Chapter 29:
Our Little Lump Was Here
It was a scream from the girl sitting at the back.
It was because the turtle, which they thought was a decoration, was slowly moving forward.
It was a red-eared slider turtle.
Its slow movement gradually sped up, transforming into the figure of a boy.
“Wow.”
“He, he turned into a person.”
The students’ eyes widened at the astonishing sight they had never seen before.
A male student wearing a blue 2nd-year badge on his school uniform collar.
With orange-red hair and brown skin visible even from a distance.
Some of the teachers on the platform who recognized him sighed or shook their heads.
Zigbert Serdia.
He was a humanoid from the Serdia noble family attending the 2nd year.
“…”.
Only Professor Rumble seemed to have predicted the current situation, staring at Zigbert as he descended the stairs without any disturbance.
Zigbert, who seemed to be walking steadily towards the platform, suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Riche, who was sitting at the desk right next to him, looked up at him with surprised eyes.
“Hello, Riche.”
Energy filled Zigbert’s formerly indifferent eyes, and his gaze softened.
In an instant, the change in his expression left the surrounding students dumbfounded.
“Zigbert.”
Professor Rumble called out his name, urging him. Zigbert, without flinching at the sound, only descended to the platform at Riche’s quick gesture.
“Wow.”
It felt like the surrounding children were glancing around, curious about the relationship between Zigbert and Riche.
But at this moment, they were too shocked to care.
‘Was he there the whole time? He should have told me when he was alone earlier.’
Three years ago, when Zigbert’s wounds had completely healed, the Serdia family took Zigbert to the Ludwick Mansion themselves.
After that, the Serdia family had been noisy for a while due to succession issues.
Despite the efforts of the Serdia family to resolve the issue themselves, the opposition from the eldest son’s faction was intense. It was an attitude that Zigbert couldn’t be recognized as the successor.
In the end, troubled by the problem, the Serdia family, whose head was aching as much as it could, issued a bizarre order.
“Fight each other. The one who wins will be the successor.”
At the time, the eldest son was 14 years old, and Zigbert was 8 years old. And he was a young werewolf whose transformation ability was not fully developed.
Was the Serdia family insane?
The other three noble families who heard the news thought so.
It was unthinkable to hand over the position of the noble family to the eldest son, who was not a gifted individual. It was an unprecedented event in history, shaking the foundation of the four noble families.
Although they tried to persuade the family to reconsider the order, the Serdia family had already closed their ears. Their words fell on deaf ears. However, it was also impossible to expect an eight-year-old Zigbert to fight and win.
“From the next generation, Serdia will decline.”
Zed joked.
It was sincere.
That’s how everyone anticipated the victory of the eldest son. However, it was young Zigbert who seized the position of successor.
With blood, whether his own or his opponent’s, splattered on the unknown red, he stood alone in the arena.
The head of the Serdia family pointed at Zigbert and said.
“Everyone must have seen it clearly. From now on, he is my successor. Anyone who raises the issue of succession in my house again.”
The head of the Serdia family made a gesture as if drawing a line across his neck with his thumb.
“Die.”
It was a barbaric expression, but it was a clear warning.
Since then, no one has opposed Zigbert becoming the successor.
When he turned nine the following year, his ability stabilized. Zigbert quickly grew stronger.
So, a few months later, that winter.
It was a time when Riche’s life was in danger due to the use of purification power.
Rumors began to spread that someone might be seriously ill, possibly even the lady of the mansion, along with the story that a council was called at the Ludwick Mansion.
The rumors quietly and swiftly reached even the ears of the head of the Serdia family, and Zigbert also became aware of it.
“My lord, there is a red wolf in front of the castle gate.”
A report came to Blake, who did not leave Riche’s room.
The red wolf stationed in front of the castle gate had not moved for two days.
“…Did he come alone?”
“Yes. His body is covered in wounds. The knights who were patrolling the border of the forest saw a red wolf coming out of the demon forest…”
For several days, he ran through the demon forest and arrived at the Ludwick territory.
The Duke of Serdia couldn’t overcome the forest alone, at just nine years old.
“He risked his life.”
Riche, lying on the bed, breathed heavily.
Blake, removing the hair stuck to Riche’s cheek, spoke.
“Let him in.”
“Yes.”
With Blake’s permission, Zigbert stayed in the castle until Riche woke up.
Even after Riche recovered, he crossed the Demon Forest to Ludwick Mansion once every few months.
Blake allowed Zigbert to enter the mansion as long as he didn’t transform in front of Riche.
The number of wounds Zigbert received every time he came seemed to decrease, suggesting that he was learning how to navigate the Demon Forest. But there were still changes each time.
“Zig, you seem to be growing.”
“Krr.”
Zigbert, who had grown like a pony, occasionally carried Riche around the mansion.
Deon disliked it immensely.
However, he didn’t argue much, thinking it was safer for Riche to ride Zigbert, who was a gifted individual, than to learn riding.
“Was that what we talked about last time?”
Riche speculated again why Zigbert was in the classroom.
It was a few weeks ago.
When Zigbert, who visited the mansion, told Riche that he received an acceptance letter from the Royal Academy.
Zigbert, in his wolf form, bit a branch and wrote on the ground.
I’ll come to say hello
It seemed to be because of that.
Zigbert kept his promise to Riche, no matter what.
‘He’ll be at the academy for a long time, so it’s okay if he comes to visit later, right…?’
Then, feeling the gaze directed at me was odd, I glanced up. All the students’ eyes were focused on Riche.
“What, what is it.”
Following their gaze, Riche noticed Professor Rumble standing in front of the podium, looking at him.
When the eyes of the rounded child met the professor’s, Professor Rumble spoke.
“Didn’t you hear what I just said?”
“Yes…?”
“What did I say to the student? Did you hear?”
“Ah…! I’m sorry. I didn’t hear.”
So, it seemed that everyone was paying attention to him. Since the professor had spoken, but there was no response.
Embarrassment flushed his cheeks red.
“It’s okay.”
Professor Rumble arranged the papers he brought and turned his body towards the direction where Zigbert stood at the end of the platform before walking away.
“Student Tarike Ludwick.”
And then, before leaving, he turned his head back to Riche and opened his mouth.
“You come too.”
—
“This is unbelievable!”
“The affinity score is this high?”
“Is this, is this even possible?”
Four professors gathered in the principal’s office were talking loudly.
It wasn’t a fight. They just couldn’t believe what they had seen.
If the mana stone was the source of magic, the affinity score that humans possessed was an amplifier.
The higher the affinity, the stronger the effect of the same magic could be, up to dozens of times, and the wider the range of magic one could use. Those with the highest affinity could easily acquire advanced magic.
Ordinary people had less than 5.
Those who showed potential to become ordinary wizards were around 10 to 30.
Those called historical geniuses had about 50 to 60.
The gifted individuals were around 50.
But the test paper that arrived in the morning…
The professors swallowed their saliva as they looked at the paper on the desk.
Name: Tarike Ludwick
…
Affinity Score: 98
“Could the testing agency have made a mistake?”
“Do you disregard the Royal Mana Research Institute? Has there ever been a mistake in the results from here!”
“Well, that’s true… But, why are you getting so angry? Professor Excell is a former head of the Mana Research Institute, are you showing off like this?”
“He’s a genius.”
“Professor Dunk?”
“A genius came out!”
“Professor, please calm down…”
Amidst the noisy professors, the headmaster, seated in his chair, pretended to be serious, pressing his forehead and curling his lips.
“At last, at last, to our Royal Academy -!”
How much trouble had they endured?
Their prestigious institution, treated as perpetually second-rate, by the Udick Academy of the Pando Continent.
Now was the time to assert their dominance.
“A Magic Affinity of 98? To those idiots who only know machines, that’s probably an impossible figure.”
Absolutely impossible.
“Huh, huh…”
Despite trying to maintain his composure, laughter kept bubbling up.
Duke Ludwick. He had thought him only fearsome, but to entrust such a gem to them…
It was to the point where he felt respect welling up involuntarily. At this moment, even if the Duke were to use his abilities on him, it felt like an honor to bow down to him.
Smart.
The formal knocking sound was heard, and with a creak, the door opened.
Professor Rumble, with a stern expression, entered.
“Please be quiet. I’ve brought him.”
Following such a professor, the pride of the Royal Academy, not just any lump, entered.
The professors, who had stopped talking in an instant, looked at Riche.
As Zigbert had gone to his own classroom to attend class, Riche was the only one receiving the professors’ attention.
It was embarrassing, but Riche greeted the professors.
“Hello.”
The professors couldn’t help but smile warmly at Riche’s perfect greeting.
Some professors felt a pang of regret, recalling their failed first loves, realizing they didn’t have a granddaughter like that.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve seen you up close.”
The headmaster rose from his seat and approached Riche.
After making a gesture to the professors, urging them to calm down, he approached Riche and spoke.
“The reason I called you here today is because… your Magic Affinity score came out too high.”
Riche accepted the test paper handed to him by the headmaster.
It was a Magic Affinity measurement. It was a test conducted on candidates who had passed the written test during the entrance exam.
For 10 minutes waiting for the interview, all they had to do was hold a small stone and then submit it.
Because it was such a trivial test, he had completely forgotten about it.
Riche recalled what he had heard before the test.
‘Wasn’t it said that the test results would be given in the Magic Class?’
Why were they calling him separately to confirm it?
With a puzzled expression, Riche checked his name and the score on the test paper.
But since there was no comparison, he couldn’t know how high or low the score was.
“98… Is this good?”
Look at this kid.
Asking if receiving a score worthy of drooling from the top of the Mana Tower is good.
But geniuses could do that. The genius of our academy doesn’t have to understand things like that.
As Riche checked the test paper, the professors couldn’t contain their restless mouths any longer.
They seated the child on the sofa and gathered around him, bursting with things they wanted to say.
“Is that good? It’s an innate talent that money can’t buy!”
“We should check his birth, shouldn’t we?”
“What are you talking about to a child? Has Tarike learned magic?”
“Where did Duke Ludwick find such a treasure like this?”
Riche was bombarded with so many words that he couldn’t even properly respond. It seemed that his Magic Affinity was on the good side, judging from what he heard.
Despite the excited headmaster and professors, Riche was surprisingly calm. There was a reason for his apparent calmness.
“Do you know what they call the power that stars possess in the human realm?”
During a chat about the Demon Forest, one day, Phytonis perked up, saying he had something interesting to share.
“What is it?”
“Magic.”
