"..."
The hired magician was a very young and incredibly cute pretty girl.
This fact made everyone in the Greyrat family a little stunned, so surprised they couldn't speak.
Especially Zenith, she had heard that the person coming this time was a water-level saint magician, so she immediately imagined someone who had experienced many years.
But never expected that the saint magician would look so small.
Rudeus was also startled by this unexpectedly beautiful girl, but his surprise only lasted a short while, and a perverted expression quickly appeared on his face.
He looked like he was having bad fantasies.
"Ah... you are... the one who's going to be the tutor?"
Paul and Zenith were too surprised, and for a moment they didn't know how to greet her.
Seeing this, Shirou couldn't help but sigh, and could only take the place of these useless parents and take the initiative to make contact with the young female magician in front of him.
"Hello, I'm Shirou, are you here to apply for the tutor position?"
"That's right."
Seeing Shirou, a boy not yet fully grown, come to talk to her, the blue-haired girl showed a rather strange expression.
"Um, are you sure?" Shirou said somewhat awkwardly, "How should I say it, your age is a bit of a surprise to us, you're a little too young."
"I'm not young at all!"
Roxy suddenly retorted loudly.
It felt like the other person's reaction wasn't responding to the topic of age...
Shirou then sighed and quickly said, "I know my words may be a bit offensive, but could you prove your strength? After all, when you signed up, you said you were a saint level magician, right?"
Shirou knew the strength levels of this world, and a water-level saint magician had even surpassed Paul, a high-level swordsman.
But the person was such a small and cute girl, it was impossible not to be suspicious.
"I see, you doubt my strength."
Roxy showed a troubled expression, and she didn't seem to know what to do to prove herself all of a sudden.
After all, the power of saint-level magic is generally very great, not the kind of power that can be used casually in a village, as it would cause huge disasters.
While Roxy was troubled, Shirou offered a suggestion:
"How about having a trial period first, to prove your ability in these few days? If our family is satisfied, then we'll formally hire you, how about that?"
"Trial period? Um, no problem."
Although Roxy had heard of the term "trial period" for the first time, she felt that this approach was indeed very reasonable, as it could give her a chance to show her strength, and also put the person hiring her at ease.
Roxy then looked at Shirou with admiration and said expectantly, "What a smart kid, Shirou, are you the kid who's going to learn magic from me?"
"No, the one who's going to learn magic from you is my younger brother, his name is Rudeus."
Shirou shook his head and asked Rudeus to come in front of Roxy.
After seeing Rudeus, a disappointed expression appeared on Roxy's face.
After all, compared to Shirou, Rudeus was far behind, not only did he look like he lacked intelligence, but he was also just a three-year-old child. Although it's best to learn magic from a young age, this was a bit too young.
So, Roxy couldn't help but sigh and say, "Sigh... there are always people like this... just because their child grows a little faster, they think their child is very talented, stupid parents..."
"Uh, this..."
Although Roxy's voice was very soft, it still reached Shirou's ears.
Shirou didn't expect this seemingly capable magician to have such a unmotivated personality, which was really surprising.
Of course, Shirou didn't care about Roxy's personality.
In comparison, her ability as a magician was the more crucial thing.
"Shirou, do you want to learn magic with me too?"
Roxy suddenly invited Shirou. She seemed to value Shirou's magical talent more than Rudeus's.
"Uh, but I'm already learning swordsmanship with my father."
Shirou politely declined. It's not that he didn't want to learn magic, but he didn't want to spread his energy too thin. After all, people often only achieve results by focusing on one thing. If you learn too many things, you'll only end up being good at everything, but master of none.
There were too many examples of this in his past life...
"I see."
Seeing Roxy look lost and unmotivated, Shirou quickly said, "Then why don't you let me watch? Maybe I'll become interested."
"Um, that's worth looking forward to, I'll do my best!"
"..."
Shirou never expected that Roxy would become so enthusiastic because of his presence, and he smiled bitterly, at a loss for words.
In order not to lose this only tutor's enthusiasm, he could only accompany her in teaching magic.
...
Roxy seemed very confident in her strength. She confidently took Rudeus and Shirou to the village and showed the two of them her magic.
"May the blessing of the great water descend where you desire, may a cool, shallow stream appear here – Waterball!"
As Roxy's chant rang out, the girl suddenly raised the staff in her hand, and a basketball-sized water ball appeared from the front of the staff.
Then the water ball flew out at an extremely fast speed and accurately hit a pile of hay not far away.
"Come on, Shirou, Rudy, you all try."
"Okay."
Shirou and Rudeus each imitated Roxy's movements and raised their hands.
Rudeus had experience using magic, so he almost quickly completed the construction of the magic, and even skipped the chanting process.
"Huh, Rudy, you skipped the chanting?"
"I-Is that not right?"
Rudeus had always released magic without chanting, and now he realized that this seemed a bit unusual.
"No, it's nothing."
Roxy suddenly became interested in Rudeus. She realized that Rudeus might be a genius, not to be underestimated, and worth cultivating.
She then looked at Shirou and found that even with the help of chanting, Shirou couldn't release magic smoothly.
Although this was to be expected, as most children are like this, in comparison to Rudeus just now, Shirou's talent seemed quite bad.
Did I judge wrong?
Doubt arose in Roxy's heart.
She clearly felt that Shirou had more talent for magic than Rudeus, and could clearly feel that there was something special about this boy.
But in reality, Shirou didn't show any of this. He studied even the most basic water ball for a long time before he could release it.
Shirou might really not have the talent for magic...