“How did you learn magic in such a short time?!”
“How...?”
Overwhelmed by Bruno’s intense gaze, I began to wonder if I‘d done something bad and tried recalling everything I did until now.
“I just followed the grimoire’s instructions every day...”
“So...is that grimoire special somehow?” Bruno held his chin and began mumbling to himself. “Yeah, that might be it. We’re the oldest noble family, so I can imagine we have some crazy things stored in our archives.”
I didn’t feel like interrupting him and all his mumbling, so I just watched for a while until he spoke up again.
“Hey, Liam. Gimme that.”
“O-Okay. Here.”
Overwhelmed by his intense gaze yet again, I handed him the grimoire. He opened it up, pored over the same pages I’d been staring at for the past month, and started practicing as well.
If he’s going to start practicing magic, then I should be off so I don’t get in his way—
“Say, Liam.”
“Hm?”
Just as I was about to leave, Bruno called out to me. I flinched and turned around, only to find that he was still staring at the grimoire, but this time with an expression that spoke volumes of how tedious he found it to be.
With his face scrunched up like that, he asked me, “Are you working so hard ’cause you wanna be the next family head?”
“The head? Why?”
“’Cause you’re the same as pops.”
I frowned in confusion. The same as Charles—as father? How so?
“Don’t tell me you don’t know,” Bruno said ominously, “why pops is so desperate about all this.”
“Is there any particular reason?” I asked slowly.
“Well, it’s normal for nobles to pass their title to their heir after they reach a certain age, right?”
“Oh, really?” I didn’t know that, and Bruno could tell.
“So you really didn’t know. Well, can’t say I’m surprised, what with how easygoing you are,” he said, smoothly dismissing my ignorance. “You see, things get complicated if the heir succeeds the position after the family head dies. It’s much easier to manage all the trouble that comes after if the title is passed while the head’s still alive.”
I hummed in response. I never thought about that. I guess nobles have it hard too.
“There’s less room for arguments that way,” he added, “and that’s also why the rest of us can do whatever we want.”
“Right...”
“But you see, that’s where another problem crops up: the moment pops passes his title down, our family will enter its fourth generation, meaning we’d have to relinquish our nobility and become commoners.”
I blinked. “Oh.”
“It’s normal for family heads to toss all the work to their heirs then enjoy the life of a retired noble with their authority still intact, but pops can’t even do that as things are, which is why he’s oh-so-desperate.”
I see... That’s true. Come to think of it, it was kind of weird for him to be so desperate just because the generation after his would become commoners. Father always looked so cornered, as if he himself were in trouble. So this was why—
“Argh, what a pain in the ass!”
“Huh?”
Bruno suddenly lashed out and threw the grimoire at me, exclaiming, “This is way too boring for me! See ya!” before leaving just as quickly as he came.
I silently stared at him and let out a wry chuckle. It hasn’t even been ten minutes since you started practicing, though.
In any case, the grimoire was back with me now, so I could start practicing again.
A few days later, I went back to the archive room. Now that I learned all the spells from Beginner Flame Magic—the first grimoire that I took out—I borrowed Beginner Frost Magic.
Unable to wait until I got to the woods, I started practicing while walking.
One in a hundred people could use flame magic, but lowering the temperature was more difficult than raising it, so apparently, only one in a thousand could use frost magic. That explanation made sense to me; after all, it was easy to start a fire even without magic, but it was impossible to make ice—you could only wait for winter to do that. Thus, there were very few people who could use this difficult type of magic.
All this just served to make me feel even more excited. I loved magic, and frost magic was especially challenging. Just how fun would it be once I finally learned it?
I continued practicing magic with the grimoire as I walked down the hall.
As was the case for flame magic, I sometimes practiced by casting the magic directly onto the book. Apparently, it was easier for grimoires to assist with magic if it were cast on the book itself, hence why they were treated with a protective coating.
That was why I gave it a try...
“Whoa!”
...but it didn’t go so well, and the grimoire in my hands caught fire.
I tried using frost magic but ended up casting Fireball on it instead. Startled by the burning grimoire, I dropped it to the ground before frantically picking it back up and putting the fire out.
“Who in the world is starting a fire in the—Liam?”
“Father!”
My panic surged even more as I turned toward the voice I’d heard. Father was coming this way while speaking with the butler. He was probably headed somewhere, as he wasn’t even looking me in the eye, as usual.
“Don’t play with fire in the hallway...” He trailed off. “Is that a grimoire?”
“Yes.”
“Beginner Frost Magic... Hm? Was that not fire just now?”
“Yes, my apologies. I struggled with frost magic and ended up casting flame magic on accident.”
“I see... Wait, what?” Father was about to leave when he stopped and turned back around—and for the first time, our eyes met. “You’ve been studying magic?”
I asked for his permission to use the grimoires, but I guess he doesn’t remember...
I hesitated for a moment but ended up just nodding. “Yes.”
He gazed at me for a while. “You must have mastered flame magic, seeing as you can use it without a grimoire. When did you start studying?”
“One month ago.”
“One month ago?!” he echoed in shock. “Are you saying you learned magic in one month?”
“Yes.”
He looked at me in disbelief as he muttered, “You...had talent?”
I recognized that look in his eyes. It reminded me of the first time I woke up as Liam, back during that banquet when he was celebrating the birth of his daughter.