After that last time, Mordred didn't come to the Buena village again for a good number of days.
He had no reason to visit the forest often because just during sword-fighting he consumed a great deal of energy with Mana Burst. He didn't want to unnecessarily fly through the sky too often either.
As for his Magical training, what Mordred focused on was practicing his Railgun spell the most. This was not only the most difficult spell to avoid, but it also trained his skill at using Mana Burst and his Magic condensation.
For practicing Railgun, Mordred could do that inside the citadel.
To that end, he even set up himself a training area on the square they used for sword practice with Ghislaine.
Additionally, Mordred also constructed a building using Earth Magic where he created a fully-equipped gym.
However, the gym was not for himself.
Mordred noticed that physical training was no longer helpful to him and he should instead practice using his Mana Reinforcement and Battle Aura during real combat practice.
From what he noticed, building up Battle Aura at first was all about training the body.
After awakening it consciously, one would begin to improve in a different manner; at that point lifting weights like a bodybuilder was no longer helpful.
When it came to Reinforcement Magecraft, it was something he could practice simply by injecting Mana into his body or objects. He didn't need to necessarily practice it during combat.
But Battle Aura was different. It had to be practiced during combat or just through swinging his sword alone.
The way Mordred did things was that he combined both. He would push himself while using the sword, swinging it at the limit of his speed and strength using Battle Aura, and then use Mana Burst as a Mana Reinforcement overload to assist him at other times.
As for the gym he built, it was for Eris!
There was no formal way of training to attain Battle Aura.
However, Mordred believed that a scientific progressive overload strength training routine would be the most efficient and effective.
One of those days, he told Eris, "Awakening Battle Aura at first is all about training the body. I developed a special training method for this. I think that anyone who trained this way could awaken their Battle Aura early, like me. Do you want to try it?"
Eris looked very excited by the idea of training like him. "Ah, really? I want to!!!... I mean, if you could teach me…"
After being silent for a while, Mordred faintly smiled when he saw Eris's expression turning meek. He said, "I could! But it's difficult training. You'll have to do exactly as I say. If not, I won't train you."
"Oh, okay! I get it! Th-thank you!"
Like this, Mordred made Eris begin following a comprehensive weight lifting regimen from then on, using his experience of working-out from Earth. The return was a passionate and strong waifu that would burst through the gates of hell for him, so it was totally worth it!
Eris was someone who would forcefully swing around the weights, eager to get them up and then back down again, so Mordred had difficulty in making her practice with an ideal form and tempo, but as long as she exhausted herself safely each day, he felt it was enough.
Because of the existence of Healing Magic, which could heal muscular injuries from training but didn't prevent growth, there was no risk of overtraining in this world.
In the meantime, Mordred continued teaching Eris Magic.
Firstly, he noticed that Eris had a poor memory and trouble in remembering things like Incantations.
To combat this, he used the Link method from Earth, making up an adventuring story to help her remember the Incantation she was currently learning. It was a very useful method at this time because she still couldn't read.
Eris seemed to be the most interested in Fire Magic, so he began with Fire Magic. Although it was a bit dangerous, he felt it's going to be fine after he seriously cautioned her. Probably.
It took Eris around a week of practice, but eventually she managed to create a tiny spark, even though it quickly disappeared.
She continued practicing and after a similar period of time managed to conjure a complete fireball.
Following that, Mordred had her practice casting Fireball each day while at first only attempting to skip the first verse of the Incantation, repeatedly trying to do that again and again.
Thanks to Eris's constant and stubborn practice, she managed to skip the first verse after another two weeks!
In this manner, she grasped Truncated Casting within a month of focused and dedicated training.
Mordred felt that it was a great result.
As that month passed, he also decided to finally visit the Buena village and check up on Rudeus's progress.
…
"Your Highness." Rudeus bowed down with respect after meeting Mordred at the tree again.
"Your Highness…" Sylphiette imitated him.
Mordred greeted them with a neutral smile. "Hi, Rudeus, Sylphy. Have you been well?"
"... We've been okay. And I practiced the Magic Interrupt you showed me. I already learned how to use it. Thank you for showing it to me, Your Highness! It's a great spell!" Rudeus bowed his head low in gratitude.
"Oh, you learned it?" Mordred faintly raised his eyebrows.
That aside, it was amazing how humble and servile Rudeus was in front of authority, but Mordred had already somewhat expected it – that's how it had always been in the novel.
"Yes. I began to practice it with Sylphy. By the way, Sylphy is also a Silent Magician."
Mordred looked at Sylphiette. "Is this true?"
"Um… Yes…"
"That's amazing!"
Rudeus saw Sylphie's reaction as Mordred looked at her and his expression stiffened. 'Oh, no, she's blushing! No, Sylphy, don't fall for this guy!!!'
But Mordred had already turned away from Sylphiette after giving her a customary compliment. He told Rudeus, "Okay, Rudeus. Show it to me."
"Yes!"
Rudeus stood opposite Mordred as the latter began to silently cast Fireball.
In the next moment, the flame that was gathering on top of Mordred's palm suddenly extinguished. He tried to cast it again, but the effect was the same. If he attempted to cast a different spell, it would also be useless because his entire right hand was now sealed.
Mordred said, "I'm going to cast another spell with my other hand. Interrupt it as well."
"Okay," Rudeus said while thinking: so he can dual-cast! I should have expected that much.
And so, Mordred began to cast a spell with his left hand, creating a dark thundercloud over his palm.
He cast Shock.
It was a scaled down form of King ranked Lightning spell, an (Electric) Shock. It cost even more than a King ranked spell to cast, so he very rarely used it.
"This…" Rudeus was stunned. He did try to interrupt Mordred's second spell, but that's when he realized it was a spell he didn't know. He couldn't interrupt it! He looked at Mordred in surprise. "What is this… spell?"
"It's a unique spell I developed," said Mordred with a light smile. "Since it's a spell you don't know, you can't interrupt it, right?"
'Ah, no… I think if I tried again, I might be able to do it. Isn't this spell similar to Cumulonimbus?' Rudeus thought to himself as he sent out his Magic Power again.
After thinking for a moment, Rudeus dispersed the forming clouds, which turned back into Magic Power and scattered.
"What?" Mordred raised his eyebrows, slightly shocked. He quickly understood that Rudeus managed to interrupt his Shock spell because he knew Cumulonimbus; earlier he simply gave up after the first failure. He still tried to fake surprise and said, "You interrupted it?"
"Mm, yes. I managed it because it's similar to a spell I already know..." After saying this much, Rudeus bowed his head and added in a panic, "The truth is that I'm already a Saint ranked Water Magician! Please forgive me for lying earlier! I only didn't tell you this because I didn't think you would believe me!!!"
"You are a Saint ranked Water Magician?" Mordred said calmly.
"Yes."
"... If it's true, then it explains it. You must know Cumulonimbus."
"Yes, Your Highness. Cumulonimbus is one Saint ranked spell I learned from my Master."
"That's amazing."
"No… I only managed it because I had a great teacher."
Mordred chuckled. "Haha, okay."
In the novel, it was absolutely irritating how much Rudeus overpraised Roxy as his Goddess in a creepy manner. And it was even more infuriating just how much he sucked up to others and didn't value his own abilities. But in the real world and from an outsider's perspective, Mordred didn't care. It was even good that Rudeus was this humble.
"By the way, you can raise your head. This Prince had decided he shall not hang you!" Mordred said exaggeratedly. "Hahaha."
Rudeus raised his head and watched Mordred laughing at him.
However, he himself couldn't quite laugh at the idea of him being hanged and only formed a wry smile. Technically, he was a commoner. If he offended a royalty member, who knows just what could happen. He might really face execution!
Mordred then said, "Anyway, it's amazing that you're a Saint ranked Magician at your age, Rudeus. How old are you?"
"I'm 6 right now… I learned Cumulonimbus from my Master when I was 5."
"That's amazing. So, what do you think of working for me in the future? Money is no object to me and you'll have a good life!"
"That... I am very interested, Your Highness!" Rudeus bowed again. Then he looked up. "But what does a Court Magician do?"
Mordred saw that Rudeus seemed to lack confidence in being good enough for the job. He sighed inwardly and explained, "Technically, a Court Magician advises the crown in Magic related subjects. They would also step out to cast wide area spells in times of war. But practically, my Master just stayed in her tower for years while focusing on her research. From time to time, she would cast King ranked Wind Magic on the rooftop to chase away an especially strong storm. She was just a deterrent for foreign countries to repel them from thinking of starting a wide-scale war."
"Ooh…" Rudeus was taken aback. So basically, if things went well, he could be a shut-in and not do anything at all again? Please, sign me up! Thinking of this, he only wanted to confirm one thing: "Your Highness, you would hire Sylphy as well, right?"
Mordred faintly smiled. "If she can do Silent Magic, then definitely."
Rudeus let out a breath of relief. Perhaps after moving to the Kingdragon Kingdom, he could live in a room of the royal palace with Sylphy and do dirty things all day long. Uhuhuhuhu!!! Hohohohoho!
"... Rudeus, your face is weird," Mordred commented with a plain smile upon noticing Rudeus suddenly start grinning and chuckling like a creep.
Rudeus restrained his expression. 'Ups, I got a bit carried away here.'
Following that, the conversation slowly steered in the direction of what kinds of Magic Rudeus could learn as a Court Magician.
Mordred said, "I could teach you other Saint rank Magic even now, but it's too destructive and dangerous. I won't do it until you're at least 10."
Rudeus heard this and was disappointed. He thought, 'But I guess it's only natural to avoid teaching a young kid how he could flood an entire city… Roxy might have only taught me this because she was leaving.'
"But while I'm here I can teach you a few other things."
Like this, Mordred showed Rudes an Elementary ranked spell of Barrier Magic first.
"Barrier Magic? But isn't it forbidden by the church to teach it?.."
Mordred replied, "It is, but no one will care if you knew a mere Elementary ranked spell, as long as you don't publically teach it to others. Just don't tell anyone that I taught you. If needed, say you copied it from someone."
"Oooh…" Rudeus still was hesitant, but it was true that he did want to attempt learning Barrier Magic!
It's only that Roxy didn't know any while Zenith wouldn't take the risk of teaching him.
"It might just save your life, so I'll show it to you. This is the Incantation: I call for my God to protect me from harm. I fear no danger, for you are with me, and your divine power shall shield me! Magic Shield!"
All around him appeared a semi-transparent sphere-shaped barrier.
"Oh." Until now, Rudeus didn't even understand what Barrier Magic was really about, so he was curious.
Mordred explained, "It's Elementary rank Magic Shield. It blocks Magic spells and can also isolate magical flames or cold while maintained. But it does nothing against physical attacks and is also quite weak."
Even through Silent Casting he could strengthen the Magic Shield with more Mana, because it had a simple structure of an Elementary ranked spell, it was still quite weak and it took valuable time to strengthen it bit by bit. The only use Mordred found from it was using it as an inspiration to develop a rough and dense anti-magic Magical Energy shield using Mana Burst.
After Barrier Magic, Mordred then displayed Divine Strike Magic's Elementary ranked spell – Exorcist Light.
Rudeus was also slightly excited to learn it too because Divine Strike Magic was very effective at harming evil spirits and ghosts, which apparently existed in this world.
Not even the University of Magic taught it. Roxy couldn't use this kind, either.
Afterwards, Mordred taught Rudeus the Advanced rank Healing Magic Incantation and Intermediate rank Detoxification Magic, helping him rank up.
After casting the Barrier and Divine Magic once, Rudeus could instantly repeat it silently. However, in the case of Healing Magic and Detoxification Magic, he still had no success.
"Your Highness, can you use silent Healing Magic?" Rudeus asked curiously.
"Yes."
"How do you do it? I can cast Attack Magic silently just fine, but not Healing Magic…"
Mordred looked at Rudeus. "Well, I just imagine the flesh mending together as I recreate the flow of Magic Power. For me, it's the same as with Attack Magic."
This was the truth. He didn't use any tricks and simply repeated the flow of Mana for Healing Magic, although scientific knowledge did help to make it a little bit easier.
"Oooh…" Rudeus originally thought that he lacked sufficient scientific understanding of the human body to cast silent Healing Magic, but perhaps he was wrong. After all, he doubted that a person of this world would surpass him in knowledge of biology.
It didn't seem as if Mordred used scientific principles to help him use Healing Magic either. He just simply used it.
Although the Prince was a Blessed Child, Rudeus still thought that he might lack the talent to use Healing Magic. It's because the flow of Magic Power was different. While with Attack Magic, a spell would immediately take effect in reality outside his body, casting Healing Magic used your Mana to affect another living being instead – Rudeus couldn't sense the flow of Mana inside himself nor others while doing that.
Rudeus next wanted to ask Mordred about his Flight Magic, but unfortunately Mordred had already begun to bid his farewells.
Rudeus bowed his head. "Thank you for teaching me everything, Your Highness!"
He was grateful, In a short period of time, he ranked up in many fields, finally making progress again.
"Thank you!" Sylphy also bowed.
"You're welcome. By the way, I won't come to the village for a while. If you don't know what to do, practice Stone Cannon. It's a great spell. Earth Magic is also very useful in general."
Having said this much, Mordred stepped on the wind and flew away while holding his staff.
Rudeus noticed Sylphiette's amazed expression as Mordred turned into a red arrow of lightning in the sky. Afterwards, he spoke up worriedly, "Um… Sylphy…"
"Mm? Yes, Rudy?"
"Do you maybe… like Prince Mordred?" Rudeus gulped after asking.
Sylphiette looked at him for a while, before she smiled and said, "I like Rudy."
Rudeus was shocked and then deeply moved. 'Oh, no… My heart… I can't handle it!'
"... Sylphy!!!" Rudeus suddenly embraced her into a hug.
"... Rudy!" Sylphiette was surprised but didn't resist, soon after gently hugging Rudeus back.
Rudeus was moved to tears.
However, after hugging Sylphiette for a while, he felt it would be a waste to let this chance slip. Completely accidentally, his hand slid down from her lower back and he began to feel out her butt with a lewd grin on his face. Hohohoho!