The Magician of Sound

"There are around thirty magical beasts in this room." Kai pointed at one of the pathways on the map. 

"Alright." Via quickly added the information to the projection.

They had been going for two days just to make a map. After finishing the layout, it turned out she could add some information such as the number of monsters. As for the size of the room, she could only roughly guess by Kai's drawing.

A few problems occurred in this process. The first one they found was how a few tunnels suddenly had a dead-end even though there was supposed to be a continuation. However, Kai also couldn't make such an assumption because there was simply no magical beast there. Rather than giving false hope, he decided to make it as vague as possible.

The second problem was the complexity of the nest. A few untouched tunnels looked like they were not connected to the main Underground Nest, but Kai felt that was not the case. However, his solution was the same and let the army explore the area out.

Luckily, Via said she could update the map in real-time, so she would adjust the map if she got the information from the soldiers who explored the area.

The last problem was the number. As expected, filling the number of each magical beasts in one specific's area was easier said than done. Kai had been scanning it from time to time and just put a rough estimate.

Kai didn't dare to put the exact number because some beasts might come or leave that place. Nonetheless, they filled up the room so the soldiers could understand their situation.

Finally, their two-day effort finished, and it could be considered a powerful weapon for this mission.

"We… We have finished our task…" Via wanted to quickly give the data to Nathan, but she was too tired. She fell and slept on the floor.

Kai smiled, knowing how hard they had worked in the past two days. They didn't get even a single sleep while continuously using their brains, so it was normal for them to get tired.

In fact, if not because they were almost done, she might want to rest first and continue the job tomorrow. Nevertheless, Kai continued, saying it would be done in one or two hours.

His eyebrows twitched, and his eyelid felt heavy. It also started taking a toll on his body. Before falling asleep, he carried Via to the mattress before sleeping on the other bed. "I will take a nap first."

…

A few hours later,

Kai opened his eyes again and noticed that Via had yet to wake up. He looked at the clock on his device, realized he had slept for almost six hours, and rose from the mattress. 

The sudden movement woke Via, who was on the mattress a few meters away from him. "Ehmm?"

"Good Morning… No, I should say good night?" Kai greeted her. As he said, they fell asleep at noon, and it was almost midnight.

"Ah, yes. Sorry." Via rubbed her sleepy eyes. "How many hours have we slept?" 

"Almost six hours. It's eleven o'clock now." Kai answered.

"Hmm… I will do the converting process and give it to Sir Nathan before sleeping again." Via said nonchalantly. She didn't fuss about the sleep or whatsoever and acted like nothing happened. Besides, Nathan would surely tell her to sleep after knowing about her condition. She would also adjust the map in real-time, after all, which would require a huge amount of brainpower. 

"I will also help you." Kai nodded. 

"I can handle it myself though. You can get more sleep." Via suggested.

"Nah. I'm good." Kai shrugged before saying, "I want to see the result as well."

Via thought for a moment and agreed. "Sure. Let's go to my office then."

Kai nodded and followed her. There was not much activity in the base right now, only doing some patrol. 

"Miss Via, can I ask you a question?" Kai hesitated for a few seconds before asking it. "Why do you think your Light Magic was useless? I mean, you can make projections like humans or beasts, scaring your opponent and ambushing them with your weapons."

As an unorthodox magician, he was very curious about this. 

Via thought about for a moment, and a trace of sadness appeared on her eyes. "I have tried such a thing as well. Hmm… I should tell you from the moment I knew my magic… Back then, I was so happy because the government would, without a doubt, grant me the S rank magician title. Unfortunately, the moment they knew that my magic was actually some kind of light projection, they were disappointed.

"My family is just a normal family with me as their sole daughter. They fought in the front line for a long time, and I always loved it when they told me their stories, so I idolized them. Unfortunately, the moment my result came out when I was four years old, my family broke apart.

"My Father felt so disappointed at me and left my mother with my second mother, thinking it was the curse or injury of my mother to produce a useless me. Even so, my mother and I could still scrape by until I became an adult with our savings.

"The happiness didn't last long. After a few years, my mother fell and triggered her past injuries… but couldn't be saved anymore. The day I lost my mother, my former father took everything away, and I only had some money for a few days.

"At that time, I somehow met the Graham Family and looked at their baby, Young Lady Michelle. Looking how adorable she was, I couldn't help but use my magic to make a projection of her in which Sir Michael found out.

"He said I was useful for him and offered me a place. I skipped school and joined the army at sixteen years old under the banner of Graham Family. After racking some achievement, my father and second mother came, but I severed my relationship with them.

"Sir Michael taught me about my Light Magic. First, I could use it as a projection to give a signal. As you know, we can't use Radio too much because the enemy would notice it. On the other hand, they wouldn't be able to do anything if I made a large projection in the sky, signaling what they would do. Magical beasts wouldn't know anything unless they unlocked their intelligence, which was a rare case.

"My second magic was this one that I used to make a map with you while the third one was a simulation… you could say it's a video. Of course, I could use the thing you mentioned earlier. However, it lacked several things that experts wouldn't miss. Sir Michael could identify it instantly while you should also notice it. After all, it didn't produce a sound.

"I can scare a few beasts away with this projection or maybe make an illusion like they are under attack from many… but I need to be close to use that magic. Sir Michael forbade me to use it because it was too risky. He said, my life was more important than this magic, so I sealed it away.

"Ah… I talked too much about this." Via fiddled with her fingers for a moment before saying, "What I actually want to say is… I have nothing other than Graham Family, so I will always be one of the Grahams. Seeing you will surely marry Young Lady Michelle, I will eventually become your subordinates.

"At that time, no need to hesitate to command me for anything. I will help you, even if I need to risk my life. After all, Young Lady Michelle was the one who unconsciously saved my life…" She closed her eyes and smiled.

Kai fell into silence. Normally, he could discern whether someone was lying from their tone and heartbeat. It might not be noticeable for normal people, but it was easily recognizable with his ears. However, she didn't have a single trace of lying in those words. Just as she said, if she didn't find Michelle to be adorable and created a projection of her, Michael might not find her talent. "Thank you."

After that, Via said no more and entered her room in silence. She activated her computer and released her magic. Kai didn't know the process, but he understood it was converting from her projection into 3D Digital Image.

"I will also send you the copy … Give me your Device ID," Via said while stretching her hand to Kai.

Kai opened his device as well as his ID and placed the device on her hand. Via pulled her hand to see the ID before giving it back.

"Now, we will just need to wait," Via muttered while waiting for the process to complete.

After a few seconds, Kai received a message which was from her. "You can use the normal projection and point it to the ground. It will create a 3D image."

This was like when Ayaka searched for their first mission, only that time was a 2D image that she projected on the table. This time, it created a hologram of the map. 

Via also checked the one she sent for herself and observed it carefully.

A few minutes later, she asked, "How is it? This is the same as earlier, right?"

"Yes." Kai knew she was just confirming the result. As soon as she got Kai's affirmation, she sent it to Nathan before rising from her seat and stretching her hand.

"You should go back now and get some rest. I will do the same as well." She yawned.

"Sure. Good night." Kai nodded and left the room, heading toward the other girls according to the noises.

"Good night."