episode_0011

Leticia’s room was located at the left end of the building. Ena silently walked up to her room, and Acel intently read the fire grimoire.

The most basic magic of the fire element, Scorching Flame (灼炎). Starting from the magic that ignites that blaze, the book details spells for creating seas of fire or molding it into swords by controlling its form. Acel tried using some of the lower-tier spells among them.

Fortunately, the magic was activated without much difficulty. It moved as he willed, and it was even possible to slightly change its shape to make it elongated or round. Because he was controlling the form solely with his mana manipulation ability without the aid of a spell, the amount of mana consumed was quite high, but the recovery speed was even faster, so there was no problem.

‘It seems it’ll be difficult from intermediate magic upwards.’

Various combat magics, including fire magic, consume as much mana as they have destructive power. For lower-tier magic, it’s somewhat manageable, but it seemed difficult from the intermediate level upwards. To begin with, this type involves not only changes in mana’s properties but also differences in form, characteristics, and effects, so simply projecting mana crudely makes it difficult to manifest.

Furthermore, from intermediate magic onwards, a certain degree of mental imagery is also necessary.

Ultimately, this means the magic currently usable is limited to the lower tiers.

However, Acel continued forward, manifesting only the lower-tier magics without any particular complaint. After all, the rest was a problem that time would solve. It was a position he would reach before long if he learned from his master and continued his research alone. Acel was confident of this.

“We’re here.”

Not long after they had moved, Ena spoke. She knocked on the door that read ‘Leticia Verkias’ in large letters and muttered.

“Leticia, it’s me.”

The reaction was immediate.

“…Ena?”

A clear voice was heard from beyond the door. Following that, the door swung wide open.

Leticia’s figure appeared through the open door.

Grayish hair that reached her waist. Beyond the round glasses she wore, dark circles were deeply set. The white gown she wore was clearly a high-quality item, and her light black eyes held intelligence.

From a quick look, she was dressed like a scholar. Ena waved lightly towards Leticia.

“Hi. We’ve come for the aptitude test.”

“…Your way of speaking, getting straight to the point, hasn’t changed.”

Leticia sighed deeply and said so. Acel and Ena followed her suggestion to come inside for now and entered the room.

Her room resembled a laboratory. All sorts of metals and mana conductors were scattered on the desk, and the internal organs and mana organs of unknown monsters were packed in boxes. Various reagents were also hung on the wall as if on display. Acel gaped at the spectacle of mysteries.

“How have you been?”

Leticia left Acel, who was looking around the room, alone and sat down, asking Ena. Ena picked up a cookie placed on the table and ate it, nodding her head.

“So-so.”

“That’s good. I thought you had scorched a city because you didn’t like it.”

“…What do you take me for?”

“It’s not wrong, is it?”

Leticia chuckled and shoved her hands into her pockets.

“You know, back then. The incident where you tore the sky while on a dispatch and burned a city down just like that.”

“That was because the whole city was contaminated. The only things that died were demons and their remnants, weren’t they?”

“I know. But the problem is that the king of that country wanted purification, not the city’s annihilation.”

“I don’t want to care about things like that.”

“That’s just like you.”

Leticia turned her head. Acel, poking a wiggling monster heart with his finger, was reflected in her eyes.

“Is that him? Your disciple. Bel has been talking noisily about it.”

“Yeah. To give him an aptitude test.”

“It’s a required course for wizards who take in disciples. What’s the price? Gold coins? Or a favor?”

“Will ten gold coins be enough?”

“Plenty.”

Ena nodded, took out ten gold coins, and handed them to Leticia. Leticia checked the number of gold coins received, got up from her seat, and came out with a crystal ball of appropriate size.

Inside the transparent crystal ball, blue mana swirled. Leticia calmed the rampant mana and called Acel, who was loitering in front of the cage where small monsters were confined.

“Kid. Come here.”

“Oh, yes.”

Acel immediately turned his body and approached Leticia. Only then was Leticia able to look directly at Acel’s face.

“…He’ll be quite something when he grows up, won’t he?”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s nothing. Let’s just do the test.”

Leticia slightly moved aside and pulled the crystal ball in front of Acel. Acel sensed the mana settled calmly within the crystal ball and pursed his lips.

‘I think I can awaken it.’

Just by simply interfering, he could make the mana in the crystal ball run wild. However, he had a feeling it shouldn’t be done, so he remained silent.

“We’ll start the aptitude test now. What you need to do is simple. Place your hand on the crystal ball, and if you gently insert mana into it, the mana inside the crystal ball and your mana will connect on their own. At that point, you just need to say the scenes that come to mind. Easy, right?”

Acel nodded. He looked at Ena once, and after confirming she was smiling, he shifted his gaze back towards Leticia.

“Should I do it right away?”

“Do as you wish.”

“Then I’ll do it right away.”

There was no reason to hesitate. Acel immediately placed his palm on the crystal ball, then slowly drew up his mana.

Instantly, a portion of the activated mana was separated. He inserted it into the crystal ball. At the same moment a ‘drip’ sound like a water drop falling was heard in his mind, the mana inside the crystal ball roughly wrapped around Acel’s mana.

The swirling mana gradually rose, reaching the spot where Acel had placed his palm. At that moment, Acel realized that the crystal ball’s mana was trying to interfere with his mana system. He could block it if he wanted to, but Acel obediently accepted that refined mana.

A sensation that was both hot and cool traveled up his palm to his brain.

“Close your eyes.”

Leticia’s command. He accepted it without resisting.

His vision went dark.

“Tell me what you see first in the darkness, and what you hear first.”

He understood. Acel remained silent and concentrated to feel something.

In that state, not even a second passed before something like a splash was seen in the darkness. It was a dark blue flash. As soon as he perceived it, the flash became a mighty thunderclap, tearing the darkness apart. A delayed thunderous roar shook his consciousness.

“Lightning struck.”

“Already? That’s faster than I expected. Is he highly compatible with lightning magic? Just like Ena’s discipleㅡ”

“Flames are just spreading.”

“…Is it dual affinity? It’s been a long time since I’ve seenㅡ”

“Water is pouring over the fire. Uh… The water immediately froze, turning the sky and ground entirely into ice.”

“?”

Every time Acel’s words continued, Leticia’s face twisted bizarrely.

“…Kid, what are youㅡ”

“Wind is just blowing, making all the ice disappear. Flowers bloomed among the wind, and a flower field was created. Something looking like a spirit was jumping around on it, and when corpses stood up, they all ran away.”

“….”

“Huh? Something is just automatically repeating decomposition and reassembly. Bombs are just exploding, and black waves and shadows are approaching from far away. An earthquake is happening, and trees are being pulled out on their own and just flying around.”

“Stop, stop!”

“Yes? Strange things keep coming out? Should I stop?”

“Yes… I understand now, so stop.”

“Yes…”

Acel pursed his lips in regret, opened his eyes, and took his hand off the crystal ball. When he turned his head, he saw Leticia slumped in a chair, pressing her forehead. She looked clearly exhausted. Acel wondered if he had done something wrong, and rolled his eyes around, trying to gauge the situation.

“Acel.”

Just then, Ena called his name. Acel was startled and quickly turned his head.

“Yes, yes?”

“I’m really proud of you.”

“…? Thank you?”

“Yes, yes. I’m grateful too.”

Ena smiled happily and hugged Acel tightly. Not knowing why, Acel tilted his head and let himself be embraced by Ena.

Despite her small body, her embrace was quite warm.

*

When they came out after finishing the test, it was just barely lunchtime. Acel and Ena immediately went to the dining hall and finished their meal. Just as Ena had guaranteed, the steak at the dining hall was very delicious. Much more so than the food Hailey made. Since it was the food of a cook who had professionally learned cooking, it was a matter of course.

After finishing their meal, they looked around the streets for a while before returning to the mansion. As soon as Ena passed through the main gate, lightning struck the mansion’s rooftop lightning rod as if welcoming its owner. Acel’s face hardened as he watched the lightning strike.

‘He understood that he had an aptitude for lightning magic.’

This meant that someday, he too could use such magic.

It wouldn’t be far off. Acel reaffirmed this and followed Ena into the mansion.

“Acel! You’re back!”

Upon entering the hall, Evelyn, dressed in a neat maid uniform, welcomed them. Cute attire full of frills. Evelyn seemed pleased with the clothes she was wearing, holding the hem of her skirt and twirling around.

“How is it, how is it? Cute, right? Does it suit me?”

“It suits you well. Is the mansion work worth learning?”

“No problem! It’s much more comfortable than handling animal or monster guts!”

Evelyn gave a thumbs-up and exclaimed. Acel chuckled and told her that was a relief. Evelyn nodded vigorously, then greeted Ena, who was standing next to Acel.

“Ah, you’re back. Lady Ena.”

“Yeah. Are you getting your training well?”

“Yes! Lady Hailey teaches me well. Thanks to that, I haven’t had any difficult tasks yet!”

“Okay. I’ll give you this month’s pay tomorrow.”

“Pay?”

Evelyn’s eyes widened. She waved both hands and exclaimed with a look of astonishment.

“I don’t need money! Letting me live here is more than enough!”

“I’ll still give it to you. It’s no use even if you say you don’t want it.”

“Lady Ena…!”

“Use it to live and do what you want. As long as you don’t go down a strange path, I won’t interfere.”

“…Can I call you Mom?”

“Go away.”

Ena gestured towards Evelyn. Following the gesture, Evelyn vanished with a whoosh beyond the stairs. Acel burst into laughter at the sight of her ‘flying away’ while screaming with a hint of laughter in her voice. Only a day had passed since she came to the mansion, but it seemed she had adapted quite well while living with Hailey.

It was a good thing. Holding the fire grimoire he had taken from the Witch Council’s library, Acel turned to look at Ena.

“Master, what should I do now?”

“Rest for now. We’ll properly start your magic education tomorrow. Ah, before that.”

Ena chuckled softly and snapped her fingers. Then, lightning flashed above her palm, and a blue book appeared. Ena handed the book to Acel. Acel checked the title of the book he received and his eyes widened.

“It’s exactly what the title says, an introductory book to lightning magic. Reading it is fine, but don’t use the magic. Lightning magic focuses heavily on destructive power, especially among unique magics, so if you use it incorrectly, your body will split open exactly in the shape of your nervous system.”

Chilling words. Acel wore a wry smile and nodded.

“Understood. I will do so.”

“Okay. And from tomorrow, I plan to teach you the meaning of the characters used in spells, but if you want to study ahead, you can take out books from the library and read them. You have free access.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

“Okay. Then rest.”

Ena patted Acel’s head once, then went up to her room. Acel also returned to his room and stretched.

Upon entering the room, he felt a satisfying comfort. Although it hadn’t been even a full day since he came to this mansion, it seemed he already thought of this place as home.

It wasn’t a bad feeling. Acel drank the water from the water bottle that looked like Hailey had brought it, sat down at the desk, and lined up the books he had brought.

There were a total of two books. The fire grimoire he had brought from the Witch Council and the lightning grimoire Ena had given him. Acel hesitated for a moment, then slowly immersed himself in the fire grimoire he had already been reading.

He understood the characteristics of fire magic and the features that had changed with its revision into a unique magic.

He familiarized himself with the sensation by using the basic magic, Scorching Flame, multiple times. He also went through the process of getting used to magic by repeatedly using other spells classified as lower-tier magic.

By the time his mana was almost depleted, Acel yawned and closed the book.

‘How many hours have passed?’

Pressing his throbbing forehead, he checked the clock; the hour hand had long since entered the early morning hours. It was the price for being so focused on the book that he lost track of time.

Fatigue weighed down his body.

Acel got up from his seat, stretched his body, and took out his membership card from his pocket, placing it on the desk. Seeing that ash-gray rectangle, he felt the tangible sense of having truly entered the magic society. He smiled faintly, tidied the desk, and lay down on the bed.

The night sky visible just before drawing the curtains was full of stars. Acel gazed at the star clusters for a moment, then drew the curtains and lay down on the bed.

Just like that, a day passed.