Talent Cannot Be Hidden. (2)

Kael hadn't slept with his mothers for over a month now.

Even so, life hadn't changed at all.

Kael was still the son of the Three Heroes.

And the Three Heroes were still Kael's mothers.

They still ate together, studied math and writing together.

When they got bored or tired, he would follow Laika for a walk in the fields and enjoy the breeze.

He would take naps in the Saintess's arms, and spend the evenings caring for spirits with Alicia.

And, when night fell....

"... Ka, Kael, again today?"

"I, I'm really going to cry...."

"... Mommy will cry too, along with Laika."

Despite the three mothers' pleas, Kael bit his lip firmly and shook his head.

"I want to sleep alone."

He clicked open the doorknob that was higher than his own body all by himself.

Looking at his mothers, he suppressed the urge to run and hug them right then and there, bowed his head, and said goodbye.

"Just a few more days, just a few more days."

Kung-.

The door closes.

After that, Kael would press his ear against the dark-colored door and wait, sitting still for several dozen minutes.

From beyond the dark door, he could hear the sounds of his three mothers pacing near the bedroom out of anxiety.

And he could hear his mothers' worried voices.

"... Alicia. Kael, isn't he sick? He walks out soaked in sweat every morning."

"I don't know. Aria, what do you think...?"

"I don't think he's sick. Ah, could he be having nightmares...?"

"No. Let's just sleep together. When he sleeps with us, this never happens."

"... That won't do. Kael.... He doesn't want that."

Every night, Kael would hide inside his blanket, covering his desk with it.

He studied relying on the moonlight filtering through the gaps in the blanket and the orb enchanted with light magic that he had asked Alicia to make for him.

Every morning, he faced his mothers drenched in sweat.

He knew his mothers were worried, but....

It would be even more painful if a situation arose later where his mothers got hurt or suffered because of 'me'.

Even as Kael leaned against the door and teared up, he didn't open the doorknob and go outside.

"... Let's just wait a little longer, just a little longer."

Kael waited in front of the door until the sound of conversation faded and his mothers' footsteps disappeared.

Only then did he move his short legs to pull out the chair and sit down.

Then, he dragged a blanket several times larger than his own body and covered the desk with it.

He placed the magic orb between the desk, and took out a small notebook and a magic-infused quill.

.

.

.

Kael began to teach himself magic.

This meant he started without anyone's help and without any knowledge whatsoever.

Even for someone with talent superior to anyone else, starting from the absolute bottom was completely different from growing by reviewing documents and footsteps written in the blood of those who came before.

If he could feel and see mana, he could devise ways to utilize that mana, but....

"... Why, can't I see it? Why, for god's sake, why...!"

Kael didn't understand the very act of seeing mana.

Because he had been seeing mana from the very beginning.

The indifferent yet warm red mana that Alicia showed.

The blue and cool green mana that was always fickle, just like Laika.

Even Aria's bright, pure white holy power that shone down as if to embrace everything.

From the moment he was saved by his three mothers, Kael's world had already been filled with colorful hues.

He hadn't made any progress for a month.

Still, Kael didn't despair.

'... I don't want my mothers to hurt any more.'

Thinking of his mothers gave him strength, and remembering how Laika looked when she was in pain made him angry at his own useless self.

And....

'I want to sleep with my mothers, quickly.'

Just like before.

Because his heart was full of the desire to be with his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mothers.

Sagak-, sagak-.

Kael wrote down his trial and error in the notebook once again.

...

Time flowed on relentlessly.

Because he always had to spend time alone at night, he always did his best for his mothers during the day.

Kael always took naps with his mothers, and even cooked porridge for them like when he was younger, ensuring there were no gaps in their love.

The important thing is that, unlike when he first started studying, he now made sure to take naps.

Because he had things to do when night descended.

"You're sleeping alone again today, right...?"

The mothers' questions had somehow changed into questions that assumed Kael would sleep alone.

Whenever Kael nodded, it felt as if some kind of 'wall' had formed, and tears would well up, but....

The three mothers didn't bother to talk about their sadness in front of Kael.

It was because they had reached a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠conclusion over the past three months.

Perhaps Kael wanted to break away from his mothers' embrace a little because he heard things like 'orphan' and so on.

That was the conclusion they reached.

"Then, give me a kiss."

Instead, Laika, Alicia, and Aria received light kisses on their cheeks before sleep, as if to fill Kael's empty spot.

They didn't just receive; they also kissed Kael's cheeks.

No matter what you think, we are family and we are your mothers.

It was their own way of showing love.

"Mommy, I love you."

Whenever Kael received a kiss, he always said he loved them.

And-.

Kung-.

He closed the door.

Jeobeok-, jeobeok-.

Kael no longer leaned against the door to listen to his mothers' voices and footsteps.

Because he still couldn't feel mana, and because he wanted to return to his mothers' side as quickly as possible.

He didn't even hide what he was doing with a blanket anymore; he just walked to the desk and sat down.

The single notebook had already become five.

The blind do not know color.

Conversely, those who have had perfect eyesight since birth do not bother to try to see color.

It is just a natural landscape that exists before their eyes.

Kael still did not understand what it meant to see.

Without even realizing how extraordinary his talent was, the notebook was filled with self-criticism rather than trial and error.

He began to think for himself about why his mothers had given up on trying to teach him.

Because no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't see mana, and because he couldn't understand what mana was.

Kael concluded that his talent was nothing more than the insult he had heard at the banquet.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Still, he didn't stop.

Even if his efforts didn't see the light, even if despair ate away at his heart.

Even if the time spent sitting alone every night searching for the invisible 'mana' had turned into a time of punishment proving his own incompetence.

Even if the guilt of not being able to be a son his mothers could be proud of weighed down his entire body all night long.

'... How disappointed they must be because of me.'

Because I'm a dullard.

Because they couldn't teach me the great techniques they had mastered.

That's why they had no choice but to make excuses about delaying his learning and make sad faces.

Kael began to write again.

Even though he knew the same content was written several times, he continued.

...

Three more months passed.

It had already been half a year since he started sleeping alone.

Kael became noticeably darker when he was alone.

When he spent time with his mothers, he would force himself to look bright, but....

Lately, little by little, his sadness was leaking out.

"... Kael, are you still having nightmares these days?"

Alicia hugged Kael and asked in a worried voice.

Seeing Kael looking sad, Alicia conversely smiled.

She thought that Kael's sadness might be because of the mothers who, just because they couldn't sleep together, would hug Kael's pillow, bite their nails every night, and sometimes lie in bed crying miserably.

"... No."

"... Then, do you want to see this?"

Alicia summoned the spirits that Kael used to like when he was younger.

She wanted to make him happy somehow, but since she didn't know how, she tried to show him at least something he used to like.

Kael's mood didn't improve at all, but the boy smiled because he knew his mother was trying.

Thus, night came again.

Kael could no longer feel hope.

He only considered himself a person similar to a cripple of this era, unable to feel mana.

The notebooks had become ten, but he didn't write in them anymore.

Feeling guilty, and unable to be a son his mothers could be proud of, he buried his face in his pillow and cried.

He cried, and cried, and cried again.

Every time he did, he would open the notebook again like a machine, but.

"... H-hic-."

Kael's hands trembled, and his heart was just filled with anxiety.

The hand that held the pen felt as heavy as a lump of iron, and the notebook just felt like it was possessed by a devil.

Eventually, he opened his hand that had been holding the pen and let it go, then walked to the window where the moonlight shone well.

No matter how much he tried to think positively, his head was filled only with negative thoughts.

"... I want to be someone my mothers can be proud of...."

Since Kael could no longer feel hope, he prayed for himself for the first time.

Please, just once, make it so they can be proud of me.

Yet, nothing changed.

He stood up unsteadily and walked.

He wanted to escape the stuffy bedroom.

He wanted to go anywhere where his mothers' warmth remained.

Kkii-ik-.

'... Tree.'

Kael thought of Laika, who always played with him.

'... Bible.'

He thought of the contents of the Bible Aria had read to him, and her kind voice.

'... Magic.'

He thought of the warm and beautiful magic Alicia used to show him, and walked out of the bedroom.

Because he was pushed to the brink, his legs were shaking, but....

He thought that at least if he were with his mothers, this fear might disappear.

Knowing they would worry if he fell, Kael carefully walked down the stairs, and saw what he always saw, exactly the same.

The red mana filled with Alicia's worry, the colorful hues of the spirits that used to comfort him.

Laika's blue mana seeping in through the open window.

And, Aria's pure white, holy power.

He saw everything beautifully illuminating the base of the empty mansion's drawing room.

For no reason, emotions welled up, and he felt guilty at the fact that his mothers had always waited for him here.

"... I'm, sorry...."

Kael reached out his hand to those colors without realizing it.

He brought his hand to the things he hadn't even thought of as mana, to the colors that were spread out so naturally.

Pajik-!

At that moment, a red light touched his fingertips.

Goosebumps broke out all over his body, and all his hair stood on end.

The light was touched.

He flinched and pulled his hand away in surprise, but the red light clung to Kael's fingertips as if it had been waiting, and wrapped around them as if dancing.

The other colors were the same.

As he wished to touch the light, the light took on substance and intertwined within his hand.

In an instant, lightning struck in Kael's mind.

He thought he wanted to touch the light, and the light was touched.

Perhaps, had I been feeling mana from the beginning?

"... M-move, p-please...."

Kael muttered to himself as if begging, and slowly moved his right hand.

The lingering scents of mana that were softly wrapped around changed their forms here and there following the movement of his fingers.

It looked like Alicia's worried expression, Laika's elf-like appearance, or Aria's warm smile.

Huwuk-!

The cluster of light moved.

It moved slowly, moved as he willed-, toward the teacup his mothers must have drunk from and not cleared away.

Because it was his first time moving it, the clusters of light that fell away shone like the Milky Way.

A new thing called 'mana', which he could never have experienced, unfolded before his eyes as if it had become a universe.

Dalgeurak-.

The teacup moved.

Only then did he realize, and shed tears.

He didn't need to struggle to force himself to feel something he didn't need to feel.

From the beginning, Kael's world had been filled with the colors left by his mothers.

Realizing that he had been struggling to see what he was already seeing, tears completely different from sadness flowed.

It wasn't a matter of 'seeing'.

Perhaps I, too, was born with outstanding talent like my mothers.

It might be an excessive assumption, but Kael truly believed so.

"... Ah, h-hic-, h, k-hic-."

However, even such an assumption held no meaning for now.

Couldn't he be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a little like his mothers-.

The forgotten hope began to bloom like a flower in his desolate heart.

The fact that his mothers might be proud of him made his tears flow.

He could become like his mothers.

His beloved mothers no longer had to be sad because of him.

His mothers didn't need to hurt because he was useless.

Even while sobbing, Kael moved his fingers again.

Dal-kak-, the floating teacup moved, swimming over the clusters of light that shone like the Milky Way.

Following the boy's will, the teacup, imbued with various ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠colors, was placed on his small hand.

This was the first magical thing Kael had ever done in his life.