Chapter 8: Is it funny that I can’t use magic?

The sky was thick with dark clouds, and from their depths, several claps of thunder echoed, signaling an impending downpour.

On the grassy field below, little Charlotte lay sprawled in the mud, clutching a useless magic wand in her hand, her eyes glaring resentfully at the black-haired witch standing not far in front of her.

“Is this level of combat intensity really just an entry-level test?” Charlotte couldn’t help but complain.

“Little girl, don’t you want to learn how to use magic? If you just lie on the ground, you won’t be able to learn, you know,” the black-haired witch said with a wicked smile.

This black-haired witch had long, lustrous black hair, with bangs that nearly covered her eyes. She wore a standard magic robe and held a magic wand, sitting leisurely on a floating broomstick. It seemed that because she was in a particularly good mood today, she hadn’t worn a hat.

A gentle breeze rustled her beautiful hair, making her look exceptionally lovely.

But it was this very same beautiful woman who had beaten little Charlotte into the ground the moment they met.

“Damn it, don’t look down on me!”

Little Charlotte mustered all her strength and slowly pushed herself up from the grass. But the black-haired witch had no intention of giving her any chance. The moment little Charlotte stood up, the witch waved her wand, summoning two hailstones the size of bean buns that struck her sharply on the knees.

“I’ll f…”

Falling face-first into the mud again, little Charlotte almost sacrificed the horse.¹

Meanwhile, sitting under a nearby tree, Yukina held a bucket of popcorn, watching the scene of her reincarnated brother getting beaten up in another world as if it were a movie.

“So, where have you brought me now? Why did a fight suddenly break out? And where is this intense, fast-paced background music coming from?”

“I should be asking you where you dug up that bucket of popcorn,” the slightly older Charlotte beside her couldn’t help but retort.

“I got it from the refrigerator, of course!” Yukina replied nonchalantly.

“The entire scene in front of you has been replaced, and you can still find the refrigerator’s location?”

“Who do you think I am? I’m the second-strongest captain of our kendo club! I can sense an enemy’s position even with my eyes closed. Finding a mere refrigerator is a piece of cake.”

“It’s a good thing you weren’t the one who got reincarnated. Otherwise, you’d have torn through the entire other world in minutes.”

“Brother, stop with the nonsense. How did the plot advance this far in the time it took me to grab some popcorn? Who are you even fighting?”

“Oh, that’s my master, Chloe Luna, the Night Witch.”

Hearing this answer, Yukina was a little surprised.

“Is your other world that competitive? You looked like you were only five or six years old back then. Did you start your apprenticeship at such a young age?”

“No, I was a special case. Generally, a girl with magical power has it measured at nine, and only enters a magic academy to learn magic at ten. Even the most talented person can’t start learning magic before the age of eight at the earliest. Because the body is still in a period of rapid growth, opening up the magic circuits in the body too early would continuously inflict considerable torment, like muscle soreness and general weakness.”

“Then why did you still learn magic so early?”

“I had no idea back then! If I had known I’d have to suffer like that, I would have willingly waited another two or three years before learning magic. After all, I’m a genius in this area. Debuting a few years late wouldn’t have been a big deal.”

“How did you become so narcissistic after reincarnating in another world, brother?” Yukina couldn’t help but retort, then followed up with another question. “So, why did you want to learn magic so early? There must have been a reason.”

“Oh, that was because…” Charlotte paused the battle scene in front of them and switched to another.

“Hmm?” Yukina looked on in confusion. The new scene was a courtyard, but there was nothing special about it. “What are you showing me, brother?”

“Look up!” Charlotte pointed to the sky. “The reason I wanted to learn magic is up there.”

Yukina looked up, puzzled, and was stunned to see that in the previously calm sky, a group of witches on broomsticks flew past in a grand, orderly formation, like a returning flock of wild geese.

Yukina had only ever seen such a display during the fighter jet performances at military parades. She couldn’t help but exclaim in awe.

“Wow! What a magnificent sight.”

“Right? Right? Magic is amazing, isn’t it! Without the help of any flying machines, just with a simple magic broomstick, humans can soar freely in the sky. As long as you work hard in this world, you can easily accomplish even the most difficult things!” Charlotte explained excitedly.

It had to be said, anyone who could see such a magnificent scene and not want to learn magic must be a god.

Yukina glanced around and saw the little Charlotte nearby, head tilted up, gazing at the sky.

At that moment, little Charlotte’s eyes were filled with excitement, as if she had found a goal she wanted to achieve.

To be honest, this version of Charlotte was quite cute. Yukina couldn’t help but want to hug the child and play with her.

However, the thought that her brother’s soul was hidden inside that child’s body immediately extinguished all her interest.

“And then?” Yukina urged Charlotte to continue explaining the whole story.

“Then I told Mom Rhynes that I wanted to learn magic, and I got the answer, ‘Charlotte dear, you’re still too young. Let’s wait until you’re older to learn magic.'”

“As expected, your mom didn’t want you to experience the pain of lumbar muscle strain too early!”

“Yeah, but I had no idea about that back then! Since Mom Rhynes wouldn’t let me learn magic, I figured I might as well just teach myself.”

“You can even teach yourself?” Yukina looked surprised. How long had it been since she had seen her brother so motivated?

“Yeah. Before that, I had seen a magic book in the library. I couldn’t recognize a single word in it, but that didn’t stop me. I pretended to hold a fairy tale book and asked Mom Rhynes to read it to me. Then, from time to time, I’d point to words in the book and ask her how to pronounce them. It took about a year, but I managed to decipher all the characters of this world.”

“…” Yukina was at a loss for words. She couldn’t imagine that her brother would push himself to such an extent just to learn magic.

“But even after understanding the magic book, it was no use. The book said you needed a magic wand to use magic, so I secretly made one for myself. But I still couldn’t use any magic. The best I could do was create a tiny whirlwind.”

“Being able to do that at such a young age is already quite impressive.”

“But how could I be satisfied with just that! What I wanted was the exhilarating feeling of flying freely in the sky. I swore I wouldn’t rest until I could fly. So every day I waved my homemade magic wand, again and again, and again and again, every single day, practicing ceaselessly…”

“And then you learned magic?”

“I failed! I practiced for ages with no results. But one day, I happened to overhear Mom Rhynes and Dad Roland talking about a strange witch who had come to the hills behind our village. At that moment, I thought that maybe this witch could teach me how to use magic. So, full of excitement, I went to find her…”

“And then? Why did you stop, brother?”

“Ngh… and then she beat me to a pulp. You should probably just watch the rest for yourself.”

With that, Charlotte switched back to the paused battle scene and continued playing it.

¹ almost sacrificed the horse:  This is a censored way of writing a common and very vulgar Chinese curse phrase where the character 马 (mǎ, horse) is a homophone for 妈 (mā, mother).