After obtaining information about Sicana's enemy, Lolan returned home.
Miss Charlotte had clearly been waiting for quite some time. Slightly puzzled, Lolan asked, "Charlotte, what's wrong?"
…
Silence.
Then Miss Charlotte's cheeks puffed up like a pufferfish again.
"Nothing!"
"Hahaha… I was just joking. How could I possibly forget?"
Lolan patted the girl's head—but this time she gave absolutely no reaction.
Uh oh.
This time she might actually be angry.
"Miss Charlotte?"
No response.
"Adorable Miss Charlotte?"
Still no response.
"The cutest, smartest, prettiest, most elegant Miss Charlotte in the entire world?"
"Stop saying that!"
Charlotte finally couldn't take it anymore.
Did this guy seriously have no sense of embarrassment at all?
At last, after successfully coaxing her, Lolan let out a sigh of relief.
If the little ancestor of the house truly got angry, that would be very hard to deal with.
And because of that, Lolan couldn't help but begin reflecting on whether he could truly be a qualified guardian…
Thinking about it gave him a headache. After a moment of consideration, he decided to write a letter to a certain lady—whose identity was somewhat complicated, and whom he would rather not see.
Technically speaking, he even had to call that woman "big sister."
…What a karmic entanglement.
With a sigh, Lolan stopped overthinking and officially began Charlotte's magic lesson.
---
In the backyard, Lolan cleared his throat.
"Now then, Charlotte. First, I need to ask you a question. In your opinion—what is magic?"
What is magic?
Charlotte thought for a moment and gave the textbook answer.
"Magic is a miracle driven by magical power."
"Very good. Then, Miss Charlotte, how many categories of magic are there?"
"Magic is divided into elemental magic, shaping magic, divine magic, and in addition, there are secret arts that are difficult to classify."
"Excellent. Your fundamentals are quite solid."
Lolan applauded lightly before continuing.
"Then let's begin with elemental magic. First question—why can most people only use one or two types of magic?"
"Because each person's magical attribute is fixed. For example, someone with fire-attribute magic cannot use ice magic."
"Yes, very good. But here's another question. How does someone with no attribute use magic?"
Charlotte looked puzzled.
"People with no attribute are generally considered incapable of using magic…"
"That's not entirely wrong. In fact, my own teacher once said the same thing."
Lolan gave a small chuckle.
"But Charlotte, let me tell you something. The mage Lorian from the Saintess's party—the one you mentioned earlier—also had no attribute."
"What? That's impossible!"
Charlotte looked shocked.
"Wasn't Lord Lorian a full-attribute mage?"
In the stories passed down about the Saintess's adventures, the mage Lorian had displayed multiple elemental attributes. During the final battle against the Demon King, the light magic he used was no weaker than that of the Saintess herself. Nowadays, most people believed Lorian had been an all-attribute mage.
"No attribute," Lolan said calmly, "in another sense, means all attributes."
He did not elaborate further.
"That topic will be covered next lesson."
"Now, let's continue."
---
Lolan somehow produced a small blackboard from nowhere. With a flick of his teaching pointer, a circle appeared on its surface.
"Suppose this circle represents the air around us. Within it are countless magical particles."
He waved a hand, and a small flame appeared in his palm.
"For example, this is a basic spell—Fireball. It consists of ten fire-element magic particles."
He waved again, producing a much larger flame.
"This is a mid-tier spell—Flame Burst. It consists of one hundred fire-element magic particles."
"As for the high-tier spell Flame Judgment, that's essentially a giant fireball composed of ten thousand fire-element magic particles. And the forbidden spell Heavenfall Inferno is simply an absurdly enormous fireball made of one hundred million fire-element magic particles."
"So Charlotte, at its core, magic is the combination of magic particles."
"Of course, that's only the foundation."
The flames vanished from his hand.
"But for now, you don't need to understand that much. Today, we're starting with the true fundamentals of magic. Close your eyes. Calm your mind. Feel the magic flowing within your body."
Charlotte closed her eyes and entered a strange, tranquil state.
Lolan watched from the side, curious.
Charlotte seemed to have quite a lot of magical power. It shouldn't be too difficult.
Three hours.
He was confident.
After all, it had taken him four full hours to first sense magic. If Charlotte did it in three, that would already be impressive.
Surely she wouldn't manage it in under two hours.
Impossible. Absolutely impossible.
Two hours later—
Charlotte opened her eyes.
"Lolan!"
"Hm?"
"I felt it! There's something warm flowing inside me!"
"…Hiss."
Lolan sucked in a sharp breath.
What the heck?
That fast?!
I know you're the protagonist, but this is a bit ridiculous…
Then he suddenly remembered a certain friend of his.
Compared to that guy—who had sensed magic the instant he entered meditation—Charlotte didn't seem quite as outrageous.
With a cheat-level genius as reference, she actually looked pretty reasonable.
Lolan cleared his throat.
"Good. Very good. Now, Charlotte, try guiding your magic outward. Attempt to capture the magic particles in the atmosphere."
Charlotte followed his instructions, directing her magic outward.
She sensed the dense magical particles around her—of every element—chaotically mixed together.
As her magic extended, some particles drifted away.
Others slowly approached.
They were gentle, faintly glowing particles.
Meanwhile, Lolan, eyes closed, sensing her progress through spiritual perception, stroked his chin.
She seems particularly compatible with light-element particles.
Well… light element is practically standard equipment for a heroine.
He continued observing.
Since it was her first attempt at capturing magic particles, it was naturally difficult. Each time she tried to grasp them with her magic, they dissipated.
Just as Charlotte began to grow anxious, she suddenly felt someone embrace her from behind.
She startled.
Then Lolan's voice sounded softly by her ear.
"Focus. Concentrate."
Though the warmth of his breath made her cheeks flush slightly, Charlotte quickly composed herself and focused as instructed.
Lolan held her hand, guiding her magic to capture the particles.
With his assistance, it became much easier.
Before long, Charlotte opened her eyes.
A small cluster of glowing light hovered in her palm.
"Lolan, look!"
"Mm. Not bad."
Lolan released her.
"Looks like you captured three or four particles. Well… it doesn't have much offensive capability, but you could probably use it as a light bulb."
"…Hmph!"
Watching Charlotte somehow become angry again, Lolan scratched his head, utterly confused.