Useless Ma-chan (Toward The Finale, Part 7)

Kou had discovered a bug in the world system as a World Core.

However, after discussion, the problem was resolved.

But instead, a question arose in my mind.

That question was this:

Would Mackybell, a magical genius, really fail to notice the sheer amount of her own magic power, or the fact that she could use healing magic?

So, to confirm my question, I asked Sophia to call Mackybell to the shop.

While waiting for her to arrive, I had Sophia write out the Heal spell on paper.

The narrow Puchi Eli shop in the Royal Capital.

The long, narrow shop interior was divided in the middle by a curtain, with the kitchen in the back and the shop in the front.

A glass-case counter containing Puchi Elixirs and potions stood in front of the curtain.

There were shelves along the left and right walls, displaying monster subjugation parts and medicinal herbs gathered from herb collection.

Sophia and I were behind the counter.

Liricia was not there. It seemed she was preparing dinner at the mansion.

After a while.

The mage Mackybell, wearing her wide-brimmed pointed hat, arrived.

She greeted me at the counter with a smile.

“Alec, long time no see!”

“Glad you came.”

“Ma-chan, that was fast!”

Sophia, sitting at the counter, was surprised.

When you wanted to call someone like this quickly, tempting them with money was the best method.

Mackybell leaned against the counter while striking a coquettish pose.

“Is it true you’ll give me one gold coin just for coming to the shop?”

“It’s true.”

I placed ten thousand gorts on the counter.

Mackybell took the gold coin while looking extremely happy.

“Kyaa! I don’t really get it, but I’m seriously happy! I love you, Alec!”

“You don’t often hear a ‘love you’ this cheap.”

Sophia looked at me with narrowed eyes.

“That is right. What are you going to do by spoiling Ma-chan? She already skips work and goes out to play as it is.”

“But I’m going to spoil her even more.”

“Huh?”

“Really!?”

I took a large gold coin, worth one hundred thousand gorts, from my magic bag and held it up beside my face.

“If you do two things I want you to do, I’ll give you this large gold coin.”

“No way, seriously!? I’ll do it, I’ll do it!”

“What is that!? I want to do it too!”

Mackybell happily raised her hand with a smile, and Sophia raised her hand too while sounding indignant.

I handed her the paper with the healing spell that Sophia had written and said,

“First, I want you to read this. After that, tell me what magic you can use. Then the large gold coin is yours.”

“Leave it to the genius me! —Wait.”

Mackybell took the paper with great delight, but the moment she looked over the spell, her face became serious.

However, she soon returned to a smile and joked around while fluttering the paper.

“There’s no way I, a mage, can chant healing magic.”

“Then you don’t need the large gold coin?”

“Guh! Ggggh—!”

Mackybell groaned while biting her lip, whether from frustration or reluctance.

Sophia’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Huh? You are joking, right? There is no way Ma-chan can use healing magic… Hm? But in that case, all she has to do is chant it—no way! Can Ma-chan really use healing magic, Alec-san!?”

“She probably can. Or rather, the fact that money-loving Mackybell is hesitating in front of a large gold coin already says as much.”

Mackybell exaggeratedly grimaced, as if to say, I messed up!

Then, with a sigh, she chanted the spell in a reluctant monotone.

“O God who art in heaven, with Thy great power, please save Thy frail sheep—Heal.”

When she finished chanting, Mackybell’s slender hand flashed with light.

Mackybell muttered, “Aw, crap,” and grimaced even more.

Sophia opened her eyes so wide they looked like they might fall out and was stunned.

“No way! You can use both phenomenon magic and divine magic!? That is impossible!”

“Uwaa, I tried to put as little magic power into it as possible, but it still activated—this is seriously the worst.”

Sophia stood up and grabbed both of Mackybell’s shoulders.

“What are you saying!? The Church teaches that because phenomenon magic goes against God’s teachings, mages cannot chant healing magic! This is a miracle! It overturns common sense!”

“That’s why I hate it! I just want to live my life playing around! I don’t want to draw public attention!”

Mackybell shouted with furrowed brows.

At that useless-person statement, Sophia was thoroughly put off.

“Uwaa, what are you saying, Ma-chan? Even I’m seriously turned off…”

“But think about it. If people found out I could use both, it’d be guaranteed I’d be researched, used as an experimental subject, and end up going through all sorts of trouble, right?”

I spoke in a tone that had gone beyond exasperation and into admiration.

“As expected of you, useless person.”

“So, both of you keep quiet, okay? Also, give me the money.”

Mackybell smiled and held out both hands together.

However, I lifted the large gold coin above my head.

“No. Not until I hear how much divine magic you can use.”

Mackybell grimaced again in displeasure and looked away.

Sophia asked in surprise,

“Don’t tell me you can use not only Heal, but even High Heal and Full Heal?”

“Ugh, u-umm. How was it again…”

Mackybell shook her head left and right and tried to dodge the question.

I said the words I had been thinking.

“Was it phenomenon magic? Since you can fire off advanced spells and secret arts on that side, maybe you can use advanced spells and secret arts in divine magic too?”

“Huh? —No way, Ma-chan! You cannot use even Holy Detonation or Resuscitation, right!?”

“Guh…! I don’t really understand magic that well—”

“There’s no way that’s true! I heard you were a genius who graduated at the top of your class without studying!”

Sophia grabbed Mackybell by both shoulders and shook her violently back and forth.

Mackybell escaped Sophia’s hands as if thrashing and shouted.

“Aaaah! —That’s right! I can use all divine magic!”

“No way! That is the level where, if you joined the Church, you would immediately be appointed archbishop!”

To the shocked Sophia, Mackybell shouted in a voice wrung from the depths of her heart.

“That would make me busy and unable to play! It’s already hard enough skipping my court mage work now! —I want to laze around at home while drinking alcohol!”

Sophia sat down in her chair, dumbfounded.

“I’m so turned off… Isn’t that way too much of a waste of talent… Maybe I should stop being your friend.”

“Eeh! Don’t say that, So-chan!”

Mackybell looked like she was seriously about to cry.

Feeling sorry for her, I threw her a lifeline.

“Even though you say you don’t want to work, you often helped with the Hero’s monster subjugations, didn’t you? I think that’s admirable.”

“Hehe, you think so? Even I can do it when I need to!”

Mackybell was happily delighted, but Sophia looked at her with narrowed eyes.

“Do not be fooled, Alec-san. Ma-chan just likes traveling on other people’s money, eating delicious food, and visiting tourist spots. She even buys souvenirs every time before coming back.”

“Eeh? I worked that much too.”

“In Ma-chan’s case, blowing monsters away with magic is just her hobby, right?”

Sophia did not stop looking at her with narrowed eyes. Mackybell looked like she was about to cry.

I stepped out from behind the counter and got between the two of them.

“Now, now. Calm down. I understand Mackybell’s feelings. After all, I stubbornly refused over and over because I never wanted to be a Hero again.”

“…If you say so, Alec-san, I will reconsider.”

Sophia reluctantly changed her attitude.

Mackybell made a big smile and jumped at me.

“As expected of you, Alec! I really love you! —So, the money?”

“Here.”

I placed the large gold coin in Mackybell’s palm.

Mackybell quickly moved away from me and happily held the large gold coin in both hands.

“I made 110,000 in an instant! Yay! —So, So-chan, how long until work is over? Let’s go drinking when you’re done?”

To Mackybell, who invited her with a smile, Sophia answered with a wry smile.

“Good grief. Ma-chan, it is supposed to be your work time too, you know. …I am almost done, so wait.”

“Why don’t you go now? I’ll watch the shop after this.”

At my words, Mackybell jumped for joy.

“You get it, Alec! —Come on, let’s go!”

Mackybell grabbed Sophia’s arm beyond the counter and pulled.

“I understand, I understand already! —It cannot be helped.”

With a good-grief sort of feeling, Sophia came out from behind the counter.

“Then I will leave the rest to you.”

“See you, Alec!”

The two of them left the shop while holding hands.

Like after a storm had passed, the inside of the shop became quiet.

I returned behind the counter, sat in the chair, and thought.

—The reason Mackybell was able to graduate at the top of her class despite not studying was probably because she could already use most magic and understood what it really was.

Suddenly, I remembered what Kou had said.

“Me as the Hero, Edgar as the Thief, Mackybell as the Sage, and Rubel as the Mage. That’s a party that would make Edgar collapse from stress.”

When I imagined what kind of adventure it would become with the guiding angel Liricia added as well, I could not stop grinning.

—Me with no common sense, Mackybell who did not want to work, and Rubel who loved fighting. That alone was already the worst, and when Rubel got serious, everything within a five-hundred-meter radius was burned to the ground.

Forming a party and going on an adventure would probably be impossible.

But if we did, Edgar and Liricia, who had common sense, would probably suffer.

It made me laugh when I imagined it.

Until a last-minute customer—who turned out to be a rookie adventurer—came into the shop just before closing, I kept grinning to myself.