Rebirth From Ordinary Person To The Strongest

"Huh? Where did Siren go?"

"She can\'t stay any longer. I\'ll summon her again," Nina-chan said, starting to gather her magic power once more.

So, fairies only last for an hour, huh? That was a new piece of information for me, and I found myself thinking about it.

Does the time a fairy can remain depend on how much magic power is used to create it? Or does "Fairy Magic" only last for an hour by nature?

I figured it might be worth testing out more thoroughly at some point.

But for now, I called out to Nina-chan.

"No, it\'s been an hour. Let\'s take a break."

"…Okay," she said, exhaling deeply and sitting down on the veranda, stretching out her body in a lazy sprawl.

It was the first time I\'d seen Nina-chan let herself go like that in front of someone.

She must have been really tired. But honestly, we had only covered the basics of movement and barely started training.

I sat next to Nina-chan, and she spoke, still lying down.

"You\'re amazing, Itsuki. You don\'t even seem tired."

"I\'ve been doing this for a long time. If you keep it up, Nina-chan, you\'ll stop getting tired too."

"…Yeah, you\'re right. I\'ll keep trying," she said, looking up at the sky.

Today was a perfect day for physical activity, with not a single cloud in the sky.

As I followed Nina-chan\'s gaze toward the clear sky, she quietly murmured something beside me.

"Hey, Itsuki."

"What\'s up?"

"How do you think I can catch up to my mom?"

"…Hmm."

Her question made me pause for a moment.

Technically, both Nina-chan and Ireena-san are classified as Fourth Rank exorcists. So, just based on that, Nina-chan has the potential to catch up to her mother.

But Nina-chan has a few disadvantages. Her age, her lack of experience, and her trauma related to monsters.

So, after thinking for a moment, I gave her my answer.

"If you keep working hard, you\'ll definitely catch up one day."

"And when do you think that\'ll be?"

"…Hmm."

After pondering a bit more, I said, "It\'ll probably take a while."

Nina-chan didn\'t say anything in response. She likely understood better than anyone else.

That\'s probably why she asked me in the first place.

But I continued anyway.

"But I believe you\'ll catch up, Nina-chan."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really."

This wasn\'t just an empty encouragement to make her feel better. I genuinely believed it.

Nina-chan has the strength to keep moving forward toward her dream, no matter what. I\'ve always admired that about her, which is why I truly believe she\'ll catch up to Ireena-san one day.

Of course, I\'d never be able to admit that out loud—it would be way too embarrassing. But I do wish I could emulate that quality.

It\'s something I didn\'t have in my previous life, after all.

"If you want to catch up, you\'ll need to keep training hard," I added.

"I know that," Nina-chan replied, standing up abruptly.

She made her way back into the yard.

"I\'m fine now. Let\'s continue."

"Alright. Let\'s practice footwork next," I said, getting to my feet and following her.

By the time I caught up, Nina-chan had already summoned Siren again. Just like before, the mermaid appeared and began circling around us.

Then, she started to sing once more.

"Does this magic also strengthen monsters?" I asked.

"No, it doesn\'t. It only works on people."

"That\'s pretty useful."

It made me wonder if there\'s a way to reduce a monster\'s power instead, like some kind of debuff magic. If buffs exist, it seems reasonable that debuffs should too.

But after thinking about where such a spell could be useful, nothing immediately came to mind.

If a monster is ranked even one level higher than you, the difference in magic power can be up to 30 times greater. Even if you could cut that in half, the monster would still have 15 times more magic than you.

In that case, debuff magic wouldn\'t help much against stronger opponents.

On the other hand, against weaker monsters, it wouldn\'t be necessary either. If you had time to cast a debuff spell on a lower-ranked monster, you could just exorcise it faster.

So, the only time debuff magic might be useful would be when fighting a monster of equal rank. That\'s the conclusion I came to.

After thinking it through, I turned my attention back to Nina-chan.

Around noon, my mom called us in for lunch. While we were eating, the house phone rang—a rare occurrence these days. When I picked it up, it turned out to be my dad.

"How are you, Itsuki?" came his voice over the phone.

"I\'m good. How are you, Dad?"

"I\'m doing fine. The situation here is under control, and the number of \'ma\' has been decreasing," he said.

"Decreasing?"

"Yeah, I\'ve taken care of most of the dangerous \'ma.\' At this rate, I should be able to come home sometime next week."

Hearing that his work would still take another week, I couldn\'t help but grimace a little.

Exorcists really do work too much.

"I heard you met the Actor," my dad continued. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I\'m fine. And I didn\'t really see him directly. He just possessed a stuffed animal," I replied.

"An effigy, huh? That\'s a pretty old type of magic."

"You know about it?"

"Of course. Exorcists used to use that magic to communicate with people far away."

"Can you use it too?"

"I can, but… there\'s no need to. A phone is much more convenient," he said, matter-of-factly.

Hearing him say that, I couldn\'t help but agree silently.

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It turns out that magic isn\'t always the more convenient option for everything.

Considering my dad almost never uses the internet or data on his phone, the fact that even he found effigy magic more troublesome than a phone call really says something.

"Right now, other exorcists are searching for the Actor. He\'s likely using \'concealment\' magic, so it\'s taking time," my dad added.

I heard his voice resonate through the phone.

"Dad, is there a chance the Actor isn\'t even in Japan anymore?"

"He might have left the country, yes. If he\'s spread \'ma\' around here and then fled, it\'s possible."

"…I see."

"If that\'s the case, we\'d hand the search over to exorcists abroad. A \'ma\' that can create more \'ma\' must be exorcised as quickly as possible."

I let out a quiet hum in response.

If the Actor had escaped abroad, it would be a real hassle. That was all I could think.

After a bit of casual conversation with my dad, I hung up the phone.

I was just about to head to the veranda to practice magic in the afternoon when I heard the sound of rain, followed by Nina-chan\'s footsteps.

"Itsuki, it\'s raining. What are we going to do this afternoon?" she asked.

"Well, I was thinking about doing some physical training, but…"

I trailed off, looking out the window.

The sky that had been perfectly clear earlier was now filled with heavy clouds, and rain was pouring down like someone had upended a bucket over the house.

"Let\'s practice magic instead."