Study Magic in My Free Time - Chapter 2: Flame Magic, Begin

Join our discord to get latest updates about the translations.

Author: Miki Nazuna

Translator: Mr. Steak

Proofreader: Yuranon

“Er, um…”

I was in the study.
My (Liam’s) father, Charles Hamilton, was sitting at a fancy desk writing some documents.
Since I entered the room, he hadn’t looked up even once, just continuing to write with his head down.

“Liam? What is it?”

Charles spoke to me without raising his head.

“Um, about the grimoires…”
“Grimoires? Did something happen to them?”
“No, I was just wondering if I could borrow some grimoires from the archive.”

I had only been in this body since yesterday.
Becoming a noble so suddenly, I had no idea of the proper etiquette for this sort of thing, or how to speak politely, so talking to Charles was difficult.

“Borrowing grimoires? You want to read them?”
“Yes.”
“Go ahead.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you very much.”
“Was there anything else?”
“No, that’s all.”
“Then leave. I’m busy.”
“Y, yes Sir.”

I turned around quickly and left the study.
But right before leaving, I turned to look at Charles one last time, and he was still just writing, looking down.

I went into the hallway and shut the door behind me.
I’d entered, we’d talked, and I’d left.
And during that time, Charles hadn’t lifted his head even once.

But he hadn’t refused.
He was merely apathetic.

“I think I understand Bruno’s feelings a little more now.”

I was starting to sympathize with that fourth son for giving up on studying, who was struggling not only with puberty but also a lack of hope for the future.

☆

Having gotten permission, I took the grimoire from the study and brought it out to the mansion’s garden.

Though I call it a mansion, the Hamiltons were also the lords of this entire area, so their residence was more on par with a castle.
Even just the garden and the woods behind it were spacious enough to fit an entire small village inside.
By the way, before leaving the building, I asked one of the maids, “How much does the Hamilton family own?”
And she had replied with the astonishing answer, “As far as the eye can see.”

Nobles really are incredible.
Which reminds me, if they succeed generations like this and become commoners, let alone all this land, but even just having this mansion reclaimed would be devastating.
No wonder they’re so desperate.

I went into the woods the Hamiltons owned, found a suitably open spot to sit, and opened up “Elementary Flame Magic”.

While holding the book open with both hands, I put what was written into practice.

I concentrated, used the breathing techniques it described and made a vivid image in my head.
After about three minutes of concentrating, a long, thin flame appeared about one meter in front of me.

Blade of fire. The first elementary flame spell.

What makes a grimoire a “grimoire” is that it’s a guidebook of sorts.
While you’re holding the grimoire, you’re able to perform magic you haven’t learned yet. The grimoire supports you and allows you to use it.

But since it takes a while before actually being able to use, I wouldn’t be able to use any without holding the grimoire.

To test that out for real, I tried dropping the grimoire, and the flame I’d made instantaneously went out.

“If you practice diligently every day, your invocation time will gradually lessen, until eventually, you can use it without need for the text… Hm…”

I read the current page aloud.
Basically, this book was like a baby-walker for a toddler learning to take his first steps.

As long as you kept training while holding the grimoire, eventually, you’d be able to use the magic without it.

The magic I’d envied for so long was surprisingly simple, so I totally understood why the nobles kept it hidden away as a precious asset of theirs.

I continued practicing the blade of fire, “Flame Cutter”, with the grimoire.
I didn’t do anything else.

Before I’d transferred into this body, I had to spend every day going to work, but now that I was Liam, that wasn’t necessary anymore.

Now, I am a noble, albeit just the fifth son.

Worrying too much about work is generally seen as shameful.

But now that I don’t have to work, I can continue practicing magic all I want.
Being able to do the magic training I’ve wanted all this time made me so happy, that I kept on doing it day after day.

And day by day, the time it took to perform while holding the grimoire got shorter and shorter.
I could feel the improvement clearly in my body. My practice was drilling it in.

Every single day, without exception, I continued practicing magic.

☆

“Oh, there you are. So you were playing in a place like this, eh?”
“Huh? Oh, Bruno.”

One day, Bruno showed up at the spot in the forest where I always practiced my magic.
The month since becoming Liam had flown by, and I was already used to life in the Hamilton family.

That’s how I was able to greet the young Bruno without feeling awkward at all.

Bruno made a pompous face and swaggered over to me.

“You practicing magic out here?”
“Yeah, Father gave me permission to use the grimoires.”
“Well yeah, I obviously know that. He’s only focused on making Sara into a princess, or the next empress. He couldn’t care less about what we’re up to.”
“Ahaha……”

Bruno was absolutely correct.
That had been the case back when I got permission to use the grimoires, and it had been the case for the entire month since.

He never looked at me directly in the eyes, and even when we spoke, he was always doing something else.

“Well? How much have you learned? Show me.”
“Ah, okay. One sec……”

I placed the grimoire on the ground.
By the way, grimoires have this special thing called a material coding, that prevents them from being damaged except from a powerful magic attack, and also keeps them from getting dirty.

After putting down the grimoire, I closed my eyes and concentrated, then made the blade of fire, the Sword Cutter.

“So, that’s basically it.”
“……Huh?”
“What’s wrong, Bro?”
“Y, you can use magic…… without a grimoire?”
“Hm?”
“N-no way. Learning a spell perfectly, without even having to use the grimoire, is supposed to take a whole year of training…… but you learned it in just one month……?”

Bruno was shocked beyond words.

Translator and Editor Notes:

…And nobody was surprised. Lol. Of course the MC would be a prodigy. Bruno must be jealous as fuck.

In response to comments on chapter 1:
Thanks everyone for your thoughts about the political exposition. I definitely think I understand what they were talking about better now. I’m still wondering if it was just established to be a thing Charles is worrying about, or if that kind of stuff will get more involved in the story. I definitely hope, at the very least, that it doesn’t get any more complicated lol.

~Steak

Support this novel on NU by adding it to your reading list or by submitting reviews and ratings.