108

Before I knew it, I was back to sitting seiza beside Dame Oppai.

Since class was still in session, getting scolded was unavoidable.

However, I objected to being treated the same as the no-panties girl who started it all.

For the record, the panties I’d stripped off were on top of my head.

Elven underwear came in several types, and the kind Dame Oppai wore today was a single long cloth with both ends folded a bit to make slits, with cords threaded through.

So as long as I untied the knots, I could pull them off even while holding her legs with my tail without much trouble.

Then, just as I took the underwear out of the box, Number Six said, “Wait,” and that led to this situation.

“Since I’m the one giving the punishment, please stop bothering with Dame Oppai.”

Number Six finally called her “Dame Oppai” too, and the shock-and-despair look on her face was delightful.

To be fair, I also preferred to prioritize magic training over the pervert next to me right now.

Now that I could use magic, I couldn’t stop buzzing with excitement.

To escape this seiza situation even one second faster, I quietly offered a box stuffed with Empire-made underwear as a bribe.

“I don’t need it.”

Turned down with a chilly smile, I drooped, then took out a black pair and plopped it on the head of the no-panties girl sitting seiza beside me.

“It’ll be good to wear these instead,” I said with a smile when our eyes met.

“Give me back my panties!”

She took a swing at me while still seated, but sadly her hands couldn’t reach.

Naturally, she couldn’t reach the underwear on top of my head either. Every time her hands swiped at empty air, her breasts jiggled, and I laughed “gak-gak” while watching.

“Either play with her or practice your magic—please choose one.”

Chided in an exasperated tone by Number Six, I bowed my head and showed proper remorse.

Having just succeeded in activation, it was only rational to buckle down and use this momentum.

Without breaking seiza, I raised my finger and focused again.

Five seconds later, the same tiny flame flickered on my fingertip.

Practicing before the sensation faded had indeed been the right call.

Dame Oppai, who had tossed the black underwear aside, pulled a face—well, more like shot a resentful glare—at the flame on my finger.

As practice, I took paper and pen with my free hand and scribbled in messy letters:

“Dame Oppai, you can’t use fire magic?”

At the sight of the note, she let out a “guh!” sort of groan.

(Thinking back, the only magic she used properly was producing a small light orb, wasn’t it?)

I snuffed the flame once and wrote again:

“Question: Do people differ in what kinds of magic they’re suited for? And is there a way to tell?”

After reading, Number Six nodded and used magic to manipulate the earth and sketch a diagram.

“When it comes to magic aptitude, there’s no method but ‘trying everything.’ However, there is some regularity.”

The diagram shifted in sync with her fingertip.

I watched and tried to parse what it conveyed.

I hadn’t devoured magic books for nothing; I recognized similar or identical charts, and even if I couldn’t recall everything, I traced words in the dirt with my finger by feel.

“Fire, Water, Wind, Earth”—the four attributes you often saw in games.

Number Six nodded at that and arranged the diagram she’d drawn.

Seeing them placed clockwise as Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, I remembered a passage from a book.

“If I recall, you tend to be weak against the attribute opposite your specialty, while the two adjacent ones pose no problem to use.”

When I wrote that down, Number Six smiled.

“Exactly.”

Light and Darkness were separate categories, and there were compound attributes in addition to those four, but she said that was too early for me.

“Right now is the time to learn the basics and build your foundation.”

I nodded at her words.

I knew better than to neglect fundamentals.

Crossing my legs, I lit flames on my fingertips again.

On both hands at once, this time.

Then I raised the middle finger of my right hand and ignited it together with the index.

Adding fingers one after another, I lit five at once—and then an idea struck me.

I wrote it down and showed Number Six, and she nodded.

“All right, begin.”

I nodded, spread my fingers, and started the drill.

“Right-hand index, left-hand thumb, both ring fingers—”

I lit flames per her instructions.

Watching the flicker on and off at my fingertips as I continued, I suddenly felt dizzy.

After checking my condition, Number Six halted the drill and nodded, apparently having reached a conclusion.

“It seems your total mana is about the same as an average human.”

I tilted my head, not grasping the implication, and she kindly explained what that meant.

“In short, magic for daily life is the appropriate use case. Please do not attempt to use it for combat. You’ll end up like just now, and at worst lose consciousness.”

“How do I increase my mana pool?”

“As for that… the right thing to say is ‘we don’t know.’ The phenomenon of mana actually increasing is rare to begin with, so people say what you’re born with is everything.”

So I could only handle magic that made life more convenient?

Reaching that conclusion, I slumped my shoulders, but still asked if there wasn’t some other way.

“If there were, you’d see far more human mages.”

Fair point—but I still couldn’t give up.

“Then what if I use my mana efficiently?”

Even for that, I didn’t get a favorable answer; apologetically, she told me,

“Even then, once is the limit.”

And she finished me off with,

“Even if you used it as a one-time surprise, you couldn’t expect much practical effect.”

“Certainly, if you used magic, it would absolutely surprise people the first time, but…”

Seeing her trail off, I got it.

As an offensive tool, it didn’t look feasible… which meant I just had to think of another application.

There had been a hint in the last battle.

“Also, enhancing your body with magic requires a dedicated conduit. For example, Elder Schvard’s Spirit Sword counts… but such items are very rare, and obtaining one would be difficult…”

One hope dashed right away—but I still thought I had options.

“Moreover, most of the magic Elder Schvard used in that fight was compound or very mana-intensive. It’s not something you can handle.”

In conclusion, there was nothing in that fight I could use as a reference.

I sagged in dejection.

(Meaning, with this small mana pool, what I can do is limited. Even if I get creative, the resources are so scant that there’s nothing to work with.)

Sure, a monster using magic would be shocking… but just a one-off gag.

That said, my physical ability should be enough to capitalize on that moment, so even a one-off couldn’t be dismissed out of hand.

I thought.

How could I use this small amount of mana efficiently to create an opening?

Just then, something lightly touched my folded arms.

Lost in thought, I didn’t react to Dame Oppai’s movement until her hand touched my arm.

I looked over—our eyes met.

Dame Oppai smiled at me with a gentle expression.

We stared at each other for a moment, and when I realized her intent, my face must have been something.

(She didn’t… just “welcome me to the club,” did she!?)

Unbelievably, Dame Oppai recognized me—who had too little mana to field magic properly—as a comrade in the “kids who can barely use magic” group.

That merciful smile that all but said, “I’ve misunderstood you,” blew my thoughts clean away.

Roughly two minutes later—the two of us, Dame Oppai in only black panties and me, were sitting seiza before Number Six.

I was being lectured for “property damage” for ruining women’s clothing; Dame Oppai, once again, for “indecent exposure.”

In practice, with slight variations, her “main body” was the boobs, so we could probably standardize the charges.

For the time being, I was ordered to procure ingredients for tonight’s dinner, and Dame Oppai to clean the manor.