How to Turn a Genius into a Dunce. (1)
How to Turn a Genius into a Dunce. (1)
Kael moved his small arms and legs incessantly, showing his back to the wolf.
He encountered beasts he never had to face when he was with his mothers, and he ran away in fear.
And, when he could no longer run away.
Instinctively, he recalled the contents of the magic book he had forcibly memorized in his head.
It was magic that, originally, the current Kael couldn't even cast, nor should he have used, but....
Drip-, drip-.
Beads of sweat flowing down.
The fear that he might die.
Instinct took precedence over reason.
For the lacking mana, he didn't use the mana inside his body, but the mana spread throughout nature.
To avoid mana poisoning, the mana stored in his Circle circulated fiercely through his blood vessels to protect his body.
As if the mana of Mother Nature was weaving and flowing in, it gathered at the tips of Kael's fingers.
It formed a cluster of light, and then-.
Kwajik-!
Just like that, it pierced through the wolf's body.
A large hole appeared in the body of the beast, which was as big as a house, and the flesh, which had become a lump of meat from the shot mana.
Tuduk-, tududuk-.
Drenched Kael's body.
A hero.
It was a scene fitting for the son of a hero.
Just as Alicia, Laika, and Aria had been, Kael was covered in blood.
And just as the three mothers always were on the battlefield, he was sobbing and afraid.
He resembled his parents perfectly.
"... Ka, Kael-!"
With a piercing voice, Laika was the first to run to Kael.
Because she was more worried than concerned about him using mana to kill a wolf or being covered in blood.
She couldn't even ask if he was okay or if he was hurt.
Perhaps because she was so shocked and afraid, her chest kept heaving up and down repeatedly.
She saw his knee, cut by a stone after falling.
She discovered the jade he was clutching tightly in his left hand.
Realizing that his physical condition was fine, except for being exhausted and drenched in fear.
Feeling relieved that Kael was okay, she simultaneously felt anger rising up.
"What on earth are you doing, running around as you please!"
Laika's voice echoed.
It was close to a sharp, hysterical scream, with none of her usual playfulness or affection.
Only then did the fear he felt toward the wolf subside a little, and his mothers' expressions came into view.
'... I, I have to apologize.'
Without realizing it, Kael reached out his trembling hand to show the green jade.
He didn't even think about the fact that his mothers' moods wouldn't improve right away.
"... Mo, Mommy. Th, that, a, a gift...."
Tak-!
With an expression full of anger, Laika slapped away the jade that was clutched in Kael's left hand.
It slipped from his hand and rolled unceremoniously onto the blood-stained riverbank.
Kael's gaze followed the jade.
"... A gift? Who asked you to do something like a gift? Who, who told you they wanted a gift from you!"
However, even that gaze was blocked by Alicia.
"Did you take a magic book from my study and read it?"
Alicia asked, looking down at Kael in a cold voice.
She didn't ask because she wanted to hear an answer.
Because she knew that Kael's magic resembled the magic in the book she had authored.
Even so, the reason she pressed him was simple.
She was an Archmage who looked at her son, covered in blood just as the Prophecy that he would replace the 'hero' predicted.
She wished he wouldn't learn magic, but Kael kept trying to get closer to magic.
She hated that.
She really hated it.
"... Th, that-."
As Kael faltered in his answer, Alicia bit her lip hard.
She bit it so hard that a drop of red blood trickled down from between her lips.
Her clenched fist trembled.
However, unlike yesterday, she asked again in a low, quiet voice.
"Why."
"... I, I wanted to, pro, protect, Mommy and the others-."
Kael eventually choked up, barely managing to part his lips.
Unable to even catch his breath at once, he sobbed, yet still uttered those admirable words.
"I, I saw the letter-. It, it was written that, Mommy and the others, had to go kill, mon, monsters-."
Because she knew Kael's heart so well, her fear grew even greater.
The answer that he read the magic book for the sake of his 'mothers', to protect them....
Perhaps, it just sounded like the answer that he would become a new hero to replace them, just as the Prophecy said.
"Who are you, huh? Who are you to protect us?"
Alicia's fist trembled, turning white.
"Are you better than us? Do you know more about magic than I do, are you stronger than I am?"
Hiccup-.
A hiccup escaped Kael's mouth, but Alicia's voice didn't stop.
"... I told you, Kael. You have no talent. It was just a fluke. Huh? How are you going to protect us, we should be protecting you, how are you going to protect us!"
"I, I'm sorr-."
"You said that yesterday, too. Do you really think you did something wrong? Do you like magic that much?"
Alicia tore open a dimensional portal and glared at Kael.
"Then, do it to your heart's content. From today on, continuously."
"... A, Alicia!"
"... I'll head back first."
Alicia headed toward the mansion alone, leaving Laika, Aria, and Kael behind.
Left behind, Kael couldn't even cry out loud and just stood there blankly, flinching.
The dimensional portal didn't close.
Maintaining it for even a moment consumed a vast amount of mana.
But it remained open, as if to say she would keep it open at least until Kael came through.
Laika silently picked up Kael and crossed the portal.
Aria also didn't shield the boy, as she thought Kael's fault was significant this time.
He knew he was wrong, but he couldn't overcome the surging sorrow.
He just wanted to reconcile as quickly as possible because Alicia was angry about yesterday.
He just wanted to see his mothers smile, and as always, he just wanted to give them a gift, the prettiest thing a child could give.
'... Still, I went outside on my own.'
Kael forced a smile to brush off his sorrow.
He knew the fact that his mothers spoke to him like this because they loved him.
And he knew how worried his mothers had been.
When they go to sleep together, I want to apologize properly.
He had that heart, but.
Today, neither Laika, nor Alicia, nor Aria went to sleep with Kael.
...
A few more days passed.
The mothers still loved Kael, and Kael loved his mothers.
However, this was only when the words 'magic', 'archery', and 'prayer' were not mentioned.
The mothers realized they couldn't control Kael's altruistic heart.
Even if they spoke honestly, if the time came to leave to subjugate monsters, even for 'Kael's' sake.
He might secretly learn magic for them again.
Therefore, Aria and Laika concluded to follow Alicia's opinion.
At least in their respective fields, they decided to force him to give up everything, even if Kael got hurt and suffered.
"... I, I don't know."
"Why can't you even understand this, huh?"
The mothers still taught Kael, but the tone had changed significantly.
The lessons transformed from a time of learning 'useless' things to a time of being criticized for things he 'could not do'.
Alicia taught him by forcibly creating things that violated the rules of magic, things he couldn't accomplish.
"... I, I lost."
"... I only learned this after beating our Elf tribe. If it hurts, quit."
Laika now conducted 'sparring', not assassination techniques or archery.
Since basic physical training is necessary to handle weapons properly, she told him to try and hit her at least once, somehow.
Perhaps, she set a condition for Kael that even Swordmasters couldn't accomplish.
Aria was no different.
"Just because you felt divine power, it doesn't mean you should handle it right away, Kael."
Kael, just like when he engraved the Circle, quickly awakened a fragment of divine power, and soon....
'... Since God is watching over me, why should there be fear in my actions?'
He achieved the miracle of picking out and reading pages from dozens of Bibles that Aria had laid out.
But she insisted that using 'divine power' to see through things was a shortcut, and forced him to memorize the entire Bible.
Kael was always a lovely son.
He was a cute boy, and a child his mothers cherished more than their own lives, but.
During the time of learning magic, sparring, and memorizing the Bible....
"Why can't you understand!"
A child who had no talent and couldn't even understand simple formulas.
"Let's stop handling weapons, Kael."
A dunce for whom handling weapons was impossible from the start due to his smaller physique compared to his peers.
"You rely on the means of 'divine power' because your faith is lacking, Kael."
A sort of apostate who tries to use 'divine power' because he can't believe in God.
He was treated just like that.
Sagak-, sagak-.
Even so, Kael did not lose his smile.
When he heard that he lacked talent, he felt so sad and sorrowful that he felt like crying.
Sometimes he felt sad at the thought that perhaps the reason his mothers were angry while teaching him was because he was lacking....
'... Where is there something that can't be done with effort.'
He just shook his head, believing that everything his mothers did was because they loved him.
Because everyone relies on his mothers and asks them to subjugate 'monsters'.
At least I need to make it so that my mothers can rely on me, he thought, and just smiled again.
"Kael, do you really have to keep learning?"
Whenever Laika, Alicia, or Aria sometimes revealed their inner thoughts and asked him honestly.
He didn't say he would learn, nor did he say he would give it up.
Because he thought that no matter what he said, his mothers would be hurt.
"I'm sleepy, I'm going to sleep now."
Kael always entered his bedroom as if avoiding them.
Before going to sleep, he wrote down phrases in his notebook, just as he had done before.
Various trial and error, and the contents of magic books were like that.
Aria's teachings and Laika's habits were like that.
...
Even in the moments when she tried to make Kael give up somehow, Alicia always watched Kael.
She checked whether mana was filling up in his 'Circle', or if it was quiet.
Naturally, the growth rate was abnormal.
Kael began to grow as if he alone had escaped the laws of the world.
At first, only one Circle glowed blue, but now it was different.
Perhaps because his understanding of mana increased while casting magic, now two Circles were glowing.
In less than a week, Kael became a 2-Circle mage.
In sparring with Laika, he couldn't stand out because it was a child versus an adult, but divine power was different.
Similar to when he engraved the Circle, his divine power was also growing radically.
Conversely, Kael's expression grew darker as the lessons continued.
She knew that even the occasional smile was closer to a forced smile.
She felt and thought that if she had enough time, she could make him hurt more and force him to let go....
But time was woefully insufficient.
She was convinced that before Kael's heart was completely broken and collapsed, that terrible talent would bloom first.
This was something she started to protect her son, but perhaps she was only leaving scars without actually breaking his talent.
Perhaps she was driving Kael to death's door while leaving only indelible scars-.
She had to find a way, but she couldn't think of a suitable one.
She felt her breath tightening.
Eventually, Alicia found another way.
She knew that strength and knowledge were different.
Older people would know more ways than their young selves.
"... Let's go to that old geezer and the Pope."
Alicia asked.
"Why suddenly to His Holiness the Pope and the Blue Tower Master, Alicia...?"
"... They are the people who saw Kael's talent. I have to tell them not to spread it. And, there's something to ask for."
"Ask for what?"
"... I'm going to ask about a way to slow down Kael's growth."
"Is there such a way?"
"Maybe, I've seen similar magic in the Great Archive of the Blue Tower before."
If her memory was correct.
If she could really stop Kael's growth....
It's a bad thing, it's a thing that leaves scars, but she thinks, couldn't she blame Kael's talent and lead him down a different path-.
"And, for Kael's sake too.... It's better not to create a situation where Kael has to step up in the first place. Because Kael is afraid of demons and monsters."
Since there was no reason not to leave, Laika and Aria nodded.
While the two changed from their pajamas into clothes, Alicia left the bedroom.
In front of Kael's room door.
The stairs.
The front door.
The mansion.
And, the garden.
She cast more than three boundary spells on the connecting fields.
Fearing that Kael might go outside again, she added several new magic formulas to reinforce them.
Only then did the three head toward the inn in the Mayhead territory where the Blue Tower Master, the Pope, and the Elf Chief were staying.
Alicia went straight to the Blue Tower Master and asked about the magic abruptly.
"... That magic is Forbidden Magic, Alicia."
She ended up hearing the answer that it was Forbidden Magic that accompanies terrible pain, which forcibly twists the Mana Circuit.