The Greatest Demon Lord Is Reborn as a Typical Nobody - Volume 1 - Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

The Ex–Demon Lord’s Lessons on Magic, Part I

I tried my very best to boost Ginny’s strength by imparting some of my knowledge on her, attempting to teach her how to cast spells without using incantations, but all my efforts fell flat without a single notable success.

“…I knew it. I really am good for nothing,” Ginny muttered, totally dejected.

I racked my brain, folding my arms as I thought through the best course of action: If I tried to console her now by assuring her of her true potential, it’d probably make her feel all the more pitiful—even if it was the truth. Plus, she wouldn’t believe me. Not now. Not yet.

Even though Ginny was super self-deprecating, she couldn’t be as worthless as she made it seem. I mean, no succubus could ever be considered incompetent. In fact, they were rare, even back in my day, with a bunch of them possessing incredible magical talent. Meaning Ginny was probably highly skilled in the magic arts herself.

It also meant that her mental state was the only possible reason for our lack of progress, since the efficiency and acquisition of magic fluctuated in accordance with it. Everything could change with the right amount of confidence and relaxation. The reverse was true as well: Your nerves could get in the way and prevent any power from manifesting.

…Truth be told, I didn’t want to reveal my true magical capacity to anyone, but this was for the sake of Ginny’s confidence. I just had to do it.

I let out a labored sigh. “You can’t give up. I still have more to teach. For example… Oh, I guess there’s one technique that I haven’t even taught you, Ireena.”

Ireena’s eyes shone with curiosity, Ginny’s with hope, as I got ready to begin my newest lecture.

“Perfect timing. Take this Black Wolf, for example,” I declared, staring fixedly at the mangy mutt approaching us and swiping my finger in front of me—causing the area surrounding the beast to detonate.

And no overkill this time, either. Nice. The hide was perfectly serviceable while the wolf itself was dead as a log.

“…Huh? Wait, um… What?”

“A-Ard, wh-what did you do just now?”

The two stared at me in shock.

I answered them with a raised finger. “By using broken fragments of ancient runes, I first projected a simple magic circle in the air and cast a spell real quick. I call it ‘Script Magic.’”

“‘S-Script Magic’…?!”

“B-but I’ve never heard of such a thing…?!”

“I’m not surprised. I mean, I made it myself, after all.”

““Whaaaaaaaa—?!”” the two girls shrieked.

“A-are you telling me you created your own method of casting spells?! Y-you do realize that pretty much makes you comparable with the Demon Lord, right?!” yelped Ginny.

“H-heh-heh-heh! Th-that’s Ard for ya! Bask in his glory!” Ireena stuttered.

How unusual. For once, Ireena seemed rattled, even though I thought she’d grown used to my shenanigans.

…That’s why I didn’t want to show this off. I knew it wasn’t normal, which meant trouble would follow its grand reveal. But I was desperate to make Ginny believe in herself, lift her out of the hell she’d found herself in—and save her the same way Olivia had saved me.

“W-wow, Ard… You’ve gotta be superspecial… I mean, I can’t imagine anyone less talented than you would be able to use this kind of—”

“Wrong. Anyone is capable of casting this spell. I mean, I created it with that explicitly in mind.”

“Come again?”

“Think about it: This spell draws on the powers of elementary magic circles formed from runes. Meaning you, and everyone else in this world, can cast it. All you need to do is draw a magic circle.”

“W-wow… But I imagine you need a boatload of magical power to—”

“Not really. It’s pretty close to nothing, you know.”

““Whaaaaaaaat?”” they screeched—and totally in sync, to boot.

“N-no magical power necessary…?!”

“H-how is that possible?”

“Easy. The theory is laughably simple: The fragmentary runes draw on the mana in the air as an energy source in place of magic—which means, its powers activate the moment you project a magic circle,” I explained, but I was still met with some skepticism.

My next move was to teach them more in-depth about the techniques associated with the rune language until Ireena was able to take down a wolf of her own.

YOU OBTAINED THE FUR OF A BLACK WOLF (NORMAL)! VALUE: 50, proclaimed the message box.

Ireena cocked her head quizzically. “Huh. I’ve noticed this before, but if this one’s described as (NORMAL), I wonder if there’s an (AMAZING) one, too.”

Well, I can’t say for sure, but I do know that you’re (CUTE), I thought to myself as we trudged through the dungeon, managing to stumble upon another pack of wolves.

“This is perfect. Are you ready, Ginny?”

“Y-yes!” She gave a quick nod and began swiping her finger through the air—engulfing the pack in a gigantic explosion and leaving it totally obliterated.

“I—I did it…! I did it! I really did it! I cast the spell, Ard!” Ginny blurted out, radiating pure joy and bouncing up and down in uncontainable excitement.

Each time she hopped, her peach hair fluttered around her face and shoulders. And each time, her massive boobs wobbled, as well.

Ahem. Anyway.

Everything went according to plan, and Ginny had finally begun to sprout some much-needed confidence.

“I can’t believe I don’t need any magical power to cast this spell,” she ruminated. “Think of what would happen if this ever went public. Our current hierarchy would be turned on its head…!”

“Ha-ha. Impossible. I mean, it could happen in theory. Like, a mage would be able to fight for an astronomically long time by relying on Script Magic, since their powers would never deplete. But because this method draws energy from mana, their attack spells would be small at best—which means it can’t be used for more than keeping your opponent in check.”

It was also the reason why I’d never bothered to teach anyone this technique.

“…All right, you two. Why don’t we start dismembering these wolves?”

They nodded before Ireena briskly trotted up to a corpse, drawing a knife to get to work, slicing through it with her willowy fingers and a graceful flourish.

“What a waste,” I unconsciously blurted out.

…Ah. Crap. I let that one slip out.

“‘A waste’? What’s that mean?”

“U-um, well, that’s…”

Dammit! Come on, think of a good excuse… I guess I’m left with only one option.

“What I say is not to leave this dungeon,” I prefaced as I knelt before one of the corpses and cast Flare, tinkering with the magic to transform it into the shape of a knife. “You see, if you strip the pelt a certain way, you’ll make it exponentially stronger. Watch and learn.”

I rammed the flaming blade into its lifeless form.

“Now, apply heat and peel off its fur. It won’t look any different from (NORMAL), but its strength is staggeringly high,” I explained as I trimmed away at its hide.

A transparent gray box appeared before us: YOU OBTAINED THE FUR OF A BLACK WOLF (ULTRARARE)! VALUE: 300.

Ireena’s and Ginny’s eyes widened at this announcement.

“Th-three hundred?!” Ginny shouted.

“I knew it! So there are levels beyond (NORMAL).”

To demonstrate the difference between (NORMAL) and (ULTRARARE), I scorched both these hides using Flare.

“Th-the normal one burned to the ground, but…!”

“Ard, how come there isn’t even a single scratch on yours?!”

With wide-open eyes, the pair asked the most obvious questions first.

“H-how do you know all of this?”

“You learned it from your father, Jack, right?”

“Yep. You’re right on the money, Ireena.”

A total lie. One of my subordinates taught me when I was the Demon Lord—an ex-adventurer. In fact, my underlings came from every walk of life. This one just so happened to teach me about this technique, among other things.

“Wow, I knew it. He sure is smart!”

“Um, by ‘Jack,’ do you mean…?”

As they continued to chatter among themselves, Ireena began picking up the hides, squirreling them away in her knapsack.

This isn’t good. If she brings them back, they’ll catch everyone’s attention.

“Wait, Ireena. Let’s toss that—” I started to say when the ground caved in and a hole gaped open beneath us.

For a moment, we were weightless.

And then everything went black.