“If I lose, you want a High-Grade Elixir?”
“Yeah.”
The condition Wirn attached to the spar was simple.
If the boy lost this match, he had to hand over a High-Grade Elixir.
“If you don't want to, forget it. I'm not the one who'll regret it.”
“…Why does it have to be a High-Grade Elixir?”
The boy frowned at Wirn's words.
A low-grade elixir was something he could obtain at his own discretion.
No.
If he pushed himself a little, he could probably even manage a lower-mid-grade elixir.
But a high-grade one was a different story.
“That's way too expensive for me to buy with my allowance….”
Even within the Daylin Family, which stocked all kinds of potions, High-Grade Elixirs were among the rare varieties.
It wasn't something a fourteen-year-old child's wallet could handle.
And even if he had the money, there was a chance none would be available.
Even Wirn, who had been born into the Daylin Family, hadn't been able to obtain one, so that said everything.
“What? You challenged me to a spar without even that much resolve?”
But Wirn had no intention of compromising any further.
Sparring with a child for free?
That was something Wirn would never do.
'I'm actually charging him cheaply.'
Wirn might have been twelve years old, but just his previous life alone had lasted nearly thirty years.
He had seen far more real combat than most of the mages in the Daylin Family.
Considering the value of sparring with someone like him, anything less than a High-Grade Elixir wouldn't be worth his time.
“If I ask Mother, she might get one for me….”
“Then get it from her.”
“I'll get in a lot of trouble.”
“That's your problem.”
Wirn chuckled at the boy's words.
Whether the brat got whipped with a switch or had his allowance confiscated was none of Wirn's concern.
After all, Wirn wasn't the desperate one here.
“…Fine. All right.”
And so, even though the boy knew the demand was somewhat unreasonable, he had no choice but to accept.
He had realized that otherwise, Wirn simply wouldn't spar with him.
That was how important Wirn was to him—important enough to affect his current standing.
“But if I win, you'll be my slave for a week.”
“Slave?”
“Yeah.”
“Hmm….”
The boy had a demand of his own.
Wirn chuckled at his words.
It was such an adorably childish idea, exactly the sort of thing that might come from the mind of a fourteen-year-old, that Wirn smiled without even realizing it.
'In my previous life, we used to demand an eyeball or a finger.'
The training ground beneath the Imperial capital.
Back when Wirn had lived there, whenever he won a spar, he would take one of his opponent's body parts.
He had needed to establish his dominance that way in order to survive.
But the Daylin Family didn't require that level of brutality.
Wirn was once again reminded of the difference between his previous life and his current one.
“Fine. If I lose, I'll be your slave.”
“Don't you even think you might lose?”
The boy tilted his head at Wirn's easygoing answer.
The complete lack of hesitation in his voice made it sound as though Wirn was absolutely certain he would win.
“Nope.”
And that wasn't a misunderstanding.
Wirn believed the chances of him losing this spar were close to zero.
Unless this brat had regressed just like he had.
“…I'll make you regret that decision.”
The boy frowned.
Then he pulled a white glove from inside his clothes and—
TOSS!
—threw it at Wirn's feet.
“My name is Daylin Began.”
He finally gave Wirn his name.
“I'm Wirn.”
Wirn introduced himself with a faint smile before asking,
“You're going to use magic too, right?”
Since Began possessed two Circles, Wirn naturally assumed he would.
“No.”
“You're not going to use it?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
The answer was unexpected.
Began was a child of a prestigious family trying to prove his ability.
Wirn had assumed he would use every possible means to win the spar.
“Because it wouldn't be fair. I'm at the 2nd Circle, but you're still only at the 1st Circle.”
“Hmm?”
“I want to fight you fair and square. So I won't use magic.”
“Oh?”
Wirn's eyes gleamed at Began's words.
“You're going to regret that choice.”
It was admirable in its own way, but it was also an extremely arrogant and self-centered answer.
Put differently, Began was saying that he could defeat Wirn even without magic.
“In that case, let's say you lose the moment you use magic.”
So Wirn decided to personally teach the boy the lesson that looking down on someone could come back to bite him.
“That won't happen… but fine.”
Began chuckled at Wirn's words.
No matter how much talent Wirn had displayed in the Mana Forest, he was still only twelve.
'There's no way he can beat me when I've even received combat training.'
On top of that, Began had been undergoing harsh training.
Physical training so difficult that even aspiring knights from ordinary families would recoil from it.
Considering all that, it was only natural that he was confident in his victory.
SWISH!
With that thought, Began raised both hands.
“I'll let you have the first move, so come at me whenever you want, 'little brother.'”
It was a petty provocation, but he had at least put some thought into it.
Seeing through Began's little trick, Wirn smiled brightly.
TAP!
Then he shot toward him like an arrow.
WHOOSH!
At the same time, Wirn raised his right leg high and slammed it down onto Began's shoulder with all his strength.
“Ugh!”
A groan escaped Began's mouth.
At the same time, his eyes shook violently.
He had realized that something had gone wrong.
***
WHOOSH!
The vicious sound alone was enough to make Began's body flinch.
Realizing that Wirn's next attack was coming, Began hurriedly raised both arms.
THWACK!
“Ughhh!”
At that moment, Wirn's leg struck Began's shoulder once again.
The speed behind the kick and the heavy weight carried through Wirn's leg gave it enough destructive force to make even Began, who was two years older, stagger sideways.
'I need to counterattack!'
Realizing that he had blocked the attack, Began lowered the arms he had raised.
“!”
THWACK!
But it wasn't over yet.
When his right leg was blocked, Wirn's left heel came down on Began's shoulder this time.
Another heavy pain surged through his shoulder.
The relentless succession of blows to the exact same spot was enough to bring tears to Began's eyes.
“Why do you keep hitting the same place?!”
Unable to endure it any longer, Began finally shouted in frustration.
“Because it'll hurt more that way.”
Wirn gave Began a bright smile.
He intended to make the boy pay properly for his earlier provocation.
Hierarchy had to be established while they were young, or the brat might challenge him when they grew older.
That was especially necessary in a prestigious family where everyone tore at one another.
WHOOSH!
'Right foot!'
But Began wasn't going to stand there and let himself be beaten.
The moment Wirn raised his right foot again, Began moved both arms.
GRAB!
“Got you!”
He caught Wirn's right foot in both hands just before it could strike his shoulder.
“You bastard—”
And just as Began was about to begin his counterattack—
WHOOSH!
Wirn's left leg left the ground.
His captured right leg became the axis around which his body spun.
THWACK!
His left leg came down on Began's right shoulder from above as though driving it into the ground.
CRACK!
At that moment, a fracture formed in the shoulder bone that Began had barely managed to endure with until now.
“Urrgh!”
Tears rolled from the boy's eyes.
At the same time, his legs buckled and his balance collapsed.
'I can't… raise my arms!'
The two arms Began had been using to protect his face dropped helplessly downward.
“Why do you keep letting me hit you?”
Wirn mocked him at the sight.
“Ah. Did they not teach you how to hit someone yet? That's no good. Even a mage should at least know the basics of fighting.”
“….”
“You really think you can go around calling yourself an heir of the Daylin Family like this?”
He continued without hesitation, saying everything he could to tear apart Began's pride.
“You're….”
Began lowered his head and began trembling.
It was the first time in his life he had ever been subjected to such blatant humiliation.
“Don't look down on me!”
The thin thread of reason he had barely been holding onto finally snapped.
―WHUMMM!
Began fiercely rotated the Circles within his body.
His opponent was a younger boy of twelve.
But Began no longer cared.
All that remained was the childish desire to somehow vent the humiliation and anger of being toyed with by someone two years younger than him.
FLASH!
Blue light burst from his body.
“Die!”
Began straightened himself and charged at Wirn.
His entire body was wrapped in mana.
His determination to crush Wirn into pulp with that mana drove his body forward.
WHUMMM!
The ominous force pouring from his Circles swallowed the air.
Began's entire atmosphere changed in an instant.
The sniveling brat who had been crying moments earlier now looked like a vicious mage capable of killing someone.
“Oh.”
The corners of Wirn's mouth rose at Began's actions.
Then he kicked off the ground with both legs as hard as he could.
“Huh?”
Began hesitated at the sight.
And the moment he realized Wirn wasn't frightened by his display—
THUD!
“Ghk…!”
Pain exploded through his stomach as though his internal organs were being torn to pieces.
The punch was so powerful that tears streamed from his eyes, snot ran from his nose, and saliva spilled from his mouth.
At the same time, his eyes met Wirn's.
“!”
Wirn's killing intent pierced straight through Began's soul.
'I have to survive!'
At that moment, Began forgot that this was merely a spar.
The survival instinct awakened by that killing intent overwhelmed his reason.
―WHUMMM!
Began rotated his Circles and envisioned a phenomenon through his imagination.
Wind gathering around his hand.
Wind transforming into razor-sharp gusts that shredded everything around them.
The instant he pictured it, murderous wind gathered around his left hand.
With two Circles, Began was already capable of manifesting something of this level.
'I need to dodge….'
Wirn frowned at the sight.
They were far too close.
He needed to create some distance.
It might have been magic cast by a child, but Began was still an heir of a family renowned for its magic.
If Wirn underestimated him, he could genuinely get hurt.
―HUM.
“?”
Just as Wirn shifted his weight backward—
Light burst from the mysterious Mark engraved on his right hand.
Devour it.
Then the Mark whispered to Wirn.
Don't avoid Began's magic.
Take it.
Wirn reflexively shifted his center of gravity forward again.
Then, as Began thrust his left hand toward him, Wirn extended his right.
It was an utterly irrational action.
Grabbing the hand of someone activating magic from this close?
Especially when Began was at the 2nd Circle while Wirn, the one attempting to stop him, was only at the 1st Circle?
Any other mage witnessing the sight would have clicked their tongue and called him an idiot desperate to cut his own life short.
'Devour it.'
Wirn would've agreed with them.
But the whisper of the Mark—and more importantly, the strange intuition accompanying it—changed his mind.
He felt certain that the Mark on his right hand possessed a power that would defy everyone's expectations.
GRAB!
And so, without hesitation, he seized Began's hand while the blade-like wind raged around it.
WHOOOOSH!
The instant their hands touched, the cutting winds Began had created moved to tear Wirn's hand apart.
The mana pouring from Began's two Circles grew even stronger.
At this rate, Wirn's hand would be shredded like a sheet of paper.
FLASH!
But just before the wind touched his skin, black light erupted from the Mark.
…FWOOSH!
At the same time, the violently raging wind was swallowed by the black light flowing from Wirn's hand.
No.
It wasn't simply devouring the mana.
Darkness completely blocked the mana circuit within Began's hand.
As a result, Began could no longer draw upon the power of his Circles.
“…?”
Silence naturally descended over the training ground.
At the same time, the mana that had gathered around Began's right hand vanished.
'It can interfere with another person's mana and magic?'
The mana and magic that had unquestionably existed only moments ago—
Both disappeared as though they had never been there.
All through the black Mark on the back of Wirn's hand.
“….”
“W-What?”
Realizing what had happened, Wirn stared at the scene with a strange expression of surprise.
Began, who had launched the magic at Wirn, was equally stunned.
“I… used magic… against you….”
With that, his lost reason finally returned.
“Th-This….”
He had attacked Wirn with magic.
Someone two years younger than himself.
Someone who, on top of that, possessed only a single Circle.
The moment anyone else found out about this, it was obvious what would happen to Began.
“No. I… This….”
Began's hands trembled faintly.
Young as he was, even he understood how serious the consequences of what he had done could become.
“S-Sor—”
“What exactly do you think you are doing?”
Just as Began hurriedly tried to speak, a man's voice came from the entrance of the training ground.
SWISH.
Wirn and Began both turned toward the sound.
“…Gasp!”
Began instinctively covered his mouth.
Kemen, Wirn's personal butler and a 3rd Circle mage, was standing there with a deep frown as he stared directly at him.