Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Please Teach Me Magic (1)

Arabella hadn’t told me about it, but it looked like being a ‘disciple’ held a deep meaning for mages.

“Mages yield to their successors via an act called ‘inheritance’. After the time of Carnaxus, a so-called ‘universal magic education’ was established. However, in modern times, mages with particularly outstanding talent are still taught by famous mages so that when the mage dies, they receive that mage’s magic…”

I closed the book with a thump.

That must be it.

What Cidrane was looking for was not simply a disciple but a ‘successor’. Given that an 8-chain mage was only now mentioning something about a successor, his standards were clearly high.

That also implied that my talent was that outstanding.

Vwoosh.

As soon as I opened my hand, a fireball formed from the magic I had rearranged. Using chain-level magic without a circle was an impressive feat, for sure.

“Now that I think about it, I do feel something swirling around in my body.”

That was why I took out the crystal ball that Arabella had given me, meant for whenever I wanted to see and contact her, and imbued magic into it.

A moment later, I could hear Arabella’s voice.

⸢Oh! Dane?⸣

It was good to hear her.

“Hey, sis. Sorry for calling on you so suddenly.”

⸢No, it’s fine. I just finished some research with some professors and was on my way back! What’s up, Dane? You wanted to see me?⸣

“Yeah. I did.”

⸢Tch. That didn’t sound like you meant it.⸣

“No, I really did.”

⸢As expected of you, Dane. You’re different. Clare, that hermit, can’t be found anywhere these days……⸣

It wasn’t surprising that what I thought the relationship between my sisters was like was incorrect,

⸢So, Dane. What’s up?⸣

I summarized what happened that day to Arabella. However, her astonished voice rang out.

⸢What did you say? You used chain-level magic, Dane?⸣

Turned out that Arabella was more focused on me using magic and not on the fact that the head of the mage tower was asking me to be his disciple.

“Yeah. I just tried it and it worked.”

⸢You just tried it and it worked……⸣

I could hear her let out a scoff.

⸢If our professors heard you, there’d be a racket. Hm…… While I knew your affinity for magic was high, this goes beyond my expectations……⸣

Upon seeing Arabella react like that when she was never perturbed by anything, I could tell what I had done was really amazing.

“A circle is in charge of purification and refinement. With that in mind, isn’t it possible for me because my mana is already pure enough to not need refinement?”

⸢That’s a plausible hypothesis. We need to test this out. Dane, I’m going to send a mana stone to the transmission machine in your room later for sampling. Could you pour a bit of your mana into it and send it back?⸣

“Yeah, got it.”

As expected of Arabella. She thought of something and took action quickly.

While it was indeed true that my magic was outstanding, I had no confidence that I would be able to catch up to Arabella when it came to the theory behind magic.

For reference, Arabella was currently twenty-six years old and already a 6-chain mage who had developed a number of practical artifacts.

That was why the brand named after Arabella was selling like hotcakes among the nobles—and, of course, the mages—and was fairly famous.

From what I heard, there were items Arabella made that one could not buy even if one were to pay a premium price for them…

One of those items was my compact crystal ball, which greatly improved the sound quality and connection speed and had been reduced in size to be portable.

Another was the transmission machine she had just mentioned.

It looked like Arabella had chosen to take the path of artifact and magic item development as her career path.

Well, having her be both a mage and an inventor was a good thing.

⸢By the way, if you’re already using chain-level magic… you’ll probably cause quite the commotion soon when you arrive at the academy, no?⸣

“But I want to go and pass my time quietly there.”

⸢There’s no way that’s happening. Talent always draws the attention of others. But just in case, if anyone tries to bully you, tell me! I’ll utterly destroy them!⸣

While that sounded rather brutal, it was reassuring.

After all, the one who broke the nose of a male student who had tried to lay hands on her while teasing her was that very sister of mine.

I think that male student was the second son of Duke Dwel, was it?

Arabella continued talking as if she were very interested.

⸢By the way, as time passes, is your magic becoming even purer, Dane? Without a circle, even? I need to keep an eye on this. Ah. Dane, I’m getting a summons from the professor. Eesh. If I had known this would happen I wouldn’t have given the professor a crystal ball for free, I’d have made them pay…⸣

It looked like all of the academy’s professors were making things difficult for people.

Otherwise, Arabella would not have said that.

Or maybe her personality was just… Mm. That would be something I should never let escape from my lips.

⸢I have to go!⸣

“Sure, Sis. I’ll contact you again later.”

⸢Okay! Make sure you send back the mana stone!⸣

After the crystal ball fell quiet again, I put it back.

Then I drew a conclusion.

I had somehow forged a path that had never existed before.

No, rather than ‘somehow’, I had clearly done so.

I drew upon my mana.

I had never thought about it before because it felt so familiar to me, but to think my mana was dense and pure. I had not realized it.

“Do I have a dragon’s heart inside of me or something?”

While there may be evidence that the ancient magic kingdom of Archana existed, there was almost no evidence that dragons had, so they had become fairy tales.

I grinned at that ridiculous thought and thought of Cidrane.

That old geezer must have been suffering a fair amount right about then.

Magic reflux was a dangerous phenomenon to mages that could lead to death.

After using magic under such circumstances, he had to have been paying the price dearly, head of a mage tower or not.

Though, that meant he would be staying for that much longer.

Well, if I said I wouldn’t be one, that should be it, but…

“Wait a moment.”

I still didn’t really know the arrangement of code for 2-chain level magic because I hadn’t been able to spend a lot of time with Arabella like I had before she headed off to the academy.

I had been able to contact her through letters and the crystal ball, but teaching code arrangement required a fair amount of time to be dedicated to it.

So, trying to pin Arabella down to spend all day with me to teach me codes when she only returned home once or twice a year wasn’t possible.

That naturally made me think of the ‘debt’ Cidrane had incurred with me when I saved him from the forest and cured him of poison.

“Shall I go try and ask him to teach me magic codes?”

I was not one to let debts go unpaid. I was the type who would take on anything on the battlefield—short of dying.

Cidrane was moaning in pain.

It looked like producing even a trace amount of magic had caused him problems.

“I’m dying here. Dying.”

Originally, he thought he would be staying for a week and then leaving. However, now it would take twice as long.

If only that kid was willing to become his disciple then none of this would have happened.

“What in the world must I present to him?”

Should he give him some grand artifact? Or the inheritance magic passed down to him from previous generations that only he knew?

‘No, that’s too much.’

If the kid were to scam him, he wouldn’t have anything left.

Seeing Dane’s talent now, were he to develop it further, the likelihood that the student would become the master was high.

“Then maybe… a letter of recommendation?”

Given that Dane said he was entering the academy, that didn’t seem like a bad idea. If he were to receive a letter of recommendation from a powerful figure, it would be reflected in his academy entrance marks.

But what was the point of a letter of recommendation when he was refusing to become a disciple of someone like the head of a mage tower?

He was the youngest son of the war hero, Count Sogres, on top of that.

His oldest sister was that unprecedented genius mage, and his other sister looked to be pretty famous among the summoners even if Cidrane wasn’t sure about it himself.

‘Maybe I should be studying this family’s genes instead?’

It was in the middle of various thoughts that Cidrane was wracking his brain for when he heard a knocking sound.

“It’s me, Dane Sogres.”

“……!”

Cidrane swallowed drily.

Did he come to apologize, perhaps?

Or did he change his mind?

“May I enter?”

“S-Sure. Come in.”

The door opened and Dane appeared.

He was still as irritatingly handsome as ever.

“How are you feeling?”

“Um. I feel like I’m dying. Ugh, since I’m older now, I have aches all over. Thanks to overdoing it with magic earlier… ughhh.”

He was acting like he was an elderly person who had been working all day rather than the head of a mage tower.

However, his attempt at provoking sympathy failed.

“I keep telling you that I won’t do it.”

“…I get it, I get it.”

Cidrane tossed the question out anyway since he had nothing to lose, “Do you have no interest in magic?”

“I am interested.”

“Then why won’t you become my disciple?! Wait, don’t tell me you’re already someone else’s…”

“I’m not.”

“…Then why not??”

Dane responded simply, “I don’t want to restrict my future to just the path of a mage.”

Then what was he saying he would be doing?

“Are you really going to become a magic spearman?”

“No. I’ll become a magic-spearman-assassin-summoner.”

Cidrane’s hands were shaking.

He was clearly toying with him.

Otherwise, how could he say such unheard-of things?

Dane added insult to injury on top of that.

“I’ll add swordsman to that as well.”

“I’ll be damned.”

One had to doubt the brains of some of the people who learned magic.

This seemed to be exactly such a case.

It seemed like a likely guess given that Cidrane was unaware of how Dane, in his previous life, had fought on the battlefield so much that he was tired of fighting people.

“Even if you have no other chance at this if not now?”

“Yes.”

“Ughhh…”

Cidrane let out a sound as if he were in real pain.

However, he could not give up and asked, “Do you have any interest in a letter of recommendation?”

“Letter of recommendation?”

That was it. It looked like he was showing some interest.

“That’s right, a letter of recommendation. Didn’t you say you were entering the academy? If you use someone like me, you could bypass the annoying entrance exam and build a great reputation from the very beginning.”

Dane thought about it for a moment.

Cidrane’s heart was beating fast.

‘Don’t tell me…?’

Soon, Dane’s head could be seen nodding.

“Yes, that does sound good.”

“Th-That’s right! Now you’re starting to get it!”

Cidrane sounded very pleased.

Dane asked, “Could I ask for another favor after that?”

“Of course! Whatever you want! I’ll give you whatever you want! Actually, a letter of recommendation really isn’t all that much! Ahaha!”

“I’m curious about the code arrangement for 2-chain magic. Would that be okay?”

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He may have lost his way in the forest, eaten mushrooms, and suffered in great pain, but he was still an 8-chain mage and the head of a mage tower.

“Ahem. I know the code arrangements for all of the 2-chain spells.”

“That’s great.”

“Hoo hoo. Indeed it is.”

He was a child, after all. A letter of recommendation for entrance into the academy and the code arrangements for 2-chain level magic. He could have given him many other things.

“Did you want to start learning immediately? I’m not in the best shape right now, but I should have no problem with just that!”

“Yes, that sounds good.”

“Good.”

Cidrane clenched his fists hidden under the blankets as if he had finally achieved something when…

“Then we can consider this payment for the debt for being saved from the forest.”

“What did you say?”

“You asked me to tell you what I wanted before because you incurred a debt with me.”

“……”

Cidrane recalled what he had said at that very moment and was at a loss for words.

“Oh, was that not what you meant?”

He had been played.

Completely, at that.

By a little kid who is barely fourteen!

It didn’t matter that his body didn’t look like it was a fourteen-year-old’s!

“I-I incurred only one debt!”

“Saving you from the forest was one. Curing your poison was another. I was going to add moving you from where you were to our castle, but you can consider that a freebie.”

At that moment, Cidrane realized that this must be what it felt like to have someone pull a fast one on him.