Chapter 1021 – Magic
“Huh? So, so beautiful,” I said, looking at the blooming staff head, a little surprised and also feeling very magical. I just felt a surge of divine power flowing, and the staff head bloomed. I never knew light magic could be used like this!
I could feel it, and I could see it with my God’s Eye. These flowers were growing from the wooden staff. I mean, they weren’t just magic; they were part of the wooden staff, growing like plants.
But the original boxwood tree had died long ago and was made into a staff. It was truly magical that it could instantly sprout branches and bloom.
However, despite being magical, it seemed to have no help in combat. It was purely a trick to entertain people.
“It’s not just that, Parul,” Jayad said.
“Huh? There’s more?” I said with interest. Just making a few flowers appear was only surprising to a limited extent. I wondered what else Older Brother Jayad could come up with.
“Of course, watch this,” Jayad said. Jayad threw the blooming staff onto the ground. The staff quickly turned into a living python, at least over a meter long.
“Eek!” I was startled and jumped back. I’m actually quite afraid of snakes, but more than that, I was startled by this. I never expected Older Brother Jayad to pull off such a trick.
If what he did before was magic, then this was no longer magic, but real magic, similar to Transfiguration. This snake could even be used for combat; it was constantly flicking its tongue.
“Don’t worry, Parul, you don’t have to be afraid. It won’t bite. After all, I created it. It’s completely under my control. Watch,” Jayad waved his hand again.
This time, the python’s entire body caught fire, turning into a fire snake and flying up. It slithered and coiled in mid-air. If Jayad hadn’t deliberately chosen a deserted alley, this fire snake would have surely caused panic among the surrounding people.
“Come back,” Jayad commanded. The fire snake obediently flew back into his hand, coiling in a strangely twisted posture. Then, the flames receded, and the wooden staff reappeared in his hand.
The difference was that this time, there was an added decoration on the staff: a copper snake coiled around the top of the staff, looking like a carving on the head of the staff. The flowers from before had completely disappeared.
“Amazing! You can really change the appearance of the staff!” I exclaimed, clapping my hands. I observed it several times. This copper snake was a genuine artifact, created out of thin air by Older Brother Jayad through a miracle.
“Heh heh, I knew you’d like it, Parul,” Jayad said, showing off the staff in his hand. He seemed quite pleased with this design and didn’t want to change the copper snake back for a while.
However, such a decoration was inevitably a bit eerie. With a twisted, winding snake at the head of the staff, Older Brother Jayad looked like some dark and venomous villain rather than the young gentleman he was just moments ago.
“By the way, Older Brother Jayad, when did you learn to do magic tricks? This isn’t simple magic; it should be a type of divine spell and miracle, right?” I asked.
“Hmm, actually, I’ve known for a long time. I learned it while reading the Bible. However, it didn’t seem to be of much help in combat, and I didn’t have a staff back then, so I didn’t use it. Now, I can only play a little joke for Parul,” Jayad said.
“Indeed. It’s great that we could buy the staff you wanted, Older Brother Jayad. Let’s go back,” I said. Neither of us realized at the time what those seemingly unimportant little spells could mean.
We first took the packhorse back to the stable. The stableman was surprised to see us leading a horse fully clad in armor, thinking we had brought a new warhorse and intended to entrust it to him.
“I’m sorry, sirs, I have no experience raising warhorses. I might not be able to care for your warhorse well. If possible, please find someone else,” the stableman said with a lack of confidence.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want the business, but warhorses were very precious, and their dietary and housing requirements were very high. If he couldn’t raise it well, the owner would surely be very angry, and he couldn’t afford to compensate. So, he had to reluctantly decline.
“What are you talking about? You’ve always been the one taking care of it,” I said, slowly removing the horse armor, revealing the packhorse underneath. Its simple, oblivious appearance was nothing like a warhorse.
“Huh? I-Is that really it?” The stableman looked at the packhorse in surprise. He had seen us, his regular customers, every day and still hadn’t realized that this was the packhorse he had been tending to. He probably didn’t expect us to equip a packhorse with horse armor.
After all, horse armor is also very expensive. Usually, only nobles of a certain standing would equip their mounts with armor. If it weren’t for this lucky draw, I wouldn’t have thought of equipping the packhorse with armor, as its abilities and speed seemed to make it almost invulnerable to enemy attacks.
However, even packhorses don’t seem to like carrying heavy armor. Although it behaved obediently when we put it on, as soon as we took off the horse armor, it immediately leaped around joyfully and kept nuzzling Older Brother Jayad.
We took the horse armor back with us. The villa we were currently borrowing had enough space to store the horse armor, unlike our previous small apartment.
However, considering that the weather was getting colder, we let the packhorse wear the cotton lining as a covering. Although its original purpose was to prevent the armor from chafing the horse and causing discomfort, it was made quite thick and kept it very warm.
This was possibly because they considered that a horse would be uncomfortable touching cold armor in winter. Also, finding another horse-shaped garment was not easy, so we let it wear this for now.
After instructing the stableman to take proper cold-weather precautions, we went home. In the evening, the three girls woke up and, during dinner (which was probably breakfast for them), were very interested in the day’s activities.
Especially for the unexpectedly involved sports meet, Via and Lorna repeatedly asked Older Brother Jayad for details about the competitions. Sherris also listened very attentively. They had never had the chance to participate in any sports meets before.
We showed them Jayad’s medal and the horse armor. Via snatched the hymn of praise and read it aloud. The embarrassed Jayad tried to snatch it back, and we joined in teasing him, which was very amusing. The girls also took turns examining the horse armor.
Finally, we hung the two medals on the wall as souvenirs. The hymn of praise was also put into a box and placed together with the horse armor and leather armor as a memento of Older Brother Jayad’s first sports meet and his excellent results.
This was also the first time we obtained something not for survival or combat, but purely for entertainment. It indeed held a different meaning.
After dinner, Via told me, “There’s news from the sniper. The Knight Captain wants to meet with you tomorrow.”
