Chapter 469: Chapter 61 - Decipher Metaphor
Tap...
Tap...
Endure my stiff leg muscles, which made it difficult to move normally, I approached my twin sister, who was busy reading a scroll containing information on nature magic from the Goddess of Nature, a knowledge she had been taught to the Forest Elf race, which lived in harmony with nature.
Tap...
Tap...
While holding my body from the state of poisoning that was slowly spreading inside my body, I tried not to break the focus of Alice and Alyssa, who were fixated on the scroll of paper they were reading.
"Using nature magic requires complicated incantations and magic circle formations, the caster also must be able to sense the essence of nature. Uggh!! Why the instructions for using nature magic are complicated to understand?" Alice grumbled while scratching her cheek, and her face looked confused.
"What else we can do, Alice. The language used on this scroll comes from a past civilization that still uses complicated metaphors, and its true meaning is difficult to understand," Alyssa replied with a serious expression on her face as she tried to understand the meaning of each word she was reading.
Hearing my twin sisters’ serious conversation, I slowly approached them and gently joined the flow of their conversation.
"It seems... you two are confused about something?" I asked Alice and Alyssa in a soft tone so as not to startle them too much, as they were still focused on reading the scroll.
The corner of my eye immediately fell on the scroll of paper they were reading, and I understood the difficulties they were experiencing.
"A-Ahhh... A language from the past, huh? The sentences are indeed filled with convoluted metaphors, and the language structure is different from the magic books written by the Great Heroes in the past," I continued while moving my legs, which were starting to feel stiff from the poison stiffening effect.
My footsteps slowed down a little, but it was enough to approach my twin sisters, who were not far from where I was sitting.
The poisonous plant I ate wasn’t really deadly and just paralyzing, but somehow it made my body... feel relaxed and calm.
Is this a side effect of a poisonous plant that can be used to make someone feel relaxed and calm?
For some reason, my head was filled with extreme ideas to use this poisonous plant as a sleeping pill for people who have trouble sleeping at night.
Ummm... wait...
Ugh, what am I thinking?!
My thoughts were all over the place after the poisoning, and my brain started to actively think with strange ideas that I had never thought of before.
I immediately shook my head and tried to enter the flow of conversation of my twin sisters, who were discussing the roll of paper in front of their eyes.
"Yes, Onee-sama. We are a little confused by this obscure language from the past. It is much more complicated than the magic books written directly by the Great Heroes in the past that are fixated on advanced calculations and magical theories," Alice replied while lowering her head.
"I can understand the implied meaning of the metaphor, but I cannot interpret the other metaphors. I’m really stuck for ideas to find the real meaning, Lily-nee," said Alyssa, who was confused by the language written on the scroll of paper.
"A-Aahh... is that so?" I replied as I felt the muscles in my thighs starting to stiffen more and hurt to move.
Luckily, I was already standing next to Alice and Alyssa, so I didn’t have to move any further. My eyes immediately fell on a sentence filled with complex metaphors, which my twin sister was translating.
In addition to reading the scroll containing instructions for using nature magic, Alice and Alyssa also prepared a sheet of paper used to interpret each complex metaphor found in the sentence.
I focused my attention on one paragraph that read strangely.
[ Nature magic is not magic that is tied to elements of general understanding of magic. Nature magic was born from an understanding of the growth elements of plants, which continue to grow until they fulfill nature’s purpose and then slowly die. ]
"Whichever way I read at it, it doesn’t explain anything at all, and the metaphors are too complicated," I said, commenting on one of the ambiguous paragraphs that had my twin sisters confused.
Just reading one of the paragraphs written on the scroll suddenly reminded me of a common spell everyone knew about.
A spell that seemed like nature magic, but it worked to slow or restricted the movement of its target.
"Not tied to the elements of general magical understanding, huh?" I muttered as I closed my eyes and cast a general magic spell in the form of vine roots that suddenly appeared from beneath my feet.
Srrraaakkk...
Srrraaakkk...
By casting common magic whose elements were already known, I tried to understand the meaning of the paragraph written on the scroll.
I immediately noticed the roots of the vines that were wrapped around my legs.
"Nature magic is born from the elements of plant growth that continue to grow until they fulfill their nature purpose and will slowly die after fulfilling their nature purpose..."
"Somehow, it sounds like a flower that will wither after blooming and a plant that produces fruit once before dying," I continued muttering while thinking about the meaning of the element of plant growth that always happens without stopping.
Graaaappp...
Graaaappp...
"Ohh!! There it is, Onee-sama!!"
"Yeeaah!! Great idea, Lily-nee!! That’s the meaning of this sentence’s metaphor!!"
Suddenly, Alice and Alyssa grabbed my shoulders with sparkling eyes as if they had found the answer they were looking for.
"Ignoring the known elements of magic, that means... the magic that grows plant roots doesn’t fall under the realm of nature magic. Because it doesn’t utilize the concept of continuing to grow until it reaches nature goal! Alice said in an excited tone, making me tilt my head.
"Nature magic that will continue to grow to fulfill nature purpose. In other words, it’s magic that’s constantly active, doing something!" Alice continued, having found the answer.
I just smiled after seeing Alice and Alyssa understand the meaning of that complicated metaphor.
As my twin sisters, who would become the greatest witches in human history, had expected, their incredible understanding of magic allowed them to grasp the meaning of that complex metaphor. Meanwhile, I could only smile and try to decipher the metaphor based on the flow of the conversation.
"Casting nature magic is like bringing a plant to life and letting it grow until it dies... is that what it means?" Alyssa replied, seemingly having a different understanding than Alice.
"Based on what Lily-nee said, it’s true that there are trees that produces fruit once and then die. But to cast nature magic that has to fulfill their nature purpose... that would be quite complicated, wouldn’t it?" Alyssa muttered as she asked me.
Such a complicated question...
Why is it suddenly directed at me?
I don’t even know the real answer!
Tiinngg!!
Tiinngg!!
I don’t know what kind of coincidence was happening right now, but I suddenly remembered the incident that occurred in the main town of Marquess Arisawa Von Bloomgard. Right in their destroyed main town, I had left behind several plants blessed by the Goddess of Nature. A plant capable of producing abundant and bountiful fruit to meet the civilians’ food needs. Although the plant wouldn’t bear fruit for quite some time, it was enough to meet their emergency food needs.
Remembering what I had done at that time, I closed my eyes and remembered again how to use the blessings of the Goddess of Nature.
My magic core, which was still filled with holy magic from the Goddess of Nature, now felt a soft and warm magic aura from a vine root growing under my feet.
"Aahh... So this is what it means to fulfill nature’s purpose," I muttered as I poured holy magic from the Goddess of Nature into the roots of the vine that grew from my magic chant.
Srrrraaaakkk!!
Blurrrrppp...
Sraaaaakkk!!
Srraaassshhh!!
Just by channeling the holy magic of the Goddess of Nature and hoping for the roots of the vine to grow well and produce sweet fruit, somehow it happened, and made me understand the basic elements of nature magic incantations.
The roots of the vine that grew under my feet now grow well and stand tall before my eyes. The roots of the vine, which were originally brown and hard, are now greenish and are covered with three red fruits.
One fruit was in front of my eyes while the rest were in front of Alice and Alyssa, as if it knew that nature purpose in life was to produces fruit and give fruit would be eaten.
"I understand now..." I continued muttering while nodding my head.
Essentially, this nature magic is similar to the multipurpose magic taught by the Great Heroes in the past, such as growing vines to bind objects. However, there’s a significant difference between multipurpose magic and nature magic, which is the caster must possess the blessing of the Goddess of Nature to be able to give life to the plants grown by the nature magic chant.
Cttaaakkk...
I immediately picked the red fruit in front of me and took a bite.
Creesshhh...
A fruit that had a hard texture like an apple and tasted sweet like sugar immediately filled my mouth.
"It doesn’t taste too bad for a fruit that grows from vine roots," I said to comment on the fruit I was eating.
Alice and Alyssa looked at each other before nodding, they then picked the fruit intended for them.
Cttaaakkk...
Cttaaakkk...
Srruuuttt...
The roots of the vine that had been growing abundantly before my eyes now withered rapidly until they fell to the ground, disappearing just like that after fulfilling their nature purpose.
"Dying slowly after achieving nature’s goal, I think... I’ve understood that complicated metaphor," Alyssa said while holding a red fruit in her hand.
"U-Uumm... If that’s the case... It seems like it’s no longer a metaphor," Alice said as she took a bite of the fruit and smiled happily.
Creesshhh...
Taappp...
Taappp...
Srraaakkk!!
"LILY-SAMAAAA!!"
"Uuhhmm!! It tastes so sweet!" Alice screamed, and coincidentally, Mio had just returned from getting the antidote potion.
