Chapter 19. The Mage
“I’m not a noble. The only thing I know how to do is dance.”
Morning ca. Michelle, who had woken up, curled up with her ssy hair.
“I know.”
“Then why did you capture ?”
“Eat.”
Instead of answering Michelle’s question, I gave her deliciously cooked chicken. Michelle looked back and forth between and the chicken with wide eyes.
“C-can I really eat it?”
Michelle asked, swallowing the saliva that was pooling in her mouth. Questions like how she got here and why seed to have vanished like smoke in front of the delicious food.
“Eat, and if it’s not enough, tell .”
“Really?”
“Don’t eat with your hands, use the fork and knife.”
“Ah! Yes!”
Michelle, with cutlery in hand, devoured the food like soone who had starved for days.
Chris, who had brought tea and dessert for her, let out an exclamation of admiration as he watched Michelle eat.
“That’s a three-person portion. She’s eating it all by herself. And she’s so small.”
“She dances, so she probably eats a lot.”
“Should I have brought beer instead of tea?”
Michelle was eating so hastily that she seed to be choking, as she kept patting her chest.
Drinking beer at a ti like this would have been a great way to wash it down.
“She needs to be sober to answer. Water is right.”
“While I’m getting water, I should also order a al for Your Highness and myself.”
I stared at him. I didn't know that the food Michelle was eating was also our share. It slled incredibly delicious.
“Only potatoes and bread will be left.”
I’m dood. They’re dry and tasteless. I need to start the day with at to have energy…
“Um…”
Michelle, conscious of my and Chris' gazes, timidly raised her hand. I nodded and gestured for her to speak comfortably.
“Could I have a little more?”
I wonder if I brought in a descendant of a great beggar by mistake, not a descendant of Antoine.
* * *
Michelle, having finished her al, sat in her chair and maintained a straight posture. I sat across from her. And I looked at Michelle intently. With just the two of us in this space, it feels like an interrogation.
“Na.”
“It’s Michelle.”
“Last na.”
“My last na is…”
Michelle hesitated to answer. It looked like an effort to keep a secret from being revealed.
While she was hesitating, I stood up from my seat. Then I opened the door and checked outside. It was unlikely since this was a secluded place, but I did it just in case. The words from now on could be dangerous for both of us, so I needed to check if anyone was listening.
“Antoine.”
I said, looking at Michelle.
Michelle’s eyes widened. She trembled like an aspen tree, as if feeling extre anxiety.
“It’s a common last na.”
It was common in Runium where I used to be. Here in Poinus… I don’t know.
“Th-that’s not a common na.”
Michelle desperately denied it with a trembling voice.
“Michelle Antoine. What’s your middle na?”
“Maria… no! No…”
She’s not very smart.
“Michelle Maria Antoine. Not a bad na. Why are you hiding your last na?”
“……”
“Do you know who I am?”
She didn’t answer the first question, but she nodded at the second.
“Then wouldn’t it be better to answer?”
“P-please spare . I have done nothing wrong. I just danced.”
“If you’ve done nothing wrong, why are you asking to spare you?”
“……That’s……”
“Did soone tell you that you would die if you said your last na?”
“My grandfather.”
Michelle answered with a look of resignation, as if she had half given up.
“Where is your grandfather?”
“He passed away.”
“Your father?”
“He passed away.”
“Your mother too?”
“Yes, I have no other family. No relatives either.”
She spoke firmly, as if there was nothing to be gained by looking for her family.
“Is that so? Then that’s not bad. Is your ancestor Raphael Antoine?”
“……”
Michelle clamped her lips shut with all her might. It seed she thought she might really die if she answered this question. Even though I told her I wouldn't kill her, she didn't seem to believe since she knew I was the 5th Prince of Poinus. Judging by the way she spoke, too. If I were in her shoes, I would probably act similarly.
So I took Michelle’s hand. And I let my mana flow into her. If she’s a descendant of Antoine, it’s obvious.
“1st Circle?”
“P-please spare !”
Michelle knelt before and begged, rubbing her hands together as if to wear them away.
“I’m not going to kill you. Why would I kill you?”
“Then why did you capture and…”
“I didn’t capture you, I rescued you from being captured.”
Michelle, who had been begging with her hands, stopped and blinked her eyes. Then she wore an expression that said she didn’t know what I was talking about. She seed to think that if she had been rescued, she should be in her dormitory.
“I know you don’t rember anything because you fainted then, but think carefully. What kind of person would put a kidnapped girl to sleep and feed her?”
“…Is… that so?”
She’s foolish. I don’t think Raphael was this foolish… I give up on making her understand. I’ll just ask what I’m curious about.
“Who did you swear an oath to? Benetuo?”
Seeing how she lightly cut through the air and drew a silver line with her hand when she danced, it was highly likely to be the god of wind, ‘Benetuo.’
“Yes.”
As expected.
“Then. What will happen to now?”
Michelle, still kneeling, asked with eyes full of fear.
“You want to live, right?”
“……You said you wouldn’t kill .”
“I could change my mind.”
“Please spare . I’ll do, I’ll do anything.”
Anything. A very pleasant word ca out of Michelle’s mouth.
“Let ask just one thing.”
“Yes? Yes, please ask anything.”
“Do you like dancing?”
“I… like…”
Michelle hesitated to answer, her lips puckering. It seed her head was trying to say yes, but her heart wasn’t following.
“I see. Then is there sothing else you want to do?”
“Sothing I want to do…”
She fell into thought. I can roughly guess what kind of life she has lived. She must have been in an environnt where it was difficult to dream, buried in the struggle to make a living. It’s bitter. If things hadn’t turned out the way they did for , she would have lived a life respected as a mber of a prestigious family.
“From now on, you’re with .”
“Pardon?”
“It’s not like you want to live your life dancing anyway. And it’s not like you have anything else you want to do.”
“That’s true, but… I can’t cook, I can’t clean… the only things I can do are dance and sing.”
“You’re 1st Circle.”
A mage in their 20s might not be a big deal. But it’s different for a teenager. A 1st Circle in their early to mid-teens, if not a genius, can still be called outstanding.
Michelle might not be a teenager. But a quick glance shows that Michelle and the 5th Prince are about the sa age.
“How old are you?”
I asked for confirmation.
“16.”
“Good.”
Good. Even Chris, who sighs whenever he sees Michelle, will change his attitude. Of course, it won’t last long. Because if she’s a descendant of Antoine, she has a fatal problem.
“But… I don’t know how to use magic…”
This is the problem. Antoine was like that. For so reason, he had almost no talent for using magic. Even though he had sworn an oath to a god, he couldn't even use basic magic.
Even though he beca 2nd Circle faster than anyone due to his incredible ability to feel and accumulate mana in his body, it was still the sa. That’s why he was treated like a cripple before he beca an archer. It was the reason Antoine’s temper beca so foul.
“It doesn’t matter. I didn’t expect it anyway.”
“Then why …”
“Don’t you want to at least beco a baron?”
“I do. That’s why I danced… although it wasn’t to beco a baron…”
She must have been told that if she gained fa by dancing, she could receive the rank of a quasi-baron.
“If you want to keep dancing, then do so.”
“Pardon? Then I… is it okay for to go back to the Entertainnt House? You won’t reveal my last na… will you?”
“I don’t know. But the guys who kidnapped you are still there.”
“…Hiccup!”
Michelle hiccuped, as if terrified by the mory of being kidnapped.
“Choose. Co with , or go back to the Entertainnt House and get kidnapped again.”
“…If I go with Your Highness, can I beco a baron?”
“That’s up to you. But if you do well, you definitely can. If you do better, you can beco a viscount, and even a count.”
As I assured her she could obtain a title, a strange light appeared in Michelle’s eyes.
“Um… then. Can I drink tea and eat things like cake?”
Was the reason she wanted a title because of food? She’s thinking about food even after eating so much in the morning? She’s no ordinary glutton…
* * *
“Haa…”
Chris, who said he had work in the morning, returned. He looked back and forth between and Michelle with troubled eyes. And he did it repeatedly.
“What?”
“Are you really saying… that you will return right now with that friend?”
“You heard , why do you keep asking?”
“Bringing a dancer here is a problem, but taking her away as you please is an even bigger problem.”
“Who’s going to care?”
“If soone says it’s a problem, it becos a problem.”
“Then soone can solve it. You’re more than capable enough for that, aren’t you?”
I looked at Chris and smiled brightly.
“Your Highness.”
Chris spoke in a heavy voice, filled with the aning that he could not accept it. In that case, I should stimulate his interest.
“She’s 1st Circle.”
I said, pointing at Michelle who was eating tea and cake. As expected, Chris' eyes sparkled. He took Michelle’s hand.
“Huh? Wh-why are you suddenly doing this?”
“Ha! How can this be.”
Chris looked at Michelle with an interested face.
“Have you learned magic?”
“N-no.”
“Then how could you create a circle without it?”
“I-I don’t know. It just appeared.”
“Just like that? You an it appeared on its own without you doing anything?”
Michelle looked at . Her eyes were asking if it was okay to answer. I nodded. Even if Chris knew about Antoine, he wouldn't do anything to Michelle. Because Chris is a person who prioritizes his own interests over the empire-centric laws.
“…Yes.”
“Ha! How can this be. How could sothing like this… research will be needed. Do you know how to use basic magic?”
“N-no.”
“You’ve made a 1st Circle this thick, and you don’t know magic?”
Chris couldn’t hide his bewildernt at Michelle’s answer. And he questioned her as if interrogating her, his eyes wide. He seed completely unable to believe Michelle’s words. I thought he would. It would have been difficult to accept with Chris' common sense.
“Stop.”
I told Chris to stop pressuring Michelle. No, what would change if he interrogated her with wide eyes, asking why a 1st Circle doesn't know magic? She was born that way.
“Why? Why doesn't a 1st Circle know magic? Looking at the state of her circle, it seems she could even reach the 2nd Circle soon. Why?”
“I-I don’t know.”
“Then I will teach you. I will teach you from the basics, step by step.”
Chris showed an unprecedented enthusiasm. So I grabbed his shoulder.
“Even if you teach her magic for a hundred days, she won’t get it.”
“What are you talking about? She has a Mana Circle. If we go through it one by one from the basics, she can do it. She can beco a stronger mage than anyone.”
“Hmm… I don’t think so.”
If she has the sa nature as Antoine, the mana will evaporate the mont she tries to cast magic. This is not sothing that can be explained logically. It’s an innate disposition. That was the conclusion reached by the so-called great mages of that era after years of research.
“Your Highness is saying that because you do not know. Having a Mana Circle ans having sufficient aptitude to beco a mage. A magic circle that appears without effort is no different from a heaven-sent talent.”
The excited Chris gave a passionate speech. I looked at Chris and clicked my tongue.
‘It’s not a heaven-sent talent, but a heaven-sent curse.’
Because she has a dazzling talent, but cannot manifest it. I saw Antoine bla himself so many tis by my side. He said that if he could have used magic, he would have saved many soldiers. That he could have prevented his comrades from dying. I saw him beat his chest while crying like that.
“Wanna bet?”
But since Chris doesn't accept this, I'll have to make him realize it himself. Of course, it’s not for free.
“Fine. I hope you do not regret it. I have no intention of backing down even if Your Highness wishes for it.”
“The word regret does not exist in my dictionary.”
There is only victory.
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