Over the next couple of days I spent my time Beat- I meaning training with Bell and the others.
"Heeeh~ This just isn't fair." Welf complained with a wheeze on the ground of the training area.
"Lily agrees, we can't keep up." the small woman said equally out of breath.
"Ah don't be like that! I even went easy on you all since none of you are strong enough to survive full power. Besides the pressures good for you." I said cheerfully as I casually washed my hands in the fountain nearby.
"You say that but you don't have to deal with the bruises." Daphne said spitefully.
I scoffed "Please, you wouldn't even be able to react if I was actually trying to hurt you. Not to mention taking damage boosts your endurance stat which is good for literally all of you, Cassandra especially." I said frankly.
"I'm a mage though?" Cassandra said looking like she wanted to cry.
"And? You think that makes monsters any more hesitant to try and kill you? If anything it's the fucking opposite, theres a reason mages have the highest mortality rates of all adventures. Magic makes you more dangerous and monsters try extra hard to kill those using it as a result. Even more infuriating is the fact that for some ridiculous damn reason people have this strange idea that mages shouldn't train their bodies!" I said seriously and with more than a little annoyance.
"They aren't melee fighters and tend to be protected so why would they?" Daphne argued.
"That! That very argument is the problem! Mages being protected because they need time to cast their spells and don't know concurrent casting makes sense but what about literally every other moment? The fact of the matter is that mages spend time they could be using helping in other ways doing jack all! Even worse is that they take even a single hit and they stop being assets and become burdens instead. Go ahead tell me i'm wrong." I said firmly.
None of them could argue with that as I really wasn't wrong. They had all just gotten used to the idea of Cassandra just sitting there watching them fight whenever she wasn't using her magic. They had all heard the stories of mages getting taken down in a single hit fairly often as well. -
Frankly I found it insane that no one ever stopped to wonder if maybe the way mages were trained was plain wrong. Instead whether it be mortal or god everyone just accepted that mages were glass cannons and that was that.
"Look I get it, training a mage like a fighter feels wrong but I legitimately have the best in mind doing so. I don't expect Cassandra to pick up a sword and go berserk on a monster here, just be more than someone who can only watch as everyone else does the fighting. Hell if she learned how to use throwing daggers or even magic bombs she could at least harass the monsters giving the rest of you more opportunities to finish them off." I said seriously.
"That...might actually work?" Welf said with a frown as he struggled to reconcile the idea with his deeply engrained way of thinking.
"Of course it would, this isn't revolutionary shit here people. Rogues already act similarly but with more emphasis on doing damage. All Cassandra would need to learn was how to be annoying enough to distract monsters and not fold like laundry when lightly tapped." I said with an annoyed sigh.
"Really?" Cassandra asked with wide eyes.
"Not something I'd lie about. Not that I would need to lie about to begin with since as I said none of this is revolutionary or anything." I said with a casual shrug.
To say she was motivated during training after that was a massive understatement, she was practically ravenous to learn. I couldn't teach her much about using throwing daggers since even I only knew the basics. I couldn't make a set for her either but Welf solved that problem as a competent smith. The biggest hurdle for her at the start was not being afraid of the knives themselves.-
Cassandra was pretty timid really and as a result flinched whenever she fumbled with the knives, which was often. Still the first time she successfully stuck a dagger into the straw target she practically glowed in excitement. I didn't have the heart to tell her that the hit was totally unacceptable as the dagger was barely in place. I did try and let her know that she really had to put more strength behind her throws though. Another thing I discovered since I wasn't holed up in my workshop or the dungeon was the sort of mischief my cat got up to during the day.- Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩⟡𝘧𝙞𝙧𝙚⟡𝘯𝘦𝘵
The little demon would sneakily take a single sock from drawers and burn it to nothing causing the owner to search for it in vain. That was just the most MILD of things it did too! One of the worse had to be when I caught the devious little bugger pinching a few of the magic stones Bell and the other brought in from the dungeon. The smug shit even had the nerve to try acting cute and cuddly with Hestia after I caught it red handed to escape punishment.-
To clarify I didn't starve the thing at all so it already regularly got magic stones to consume but I definitely didn't let it pig out to it's hearts content, not enough stones in the world for that. Like all fires though the thing was greedy by nature and after acclimating to living with people had learned how to pinch off just an extra bit of stones that no one would realize were missing. One or two from each haul when no one was looking. Like all cursed spirits as it grew stronger and older it's intelligence increased so if I had to say it was about as smart as a five year old right now and just as unrepentantly devious as well.-
It was early morning on the fifth day of my forced vacation when I detected a large group of presences pass through the gate to the property. Curious about who it might be I left my room and headed for the church part of the manor that was also the main entrance. Before they could even knock I opened the door to peer out at the group that I took only a moment to recognize.
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