“Like I am what?” Minato urged him to complete the thought.
Shinazu narrowed his eyes.
“Like you either want to sell me as a slave or use me as a guinea pig for some experiment.”
Minato burst into a wide, hearty laugh.
“You are certainly wise beyond your years, kid.” His laughter subsided as he placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder, offering a smile that tensed Shinazu up a little.
“But if I wanted that, don’t you think I would have already done it instead of asking you so politely?”
Shinazu firmly brushed Minato’s hand off his shoulder, preparing to leave.
“I am an orphan, and I have seen many people who appear very polite at first.
Only after you trust them do they show their true faces.”
“Fine then.
Here,” Minato said calmly.
With a subtle shimmer of light, a card materialized from the storage ring worn on the middle finger of Minato’s right hand.
He presented it to Shinazu with an easy smile.
Shinazu looked at the white-and-gold identification card intriguingly.
His guard was still up, but he reached out slowly and cautiously to take it.
Engraved clearly on the surface was:
[ Himetsu Royal Academy ]
Name: Minato Takahashi Rank: 7th Grade Mage Crafter Position: Professor
“You…
you are a 7th Grade Mage Crafter and a Professor at the Academy…?” Shinazu gasped, struggling to believe what he was seeing.
Minato simply smiled.
Still bewildered, Shinazu examined the card more closely.
The official seal was there, along with the academy’s grand insignia and the intricate enchantments etched along its borders.
Everything looked genuine, still he couldn’t be completely certain, but if it was a fake, someone had spent a fortune making it.
He stared at the card in his hands and for the first time, he began to understand just how important the man standing before him really was.
Minato wasn’t merely wealthy.
He himself was a professor at the academy and powerful enough to secure admission to the most prestigious academy in the world.
But why would he do that for someone like me?
A bigger question popped in his head.
Why help a complete stranger?
Why rescue a ragged orphan from the streets?
And why go so far as to offer him a place at an academy that most people could only dream of attending?
None of it made sense.
Minato seemed to notice the questions written all over the boy’s face.
“You’re wondering what I gain from helping you.”
Shinazu slowly nodded.
“Good.” Minato smiled.
“…Good?”
“It means you’re thinking.” Minato’s smile softened, but then his expression grew serious.
“You remind me of someone.” For a brief moment, a shadow of sadness crossed his eyes before disappearing.
The answer caught Shinazu off guard.
He hadn’t expected it, and he had no idea what to make of it.
“You’ve been fighting alone for too long, kid.
Now that you finally have a chance to change your life, are you really going to throw it away…
Tsukuyomi-kun?”
Shinazu had no answer.
Could he really trust this man?
Accepting the offer might rewrite his future entirely, but trusting the wrong person could just as easily make him regret for the rest of his life.
He had survived this long by relying on nobody but himself.
The thought of putting his future in someone else’s hands left him more uncertain than ever.
Noticing his hesitation, Minato decided not to press him further.
“Don’t overthink it.
You don’t have to answer me right now.
Get some rest and think it over.
I’ll give you until tomorrow.”
With that, Minato turned and walked into the hallway, quietly closing the door behind him.
For several long moments, Shinazu stood motionless in his place, staring at the pristine, white-and-gold identification card resting in his palm.
Himetsu Royal Academy.
To a street rat like him, the name belonged to an entirely different realm.
It was the kind of place he had never even dared to imagine himself getting a look at.
Under normal circumstances, he would have refused the offer without a second thought.
A stranger promising to change his life sounded less like a blessing and more like the beginning of a trap and on the streets, kindness rarely came without a price.
But things weren’t so simple anymore.
Minato had already rescued him and most of all if his Dark Magic really was being mistaken for ordinary Fire Magic, then this academy could give him something he had never had before: a chance to grow stronger without constantly looking over his shoulder.
Turning down an opportunity like that would be like axing his own feet.
Still, old habits were hard to shake.
Growing up on the streets had taught him to see every outstretched hand as a potential threat.
His legs finally gave way, and he sank onto the edge of the mattress, the card still clutched in his hand.
If I keep my Dark Magic hidden, I might be able to live a decent life as an ordinary Fire Mage.
He had spent his entire childhood wishing for the day he would awaken magic.
He had wanted just enough power to stop being helpless, to stand up against the cruel world that had trampled him for so long.
But if I get into that academy, I could become something far greater than an ordinary fire mage…
He ran his fingers over the embossed letters of Himetsu Royal Academy, torn between the future he had always wanted and the fear of trusting a stranger.
Eventually, he looked up and turned toward the window.
Beyond the harbor, the setting sun painted the waves crimson.
Its fading light stretched across the water, glimmering between the distant ships and the docks below.
For the first time in years, Shinazu could see the possibility of a future that wasn’t entirely bleak.
…
The next morning came sooner than he expected.
For the first time in years, Shinazu had slept in a proper bed.
There had been no freezing ground beneath him, no damp alleyways, and no fear of waking to a painful boot strike.
He had been warm all night, with nothing to disturb his sleep.
It was a simple comfort, one most people probably took for granted.
To Shinazu, it felt almost unreal.
After washing up, he stopped beside a nearby window and studied his reflection in the glass.
Messy black hair.
A thin, undernourished body.
Clothes that were more than worn-out rags.
He was the exact same person as yesterday, yet, somehow, things no longer felt quite the same.
His gaze drifted down toward his right wrist.
The celestial artifact remained completely silent, but his mind was made up.
The doorknob turned, and Minato stepped into the room, finding Shinazu up and ready to leave.
Shinazu stepped forward, returning the ID card to Minato with deep respect.
“Thank you for taking care of me.”
Minato accepted the card.
“So, you have made up your mind?”
The boy nodded firmly.
“Then I won’t stop you,” Minato said, stepping aside to grant him an open path to the door.
But Shinazu remained standing in the exact same spot, refusing to move.
Minato blinked in confusion.
“What now?”
“Didn’t you say you will take me with you?”
“If you were ready to come with me, then why did you say, ‘Thank you for taking care of me’?”
“Is it wrong to show gratitude?” Shinazu countered, a subtle glint in his eye.
Minato stared at him for a second before smiling warmly.
“You are a very unpredictable kid.” The professor let out a soft sigh.
“Tell me…
don’t you doubt me anymore?”
“I do,” Shinazu admitted openly.
“But I would rather choose risk over regret.”
“But what if I really do sell you to slave traders, or make you one of my experiments?” Minato challenged, a playful note in his voice.
“If I were that easy to fool, I wouldn’t have survived so long on the streets all by myself,” Shinazu replied, offering a confident smile of his own.
Minato chuckled softly, his gaze softening.
He really is like him.
“You sure are something, kid.
Let us go now.”
A few moments later, they stepped into the busy streets of Hokuto.
The port city was very lively.
Merchants called out their prices from crowded-colorful stalls, rugged workers unloaded heavy cargo from docked ships, and children ran laughing through the crowded streets.
The smell of freshly baked bread from a nearby shop watered Shinazu’s mouth.
He walked a step behind Minato, unable to stop himself from looking around.
For Shinazu who had spent most of his life worrying about his next meal in a small backward town, watching so many people in different-different clothing, decorated shops, huge ships, and goods from distant places, felt almost unreal.
Minato noticed his wandering eyes and smiled.
“You’ve never been to a city this big before, have you?”
Shinazu quickly faced forward, trying to hide his curiosity.
“No.”
“Then try not to look too surprised and stare at everything.”
“I’m not staring,” Shinazu muttered.
Just then, an elegant carriage rolled past, pulled by a beast he had never seen before, nearly causing him to walk straight into a wooden signpost.
Minato chuckled.
“Of course you’re not.”
He glanced back at the boy.
Shinazu’s black hair was a mess, and his clothes decorated with enough windows for natural ventilation, but at least he didn’t smell as bad as someone who had spent years living on the streets might have.
In fact, there was something unexpectedly pleasant about him.
A few minutes later, they stopped outside an elegant, high-end clothing boutique.
Sunlight glinted off its spotless glass windows, behind which finely tailored garments were displayed on elegant mannequins.
As soon as they stepped inside, a neatly dressed attendant hurried over and bowed deeply to Minato.
“Sir, what can I do for you today?”
“I am looking to get a haircut and some fine clothes,” Minato stated smoothly.
“Of course, sir.
Come right in,” the attendant replied warmly.
But as Minato stepped further into the establishment and Shinazu moved to follow, the attendant’s welcoming smile instantly vanished.
His eyes traveled critically from the boy’s tattered rags down to his scarred, dirt-stained hands.
A look of pure disgust flashed across his face.
“Hey!
Where do you think you’re going, you wastrel?” the attendant hissed.
He aggressively grabbed Shinazu by the collar, raising a fist, about to punch him right out of the store.
Shinazu instinctively tensed, bracing for the impact.
Whoosh!
A powerful, concentrated gust of wind suddenly came at the attendant which threw him on the street.
Several nearby clothing displays rattled violently from the shockwave and some people gathered to look.