We're jumping back in the timeline.
During our stay in the city, I decided to have the vampire girl practice magic.
I could have had her spend Skill Points, but since I'd scraped by on a shoestring budget myself, I wanted to save them if at all possible.
Oh no, I've become cheap.
Well, whatever.
So anyway, I decided to have the vampire girl learn by watching.
I picked dark as her attribute.
When the Demon King used Appraisal on the vampire girl, her attributes showed ice, water, and dark as her strengths, while light, fire, and lightning were her weaknesses, in descending order.
Ideally, I'd have her practice ice or water magic, but unfortunately I can't use either of those.
The thing is, ever since I got cut off from the System, the magic I use has become just a little different from the magic of this world.
Actually, my magic is the more orthodox version, and the System's magic is the heretical one.
The System's magic incorporates these weird elemental attributes into the mix.
What should just be a spell that conjures water — they tack on this "water attribute" bonus characteristic on top.
And then, through the System's damage calculation formulas, it determines the opponent's weak attribute and adjusts the damage accordingly.
Back when I was in the System, I was weak against fire.
But now I have no such weakness.
My weakness was the fire attribute specifically, not fire itself.
Think about it — if you ask which would deal more damage, a water orb or a fire orb, obviously it's the fire orb.
Yet in this world, both deal the same damage.
That's messed up from the start, right?
Water at least makes some sense if you think about it as something you can physically hit someone with — but dark and light? What are those supposed to be?
There's no way those deal physical damage.
That's what the elemental attribute bonus characteristic does.
For fire and other elements that naturally deal high damage, it adjusts the damage up or down.
For water, earth, and other low-damage elements, it boosts the damage floor and scales accordingly.
For things like dark and light that have no physical form, it gives them substance and adds damage on top.
Each one has its own set of modifiers.
D really went overboard with the specs, huh?
I guess it was meant to make strengths and weaknesses extreme, but honestly, it's an unnecessary element when it comes to the System's actual purpose. This is just D messing around.
The System has these game-like elements sprinkled throughout, and the attribute system is the biggest example of that.
So what I can't reproduce with magic is this concept of elemental attributes.
Since it's entirely a System-based mechanism, I can't use it without the System's benefits.
The one exception is dark. The other magics I can cast might look similar, but under the hood they're completely different spells.
I could teach her those, but that probably wouldn't lead to Skill acquisition.
They might sound impressive when you call them "out-of-System magic," but as long as you're still within the System, they're just degraded versions of Skills.
Because each attribute subtracts from the overall effectiveness.
So I decided to have her learn dark magic — the one exception where I can cast spells identical to the System version, even now.
The reason dark magic alone is the exception is that this magic exists naturally outside the System too.
As magic wielded by the Evil God D.
Oh, right.
That self-proclaimed worst Evil God and all.
It's not strange at all that she can use dark magic.
Plus, when she ascended to godhood, the "Divine Basics Course" she received explicitly stated that D governs darkness.
Yeah.
So dark magic is D's signature, and the version integrated into the System was the original. That's why I can cast the same magic even without the System.
If it's the same magic, then watching me cast it should eventually lead to Skill acquisition.
That's the logic.
The vampire girl having an aptitude for the dark attribute was lucky.
So first, I'd have her learn dark magic, and then judge the other attributes based on how that goes.
While the Demon King and I headed out into the city, I summoned a split and had it handle the magic instruction.
Verdict.
No sign of improvement whatsoever.
Huh?
Was I doing it wrong?
That's strange.
I was able to learn it that way, so there's no reason she can't…
Hmm?
No, it's only day one.
Come to think of it, I started out already having the Magic Skill, so maybe she doesn't have an intuitive grasp of what it means to cast magic yet.
If that's the case, I should be patient and take the long view.
There's no rush. Let's keep at it and see how it goes.
But more importantly than thaaaaat!
Food! Food!
Booze! Booze!
The Demon King's cooking is exquisite.
She didn't live as long as she did for nothing.
Her skills are professional-grade, and since money is no object, she only uses top-quality ingredients.
There's no way this could taste bad!
Tonight, too, blissful hours awaited!
"Itadakimasu!"
"Oh, White-chan's already drunk."
"Shouldn't we stop her?"
"Wouldn't do any good."
I sense some outsiders being noisy, but I'm in a wonderful mood right now, so I'll let it slide — the food is delicious, I'm overflowing with happiness, and the booze just keeps going down! Hooray for me!
"Um, the young lady is being licked."
"A little licking is just the cost of doing business. I've already made up my mind. Nobody lays a hand on drunk White-chan."
"This is a problem. If something happens, we'll need you to stop her."
"Well, I don't think I could stop White-chan even if I tried~"
Soft, soft.
Ahh, I kinda want to go in for a chomp, but Madam would get mad, so I probably shouldn't, right?
Can't be helped. I'll hold back.
I'm so noble!
"All right, all right. The young lady's fallen asleep, so let go of her hand."
"Mmgh—"
This is mine, but if she insists, I suppose I have no choice.
"I'll go put her to bed."
"Please do."
Mmgh.
She's got such a sour look on her face.
You have to enjoy your drinks while you're drinking!
"Drink."
"Hm?"
"Drink, I say!"
I jam the bottle straight into her mouth and pour it down her throat.
What a hearty drinker you are, my dear customer.
Down the hatch, in one go, one after another!
"Pfft—!?"
Ah, she spit some out. What a waste.
"Wh—what are you doing?!"
"You've got a sour look on your face!"
I whacked her with the now-empty bottle.
"You've only just become a vampire and you're moping around like this. How unbecoming."
Then I launched into a lengthy account of my own hardships since becoming a spider.
Just the fact that she's alive is more than she realizes!
I won't let this evening end until she fully understands that!
Good morning.
Huh?
It's already past noon.
Whoa, did I sleep in way too late?
At this point, it's more like "good afternoon."
"Good morning."
I heard an oddly cheerful greeting from somewhere.
I turned around, and there was Mela, flashing a dazzling smile.
Hmm?
Was she always this type of person?
"Thank you for yesterday. It helped me snap out of it."
Yesterday? Did something happen?
"What matters isn't what you've become, but what you choose to do. I know now what I must do. Yesterday, I was so preoccupied with what I'd turned into that my resolve wavered."
Um.
I can't follow this conversation?
"From now on, I will steel my resolve. I will accept what I am — a vampire — and I will protect the young lady."
Ah, sure. Good luck with that, then.
What else am I supposed to say to that?