“What do you think?”
“Hmm....”
Baron Egott turned the wand over several times as he examined it, then set it down.
“There was nothing inherently defective about the wand itself.”
Roat furrowed his brow.
“That cannot be. My son tried to cast magic with it, and the Control Stone shattered on the spot.”
“...Your son is the one who broke this wand?”
“Yes.”
He might have been a Holy Knight, but that did not mean Roat was completely ignorant of magic.
Black Mages were still mages, after all.
Knowing about magic was essential if he wanted to fight them.
And he had at least a general understanding of what it meant for a Control Stone to break.
Either the wand itself had been defective.
Or someone had attempted to manifest magic beyond what the wand could handle.
Naturally, Roat had assumed it was the former.
There was no conceivable way a child using magic for the first time could produce something powerful enough to cause the latter.
“Are you absolutely certain the young master was the one who used the magic?”
“...Yes.”
“Good heavens....”
Baron Egott muttered with a thoroughly tense expression, as though he could scarcely believe any of this was real.
“It may be a wand designed for beginners, but it is not something that breaks so easily. That is simply the nature of a Control Stone.”
“Explain.”
“Surely Your Lordship already knows. If a perfectly functional Control Stone shattered, it means the amount of mana passing through it exceeded what the stone could withstand.”
Roat silently stared at Egott.
His expression seemed to ask whether such a thing could possibly make sense.
But Egott’s face remained firm.
“If your son truly was the one who broke this wand....”
“……?”
“Then he is an unprecedented genius.”
“…….”
Roat silently looked down at the broken wand.
Circles.
One of the most important standards used to measure a mage’s capabilities.
Once the amount of mana a mage possessed exceeded a certain threshold and the mage attained sufficient enlightenment, another Circle would form.
The 3rd Circle was a realm normally reached only after accumulating mana and deepening one’s understanding for more than ten years.
*- He could potentially be at the 3rd Circle already. Of course, given that he is only thirteen, the possibility seems exceedingly unlikely....*
Roat carefully considered Egott’s words.
He had known that Kano possessed a fair amount of talent.
The boy had been devouring all manner of magic books despite his young age.
But that was entirely different from possessing such an enormous quantity of mana.
Roat had assumed Kano was still merely at the stage of having a strong interest in magic.
He had even been considering hiring a magic tutor for him later.
‘I’ll have to watch him more closely.’
Roat decided he needed to determine just how talented his son truly was.
And to do that, he would have to remain nearby and observe him as much as possible.
But Roat was a Holy Knight who regularly departed on subjugation missions.
“...If I want to spend more time at home, I suppose I’ll have to take that assignment.”
‘The subjugation of the Black Mages in Aeria.’
It was work normally handled by lower-ranking Holy Knights, but if he wanted to stay close enough to watch Kano, there was no better option.
‘The Holy Order should approve this much.’
Roat had always volunteered for the most dangerous missions.
There was no reason the Holy Order would refuse him if he asked to take an easier assignment for once.
Roat was pleased that his son had shown talent for something.
There had been a time when he regretted that Kano had no interest in following in his footsteps and training with the sword.
But he had never intended to force the matter.
As long as his son was happy, that was enough.
And now he had been told that Kano might be a genius.
“...As expected of my son.”
Roat quickened his steps toward the temple.
“Yaaawn. Mom, I think I’ll go to bed first.”
I opened my mouth wide and pretended to yawn.
Prel gently stroked my head with a warm smile.
“You still get sleepy the moment it turns ten. Sometimes you act so mature, but at times like this, you really do seem like a child.”
‘Of course I do.’
Because I was acting.
A moment ago, I had sensed Lerajio entering my room.
He had returned after carrying out the order I had given him.
Eager to check what he had discovered, I deliberately puffed out my cheeks.
‘I absolutely hate doing this, but....’
“I’m already all grown up!”
I had grown fairly accustomed to acting this way, but that did nothing to lessen the humiliation.
“Yes, yes. Of course you are, my little prince.”
Prel patted my head and rose from her seat.
“Then let’s get you to bed.”
“Yes!”
I took Prel’s hand and headed toward my room.
After waving goodbye to her with a smile, I stepped inside and shut the door.
CREEAK—BANG.
“Whew....”
The moment the door closed, I murmured in a low voice.
“Silence. Hidden Will.”
A faint light shimmered throughout the room.
At the same time, black smoke rapidly filled the air, and Lerajio silently revealed himself.
His gaunt ribs slowly rose and fell with every breath.
The chains wrapped around his hands and feet rattled unusually loudly.
Lerajio.
An Evil specialized in Stealth and Covert Movement.
His other abilities were lacking, but when it came to concealing himself, even a higher-class demon such as a Devil would have difficulty matching him.
“Did you investigate it?”
Lerajio opened his mouth, revealing uneven rows of half-broken black teeth.
I frowned slightly at the revolting sight and waited for him to speak.
* …….
Before long, a voice resembling several people whispering at once began spilling from his mouth.
“...What?”
As I listened to Lerajio’s report, my brows furrowed before I realized it.
The scale of what he had found was far larger than I had expected.
“There shouldn’t be this many.”
Roat’s work involved exterminating Black Mages.
Although he was usually active in other regions, he occasionally stopped by Aeria to hunt down the Black Mages there.
And during dinner, he would sometimes bring them up in conversation.
Roat despised Black Mages, after all.
Whenever he returned after exterminating some of them, he would often talk about it with an icy smile.
But there were currently far more Black Mages in Aeria than anything Roat’s stories had led me to expect.
And judging by the situation, most of them seemed to have gathered fairly recently.
‘Considering Lerajio, who is only a lower-class demon, obtained this information so easily, there probably aren’t any high-ranking Black Mages among them.’
Even so, it was unusual for Black Mages to gather in numbers this large.
‘And there should be plenty of bandits in that area....’
Bandits whose identities were uncertain generally disliked Black Mages.
No.
More accurately, they feared them.
Black Mages liked using people whose identities could not be clearly established as sacrifices.
That made it far less likely for anyone to discover what they had done.
Bandits were perfect prey under those conditions.
‘And yet the bandits are still swarming around an area full of Black Mages?’
That meant someone was keeping them under control.
And whoever that person was might be commanding both the Black Mages and the bandits together.
‘Or maybe the two sides have joined forces.’
Otherwise, there was no way a group this large could exist.
‘If they really are colluding, this could become a serious problem.’
The bandits of Aeria were also involved in human trafficking.
In other words, they could provide sacrifices for the Black Mages.
“Return to Aeria’s back alleys immediately. I need to see this for myself.”
Lerajio slowly nodded.
SSSSSS—
Black smoke began rising from his body, starting at his feet.
At that moment, a gust of wind blew in through the open window.
Lerajio’s form dissolved into a black liquid that shifted and twisted before transforming into a black sphere.
* ROLL.
A long slit appeared across the center of the black orb and slowly opened.
An eye with a crimson pupil was revealed within.
It looked ominous merely to behold.
No matter what kind of demon it was, every demon entered this world in a form capable of inspiring fear in humans.
And this was Lerajio’s true form.
Soon, membranous wings like those of a bat sprouted from either side of the eye.
A crimson eye that existed only to observe.
‘Evil Eye.’
That was Lerajio’s true identity.
His wings fluttered with a sharp rush of air, and he quickly flew out through the open window.
‘He can use Invisible, so he shouldn’t be discovered.’
I watched the window through which Lerajio had disappeared, then sat down on the sofa.
I drew the Demonic Energy connecting me to Lerajio into the index and middle fingers of my left hand.
FWOOSH.
The moment I summoned it, a faint flame flickered at my fingertips like a freshly struck match.
I slowly brought my fingers to my right eye.
Then Lerajio’s vision unfolded before me.
Through his unobstructed field of view, I could occasionally make out people and distant lights.
“Ha.”
A dry laugh slipped from my mouth at how clearly I could see everything.
The capital of the Porlin Kingdom, Zeleta, was spread out before my eyes.
Ordinary mages could not command familiars.
They could control something like a Golem, but even that was merely a massive lump of stone powered by mana.
It was nothing more than an artificial life-form without a will of its own.
That was why familiars were the exclusive domain of Spirit Summoners and Black Mages.
It was only natural for Spirit Summoners to command spirits, while Black Mages could use contracts to turn Evils into familiars.
Needless to say, in my previous life I had done nothing but pursue magic before being imprisoned in Maurva’s Library.
I had never possessed a familiar of my own.
I had formed a contract with Lerajio, but this was my first time directly linking my senses with a familiar.
The astonishingly unfamiliar sensation made me smile despite myself.
And it was not merely his sight.
His sense of touch.
The sensation of floating through the air.
Even the wind striking Lerajio’s body....
It felt as though a piece of my own body had been separated from me while remaining connected.
FWOOSH.
When I lowered my hand, the violet flame scattered and vanished.
I was still unused to the sensation of controlling a familiar, but I would adapt soon enough.
‘It’s only a matter of time.’
I had more than enough knowledge.
Once I made that knowledge instinctive, there would be nothing to worry about.
Leaving only a faint connection between myself and Lerajio, I approached the window to close it.
“Hmm?”
Someone was standing by the gate at the far end of the small garden in front of the house.
I narrowed my eyes and stared at the figure.
“...Dad?”
Roat was frequently deployed on missions.
Because of that, he was rarely home.
He had said just this morning that he would be leaving on an expedition to the southern region....
‘Why is he here?’
My eyes narrowed.
Roat.
At this point in time, he was the person I had to be most cautious around.
‘Well, logically speaking, there’s no way he would suspect me.’
I snorted quietly.
A mere thirteen-year-old child using not only magic, but Black Magic?
If my identity were uncertain, someone might suspect that I was a Black Mage who had somehow reverted to childhood.
But my identity could hardly have been more secure.
‘After all, I’m the son of that Paladin, Roat.’
Unless I actually cast Black Magic right in front of him, there was no reason for him to discover me.
“I don’t know why he came back, but....”
Without realizing it, I raised both hands and kneaded my cheeks, which still retained some of their childhood softness.
‘To think I’ve become such a little kid.’
I stood before the mirror and looked at my reflection.
Platinum-blond hair and luminous blue eyes.
I was still young, but even accounting for my age, I was quite handsome.
“Will this do?”
I smiled brightly at my reflection.
An innocent smile spread across my lips.
[D-dear?! What are you doing here?!]
At the same time, Prel’s startled voice rang out from downstairs.
“Then I suppose it’s time to go out.”
I slowly opened my bedroom door.
Bright light poured through the doorway, gently pushing back the darkness inside the room.