CHAPTER 5: THE TRUTH OF MAGIC, APPRENTICESHIP

“…It’s… Hermes.”

Hermes had all sorts of doubts, but she asked for his name, so he left his questions aside and meekly responded.

She must’ve taken the opportunity to heal him, as Hermes no longer felt the pain from the wounds he received in the beating that lasted until now.

“Um, thank you very much for saving me.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it. All I did was beat the shit out of ‘em cuz I was pissed off.”

Rose friendly spoke to Hermes, a 180 flip from the animosity she was letting out in full force just earlier.

Her changes in behavior could be described as a sort of innocence, and coupled with her physical beauty, she gave off an otherworldly impression just as she did in the battle from before.

“But this was all pretty weird.”

Just then, Rose tilted her head, looking as if she suddenly realized something.

“Judging from your perception ability from earlier, you’re a pretty strong magician, aren’t you? It’s true that those dudes were moderately strong, but I just can’t see someone like you getting caught without a fight…”

“!”

Hermes could tell she didn’t mean anything malicious by that.

Even so, Hermes remembered something because of that question.
He remembered that he was a magician so worthless that he was thrown away by his family.

Seeing the very embodiment of the magnificent magician he dreamt of, as well as the captivating magic she used moments before, he remembered that he would never catch up to her, even if he spent his entire life doing so.

“Th-…at’s….”

“!?”

Was it because he relaxed himself after his life was saved, or maybe was it because he realized his own wretchedness once more after seeing her?

He tried to tell her the reason, but he couldn’t put it into words very well. Unable to bear it in the end, he ended up shedding tears.

“W-What’s wrong!? Do your injuries hurt!? I made sure to completely heal them, though…”

“I-.. It-.. It’s not… that…”

Facing the flustered Rose, Hermes tried his best to put his feelings into words as he sobbed.

“I… I also… wanted to be a great magician like you… But… it’s impossible…”

“…It’s impossible?”

“I… don’t have my own magic…!”

On that fateful day, he never gave up, even after he was told he didn’t have his own Bloodline Magic.

Surely one day, surely it exists somewhere in me—

Believing that, he continued to search deep within himself. As a result, he managed to obtain high-level mana manipulation abilities, as well as the perception abilities he displayed earlier.

However—exactly because he had those abilities, he realized that it was time to give up already.

There wasn’t a single trace of Bloodline Magic in his veins, and he knew he’d never find it beyond this point either.

I’ll awaken my own magic, which no one knew I had inside of me…

Those sweet-sounding fantasies of his were nothing more than a pipe dream.

As a result of his refined perception abilities, he had absolute faith that he didn’t have it inside of himself.

As irony would have it, the very thing that he tempered up until now ended up guaranteeing the hopelessness of his situation.

“That’s why… no matter how much I train… no matter how skilled at manipulating mana, there’s no meaning in it at all! It’s all pointless…!”

Just by talking about it once, the floodgates to his pent up emotions bursted open.

From then on, Hermes continued to talk, the words spilling out of him. He talked about how he was thrown away by his family, how he was treated until now, and how even the girl that believed in him drifted far, far away.

A lot of what he said probably didn’t make much sense, but Rose listened to everything he had to say with an earnest look on her face.

“I… see…”

Before long, Hermes finished giving Rose the general outline of what happened.

“It might be a bit impertinent of me to sympathize with you just after we met, but… It must’ve been tough.”

She slowly hugged Hermes tightly.

“!”

The warmth of a person, which he hadn’t felt in ages. His body was enveloped by the gentle touch of skin so soft it surprised him and the sweet fragrance of flowers.

She gently caressed his head, and his heart felt at ease as his eyes overflowed with tears once more.

“You don’t need to worry about a thing, Hermes. In the end, all those bastard nobles are doing is acting pretentious using borrowed power… Seriously, they haven’t changed in the slightest.”

She whispered next to his ear, still hugging him. She spoke in a voice half-gentle and half-slightly gloomy.

“You don’t gotta take the shit those guys say seriously. Even if you don’t have Bloodline Magic-………Huh?”

However, just then—

Rose stopped talking midway, and her body began shaking uncontrollably.

“No, hold on hold on hold on. I was preoccupied with how horrible of an upbringing you had, so I didn’t catch what you said, but… You don’t have Bloodline Magic!?”

Rose suddenly separated herself from me and repeated herself with an expression of astonishment.

“Y-Yeah.”

Even this amazing magician thinks not having Bloodline Magic means I’m doomed, after all—

Hermes’ heart was enveloped by darkness for the second time.

However—

“—That’s amazing!”

Immediately after, she said something that Hermes never once expected she’d say.

“Hey hey hey, right when I began thinking today was an unlucky day after I met those sleazebag bastards, it was actually the best day of my life!”

For some reason, Rose put her hands under Hermes’ arms and lifted him up, her eyes sparkling.

“Huh? Huh?”

“You have such a massive amount of mana, your manipulation and fundamental abilities are top of the line, and it’s even been guaranteed that you don’t have Bloodline Magic!? You’re the best I could ask for! You’re such a goddamn perfect diamond in the rough that it makes me suspect I’m being baited!”

Hermes thought she was mocking him, but there wasn’t the slightest indication of that in her eyes, which glittered like a child’s.

“You have an honest personality, you’re a good kid, and to top it off, you have a cute face! You’re perfect for me—I’m in love! I wanna raise you to my preferences!”

“Hu-huuuh!?”

She exceeded his expectations, muttering something outrageous in the end.

Hermes’ confusion finally reached its peak.

“U-Um… What are you saying…?”

“Whoops, my bad. I got a little too excited. That was a little unbecoming of someone at my age.”

She must’ve been aware that she left Hermes behind in reality as she went into her own little dream world. She lowered Hermes to the ground in an embarrassed manner.

“That’s right… What should we talk about?”

After falling into thought for a brief moment, she asked him a question in a gentle tone.

“…Hermes. Do you like magic?”

“Huh—?”

Hermes was slightly taken aback at the sudden question.

However, despite the smile on her face, her expression was more earnest than Hermes had ever seen.

That’s why Hermes decided to respond up-front.

Fortunately, there was nothing to hesitate about in his reply.

“—Yes. I love it.”

Magic.

A miracle brought upon by humans; A wish-granting work of god.

Hermes had been fascinated by it since his birth.

He believed it to be more beautiful than anything else—He wanted to find his very own wonderful magic.

Something that he was willing to risk the entirety of his life for—To him, that was what magic was.

In response to his answer, Rose gave a satisfied nod.

“But I…”

“You don’t have Bloodline Magic. That’s why you can’t become an outstanding magician—”

After she finished the ever-negative words he was about to say, Rose fearlessly smiled with her back against the setting sun.

“—Then, for starters, how about we fix that misunderstanding of yours?”

“!”

His heart leaped from his chest with shock.

“Bloodline Magic is indeed a fearsome thing. I know that veery well, since I have it myself.”

Rose nimbly turned her finger to the side.

Immediately after, streaks of light from the sky bored a hole in the ground with a bang at where she pointed, creating a large hole.

That was the Bloodline Magic she showed earlier—Throne of the Fallen Star, Hlidskjalf.

“I could use this unconditionally and without any effort whatsoever since I was born. It’s certainly outrageously strong. Some half-hearted dude would probably be satisfied with just this—that’s how powerful it is.”

However—

“However—you’ll never be able to go beyond what you can already do with it.”

“Huh…?”

“Including those nobles, practically everybody has the wrong idea. Magic isn’t something bestowed by the gods—it’s the work of man, sewn together based on a solid foundation of sound concepts and logic. Anyone can use any magic if they follow the proper procedures.”

Hermes had a feeling his entire world would be flipped upside down.

“Bloodline Magic isn’t some ‘gift of natural talent’ or something lovely like that. It’s a ‘curse’ that unconditionally makes you unable to use more than one type of magic from birth.

In essence, magic is something you learn by building up an understanding of logic—it’s something you acquire as a result of hard work.

Bloodline Magic is something that you can use innately, completely skipping over that learning process.

However, as payment for that, Bloodline Magic restricts the use of any other magic that you’d be originally able to learn.

It’s a taboo that grants unconditional power, sacrificing all potential possibilities.

That was the “curse” known as Bloodline Magic that she spoke of.

Seeing Hermes reeling back in shock from the impact of the truth, Rose thrusted her finger at him.

“And you don’t have Bloodline Magic.”

“!”

His heart leaped from his chest for the second time.

This time, however, he didn’t feel just shock. He had a faint, yet definite hope within him.

“You understand, don’t you? It’s not that you weren’t chosen by the gods. Rather, if we were to put it how those nobles would—you’re the sole person not cursed by the gods, a magician who holds the potential to use all magic to perfection.”

Continuing on, Rose deployed a great variety of magic around herself—A wall of light, spheres of flame, blades of wind, and so on. Each and every one of them were the various spells of tremendous power which she showed earlier.

“You have the talent to use all of these spells, which I put on display earlier. No… it goes way beyond that. I can’t go any further because of Bloodline Magic, but you can use magic far stronger, far cooler, and far more beautiful than I can. You’ll become the most free magician in the world!”

His heart was pounding so hard it hurt.

He was discarded by his family and despaired his own talent.

At the end of his constant wandering at rock bottom, he met a hope larger than anything in his life so far.

“Just as I said before, I fell in love with that potential of yours. I want to see just what kind of magician you’ll become. I’d love for you to let me assist you in that journey ahead of you… That’s why—”

In the end, she blushed, acting like a bashful young maiden in love.

“I’ve been looking for a child like you. If you’re okay with it… Won’t you become my apprentice?”

…Thinking about it normally and objectively, one would think it was an extremely shady offer.

No matter how tight of a pinch she saved Hermes from, she talked about things that completely uprooted the common sense he lived with until now, and her final words were “become my apprentice.”

Rather, it’d be strange not to think there wasn’t some sort of catch to this.

However, Hermes mysteriously didn’t harbor such thoughts.

It’d be a lie to say that Hermes didn’t see her in a favorable light after she saved him and displayed her magnificence in magic.

More than anything, she was truly lively when she talked about magic.

Seeing that, Hermes had a thought.

Aah, this person loves magic, too.

To him, that convinced him more eloquently than a thousand words ever could.

That’s why, without even a moment’s hesitation, Hermes responded like so:

“—I’ll be in your care!”

Thus, the boy who had his relationship with his family severed and became merely Hermes was now the Witch of Heaven Rose’s apprentice.

5 years from then. Hermes, who had devoted himself to studying under her tutelage and piled experience, decided to return to the capital once again.

Hermes, as well as those connected to him. The time where the fates of everyone involved would change drastically approached with each passing moment.