The Blessing of Omangseong
She'd been carried by Leo plenty of times as a child, but not once since puberty had kicked in. ...Sophia. What the hell are you? Irritation surged up like a punch to the gut.
Dad's broad back. It was hers. A place allowed only to her. What pissed her off even more was that all of Dad's attention was fixed on Sophia. He was cradling her thighs so tenderly, supporting her so firmly. People were staring, and she hid her face in embarrassment. Anyone glancing over would swear they were in some romance novel. Elizabeth had been shoved back a few steps. Dad was completely absorbed in Sophia.
It wasn't that she didn't get it. Sophia had been beaten senseless by those thugs and couldn't move on her own. Dad, with his soft heart, couldn't just look the other way. That's exactly why it pissed her off. This whole situation felt so predictably inevitable, like clockwork.
Elizabeth shot Sophia a glare as they made their way to the hospital.
Sophia got treated at the hospital. Leo sat by her side, waiting until she stabilized. Why the hell are you still waiting? Isn't that the doctor's job? Our part should be done by now.
Sophia poured out her pent-up frustration to Leo. Why did she have to go through this? It was so unfair... so heartbreaking... That was all she went on about.
"You borrowed the money for your grandmother... right?"
"Sniff... Yeah, they said 5% a month, but then it turned into 5% a day... Sniff."
It was a classic loan shark trick. Even if you read it carefully and signed, they'd forge it later and change the terms. All because she hadn't brought a witness for the contract.
"...Sorry, oppa."
"Oppa?"
Leo was a Sword Master. One trait of Sword Masters was that their bodies stayed young thanks to handling mana. At thirty, Leo's skin was still fresh and smooth like a guy's in his early twenties. No one would dream he was Elizabeth's dad. Not that he was her biological father, anyway.
"Haha, sorry, but I'm way older than you think. I'm that girl's dad."
"What?!"
Sophia looked back and forth between Leo and Elizabeth in disbelief. Elizabeth was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, checking her watch. 8:40 PM. She resigned herself. It was too late. Too late for dinner. Guess we won't eat after all. The good mood from her runner-up spot in the swordsmanship tournament evaporated. She should've lost earlier and gotten out sooner. Avoided running into Sophia altogether.
"You look too young. I had no idea."
"I hear that a lot."
"...Sorry."
"For what?"
"You got dragged into this mess because of me. Those guys... they won't let you— I mean, uncle—off easy if they see you."
"It's fine."
"Sniff... Thank you. And I'm grateful. Sorry, but... could you hug me?"
"Of course."
Leo hugged Sophia. His breath stirred her brown hair. And so it was 9 PM. Leo slipped a check for 1 million harts under Sophia's pillow without her noticing as he left. It was the one Felix had given him—he'd kept it just in case, and now it came in handy.
"...Dad?"
"Shh. That kid's grandma is sick. She borrowed money for hospital bills... and got tangled up with the wrong people. Poor girl."
Leo said that as he even covered her treatment costs. Elizabeth was speechless. Aren't they basically strangers? Fine, treatment's one thing, but why tack on a million harts?
Seeing Elizabeth's stiff expression, Leo apologized. "Sorry. Looks like we missed dinner."
"...No, it's fine. Really. We'll eat next time."
Her face said anything but fine. Leo hesitated a moment, then spoke. "Your dad went through something like that once, so I just had to help."
"You did?"
"Yeah, just... back when I was a kid, my parents used to beat me."
Sharing a tragic past with someone was embarrassing, shameful even. Especially with his daughter. Leo still had nightmares about his childhood sometimes. He had incomparable strength now, but in those dreams, he was that weak little kid, savagely beaten by the adults who held the power.
That's why he saw his younger self in Sophia—and why he'd spent so much time on her. "Seeing a kid like that reminds me of my old self. I wanted to help. Too nosy of me?"
No. Elizabeth shook her head, her feelings tangled. Dad's eyes looked so sad. After hearing that, she couldn't even hate the girl lying in the bed anymore.
*
The reason Lenz Academy was such an overwhelmingly prestigious school was because it taught magic. Magic could bring prosperity or catastrophe depending on how it was used. That's why every nation's government strictly controlled mages. In the Ehenvalt Empire, you had to graduate from Lenz Academy's Faculty of Magic to become a legal mage. Fail that, and you'd be branded an illegal, facing life imprisonment or even execution.
A mage's circles were vessels for mana, housed in the heart. If you aimed to be a mage, you started forming circles by storing mana from age fifteen—the bare minimum. Start younger, and your heart couldn't take it; it'd burst. Too late, like after eighteen when growth finished, and your heart couldn't absorb mana well enough to form circles anyway. In short, fifteen was the sweet spot for becoming a mage. And that made the start of the second semester in second year the perfect time.
"Pleased to meet you. I am Clemental Duischwartal, royal mage."
Royal mage—a high-ranking civil servant position equivalent to grade 3. Possible only because Lenz was a national academy. Clemental was a fairly famous 6th Circle mage. The students looked at him with respectful eyes.
"It's an honor to teach you all."
Clemental looked middle-aged. Factoring in the youthful body from mana—like Sword Masters—he was probably around fifty. Looks decent enough.
This landmark first magic lesson allowed parents to observe. Leo had come to check out the mage who'd teach Elizabeth. Most other parents were there too, minus a few.
Clemental glanced over the students and parents. His gaze lingered a bit on Leo. ...Hm?
Clemental sensed something prickly from Leo. Some indescribable aura. Must've been my imagination. He brushed it off. Mages recognized mages—but not ones stronger than them. Even among 6th Circle, specialties differed. Clemental was research; Leo was combat. Leo was a master at concealing his internal mana. Even Schvalier, an 8th Circle mage, couldn't detect it if Leo really tried. Plus, a Sword Master's dense muscles and bones hid it even better.
Whoosh! With a flick of his small wand, letters floated in the air.
"This is the magic knowledge you'll study over the next year."
"Whoa..."
"That's a ton..."
"Looks tough."
The curriculum Clemental displayed was massive at a glance—stuff that required at least 2nd Circle to even grasp.
"If this looks hard, abandon the path of magic. At your age, I fully understood 1st Circle theory. If you're smart, it won't be tough."
The students' spirits deflated. He's doing it on purpose. Killing their morale by piling on the hardest stuff. Leo watched quietly. A bit arrogant, with a sense of privilege—but that was normal. A high-ranking 6th Circle mage was practically a count.
Compared to other mages, he was downright friendly. "That concludes orientation. Here's what to bring next time. Don't forget."
At the end, Clemental displayed the supply list and left. Parents jotted it down furiously and headed out with their kids.
"Dad!"
Elizabeth ran over and hugged my arm. I smiled and patted her head with my other hand. "How was it? Think you can handle it?"
"Didn't seem hard at all?"
Elizabeth grinned innocently. "A bit messy, but I think it'll make sense once I study."
As expected of the top student. Smart kid. "Want me to help with the theory?"
"You? Do you know magic, Dad?"
"Just theory. I heard some stories from a mage back in the day."
She'd do fine on her own, but this was my wheelhouse. Helping her would give her a huge boost. The dream jobs for students were lawyers, doctors, military officers. But mages ranked even higher. Minimum 5,000 monthly income, nationally certified honorific title—treated like minor nobility. Of course, it was brutally hard to reach, with tons of restrictions. Strategic weapons, basically; couldn't leave the country freely, needed permits even for provinces. But compared to the perks, it was minor.
"What about supplies?" Elizabeth asked, checking her notebook.
Clemental's list: wand, magic ring, parchment. Wands started at 20 million minimum; magic rings at 1,000. Parchment was the cheap one. Wands aided spellcasting; rings helped with calculations. He tossed out "bring these pricey things" like it was nothing, but for middle-class folks like us, it was vomit-inducing.
"We have 'em at home."
"At home?!"
"Old story. Did a job for a mage, got a wand and ring instead of cash."
Lie—they were mine. From Schvalier; hadn't used 'em since hitting 6th Circle. Back home, I pulled out a dusty box long shoved in the corner. Not the one with my Imperial Guard uniform, letter, and ring—this was separate.
Heh. I brushed off the dust, opened it, and pulled out the wand and ring. Wand about 25 cm long; ring silver. Both showed signs of heavy use. Leo slipped on the ring and gripped the wand after ages. Clunky-looking, but it worked fine.
"Try it."
Elizabeth slid the ring on her index finger and held the wand. "Whoa, I really feel like a mage now. That mage must've thought a lot of you to give away treasures like this."
"Just took what I got. Should last you a few years."
No issues with provenance—they were from an imperial brand. Rare, but obtainable. No way to trace back to me.
"Shall we check it out?"
"Check what?"
"Your body. Take off your clothes and sit facing away for a sec."
"W-what?!"
"Just a quick look."
Elizabeth blushed but obeyed, turning and sitting. "Pardon me."
Leo placed his palm on her pale back. "...!?"
"Sorry, did I startle you?"
"N-no. B-but why no clothes...?"
Her face flushed red. "To send in mana and check closely, it has to be skin. Here goes."
He channeled mana. Everyone had mana, flowing through mana roads like blood vessels. You judged magical aptitude by how flexible and intricate those roads were. Five grades: 1 to 5. Leo was grade 1.
...What the hell is this?
Peering inside Elizabeth, Leo blinked. She surpassed grade 1. Her mana roads spread like capillaries everywhere. With every heartbeat, vibrant mana surged in all directions. He'd never seen roads so dense and straight. Easily ten—no, a hundred times better than grade 1. Is this even possible?
But that wasn't what shocked him. Her heart's mana roads formed Omangseong—five points like stars.
Leo recalled a story Schvalier once blabbed. Heard of the Omangseong Blessing?Yeah, the founding emperor had it.
Long ago, humanity were demon slaves. Dreams and hope were luxuries. Humans were livestock—eaten or worked to death. Then one day, a mage with the Omangseong Blessing drove out the demons and ushered in the human era. The empire's founding myth.
Elizabeth has the founding emperor's talent? After a millennium?
Leo double-checked, unwilling to believe. But no matter how many times, the clear Omangseong shone in her heart. What now?
Big trouble. Next class, Clemental would probably do the same to gauge talents. He'd spot Elizabeth's Omangseong Blessing.
Disaster.
This wasn't ordinary trouble. The Blessing wasn't just "insane talent." It ended the dark age, birthed humanity's era—a godlike gift. After death, the founding emperor was eaten by his kids. They had magic talent but not the Blessing's level. Jealous of their father, they devoured his corpse once he passed: eyes, heart, brain. Eyes for Star Eyes, heart for infinite mana, brain for transcendent insight. The empire split. Later, the eldest who ate the heart killed his brothers, consumed eyes and brain, gaining the full Omangseong Blessing.
In other words, the Blessing could be stolen by eating its bearer.
Clemental was a royal mage. Report this to the palace, and Elizabeth's life was at risk. The royals wouldn't? Eating humans was unethical, but to the selfish, its value was immense. The founder hit 10th Circle in five years—near-godhood. He moved mountains, rerouted rivers to forge borders. Neither the Blessing nor 10th Circle mages appeared for a millennium after him and his heir. Even now, it held value. Horrific, but the royals might devour her. The current king was said to be kind publicly. Leo didn't buy it. Even good kings could go mad for the Blessing.
So hide it. No one could know.
"Dad...?"
Leo went quiet, and Elizabeth grew worried. "Sweetie, don't learn magic."
"What? Don't learn magic?"
"...Will you listen to Dad?"
It wasn't a request you could just grant. But seeing Leo so deadly serious for the first time, Elizabeth replied calmly. "Explain properly."
Leo licked his lips. "Don't learn it. You have no talent. Waste of money."
"Really?"
Elizabeth flicked her finger. A tiny breeze blew in—barely a breath, but Leo sensed mana in it. Magic.
"...!!"
"I really have no talent?"
"H-how?"
"Dunno. Saw it in the textbook and copied. Worked."
"You don't even have circles yet."
"Used mana from the air."
Air mana? Like running a train on pebbles instead of coal. Atmospheric mana was impure; useless raw for spells. Had to be filtered through internal circles.
"I really have no talent?"
Her eyes brimmed with certainty. "Well, uh..." Leo trailed off. Forbidding it now would seem forced. "... "
"... "
Leo averted his eyes in silence; Elizabeth stared him down, demanding explanation with unyielding eyes. He sighed deeply. "Elizabeth."
"Yes."
"There's something Dad hasn't told you."
"Tell me."
By bringing it up, he meant to explain. Elizabeth nodded, waiting. "Truth is, Dad was a mage."
"... "
"Graduated Imperial Academy, then... stuff happened. Ended up in Lenz somehow. Yeah, that's it."
Best lie he could muster. Stop there. Couldn't say she was the dead emperor's daughter, he was a stranger raising her on the emperor's request. Elizabeth stared blankly, expressionless. Leo shrank, gauging her reaction.
"That's it?"
She smiled lightly. Tension shattered. "Making such a serious face over something like that."
"Haha."
"I was bracing for 'You're not really my daughter' or something."
Leo flinched and hugged her tight. She hugged back. "As if. You're my precious daughter. Were you hoping?"
"Yes."
"Huh?"
He double-took. "Kidding. I'm so happy being your precious daughter." Elizabeth met his gaze with a bright, refreshing smile.