Chapter 6
“Now that’s astonishing.”
It was what Luri said as she entered with breakfast and looked at Ferda.
As a dragon spawn and Valdrowa’s sole attendant, she had an excellent eye for detail.
“Did you really break through the circle?”
Overnight?
Ferda nodded.
“Yes.”
“Wouldn’t it be impossible for an ordinary human to break through it in a single day?”
“Because I’m not ordinary, I suppose? More importantly, I’d like an answer.”
“What do you mean?”
“Is this enough to prove that I qualify to be your consort?”
“……”
Instead of answering, Luri looked up at Ferda with her lips pressed tightly together.
The standard of potential she had set had been met.
‘No, he’s actually exceeded my expectations.’
Just two weeks ago, when she had made the offer to Ferda, she had thought this:
It would be a miracle if he forcibly squeezed out a single drop on the final day of the fourth week.
Yet Ferda had met the condition with ease after only two weeks.
‘No, it can’t even be called two weeks.’
There had not even been any sign of progress, so he had accomplished it in a single day.
‘The cause of that awakening was… surely my master’s battle.’
What possible change could anyone feel there?
All a human could do was be overwhelmed by fear and awe.
In fact, Luri had been the one to carry him to bed after his body gave out, so she knew exactly what state he had been in.
She disliked how he now acted so relaxed, as though this were only natural.
“Why aren’t you answering?”
“……Never mind.”
“Never mind what?”
“The standard.”
Luri cleared her throat and changed the subject.
“Since you’ve met the standard, you may rest comfortably until the engagement ceremony. You’ve worked hard.”
“Resting sounds nice, but don’t I still have a long way to go?”
After finishing breakfast, Ferda wiped his mouth with a napkin and rose from his seat.
“Is there somewhere I can practice?”
“What are you planning to practice?”
“Magic.”
Luri shook her head.
“Unfortunately, there are no supplies for mages here. I can have them brought in, but it will take about three days.”
“It won’t take that long. I don’t need anything like that.”
The training Ferda was about to begin did not require any expensive or intricate equipment.
“A few targets will be enough.”
“Targets?”
“I mean, just set out a few scarecrows or something.”
Luri looked puzzled.
What kind of training could a novice who had only just stepped into the First Circle possibly do with scarecrows?
But for Ferda, they were the best tool available.
His magical training required a delicacy that could not be measured or corrected with mere equipment.
And Ferda already possessed enough control to handle that delicacy on his own.
* * *
The place Luri guided Ferda to was the clearing where she had spread her wings to fly to the mountain’s summit.
It had now become a training ground.
It was the sort of place intended for ordinary soldiers, not mages.
Straw scarecrows, distance markers, obstacles, and equipment.
‘I can understand how she manages this enormous castle by herself.’
She had transformed the clearing into a training ground in just thirty minutes.
With that kind of skill and speed, what could she possibly be unable to do?
Ferda spoke to Luri, who stood demurely beside him.
“Thank you for setting this up.”
“What, specifically, are you planning to practice?”
“How to control mana.”
Luri tilted her head.
“Why control it?”
“To use magic efficiently. It’s common to waste mana by using too much, or for a spell to fail because too little was used.”
This time, she tilted her head to the other side.
“Does that happen?”
“Do dragons not have that problem? I heard all dragons can use at least a little magic.”
Luri nodded.
“As you said, we can wield magic. The magic we can use differs depending on which Great Ruler’s blood we inherited, but almost all dragon spawns can do so.”
“And yet you don’t understand?”
“No. To put it simply, what you’re saying sounds like worrying that you might forget how to breathe. Other dragon spawns would call it ‘primitive.’”
Ferda stared intently at Luri.
“So what I’m doing looks primitive?”
“I’m a dragon spawn as well.”
So it looked primitive.
“Well, that isn’t wrong.”
What could one do when treating everyone else as beneath them was their innate nature?
Dragon spawns were born with the ability to wield magic.
Humans, on the other hand, wielded magic through effort and understanding.
It was only natural that those with innate talent and those who achieved things through effort would fail to understand one another.
Ferda turned his head toward the scarecrows.
“May I watch you practice?”
“If watching someone practice breathing sounds entertaining.”
“Then go ahead.”
Luri stood a fair distance behind him and began observing.
Ferda closed his eyes.
To control magic, one had to feel stillness and slowly approach the tranquil flow.
That was the conventional method of controlling mana.
‘But that method is limited to the Blue Circle.’
Most established magic theory had been developed for Blue Circles.
Ferda’s circle was a Red Circle.
A Red Circle, formed through emotional upheaval, could not be controlled using the methods of a Blue Circle.
Even if one did manage to control it that way, one’s abilities would deteriorate far beyond effectiveness, becoming what people crudely called a ‘half-mage.’
‘I must control what should not be controlled.’
The Red Circle was illogical and filled with contradictions.
If one knew the principle that broke through those contradictions, one could master the power.
And Ferda had made that possible.
With his eyes closed, he slowly let his consciousness sink to the bottom.
The consciousness that had descended beneath a lake reached his lower abdomen.
The tautly spinning circle appeared clearly through his closed eyes.
Ferda observed it quietly.
The rapidly flowing mana was like a torrential stream during the rainy season.
It felt as though a careless approach would sweep him away.
Ferda carefully reached out a hand.
What he was trying to do was like shaping pottery.
He had to carefully touch the edge of the rapidly rotating circle, maintain its form, and scoop up the mana.
‘Scoop it up.’
Even the relatively slow-moving Blue Circle required more than a year of training to reach this stage.
The Red Circle required several times as long.
‘I worked until I bled.’
That sensation remained vivid in Ferda’s memory.
Ferda focused on the circle and brought his finger to it.
The mana of the torrent gently touched his finger, and the mana within it used his finger as a new stream and flowed outward.
‘I can feel it.’
He could feel the mana that had been in his lower abdomen rising through his veins.
Through his veins to his heart, and from his heart into his arteries.
The mana began moving along his blood vessels as though they were roads.
‘This takes a year.’
But Ferda skillfully found the path and finally reached the tip of his right index finger.
‘That took one minute.’
A one-year process had been completed in a single minute.
Having scooped up the mana, he moved on to the next step: ‘forming a sphere.’
Wooong—
The mana gathered at his fingertip radiated outside his body and scattered.
He felt blue threads spreading from his fingertip.
‘Condense.’
The mana that had been spreading gathered about a handspan above him and condensed.
The condensed and compressed mana took on a deep color.
Once it condensed enough to be clearly visible even to someone who had not mastered magic, the stage was complete.
Ferda formed a smooth, hard, perfect sphere.
Usually, anything one failed to control completely dissipated in the form of blue vapor.
But there was no such waste in Ferda’s sphere.
‘It took another year to reach this point.’
A process that had taken a total of two years had been completed in two minutes.
He did not feel particularly overjoyed.
As Luri had said, this was as natural as breathing.
Just as no one rejoiced at discovering how to breathe, it was equally natural to Ferda.
‘The final stage.’
The task that took every mage six years.
And the task that even the exceptionally talented Ferda had only barely mastered over three years.
He entered the ‘three-beat’ stage.
Ferda looked down at the mass of mana gathered above his finger.
A pure crystal that could become anything according to its user’s will.
The first thing one did with that crystal was cast the projectile known as Mana Shot.
As its name suggested, it was a simple spell that launched a mass of mana.
But the training also measured whether a mage was capable of fulfilling his role.
‘Cohesion, speed, and accuracy must all align perfectly.’
That was the three-beat stage.
It was known as the Wall of Lament, and countless mages failed to pass it even after reaching the Third Circle.
Even Ferda had only managed it after reaching the Second Circle.
Ferda raised his head from the mass of mana.
He saw a sign and a scarecrow marked as exactly 50M away.
“Hmm……”
Ferda narrowed his eyes and hummed.
“This won’t do.”
After muttering that, he focused on his finger once more.
Three spheres formed and floated above his finger.
Ferda looked at them and muttered,
“Yes. This is it.”
This much should do. Surely this would make the practice worthwhile.
Ferda’s finger slashed through the air.
At the same time, three mana bullets flew in parabolic arcs.
They landed precisely above the scarecrow’s forehead.
Pff-pff-boom—!
The high-density mana bullets burst and exploded.
The scarecrow’s head vanished without leaving even a trace.
Ferda looked at it and muttered,
“As expected, it didn’t die.”
Although firing three shots at the First Circle had consumed half of his mana, it was fine.
Mana increased as the number of one’s circles grew.
Having even completed a practical test, Ferda no longer doubted his own abilities.
His practice ended there.
Only ten minutes had passed from the beginning to the end.
* * *
That night, Luri went down to the lair.
In her hands were documents she had organized herself.
“I’ll give the weekly report.”
-Go ahead.
Although Valdrowa had withdrawn from the world, she still needed to know what was happening outside.
As her sole attendant, Luri handled that duty, and she had willingly taken it on.
Valdrowa listened calmly to her summary.
The thirty-minute report finally ended, and Luri closed the documents.
“That is all.”
-Yes, you’ve worked hard.
“It was nothing worth calling hardship. Is there anything you’d like to know?”
-Nothing. You may go back.
The words Luri had heard so many times sounded entirely different to her ears.
-Something I’m curious about…
Valdrowa scratched her chin with a claw.
Having served Valdrowa for so long, Luri knew at once.
Her mistress was curious about something.
‘Is she finally interested in the outside world?’
Luri’s eyes flashed for an instant.
Valdrowa’s mouth twitched, then she shook her head sharply.
-No, nothing.
“Please tell me. What are you curious about? This unworthy Luri is prepared to answer all of her mistress’s questions.”
Luri’s eyes gleamed.
Valdrowa looked down at her and reluctantly opened her mouth.
-How has the one who will… become my consort been doing?
“Ah.”
A sense of betrayal took root in Luri’s heart.
It felt as though her dream had shattered into pieces.
All her mistress was curious about was the current state of that bastard.
But since she had pressed for the question, Luri had a duty to answer.
“The one who will become your fiancé is doing well.”
-Did he seem to have any difficulties?
“No, you needn’t worry. Contrary to my initial expectation that he would be uncomfortable without a personal attendant, he’s doing quite well. He’s completely unlike the nobles these days.”
-I see.
“And so…”
Contrary to Luri’s expectation that the conversation was over, her lips moved again.
She agonized over whether she could say this, then spoke.
“So I can’t get a read on him.”
-You can’t get a read on him? Do you mean he’s below your expectations?
Luri shook her head.
“No. His ability is exceptional. It’s simply that he exceeds even what I expected.”
-A human you acknowledge? How unusual.
Valdrowa was surprised.
She already knew how deeply Luri hated humans.
-Then what is the problem? Is he unstable, perhaps?
“No. He was too perfect.”
-Isn’t that a good thing?
“Of course, being perfect is a good thing. But not for a human.”
Luri recalled what she had observed while watching Ferda.
The training in particular was what had made her think he was so dangerous.
“Humans are a race that learns through mistakes. Therefore, they can never be perfect from the very beginning.”
He had not failed even once.
And it was not only today.
That was the impression she had gained while observing him over the past several days.
Even Luri, who hated humans, had no choice but to acknowledge him; his very manner was fundamentally wrong for a human.
Thus, he had gone beyond being someone she merely acknowledged for his ability.
“That’s why I can’t think of him as anything but dangerous.”
A sense of awe took root in Luri’s heart.
Because she felt he possessed something she had overlooked.
Because she felt he harbored something she did not know.
As a loyal servant, she could not allow him to stand beside her mistress.
-I’m surprised to hear you think that. He must be a truly remarkable man.
“I hate to admit it… but yes, he is.”
Valdrowa pondered her words.
-Still, it’s all right. You said he came with pure intentions to meet me, did you not?
“……”
-Then I shall trust him.
It was a truly optimistic thing to say.
Luri was anxious enough to die, while the person involved was speaking so carelessly.
‘This is my mistress.’
Luri knew this, and she had taken every possibility into account.
‘Then I must do everything I can.’
If she could not, she needed to create a situation in which she could at least sound out his true feelings.
‘As expected… it might not be a bad idea to try that.’
Luri decided to set the stage herself.
She was confident it would at least allow her to ascertain his intentions to some degree, even if she could not make him reveal his true nature.
As she fleshed out the plan, a phrase she had used kept circling through her mind.
“An astonishing side beneath the surface…”
As Luri mulled over those words, something came to mind.
Ferda’s face—the way he had smiled and expressed admiration even while suffering.
She made a disgusted face, as if she had stepped in filth on the road.
“Mistress. If I may…”
-What is it?
“……”Nothing.”