Phoenix's Fourth Son
As the fourth son of the family, I was already far behind the other brothers in the succession competition, with little foundation laid and a much younger age than them.
Moreover, the mother who gave birth to me had been the second wife—the so-called concubine—rather than the legitimate wife.
Therefore, I was quite distant from becoming the legitimate successor of the Phoenix family.
Looking at the current year, it had already been several hundred years since I died as a war mage on that battlefield.
By chance, I learned that the family I had belonged to in the past had also vanished into dust in that war.
At one point, right after waking up in this body, I had considered revenge, but now there was no need for it at all.
……How delightful. He went around trying to seize territories with greed that had nothing to do with his station.
The reason I could do that then was because it had been the chaotic era of the empire when the emperor suddenly passed away.
However, that was not the case now.
If that had been the era of chaos, today was the era of peace.
In other words, it was also called the era of brilliant glory, the age of the great mages.
The reason was that countless innovative developments and inventions in the magical civilization that had flourished over the past few hundred years had made it possible.
“……Sigh, let’s stop here for today.”
From the tips of the fingers of my left hand, which had been sitting in the study, five different attribute magics were spurting out low into the air.
It was multi-attribute manifestation magic that simultaneously exerted fire, water, wind, earth, and lightning attributes.
I extinguished them all at once, stood up from my seat, and left the study.
……Attribute magic was the most basic magic I had already awakened and learned in my previous life. Thanks to that, I could easily implement multi-magic right away.
Following the whispers of my third brother, Albert von Betelgeuse, I had finally discovered the single high-grade magic book in the family’s study.
Thanks to Must-Read Book on Multi-Casting Vol. 1, I could now manifest a total of five attribute magics simultaneously.
Must-Read Book on Multi-Casting. Indeed, it was a high-grade magic book written about unknown magic that I had never experienced before. But judging by the title, this is only volume 1. Probably the next volume exists somewhere.
However, when I turned my gaze to search this study, no more related magic books were visible.
Unfortunately, there’s nothing to be done about it. It’s just a waste of time to fuss over something that doesn’t exist.
Mages do not live infinite time.
No matter how much those mages boasted about mysteries, they could not defy the natural order and the order of life given by nature in a “normal” way.
Therefore, for a mage with finite time, time-saving was one of the very essential virtues.
I want to learn even one more thing, another magic. Read all the countless magic books scattered in this world.
In both his previous life and now, he had been nothing but a pure magic enthusiast who simply desired magic.
What was needed for a mage was not just talent, but an endless desire to develop oneself in magic. It was also longing and greed.
From this, it was clear that Free was not an ordinary person.
In plain words, the bizarrely endless ambition and greed to devour countless magic books was a type that was at least difficult to classify as a normal element in the eyes of others.
Although Free had quietly put off searching for the next volume of Must-Read Book on Multi-Casting, he had the intention to jump at any opportunity if it came.
For now, it had simply been a decision made under the thought of efficient time-saving, considering that learning other magic books that were within reach was more beneficial and meaningful.
He still had a deep longing to learn and indulge in magic.
Therefore, for two years.
Since waking up as Free von Betelgeuse, he had spent almost two years living alone in the family’s magic study.
However, that didn’t mean he wasn’t living an ordinary life at all.
“Free, you’re here.”
“……Mother.”
His biological mother in this life.
The second wife of the Phoenix Count’s family.
It was Lady Lena de Betelgeuse, the concubine.
The middle name “de” was given because she was a consort noble, not a direct descendant of the pure Phoenix family, indicating her status as a consort noble.
On the other hand, the collateral and direct lines were all examples.
“Oppa!”
“Reina.”
A cute five-year-old girl with dark navy hair and wearing a frilly white dress appeared, seeing Free, and ran into Free’s arms with a “oppa!”
Looking at his only sister, who was the only one in his arms, Free showed a faint smile on his lips for the first time, lowering his head.
“Reina, did you listen to Mother?”
“Yes! Eating delicious cookies with Mom!”
“Cookies?”
“I mean cookies. Reina kept asking for them. Hehe.”
“……I see.”
“Yes! Reina loves cookies! The best in the world!”
Seeing his sister rubbing her face against him, cheeks flushed cutely, Free gently stroked his sister’s hair.
“Hehe……!”
His sister Reina, in his arms, laughing brightly as if embarrassed by the touch, was surprisingly a rare odd-eyed person in this world. One eye was golden, the other red like Free’s.
Sing.
Seeing the siblings, Lady Lena, sitting quietly on a white round table chair in the garden, lowered her teacup with tea and smiled beautifully at the corner of her mouth.
At that moment.
A voice came with a shadow from somewhere.
“Oh my, leisurely enjoying tea here? Lady Lena.”
“……Alcas.”
The unexpected guest who suddenly appeared there was a man with sharp red eyes, looking like a bad-tempered person who was fifteen years old this year, the second son of the legitimate wife of the Phoenix family, Alcas.
Free’s mother, Lady Lena, had a strangely stiff expression upon seeing Alcas.
“How nice to see. Enjoying secretly with your children.”
“…….”
There was something sharp in the words.
Even with such blatantly sharp words, Lady Lena could not say anything.
After all, she herself was not his biological mother, and she was only the second wife, the concubine of the family.
Haha, approaching with laughter, picking up a cookie from the bowl on the round table, waving it in front of Lady Lena’s eyes with tweezers, and speaking in a tone that provoked unnecessarily.
“Eating such things makes your body so voluptuous. As the second wife of our count’s family, you should manage your figure.”
While saying that, glancing at Lady Lena’s voluptuous breasts from above with a gloomy, subtle smile.
Lady Lena, cautiously covering her chest, spoke gracefully.
“……You’re being too rude. That remark was excessive. Even though I’m your second mother, please be careful with what you say to me.”
“Hahaha, I wasn’t trying to be noble. It doesn’t change anything that my origin is humble. And rude? I was just advising you sincerely as your second mother, Lady Lena.”
“…….”
From the conversation, it seemed like the two’s positions and stances clearly represented the differences in the family.
However.
Thud!
“……!”
“Fr, Free?”
Free couldn’t hold back.
The rudeness Alcas had committed against his mother.
“That hand, let go!”
“……What? Are you calling me ‘hyung’ now?”
“You have to treat me as hyung since I’m your older brother. Quietly put that down and go. I don’t want to give you anything.”
“……What did this kid eat wrong? He dares to call me hyung without knowing his place? Even ordering me!”
Thud-!
Alcas, who was grabbed by Free, shook off his hand roughly.
Then, with a twisted face, pointing his index finger at Free in front of him with an unpleasant expression.
“……Immediately apologize and kneel! Otherwise,”
“Otherwise what?”
“What?”
The back words were not said, but that alone was enough to make Alcas not just angry but furious.
Alcas, humiliated, suddenly became red-faced with sudden humiliation, took off one of the white gloves from his hand and threw it roughly at Free’s face.
“To you! A duel……!”
Thud-
But before he finished speaking, Free lightly caught the white glove that was thrown at his face.
“Application……”
“By whose will?”
“Eh, eek!?!?”
While Alcas was speaking, suddenly the floor slipped and he fell forward clumsily.
In one of Free’s eyes, a mysterious blue light magic circle that seemed to have activated at some point was clearly visible, emitting its presence.
This was one of the core reasons he had heard the name “Immortal Mage” in his previous life.