Chapter 197
Ershi immediately understood what she meant by “that thing.”
“If you mean the darkness… then yes, I’ve seen it.”
[Right. Darkness. Pure darkness, without a trace of anything else. Why would something like that even be next to Ceres?]
“I heard it was a gift left by Lord Artia.”
[Hah, that guy… leaving something like that as a “gift.” His face is totally my type, but his actions… also totally my type! Artia is just so entertaining. You can never predict what he’ll do next.]
“You shouldn’t call Lord Artia by a nickname like that,” Ershi reminded her.
Did she still not understand why she had been thrown into the pocket dimension? Grace had thrown her there because she kept pestering Lord Artia and Lord Kainel, and Grace was annoyed at her corrupting influence on “our kids.”
Ershi lowered her head slightly and returned to the topic of the “darkness.”
“It didn’t seem dangerous at all.”
[Not right now. But…]
She trailed off, frowning.
[If someone appears who can absorb that power, the situation would change completely. It would become extremely dangerous.]
“But we can’t just destroy something the master already considers his own. Maybe Eliette can try?”
[Are you insane?]
Eliette shivered violently.
[You want me to be thrown into the pocket dimension again? No way! If I make him angry again, it won’t be 300 years this time—it’ll be 3,000 years!]
Swish!
Thud, thud, thud!
“From what I can see, it seems safest to just leave it next to Lord Ceres rather than forcibly removing it.”
[Ayooong. Well, that does seem reasonable. Darkness fades when mixed with strong light.]
Swish, swish!
Thud, thud, thud!
“Let’s just observe it for now.”
[Ayooong. That’s the best option.]
Knock, knock.
At that moment, the door opened, and a young priest stepped inside.
“Ershi, the Deputy Envoy was loo—huh?”
The priest froze upon entering the room. Ershi was holding a long stick with a string tied to it, playing with a cat.
Where had that cat even come from?
[Ay, ayooong.]
Eliette instinctively transformed into a cat herself and chased after the stick. Only then did she realize, startled.
Making an awkward meow, she looked up and saw Ershi smiling at her, which made her cry even more pitifully.
[Ayooong!]
…Damn it.
“Mana can be thought of simply as energy stored in the body. Using that mana, you apply formulas to cast magic…”
Cheyan kept talking endlessly. In front of him, Zien sat quietly, listening attentively.
On the child’s desk lay a book detailing the basics of magic.
“This is magic,” Cheyan said, lightly waving his hand as if to demonstrate.
Vwoooom!
A small sphere of water appeared before him. Cheyan, looking a bit smug, made the sphere disappear again.
Children tend to be amazed and cheer even at small demonstrations of magic.
“When you become proficient in magic, you’ll be able to cast spells quickly without calculating formulas every time.”
“…Blue.”
“Huh?”
“You just need to gather blue.”
The child spoke for the first time since class started. Cheyan, however, had no idea what Zien meant.
Blue? What blue? This isn’t art class.
“What do you mean, blue…!”
Vwoooom—
“…”
Cheyan’s mouth slowly opened. For a moment, he could not speak at all, staring at the scene unfolding before him.
“This is blue.”
Cheyan swallowed hard. Floating before the child was a small sphere, identical to the water sphere he had just created.
“…You made this?”
The child nodded.
“Have you studied magic before?”
Shook head.
“Then how…”
“You just showed me,” the child replied.
“…”
Cheyan was stunned. He hadn’t even taught the formulas—just a demonstration—and the child copied it perfectly. Was that even possible?
“You showed me that magic gathers color,” said the child.
“…Color?”
“This is red.”
Flare!
“…!”
A small fireball appeared in front of the child.
“This is yellow.”
Sizzle!
Next came an electric sphere crackling with sparks.
“Green too…”
A small whirlwind formed, taking the shape of another tiny sphere.
“…”
Cheyan stared blankly at the child, who executed everything in an instant.
“So… you see mana as colors?”
“…”
The child didn’t seem to understand what mana actually was, giving no answer.
“Hah.”
Cheyan let out a hollow laugh.
‘Wow… this kid is a genius.’
No, calling him a genius wasn’t enough. His talent was on a completely different level.
Thap.
Cheyan moved closer to the child and slammed the book on the desk.
“I don’t think you’ll need this.”
Cheyan smiled wryly and gestured for the child to follow him.
“Time to move on to practice.”
The child’s world had always been colorful. From the first memories he could recall, the world was full of countless colors. He didn’t know what it all meant.
‘Beautiful.’
Just looking was enough. In the cold environment where no one reached out to him, the only warmth came from the colors surrounding him—the friends and family that stayed close.
That was color.
“Damn you, you little bastard!”
Whack!
“You unlucky brat!”
Bam, whack!
Even through the pain, he could endure because of the countless colors that never left his side.
“…Mayo.”
“What?!”
“Please… don’t.”
Flare!
The child set fire to the head of the director who had been hitting him. Shocked, the director hastily put out the fire, his face now twisted in anger even more than before.
“…!”
The child was surprised too. The red colors swarmed in response to his sudden anger, flying toward the director.
“Didn’t I tell you not to open your mouth! Stay quiet, understood?!”
Bam! Whack! Bam!
“Shut up, shut up! I said shut up!”
Another whack!
Every time he opened his mouth, something bad would happen. The director always used violence to enforce this, insisting he never speak.
‘If they didn’t hit me, I wouldn’t open my mouth…’
Still, the director’s violence worked. At some point, he stopped speaking.
The child accepted this as natural. Whenever he spoke, something strange always happened: the director would fall, glass would break, or fire would erupt, just like now.
He also understood why. It was because of the countless colors that surrounded him.
And one day, he discovered what this phenomenon was.
Magic.
One day, while browsing books donated to the orphanage, a single word caught his eye: magic.
Fire would appear in empty space, water would form, and all of it meant one thing:
‘It’s magic.’
Could it be… that I can use magic? If I can move these colors, maybe I can become a magician too?
‘Useless brat!’
‘Unlucky kid!’
Could I… become someone useful? If so… could I become someone important to someone else?
Someone who wouldn’t have to be beaten…
From that day on, the word “magic” never left his mind. He wanted to learn magic. Then maybe he could escape this hell…
Then, one day, a ring appeared before him as if dropped from the sky.
He picked it up instinctively and slipped it onto his finger. At the time, he had no idea that this ring would give him a new life.
“Having that ring means you have a talent for magic. If you want, I can introduce you to the Magic Tower.”
A new mentor appeared—someone who didn’t strike him like the director and asked for his opinion every time.
