Chapter 7:
“Ugh, how annoying…”
I was curious about the identity of the powerful mage who could place a binding spell on Heraith, but that was all.
I wasn’t passionate enough to go digging deeper.
“You’re so cold. Can’t you show a little more interest in me?”
I casually ignored Heraith’s plea.
‘Dangerous magic like that is better off gone.’
If someone were to break the seal after I die and become his new master, who knows what kind of disaster it could lead to in the future?
‘But… can I really believe what he’s saying?’
If it were anyone else, I might’ve dismissed it. But since it’s Heraith, I can’t help feeling uneasy.
“Don’t you have any other wishes?”
It was a subtle rejection, but Heraith didn’t back down.
“Si-si, you want me gone, don’t you?”
“…It’s not that.”
Maybe I felt that way at first, but not anymore.
After everything he’d done to help me, I planned to get along with him from now on.
“Really? But you’ve always been reluctant to keep our contract.”
“That’s…”
“Think about it. If you break the seal, the restriction of being unable to leave your side will also be lifted. Then you can send me wherever you want.”
Heraith whispered to me in a soft voice.
“You can live your life, and I can live mine. It’s not a bad deal for you.”
“…So what do you plan to do if I remove the seal?”
“I want to die… like a normal person.”
My heart dropped.
“Look at me. Even after 500 years, time hasn’t moved for me. My heart doesn’t beat. I don’t age. I just want to grow old and die like everyone else. Like you.”
There was not a hint of deceit in his eyes.
Heraith might be a secretive and sly person, but he seemed sincere—at least about this.
“It’d be even better if I could grow old with you.”
His tone was playful, yet strangely, it didn’t feel like a joke.
‘A normal life…’
A normal life wasn’t that hard for most people, but for someone like Heraith or me, it was practically impossible.
I was sick. He couldn’t die.
‘He’s hoping for the normal life I always dreamed of…’
I couldn’t help but feel a sense of kinship. That’s why I couldn’t outright reject him.
“I’m not saying you have to break it right away, so don’t feel pressured. But how about at least learning magic first? It’ll be really useful for you.”
“And what if I learn magic but don’t remove your seal?”
“Then I’ll stay by your side until the end of your life and quietly return to being a ruby.”
He looked at me with a wistful expression, then lowered his eyes.
“It would be sad, but… what can I do.”
He even lowered his voice to sound pitiful—he was clearly trying very hard to play me.
“Think it over. And I hope… you come to a good decision.”
After saying whatever he wanted, Heraith left, and I roughly ruffled my hair.
“This is driving me nuts…”
I knew he was trying to manipulate me, but I still couldn’t help feeling heavy-hearted.
A few days passed with that weight on my mind.
I hadn’t given him an answer yet, and Heraith didn’t push me.
We continued chatting as usual, and as he’d wished, I began learning magic from him.
A wish is a wish, after all.
Besides, as Heraith said, it really wasn’t a bad idea to learn magic.
It could help in dangerous situations—and even be useful in daily life.
‘If nothing else, the clean-up spells are super tempting.’
No need to bathe for hours or dry my ridiculously long hair?
It was the perfect magic for someone plagued by chronic laziness like me.
But there was one big problem…
“Si-si. Your mana keeps leaking out. You have to hold it in.”
“I’m telling you—I don’t know how!”
He was a terrible teacher, and I was a terrible student.
Heraith might be a genius, but he had zero talent for teaching, and I couldn’t make sense of his unhelpful explanations.
“Just go pabat, then poosh, and shwoop! Got it?”
“No. Not even a little!”
“You seriously don’t get it? This is the most basic of basics… This is bad.”
“Heraith. You’ve never actually taught anyone magic before, have you?”
“Why would you think that?”
“So you have?”
With explanations like that?
“I’ve taught plenty of people who didn’t deserve it, but at least one of them turned out to be useful.”
“I can’t believe someone actually met your standards…”
“I never said they met my standards.”
“…”
“You should be honored that I’m teaching you. But man, the way they used to argue back…”
He shook his head like it was the end of the world.
I didn’t know who it was, but I felt sorry for them. They must have finally snapped after putting up with his nonsense for too long.
“Geniuses… They always assume everyone else thinks like them.”
What the hell does pabat, poosh, and shwoop even mean?
“Sigh. Si-si, open your eyes wide and watch. I’ll explain this so even a five-year-old can get it. If you still don’t understand, you’re basically a newborn, got it?”
“…Just explain it already.”
“A mage has something called a mana core—it’s a cluster where all the mana gathers. Right now, your mana is leaking out instead of gathering there. You understand so far?”
“Yeah, I got that part.”
“Okay, then watch carefully. You take the mana that’s flowing out shwoop like this, grab it tightly, and pull it into the center of your chest. Make it stick to your small, cute mana core.”
Yep. I am officially dumber than a five-year-old.
“Heraith. From today, I am a newborn. Wah.”
“Si-si, are you insane?”
“If I’ve gone mad, it’s your fault!”
This was starting to feel like a battle between sword and shield.
Or genius vs. idiot.
Either way, it was the showdown of the century.
“Huff… huff… huff…”
“…Whew.”
I collapsed halfway onto the sofa, gasping for breath.
Heraith, who was leaning slightly over me, didn’t look much better.
He wiped the sweat-drenched hair from his face with an exhausted expression.
“Si-si. Are you stupid? Why can’t you just follow along?”
“‘Stupid’? That’s a bit harsh.”
“I feel like writing a research paper about you.”
He couldn’t understand how someone with this much potential could fail so spectacularly.
“…Heraith. Maybe we should just give up instead of walking this miserable path.”
“I don’t do giving up.”
For the first time, fire lit up in his usually indifferent eyes. Whatever it was, I must have triggered something in him.
“But this is our fourth hour. Isn’t it safe to say it’s hopeless?”
Poosh. Clunk. Boom. Pabat. Shwoop…
I’d heard those stupid sound effects so many times I was going to get a complex.
And my stamina wasn’t that great to begin with!
We’d taken breaks, sure, but I was nearing my limit.
“Heraith, didn’t you say you wanted a nickname? I’ll give you one, starting now. Just please let this poor idiot of a student go.”
I pulled out the big guns—offering a nickname—as a last-ditch negotiation tactic.
Heraith seemed intrigued and urged me to go ahead.
“Try it.”
“Heren.”
His calm blue eyes trembled like a stormy sea.
But before I could figure out what that meant, I missed the change in his expression and kept trying to sway him.
“Heren. Let’s just give up. I feel like I’m going to die. Please.”
At my desperate plea, Heraith responded—
“Great. Now that we’re using nicknames, let’s try even harder!”
He beamed and patted me on the back.
I knew it. Once a scammer, always a scammer.
‘As if I’d keep calling you that!’
I went limp, like a doll with its strings cut, offering no response.
As I absentmindedly traced the patterns on the ceiling, Heraith suddenly grabbed the hand that had fallen off the sofa.
“Let’s try a different method.”
The sudden touch startled me, but just for a moment.
Something started flowing into me through our joined hands—Heraith’s mana.
His mana was like him: cool, willful, but oddly delicate.
‘…It tickles.’
A ticklish feeling spread from our clasped hands.
And when his mana collided with mine, it made my energy stir violently.
Thump—thump—thump—
It felt like not only my heart but every vein in my body was pulsing.
“Ah!”
I yanked my hand away in a panic.
“W-what was that?!”
“Do you get the feeling now?”
“No, it just felt weird!”
I kept rubbing my hands together, trying to get rid of the lingering tingly sensation.
Where had I felt this before? Something similar… somewhere…
