The Perfect Knight and the Illusionist (BL)
Chapter 36: Fire!

Chapter 36: Fire!

LEO

"Mario, first we need to gather some firewood," I told Mario Boy, who seemed unusually uncomfortable.

"Didn’t we say we were going to build a shelter first?" he asked.

"We said we will build a shelter, not that we will build it ’first.’" I pointed out.

"Why?"

"I’d say we have about three hours before it gets dark. In the worst-case scenario we can just sleep with no shelter, but we need to get a fire going before it gets dark. No matter what," I said.

Mario thought about it for a moment, then nodded slowly and agreed.

"You are right, actually."

I taught the city boy a lesson!

I took out a small saw that I was carrying on my belt—my ’weapon’ of choice—and headed into the woods, skipping.

"Skylark! Wait!"

Mario called out from behind. I turned, startled.

"Huh?"

"It might be dangerous deeper in the woods. Let me lead," Mario said.

"Marius, I’ve been playing in the woods since I was three..."

Mario paused, thought about it, then shook his head.

"You are right, actually, but I must lead."

"That makes no sense at all..."

But whatever. If he followed me from behind, I may not know if he got lost. But if he was in front of me, I suppose at least he wouldn’t get lost.

Then, only after a few steps into the woods, Mario stopped in front of a Green Tree.

"I have never seen a tree with green trunks before," Mario said.

"It’s quite nice, eh?"

But instead of answering, he started to work on the trunk with his sword.

I put my face in my hands.

"Mario, you can’t cut a tree with a sword," I said.

"There’s nothing my sword can’t—"

Mario stopped mid-sentence as his sword got stuck in the trunk, then pulled it out with some struggle.

"And Green Trees don’t burn well."

"Oh."

"But they are sturdy. They make good poles for a tent," I added.

"I see..."

"The trees over there, the black ones, they are the right type. Let’s go," I said, but then Mario quickly rushed past me toward the Black Tree. He touched its trunk with his hand, stabbed it a few times with the tip of his sword, and turned to say to me,

"May I borrow your saw?"

"I can do it myself, heh."

I said and got to work. I’d sawn down hundreds of trees in my life. This was no big deal. Mario stood back and observed me for a minute, and then suddenly interrupted.

"Do you mind if I try?"

Ah, so the city boy wants to give it a go.

"Sure."

Then he took over my saw and started to saw down the tree at incredible speed.

"WHAT THE HECK?!"

"Hm, so this is how it works," Mario said, as if he’d just discovered something fascinating.

Thanks to his stupidly good sawing skills, we managed to gather firewood rather quickly. We brought it back to our camping site, and returned to the Green Tree. Mario asked me to lend him the saw again, which I did, but before he got to work, he turned and asked me,

"Just how exactly are we going to build a shelter?"

"Over there," I said and pointed at the tree I had spotted earlier.

"What is that?" Mario asked.

"You see the leaves? That’s a Sombre Tree. The leaves are large, thick, and oily. They let the water run down. It doesn’t look like it will rain tonight, but even if it does, they should keep us dry with no problem."

"Right. So we need four equal-sized poles, another two crossed in an X shape for the roof, and then cover it with those leaves?"

"Heh, not bad, and we COULD do that, but there’s a better way."

"Don’t tell me," Mario said, raising his hand and stopping me.

He then seemed to go into deep contemplation, and finally gave up.

"I think it might be more efficient for you to just tell me," he said.

"We can build it in umbrella shapes. That way, you just need one pole for each person. Otherwise we’d need to build a massive tent."

"That is... clever," Mario admitted.

Victory for me!

And with that, I stood back and supervised Mario sawing the Green Tree. The boy had a lot to learn, but I thought if he was taught right, he could be surprisingly useful back in the village.

We had to cut a few Green Trees and make multiple trips to the camping site to bring them all over, but eventually, we managed to build a nice stock of materials.

"Let’s make a fire first, as you suggested," Mario said.

Pleased that he followed my recommendation, I searched for suitable stones to strike to make a spark for the fire.

"What are you looking for?" Mario asked, sounding curious.

"Rocks to make fire," I said.

"Couldn’t you just light it with fire magic?" Mario suddenly asked me.

Oh.

No.

"That—that would be unnecessary," I said.

Mario thought about it for a second, then replied,

"Yes, I have concerns about using magic making you tired, but Skylark, perhaps starting with something small and increasing the power would be good for you. That’s how we train physically too."

Then he pointed at the pile of wood we had stacked to use as a campfire, and told me,

"Try to make a small flame on it."

What do I do...?

I didn’t even know HOW to use magic properly.

Then I tried to remember the gentleman’s words and what he taught me.

’Leo, you are a great fire mage who can make a campfire...’

But it wasn’t working.

"It’s okay, Skylark. Take your time."

Mario saying that just made me feel even more anxious.

Even after ten more seconds of me trying to concentrate and repeating in my head that I was a great fire mage, I couldn’t get the fire going.

But Mario didn’t give up.

"You can do it, Skylark!"

That sudden scream startled me.

"Yeek!"

Then a great fire erupted over the Black Trees, making a huge campfire.

"YES!" Mario shouted and raised his hand, approaching me.

"YES!" I followed suit, and we clapped our palms together.

But then—

"Wait—," Mario said, "but why aren’t the woods burning?"

I looked at the wood again and realized that Mario was right.

My fire was impressively big, but the wood wasn’t burning.

"Oh."

The fire went out as if it had never been there, and we were left with clean, unburnt wood.

"Let me... look for some rocks," I said.

God, that was embarrassing...