Whatever sin he'd committed in his past life, he had no idea, but he'd been reincarnated into a medieval fantasy world, and his name was 'Adam.'
Adam was born the son of a tenant farmer in the Empire.
His father farmed borrowed land and had more than six mouths to feed.
From the day he was born, Adam was famous for his looks.
As a newborn he'd looked like a monkey's cousin, same as everyone, but the older he got, the more his looks and his brains showed.
By five, he was dripping with the polish of a noble family's son.
Vivid black hair, a straight nose, sculpted features.
Coming home from the village with a potato from some girl was an everyday thing.
Even the grown-ups found it hard to dislike Adam.
He was far too mature for a five-year-old, and he'd picked up the language just by listening, without anyone teaching him.
Thanks to that, parents raising daughters got a nail driven through their hearts every day by children demanding, "Why don't we have a big brother like Adam?"
The village superstar Adam had only one flaw.
Luck.
Sadly, his family was far too poor to hold a vessel like Adam.
In the end, his parents sold Adam to the slave market for the sake of his starving siblings.
When a young, handsome boy came up for sale, perverted nobles with twisted lusts went wild and waved fortunes.
The winning bid was a whopping 500 million gold.
The deal was over in an instant.
He was disgusted at first, but soon Adam couldn't sleep for a strange anticipation he hadn't felt since his past life.
'Who on earth is the pervert who bought me?'
And when he finally came face-to-face with his master, Adam was stunned.
His master was an Archmage, a rarity even counted across the entire continent.
All kinds of fantasies stormed through Adam's head.
Is he raising a successor?
Did he see my potential? Is he going to make me a mage?
Holding on to the hope that he would finally land a proper fantasy job after being reincarnated, Adam became the Archmage's Slave No. 1.
And then, some 10 years later.
Adam's hopes were brutally betrayed.
***
Adam's life was unlucky in more ways than one.
5 years after being reincarnated, he became a slave, and although he thought he'd become the Archmage's disciple, the only thing he'd learned in 10 years wasn't magic but 'How to Dust Perfectly.'
One day, in the year he turned fifteen.
The Archmage came to him and assigned him a new cleaning area.
"I'd rather not hand over the study if I can help it, but I'm giving it to you because it's you, so don't pass it off to the other kids."
"I hear one grimoire is worth about as much as I am. What happens if I tear one by accident?"
"Then I tear you."
With that light joke, Adam accepted the key from the Archmage.
'The key to the Archmage's study, huh.'
A cheeky idea flashed through his mind.
Couldn't I just sell this key, run, and turn my life around?
It's the Archmage's study, for crying out loud.
If I sneak out even one book, I could probably buy ten mansions.
But he soon shook his head.
'No, forget it. I'd get beaten to death after I sold it.'
The dream of financial freedom quickly faded.
Frustrated by the wall of an absurd reality, Adam decided to look on the bright side.
Either way, Adam was the first person in the Empire to set foot in the Archmage's study.
Not a single soul would appreciate it, but Adam had been born with transcendent resilience, and this was how he'd endured slave life without making a single bad choice.
"Wow, my cleaning area got bigger! I'm so, so happy!"
Saying so, Adam bounced toward the study like a lunatic.
***
He turned the key and stepped into the study.
He glanced up at the bookshelves.
A forest of shelves taller than the village library's spread out before his eyes.
A sigh came out the moment he saw it.
"When am I supposed to finish this."
...
...
...
More than 3 hours of hard labor came to an end.
When Adam, finally leaning back on the sofa after all that toil, lifted his head, the Archmage's study filled his vision.
The pile of books he'd had his eye on since he started cleaning.
Should I read one?
He's not going to try to kill me for reading a little.
When he sprang up and stepped in front of a bookshelf, books with unusual titles caught his eye.
.
Then one especially strange book caught his eye.
When he picked up the book whose title was written in special characters, it suddenly translated itself into the Imperial language.
I guess a magic book gets this kind of special effect.
He took the book with its groundbreaking sense of showmanship and leaned back in a chair.
When he opened it, unlike its edgelord title, the contents were a proper grimoire.
On the first page were warnings written by the author.
【This book is a grimoire that Mustang Edroy devoted his entire life to completing.
Whoever reads this grimoire, , in full becomes the successor to the explosion magic Mustang Edroy used.】
You can learn magic just by reading?
Does that even make sense?
If everyone became a mage by reading books, then why is the illiteracy rate in this country over 50%?
Actually, he didn't know if it was 50 percent, but judging by how his price as a slave had skyrocketed just because he could write, he guessed it was roughly that.
Adam snickered at the grimoire that was running a scam from page one and turned the page.
And the snickering soon died down.
He'd become captivated by the way mages lived, as laid out in the grimoire.
Absorbed in the book, he slowly turned the pages describing mages.
A mage freely wields the Four Great Elements.
One who reaches a stage through training is called a Transcendent.
A mage who reaches that stage attains eternal youth and never ages for the rest of his life.
He gains the authority to combine elements and create new ones.
All humans wish to become exalted beings, and mages are exalted beings.
And now he'd been given a chance to become a mage.
Of course, it might all be nonsense, but he had nothing to lose, so he wanted to believe it.
But if he pocketed the book, his master would really kill him, so, next time, slowly.
Whenever that would be.
Adam headed to the bookshelf to put it back where it belonged like a good boy.
But then.
'Why isn't there a spot?'
Another book was already slotted into the spot where the book had been.
"Did I get it wrong?"
Not thinking much of it, he shoved the grimoire in any old place.
Some of the grimoire's ink must have rubbed off in the process, because a smudge appeared on the back of his hand.
"Ah, gross."
He rubbed at the smudged spot, swipe, swipe, and headed out.
Hands in his pockets, he hurried to the dining hall, cutting through the winter wind.
Then he spotted strangers in the frost-covered garden.
A corpulent noble and heavily armed guards.
The nobles the Archmage had invited were surrounding a newly arrived maid, giving off a threatening air.
"Truly a waste. A waste."
"U-um, who might you be?"
"I am Count Albert. More to the point, isn't living as a mere maid a waste of such beauty?"
"Th-thank you. That's why my master let me choose between the brothel and his manor."
"That Aicolman, pretending otherwise, yet he's been doing all the things a man does."
Aicolman.
It was the Archmage's real name.
"You there, have you no thought of moving to my manor?"
"Pardon? What do you......."
"Did you say yes? How commendable. A beauty truly is easy to talk to."
"Ah, no, sir! That's not what I meant!"
"What, you refuse? You refuse me?"
"W-well, the thing is, I'm Master Aicolman's maid for now."
"So you don't want to be my maid?"
"That's not what I..."
The maid avoided his gaze and looked about to cry.
"Hmph, sticking a 'Master' on a self-proclaimed mage and putting on airs."
"......"
"Today I came at your master's invitation. Wouldn't you be better off under me, whose title is far higher?"
Watching from a distance, Adam fell into thought.
Should I go get Aicolman?
No, a woman's heart sways like a reed, so even if she's saying no, what she actually feels could be different.
Let's not go sticking my nose in for no reason.
Having made his judgment, Adam was just about to slowly turn away when.
Rustle.
The sound of dry grass being trampled broke the silence.
"Who goes there!"
The noble turned his gaze toward where Adam was.
"And what are you supposed to be?"
"Uh... I'm this maid's superior."
"You look to be in your mid-teens?"
"I was raised here since I was little."
"A slave, then."
The Count's eyes turned nasty.
"Do you know why I called you over?"
"So I won't tell my master you were trying to take this girl?"
"Quite quick on the uptake. I have my dignity to think of, so pretend you didn't see this."
Adam was silent for a moment, then lowered his head slightly.
"I'm sorry, my lord. I can't do that."
The Count's brows drew together.
"Why not?"
"Because it would be a betrayal. My station is lowly, and I'm not so blind as to swear loyalty to my master, but I'm not so shameless as to betray him either."
The maid beside him grabbed Adam's wrist.
The noble's guard knight behind them shook his head, too.
It was a warning not to run his mouth any further.
Of course, he didn't want to do this either.
But Aicolman was an Archmage, and he might be eavesdropping on this very situation through a rat or a crow somewhere.
And above all, Adam's own nature, which refused to suck up to nobles, played its part.
"I will bow my head and apologize to you, Count Albert. Heaven has its principles, and the earth has royal law and honor, so to uphold principle, honor, and loyalty, I have no choice but to tell Aicolman everything about today."
"Hahaha, your insolence pierces the heavens! An upstart's slave truly takes after his master's temperament."
"Upstart?"
Adam tilted his head.
"Excuse me, upstart? Master Aicolman is a genuine Archmage—"
"You think a jumped-up merchant who learned a little magic as a hobby gets to call himself a mage?"
"No, what the f..."
Only now did he understand what was going on.
Aicolman had hidden his identity and reeled this noble in.
Some kind of character test, probably.
And the Count had naively assumed he'd been invited to the mansion of some lucky nouveau riche and was throwing his weight around.
A kidnapping like this was common in the Empire.
'Except for the part where I got dragged into the common thing.'
"Take this one along with the maid. Tell them we'll pay for the slave later."
"My lord, even so, they're still children."
"And?"
"...Nothing, my lord."
The knights slowly approached Adam and the maid, and the distance was just about to close when.
Tzzzt.
"Huh?"
A blue streak of light flashed from the ink stain on the back of his hand, the one he'd picked up in the study.
The smudge he'd thought was an ink stain turned into a geometric pattern and began to resonate.
Everyone was dumbfounded.
Adam included, of course.
He was too flustered to speak.
The electricity spewing from the back of his hand condensed, and a sphere the size of a ping-pong ball popped out.
Then, like a grasshopper, it flew at the Count all on its own.
"Whoa! What is that?"
The sphere blinked red and made an ominous sound.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Count Albert asked.
"Wh-what is this?!"
The ominous sound grew faster and faster, and the moment it hit the critical point.
The little sphere spat out blue flame and exploded.
KA-BOOM—!
A massive explosion, big enough to light up the sunset evening like broad daylight, swept the garden.
Everyone squeezed their eyes shut.
And then slowly opened them.
Where the Count had been standing, the lingering blue flames blazed high.
Everyone at the scene was dumbfounded.
"......"
The guard knights stared blankly at Adam, and the maid trembled and whimpered.
"Y-you didn't have to go this far."
"I didn't want to go this far either..."