straightforward answer.

“Then can you at least summarize?”

“It might sound arrogant, but Ariasphil is…”

The only answer was to respond sincerely.

“She is my goal.”

Everyone who had been eating stopped. Not only did they stop talking, but they also stopped eating and even blinking.

It was understandable. Depending on how it was heard, it could mean that my goal was to overpower his daughter.

“…What do you mean by that?”

When asked in such a way, a bit of mischief arose in me.

“Well, what do you think it means, Head of the Family?”

“…Hahaha, hahaha, hahahaha!!”

When I provocatively asked back, the head of the family started laughing heartily. Now, seeing people laugh gave me goosebumps all over.

[You somehow make everyone you talk to manic.]

Leo looked at Gladio, who was laughing while recalling his twisted life full of jokes.

The reason he kept his gaze fixed was that if Gladio had trouble breathing in the middle, he would have to perform emergency treatment himself.

“Haha… It was an interesting dinner. Since everyone seems to have finished eating, let’s get up first.”

Suppressing his laughter, Gladio stood up from his seat. When the head of the family stood up, the other family members also rose from the dining table.

[It looked delicious… How did it taste?]

Indeed, the meal looked so appetizing that it made my mouth water to the point of dehydration. To describe such a meal as tasteless would be akin to having no sense of taste.

I hoped this wasn’t the last supper.

***

【What do you think of my daughter?】

When this was said, just like Leo, Ariasphil’s thoughts also came to a halt.

Who was his daughter? Was there another daughter of the head of the family here? If not…

It must have been a question about herself.

Her pupils trembled, and she felt like the food she was eating would get stuck in her throat. She barely managed to swallow it, but she didn’t think she could continue eating.

What worried her more was Leonardo’s answer.

She resented her father for asking such a harsh and strange question.

However, on the other hand…

‘…What will he say?’

She was extremely curious about Leonardo’s answer. She watched the conversation with her head lowered as if uninterested. Her ears, slightly red, were fully open.

And the answer that came out was,

【Ariasphil is my goal.】

That answer succeeded in turning the heat in her ears into a blush that spread across her whole face.

‘Goal…!?’

What did he mean by goal? A simple rival? Or a formidable opponent? Or perhaps…

The more she thought about it, the hotter her face became.

Like her father’s initial question, it could be interpreted in many ways.

Her face reddened more and more.

Unable to contain her excitement, Ariasphil opened her ears wider to hear a more detailed explanation, but…

【Well, what do you think it means, Head of the Family?】

Unfortunately, she couldn’t find out the exact meaning.

But for some reason,

‘Ugh…’

Her blushing face showed no signs of cooling down. Rather, the ambiguous words seemed to fuel her emotions.

Tonight, she wouldn’t sleep comfortably… no, she couldn’t sleep comfortably.

***

After that dinner

Leo sat in front of the Sage in a chair. The Sage, who was in front of him, was continuing the lesson with an intense expression.

“Yawn…”

[So, it goes like this…]

“Yaaaaawn…”

[The basics of magic are…]

“Kaaaaaahn…!”

[Oh, shut up!]

As the yawning continued and got longer, even the Sage lost his temper.

“Yaaawn…”

Leo answered with his aura along with another sleepy yawn.

[It’s a skill to do something worth apologizing for and apologizing simultaneously.]

“Yaaaaawn…!”

The Sage’s facial muscles were about to twist at the subtle technique.

[That was sarcasm, brat. And you’re still yawning right now.]

The current time was exactly 3:02 a.m. Since they were having a conversation in the dead of night, there was no way to stop yawning.

[Even so, anyone receiving such a lesson would keep their eyes wide open and ears perked up. You don’t realize how valuable this is as a mage.]

Indeed, Leo couldn’t grasp how exalted the Sage’s teachings were.

Regardless of whether he understood the lesson, his interest in magic was initially low.

[Hey, you brat. You just yawned with your aura.]

Oh, caught.

[Ha… Why did I choose such a brat as my successor…]

[Should I beat you with grit instead?]

Though they were ghosts and couldn’t physically attack each other, it was still unpleasant.

[Then shut up and listen to the lesson.]

The Sage cleared his throat and resumed the interrupted lesson.

[So, do you remember what I said the basics of magic are?]

<…>

[Answer me, brat.]

The Sage nodded, lowering his voice slightly, satisfied with the decent answer from an otherwise unpromising student.

[Right, the basics of magic are the magic circle. Chanting and hand signs came later as auxiliary techniques.]

[If you have the technique, though if you lack it, you should supplement with those.]

In martial arts terms, it could be seen as a preparatory process or posture. Thinking of it that way made it a bit easier to understand.

[Considering that, you have a decent knack. Learning even a 1st-circle magic in a week isn’t easy.]

[Me? Immediately.]

It was astonishing how many prodigious geniuses existed in the world.

[Don’t be discouraged. That’s good enough.]

[Anyway, now that you’ve learned the 1st circle, what should you do?]

[…Oh…]

The Sage let out a short exclamation at Leo’s answer.

<…Why? Was my answer wrong?>

[You have a surprising knack despite your appearance.]

His technique of simultaneously giving praise and criticism was still astonishing.

[Honestly, I thought you’d be fixated on the 2nd circle like other fools. You’re really unexpected.]

[…That’s unexpected.]

Praise and criticism in a single statement created a strange mix of emotions. It wasn’t unpleasant; it was even awe-inspiring.

[Anyway, you’re right. For now, focusing on the 1st circle is better than hastily moving to the 2nd circle. There’s no need to rush into advanced stages.]

[That’s one way, but I have a different training method in mind.]

Mana began to gather around the Sage again, similar to when he first taught the mana training method.

[Ha!]

With a shout, the gathered mana started to form a line. The lines connected like branches, eventually forming a circular shape.

[…Now…]

Within that circle, another circle was drawn at a slight distance. As the process of drawing the circle repeated, the initially empty circle became completely filled, as if colored in.

[Like this, keep drawing circles within circles with mana.]

[Doing this improves your skills. Back in my day, when the teacher ordered it, we obediently…]

It was too sleepy a day to keep my eyes wide open and ears fully open for the lesson.

***

Drawing the circles itself wasn’t difficult. If I lacked the skill for this, the fire magic wouldn’t have activated during the battle with Balrog.

The problem was…

“Ugh…!”

It was the process of filling the circle with more circles.

[Why are you groaning like that? Tighten your focus! Lock onto the optic nerve!]

“Ah, shut up. It’s distracting.”

Speaking simultaneously caused the lines to falter. Leo refocused the lines by reinfusing mana.

[What did you say?

Hey, I did it without a body! This is the problem with youngsters these days… not even trying hard…]

“You shoved the Sage’s Stone into my heart, didn’t you? Like a parasite.”

[W-what? Parasite?]

“Isn’t it? After all, you’re roaming around as a ghost thanks to my mana.”

Maybe because of the aftermath of the regression, I found out later that the Sage’s Stone in my heart had no stored mana from the Sage.

Of course, it still contained the spells and thoughts stored by the Sage, allowing us to communicate like this, but if my mana was depleted, the Sage’s Stone would stop functioning.

[Hey… I saved your life!]

“Yes, you saved me and now you’re ‘parasitic’.”

[If that’s the case, why don’t you pull it out of your heart?]

“Oh, how can I do something so creepy? I’m too scared to even think about it.”

[Ha… Damn it… why did I pick a guy like this…]

While drawing the fifth circle,

Knock, knock

Someone knocked on the door. Though quite some time had passed, it was still clearly the dead of night.

[Who is it? At this hour?]

“I don’t know.”

Leo stopped drawing the circles and walked toward the door.

“Who is it?”

Before opening the door, Leo carefully asked, looking through the peephole.

“Sorry to bother you at this late hour, but I have something to discuss regarding our comrades. Can we talk now?”

Through the peephole, he saw something like a white wall. After several checks, he realized it was someone’s body.

The voice was also familiar, so Leo opened the door without much suspicion.

“Thank you.”

The person who entered was a large man. He entered the room, displaying muscles so robust he could be mistaken for a fully-fledged knight instead of an apprentice.

“Sorry for coming in so late.”

“As important as it is, I assume.”

“Indeed.”

With a brief answer, he sat in a chair.

[Who’s that guy?]

Looking at the strange apprentice knight, the Sage frowned and asked.

“My apologies for the late introduction.”

Continuing from what Leo said, his senior introduced himself.

“My name is Alphonse Armstrong, an apprentice knight and your senior in rank.”

“Hello, senior.”

Alphonse Armstrong was someone Leo knew in his previous life, both as a senior and a comrade, someone as reliable as his sturdy muscles.

[Why is someone like him coming at this hour? To talk between men?]

“I’ll be direct. You should quit being a squire.”

…

……

………

[He’s a good person, you said.]