Chapter 15

“I’ll be going.”

Twella tidied away her nark and turned around. The force that had surged like violent waves vanished in an instant.

It truly was remarkable talent.

Eyes that glimpsed the future, albeit limitedly. Innate ability to wield nark. Even affinity for sorcery.

How far could she grow?

Al Terua stopped imagining. Their impoverished imagination couldn’t picture the heights she would reach.

Al Terua mulled over fate’s gravitational pull while heading toward the dormitory.

Students they passed along the way smiled brightly and offered greetings.

On the surface, they were children lacking nothing. But they were hollow inside.

Those who couldn’t take a single step away from the goblins’ brainwashing, who only repeated the same actions—alive yet not alive.

Only a rare few with resistance awakened and faced reality directly. Even then, if unlucky, they died a dog’s death like the student killed days ago.

In that sense, Twella and Quilbion had received fate’s love.

Because they met me.

Because I recognized them first before being discovered.

No, the one fate loved was Twella. I too was merely swept up in the powerful gravitational pull of the fate she’d created.

“What’s good is good.”

Al Terua thought being a supporting character was better than the lead. Assisting so the master key called Twella could function properly—that was ‘Al Terua’s’ role.

And.

“…I told you to stop with the sorcery.”

Al Terua looked at another supporting character practicing sorcery in the corner of the room.

If Al Terua’s role was to support Twella’s functional aspects, that kid’s job was to prop up her psychological domain.

Crackle, crackle.

Blue lightning bloomed small.

He’d grown accustomed to phenomenon induction, but it was only at an ordinary level. Compared to Twella… no, even mentioning comparison was disrespectful to her.

Al Terua approached the non-responsive Quilbion and snatched away the talisman. Quilbion raised his head.

“Kids who ignore adults need to be scolded.”

“Practicing is my freedom, isn’t it?”

“When you don’t even know what freedom is, spouting about freedom just makes you look ridiculous.”

Al Terua crumpled the talisman and tossed it aside carelessly. Quilbion then grasped another talisman.

“Well now.”

“This is the best I can do.”

“I keep telling you—you don’t need to do anything. No, just be Twella’s conversation partner. Comfort her well when she’s having a hard time, give her a light hug when she seems tired. That’s the proper best you can do.”

When Al Terua reached for the talisman, Quilbion whirled his body around.

“You’re going to fight the goblins, right?”

“We have to.”

“How many are there? Kids who’ve learned the truth like us?”

“…”

What a worrisome boy.

Al Terua sighed and sat down.

“You, me, and Twella. Three of us.”

“That’s too few.”

“If this were warfare between soldiers requiring military tactics, small numbers would be a problem. But this isn’t that kind of fight. In sorcery battles, one excellent person can handle a hundred lacking ones.”

Al Terua demonstrated a simple Yellow Form art. The talisman Quilbion had been holding was smoothly extracted and entered Al Terua’s hand.

“So you forget about sorcery and do what you’ve been doing. Manage your points and play with your friends.”

“What problems does my practicing sorcery cause?”

He was tenaciously holding on. No docile flavor to him at all.

Al Terua liked that temperament, but being on the receiving end wasn’t particularly pleasant.

“I told you, didn’t I? That it’s a promise with Twella.”

“I don’t understand. Wouldn’t it be good if I could help even a little?”

“What if other goblins find out you’ve learned sorcery? The moment they do, you’ll be dragged away. Twella would just love that, wouldn’t she?”

“Can’t I hide it? Like Twella.”

“Good grief, haven’t I said this about ten times? That the talent gap is extreme. The word ‘extreme’ doesn’t seem to resonate with you…”

Al Terua walked to the window and jerked their chin toward the opposite building.

“See Diligence House?”

Quilbion approached and looked outside.

“Yes.”

“It’s about 150 meters away, right?”

“Probably.”

“See that differently colored tile at the right edge of the roof?”

“Yes.”

Al Terua grasped one of the talismans scattered about, then said,

“Watch carefully.”

Minta’s White Form art, chapter 1 of the introductory section.

Al Terua aimed the talisman at the tile and parted their lips gently.

“Form.”

Wind advanced in a straight line. Al Terua released the hand holding the talisman gently.

Whoosh—the talisman rode the wind and flew to the tile 150 meters away.

The talisman that struck the tile shot up into the sky and disappeared without a trace.

“Can you do this?”

The kid who’d been responding at every turn closed his mouth tight for the first time. Al Terua smiled bitterly.

“Twella can do this now. And it only took her two days. She’s a child with advanced concentration, innate talent, and even mysterious power. You’re going to try following what she’s accomplished?”

Al Terua placed a talisman in Quilbion’s hand.

“If you can hit that tile with this talisman, then I’ll pass on the entirety of the sorcery I know to you. Keeping it secret from Twella.”

Quilbion was looking down at the talisman with his head lowered.

It would be nice if he’d give up like this, but that’s not his personality…

“Teach me the basics.”

As expected.

He’s trying to take on the challenge while holding onto possibility.

Al Terua patted Quilbion’s shoulder.

“Alright, alright. A bet should be fair. I’ll teach you what I taught Twella. I can teach you a bit more if you want.”

“No. Please treat us without discrimination.”

“If that’s what you want.”

Al Terua pushed aside books with their foot, then lay down on the floor.

“Now, shall we talk about the fundamentals? Since you asked to be treated without discrimination, I’ll only say this once. Whether you understand the essence or not, that’s the end. Is that okay?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

Al Terua said “form” quietly. The talismans inscribed with nark responded and floated into the air.

Dozens of talismans spun around in a circle.

“First, what is sorcery?”

“You said so yourself, Ascetic. That it’s the power that makes the goblins exist.”

“That’s right. A power no different from miracles. A systematized power that would make mages from outside foam at the mouth and faint if they saw it.”

Al Terua flicked their fingers. The dozens of talismans moved to simply sculpt a human form.

“Now, before explaining sorcery, let’s learn about magic, which I’ve mentioned several times. Magic! Quilbion, do you have any desperate dreams?”

“I do.”

“What is it?”

“Before, it was to become an excellent student and undergo the Ritual of Awakening. Or receive black robes.”

“Right. Every kid here would have had that as their dream. What about now?”

“Escaping from this place. Naturally, helping Twella could be called my dream.”

“A good dream. Everyone wants to escape from hell. Now, magic is like a means to achieve such dreams. It’s often connected to wishes.”

“You can achieve dreams?”

Al Terua laughed loudly, then said,

“Yes, dreams. Your dream and my dream would be different, right? Looking at the big picture, we’re dreaming the same dream of escape, but if we look closely…”

“They’d be very different.”

“Your dream and Twella’s would also be different, right?”

“Yes.”

“What about Drich?”

“That kid’s simple, so his dream probably won’t be unusual either.”

“But still different.”

“Yes. It would be different.”

“What if we expand this assumption endlessly? All humans’ dreams have similar aspects, but we’d ultimately reach the conclusion that they’re different, right?”

Quilbion nodded.

“An extremely personal, individual power. The manifestation of infinite possibilities contained in the mental world.”

Al Terua moved their eyes to look at Quilbion. A contemplating face entered their vision.

“Difficult?”

“I don’t fully understand the precise meaning yet. But I’ve understood that everyone possesses different power and can manifest it in different forms.”

“You understood well. That’s the foundation of this thing called magic. The aspects of power each individual reveals are different. Of course, identical magic can be used through special systems, but that’s extremely limited.”

Al Terua flicked their fingers again. This time the talismans created countless small human forms.

“Sorcery is different. If 100 people learned one systematized sorcery, all 100 could use the same art.”

“It’s like knowledge written in books? Like how anyone can know it if they study.”

“Exactly. Sorcery is like that. If you’re capable, you can even learn multiple sorceries. With magic, no matter how outstanding an individual’s ability, they can’t freely use another’s special magic.”

“Sorcery is more convenient?”

“If we’re only talking about convenience, yes.”

The talismans shaped like humans turned red.

“Gongon Yellow Form art, chapter 3 of the introductory section. It’s sorcery that contains fire’s energy. It can warm the body in winter.”

“It would be good to use when it’s cold.”

Al Terua moved the nark coursing through their body. The nark that flowed out through their fingertips led the mana.

“Form.”

One talisman transformed into enormous flames.

“A nameless White Form art, chapter 1 of the introductory section. It intensely releases fire’s energy.”

While speaking, Al Terua looked at Quilbion’s eyes. Flames rippled in those clear eyes.

“Did you see something?”

“I saw hazy energy going out through your fingers.”

“Your discernment is good. What did that energy resemble?”

“Goblins.”

“Right, goblins. What you just saw is called ‘nark.'”

Al Terua intentionally dispersed nark. To make it easier to see.

“Sorcery is power created and systematized by goblins. Nark is the most basic unit of power for operating such sorcery. Of course, nark alone can’t cause major changes.”

“Then?”

Al Terua showed the White Form sorcery again. The blazing red flames settled in the middle of the room.

“Nark is the medium that conveys the user’s will, and implementing sorcery’s phenomena is mana’s role.”

Quilbion quietly repeated, “Mana.”

“Mana is the foundational power. The cradle of all things and the grave of all things.”

Quilbion immediately asked a question.

“Then wouldn’t it be better to use mana directly? If it’s such tremendous power…”

“Impossible.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s far too dangerous. Mana in its natural state has no effect on us. It’s harmless. But if the density increases and it becomes visible…”

Al Terua burst the flames floating in midair in an instant. A wave of fire passed over Quilbion’s head.

Quilbion flinched but didn’t lose his concentration. The kid’s eyes were tenaciously observing the spreading flames.

He’s got backbone. Al Terua smiled inwardly.

“It was warm, right?”

“A little hot.”

“What would have happened if it touched you directly?”

“I would have turned black. And probably died.”

“Mana is incomparably more dangerous than the flames you just saw. You’d perish the moment it touches you.”

Quilbion spread his hand wide, then grasped at empty air.

“Mana is here right now too, right?”

“That’s right. Mana is everywhere.”

“It’s fascinating. There seems to be nothing, but it produces power when gathered.”

“Everyone knows about mana, but few people can sense it precisely and use it precisely.”

Quilbion asked with sparkling eyes.

“How did you obtain this knowledge, Ascetic?”

“Me?”

Well…

Al Terua thought about recalling outside matters, then stopped. Explaining in detail was bothersome too.

“I know this knowledge because I’m a mage.”

“Then magic too…”

“Let’s talk about sorcery first for now. Understand?”

Al Terua said this while raising their body upright.