Just When She Seemed to Be Studying Magic Power Manipulation, Emi Is Suddenly Covered in Killing Intent

About 2 months had passed since I started training, and it was now the dead of winter.

Flurries of white snow, whipped along by a strong wind, slapped mercilessly against my cheeks.

I stood on the edge of a cliff, peering down.

Master, waiting for me below, looked smaller than a sesame seed.

<A-are you really going to do this? Emi......>

Of course!

Hold on, Omake-sama, what are you getting cold feet for!

It's fine, I'm at the point where no matter how high I fall from, I won't get injured!

Theoretically.

<Well, maybe in theory, but scary is still scary, isn't it?>

Well, anyway, this is a task from Master.

Whether it's scary or not, I've just gotta do it!

And so, I'm jumping, Omake-sama.

Ready, 3...... 2...... 1...... Pyo~~n!

<Wait, hang on, I'm not mentally ready......HIGYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!>

With Omake-sama's almighty scream ringing through my head, I threw myself off the cliff.

That said, I had absolutely no intention of dying.

Battered by tremendous wind pressure, I somehow kept my posture under control and fixed my eyes on the ground rushing up at me.

Watch me, Master!

This is the result...... of my training!!!!!!

◇ ◇ ◇

That day when Master gave my 【Silverfish】 a passing grade.

Omake-sama and I were scratching our heads, wondering how to reproduce Master's ‘silent landing’.

<At the moment of landing, there was almost no physical impact, but magic power was spreading from that man's feet like ripples.>

That was Omake-sama's assessment.

And I agreed, since I'd been watching Master with 【Magic Perception】 the whole time.

In other words, Master suppresses the impact by spreading? magic power like that.

Magic power seriously does it all.

It's an answer you can easily arrive at if you look closely, but......

<Spreading magic power out like ripples. That's a kind of manipulation you, Emi, have never done before, isn't it?>

Hmm, yeah, that's true.

I wonder how you even do that?

Gunuuu!

It was the same when I learned 【Body Strengthening】 and stuff in the forest: magic power didn't exist in my previous life, so with any new kind of manipulation, I can't even picture where to start, and that makes it hard!

<Ah, if it's a starting point you need......>

Right then, Omake-sama noticed something.

<Spreading magic power...... that's something you've been on the receiving end of before, Emi.>

Eh?

<To be precise, it's not ‘spreading magic power’, but ‘releasing magic power’. There are small differences in the manipulation, but at the root, you could say they're almost the same technique.>

‘Releasing magic power’?

Like Torch-kun's magic?

No way, if I took a hit like that, I'd evaporate in an instant......

Other than that, something I've experienced?

Hmm......

Ah, could it be, Master's 【Intimidation】?

<Yes, exactly, Emi. 【Intimidation】 is, in short, a technique that makes the opponent shrink back by intentionally emitting powerful magic power; in other words, it's ‘magic power release’.>

So practicing 【Intimidation】 might get me one step closer to reproducing Master's technique?

<It's only a maybe, but why not give it a try? Even if I'm wrong, learning 【Intimidation】 won't hurt you.>

Alright!

Then let's start training immediately!

Fortunately, since Master scatters 【Intimidation】 all the time (when I put it into words, what kind of master is he), it's easy to imagine.

Put magic power, outside.

Release it.

This is probably the reverse of the manipulation in 【Body Strengthening】 and 【Presence Concealment】, which keep magic power inside the body.

Thinking of it that way, it might be surprisingly easy to learn.

I temporarily released the 【Body Strengthening】 I'd been maintaining unconsciously and focused on the flow of magic power in the opposite direction.

I intentionally increased the magic power leaking outside my body.

T-this is tiring.

Let's see, when Master uses 【Intimidation】, his magic power carries something like killing intent, so I'll try copying that.

Killing intent...... hatred......

I let out what I'd shoved down to the bottom of my heart, holding nothing back.

One by one, I pictured their faces: the monsters that hunted me, the humans who persecuted me, the gods who threw me away, the thieves, the people of Fenoben Village, my father and mother, my classmates from my previous life, my previous life's “family.”

Die. Die. Die. ......die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die......kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill......

GOCHIN!

Suddenly, I got a knuckle bonk on the head.

When I looked back, Master, who had finished splitting firewood and returned indoors, was standing there with his arms crossed in a menacing pose.

Master let out a single sigh, grabbed me by the scruff of my neck, and threw me out the front door.

The door slammed shut with a BAN!

......I got scolded.

Apparently, my clumsy 【Intimidation】 was unpleasant.

I'm sorry, Master......

<E-Emi...... I knew it, but your darkness is also pretty deep, isn't it......>

No no, this is normal, Omake-sama.

Everyone harbors darkness, and yet they walk toward the light!

<I wonder if that's true......>

It is.

Anyway, since I'll get scolded, let's practice 【Intimidation】 outside.

And so, until dinner time that day, I practiced 【Intimidation】 under the eaves.

Along the way, Master came to check on me from time to time.

I had suddenly started giving off 【Intimidation】 dripping with killing intent, after all. I think Master wasn't just annoyed; he was worried about me.

And the meat served for dinner was a little larger than usual.

Master really is kind.

I love him.

A taciturn, expressionless exterior.

A bright, cheerful inner surface.

Inner depths steeped in murderous intent, resentment and hatred.

Emi-chan is a character built up in several layers like that.

Tiramisu, maybe? (What kind of analogy is that......)