TL/ED – Miso
Elysia might be the woman who could beco my savior.
“I, I’m ready too! It’s okay, I can do it…!”
“…No, take off the goggles. It’s fine.”
Though it wasn’t very reassuring.
The garden of Elysia’s castle. When she reluctantly removed the goggles with anxious eyes, she was almost about to cry.
“No way. Then water will get into my eyes!”
“What…are you talking about?”
“…Aren’t we supposed to go underwater?”
“Why?”
“But that’s how you were learning magic, weren’t you?”
“…”
It seed she misunderstood from watching learn.
I hesitated with my words, then just said it.
“That’s… because I’m a special case. Elysia nim will be fine.”
“Really??”
Seeing Elysia’s face brighten instantly, I gathered my thoughts.
To be honest, and this should be obvious, I have no confidence in teaching magic.
What I learned was rely from eavesdropping a bit at the Academy, and of course countless teachers must have tried everything already.
If there’s anything I can do, it would be sothing like this.
“But why are you speaking formally again? Weren’t you my teacher?”
“In any formal setting where I’m teaching sothing, I will use formal speech. I’d prefer it if Elysia nim used formal speech as well…”
“Okay! I’ll do that!”
“…But it’s fine to just speak comfortably. For today, let’s try control.”
“Control?”
“Yes. This is just my opinion, but I think the reason Elysia nim can’t use magic is because you yourself are blocking it.”
I stirred up a small breeze. Since I was right next to her, it fluttered slightly.
It wasn’t enough, so I pulled Elysia closer and sat her beside .
“Try coming a bit closer.”
“Uh, okay?”
Close enough that our breath could touch. Her silver hair brushed against my cheek.
Elysia looked slightly startled by the sudden contact. Realizing my mistake, I backed away a bit.
“Ah, sorry. Don’t nobles have rules about not touching commoners or sothing like that, right?”
“No! There’s nothing like that, not at all!”
“…Really?”
Her overly strong reaction made a little curious, but at this distance my wind magic was being interfered enough that it could barely manifest at all.
“Let’s try controlling now. Calm your mind.”
“…Okay!”
Elysia took a deep breath to steady herself and began trying sothing earnestly.
“Nngghh…”
I had no idea what she was doing. Nothing changed, after all.
I gently soothed the trembling Elysia.
“Don’t try to use magic.”
“…Huh? Then what should I do?”
“Just think of magic as sothing natural, sothing that obviously exists. Even if you can’t, just trying is enough.”
“Is that really all it takes?”
“Of course.”
If the world she created was made to reject magic, then she, as its creator, had to change first.
As for , I’m a resident of a world that’s already ended, but Elysia is still young.
She should be able to change it with her own power.
Elysia blinked as she thought for a mont.
“Hmm, I’m not sure. Isn’t it already sothing natural and obvious? That’s what I think.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yeah. I didn’t really get it before, but everyone uses magic. So it’s just sothing that exists. And it’s natural, too.”
I tried manifesting magic.
It was still the sa. It wouldn’t move, as if it were sealed.
Well. I didn’t expect sothing like this to be resolved easily with just a bit of perspective shift.
I looked around. There was no one watching.
“Elysia nim.”
“Yeah!”
“Shall we step out for a bit?”
“Go out? Where to?”
“Let’s take a walk outside.”
I explained to the puzzled Elysia.
“I think I need to stop by ho for a mont.”
“?
Well, it’s still the sa Capital.
It didn’t take long to reach the Orphanage.
“Hello, Director.”
“…Je, Jern?”
As soon as we arrived and I waved my hand.
The Director, who had been playing with the children, ran over in surprise.
He looked at like he was seeing a prodigal son who had returned after running away for weeks.
Which, honestly, was true.
“Goodness, Jern! Where on earth have you been!”
“…? Didn’t you get my letters? I sent them almost every day.”
“I did read them, but you never said where you were or what you were doing! You just kept saying, ‘I’m fine, I’m safe, I’m happy.’ How am I supposed to believe you’re really fine with just that??”
“Well, how should I put this… there were a lot of difficult things to explain. But I’m okay, so please don’t worry.”
“Sigh… I’m just glad you’re safe…”
The Director’s dumbfounded gaze soon turned to the side.
Looking at the well-maintained clothes and elegant face, the Director asked with a curious expression.
“Hmm, who is this child?”
“A new friend I made.”
“R-really? If you had ti to make friends, I wish you had co to explain things at least… Anyway, it’s nice to et you. I’m Albus.”
“Ah, yes…!”
Elysia grabbed the Director’s large hand and shook it energetically.
At the sa ti, she looked around with curiosity, understandably, it seed like it was her first ti at an Orphanage.
“I’m the Director of this Orphanage.”
“Oh, this was an Orphanage?!”
“?? Hmm, yes, that’s right.”
Elysia covered her mouth in surprise.
“Then all the children here are…”
“Residents.”
As we talked, the noise drew so of the children over one by one.
“Huh? It’s Jern! Where’ve you been all this ti?”
“Who’s that next to you?”
“A new friend. I was away doing so work for a bit.”
“Yeah, while you were gone, Shah did sothing to your bed…”
“I told you not to tell him that!”
As the children burst into noisy chatter, I whispered to Elysia.
“Sorry it’s such a humble place. This is my ho.”
“Jern… I knew you were a commoner, but that…”
“Yes. I’m an orphan.”
“Really??”
Elysia’s eyes widened as if she hadn’t even imagined it. It seed Alletus hadn’t told her.
Stunned for a mont, she soon shook her head rapidly.
“Ah, no, I don’t an it’s weird or anything, it’s just, I thought you were well, maybe not a noble, but like the son of a hidden noble family or the descendant of a fallen noble or sothing like that.”
“Are you disappointed?”
“…No, what do you take for? Of course not! It’s just surprising, that’s all.”
“There’s no secret to my birth or anything. I’m just an ordinary child.”
“That’s a lie.”
With Elysia suddenly sounding firm, I led her inside the Orphanage, where a lesson was in progress.
There were children attending a class. I lowered my voice so we wouldn’t interrupt and asked Elysia.
“What do you think?”
“Wow…”
Elysia listened in on the lesson, her eyes sparkling.
It was a rather funny sight. They were practically copying what I had been doing at the Academy.
She responded with a hint of excitent.
“The material’s not that different from what we learned when we were little, is it?”
“Basic literacy education is the sa everywhere. As they grow older, their paths will split. Elysia nim will learn magic, and those children will learn their own talents, or things they want to do.”
“…Ah.”
At those words, her face darkened slightly, as if she was reminded of the magic she still couldn’t learn.
I cleared my throat and asked again.
“However, I don’t think that’s sothing to dwell on.”
“Hm?”
“Elysia nim, I think you’re taking the matter of magic far too seriously. As my teacher said, magic is just a simple tool. If you assign more value to it than that, it becos nothing more than self-inflicted torture.”
“…”
Dersia said it too.
Fearing a tool is the act of a fool.
But I think a little differently. If you see a chainsaw tearing a person to pieces, even if you know it’s safe, you can still be afraid of it.
I cannot resolve that for her. It’s sothing only she can overco. No matter what kind of help others provide, if she doesn’t try to overco it herself, it ans nothing.
All I can do is tell her that the chainsaw was made to cut wood, not people.
“Magic and the things those kids are learning may differ in power, but in essence, they are no different. They’re just ans, to not fall behind others, to achieve the grades one wants tomorrow, or to realize one’s dream… They’re rely tools. I hoped you would understand that.”
“It’s not the goal?”
“Yes.”
“But… I can’t take it so lightly. A noble who can’t use magic-”
“Is still a noble. You’ll face scorn and slander, but Alletus nim is still your father. That fact doesn’t change.”
“…”
Elysia looked at with clear eyes, opening and closing her lips a few tis.
I waited silently for sothing to co out of her mouth.
And if nothing did? I’d just have to beg Dersia to save her.
For the record, my magic still wasn’t manifesting.
“…Jern.”
“Yes.”
As I waited, Elysia finally opened her mouth, hesitantly.
“…Um, will you co sowhere with ?”
The roles had reversed.
*
The place Elysia led to was a wide hill.
A fence adorned with all kinds of flashy decorations was guarding sothing, but inside, there was nothing.
Only a single sword was embedded in the ground.
“Where is this?”
“It’s where my mom is sleeping.”
“-”
There wasn’t even a gravestone, so I hadn’t known.
Elysia calmly placed the flowers she brought in front of the sword, then turned around as if that was all.
I felt like I was sitting on a bed of nails, so I stood at attention and politely asked,
“U-um, is there so etiquette I should observe?”
“What? Pfft…”
Elysia burst into laughter.
“There’s no such thing. Mom was super, suuuper generous. She’d forgive soone even if they danced on her grave.”
“She sounds like a kind person.”
“Yeah. She passed away when I was eight.”
“Ahem.”
This really couldn’t be more uncomfortable. Elysia poked at playfully with a mischievous look.
“I felt the sa when you suddenly took to the Orphanage, you know? You said we were going ho, so I was preparing to greet your parents, and then you hit with that kind of backstory, what was I supposed to do?”
“…Let’s say we’re even now.”
“Right, haah.”
Elysia, seeming familiar with the place, climbed up on the fence and began walking precariously across it, speaking in a calm tone.
“If, maybe, my world was built wrong… I think I know what the cause might be.”
“What is it?”
“My mom died because of magic.”
“…”
“But the magic that ended her life was the most beautiful magic I’ve ever seen.”
Elysia looked up at the sky as if recalling that mont.
“I was eight then, and they said Mom had no hope left. That she might’ve lived a few more years. A really famous wizard ca to see her for the last ti. I don’t know who it was, but that person said their magic couldn’t cure her. That using it might even kill her. But my dad pushed ahead anyway…”
“…What kind of magic was it?”
“I don’t really know. It was just… beautiful. All I rember is Mom getting up at the end and hugging .”
Elysia let out a sigh and continued.
“I don’t really get it. Is sothing like that a reason to hate magic? I don’t actually have any hard feelings toward magic. If anything, I’m thankful that my mom’s final mont was happy.”
“Human emotions don’t align perfectly like machines do.”
Surely, her mother wouldn’t have wanted Elysia nim to hate magic.
But I didn’t say that aloud. Even if such words are well-intentioned, speaking on behalf of soone you love can be close to an act of violence.
“And honestly, I don’t think it’s sothing you have to force yourself to overco.”
“…What do you an by that?”
“I an, I’m an orphan, so I can’t truly understand, but losing your parents ans letting go of soone you love, right? If you end up learning magic in exchange for forgetting those painful mories… Hmm. Honestly, I think that’s a loss. I’d just give it up and preserve the mory as it is.”
I said so without blinking an eye.
Elysia, who had been looking at with a dazed expression, soon let out a soft chuckle.
“What kind of silly thing are you saying? Moving on doesn’t an forgetting, you know.”
“Is that so. My apologies. That was a careless remark.”
“Jern, you’re smart, but a little lacking when it cos to human relationships, huh? Hehe…”
Whoosh-
A gentle breeze blew across the hill. Elysia looked out at the horizon and murmured,
“Yeah, it’s not about forgetting…”
Watching her silver hair flutter in the wind, I quietly smiled and clenched my right hand behind my back.
Mana-
Had definitely flowed out.
*
“Today was fun. It feels like we didn’t do any studying and just played around, hehe.”
“Not at all. We made a lot of progress today.”
“?
I waved goodbye as I saw the confused Elysia off into the carriage.
Even after she left, I stood there for a while, lost in thought.
‘It worked.’
Even if only for a mont, the wind had blown.
I know I’m not one to say it, but the world of wizards really is mysterious. Thinking that, I returned to the library.
“…?”
But the door was open.
That alone wouldn’t be strange. Dersia might’ve made a mistake.
But then I saw five over-the-top, extravagantly embroidered carriages parked beside the library, and I thought well, clearly sothing had happened.
Still, I wasn’t all that worried.
Because the one inside was Dersia.
“Excuse .”
Creak. I purposely pushed the already-open door to make a sound.
But the people inside were so absorbed in their conversation that they didn’t notice .
“…So, you’re saying you were purely drawn to his talent?”
“I’ve said that, what, thirty tis already now.”
“Hard to believe. If you were the kind of person who acted based on sothing like that…”
A group of n cloaked entirely in black robes, looking like villains out of a story, were surrounding Dersia, interrogating her.
Judging by the swords at their waists, they must have been knights. I was shocked, not because it was a dangerous situation, but because Dersia, in that state, hadn’t snapped and done sothing to them.
“Ahem.”
“…Who’s there!”
Only after I cleared my throat did they turn toward .
They were absurdly tall. Their builds were nearly twice the size of an average adult male.
I had a rough idea of who they were, so I imdiately stepped forward, knelt, and bowed my head.
“I am Jern, disciple of Dersia. Greetings to the Imperial Knights.”
“…What?”
The knights stared at with bewildered faces, then turned to glare at Dersia.
“What did you tell him?”
“Weren’t you the ones who made it so I couldn’t say anything?”
“…How did you know we are Imperial Knights?”
A man who appeared to be the captain stepped forward, trying to intimidate .
I didn’t shrink back. I shrugged my shoulders and replied.
“Your carriages were quite flashy.”
“There was no imperial crest.”
“You were surrounding my master, and the fact that you are still alive ans you’re no ordinary order of knights.”
“…Then why, out of all the many orders, did you guess the Imperial Knights? You shouldn’t know anything about knight orders.”
“My master has a bit of a fiery personality. Even if you had strength, if you ca at her like this, no ordinary knight order would’ve made it out without broken bones. But the fact that she answered thirty tis and no blood was shed well, I figured you must be soone she really can’t afford to ss with in this country.”
“….”
The knight captain was rendered speechless.
Dersia looked at and let out a small laugh.
“I hope that answer was sufficient.”
“…You just stood by while your master was being disrespected. Doesn’t that bother you?”
“I’ll discipline him properly later.”
“Your answer will be judged by the council at the Hall.”
Without another word, they stord out of the library, exuding an oppressive aura.
Bang! Even as they left, they slamd the door shut with irritated expressions on their faces.
Only after everyone had left did Dersia let out a deeper sigh than usual and lift her coffee cup.
“This has gotten troubleso…”
“What happened?”
“It seems the Princess is a bit upset. Sothing like, ‘How dare you reject and choose a re commoner instead?’”
“Ah. I see. But still, if you turned down the Princess, shouldn’t you have refrained from taking another disciple altogether?”
“You’re not exactly in a position to say that, being that ‘other disciple’.”
Drip- Dersia poured the coffee and slid the cup toward .
“And this is your problem too, Jern.”
“? Why? I don’t think so. It’s an issue involving the Imperial family, and I’m far too insignificant. I leave it to you, Master.”
“You may have heard, but I justified my rejection by saying, ‘The commoner I chose is so exceptional that I had no choice.’ But if that commoner doesn’t get good results in the upcoming combat exam… they’ll find plenty to nitpick.”
“The law can’t touch . Isn’t that what you always say?”
“If soone’s words beco law, there’s nothing I can do.”
I took a sip of the coffee and nearly coughed up blood at how strong it was.
Ridiculous, this might as well be poison.
Dersia downed the poison-like drink in one go, pressed her temples, and made a decision.
“To avoid more hassle in the future, we need to win. And not just win, completely dominate.”
“Sounds like my foot’s on fire now. But, I’m not confident.”
“Why not?”
“I an… all I’ve learned are things like this.”
I activated Remove: and wrapped it around my body.
“It’s nice and all, but it just feels like a spell where all I do is get hit. If I want to defeat soone while keeping my Inner World sealed, I feel like… well, I should learn sothing that lets move on from being a punching bag, right?”
Dersia looked at pitifully and said,
“…Jern. Even if Remove from Growth, Form, Remove is considered a primitive magic, do you think you mastered it so quickly because you’re so kind of genius?”
“Hmm…I’m not sure.”
“It’s because I prepared you for it.”
“Sorry?”
Dersia said sothing insane in the most composed tone.
“Growth, Form, Remove. Originally, it was a magic passed down by a tribal chief in so jungle, who awakened as a natural-born wizard. The way they interpreted magic was through the price of pain.”
“Just hearing that already sounds awful.”
“It actually is. The chief probably didn’t even know he had beco a wizard and just carried out the ‘ritual’ as usual. That ritual was essentially acts close to torture, cutting, tearing, and pressing one’s own body. When mana and desire were infused into what should have just been a slow death… it beca magic.”
“…”
I imdiately deactivated Remove:. My appetite was ruined.
“Surprisingly, Growth and Form developed in a very refined and advanced techniques and remained in the annals of history. But Remove, the cornerstone, is utterly primitive. Even the basic prerequisites for learning it are absurd.”
“Let guess… it starts with spreading mana throughout the whole body?”
“That’s the first step. The second is that it requires Body Reinforcent Arts. And the biggest flaw, the final issue that makes it impossible for others to learn Growth, Form, Remove-”
Dersia smiled deeply as she looked at .
“While using Remove, you can’t breathe.”
“…No wonder it felt too good to be true.”
It ca with a completely absurd risk.
Well, not for .
Because I no longer use my mouth to breathe.
“Transform, Form, Remove is certainly powerful. But it’s not sothing worth learning while enduring all that. That’s why it was discarded. I recovered it for your sake.”
“You really do have a plan for everything, Master.”
“…You only call ‘Master’ when it suits you. The important point is, just with your training in Remove, you won’t even be scratched by the elental magic those kids throw around.”
“I see…”
Indeed.
Dersia was supporting my growth in a way far more organic than I had expected. Every action of hers wasn’t for a single purpose alone.
With eyes as dull as a frozen fish, I asked her a question.
“But right now, it only blocks cold, right? I an, like… what about other elents-”
“Don’t worry. Before the exam, I’ll make it so you can use Remove: against all elents.”
“…Thankyouverrymush.”
That was essentially a declaration of torture.
I clenched my teeth and gave a thank-you, but then another question arose.
“Wait, but…”
“Yes. You still have sothing you’re curious about?”
“I get that this Growth, Form, Remove, specifically Remove:, is amazing for defense. But what about offense? How do I attack?”
I still seed to have no ans of attack.
“You’ll continue training in walking with Form: Rupture and Acceleration activated. That will solve the problem.”
“Why?”
“Because your physical body will be at its peak, so go beat them until they surrender with your fists.”
“…Isn’t the match supposed to be between wizards?”
“Not my concern.”
“…What?”
Dersia replied to my baffled look as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“Victory is what matters most.”
…Just thinking about what people would say during the tournant was already giving a headache.
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