Talent Cannot Be Hidden. (3)
Talent Cannot Be Hidden. (3)
Kael couldn't fall asleep until the morning light broke.
His heart was pounding wildly.
How would his mothers react?
He had been sleeping away from them for over half a year; would they recognize how hard he had tried during that time?
Kael looked at the clusters of light still swirling around him and broke into a shy smile.
Surely, Mother Alicia would praise him for teaching himself magic and being able to handle mana, and then hug him.
Mother Laika would be surprised as usual, then hug him and spin him around...
And Mother Aria would smile kindly and stroke his hair...?
Jeobeok-, jeobeok-.
Kael walked around the parlor, lost in happy daydreams.
Just in case the lack of sleep caused any issues, he tried moving his mana again and again.
Every time he did, the mana of three colors swirled, unfolding into beautiful clusters of light.
The light clusters always swept around Kael's body, wrapping him warmly.
They twisted and wove as if alive, as if comforting him, telling him his efforts hadn't been in vain.
It was just mana, yet he felt his mothers' love.
He could only awaken his mana because his mothers waited for him in the 'parlor' every day.
In a way, this was nothing less than an awakening caused by his mothers' love.
'... I don't want to make a mistake.'
Thinking that, a desire welled up to show them when he was in the most perfect state possible.
He hadn't slept properly at night for over half a year, so he even felt anxious that he might make a mistake.
Kael walked straight out of the parlor and headed toward the stairs to return to his bedroom.
And then, strangely, he heard his mothers' voices.
"... Kael seems to have become so gloomy."
"We know, Laika."
"What do we do? We said we'd wait for him to tell us..."
"... I don't know either."
"... Laika, don't worry too much. I'll ask him in a little while."
Normally, this was the time when he would have been writing down his trial and error all night, unable to overcome his sleepiness, and finally fallen asleep for an hour or two.
Since it had been like that for half a year, Kael had no way of knowing that his day always started with them pacing in front of his bedroom before they waited for him in the parlor.
He didn't know that his mothers had been waiting in front of the firmly closed bedroom door since the morning light began to break.
"... M-Mom!"
Kael called out to his mothers from the bottom of the stairs.
In the brightest voice he could muster, not the gloomy appearance he had shown lately.
With an expression of joy, so much joy that he looked like he might burst into tears.
"K-Kael...?"
"Ah?"
"K-Kael.... I-It's time to sleep right now!"
He wanted to run and hug them immediately in response to their reactions, but he had something to show them.
Kael reached out his right hand with a joyful look.
He wanted to show them the 'magic' he had awakened thanks to his mothers.
Hwa-ak-!
The red light and green light that had been spreading around the parlor.
And the pure white light, so alien that it seemed like it wouldn't mix, swirled and moved in harmony.
It flowed up the stairs and transformed into a breeze that pleasantly ruffled the hair of Alicia, Laika, and Aria.
His mothers' hair fluttered.
He felt a warm heat.
"... K-Kael, you, h-how...."
Alicia covered her mouth in shock.
Kael thought he was using 'magic', but he was showcasing something completely different from magic.
He was doing something that couldn't even be compared to mere magic.
"T-This is nonsense."
'Magic' is the act of creating a Circle in the heart to accumulate mana, and using that mana to shake the laws of the world.
Kael was not using magic; he was moving the pure mana itself.
As if there was no need to form a Circle at all, naturally.
"... It doesn't look like he's handling accumulated mana, is, is that right?"
Laika asked Alicia back, as if she couldn't understand even though she saw it with her own eyes.
"... H-How did he combine holy power with mana...."
Aria, seeing him weave holy power—a separate force—with mana, let out a sigh with her mouth agape without realizing it.
Even if she tried not to think about the prophecy, it came to mind.
The fact that Kael was born with a talent that not only continued the progress of the heroes but surpassed it, pierced her whole body.
However, Kael was just lost in sadness.
Thinking of the time he had been separated from his mothers for half a year, he just wiped his eyes with his small hands.
"... Now, there won't be any situations where you get into trouble because of me, right...?"
He asked cautiously, forcing a shy smile, anxious that they might be sad.
The reason why Kael had been trying to sleep alone all this time was conveyed.
"Right...?"
As soon as Kael's words ended, the three mothers jumped down the stairs all at once.
It wasn't just because of being moved, touched, or fear of the prophecy.
Kael's body was tilting little by little.
"... K-Kael!"
Dduk-, dduk-.
What fell from the tip of Kael's chin soaked into the floor.
It was tears.
"... U-Why, why am I so, so dizzy...."
And a nosebleed.
"... Mom-. My head...."
Laika moved urgently and held Kael in her arms.
She looked at Aria with eyes full of fear.
"A-Aria...!"
Aria approached urgently, pouring out holy power to examine Kael's body.
Alicia examined Kael up close and bit her lip.
"He handled mana without forming a Circle...."
"Why, why, what on earth is going on...!"
"Please, be quiet!"
Laika asked back, tearing up as she looked at Alicia, but the conversation couldn't continue.
Perhaps he didn't even realize his nose was bleeding, or perhaps he was just too happy to be in his mothers' arms.
Because Kael smiled and asked again.
"Mom, I did well, right...? Now, there won't be any trouble for you because of me, right?"
Dduk-, dduk-.
Because tears were falling.
"... Ah-."
It wasn't hard to realize that Kael had tried his best.
Asking if there would be no trouble 'now', asking if he did well, was clearly recalling the incident at the banquet hall.
Without realizing it, the mothers looked at each other.
Kael was admirable, lovely, and they wanted to hug him a hundred times more because he did this for them.
But if he started catching up to them even faster because he was praised....
The prophecy uttered by the Great Sage Alkest might really come true.
Alicia, looking at Kael who was asking if he did well while bleeding from his nose and crying.
She wanted to tell him not to learn 'magic', she wanted to ask him to let go of magic again, but....
"... You did well, Kael. Really, you did well."
Instead, Aria, who had seen the most dying and sick people as a priestess, hugged Kael tightly as if she didn't care about such things.
"There has never been a time when we were in trouble because of Kael. Kael has always been our pride. Right, Laika, Alicia...?"
As if to say that even if they lied later and said he had no talent for magic.
As if to say that not praising Kael even on a day he worked this hard would be a failure as a parent.
As if she had secretly envied Laika, who had always praised Kael.
"... Yeah, never been in trouble."
Laika smiled, and
"... Kael has always been a proud son, really."
Even Alicia, who had been hesitating, answered briefly.
As if, at least for this moment, they shouldn't worry about things that hadn't happened yet.
"... Hehe."
Kael smiled looking at his mothers.
Aria took Kael from Laika and went up to the bedroom to lay the child down.
Kael fell asleep, breathing peacefully while continuing to entrust his body to Aria's warm holy power.
Fortunately, Kael's condition improved quickly.
Kael, who woke up after sleeping for only a few hours, burrowed into their arms as if he had wanted to be with his mothers from the beginning.
"I, I want to sleep with Mom again starting today."
He acted spoiled again for the first time in half a year.
Kael only thought of his mothers, and his mothers only thought of Kael.
"... We want that too. We want to be with Kael forever."
He ate meat grilled by Alicia, who was now quite good at controlling the heat.
He listened to Aria's calm humming.
He was held in Laika's arms, running between the trees, and spent a happy time for the first time in a while.
Night came, but it was no longer painful.
It was no longer sad.
Because his mothers were by his side.
Alicia patted his chest so Kael could sleep soundly, and Aria stroked his hair.
When the boy fell asleep, Alicia summoned a spirit to stay by his side so he could sleep comfortably.
Aria bestowed a pure white blessing so Kael wouldn't have nightmares.
And Laika created a pleasant breeze on the sleeping boy's face.
Only after confirming that Kael was fast asleep did the three head to the office.
Because they had to have a meeting.
About what they saw today.
...
'Magic' was one of the many branches of using mana.
'Mana' to handle 'mana', one had to form a 'Circle' in the heart and operate only as much mana as that Circle was capable of.
Just as there is a price for everything, side effects follow if those who are unprepared operate mana.
Kael had the talent to handle mana without forming a 'Circle'.
And because of that, he had handled mana excessively.
Alicia said.
"... It's Mana Addiction."
That Kael was addicted to mana.
He might be fine now, but if this continued, he would get seriously hurt someday.
"Mana Addiction...? Who on earth gets Mana Addiction in this day and age...."
Originally, Mana Addiction was something that couldn't happen.
Because ordinary people couldn't handle mana itself before forming a 'Circle', and even if they came into contact with mana, a teacher could disperse the mana lingering in the disciple's body.
Since the first mage conceptualized the 'Circle', addicts had not appeared.
They couldn't appear.
In the first place, if they were talented enough to teach themselves magic, most had teachers.
Kael's addiction to mana was a problem that arose because he taught himself the discipline of magic.
Without any documents, without a teacher.
It was an accident that happened because he did alone what only the founders who created magic would have experienced.
"... We have to teach him."
Laika said.
Her calm voice was mixed with seriousness.
"Maybe it's because of us. If what you said is true, it happened because he taught himself! Kael thinks it's his fault that he can't learn anything. He thinks it's all his fault that we tried to kill the Hasla Family bastards."
"... So, we should fulfill the prophecy with our own hands?"
"There's no guarantee it will all come true!"
Laika looked at Alicia and let out a short breath.
"What reason does Kael have to suddenly risk his life on magic and not sleep at night to learn it? You heard him too, he smiled shyly saying he's happy he can sleep with Mom at night now. You saw it."
"... Alicia, I agree with Laika's opinion now too."
"... What?"
"The greed to raise Kael normally might have been crushing Kael. Since he didn't inherit anything, it's as if Kael found the path on his own. I think he might have been so hurt that he couldn't even ask us to teach him.... It, it hurts my heart so much."
"Kael will want to keep learning something, even for our sake. Also, if he keeps teaching himself.... He could get seriously hurt, you said."
Actually, Alicia knew too.
Teaching oneself magic meant having to personally experience the things that previous mages had trodden and shouldn't have done.
The mana accumulated in the heart could backflow, leading to a painful death.
Or he could catch a disease by handling magic that didn't fit his attributes.
Kael learned mana for their sake.
And there is no guarantee he won't do it again.
She knew that teaching Kael, leading him on a safe path, was the safest way.
She knew that it was right for them, the most capable ones, to teach their son.
"I know, I know, but-. What if, just what if...."
Even so, Alicia couldn't easily say she would do it.
"... What if Kael ends up going to the battlefield?"
She didn't want to believe the prophecy, but she couldn't shake the feeling that it was unfolding just as the prophecy said.
She was so afraid that Kael might end up on the battlefield.
"I hate that.... I hate the idea of Kael taking our place, even if I die...."
Alicia covered her face with both hands and trembled.
Patting Alicia's back lightly, Laika smiled lightly.
"... That's why we should teach him ourselves."
As if there was no need to worry, as if the prophecy wouldn't come true.
She spoke in a light voice and light tone, as always.
"No matter how much of a genius Kael is, his time and stamina are limited. We'll stick by his side all day and teach him nothing but useless things."
Let's waste his time.
Let's drain the child with preposterous tasks that can't be achieved in the first place.
"I used to thread thirty needles at once to help the elves sometimes. Well, if we fill his day with these kinds of nonsense things under the guise of training.... He won't have the energy or the mind to secretly teach himself dangerous things alone at night. He will grow up normally. Just as we wish."
Rather, while we teach him useless things....
Why don't we make Kael grow up normally?
If it's a talent that can't be hidden anyway, isn't it better for us to control it directly?
"... If it still doesn't work, even then."
At that time.
"... Let's make him let go, even if it's by force."
She said that when that time comes, they would make him let go, even if it meant hurting Kael.