“Alessia.”
“Yes, Kaon! I’m already up.”
The voice coming from beyond the curtain was more lively than ever before. It was an early morning that everyone found hard to bear, yet Alessia seemed to be in a particularly good mood.
Kaon, who had been quietly staring at the curtain, softly said, “Take a rest today, don’t go out.”
“I’m fine, though?”
“Leonidas also said to take a rest today. You faced that monster yesterday. You should take a day off.”
“Really, I’m okay… But if Leonidas herself has suggested it, I guess I can’t help it.”
Alessia sounded genuinely disappointed as she responded. It pained him to disappoint her, especially when she was so unusually cheerful, but there were urgent matters he needed to attend to.
Kaon, who was about to say something, ended up sighing and swallowing his words. If he continued talking to Alessia, he felt he might end up giving in to her wishes sooner than expected.
‘Let’s just find out for now. Just finding out, that’s all.’
With heavy steps, Kaon turned and left the room.
***
The mage, having completed his inspection, returned to his room without looking back.
Even though it would have been normal to exchange at least a few words with the knights who had been on the mission with him, he did nothing of the sort. He was someone who considered the time spent talking too precious to waste on idle chatter.
“Hey.”
He didn’t respond to the call from behind, and that was the reason.
After all, it wasn’t even certain if the call was meant for him. To turn around and check would be a waste of time, so the mage decided to ignore it as usual.
“Mage.”
However, the call was clear and brief this time. In such cases, it wasn’t wise to ignore, so the mage reluctantly turned around. As expected, the person who had called him was of high status. Very high.
“…Young Master Kaon?”
“Yes.”
“What brings you to call for me?”
Given that the caller was a young noble from a ducal family, the mage responded as respectfully as he could. It might not have sounded very friendly, but that wasn’t his concern.
“I have something to ask you. Do you have a moment?”
“Ah, I’m sorry, but I’m a bit…”
“Thank you for willingly sparing your time. Please, follow me.”
His polite attempt to refuse was completely ignored. The mage, feeling as if he had no choice, followed the young lord with a grimace.
Upon entering an empty room, Kaon closed the door and leaned against it.
He was well aware that the mage was extremely displeased with the situation, but he had no intention of letting him go until his curiosity was satisfied.
“Can you explain what happens when you use magic?”
The mage frowned at the simple question, something a child might ask. Kaon was sure that if it were anyone else in front of the mage, he would have openly sighed or scoffed.
“It’s simple. You just have to harness the mana and go with the flow.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You need to be born with magical power.”
Still, the mage responded to every question, given that it was a prince asking.
‘You need to be born with magical power.’ Kaon already knew that much.
“If you don’t have magical power, you can’t use magic?”
“…Isn’t that obvious? How can you bake bread without flour?”
“I wish you could explain a bit more in detail.”
The mage sighed heavily, clearly irritated by the question that seemed so obvious to him.
“To put it simply,” He glanced around dismissively and then picked up the tablecloth. He blew on it, and the delicate fabric fluttered weakly with his breath. “Do you see? When I blow on it with my breath, this tablecloth moves.”
Kaon nodded for him to continue. The mage went on, looking even more weary.
“You might not know this, Young Master, but there’s something invisible in the air around us. When I apply pressure with my breath, it pushes against this invisible something, which in turn moves the still tablecloth. If there was truly nothing there, no such phenomenon would occur.”
“And?”
“This invisible thing is mana, my breath is magical power, and the moving of the tablecloth is magic.”
“So, without stimulation by magical power, mana doesn’t react.”
“You have to hit something for it to hurt, right?”
The mage looked exasperated, as if wondering how much simpler he had to make it for Kaon to understand. He looked at Kaon as if he was a complete fool, but upon meeting Kaon’s cold gaze, he quickly averted his eyes.
“One last request.”
“Do you have another request for me here?”
He sounded like he was hoping for a no, but Kaon, undeterred, pointed with his chin to a candlestick on the side table.
“Could you light that candle? I’ve heard you’re quite renowned among mages, especially in fire types.”
“Your Highness. It’s natural for you not to know, being no mage yourself, but using magic consumes an enormous amount of stamina. Managing magical power is an incredibly taxing task…”
“I will grant you a bonus.”
“Well, in that case…”
Finally, the mage complied and brought the candlestick. Closing his eyes, he murmured something unintelligible. At the same time, a shimmering haze appeared around him, slightly distorting the space. A faint green aura seemed to envelop him.
With a pop, the moment he uttered the last word, it all converged and shot towards the candlestick, lighting the wick where there had been no flame just moments before.
“Are you satisfied now?”
“I won’t forget the promise.”
Kaon stepped aside, opening the door. As the mage was about to pass through, Kaon asked in a low voice, “Is it certain that without magical power, one can’t use magic?”
“It would be in your best interest not to ask such a question in front of a mage again.”
That answer was sufficient.
***
“Suddenly?”
“Yes. There are many knights curious about it.”
“Since when did our Young Master start caring so much about the knights… Ah, don’t look at me like that. It hurts my feelings when you look down on me and glare like that.” Maurice, whining playfully, asked for confirmation.
“So, you’re saying we should pester Lady Alessia to show us some magic?”
“Right.”
Kaon nodded briefly. His knowledge of magical principles had been confirmed to be correct through the questions he asked with the mage.
The only thing left was to see Alessia use magic one more time.
‘I might have been mistaken.’
He had watched Alessia more intently than anyone, yet he thought so, even to the point of doubting his own sight.
‘I should apologize if this all turns out to be a big misunderstanding.’
And if all this stemmed from a misunderstanding due to his poor vision, he was determined to sincerely apologize. Could it really be? Magic was used right before his eyes, yet to say she’s not a mage. Someone without magical power couldn’t possibly use magic. If that were possible, Ferdinand wouldn’t have needed to be so obsessed with finding a mage.
So, all he needed to do was confirm that this whole incident was a foolish mistake on his part. He just had to apologize for the unwarranted suspicion and sincerely ask for forgiveness.
“Lady Alessia!”
Kaon, who had been waiting anxiously, lifted his head at Maurice’s frivolous voice. Alessia, just coming out of the knight’s building, spotted Maurice and Kaon and approached them.
Seeing the two, her face lit up with joy, causing a pang in Kaon’s heart.
“Maurice, Kaon!”
“I heard you did a great job yesterday. Oh, I’m so sad I didn’t see it with my own eyes. Just when I was on standby! If only I, Maurice, had been there, you wouldn’t have had to lift a finger.”
Maurice was so smooth it was almost suspicious if his tongue wasn’t made of butter.
Having set this up, Kaon briefly regretted it, but then Alessia’s clear laughter rang out.
“Haha! Maurice, how do you always say such nice things?”
“It’s not about sounding nice, it’s about being sincere. What’s better at making someone happy than sincerity?”
“I’ve learned another lesson. There’s so much to learn from Maurice.”
“You’re the only one who appreciates that, Lady Alessia.”
Maurice, who had been jesting until the end, suddenly exclaimed “Ah!” as if he had just remembered something.
“What is it, Maurice?”
“Miss, if it’s not too much trouble, could you show us some magic? Actually, I’ve been talking up your greatness so much that there are some who don’t believe me, calling it an exaggeration.”
Maurice clenched his teeth with a look of feigned anger.
“Since it’s nighttime, if you could shoot some fireworks into that dark sky, everyone will believe that my words are true.”
Then, he looked at Alessia with pleading, sparkling eyes, clasping his hands as if begging.
“Um… I’m not really that great, so maybe they are right?”
“Oh, don’t say that. To me, you’re no different from a goddess.”
Alessia seemed a bit overwhelmed by Maurice’s overly sparkling green eyes. Realizing this approach wasn’t working, Maurice quickly changed tactics.
“Actually, I just wanted to see it again for myself. Isn’t it amazing? But even when I asked other mages, not a single one would oblige. They all ignored me…”
“Um…”
“Please… Just once… I’m a person who cannot use magic in my lifetime.”
Maurice pleaded earnestly. He hadn’t been asked to go this far, but his attitude was incredibly earnest. At this point, it seemed he was just getting into his role.
“Okay, Maurice. It’s not a difficult task. You can stop begging now.”
“Truly an angel incarnate! That name, Alessia Ingelos!”
Alessia chuckled at Maurice’s effortless charm.
Caught by her beautiful smile, Kaon was momentarily distracted but snapped back to attention as Alessia began to quietly chant a spell.
After a short while, Alessia raised her right hand to the sky. Like the day she melted the core of the beast in an instant, flames burst forth, adorning the sky.
Boom!
“Wow! Truly the greatest mage!”
Unlike that day, the flames didn’t melt anything but brightly decorated the night sky with fireworks. As many eyes turned to the sky and Maurice exclaimed in admiration, Kaon grabbed Alessia’s wrist.
“Let’s talk for a moment, Alessia.”
🍉🍉🍉
