I Became a Civil Servant Who Can Use Magic

The morning of the day Loen left for vacation.

Inspection Team Leader Ead Ferche was standing with her arms crossed at the place where she first encountered Loen.
Why was she standing there?
To encounter the new recruit, Loen, once again.
Why did she want to encounter her?
To commute together.
It seemed Loen’s magic skills had deeply impressed Ead.
“Why isn’t she coming?”

However, even after a long time, Loen’s car didn’t appear.

To arrive at headquarters on time, she should have passed here already.
Could it be… she deliberately chose a different route to avoid meeting me?

Ead grinned.
Interesting.

Stomp!

Ead kicked off the ground and leaped, instantly reaching the rooftop of a nearby building.
Then, she quickly crossed the overlapping building rooftops towards the Inspection Headquarters.

Bang!

Ead roughly flung open the office door.
The seniors in the office stood up and greeted her.

“Good morning, Team Leader.”
“Hello~”

Ead, who nodded at the team members’ greetings, glanced at the rookie’s seat.

“Ria. Where’s Loen?”
“The maknae? She went on vacation today. Didn’t you hear?”
“…”

She hadn’t heard.
Because the department head notified Loen directly about the reward leave without going through the team leader.
Loen also naturally thought the team leader would know about the reward leave, so she didn’t bother mentioning it.

“I was just asking. Don’t mind it.”

Just as Ead said that and was about to go to her seat.
The department head passing by the corridor, as if he just remembered, entered the Inspection Department office and said.

“Team Leader Ead. Come to think of it, I forgot to mention, the director granted reward leave to the rookie. Her vacation should start from today, so don’t misunderstand.”
“…… Yes.”

Ria, who was watching the team leader, understood the situation.
You didn’t know she went on vacation but pretended to know~ How cute.

Of course, she only said this inwardly.
Outwardly, she shrank her face and body as much as possible to avoid offending her mood.

“I have some urgent matters to discuss with the Support Department, so I’ll be out for a moment.”

Gilbert slipped out of the office with a plausible excuse.

Loen, who visited her family home after a long time.
After greeting her family, they sat around the dining table and chatted warmly.
Most of it was about the things Loen experienced after joining the Inspection Team.

Her parents nodded as they listened to Loen’s stories, and her younger brother Johan looked at Loen with a wistful gaze.

He’s still like that.
How long are you going to misunderstand, little brother..

As Loen’s story was coming to an end.
Her mother threw out an unexpected remark.

“Loen. We’ve already gathered opinions as a family. Whoever you choose, we’ve decided to always firmly support you from behind.”

Her brother nodded vigorously at those words.
Her father also nodded slightly.
Only Loen didn’t understand.

“What do you mean?”
“Sister. You don’t have to shoulder everything alone. We’re family, after all.”

Her brother smiled brightly.
Her father nodded once again.
Her mother continued.

“News that you had a private conversation with the 2nd Princess has spread widely in social circles.”
“It’s about time for the Franz ducal family to make a choice.”
“That’s right. We can’t maintain neutrality forever.”
“Ah..”

Her mother looked at Loen, who had a confused expression, and asked.

“Loen. Don’t tell me… you acted without knowing anything?”
“…”
“Oh dear.”

Just when I thought she had finally grown up after joining the Inspection Team, but of course not.
Her mother, who let out a small sigh, explained the situation.

That day when she reluctantly returned to the capital by train with the princess after the princess’s proposal.
Some nobles who witnessed that scene misunderstood, thinking ‘It seems Loen Franz has decided to side with the 2nd Princess!’

They thought they couldn’t keep this tremendous news to themselves, so they attended various banquets and social gatherings to spread the rumor widely.

In the end, in less than a day, it reached the point where there was no noble staying in the capital who didn’t know about this news.

This is how noble society normally is.
Even small actions are given great meaning.

Moreover, it’s a member of the Franz ducal family, no less.
This was entirely Loen’s oversight.

But what can we do.
The water has already been spilled.

At that moment, Loen hurriedly tried to scoop up the spilled water.

“Mother.”
“Speak.”
“The Franz ducal family must maintain neutrality until the end.”

Questions appeared on the family members’ faces.

“It’s a power struggle for the imperial throne, so there’s no way we’d be fine siding with either side, right?”
“Loen. You’re stating the obvious. Instead, if the person we support becomes emperor, we could gain much more than we lose, so shouldn’t we accept some losses?”

At her mother’s words, Loen pounded her chest.

This is why they say you shouldn’t talk politics even among family members..

It’s not just a simple power struggle, but it leads to a war of succession for the imperial throne, Mother.
However, even if she said such things, they wouldn’t believe her, so Loen was just frustrated.

Afterwards, Loen continued to persuade her family that the Franz ducal family must maintain neutrality until the end.

However, her mother’s and Loen’s opinions sharply opposed each other.

“If we use this opportunity well, the Franz ducal family could soar higher, but you’re saying we should just stay still?”
“I’m saying we should watch a bit longer. We don’t know what might happen.”

Her brother, who had been quietly watching, took Loen’s side.

“Mother. For now, why don’t we do as sister says? The emperor is still healthy, so there’s no rush, right?”

With the heir’s support fire, the duchess finally raised the white flag.

They decided to use the ducal family’s connections to quell the rumors that had spread in noble society.

After the meal, Loen headed to the training ground behind the mansion with her father.

“You said you have something you want to talk about?”

Loen’s father, Karl Franz, said.

“Yes.”

Loen explained in detail what happened in Viscount Felon’s territory.

“Hmm. I see.”

Loen drew out her conclusion towards her father, who was stroking his chin.

“I want to learn dual casting.”
“There’s something I need to correct first, Loen.”
“What is it?”
“It’s not dual casting, but double casting.”

What? Loen immediately switched her brain.

“I want to learn double casting.”

Karl fell into thought at Loen’s words.

A 4-star magician wanting to learn double casting..

To be honest, it’s close to impossible.
Of course, I’m not belittling Loen.

Loen’s magical talent is recognized even by me, a 6-star archmage.
However, this is close to something beyond the realm of talent.

‘How should I phrase this so Loen won’t get hurt?’

At that moment, Karl’s home education instinct opened its eyes.

Rather, if I teach her about double casting, and when Loen is frustrated after hitting a wall, I can console her as a father?

I can tell by looking at my daughter’s eyes.
They’re still full of empty dreams about adventures and such.

‘I should take this opportunity to deflate those empty dreams some more.’

Karl, having finished his thoughts, opened his mouth.

“Loen. Tell me what you know about double casting.”
“Just. Isn’t it the ability to cast two spells simultaneously?”
“..That’s it?”
“Yes.”

Karl cleared his throat and continued.

“To put it simply. Dividing your mind into two and casting spells with each mind. That’s the principle of double casting.”
“Aha.”
“If we delve deeper into that principle……..”

Karl’s explanation about double casting continued for dozens of minutes after that.
When Loen’s mind was about to become dazed, Karl closed his mouth.

“Do you understand?”
“Yes.”

I’m sorry. Actually, I didn’t understand most of it.

But I did understand the conclusion.

Split your mind in two.
Cast spells with each mind.

This is… easier said than done.

“It’s not easy.”
“Of course. To begin with, people are born with only one soul, so naturally, they have only one mind. Splitting this is essentially going against the laws of nature. So it’s natural that it’s not easy.”

Loen fell into deep thought.

Dividing the mind in two…

Karl inwardly laughed as he watched his daughter.

Even I only learned double casting when I was in the mid 5-star range, how could it be so easy?

“Think about it carefully, Loen.”

With those final words, Karl turned and went into the mansion.

Loen, who was trying various attempts in the training ground.
Suddenly, such a thought occurred to her.

“Come to think of it, I’m a reincarnator, aren’t I?”

I’m the one who was born with memories from Earth from birth.
I’ve been going against the laws of nature since then.

Even though 20 years have passed in this life.
The memories of my past life are still vivid.

This means that two sets of memories coexist in my head.

Memories as an ordinary office worker in Korea.
Memories as the eldest daughter of the Franz ducal family.

One soul, one mind.
However, what ultimately constitutes the mind are the memories accumulated through life.

What about me, living my second life? Me, who has two sets of memories?

By logic, I already have two minds, don’t I?

It felt like I was grasping some clue.
A clue to double casting.

I closed my eyes and concentrated.
I imagined.

I imagined my past life self and current self casting spells simultaneously.

I spread out both hands.

An attack spell in one hand.
A defense spell in the other hand.

One yet two.
Not me, but us.
With such imagination, I started double casting.
Naturally, the magical power in my body began to divide into two and gather in both hands.

Nevertheless, the fact that I have only one mind remained unchanged, so my head started to hurt like crazy.
It was becoming overloaded.

It’s hard enough to focus entirely on casting one spell, so it’s impossible to be fine while trying to cast two simultaneously.

Even so, I gritted my teeth and continued casting.

Light and dark attributes in my left hand.
Light and.. dark won’t work. You just get light attribute in the right hand.

Projection, impact, diffusion in the left hand..
Deflection, fixation in the right hand..

As soon as the attribute and property assignments were done, I hurriedly uttered the activation words.
Because I was about to lose concentration.

“Barrier!”

A translucent screen appeared in front.
Then, stretching out my left hand, the attack spell.

“Fireball!”

Bang!

“Ack!”

The fireball fired from Loen’s hand was blocked by the barrier created right in front of it and exploded.
Caught in the explosion’s impact, Loen fell backwards.

Ah, I didn’t calculate this.

To think my attack spell would be blocked by my own defense spell.

Loen, who was lying on the ground staring blankly at the sky, eventually burst into laughter.

But still.
I succeeded, didn’t I?

During dinner.
Loen glanced at her father and said.

“I succeeded in learning double casting.”

Splash.

Her father’s mouth gaped open as he was drinking water, and liquid spilled out.