Chapter 22
Isaac and Agatha silently tied up Hubert, who had been knocked unconscious.
As Monica watched them out of the corner of her eye and breathed a sigh of relief, Isabelle came running over and latched onto the back of her neck.
"Big Siiiiis—! I was so worried! I was on pins and needles!"
"Um, uh, thank you for helping with the plan."
To disable one of Hubert's magical tools, it was necessary to touch it.
That was why Isabelle disguised a village boy by draping Monica's coat over him, allowing Monica to sneak up to the magical tool. Pretending to pull Monica into an embrace, Isabelle hid the boy's body with her own.
Once again, Monica had been saved by Isabelle's quick thinking and acting ability.
The village boy who had been wearing Monica's cloak stared at her, unable to hide his astonishment.
It would have been difficult for anyone without knowledge of magic to understand what had happened here.
Neither Hubert's magical tool, Monica's technique for rewriting it, nor silent-casting magic was something one could encounter just anywhere.
But the boy looked straight at Monica and muttered,
...Amazing.
This boy had understood everything that had happened here correctly.
(Just as I thought.)
Having reached a certain conclusion, Monica walked up to the boy and cleared her throat.
Isaac and the others turned their attention to Monica as well.
With everyone watching, Monica opened her mouth and addressed the boy.
"You are... the Sixth 〈Silent Witch〉, aren't you?"
The boy answered with a serious expression.
"No, I'm not."
"...Huh?"
"I'm not."
"..."
Monica staggered, then crouched down and clutched her head.
(Aaaaaah... I asked him so confidently! And I even tried to make it sound cool, like a "cool master"... H-how embarrassing...! I want to crawl under a desk...!)
As the flustered Monica staggered toward a table, the boy continued speaking with an apologetic expression.
"Um, well... The village chief is the one playing the Sixth 〈Silent Witch〉. But... as you have probably realized by now, I really was the one using magic from the shadows."
＊ ＊ ＊
Norman, a twelve-year-old villager of Sechen Village in Lagott territory, had two important jobs.
One was guiding travelers who visited the village.
The other was... using magic while hiding behind the villagers who played the 〈Silent Witch〉.
Norman's father was the fourth son of a former noble family, and apparently he had attended a magic school in his youth.
He studied magic there, but his low mana capacity kept him from making much of himself. To make matters worse, his family went bankrupt before he could graduate.
Afterward, he lived like a commoner, met Norman's mother, and married her. Eventually, the two of them drifted to Sechen Village and settled there.
His father cheerfully told Norman about this tragic past.
When Norman asked, "How can you tell such a painful story with a smile, Dad?" his father glanced at his mother, lowered his voice, and said,
—Compared to the happiness of meeting your mother, most things are trivial.
Norman adored his father, who was a little easygoing and absentminded, yet loved his family dearly.
But, several years ago, both that beloved father and mother died in an epidemic.
The family of someone who brings a disease into a village is often hated.
So Norman had been prepared to have stones thrown at him and to be driven out of the village, but the villagers were kind to him.
Sechen Village was by no means wealthy. Everyone was barely able to feed themselves.
Even so, the villagers took turns looking after Norman, never once showing displeasure even though he was the son of someone who had died in the epidemic.
So Norman wanted to be useful to the villagers and earnestly thought about what he could do.
Norman was still a child, with little strength and limited abilities. So he decided to learn as much as he could, and read through every book his father had left behind.
One of them was a textbook from the magic school his father had attended in his youth. After reading it, Norman began studying magic on his own.
His father had said he had not even managed to obtain a junior mage's qualification, but apparently Norman had talent.
By the time a year had passed since he began studying magic on his own, Norman had learned to use magic, if only a little.
...But with beginner magic, all he could manage was starting a small fire or creating a gust of wind. It was difficult to say that this would be of any use to the adults of the village.
If he could use more powerful magic, he might be able to help the village, but with only the beginner textbook left behind by his father, this was all he could do.
If possible, he wanted to attend magic school and learn more magic. But attending magic school required an enormous amount of money.
As Norman pondered whether he could somehow help the village with the magic he could currently use, he heard a rumor about the 〈Silent Witch〉 from a traveling merchant one day.
A hero who wielded silent-casting magic and had driven off Worgan's Black Dragon and Rainburg's Curse Dragon.
The hero's true identity was shrouded in mystery, and apparently the hero rarely appeared in public.
That was when Norman had an epiphany: This could work...
＊ ＊ ＊
After hearing Norman's story, Isaac looked down at him with an expression half exasperated and half irritated, then sighed.
"So you thought of pretending to be the 〈Silent Witch〉 to attract customers..."
"Yes. I use magic from the shadows to surprise the customers as part of the performance."
The First 〈Silent Witch〉 who greeted visitors at the village entrance had demonstrated fire magic, while the Fourth 〈Silent Witch〉 who shielded Monica from the thug had demonstrated wind magic.
All of that magic had been Norman's doing; he had been casting it from hiding.
A small boy like Norman could easily conceal himself and use magic from the shadows.
Monica was secretly impressed that he had thought things through so thoroughly.
But beside Monica, who was blithely admiring this feat, Isaac frowned.
"I wouldn't call what you're doing an unambiguous crime, but... if the Seven Sages took offense, this village could be crushed. The Seven Sages hold the rank of Magic Count, making them bona fide nobles. What you've done amounts to insulting a noble."
At Isaac's words, Norman's thin shoulders flinched.
What Isaac said was true. Even so, Monica had no intention of punishing either the village or Norman. She did wish, however, that they would stop invoking her name.
So Monica gave Isaac's clothes a few tugs as he glared fiercely at Norman.
"Um, well... could you leave this to me?"
"...Do you have something in mind?"
"Yes."
When Monica nodded, Isaac said nothing more and yielded the floor to her.
Monica was bad at negotiating. She was still just as shy around people, and if possible, she did not want to stand in front of others.
Even today, she had intended to act as a cool master, but in the end, Isaac, Isabelle, and the others had come to her aid.
Nevertheless, she felt that she had to do what she could.
(Because I'm one of the Seven Sages... the 〈Silent Witch〉.)
Monica cleared her throat and spoke to young Norman, who was looking up at her.
"The magic you used wasn't ordinary magic; it was remote magic that activated at a distance from its caster. Being able to use remote magic of two attributes—fire and wind—through self-study is, I think, an incredible feat."
Norman blinked hard, and his cheeks gradually turned red.
The villagers probably had not understood what kind of magic Norman had used. In a rural village, opportunities to see magic were rare. Thus, no one knew how advanced remote magic was.
At Minerva, the institution for training mages, remote magic was taught only after students became upperclassmen. There was no doubt that Norman possessed talent, having mastered it through self-study.
Monica spoke in a gentle voice meant to reassure Norman.
"So, would you like to study magic seriously at Minerva?"
"Minerva? The institution for training mages? But attending Minerva costs tuition..."
"Don't worry. If I write you a letter of recommendation, your tuition will be waived."
At Monica's words, Norman finally seemed to realize something.
"You... could you possibly be...?"
Monica placed her index finger against her lips.
Answering the boy's question with silence, the 〈Silent Witch〉 smiled bashfully.