Chapter 18: A few thoughts about the future
“A new sorcery teacher, huh?”
That night, Kunon asked his father about a new sorcerer teacher.
I thought it would be a good idea to talk about it with my father, Arson, who had just finished his work at the castle and was sitting at the table while having dinner in the main building.
It’s nothing to keep from my family, so it’s no problem to talk about it at the dinner table.
“Did Miss Genie quit? I heard that she was going to leave her position soon."
“Yes, she quit today. I was hoping to spend more time with her.”
It took her about half a year to quit due to Kunon’s insistence, and finally she revealed her true feelings, which she didn’t want to reveal.
I couldn't keep her around anymore, and even if I tried to bring her back, she would probably refuse.
“I see. Well, I guess she has her own reasons, so it can’t be helped.”
My father also knew the reason why Genie was quitting.
She said that, at her level, she could no longer develop Kunon’s talent.
Also, the maidservant asked him to fire her as a kind act since she was giving me a very difficult lesson.
Knowing this, he could easily accept Kunon’s wish for the next sorcerer teacher.
“So, I was thinking that the next one would be the royal court sorcerer, Mr. Zeonly Finrole.”
“Wait!”
That order was not accepted easily.
“Oh. You know, Zeonly is reputed to be a beautiful sorcerer, right?"
My mother, Tinariza, is also interested.
“I know that name too.”
My brother, Ixio, said the same.
“No, wait. You can’t invite a royal sorcerer.”
My father, who was a marquis and civil servant in and out of the royal castle, did not like the idea.
“Oh, you can’t? Not even your father, with whom you have a close relationship, in the king’s estimation?”
“No, I cannot – tell Iko to come to my room later.”
He has decided to give a lecture to the maidservant later, who told his son unnecessary things, but that’s beside the point.
“You see, “royal sorcerer” is also the title of a position in the royal castle. It’s a department as restricted as the military, and no one but ‘His Majesty' or his direct commanders are allowed to give orders. …
…… Well, to put it simply, they are people who don’t have much freedom.
They are rarely allowed to leave the royal castle, and contact with non-related people is strictly limited.
That’s why it’s difficult for me to invite them to my home, or let them visit me. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t meet him.”
Royal court magician.
They are the most talented sorcerers in the country.
They use their rare power to work for the country.
Many of their jobs require confidentiality, so they are not allowed to have any contact with the outside world. Therefore, only rumors often spread – just like the rumors about the beautiful Zeonly.
“Is that so? Then how about something like this?”
“Hmm?”
“What about the idea that I accompany my father to the royal castle for a visit, and somehow, while I’m lost in the castle, I’m rescued by a royal court magician who just passes by, and somehow, I become his student?”
Kunon speaks with a self-satisfied face.
I’m not sure how I can be so proud of a strategy that is full of errors.
“It’s all a bit vague.”
“Vague? I’m sure it’s an elaborate plan with a ninety percent success rate.”
What could be more contrary than that?
The success rate is less than ten percent, and the content is so sketchy that there is nothing precise about it.
“I don’t use ‘what’s the point’ in elaborate strategies. Not even twice.”
” You know, I thought …… I was perfect. …… Hey, Mother?”
“Yeah. Kunon is perfect.”
Mother is always kind to Kunon.
She’s so kind to Kunon that she secretly gives him an allowance.
“Can’t you handle it? Isn’t that all Kunon is saying?”
“…… Okay. I’ll try to consult with him. But don’t expect too much.”
And the husband was kind to his wife.
"This is it. …… Oh …… that's it.”
After dinner, Kunon was called to his brother Ixio’s room.
The previous incident at the noble school had melted the long-standing rift.
Now they could spend more time together, as if they were filling a time gap.
My brother is naked, lying on the bed.
And Kunon partially applies “sticky cold water” to his brother’s arms, legs, back, and …… other parts of his body that produce high heat compared to his body temperature, in other words, bruises and sore muscles.
It is a water compress that applies a medication to the bruise and then traps it with ‘water’ to reduce the inflammation.
“Is Master Ouro here today?”
“No, lately I’ve been going to Master Ouro's place from here and working together with the other students."
–By the way, Ouro Tauro, the sword master who also teaches Kunon, teaches him for free.
It was only in addition to Ixio’s training.
Basically, he only teaches sword fighting and kata, and he says that he doesn’t teach in a way that he would get paid for properly.
For saying so, he is watching Kunon’s swordsmanship quite intently, but that is something Kunon does not know.
“You look like you’re having fun.”
“It is fun. But when I start going to a higher noble school, I won’t be able to do sword fighting all the time.”
Ixio graduated from the noble school the other day and will be attending the advanced noble school from next spring.
In the time until then, he has been allowed to do as he likes, so he has been concentrating on his sword training instead of preparing for the High Nobility School.
“Do you still want to go to the magic school?”
“I haven’t decided yet. The magic school is in another country and it’s too far away. Moreover, you can only enter at the age of twelve anyway.”
Kunon is nine years old.
He is not yet of the required age to go.
–But I’m hoping I can do something about my eyes by then.
By the time I’m twelve, I’ll have vision.
If not, I might have to shift my focus.
Right now, I’m focusing on getting my vision, but if I can’t get it by the time I enter the magic school, I’m going to ……
At that time, I might be forced to focus on my main goal of becoming a great sorcerer and make the goal of gaining visibility a secondary one.
In the future, Kunon will leave House Gurion.
He will marry Milica and will receive a small estate and a title, but what kind of life he will have there is unknown.
He needs to find a way to earn money in case something happens.
He doesn't want Milica, who will be Kunon’s wife, to be inconvenienced in her life due to his blindness.
Ambition, reality, and the future.
Kunon, who has been thinking only about himself, including his goal of “making eyeballs,” has gradually started to think about his surroundings and future.
He is only nine years old.
But even so, he is getting closer to adulthood little by little.
“I’ve heard that the entrance exams for magic schools are difficult to pass in the first place. I’m sure I’ll fail the exam.”
“No, you’re okay. You’re going to be fine. I'm sure.”
“Really? I’ve only got two magic tricks left, remember?”
“You’ll be fine. If you take the test right now, you will definitely pass. Guaranteed.”
“Haha. You’re a real family man, aren’t you?”
“No, I’m not. I just think you’ll be fine. I really do.”
I wondered how much faith my non-magician brother had in his assurances, but he was still confident, almost as if to say, “Don’t ask the obvious.”
— Although not a sorcerer, Ixio had done a little bit of research on what the water sigil that his sorcerous …… brother had, could do.
As a result, he realized that all the magic Kunon uses is very different from the conventional ones.
That’s why he can say with confidence that it’s going to be okay.
After all, not even a professional water magician could apply water magic to medicine.
— Ixio’s arm, where he had made a slightly deep cut a while ago, no longer even had a scar.
Kunon’s “adhesive water for lacerations” had healed the wound by clamping and fixing it.
It healed in no time at all.
With this kind of application, why do I think I would fail the exam at the magic school?
Although Ixio had not said it at dinner, he really thought that Kunon was the one who was going to be a royal sorcerer.
Besides, he had heard that there were a lot of strange people among sorcerers, and he thought that Kunon would be fine in that aspect as well.