Skill? Nee yo Sonnamon! ~ Fugusha tachi no Saino Kaika ~

with lolimast.

“Yes.
I can to a degree.
I'm not quite as adept as Hikaru however.”

“That still means it's something you can learn if Kajikawa-kun is willing to teach.
Nobody ever thought about such a technique in history.
Well, naturally of course, why would anyone do that over honing the Skills they already have.”

“For sure.
I wouldn't have come up with it either if only I had a single Skill.”

“Well look on the bright side, that allowed you to fly and accomplish a lot of stuff, so aren't you glad you couldn't? Although you can't openly use them in public yet.”

“Right, you are.”

“Un.”

It was thanks to having no Skills that I met Alma in that forest, driven to the corner, yelling for help in desperation.
Pathetic it may be, I think not having Skill isn't all that bad.
Also, learning Pseudo Mana Blade which then let Alma learn the real Magic Swords, turning her into a Paladin.
If I was given the offer to restart with the option to have Skills, I'd have chosen to go without so I could meet Alma again.

“Oh my my~? Could it be that technique helped deepen your relationship together? Oh, to be young again.”

“W-what are you saying.”

“Un.
Hikaru helped me so much, not only with mana control.”

“No no, I'm the one being helped here.
I'd have gotten eaten by a magic beast if not for you, Alma.
I should be thanking you instead.”

“Ah, okay okay.
It's my fault for teasing you, take your flirting routine somewhere else, you hear me…
Haa, it's so nice to be young…”

Who's flirting.
Think about our age difference.
…Guess that's how it looked like from the sideline.
And now she's kinda sighing, is she still single or something? Well, considering her physique, I guess that's the only natural outcome.

“Let's get back on track.
So I see you deploy that mana control in combat, but what if it leaks out, that'll be real bad.
Have you thought up a way to cover it up?”

“I try to avoid fighting when there are other people besides Alma around, and in case I'm forced to, I fight in a way that eschews suspicion.
And when flying is needed, I put on the mask with Status hiding effect I received from Daijel's guildmaster.”

I also put it on on our way to this town, but that mask is really not my thing…

“Ah right, the rumor about Soarer did mention him wearing some sorta weird mask.
You don't usually put it on?”

“…Wearing that all day is a bit…”

“Ah yep, I get you.
Well, so long as you're making the effort.
Unless you act like some extreme aberrant, you should be able to worm your way out…
Uh, I guess flying is aberrant enough…”

Tell me about it.

“Now then, they'd get suspicious of us if we keep this for too long, let's stop for now.
Lastly, I'll tell you where to find the inn this town's guild recommends, and dangerous spots you should stay clear off.”

“Thank you so much.
But are you sure about this, going so far for us?”

“It's fine, it's fine.
You probably can't see or hear them, but the spirits around me are telling me to get on your good side.”

I do sense multiple mana reactions around lolimast, is she talking about those?
As they're in the air and all, guessing they're wind spirits.
So lolimast is a Spirit Magic user.

She's like, boom, with magic.>

“What the heck kind of rumor is spreading among spirits…”

“Ahaha, these kids love to chatter about any rumor they find interesting, so…
Wait, you can hear them?”

“Yes, I can hear them just fine.”

“Y-you normally can't hear Spirits you're not contracted to…
You're really a unique one aren't you, yep.”

Lolimast made an 'Uh, ok' face while twitching.
Eh, what? You're telling me these spirits aren't normally audible?

<>

Really? I thought anybody could hear them like I do gnomes.
…Man I'm still lacking a lot of common sense in this world if I want to stay low profile in public.
Still a mountain of things to learn, what a pain.