Even a Daytime Lantern Has Its Uses

Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/15/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

We soothed and comforted the crying Kira, and somehow managed to settle her a little.
She still hiccuped now and then—hikku, hikku—but she seemed able to talk, more or less.

“Here, Kira, drink this and you’ll calm down.”

As I said it, I drew a cup of water and handed it over.
Still making wet little sounds, Kira took the cup and held the water in her mouth.
Gerda and I watched quietly as she drank, slowly, slowly.

When she had drunk about half the cup, a breath slipped out—hoh…
Yes. She seemed to be settling, bit by bit.

“Kira, you don’t have to talk about how you got here if you don’t want to. After you’ve calmed down is fine.
Anyway, the real work here starts tomorrow!”

I tried saying it lightly, brightly, on purpose.
And half of it was true. Of course I was curious what had happened to Kira, but there was no need to drag it out of her.
From tomorrow on would be perfectly fine.

But Kira looked up at me as if gauging me, and shook her head, small.
…When a teary-eyed beauty did that, it was a gesture rather hard on the heart.

“No, it’s all right. Thank you.”

In a small voice, as if murmuring word by word.
A voice that seemed a little calmer, and still unsteady.

Even in that state, Kira began to talk.

“I can use magic.
But I can’t use anything with real power…”

According to her, she could use beginner magic of the fire and ice types.
But even that did not have much power, apparently.

“I showed Lord Dominas, and he made a troubled face…”

Perhaps remembering that moment, tears welled at the corners of her eyes.
I hurriedly drew her in, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, trying to settle her.
Gently, as if clinging, her hand stacked on mine.
Ah, small hands, some useless thought floated up.

“He asked if there wasn’t any other attack magic I could use, but I… didn’t have any…”
“Mmh… I’m sorry. There is a side of that which cannot be helped.
After all, in this country, what is demanded first is attack magic.”

In this country’s defensive thinking, they wanted to deal as much damage as possible while the enemy’s ships were still at sea.
That meant various projectiles were needed, and among them fire, lightning, and wind attack magic could be expected to damage the ships themselves, and so were especially important.
Of course, that was what had been expected of Kira as well.

“This country—or rather, the country I came from should have been the same.
When people in the village talked about amazing magicians they had seen in the royal capital, it was the amazingness of their attack magic.”

In this world, with a civilization around the Middle Ages to the early modern period, gunpowder and weapons of that kind had not developed.
Or rather, one should say magic served in their place.
The cost of developing and training it was not small, but against humans it was tremendous, and against monsters it was reasonably effective as well.
If you hurled exploding fireball magic into a body of soldiers who could only move on foot, it was not hard to imagine what would happen.
And so when one said magic, one meant attack magic, and then healing magic: that was common sense in this world.

“I’m bad at attack magic…
My teacher hardly taught me any, either.”
“…Didn’t teach you? Why?”
“She said I had no talent. That I wasn’t suited.”
“Ah~… that is…”

It was odd for me, who could not use magic, to say so, but talent apparently had a great deal to do with magic.
I could not use it at all, and conversely people who could used magic that looked like it had walked out of an RPG, and so on.
In other words, Kira had been branded unfit as a magician, or useless.

And on top of that, she had been sent to this island. Despite being a magician, a reasonably rare thing.
How much of a humiliation that had been for Kira.
And what words had been thrown at her by those around her.
…It was not hard to imagine.

“Lord Dominas said I wasn’t suited to attack magic, too…”

That must have been a declaration as good as a finishing blow.
I drew Kira’s shoulders in despite myself.

What was I supposed to say at a time like this.
I, who could not use magic, had nothing I could say.
An indescribable silence ruled the room.

Then Gerda, who had been listening to us in silence until then, looked at Kira for a while and tilted her head.

“No talent… did your teacher truly say that?”
“Eh… yes. She did.”

Watching Kira nod, Gerda looked thoughtful.

“Is something the matter?”
“No. Even to my eyes, Kira seems to possess a considerable amount of magic.
For that to come with ‘no talent’ ought to be a rare thing…”

She was looking at Kira, quite puzzled.
I see, that was true, I thought, tilting my own head—and Kira opened her mouth, looking terribly embarrassed.

“Um… the magic I can use, just one… but I can’t use it, so…”
“Hm? …Ah, you can use it, but it isn’t very useful?”
“Come to think of it, Dominas said she wasn’t suited to attack magic, but he did not say she could not use magic, did he?”

At Gerda’s and my questions, Kira nodded.

As I had said earlier, the star of magic was attack magic.
Other magic was sometimes mocked as useless.
From my RPG-brained point of view, mastering that kind of magic was exactly the point, I thought.

“Incidentally, what magic can you use?”

Gerda asked it smoothly.
The way she timed it, her communication skills were high, I thought.
Even so, Kira mumbled for a while… and at last opened her mouth.

“What I can use is… ‘Desiccate’…”
“‘Desiccate’? I’ve never heard of that magic…”
“…’Desiccate,’ you say?”

At Gerda’s reaction Kira shrank even further, so I hurriedly comforted and encouraged her, and listened to the details with my eyes shining.

“Magic that drives the water out… you can use it to dry clothes and such, but.”
“I-I see… that is, hmm…”

Gerda’s face was thoughtful—but.
I could not help crowding in on Kira, and seized both her shoulders.

“Kira, that means you only drive the water out of clothes, right?”
“Eh, ah, yes…”

Perhaps startled by my intensity, Kira blinked and answered, her voice growing even smaller.

“Kira, did you grow up in the mountains? Or rather, somewhere not near the sea?”
“Ah, yes. Why… did you know?”

How could I not. If magic like that could be used near the sea, you would make a fortune and be treated like a goddess, obviously.

“Hey, that magic—can you only drive it all out at once?
Or can you, for example, hold back and drive out only half?”
“I-I think… I should be able to…”

Wonderful. To think there was magic that could do such a thing.

“Incidentally, how much can you use in a day? Ah, how much water can you drive out?”
“Er… probably, if it’s about a large wooden tub, as many times as I want…?”
“What… did you say…”

An individual’s magic recovered after a while even when used.
That recovery apparently depended on the individual’s maximum magic… and Kira, who had enough magic for Gerda to acknowledge it, apparently recovered in no small amount.
If she did it steadily, using it all day was not impossible, I was told.

Hearing that explanation, I found myself trembling.
Kira and Gerda both peered at me, looking worried.
No, I’m sorry, this is not an illness or anything, I’m fine, I’m fine.

I took Kira’s slender shoulders again.

“Kira.”
“Ah, what…?”
“You. Are. The. Best.”

I gave her the highest praise, with my brightest smile.
At the suddenness of it, Kira blinked, unable to speak.

“Leave it to me, Kira.
I’ll teach you that you’re not useless at all—you’re the finest magician.”

Kira stared blankly at my face as I said it cleanly, with force.
Her trembling lips opened.

“Is… that so…? I’m… not useless…?”
“Of course! If anything, you’re the best!”

At my voice, Kira’s face crumpled.
She dove into my chest with force.

I caught her in a hurry, and Gerda supported my back.
I held Kira, who had started crying again, this time with a settled heart, and patted her back, pon pon.