“Per… Pervert—”
The silver-haired girl instinctively waved her hand at the man frozen in the doorway.
Unexpectedly, a dazzling light flashed from her palm, bright as the midday sun, instantly filling the room with a brilliance that made Fen close his eyes.
“I… I was wrong! Stop it! My… my eyes are going blind—”
A short while later in the living room, the girl had finally put her clothes on.
Elena knelt on a soft cushion, her hands clasped together in a gesture of repentance—though the blush on her face still hadn’t faded.
‘Eseriel above… Oh, revered Goddess… I confess, I should not have been so captivated by the girl’s beauty… May the gods forgive this lost lamb, I swear I won’t make this mistake again…’
The man sitting beside her mimicked her posture.
“Ahem… The Goddess is my witness… I confess… I shouldn’t have opened the door while someone was… doing that… Please forgive me, Goddess, I swear I’ll knock before entering anyone’s room next time…”
“I… I already said it was a misunderstanding!”
Elena, who had just calmed down, bristled again.
“Ahem… Let’s get back to business… Elena, I’ve already submitted your resignation letter for you.”
“Mhm… There’s one more thing… Elena, you used magic just now, didn’t you?”
“Huh… Oh, right, now that you mention it—”
“It seems this body of yours is capable of using mana.”
Fen recalled the scene of Elena casting the spell earlier.
“Re… really!?”
Fen nodded.
“Your subconscious ‘defense’ command just now caused your body to instinctively resonate with the mana in the air, gathering it to produce light.”
Since Elena had no mana before, Fen had to explain the principles to her step by step.
‘That light… it should be the most basic Illumination spell in Light Magic, right?’
However, its power was surprisingly strong.
It was clearly just an Illumination spell, yet it was almost as potent as the Dazzling Light spell some mages used to blind enemies in combat.
“And due to the Goddess’s Blessing, your body likely has a high affinity for the Light Element.”
Fen ventured a bold inference.
“What… what should I do—Fen!? How… how do I make that thing happen again! That… whatever light spell!”
Elena leaned close to Fen, shaking his shoulders.
At this moment, she was as eager as a child discovering a new continent for the first time.
“It’s Dazzling Light… that’s the advanced version of Illumination…”
Seeing Elena’s excitement, Fen was reminded of his own first time learning magic in this world.
He had been just as excitable back then.
“Elena, first, close your eyes and focus. Try to sense if there’s anything in the air you couldn’t perceive before.”
Elena closed her eyes, clearing her mind as she did during her sword practice.
Then, within her pitch-black vision, light suddenly flickered into existence.
They were of different colors and moved at varying speeds—some glowing with golden light, others shimmering with blue light.
Some flowed slowly, while others streaked by like meteors, quickly vanishing from Elena’s ‘sight.’
“There is! There are several currents-like things swirling around me! Several ‘feelings’ that are very bright… but they keep moving erratically… And there’s one warm, gentle one that keeps slowly circling me!—”
“Hmm… The gentlest one is probably the Water Element.”
“First, try to absorb the brightest ones… Be careful not to touch the other elements.”
Elena complied.
A miraculous scene unfolded.
The previously restless elements instantly calmed down, becoming as docile as tamed beasts seeing their master, as obedient as mischievous children seeing their mother.
They swirled around Elena’s silver hair, gathering around the beautiful girl.
One of them slowly seeped into the palm of Elena’s hand.
“Elena, try to ‘guide’ the elements with your body. You don’t need to use much force, just change their direction. It’s like guiding a lost child home. Make them converge at the part of your body you’re using to cast, like your fingertip.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a faint glow slowly lit up on the tip of Elena’s right index finger.
Different from the blinding Dazzling Light before, this time Elena deliberately controlled the intensity.
The Light Element truly behaved like an obedient child, cooperating with her to form a soft, gentle light at her fingertip, like a firefly on a summer night.
“I did it…”
The silver-haired girl’s body trembled with excitement, and the light at her fingertip vanished in an instant.
“That’s… that’s amazing! Fen!”
The silver-haired girl shook Fen’s arm, wanting to share the joy of this moment with the teacher who had just taught her this skill.
“I… I finally have mana too…”
A hint of bitterness suddenly tinged the girl’s words.
“You have great talent… you learn quickly. Anyway… congratulations…”
Fen suddenly remembered how, in the past, whenever some people gave Elian a hard time for having no mana yet occupying the position of Paladin, calling him a useless placeholder, or when troublemakers would show off their magic in front of him, Elian would always respond with a polite smile.
Looking at it now, was that seemingly indifferent reaction to magic also just a front…?
‘She really did care about magic after all…’
“If you want to learn something else… I can teach you a bit too…”
“Re… really!?”
“Let me be clear upfront, all I know are Auxiliary Magic spells used to support sword techniques. I don’t know any of those super flashy, world-destroying spells—”
“Tha… thank you so much! Fen!”
The girl clearly forgot her current identity and simply threw herself at him.
“Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing!?”
Feeling the weight against his chest… and that soft, bouncy sensation, Fen was clearly flustered.
‘Thi… this is the male lead! We’re brothers… I can’t have any improper thoughts!’
Elena’s face flushed bright red, and she hurriedly stood up.
“Sor… sorry… I forgot my current situation is special…”
“Elena…”
“…”
“How about… I buy you some underwear another day…”
“Uh… doesn’t it feel… uncomfortable for you inside…?”
Fen felt he was only digging himself deeper.
“!?”
“You… you really are paying attention to my… there, aren’t you! You said you didn’t see anything this morning!”
“That’s why! That’s why you should get some underwear already!”
“I… I’ve been friends with you for so many years, I never thought you were such a… such a pervert!”
…
The living room grew noisy again, but before long, a crisp, ill-timed knocking sound interrupted them.
Knock knock—
“Who is it?”
Fen extricated himself from the playful scuffle with Elena and walked to the door.
He opened it.
Standing at the doorway was an unexpected, fiery-red figure.
Nora Valsir.