chapter 3

H0w to Live as a Hero in a Magical World

Kaian stared at the woman’s face in bewilderment and rubbed his eyes.

For a moment, he even wondered if he might be dreaming.

I’ve never heard of an elf having horns…

While he was still trying to make sense of the situation, the woman closed her book and raised her head. Her jewel-like, icy blue eyes stared straight through Kaian.

“Hmm… That is a rather crude weapon to point at the person who saved your life.”

Kaian flinched and took a step backward.

It was because of the woman’s voice.

Her voice was clear and mysterious. It was a beautiful sound unlike anything he had ever heard before.

And yet, there was not the slightest trace of emotion in it.

The strangely emotionless voice made Kaian raise his guard again. However, he had no idea what he should say first.

“I…”

He had initially wanted to ask about his family. But the moment he considered actually saying those words aloud, he felt that he would regret it immediately.

Almost without realizing it, Kaian changed his question.

“…Who are you?! Identify yourself! Where have you brought me?!”

He tried his best to imitate the way his father and brothers spoke, but even to his own ears, his words sounded somewhat awkward.

The woman gave a smile that was hardly a smile.

“Who am I, you ask? That is quite a difficult question. Why don’t you, as my guest, introduce yourself first? Who are you?”

The hand holding the brass candlestick trembled slightly.

She called me her guest. Does that mean she isn’t one of them?

Gathering his courage, Kaian cautiously glanced around.

The room, filled with wooden furniture, looked like an ordinary home.

Kaian suppressed his confusion and tried to think.

Those bastards were definitely trying to kill me.

And yet, he was here now, alive and unharmed.

Based on his observations and deductions, Kaian asked a more specific question.

“The men who were chasing me… Where are the attackers?”

The woman took a small sip of the tea sitting on the desk.

In the room filled with taut silence, the sound of her setting down the teacup seemed strangely loud.

“They say humans are creatures of forgetfulness. Have you forgotten already?”

Kaian threateningly thrust the brass candlestick into the air.

“I’m not interested in riddles like that! Speak so I can understand!”

“Humans seem to have no manners from the moment they are born. Well, it doesn’t matter. At least your vocabulary seems decent, so that is a relief.”

“What does that even—?! Answer me! Where are they?!”

“You burned them all to death.”

The woman casually took another sip of tea.

“What…?”

“Did you not hear me? I said you burned them all to death.”

Fragments of memory resurfaced in Kaian’s mind.

The turquoise mana flickering around his left arm.

Himself swinging that arm back with all his strength.

The screams of the attackers.

And the orange heat that had driven him deeper into the forest…

“No…”

Kaian muttered.

His eyes were trembling even more violently than before.

“No. There’s no way they would have given up so easily! They must have sent reinforcements…!”

The woman frowned slightly.

“You are noisy.”

“Guh…!”

Kaian’s breath caught in his throat.

From that brief warning alone, he could feel an immense amount of mana—something he could not have comprehended even if he devoted his entire life to it.

His body shrank instinctively, like a rabbit beneath the foot of a giant.

And only then did he realize it clearly.

I awakened my mana…!

Those who had not awakened their mana could not sense how powerful another person’s mana was, no matter how overwhelming it might be.

But right now, Kaian’s body was trembling like prey standing before a predator.

“You asked where this place is, did you not?”

The woman spoke in that same clear, melodious voice.

“This is Eldergrove. My subspace. Mages equipped with crude toys like those worn by the people chasing you would not even be able to find it. So you may rest easy.”

Kaian somehow managed to keep breathing.

Then he forcibly made his mind, which was threatening to freeze from fear, start moving again.

Rest easy… That’s a strange thing to say. How am I supposed to rest easy in a situation like this?

And yet, somewhere deep in his heart, hope inevitably began to bloom.

Did telling him to rest easy mean that all the danger was over?

If so, perhaps he could finally ask about his family.

And so, despite knowing that he would regret it, Kaian finally opened his mouth.

“Then… my family—”

“They are dead.”

It was a short and unequivocal verdict.

Just as Kaian began to move his lips in denial, the woman’s emotionless voice pierced straight into his heart like a dagger.

“This time, ask about something you do not already know.”

It was a sharp rebuke.

He already knew that his family was dead.

It was also a condemnation of his foolish hope and his attempt to escape reality.

Kaian’s body trembled with humiliation and anger.

At the same time, the memories he had desperately tried to bury until now unfolded vividly in his mind.

The woman asked bluntly,

“Or do you wish to go to your family’s side?”

Kaian felt as though his heart were being ripped apart.

Unable to contain his anger, a howl burst from the depths of his stomach.

“Uaaaaaaaaah!”

That was when it happened.

Turquoise mana began to surge violently from Kaian’s left wrist.

The thick brass candlestick clenched in his hand began to melt.

―Hissssss!

A strange light appeared in the eyes of the woman—Eldarin.

Oh? Turquoise.

The mana used by mages was broadly divided into three types.

Green—intellect.

Blue—creativity.

Red—willpower.

Mages who possessed and used only one of these three types accounted for a staggering 95 percent of all mages.

The proportion of mages who possessed two or more types of mana—known as multi-mana users—was only five percent.

And the turquoise mana displayed by the child before her was a combination of intellect and creativity.

In other words, it was a combination possessed by three percent of that five percent of multi-mana users.

But Eldarin could see something else.

There was red mana writhing near Kaian’s heart—mana he had yet to learn how to control.

Could it be that he also possesses willpower?

The proportion of mages capable of using all three types of mana was a mere 0.5 percent.

At last, Eldarin smiled sincerely.

It has been… 700 years since I last saw talent like this.

From the moment the human child broke through Eldergrove’s barrier and entered, she had known he would not be ordinary.

But Kaian’s talent, once she actually confirmed it, far exceeded even Eldarin’s expectations.

―Vrrrrr!

The space itself trembled.

The intense heat erupting from Kaian’s body instantly burned the air inside the room.

―Crash!

The teacup on the side table shattered, and the thick oak floor began to blacken and scorch.

Yet Eldarin remained seated, merely observing Kaian with an intrigued expression.

More precisely, she was watching the flames surging within his mental world.

That child forcibly materialized the anger filling his mental world.

Magic was the manifestation of a mage’s mental world into reality.

To accomplish that, one needed a profound understanding of both their own mental world and the real world.

Yet the child before her did not even seem to be aware of his own mental world.

He accomplished it unconsciously? Impressive.

―Whoooosh!

Kaian’s eyes gradually became bloodshot before losing focus entirely.

When the thread of reason he had barely been clinging to finally snapped, all that remained were the destructive and survival instincts from the moment he had burned down the forest.

Melted brass flowed down Kaian’s hand.

“I’ll kill them… I’ll burn every last one of them…!”

―Crash!

Eldarin casually waved her hand and knocked away the fragments flying toward her.

Dangerous. But…

A faint, almost imperceptible smile appeared at the corner of her lips.

Overwhelming talent.

The child before her could not even perceive his own mental world, yet he had instantly transformed the sorrow and anger he possessed into destructive energy.

With this child, I can awaken a hero.

Eldarin finally made up her mind.

She raised her index finger and lightly pressed it against the air.

“[Calm down.]”

As though an invisible hand belonging to a giant had pressed down on the entire room, an immense pressure descended upon Kaian.

―Boom!

The flames that had been surging upward died down in an instant, and the trembling space became eerily still.

The overwhelming difference in power caused Kaian’s knees to buckle.

“Cough!”

The hand he placed against the floor trembled violently.

As his reason returned, so did the pain.

Eldarin silently rose from her chair and approached Kaian.

“Anger is certainly a powerful force. But if you cannot control it, all it will do is hurt you.”

With a hand so white it seemed as though it might glow at any moment, she suddenly grasped Kaian’s burned hand.

“Ugh!”

A wave of cold flowed through their touching skin, cooling the heat that had accumulated within him.

Even his overheated head seemed to cool along with it.

Kaian lowered his head and breathed heavily.

A liquid that could have been tears or sweat fell onto the scorched floor.

―Drip. Drip…

Eldarin asked Kaian,

“Do you desire power?”

Kaian raised his head with a puzzled expression.

Eldarin’s inscrutable blue eyes were staring directly at him.

What… did she just ask?

Does he want power?

Is she not going to kill me…?

Kaian lowered his head again.

Then, with his eyes closed, he focused on reconstructing everything that had happened.

Cool your head. Think calmly.

Eldarin reduced the pressure of her mana so that he could think without interference.

Kaian, lost in his thoughts, did not even notice the consideration she was showing him.

…The ones who attacked me weren’t just some ordinary noble family.

They attacked Valentin.

The Valentin family was, without a doubt, the Emperor’s right hand.

Attacking such a family was no different from committing treason.

Whoever they are, they clearly aren’t afraid of the Imperial Family.

And that overwhelming number of attackers…

There was no way that many forces could have been assembled with ordinary financial resources.

In other words, the enemy possessed enormous wealth while simultaneously having no fear of the Emperor.

They could be considered people standing at the true pinnacle of power within the Empire.

And those people had attempted to eliminate the Valentin family, a house known as one of the Emperor’s strongest supporters.

Why?

Had we become an obstacle to them?

Could they really have done all this for such a reason?

But there was one thing more important than anything else.

They had failed to erase the Valentin family from the world completely.

I survived.

Do they know that?

Kaian had no intention of kindly disappearing into the shadows of history according to his enemies’ wishes.

Valentin was the border of the Empire.

Its wall.

A great symbol of magic that must never fall.

He engraved deep within his heart who the people were that truly deserved to disappear from this world.

I will survive. No matter what.

And I will expose their true faces to the entire world.

But to bring down those standing at the pinnacle of the Empire, he needed power beyond common sense.

I don’t know what the identity of this horned elf is…

But one thing is certain.

She is powerful.

Now that his mana had awakened, he could sense it.

The mana radiating from her was far more profound and immense than that of either his father or mother, who had been known as the greatest mages in the Empire.

And this place… Eldergrove, was it?

It really does seem safe from the attackers.

Most importantly, Kaian could not sense any intent to kill him from the horned elf.

For the moment, that was enough.

Whether he could trust her or not was a question for later.

For now, he needed to hide himself and grow stronger.

Having reached his decision, Kaian raised his head.

The woman was still staring at him with those strange, radiant blue eyes.

But there was no longer any hesitation in Kaian’s eyes as he stared back at her.

“I want power. I want to become strong. Strong enough to change this entire world…!”

As though that were the correct answer, Eldarin smiled

For a moment, he even wondered if he might be dreaming.

I’ve never heard of an elf having horns…

While he was still trying to make sense of the situation, the woman closed her book and raised her head. Her jewel-like, icy blue eyes stared straight through Kaian.

“Hmm… That is a rather crude weapon to point at the person who saved your life.”

Kaian flinched and took a step backward.

It was because of the woman’s voice.

Her voice was clear and mysterious. It was a beautiful sound unlike anything he had ever heard before.

And yet, there was not the slightest trace of emotion in it.

The strangely emotionless voice made Kaian raise his guard again. However, he had no idea what he should say first.

“I…”

He had initially wanted to ask about his family. But the moment he considered actually saying those words aloud, he felt that he would regret it immediately.

Almost without realizing it, Kaian changed his question.

“…Who are you?! Identify yourself! Where have you brought me?!”

He tried his best to imitate the way his father and brothers spoke, but even to his own ears, his words sounded somewhat awkward.

The woman gave a smile that was hardly a smile.

“Who am I, you ask? That is quite a difficult question. Why don’t you, as my guest, introduce yourself first? Who are you?”

The hand holding the brass candlestick trembled slightly.

She called me her guest. Does that mean she isn’t one of them?

Gathering his courage, Kaian cautiously glanced around.

The room, filled with wooden furniture, looked like an ordinary home.

Kaian suppressed his confusion and tried to think.

Those bastards were definitely trying to kill me.

And yet, he was here now, alive and unharmed.

Based on his observations and deductions, Kaian asked a more specific question.

“The men who were chasing me… Where are the attackers?”

The woman took a small sip of the tea sitting on the desk.

In the room filled with taut silence, the sound of her setting down the teacup seemed strangely loud.

“They say humans are creatures of forgetfulness. Have you forgotten already?”

Kaian threateningly thrust the brass candlestick into the air.

“I’m not interested in riddles like that! Speak so I can understand!”

“Humans seem to have no manners from the moment they are born. Well, it doesn’t matter. At least your vocabulary seems decent, so that is a relief.”

“What does that even—?! Answer me! Where are they?!”

“You burned them all to death.”

The woman casually took another sip of tea.

“What…?”

“Did you not hear me? I said you burned them all to death.”

Fragments of memory resurfaced in Kaian’s mind.

The turquoise mana flickering around his left arm.

Himself swinging that arm back with all his strength.

The screams of the attackers.

And the orange heat that had driven him deeper into the forest…

“No…”

Kaian muttered.

His eyes were trembling even more violently than before.

“No. There’s no way they would have given up so easily! They must have sent reinforcements…!”

The woman frowned slightly.

“You are noisy.”

“Guh…!”

Kaian’s breath caught in his throat.

From that brief warning alone, he could feel an immense amount of mana—something he could not have comprehended even if he devoted his entire life to it.

His body shrank instinctively, like a rabbit beneath the foot of a giant.

And only then did he realize it clearly.

I awakened my mana…!

Those who had not awakened their mana could not sense how powerful another person’s mana was, no matter how overwhelming it might be.

But right now, Kaian’s body was trembling like prey standing before a predator.

“You asked where this place is, did you not?”

The woman spoke in that same clear, melodious voice.

“This is Eldergrove. My subspace. Mages equipped with crude toys like those worn by the people chasing you would not even be able to find it. So you may rest easy.”

Kaian somehow managed to keep breathing.

Then he forcibly made his mind, which was threatening to freeze from fear, start moving again.

Rest easy… That’s a strange thing to say. How am I supposed to rest easy in a situation like this?

And yet, somewhere deep in his heart, hope inevitably began to bloom.

Did telling him to rest easy mean that all the danger was over?

If so, perhaps he could finally ask about his family.

And so, despite knowing that he would regret it, Kaian finally opened his mouth.

“Then… my family—”

“They are dead.”

It was a short and unequivocal verdict.

Just as Kaian began to move his lips in denial, the woman’s emotionless voice pierced straight into his heart like a dagger.

“This time, ask about something you do not already know.”

It was a sharp rebuke.

He already knew that his family was dead.

It was also a condemnation of his foolish hope and his attempt to escape reality.

Kaian’s body trembled with humiliation and anger.

At the same time, the memories he had desperately tried to bury until now unfolded vividly in his mind.

The woman asked bluntly,

“Or do you wish to go to your family’s side?”

Kaian felt as though his heart were being ripped apart.

Unable to contain his anger, a howl burst from the depths of his stomach.

“Uaaaaaaaaah!”

That was when it happened.

Turquoise mana began to surge violently from Kaian’s left wrist.

The thick brass candlestick clenched in his hand began to melt.

―Hissssss!

A strange light appeared in the eyes of the woman—Eldarin.

Oh? Turquoise.

The mana used by mages was broadly divided into three types.

Green—intellect.

Blue—creativity.

Red—willpower.

Mages who possessed and used only one of these three types accounted for a staggering 95 percent of all mages.

The proportion of mages who possessed two or more types of mana—known as multi-mana users—was only five percent.

And the turquoise mana displayed by the child before her was a combination of intellect and creativity.

In other words, it was a combination possessed by three percent of that five percent of multi-mana users.

But Eldarin could see something else.

There was red mana writhing near Kaian’s heart—mana he had yet to learn how to control.

Could it be that he also possesses willpower?

The proportion of mages capable of using all three types of mana was a mere 0.5 percent.

At last, Eldarin smiled sincerely.

It has been… 700 years since I last saw talent like this.

From the moment the human child broke through Eldergrove’s barrier and entered, she had known he would not be ordinary.

But Kaian’s talent, once she actually confirmed it, far exceeded even Eldarin’s expectations.

―Vrrrrr!

The space itself trembled.

The intense heat erupting from Kaian’s body instantly burned the air inside the room.

―Crash!

The teacup on the side table shattered, and the thick oak floor began to blacken and scorch.

Yet Eldarin remained seated, merely observing Kaian with an intrigued expression.

More precisely, she was watching the flames surging within his mental world.

That child forcibly materialized the anger filling his mental world.

Magic was the manifestation of a mage’s mental world into reality.

To accomplish that, one needed a profound understanding of both their own mental world and the real world.

Yet the child before her did not even seem to be aware of his own mental world.

He accomplished it unconsciously? Impressive.

―Whoooosh!

Kaian’s eyes gradually became bloodshot before losing focus entirely.

When the thread of reason he had barely been clinging to finally snapped, all that remained were the destructive and survival instincts from the moment he had burned down the forest.

Melted brass flowed down Kaian’s hand.

“I’ll kill them… I’ll burn every last one of them…!”

―Crash!

Eldarin casually waved her hand and knocked away the fragments flying toward her.

Dangerous. But…

A faint, almost imperceptible smile appeared at the corner of her lips.

Overwhelming talent.

The child before her could not even perceive his own mental world, yet he had instantly transformed the sorrow and anger he possessed into destructive energy.

With this child, I can awaken a hero.

Eldarin finally made up her mind.

She raised her index finger and lightly pressed it against the air.

“[Calm down.]”

As though an invisible hand belonging to a giant had pressed down on the entire room, an immense pressure descended upon Kaian.

―Boom!

The flames that had been surging upward died down in an instant, and the trembling space became eerily still.

The overwhelming difference in power caused Kaian’s knees to buckle.

“Cough!”

The hand he placed against the floor trembled violently.

As his reason returned, so did the pain.

Eldarin silently rose from her chair and approached Kaian.

“Anger is certainly a powerful force. But if you cannot control it, all it will do is hurt you.”

With a hand so white it seemed as though it might glow at any moment, she suddenly grasped Kaian’s burned hand.

“Ugh!”

A wave of cold flowed through their touching skin, cooling the heat that had accumulated within him.

Even his overheated head seemed to cool along with it.

Kaian lowered his head and breathed heavily.

A liquid that could have been tears or sweat fell onto the scorched floor.

―Drip. Drip…

Eldarin asked Kaian,

“Do you desire power?”

Kaian raised his head with a puzzled expression.

Eldarin’s inscrutable blue eyes were staring directly at him.

What… did she just ask?

Does he want power?

Is she not going to kill me…?

Kaian lowered his head again.

Then, with his eyes closed, he focused on reconstructing everything that had happened.

Cool your head. Think calmly.

Eldarin reduced the pressure of her mana so that he could think without interference.

Kaian, lost in his thoughts, did not even notice the consideration she was showing him.

…The ones who attacked me weren’t just some ordinary noble family.

They attacked Valentin.

The Valentin family was, without a doubt, the Emperor’s right hand.

Attacking such a family was no different from committing treason.

Whoever they are, they clearly aren’t afraid of the Imperial Family.

And that overwhelming number of attackers…

There was no way that many forces could have been assembled with ordinary financial resources.

In other words, the enemy possessed enormous wealth while simultaneously having no fear of the Emperor.

They could be considered people standing at the true pinnacle of power within the Empire.

And those people had attempted to eliminate the Valentin family, a house known as one of the Emperor’s strongest supporters.

Why?

Had we become an obstacle to them?

Could they really have done all this for such a reason?

But there was one thing more important than anything else.

They had failed to erase the Valentin family from the world completely.

I survived.

Do they know that?

Kaian had no intention of kindly disappearing into the shadows of history according to his enemies’ wishes.

Valentin was the border of the Empire.

Its wall.

A great symbol of magic that must never fall.

He engraved deep within his heart who the people were that truly deserved to disappear from this world.

I will survive. No matter what.

And I will expose their true faces to the entire world.

But to bring down those standing at the pinnacle of the Empire, he needed power beyond common sense.

I don’t know what the identity of this horned elf is…

But one thing is certain.

She is powerful.

Now that his mana had awakened, he could sense it.

The mana radiating from her was far more profound and immense than that of either his father or mother, who had been known as the greatest mages in the Empire.

And this place… Eldergrove, was it?

It really does seem safe from the attackers.

Most importantly, Kaian could not sense any intent to kill him from the horned elf.

For the moment, that was enough.

Whether he could trust her or not was a question for later.

For now, he needed to hide himself and grow stronger.

Having reached his decision, Kaian raised his head.

The woman was still staring at him with those strange, radiant blue eyes.

But there was no longer any hesitation in Kaian’s eyes as he stared back at her.

“I want power. I want to become strong. Strong enough to change this entire world…!”

As though that were the correct answer, Eldarin smiled.

Kaian stared at the woman’s face in bewilderment and rubbed his eyes.

For a moment, he even wondered if he might be dreaming.

I’ve never heard of an elf having horns…

While he was still trying to make sense of the situation, the woman closed her book and raised her head. Her jewel-like, icy blue eyes stared straight through Kaian.

“Hmm… That is a rather crude weapon to point at the person who saved your life.”

Kaian flinched and took a step backward.

It was because of the woman’s voice.

Her voice was clear and mysterious. It was a beautiful sound unlike anything he had ever heard before.

And yet, there was not the slightest trace of emotion in it.

The strangely emotionless voice made Kaian raise his guard again. However, he had no idea what he should say first.

“I…”

He had initially wanted to ask about his family. But the moment he considered actually saying those words aloud, he felt that he would regret it immediately.

Almost without realizing it, Kaian changed his question.

“…Who are you?! Identify yourself! Where have you brought me?!”

He tried his best to imitate the way his father and brothers spoke, but even to his own ears, his words sounded somewhat awkward.

The woman gave a smile that was hardly a smile.

“Who am I, you ask? That is quite a difficult question. Why don’t you, as my guest, introduce yourself first? Who are you?”

The hand holding the brass candlestick trembled slightly.

She called me her guest. Does that mean she isn’t one of them?

Gathering his courage, Kaian cautiously glanced around.

The room, filled with wooden furniture, looked like an ordinary home.

Kaian suppressed his confusion and tried to think.

Those bastards were definitely trying to kill me.

And yet, he was here now, alive and unharmed.

Based on his observations and deductions, Kaian asked a more specific question.

“The men who were chasing me… Where are the attackers?”

The woman took a small sip of the tea sitting on the desk.

In the room filled with taut silence, the sound of her setting down the teacup seemed strangely loud.

“They say humans are creatures of forgetfulness. Have you forgotten already?”

Kaian threateningly thrust the brass candlestick into the air.

“I’m not interested in riddles like that! Speak so I can understand!”

“Humans seem to have no manners from the moment they are born. Well, it doesn’t matter. At least your vocabulary seems decent, so that is a relief.”

“What does that even—?! Answer me! Where are they?!”

“You burned them all to death.”

The woman casually took another sip of tea.

“What…?”

“Did you not hear me? I said you burned them all to death.”

Fragments of memory resurfaced in Kaian’s mind.

The turquoise mana flickering around his left arm.

Himself swinging that arm back with all his strength.

The screams of the attackers.

And the orange heat that had driven him deeper into the forest…

“No…”

Kaian muttered.

His eyes were trembling even more violently than before.

“No. There’s no way they would have given up so easily! They must have sent reinforcements…!”

The woman frowned slightly.

“You are noisy.”

“Guh…!”

Kaian’s breath caught in his throat.

From that brief warning alone, he could feel an immense amount of mana—something he could not have comprehended even if he devoted his entire life to it.

His body shrank instinctively, like a rabbit beneath the foot of a giant.

And only then did he realize it clearly.

I awakened my mana…!

Those who had not awakened their mana could not sense how powerful another person’s mana was, no matter how overwhelming it might be.

But right now, Kaian’s body was trembling like prey standing before a predator.

“You asked where this place is, did you not?”

The woman spoke in that same clear, melodious voice.

“This is Eldergrove. My subspace. Mages equipped with crude toys like those worn by the people chasing you would not even be able to find it. So you may rest easy.”

Kaian somehow managed to keep breathing.

Then he forcibly made his mind, which was threatening to freeze from fear, start moving again.

Rest easy… That’s a strange thing to say. How am I supposed to rest easy in a situation like this?

And yet, somewhere deep in his heart, hope inevitably began to bloom.

Did telling him to rest easy mean that all the danger was over?

If so, perhaps he could finally ask about his family.

And so, despite knowing that he would regret it, Kaian finally opened his mouth.

“Then… my family—”

“They are dead.”

It was a short and unequivocal verdict.

Just as Kaian began to move his lips in denial, the woman’s emotionless voice pierced straight into his heart like a dagger.

“This time, ask about something you do not already know.”

It was a sharp rebuke.

He already knew that his family was dead.

It was also a condemnation of his foolish hope and his attempt to escape reality.

Kaian’s body trembled with humiliation and anger.

At the same time, the memories he had desperately tried to bury until now unfolded vividly in his mind.

The woman asked bluntly,

“Or do you wish to go to your family’s side?”

Kaian felt as though his heart were being ripped apart.

Unable to contain his anger, a howl burst from the depths of his stomach.

“Uaaaaaaaaah!”

That was when it happened.

Turquoise mana began to surge violently from Kaian’s left wrist.

The thick brass candlestick clenched in his hand began to melt.

―Hissssss!

A strange light appeared in the eyes of the woman—Eldarin.

Oh? Turquoise.

The mana used by mages was broadly divided into three types.

Green—intellect.

Blue—creativity.

Red—willpower.

Mages who possessed and used only one of these three types accounted for a staggering 95 percent of all mages.

The proportion of mages who possessed two or more types of mana—known as multi-mana users—was only five percent.

And the turquoise mana displayed by the child before her was a combination of intellect and creativity.

In other words, it was a combination possessed by three percent of that five percent of multi-mana users.

But Eldarin could see something else.

There was red mana writhing near Kaian’s heart—mana he had yet to learn how to control.

Could it be that he also possesses willpower?

The proportion of mages capable of using all three types of mana was a mere 0.5 percent.

At last, Eldarin smiled sincerely.

It has been… 700 years since I last saw talent like this.

From the moment the human child broke through Eldergrove’s barrier and entered, she had known he would not be ordinary.

But Kaian’s talent, once she actually confirmed it, far exceeded even Eldarin’s expectations.

―Vrrrrr!

The space itself trembled.

The intense heat erupting from Kaian’s body instantly burned the air inside the room.

―Crash!

The teacup on the side table shattered, and the thick oak floor began to blacken and scorch.

Yet Eldarin remained seated, merely observing Kaian with an intrigued expression.

More precisely, she was watching the flames surging within his mental world.

That child forcibly materialized the anger filling his mental world.

Magic was the manifestation of a mage’s mental world into reality.

To accomplish that, one needed a profound understanding of both their own mental world and the real world.

Yet the child before her did not even seem to be aware of his own mental world.

He accomplished it unconsciously? Impressive.

―Whoooosh!

Kaian’s eyes gradually became bloodshot before losing focus entirely.

When the thread of reason he had barely been clinging to finally snapped, all that remained were the destructive and survival instincts from the moment he had burned down the forest.

Melted brass flowed down Kaian’s hand.

“I’ll kill them… I’ll burn every last one of them…!”

―Crash!

Eldarin casually waved her hand and knocked away the fragments flying toward her.

Dangerous. But…

A faint, almost imperceptible smile appeared at the corner of her lips.

Overwhelming talent.

The child before her could not even perceive his own mental world, yet he had instantly transformed the sorrow and anger he possessed into destructive energy.

With this child, I can awaken a hero.

Eldarin finally made up her mind.

She raised her index finger and lightly pressed it against the air.

“[Calm down.]”

As though an invisible hand belonging to a giant had pressed down on the entire room, an immense pressure descended upon Kaian.

―Boom!

The flames that had been surging upward died down in an instant, and the trembling space became eerily still.

The overwhelming difference in power caused Kaian’s knees to buckle.

“Cough!”

The hand he placed against the floor trembled violently.

As his reason returned, so did the pain.

Eldarin silently rose from her chair and approached Kaian.

“Anger is certainly a powerful force. But if you cannot control it, all it will do is hurt you.”

With a hand so white it seemed as though it might glow at any moment, she suddenly grasped Kaian’s burned hand.

“Ugh!”

A wave of cold flowed through their touching skin, cooling the heat that had accumulated within him.

Even his overheated head seemed to cool along with it.

Kaian lowered his head and breathed heavily.

A liquid that could have been tears or sweat fell onto the scorched floor.

―Drip. Drip…

Eldarin asked Kaian,

“Do you desire power?”

Kaian raised his head with a puzzled expression.

Eldarin’s inscrutable blue eyes were staring directly at him.

What… did she just ask?

Does he want power?

Is she not going to kill me…?

Kaian lowered his head again.

Then, with his eyes closed, he focused on reconstructing everything that had happened.

Cool your head. Think calmly.

Eldarin reduced the pressure of her mana so that he could think without interference.

Kaian, lost in his thoughts, did not even notice the consideration she was showing him.

…The ones who attacked me weren’t just some ordinary noble family.

They attacked Valentin.

The Valentin family was, without a doubt, the Emperor’s right hand.

Attacking such a family was no different from committing treason.

Whoever they are, they clearly aren’t afraid of the Imperial Family.

And that overwhelming number of attackers…

There was no way that many forces could have been assembled with ordinary financial resources.

In other words, the enemy possessed enormous wealth while simultaneously having no fear of the Emperor.

They could be considered people standing at the true pinnacle of power within the Empire.

And those people had attempted to eliminate the Valentin family, a house known as one of the Emperor’s strongest supporters.

Why?

Had we become an obstacle to them?

Could they really have done all this for such a reason?

But there was one thing more important than anything else.

They had failed to erase the Valentin family from the world completely.

I survived.

Do they know that?

Kaian had no intention of kindly disappearing into the shadows of history according to his enemies’ wishes.

Valentin was the border of the Empire.

Its wall.

A great symbol of magic that must never fall.

He engraved deep within his heart who the people were that truly deserved to disappear from this world.

I will survive. No matter what.

And I will expose their true faces to the entire world.

But to bring down those standing at the pinnacle of the Empire, he needed power beyond common sense.

I don’t know what the identity of this horned elf is…

But one thing is certain.

She is powerful.

Now that his mana had awakened, he could sense it.

The mana radiating from her was far more profound and immense than that of either his father or mother, who had been known as the greatest mages in the Empire.

And this place… Eldergrove, was it?

It really does seem safe from the attackers.

Most importantly, Kaian could not sense any intent to kill him from the horned elf.

For the moment, that was enough.

Whether he could trust her or not was a question for later.

For now, he needed to hide himself and grow stronger.

Having reached his decision, Kaian raised his head.

The woman was still staring at him with those strange, radiant blue eyes.

But there was no longer any hesitation in Kaian’s eyes as he stared back at her.

“I want power. I want to become strong. Strong enough to change this entire world…!”

As though that were the correct answer, Eldarin smiled.

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