That’s it!

  Why did this eight-year-old child have the type of aura I had only ever felt in the presence of the King of Sapin himself?

  No, that wasn’t right—the atmosphere in this room was even heavier than what I had experienced when I was with the king.

  He was clearly asking me for a favor. But it felt like he was gauging me, almost as if he were trying to evaluate whether to put me on his list of people to keep alive.

  I hadn’t felt this from him before—perhaps because I had only ever seen him in the company of his family.

  I quickly replied, wanting to get it over with. “It shouldn’t be a problem getting those things. The mask might take a bit of time, but I’m sure we’ll have it before you become an adventurer.”

  His slight nod filled me with relief. I had nobles waiting in line to introduce themselves to me, but this child…

  “And what would you require in exchange? I wouldn’t like to just ask for this without offering any compensation,” he responded.

  I felt a little sweat forming above my brows. “It’s fine, really. I owe your father a lot. He may be working for me, but the way he trains my guards has really reduced the number of problems during the auctions.”

  This was the truth. Rey had become an irreplaceable part of the Helstea Auction Houses. His leadership, charisma, and rapport with the guards he trained was first class. I had owed him for saving my life, and I felt I still owed him—and his family. Even with his generous salary—which was well above the average—and letting his family stay in our house, I still felt I was getting a bargain. Tabitha and Lilia had been happier than ever after Rey and Alice moved in and had Ellie. I’d always felt guilty about not being able to spend as much time with my family as they wanted, but things were a lot better now.

  “Speaking of training,” he muttered, looking down, “that gives me an idea.”

  When Arthur started thinking, he got a certain look. His gaze went unfocused and his brows furrowed; the subtle crease near his lips and the slight twitch of his nose gave the appearance that he was thinking of something beyond what normal human intelligence would be capable of. It was the look of a true intellectual.

  It was hard to believe he was the same age as my little Lilia.

  “Allow me to start training your daughter to become a mage.” He dropped this landmine as if he was just talking about the weather.

  ARTHUR LEYWIN

  “Iintend to start giving my baby sister lessons in mana manipulation soon. It wouldn’t be too much trouble to include Lilia in this training. I notice that neither you nor Lady Tabitha are mages, so it might be impossible for her to awaken by herself, but if we start now, I think she’ll be able to awaken at the average age,” I said.

  My statement was met with silence. I looked up to see that Vincent had dropped the stack of papers he had been fumbling with. His face was frozen and I could hear his heart beating faster.

  “Did I hear you right? Can you really train my daughter to become a m-mage?” he asked after a long moment of silence.

  “Of course. It’ll be a long process, but it’s definitely possible. Not certain,” I said honestly, “but possible. I will have to ask you to keep a low profile on the lessons, though. I would hate to be bombarded with doting parents asking me to make their children into mages.” I chuckled, trying to lighten the tension.

  He nodded furiously, but failed to form a coherent sentence. “Sincerely,” he finally managed to stammer, “there would be no greater happiness for me than seeing my daughter become a mage.” His eyes were brimming with tears, on the verge of falling.

  “Great. Then I’ll leave the items we discussed to you. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll see myself out. My apologies for intruding on your work.”

  Picking up the sleeping Sylvie from my lap, I let myself out of the room.

  That worked out well.

  Chapter 21

  For Them

  LILIA HELSTEA

  Iwas shopping with Mommy and Lady Alice and Ellie. Ellie seemed a little bit disappointed that her brother didn’t want to join us, so I was holding her hand to comfort her.

  “Ellie, do you like your big brother that much?”

  “Yes! But he’s a meanie for not shopping with us. I wanted to dress him up more,” she pouted.

  “Who do you like better, me or your big brother?”

  After thinking for some time, she responded, “I like you both.”

  “What are you girls talking about?” my mom asked, pulling my other hand. “Lilia, what do you think of Arthur?”

  “He’s a little scary. How is he so strong, Mommy? I thought kids like us couldn’t be mages until we’re all grown up.” It wasn’t fair. I had always dreamed of becoming a mage and making Mommy and Papa happy.

  “I guess it’s because he’s a very gifted child,” Mommy said. Then she looked at Lady Alice, and seemed to forget about me. “Alice, do you really have no problems with everything he told you? I don’t mean to overstep, but doesn’t it seem just a little weird? You told me he was good at fighting even before the bandit attack, but how did he get so powerful during the time he was away?”

  I saw Lady Alice shake her head. “Of course I know he’s hiding a lot of things. He probably doesn’t realize it, but it’s pretty obvious when he’s lying. He tends to focus his gaze on one point and his voice turns monotone when he lies. It’s pretty cute, how he thinks he’s being sneaky.” She sighed. “Tabitha, I know he’s keeping things from us and so does Rey, but we agreed to give him some space until he’s comfortable enough to tell us himself. I guess that’s just what it means to be a parent. I know he doesn’t mean any harm, so all we can do is just support him until he’s ready.”

  “Lying is bad,” Ellie declared.

  I agreed with her on that. “Yeah, Ellie. Lying is bad!”

  ARTHUR LEYWIN

  Istarted concentrating on my mana core, but I was distracted by a series of inexplicable sneezes. I was getting impatient with my training. I was eager to reach the level I’d been at in my past life, but that wasn’t happening as quickly as I wanted it to.

  The fight with Director Goodsky had made it all too real for me. I was too inexperienced and weak. It hadn’t really affected me until now, but I wasn’t used to fighting the way mages fought in this world. The fact that there was nothing like conjurers in my previous world made fighting one a lot more difficult.

  My concentration wavered as my mind flashed back to my past life. The scene on that foggy night when the head caretaker of the orphanage, the closest thing to a mother figure I’d had, had been shot. I had been young, but thinking back on it, that was probably the reason I had started training like a madman. Headmaster Wilbeck had picked me off the streets, giving me a steamed bun. After that, she took care of me, taught me how to read and write, scolded me, and taught me basic manners. And then they had killed her.

  I hadn’t wanted to become a king; I’d just wanted to be strong enough to kill the ones responsible for the death of the person who had taken care of me—who had loved me. It was never as simple as that, though.

  Eventually, I learned that the ones responsible for killing the headmaster were agents from another country, on a mission to find certain special individuals. Several other headmasters were also murdered, becoming martyrs in a secret war. Unfortunately, I wasn’t to discover the truth of this until it was much too late.

  I had realized then that no matter how powerful an individual was, he was still just one person. I needed authority along with my strength. Becoming king, then, served that purpose. The first thing I had done when I was appointed king was avenge Headmaster Wilbeck’s death. I obliterated the organization responsible and laid waste to the country that had sent them. I’d bloodied my hands with the corpses of hundreds of thousands of soldiers—millions altogether. The cruel truth, though, was that no matter what kind of revenge I took, it didn’t change what had happened. Headmaster Wilbeck had still died an unjust death. Worse, in my quest for vengeance, the blood of the only people who’d still mattered to me had been spilt, leaving me alone in a large and bleak world.

  This life was going to be different. I wasn’t going to let the ones I treasured suffer.

  Sylvie nudged me with her wet nose, her concerned gaze fixed on my eyes as if to say, “I’m here, feel better.”

  Petting her head, I stirred myself out of my unpleasant memories.

  I washed myself off, laughing at the crying Sylvie, who still hated getting wet. I was glad I had her by my side. It wasn’t healthy for me to be alone with my thoughts for too long.

  The ladies came back from their shopping trip just as I finished dressing. I hopped down the stairs to greet them.

  “Hmph! Brother is a meanie!” My sister just puckered her lower lip with her arms crossed.

  “Because I didn’t go shopping with you, Ellie? I’m sorry.” I patted her turned head, and she tensed her face as she forced herself to keep from smiling.

  “How was shopping, Mom, Lady Tabitha? Did you get a lot of stuff?” I asked, my hand still on my sister’s head.

  “Not much, just a few new outfits for Ellie and Lilia,” my mother responded.

  I heard a storm of footsteps coming toward us. Vincent arrived beside us, his excitement obvious. His eyes were a little red and he couldn’t contain the smile on his face.

  “You’re finally here!” He picked up his daughter and kissed her cheek.

  “Honey, why are you so flustered? Have you been crying? What is going on?” Tabitha looked bewildered. I couldn’t blame her for being confused and worried; Vincent did look a little crazy.

  “You didn’t tell them yet, Arthur?” He faced me, the goofy smile still pasted on his face.

  Shaking my head, I said, “I was about to. I just got down as well.”

  “Tell us what, baby?” My mother looked concerned. Mothers never liked not knowing what was going on.

  “Vincent and I were talking about teaching Ellie and Lilia mana manipulation, starting today. Of course, only if Lady Tabitha is okay with it.”

  Tabitha shook her head, looking at her husband. “Wait. Is this some sort of prank? If it is, it’s not funny.”

  “No, ma’am. I know neither you nor Sir Vincent are mages, but it is possible for Lilia to become one.” I gave her a sincere look.

  “I’ve never heard of a method for teaching someone mana manipulation. I’ve been taught that it’s up to the child’s innate talent to awaken by themself. Why haven’t I heard of anyone else teaching children?”

  It was hard to convince Tabitha that Lilia could become a mage; she was more skeptical than Vincent had been. I didn’t blame her, though. Vincent hadn’t even questioned me, which was surprising. The biggest worry for a mother of a noble family was the future of her children, and in a society where mages were the elites, the Helstea lineage, no matter how rich they were, would earn more than a few looks of pity.

  “I’ve never heard of it either, Art. How do you plan on doing this?” my mother asked quizzically.

  “Mom, remember how I awakened at the age of three? Well, I can still remember what happened and why it worked. So I’m going to do to them what I did on myself. I’ll have to test them before I can even start—but for Ellie, I’m a hundred percent sure she’ll be able awaken, and for Lilia, around seventy percent,” I answered. The probability was higher than that for Lilia, but I didn’t want to get their hopes up too much. There was still a chance she wouldn’t be able to awaken.

  “Heavens. This… this is… Give me a minute. I need to sit down.” Tabitha’s knees were wobbling as she made her way to the couch.

  “This isn’t going to be an instant thing. It’ll take a few years for them to awaken on their own even after I teach them.”

  The Helstea parents just nodded at this, so I turned toward the confused faces of Lilia and Ellie.

  “Ellie, Lilia, can you go sit down on the floor over by the fireplace?” I instructed, guiding them into the living room. “I want you both to sit in your most comfortable position, back to back. Leave some space so I can sit in between.”

  Ellie was still a little clueless as to what was going on, but Lilia had gotten the gist of what was happening, and I could see the determined look on her face. Ellie sat down with her legs stuck out in front of her, while Lilia sat in a more ladylike position, her legs tucked to her left side.

  “Now, before I do anything, I want you both to close your eyes and concentrate. If you try really hard, you’ll be able to see some spots of light. Do you see it?” I placed myself between them now. Tabitha, Vincent, and my mother were all staring intently.

  “No… I don’t really see anything,” I heard Lilia murmur. I had expected as much, but I caught looks of panic on the adults’ faces. Ignoring them, I turned to my sister and asked her the same thing. I was confident she would be able to see the light, but wasn’t sure she would recognize what to actually look for.

  But she replied, “Brother, I think I see a small, pretty light!”

  The next step involved something that only I was capable of doing. I had to will the mana of all four elemental attributes into their bodies at once. By doing this, they would be able to more clearly see the specks of mana scattered throughout their bodies. Because the mana in their bodies was in its undeveloped form, not yet in a mana core, all four elements needed to be delivered at the same intensity to trigger a response from the dormant mana inside them.

  “I’m going to start now. You may feel a little feverish, but I want you to endure it and just focus on the specks of light.” As I spoke, I placed a hand on each girl’s back and willed my quadra-elemental mana into them.

  Lilia and Ellie both let out little yelps of surprise.

  “I think I see the lights!” exclaimed Lilia. “They’re so pretty.”

  “Wow! So many!” echoed my little sister.

  “Now, this part is important. I’m going to help you, but your job is to try and connect all of the little lights, all right? Do you understand, Ellie? Pretend that all the little lights are friends and they need to be together. Can you do that for me, Ellie?” This was the trickiest and lengthiest part, and I had to make sure they understood what to do.

  “I think I get it,” Lilia said, and Ellie added, “The lights are friends? Okay!”

  I remained in my position for over an hour to trigger the dormant mana in their bodies, at least to the point that the specks would be visible enough for them to manipulate and gather.

  Then, taking a deep breath, I removed my hands from their backs, instructing them to continue gathering the little lights until the lights disappeared.

  “How is it? Do you think Lilia will be able to become a mage?” Both Helstea parents were a mess. They were clearly anxious, and Vincent was nervously chewing on a fingernail. I looked at my mother; even she had a hint of uneasiness in her eyes.

  I responded with a wide smile. “Don’t worry. They should both awaken as mages within a few years. My plan is to do this with them every day for the few months that I’ll be home. By then, they should be capable of training on their own to form a mana c⁠—”

  Tabitha didn’t even let me finish; she swept me up into a big hug. “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! My baby will be able to learn magic! Oh, my goodness—I was so worried what her future would be, since neither of us are mages. Oh! Thank you so much, Arthur.”

  Tears were streaming down Vincent’s face, and he kept his gaze on his daughter as she meditated. My mother patted my head silently, giving me a proud smile.

  It wasn’t as big a deal for Ellie to become a mage, since our whole family could use magic. The chances of her never awakening would have been slim to none even if I hadn’t done anything; I was just speeding up the process. My thinking was, the faster she learned magic, the faster she’d be able to protect herself.

  The two girls lasted a few hours before the mana I had exerted dispersed from their bodies. Surprisingly, Lilia lasted longer than Ellie. She had more willpower than my four-year-old sister.

  My father came home from the Guild Hall shortly thereafter and was ecstatic that the Helstea family was going to have its first mage.

  Picking up Eleanor and rubbing his beard on her cheek, my father cooed, “My little baby is going to be strong like her older brother! But promise me you won’t be stronger than Father, okay? Or he’ll be very sad.”

  My mother laughed at this and my sister just giggled, pushing Father’s face away. “Papa! Your beard tickles. Stop!”

  We had a wonderful dinner party that night. Vincent and Tabitha went all out on the delicacies, leaving my mouth watering. Sylvie drooled right next to me. The night ended with everyone merry, Vincent going around offering drinks to even the maids and butlers.

  The following days consisted of me condensing my mana core and my elemental skills, along with my dragon-will powers. This was a mind-numbingly slow process, and I felt myself stagnating because of the lack of stimulation.

  I spent a few days during the week sparring with Father, but I could tell he was afraid of hurting me, always holding back even when it was unnecessary.

  Aside from my training, I spent a couple of hours every day watching over my sister and Lilia while they continued on their journey to form their cores. It was a strenuous process, and I could see that my sister was a bit more impatient with the training, so I did my best to help her through it by making games out of it.

  I also tried talking to my mother about her abilities as an emitter. I asked how she had learned it and trained in it when there were so few emitters, but she only smiled at me mysteriously, saying a woman needed to have a few secrets of her own.

  I made a note to ask her again when she was feeling less secretive.

  Two weeks before my birthday and the start of my career as an adventurer, I was startled one afternoon by loud, obnoxious knocks on the front door. When I opened the door and saw the all-too-familiar faces on the step, I couldn’t hold back my smile.