Chapter 33
*
“That’s all for today.”
I lightly tapped the desk and closed my research log.
The dark brown failure tossed into the waste bin caught my eye.
Even while looking at that failure, I didn’t feel particularly stressed.
Didn’t they say people grow from failure?
More than that, I’m the protagonist.
And as it goes, all protagonists grow by feeding on failure.
Believing that even this failure would become part of my growth, I didn’t feel discouraged even looking at the rotten eggs.
…Honestly, I’d like to coast too.
Come to think of it, that’s unfair.
Other protagonists just snap their fingers and make something.
Why do I have to run around myself and spend years just to make one thing?
Waaah. Baby Julian. Let me take the easy route.
“…Ahem.”
End of cringe time.
When things get hard, sometimes you have to mutter nonsense to yourself in your head just to keep going.
I checked the temperature of the warming box one last time.
Then I put on my coat and opened the lab door.
“Ouch!”
And the moment the door opened, a cute yelp came from the other side.
I had a pretty good idea who it was.
“Eri.”
“Hehe….”
Behind the door.
Eri, who had landed on her backside, rubbed her forehead and gave an awkward smile.
“Eri. I seem to remember telling you not to come to the lab during this research period.”
“Sorry, teacher. I was just too curious.”
“Curiosity killed the cat, didn’t it?”
“But a curious cat gets adopted first, you know. And I became your assistant because of curiosity too, didn’t I?”
“Mm.”
This one acts like she doesn’t have a thought in her head, but sometimes she hits the nail right on the head.
Following Eri’s gaze, there was a slightly open window.
A slit no bigger than a pinhole, which I’d left just barely open for ventilation, came into view.
I locked the gap and said,
“Right. So what did the cat see this time?”
At my question, Eri brushed off her backside and sprang to her feet, eyes shining.
“Ah, right! The same spell as that black mage, right? Then does that mean you’re a mage on par with a 2nd-rank one?”
She spoke, flapping both arms.
Seeing her passion for magic made me smile without even realizing it.
Maybe because I once wanted to be a professor myself.
I can’t help smiling when I see a child burning with scholarly zeal.
Of course, even as I say that, I’m still just a child too.
“Not quite that much.”
“Don’t be so modest. I saw it clearly—the incantation, the catalyst, even the mist that appeared. Different colors, but it was that black mage’s magic.”
“But there’s a world of difference in skill.”
All I could make was a curse that covered an egg tray at most.
Even that, unlike Belzian, only activated once a day after chanting the full incantation and setting up the ideal conditions.
No matter how much of a genius I was, I couldn’t mimic the level of a black mage who had reached 2nd rank.
The curse I placed on the eggs this time wasn’t anything that special either.
It was only a slight improvement over the teapot-boiling-with-matchsticks trick I showed Eri last time.
“I keep telling you, you can’t call something like this magic.”
“Ehh… Then what am I supposed to be?”
“No need to rush, Eri.”
Didn’t it normally take three years just to get through the basics of magic?
You start learning magic at twelve, and only after three years pass and you’re fifteen can you become a proper apprentice mage.
In doctor terms, that would be intern level.
You can’t use me—the one who cut that down to three months thanks to the protagonist and genius bonuses—as the standard.
“Still, I do want to try using mine sometimes... And now I’ve learned exception handling too. People always say real practice is a hundred times better than studying.”
Is she talking about the saying that seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times?
“I also want to train my own magic for once.”
“Mm….”
After thinking about it for a moment, I nodded.
“Come to think of it, it might be about time for you too.”
“Huh?”
“Yes. It would be good for you to train using magic in a controlled environment too.”
I recalled the condensed curriculum I’d gone through.
After learning exception handling in just four days.
I started training to cast magic in a controlled environment with the help of my tutor.
Across all times and places, everyone knows that hands-on experience helps far more than books.
Added to that, since there was a training ground at the manor, there was no reason for me not to practice.
“Then you could figure out what kinds of magic suit you too.”
“Really? Then you’re the one teaching me now?”
“No. I can’t help with the practical side.”
As for theory, maybe.
Practical work is beyond what I can do.
To create an environment for hands-on training, you first need the ability to sense that environment.
Naturally, someone like me who’d given up on becoming a mage because I lacked that ability couldn’t possibly create such an environment.
“Then what was it when you cast magic all by yourself in there? I can’t do that inside either?”
“That room is reserved for me alone, so it would be difficult.”
My lab was packed full of all kinds of magical tools.
Humidity and temperature, and even symbolism.
It was my personal workshop, built by dumping money into it.
Naturally, that space wasn’t suitable for Eri to learn magic in.
“Then what about Teacher Schmidt?”
“He’s already swamped teaching just Freya.”
“Then do I have to wait until Freya’s lessons are over?”
“Well….”
But it would be a shame to leave Eri’s talent to rot.
I was rubbing my chin, thinking.
“Ah. Come to think of it, I know the right teacher.”
A person flashed through my mind.
A mage who could control the surrounding environment with the aid of magical tools.
“It just so happens I know someone. If you learn from that person, it should be a good fit.”
“Who?”
“You’ll find out tomorrow.”
Leaving Eri, who tilted her head in confusion, behind.
I thought about a gift to prepare before meeting that person.
*
As they say, strike while the iron’s hot.
Since the next day was the weekend, I decided to meet him right away.
I couldn’t go there myself.
Instead, I had the butler chief call him to our manor.
Knock, knock, knock.
There were three knocks at the annex reception room door.
“Come in.”
At the butler chief’s permission, the door slowly opened.
The first thing to slip through the crack in the door was the smell of pine resin and oil.
It was a scent that could also be described as the signature odor of mages who primarily handled fire.
The door opened, and a man appeared.
Chief Shen.
It had been a long time since I’d seen him without a gas mask.
“Good day, Director.”
The scar-covered man stepped over the threshold and bowed his head.
After the quick greeting, his gaze swept the reception room.
It first went to Eri, sitting beside me and swinging her legs.
He seemed to think for a moment at the sight of someone he’d never seen before, then met the butler chief’s eyes.
The moment he made eye contact with the butler chief, he lowered his eyes, and finally met mine.
Clack.
His body seemed to stiffen slightly.
He seemed oddly uncomfortable with me.
‘Is he still holding that against me?’
I made no outward sign and gestured to the sofa across from me.
Chief Shen carefully sat down.
Though ‘sat’ was perhaps too generous; ‘perched’ would be more accurate.
The butler chief placed a cup of black tea in front of Chief Shen.
Only then did Eri, who had been sitting next to me, whisper to me.
“Teacher. Is that the person who’s going to help train me?”
“That hasn’t been decided yet.”
“Why not?”
“The other side has to agree to the request.”
The ‘whisper’ exchanged between us was a little too loud.
Chief Shen also seemed to be listening in this direction.
Especially when I used the word ‘request,’ his shoulders flinched once.
I moistened my lips with black tea and got straight to the point.
“Chief Shen.”
“Yes, please speak, Director.”
His reply came out immediately.
It was as if he were always ready to receive an order.
“I’d like to ask you for a favor.”
“….”
“It’s a child our family is raising who has talent as a mage. I’d like you to teach this child.”
Chief Shen’s eyes widened.
“M-me?”
It wasn’t strange that he was surprised.
A child raised directly by a noble house with talent for magic.
A child who might someday create a new noble house.
To become the teacher of such a child was no trivial matter.
“Why me, of all people….”
“From among the people around me, I couldn’t think of anyone more suitable than Chief Shen. Besides, didn’t you say you were from the Mage Tower?”
“That was a long time ago.”
“But I think Chief Shen is the right choice.”
Chief Shen lowered his head.
Silence fell for a while.
Soon, he opened his mouth.
“I am not qualified.”
It was the answer I’d expected.
It had been nearly two years since I started working with Chief Shen.
I knew well enough that this man was, in a strange way, uncomfortable around me.
And I had a vague idea why.
“I am the one who betrayed the young master once. I don’t think someone like me can be entrusted with someone dear to him.”
“Young master.”
At that point, the butler chief, who had been listening quietly, chimed in too.
“I agree as well. Someone who once betrayed a kindness is perfectly capable of doing so again.”
“….”
“As a butler, I am worried. If he were to do such a thing again, how deeply would the young master be hurt….”
“Butler chief.”
I cut off the butler chief’s words.
And then I thought for a moment.
To be honest, I couldn’t say I didn’t understand the butler chief’s concern.
You shouldn’t raise a black-haired beast, after all.
But.
“I don’t think refusing to give someone another chance just because they failed once is right.”
No matter how I looked at it, that was the logic of ordinary people.
A protagonist should have a big heart, after all.
As long as they hadn’t stabbed me in the back, I could generously forgive a mere few silver coins.
“But, young master, allow this old body to speak out of turn. Once someone betrays goodwill, they tend to repeat the same behavior after turning their back. Please reconsider….”
“Then are you saying I shouldn’t have forgiven my mother?”
The butler chief’s mouth snapped shut.
He must remember it too.
Before I was accepted as the eldest son of this house.
How Linie’s mother had once tormented me.
But I accepted my mother.
Simply because I was a protagonist?
That too, but also because I could feel her sincere desire to apologize to me.
So I trusted my mother, and that choice was right.
She truly loved me,
and as a result, I was able to gain a foothold in this precarious world.
“Chief Shen had his reasons back then as well. I’m sure it wasn’t the first or second time he’d been betrayed by nobles.”
I looked at Chief Shen.
His shoulders were trembling.
“But I did once disappoint the young master….”
“Mistakes are opportunities for growth. I don’t think mistakes can be used as grounds to judge a person’s worth.”
A person can have failures and make mistakes in life.
Even I got knocked around all over the place during my residency days.
And sometimes, when I was flustered, I’d act like a complete idiot.
Then, once I’d grown up a bit, I’d watch my juniors do the same.
But in the end, mistakes never determined a person’s worth.
If anything, the ones who disappointed me the most often showed remarkable growth later on.
Maybe because of those experiences.
I never felt the need to be disappointed in my own mistakes or anyone else’s.
“Chief Shen. So please stop whipping yourself over something like this.”
Then I turned to the butler chief as well.
“And you too, butler chief. I’m not hurt, so you don’t need to get angry on my behalf.”
“I apologize, young master. I must be losing my wits. I was presuming your feelings without permission.”
“... That’s not it. Thank you for worrying about me that much.”
The butler chief seemed to think I had been hurt all this time.
Well, that wasn’t entirely wrong.
To be honest, I was a little sulky too.
Maybe that’s why I was only now making room for forgiveness, after two years.
Still.
Considering the devotion Chief Shen had shown over the past two years, maybe it was time to forgive him.
Just as I had forgiven my mother.
“Let’s put the old stories aside now. I’ll ask again, Chief Shen. Will you take Eri under your wing?”
I clapped to brighten the atmosphere.
Chief Shen, who had been staring at me in a daze, soon nodded.
“Understood, young master. I will certainly live up to your expectations.”
Chief Shen stood up and bowed deeply.
Seeing that, Eri shot her hand up.
“So when do I start learning?”
“…“
It was less that she failed to read the room and more that she was trying in her own way to lighten the mood.
Knowing that, Chief Shen wiped the corners of his eyes with his sleeve and let out a dry laugh.
“As early as tomorrow, if you’d like.”
“Really?!”
Eri clenched both fists.
“Finally, I can use magic too! But what kind of magic do you use, mister?”
“I use fire.”
“Oh, fire.”
Seeing how excited she was, maybe I should have found her a teacher sooner.
I lightly patted Eri’s head and habitually slipped a hand into my coat pocket.
‘Huh?’
The familiar texture I should have felt at my fingertips wasn’t there.
I frowned slightly and rummaged through the pocket.
It was empty.
I quickly realized what had disappeared.
The grimoire of the old mage Fitz.
The worn notebook containing thousands of records of research on the combination of holy water and magic.
‘Ah. Was today the day the loan period ended?’
Since I’d already copied it out, I didn’t feel like I was losing out.
I shrugged and turned my attention back to Eri and Chief Shen’s conversation.
“Then what time should I come tomorrow?”
“I’ll come get you. Be at the clinic at 8 a.m. I’ll teach the lesson there.”
“Huh? I thought this was practical training?”
“You should study safety before practical work, shouldn’t you?”
“Ehh….”
Eri’s face fell at the word ‘study.’
***
At the same time.
At the center of Sanctum Hill.
Somewhere in the imperial palace, an old man with white hair was dozing off in front of a stove.
“…Mm?”
The old mage slowly opened his eyes.
On his lap lay an old leather notebook that hadn’t been there a moment ago.
It was the very grimoire that had vanished without a trace from Julian’s pocket.
“Heh. So it came back.”
The old mage smiled.
In truth, that grimoire wasn’t a copy.
After all, copying a grimoire without chanting was a magically inefficient act.
When mana was already so precious that every drop had to be saved for research.
Copying a notebook on the spot just because you wanted to look cool in front of a junior was too stupid for words.
So the old mage added a small lie.
“Now I can get back to my research.”
He picked up the notebook and stood.
That notebook was the original research journal he owned.
It just happened to have a bit of preservation magic and the built-in ability to return to its owner’s hands after some time.
He picked up the returned research log and walked over to his desk.
Under the mana lamp, he opened the notebook.
“Let’s see. What kind of research has our junior been doing?”
And the magic on the notebook wasn’t limited to just those two functions.
When he flipped through it, the notebook was filled with Julian’s research so far, written in dense handwriting.
“Well done, Fitz.”
The old mage placed three small sugar cubes on the notebook.
Crunch.
When he blinked, the three sugar cubes had already disappeared.
Flipping through the notebook, the mage examined the contents recorded over the past week.
“Oh... using eggs. What an unusual idea. How is he planning to use that curse?”
The old mage’s investigation of Julian was a series of surprises.
There was nothing particularly fancy about it.
If anything, in magical technique, it was below the level of an apprentice.
But from the fact that he kept repeating pointless experiments on eggs, it was enough to spark curiosity about the idea behind it.
“What are you doing this for, junior?”
As he saw it, Julian’s experiment wasn’t some foolish attempt to rediscover already known laws or prove them again.
It was an experiment born from some novel idea known only to geniuses, something impossible for ordinary people to explain.
Before long, the notebook was approaching its final page.
There, a scene the old mage hadn’t particularly wanted was recorded.
“Heh. I told it to record whenever it sensed mana, but I suppose because it’s a low-ranking spirit, it didn’t grasp the context and recorded even this.”
It wasn’t about Julian’s experiment, but about Julian’s everyday conversation.
It wasn’t the kind of thing the old mage wanted.
From the start, he’d lent out the notebook only because he wanted to peek at his junior’s idea, though he felt a bit sorry about it.
He hadn’t intended to do something uncool like peek into his private life.
And just as he was about to erase those conversations.
“[Originally, mistakes are opportunities for growth. I don’t think mistakes can be the basis for judging a person’s worth.]”
A single sentence caught the old mage’s eye.
Reading that sentence, a spark lit in the mage’s sleepy eyes.
The mage remained still for a while, stroking his chin.
“Acknowledging mistakes and failures, and learning through them….”
In the world of mages, failure meant death, or the miserable collapse of years devoted to research.
A world where many became cripples after a single mistake caused mana backlash.
And on top of that, those who had lived as elites feared failure terribly.
That was why mages feared failure to the extreme, tried to control it, and sometimes trampled on others’ failures to climb higher.
The old mage knew that better than anyone.
‘So that was why I deliberately showed him the failed notebook.’
And yet, a mere twelve-year-old noble child was calmly preaching that failure was precisely the basis of worthwhile growth.
While keeping his own research logs—filled with thousands of failures—at his side.
‘Huh...’
That wasn’t the kind of mindset you could acquire by being taught.
In the first place, it didn’t seem like a child would learn such a mindset from anyone.
Maybe that was why.
At least in the old mage’s eyes, that attitude was itself an innate talent.
‘It looks like it’ll be worth leaving the imperial palace for a while after a long time.’
A deep crescent slowly formed at the corners of his wrinkled mouth.