Flames spread around the despairing boy.
Standing at one edge of the battlefield, Julian watched bitterly as the burning war zone surrounding Sion gradually shrank and closed in upon him.
“……So this is the kind of hell it is.”
Julian muttered.
His chest tightened at the sight of the wretched things Sion had endured as a child.
“Your Highness, look over there.”
Theodore pointed toward the edge of the battlefield.
While the burning battlefield remained suspended in the center of the colossal pit, an opulent mansion appeared near the chasm’s outer wall.
A red line resembling a suspension bridge stretched from the battlefield to the mansion.
-Sion!
The boy turned at the sudden call of his name.
A dignified middle-aged man emerged from the mansion across the swaying bridge and called to him.
-Sion. That is a fine name. Ha ha. It is a name that will bring glory to House Etain.
“……My lord!”
The boy shouted in a fervent voice.
The middle-aged man smiled.
-Stand proudly with your shoulders straight. Anyone with eyes will recognize your worth.
As the man spoke warmly, the voices surrounding the boy changed.
-Is that not Sion, the genius mage?
-I knew he was extraordinary. His flame magic, that unshakable bearing—he was different from the beginning!
Sion looked up at the Head of House Etain with reverence.
As Julian approached, Sion appeared slightly older than before and murmured in a daze.
“Big brother, is he not magnificent?”
He stared at the man in admiration.
“Look at how confidently he carries himself. He is different from me. He looks so certain of himself.”
Sion continued.
“Someone like that—the Head of House Etain—must be able to act according to his own will, must he not? He would not spend his life as someone else’s tool, being exploited and blamed for everything.”
Gulp.
Sion swallowed.
“I want to live like that too.”
“…….”
The boy’s eyes became dreamlike.
Another location emerged.
A red line once again extended from the edge of the battlefield, this time leading to a magnificent ballroom.
A noble-looking girl held out her hand.
-Come, Sion.
“……For me to take your hand, my lady……”
Sion’s throat tightened with nervousness, and his voice came out hoarse.
The young lady laughed silently.
-You will bring shame to the name ‘Flame of Etain’ at this rate.
“…….”
-Sion, I am an Etain. I am the only daughter of the Head of House Etain, known as the Lion of the East. I do not allow just anyone to stand beside me.
The young lady’s soft hand took Sion’s first.
Holding his cold fingers, she whispered.
-You have proven yourself worthy.
Sion held his breath and looked into her face.
Her star-like eyes met his.
-Stand proud, my lion.
Proudly.
Like all of you.
Expectation rose in the eyes of the boy who had been frozen with nervousness.
“……By my lady’s……”
Beside you.
Standing proudly, like all of you.
His dream stood directly before him.
Sion gathered his courage.
“Will you grant me the honor of standing beside you, my lady?”
“Wow.”
Julian clicked his tongue as he watched the scene from the ballroom’s second floor.
“She seduced him like that and then cast him aside?”
“Ahem.”
Theodore cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Your Highness, perhaps you should speak with a little more dignity……”
“Does this look like the time to worry about dignity?”
Julian replied.
“I suspected as much, but seeing it directly makes me furious. The moment a hardworking young genius appeared, no one thought of nurturing him properly. Every manner of fly simply swarmed around him.”
“Flies……”
“And those Etains are the largest flies of all.”
Julian frowned as he looked down at the atrocities of the oversized flies unfolding one after another.
-I hereby proclaim Sion as my daughter’s betrothed and the heir to House Etain.
“I will devote everything I possess to making House Etain the Empire’s greatest family of fire mages.”
-Long live House Etain! Blessings upon Sion Etain’s future!
The engagement and appointment of the heir were carried out with extraordinary speed.
It was a grand celebration during which every visitor to House Etain was served wine and food for an entire week.
Yet not a single member of Sion’s family had been invited.
-Oh, Sion. Do you still confuse the salad fork with the dessert fork?
“……My apologies.”
-Ha ha. Do not be too hard on him. He has spent all his time on battlefields and in training halls, so he has had no opportunity to practice such trivial things.
-Trivial, Father? Sion is to become the Head of House Etain and must serve as an example to everyone.
-She is right, dear. If the Head of House cannot even display perfect table manners, what will the other houses and nobles think of us?
-What else would they think? That he is an Archmage who will burn them all down if they displease him. Is that not right, Sion? Speaking of which, the southern territorial war requires a fire mage……
Such were the days of the prospective live-in son-in-law, treated as a weapon they could use without payment.
Even then, he was forced to spend most of his time on battlefields.
Then there was the jealousy of the other mages.
The obstruction of the retainers.
Whenever another memory appeared, a new location rose from the darkness, and red bridges extended from the central battlefield.
They resembled a spiderweb intended to imprison him.
Sion ran endlessly between the red bridges, muttering, swearing, and crying out.
He had pride too.
He would learn to stand tall, befitting the future Head of House Etain.
One day, he would fight according to his own will and judgment rather than someone else’s commands.
Then, one day—Every one of his efforts came to an end in an instant.
-The lady of the house has given birth to a son!
It truly happened in an instant.
-Sion Etain is hereby stripped of his qualifications as heir.
The Head of House abandoned him.
-You wish to remain beside me and assist the heir? Hehe. Sion, you occasionally dream of the most absurd things. A hunter cannot marry a hound.
The young lady who had once been his fiancée drew a line between their positions and placed herself above him.
-You wish to remain as a retainer? Give up.
-You have no future in House Etain.
-Sion Etain, you will lead the forces provided by our house and join the Arpad Academy Liberation Army.
Everyone wanted to see him fall.
He had merely worked hard.
He had followed every order and struggled for the proud life he hoped to seize one day.
“I was a fool.”
Sion, now appearing his true age, laughed hollowly.
“They called me a genius, yet I understood nothing. I was a blind idiot…… Pride? A confident life governed by my own choices?”
“…….”
“Someone of my status should never have dreamed of such things. I was a fool who did not understand his place.”
The look in Sion’s eyes changed as he muttered.
RUMBLE—
The burning battlefield, the Etain mansion, the dining hall, the ballroom, and the other places formed from his memories began pulling against one another as they closed around him.
HSSSS—
The red bridges connecting them turned black and sprayed a viscous liquid.
His hells.
They interlocked around Sion, surrounding him like a colossal egg.
The black, sticky liquid wrapped layer after layer around the surface of his hell.
It resembled the cocoons Julian and Theodore had seen while descending.
HSSSS—
Julian raised his head toward the ominous sound.
“!”
Serpentine tentacles sprouted from the unfinished ceiling of the cocoon and opened their mouths.
“Sion, that position should have been yours.”
“That is right! Not the one with the damned bloodline—you, the most capable, should have inherited that position!”
“Let them experience your despair, misery, and humiliation.”
“Revenge! Take revenge!”
“……For fuck’s sake.”
Julian grimaced and turned toward Sion.
Serpentine tentacles were also emerging beneath Sion’s feet, whispering incessantly.
“What do you have left?”
“If you cannot cross that wall even after wagering your entire life, why remain human?”
“Become a demon. Obtain greater power.”
“Transcend the limits of humanity! Burn House Etain! Kill them all!”
“Your Highness, should I cut him down?”
Theodore asked as he watched Sion gradually turn black.
Julian shook his head and pointed toward the serpents.
“You deal with those things using your sword.”
Theodore stared at the prince in momentary disbelief.
Ignoring him, Julian looked at Sion.
“I will try persuading him with words.”
“……Will that work?”
“We have to try.”
Julian inhaled deeply and shouted.
“Woooo! The Flame of Etain!”
“…….”
“…….”
Silence abruptly descended.
Theodore and Sion both stared at Julian with their mouths open.
Julian raised both hands and shouted even louder.
“The future of Etain! The coming Inferno of Etain! Magnificent! Our future Archmage of flame!”
“…….”
FWOOSH!
Without a word, Sion summoned an enormous fireball over his palm and glared at Julian.
Julian grinned and continued taunting him.
“Why did you remain in House Etain and endure such humiliation?”
“……You know nothing.”
“That is right. I know nothing. But I do know that something about this is strange.”
The prince continued.
“Why did the Etains discard you so easily? Finding another mage of your caliber could not have been easy.”
“……The Head of House must have believed I posed a threat to his young son.”
“Indeed. As a father, he might have thought that way.”
Julian nodded, then tilted his head.
“But what if you joined another noble house or Magic Tower after being cast aside? Would it not have been wiser to marry you to his daughter and keep you as a retainer?”
“…….”
Sion fell silent.
Julian stepped closer.
“They treated you so contemptuously because they believed you could not join another family or Magic Tower. Is that not right?”
“…….”
“You have already earned great renown, and your abilities are famous throughout the Empire. Why would you be unable to join another house or Magic Tower? I can think of only one reason.”
Julian lowered his voice.
“You can only use House Etain’s magic, cannot you?”
***
Mages affiliated with magical families could no longer use their family’s proprietary magic after leaving the house.
“With your talent, you could learn different magic and achieve greatness again. There is only one exception.”
Julian continued.
“When the proprietary magic is also the method through which you cultivate your magic power.”
Gulp.
Theodore swallowed dryly.
Sion stared at Julian with trembling eyes.
“If you leave House Etain now, you will have to abandon everything you have achieved as a mage. That must have made you wonder.”
Julian spoke.
“‘Would I have any value if I were no longer a mage?’”
Of course Sion was afraid.
Julian understood, at least to some extent, how desperately someone with no background and only their abilities struggled to survive.
He understood how every step felt as though it were being taken along the edge of a bottomless cliff.
Before he had become an assistant, Julian had been warned about Professor Arthur Blanco.
He had been told that Arthur never gave anyone opportunities to build a career and merely extracted everything useful from them.
At the time, Julian had thought:
‘Surely he would not go that far.’
After spending approximately two years as an assistant, others had told him that it was not too late.
They advised him to retake the Junior Magic Administrator Examination and escape while he still could.
At the time, Julian had thought:
‘It would be a waste of everything I have done so far. If I endure a little longer, surely something will work out.’
Had he made those choices because Assistant Choi had been more foolish than he was now?
No.
He had lacked both the freedom to choose another path and someone powerful to support him.
If he failed, returning even to the miserable position he already occupied would have been difficult.
Therefore, he had doubted his own abilities.
He had clung desperately to the connection that appeared to recognize his talent, even after realizing that something was terribly wrong.
“But does that not infuriate you?”
Julian bared his teeth in a vicious grin.
“So what if those people decide you have no value? When they hold you up, you are a jewel, but when they throw you away, you become rubbish? Who gave them the right to decide that?”
“!”