A trained healer’s treatment was certainly far more effective than a mage’s healing magic.
Kazar’s wound had nearly healed after just one treatment, but the healer urged him to return without fail, saying that he needed two more days of treatment.
While Kazar waited his turn and received treatment, Ernolf shut himself away in the temple archive and read.
Even apart from their family trade, mages had to learn a wide range of ancient and medieval languages.
It was necessary for reading old documents related to magic.
‘The vocabulary and grammar are somewhat different, but not enough that I can’t read it.’
Using a speed-reading technique, Ernolf quickly read books on local monsters, herbalism, history, and more.
Seeing the child eagerly turn the pages of enormous books, a cleric assumed that he was merely passing the time by looking at the illustrations.
But contrary to the cleric’s misunderstanding, Ernolf was storing every piece of knowledge contained within the books in his mind.
When Kazar finished receiving treatment and came to collect Ernolf, he was buried in a book, wholly absorbed in reading.
Kazar did not interrupt him.
Instead, he sat nearby and waited as he watched his brother.
‘Are books really that good?’
It looked as though Ernolf was only skimming the pages, yet positive emotions were pouring from him in abundance.
As the sun began to set, a cleric told Ernolf that the archive had to close and that he needed to put the books away.
“I apologize. I will put them away at once.”
Only then did Ernolf, who had been so immersed in the books that he had lost track of time, realize that he had piled up a mountain of them.
As Ernolf struggled with a heavy book, his limbs trembling, Kazar came over and lifted it instead.
“I’ll shelve them. Just tell me where they go.”
“That’s a good idea. Things like this go faster when someone as strong as you does them.”
Without refusing, Ernolf pointed to the spot where the book had originally been.
Kazar felt dependable as he easily lifted and carried the heavy books.
“Are the books...... worth reading?”
“Yeah, they’re readable enough.”
The books in the archive were written in the native languages of the ancient North and in Sarapi Empire language.
Though unfamiliar words appeared here and there, Ernolf could understand them by considering the context.
That was what he meant by “readable enough,” but Kazar took it to mean that Ernolf could not read and smirked.
“Why are you laughing?”
“It’s funny hearing you say that when you can’t even read.”
“I told you I would figure it out as I read. I awakened magic on my own, so learning to read is as easy as eating cold porridge.”
Kazar almost asked how that was possible, then closed his mouth.
He did not know at all what latent abilities a Self-Awakened One might possess.
“So what did you read?”
“Books about this region’s history, books about herbs, and things like that. I read all kinds of things.”
As they chatted quietly and walked through the corridor, Kazar suddenly pulled Ernolf behind a pillar.
Then he looked down at the courtyard.
“What is it?”
“I think they’re looking for us. Over there.”
Kazar gestured with his eyes toward two men.
Even from the way they stood, the men looked exactly like swordsmen. They were asking a cleric something.
The cleric smiled, nodded, and pointed toward the second floor where the archive was located.
Ernolf saw Kazar pull a blade from beneath his clothes.
Before Kazar could throw a dagger at the men’s necks, Ernolf acted first.
Beside the men, who were looking toward the stairs leading to the second floor, the lord’s wife was passing by with a maid.
The instant the lord’s wife passed them, Ernolf used Earth-Attribute Magic to hook one of the men’s legs and trip him.
Then he stirred up the wind, lifting the lord’s wife’s skirt high.
Her skirt fell over the fallen man’s head.
Next, Ernolf used the wind to shove the man who reached out to catch his staggering companion, making him fall together with the maid.
“Eek!”
“What do you think you’re doing?!”
Screams and shouts erupted at once, followed by the sound of repeated slaps.
“What are you doing?! Bind this shameless bastard at once!”
The lord’s wife, her face flushed scarlet, trembled as she shouted.
Guards rushed over and threatened the men with their spears.
“Tut, tut. Harassing the lord’s wife? They must be out of their minds.”
Clicking his tongue and shaking his head like an old man, Ernolf continued on his way.
“Before sunset, we need to stop by the market to buy cloth and find an inn. Hurry.”
Kazar snorted in disbelief and hid his blade again.
In this era, showing one’s ankles was considered vulgar and taboo for women.
The lord’s wife’s skirt had been lifted, exposing her legs in full view.
At the very least, the men would be liable for a flogging.
‘But did Tiri see that woman’s legs too? Or was I the only one who saw them?’
After confirming that the guards had seized and dragged the men away, Kazar followed Ernolf.
“Were those men earlier in league with the ones chasing you?”
As Ernolf selected cloth in the market, he asked:
“They didn’t look like barbarians. Who are they?”
Ernolf held cloth against Kazar’s body, then changed it for another color.
He wanted to put Kazar in brighter clothes to improve his mood, but the dyeing techniques of this era did not cooperate.
In the end, he bought darkish wool and yellowish cotton.
Then he went to a stall selling leather and bought cowhide to make belts, gloves, boots, and the like.
Of course, all the money came from Kazar’s pouch.
“The mercenary company.”
Ernolf’s hand, which had been absently sorting through the goods, paused.
Among the stories passed down to him was one about a famous mercenary company that had become entangled with Tyrant King Kazar and met a filthy end.
‘Most of its members were beheaded, and its commander, a knight once famous enough to be called the Mercenary King, was torn limb from limb and thrown to hunting dogs as food.’
The story had been so brutal that after reading it as a child, Ernolf had avoided dogs for quite some time.
“How did you get tangled up with a mercenary company?”
“I was running from the barbarians and ran straight into where they were.”
Even without a full explanation, Ernolf could picture what had happened.
The barbarians and the mercenary company must have fought, suffering casualties.
‘And I killed several more while trying to save this bastard. It would be stranger if the mercenary company didn’t come demanding an account.’
At the time, Ernolf had thought that the people pursuing Kazar were Cornu Tribesmen and had wrung out every bit of his remaining strength to attack them.
He had passed out afterward and had not known what happened, but they seemed to have been members of the mercenary company.
“Since people died, it will not be easy to settle this even if we pay compensation.”
“Can you pay compensation?”
Ernolf shook his head.
Right now, he lacked the ability to pay the price of someone’s life.
“We should avoid them for a while.”
“Yeah, we’ll do that for a while.”
Kazar’s answer did not sound very reassuring, but Ernolf did not argue.
He felt guilty for unintentionally contributing to the bad blood between Kazar and the mercenary company.
‘Why did Kazar kill the Mercenary King again......? Ah, right. It had something to do with a lord.’
He could not remember the lord’s name, but he remembered that the lord had been quite popular with his subjects.
When Kazar killed him, Mercenary King Kasion exposed Kazar’s crime and personally arrested him.
But a demon freed Kazar, and the escaped Kazar returned to exact brutal revenge not only upon Mercenary King Kasion, but upon every person who had held him accountable for his crime.
‘Please let them not be Mercenary King Kasion’s Mercenary Company.’
After leaving the cloth and leather with artisans, Ernolf headed toward the inn at the end of the market.
The next day, before going to the temple, Ernolf dragged Kazar to a barbershop.
Neither of them had ever gotten a proper haircut, so their hair stuck out in every direction, making them look like primitives.
With their hair in such a state, no amount of washing could make them look presentable.
Kazar, saying that it was bothersome, cut his hair short.
Ernolf kept his hair long and merely had it neatly trimmed.
One reason was that most mages preferred long hair, but he also did not want their hairstyles to be identical when, as identical twins, they already looked so similar.
After washing thoroughly and tidying his hair, Tirad’s appearance became clear.
Like Kazar, he had tidy, harmonious features, but he had a different air about him.
His calm, deep eyes, which seemed fond of reflection, created an intellectual impression.
‘He’s just skinny, but this one is handsome too. Ah, of course. We’re twins.’
Tirad’s hair was dark as obsidian.
His eyes were a bright green, gleaming especially vividly against skin as white as the moon from having gone so long without sunlight.
His forehead was straight, his eyebrows were sharp as though painted with a brush, and the smooth bridge of his nose added dignity to his beautiful face.
His lips were slightly thinner than Kazar’s, perhaps making him appear mature for his age whenever his mouth was closed.
‘He might be more handsome than my original body......’
Unable to take his eyes away, Ernolf murmured without realizing it.
At that moment, Kazar approached while shaking out his hair.
“What are you staring at so hard?”
Though he had the same face, Kazar gave off an entirely different air as he walked over, disheveling his hair with rough hands.
It was Tirad’s face with a touch of wildness added to it.
His solid-looking frame, broad shoulders covered in muscle, and resolute stride.
Kazar would certainly be more popular with young ladies than Tirad.
“Huh?”
“I asked why you are looking at the mirror so hard.”
“Ah. I was thinking how surprised Mother would be if she saw us like this.”
He said it because their clothes were so shabby compared to their appearances.
If Mother had seen them, she would have scolded them, saying, ‘What kind of appearance is that for the heir of the Torlier Family, with no dignity?!’ Then she would have prepared clothes for them herself.
Having accidentally revealed his true feelings, Ernolf closed his mouth.
“You do not even remember her. What are you suddenly talking about......”
Kazar answered as bluntly as usual, then fell silent.
Seeing that, Ernolf felt sorry for having brought up something he should not have.
If they had lived alone as slaves in the mine from such a young age, it was easy to guess what had happened to their parents.
They were either dead, or, if they were alive, they had been forcibly separated from their children.
“Once we have proper clothes, we will look like people again.”
After leaving the barbershop and walking toward the temple, Ernolf deliberately spoke cheerfully.
“They said it will take three days to make the clothes, so we should stay in this village until then.”
“......”
“Today, we will first go to the temple for treatment, then go hunting in the afternoon. We can train and earn some expenses at the same time.”
Kazar had never been especially friendly.
Tirad usually did most of the talking while Kazar grumbled and raised objections.
But now, Kazar did not even object to Ernolf’s words.
“If you do not want to go to the temple, shall we hunt first?”
“Ah, shut up. You sickly bastard, your mouth is the only thing alive. You have been yapping nonstop since morning.”
“No, why are you getting angry over something I said?”
“Just shut up.”
After snapping at him, Kazar pressed his lips together and strode quickly toward the temple.
Tirad had suddenly brought up their dead mother, putting Kazar in a bad mood.
“Can’t you say that more nicely?”
“How am I supposed to make ‘shut up’ sound nice?”
“You could say that you want some quiet.”
“Shut up.”
Having lived as the heir to a noble family, Ernolf had never dealt with someone who spoke as crudely as Kazar.
He knew that Kazar did not truly mean it, but hearing him constantly speak such harsh words still made anger swell inside him.
‘He probably never learned to control his anger while growing up. Sigh, I am more educated and have lived longer. I will endure it.’
Ernolf gritted his molars and held back his anger.
When they arrived at the temple, the lord’s carriage stood at the entrance.
Since the lord and his wife had come to the temple on consecutive days, it seemed that someone in their family was ill.
Because the lord and his wife had come, commoners would only be able to receive treatment in the afternoon.
The patients gathered in small groups beneath the shade of trees in the garden, chatting as they waited for their turn.
Thinking that he might as well go hunt, Kazar crossed through the garden.
As though it were only natural, Ernolf headed straight to the archive the moment they arrived at the temple and disappeared from sight.
Kazar looked up toward the second floor where the archive was, then started walking again.
With no bastard chattering like a sparrow beside him, his side felt empty.
「I was thinking how surprised Mother would be if she saw us like this.」
Whenever Kazar thought of Mother, his chest ached.
In his previous life, he had been too busy trying to survive to have the leeway to look for his parents.
After he turned twenty, he finally had room to breathe and followed his memories to find them.
In the end, only regret remained.
‘Maybe it would be better to live without knowing.’
Remembering when he had learned what had happened to his parents, rage welled up in him and made his body tremble.
‘I should not tell Brother.’
Kazar decided that it was better for only one person to suffer than for both of them to suffer.