Chapter 37: Bloodless Battles

Chapter 37: Bloodless Battles

Cassian noticed Emilia was distracted that day. Their training wasn’t going well.

“What’s wrong, girl? You’re all over the place today.”

“Cassian, what’s going on out there? I keep hearing things. Twenty legions of monsters raised by Atlas, attacks all across the kingdom. The Troll Wars are flaring up again. The Lost Archipelago is about to fall completely. Some even whisper about Ragnarok.”

“You’re too young to worry about such things. And I’m not getting paid nearly enough to stress over them. Monsters have always attacked—ever since the gods were banished to the depths of Tartarus. Back then, it was even worse. You and I are doing what we can: building your skills so you can survive. What can a little girl like you do in the grand game of gods and emperors?”

“I… maybe I shouldn’t be training just to survive anymore.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Emilia hesitated. Cassian had given so much of himself to train her. He could have just taken the silver and done the bare minimum, like most instructors. But he didn’t. He built labyrinths for her, crafted lessons that lasted for hours. Emilia suspected he didn’t treat all his students this way.

“I… you know I make talismans, right?”
“Yeah. Those wooden ones. Cheap, weaker imitations.”
“Hey! They’re not weaker, just cheaper. The power’s the same—sometimes even stronger if I add enough stones at the corners. But that’s not what I wanted to say. I’ve started working with combat talismans. Fireball, Magic Barrier, Healing Talisman. I’m still losing money making them, but one day I’ll be able to use them in real fights.”

Cassian blinked, stunned. She was still so small. In this world, appearances didn’t mean much, but he had checked Emilia’s background before agreeing to train her.

“Emilia… you’ve already made combat talismans?”
“Yes. I even have four on me.” Emilia hurried to pull them out and show him.

“This…” Cassian fell silent, staring into nothing for a long moment. “This changes a lot. You’ll need to start learning how to fight with magic soon. But not yet. The material costs are enormous. You won’t be able to afford to practice with these talismans often.”

“I still want to try. I picked these three fireballs and the barrier spell for a reason. I need to know how they work—how to defend myself if something happens.”

“Emilia, that’s eighty silver coins’ worth of talismans. Are you sure you can afford to burn them just for practice?”

Emilia hesitated. Her success rate with talismans was much higher than that of other apprentices, but the new combat ones were still a loss overall. Yet time was moving forward, and the world was growing more dangerous by the day. Something inside her whispered that it was foolish to rely on battle talismans she had never tested in combat—training or otherwise.

She remembered the Roman legions—those soldiers who conquered the ancient world. A historian from one of the nations they had defeated once wrote of them:

“They train in heat and rain. Dressed in heavy armor and with special training weapons, heavier than the ones they used in battle. Bloody incidents often occurred during the training sessions. For them, every training session was like a battle. In fact, it was even harder than the battles themselves.”

And indeed, later the slogan 'Training is bloodless battle, and battle is bloody training' became the cornerstone of the Roman war machine.

Then she made a decision.

“How do I use these talismans best?”

Cassian sighed and didn't answer at once.

“Emilia, it isn't that simple. You need to know more about magical theory, about duels between mages—those are secrets I can't teach. Still… I can help you train. You'll have to be very careful and read between the lines.”

He went on to outline, briefly, the basics for the three talismans. He gave her practical tips and warned of hazards. He didn't speak a word about arcane theory or how to use them against another mage. His examples were always about wild beasts.

Half an hour later Emilia fired her first fireball since she came into this world.

For days afterward she kept replaying that moment.

Time felt frozen. She remembered the resin smell of the trees, the crushed leaves underfoot, the branches splintered in training. The wind playing in her hair. Cassian's fixed, intent stare.

Emilia triggered the talisman and the glyphs inside flared to life.

A lattice of magical lines constructed itself in the air before her, and after a fraction of a second the magic released. A fireball, the size of a pinecone, launched from the direction of her outstretched hand.

The talisman wasn't pure magic and had no mental component. Because of this, it had to be controlled with gestures and wasn't very effective. The ball flew, and Emilia noticed that despite her gesture, the ball's trajectory resembled that of an arrow from a bow, its parabola already descending slightly.

The target tree stood only five or six meters away, yet the ball struck twenty to thirty centimeters too low. Emilia might have missed that detail if not for Cassian's lecture a short while before.

Beyond the fifth meter, these fireballs lost force quickly; around ten to eleven meters they became wildly inaccurate, their mana dissipating and the balls fragmenting. These were the weakest talismans, after all.

“Emilia, you must know these fireballs aren't that powerful. Don't rely on them for stronger opponents.”

Her excitement cooled. Exactly. A soldier with a heavy axe will deal far more damage than this pinecone-sized fireball. Against an unarmored foe, magic is fine, but against a thick-furred or heavily scaled monster, a strength talisman would be far more effective.

She voiced her doubts to Cassian.

“Yes. Strength talismans, especially the higher-grade ones, are indispensable in combat. But magic has its strengths too. Besides, you're so small—do you have an axe to use a strength talisman?” Cassian laughed and mussed the girl's hair.

They tested the other talismans next. Emilia focused on speeding the talismans' activation and on guiding them with gestures.

Finally they tried the Magic Barrier talisman. Emilia activated it with a sweep. An ethereal wall shimmered into being, and Cassian brought down a heavy branch on it.

Instinct made Emilia crouch. The branch hit the barrier with a dull, resonant thud that shook the air. For a heartbeat the phantom shield held, bowing inward, then it shattered into thousands of glittering motes of mana—like glass breaking in slow motion. The shockwave pushed Cassian back and sent Emilia staggering as the air rolled past her.

“Every time you use a magic shield, think immediately of the next move. Your enemy will strike the shield; you must already have changed position and be ready to attack while they're vulnerable. We can train that without talismans. You'll call 'Shield' and I'll pretend to smash it. Your drills will vary. First you'll learn to sprint away fast. Then you'll practice flanking to hit the enemy's unprotected side. Or you prepare your next fireball. But be careful. While that shield is active, it blocks attacks coming from you as well. The shield lasts only two to three seconds.”

Emilia nodded and they kept training. When they parted, Cassian—already turning toward the neighboring street—threw over his shoulder without even looking back,

“From tomorrow training costs go up by fifty percent. You're making paper talismans now. You can afford it. Ha-ha-ha.”

He laughed loudly. Emilia clenched her small fist and said through gritted teeth,

“You… you…”