Give Me Food, Give Me Snacks
Stealthily approaching Tommy, I peeked over his shoulder. He was writing Korean characters on the floor.
His level had skyrocketed. Not only could he read every single letter, but he could also manage basic conversation. What a terrifyingly fast learner.
It had taken a full month for his body to heal completely. To be safe, I had been conservative with the training schedule, but in the quiet moments, I taught him language out of boredom.
I had never intended to go this far.
The romance of scribbling secret codes in this vast world that only I understood had always appealed to me.
But sharing them with a friend made it romantic in its own way.
Heh. I taught you.
I might have simply wanted to flaunt my intellectual superiority by teaching someone else.
Regardless, you’ve suffered a lot, friend. You’ll suffer more in the future. Not Sugar’s Princess Maker… but Wizard Maker has only just reached level 1.
The only compensation I can offer the child who will lead this is this.
-Swish. Swish.
Still, it seemed he was satisfied enough. After all, he was memorizing it with such enthusiasm and staring at the characters he’d written as if he couldn’t look away.
But what did he write that he’s staring at like that?
I got closer.
[Ryle-]
“Waaaaaaa!”
“Whoa, you startled me!”
“I was more startled! Don’t suddenly pop up like that!”
He quickly erased the letters with his foot.
“Why erase them? It’s a shame.”
“I-I-I!”
Tommy’s reaction was an overreaction because Sugar’s breath had brushed his ear. The biggest reason was that it was a word he didn’t want to show. But then, for some reason, he erased every last letter too.
“Sigh. You’re so petty.”
“I have to write them again if I’m going to study, right?”
And then he started scribbling from scratch again. Instead of staying by my side, he went far away to do it.
By the way, the eye level matched perfectly.
Did my eyes go bad…?
If I followed him closely and stood beside him, it was clear.
His eye level was the same. Originally, I should have been looking down slightly, but now I didn’t need to.
Time passed, and children grew up so quickly.
This friend. He was tall.
“Damn it…”
Is it because my mind is adult and not a kid?
Muttering that, Tommy’s expression twisted. By following along without understanding and muttering incomprehensible words, his mood worsened.
He did this occasionally. He’d always been a difficult kid, but sometimes he got so strange that it was like “whoa…”
That girl looked straight at Tommy.
“Tommy. I have a request.”
“No.”
“Why reject without even listening?”
“Because it’s obvious it’s nonsense.”
“If you judge people like that—”
“At best, ‘feed me, give me snacks.’ That’s the level. Since I learned that you can use magic, it’s really…”
I’d been harboring dark thoughts like I can secretly use magic to peek…? This was all because of the belief that eating well makes you grow tall.
No matter how well you eat, people whose height is predetermined by birth can’t escape it, but I stubbornly denied it.
What would Sugar say when she was caught by the child?
“Hah… No, Tommy. How could I make you do something like that. It was obviously just a joke I said a few times.”
It had been sincere.
It wasn’t a joke; it was sincere without a single lie.
Only you can do it! He’d clung to me for weeks.
Tommy, who remembered it clearly, was at a loss. To protect his fragile pride, he made an obvious lie.
“You’ve really gone bad…”
It stung right in the heart. His sharp gaze was adorable. Pure condemnation from a child.
Still, Sugar, with a steel plate on her face, said.
“My heart is so sad… Because of how you misunderstood, my conduct must not be proper… I was just thinking about casually moving to level 2…”
It had been a month since I awakened level 1, so that was on my mind, but would I really have said that at this moment?
If I put on armor made of steel plate on my face, the cult wouldn’t catch me.
“Huh? What do you think?”
I made a V sign with my fingers to show “2.” The 2 of level 2. With a serious face, but when our eyes met with Tommy, I smiled. I probably smiled because I was surprised too.
“…”
“…”
“…”
Anyway, the problem was that smile. That smile.
Silently heading to the attic.
“Stand comfortably. Spread your legs shoulder-width apart. Relax your shoulders. Hold that posture for 10 minutes. Focus on the flow of mana.”
I did as instructed. But while doing so, I was curious about the origin of this training.
“Where did you learn this from?”
“Self-taught. I just do what I think might work for training. It might work or it might not.”
Then another question arose.
“Since when did you know how to use magic?”
“…”
“…”
“…”
Because I was sparing my words, Sugar didn’t ask further.
With eyes closed and focusing, 10 minutes passed in no time.
“Now, let’s move the mana to the desired area. Gather it in both hands while remembering the flow.”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Don’t resist the flow. Feel like you’re giving your body to it. Still, don’t forget that the master of mana is you.”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…Imagine. That you can move. The image of gathering the energy inside your body into your hands.”
“…”
“…”
“…”
Tommy covered his eyes while looking at the unchanged blank expression no matter how I explained it.
Basic conditions for a magician, level 3.
[Level 1: Can feel the flow of mana.]
[Level 2: Can simply use mana.]
[Level 3: Can convert mana into magic through processes like ordering or actions.]
Up to level 1, I could somehow awaken with help from surroundings, but from level 2, it was purely a matter of talent.
Truly skilled people show off superhuman feats like chopping stones with twigs and climbing buildings in one jump, but those who can’t, can’t even if they die.
There are people who can move muscles they don’t usually use well. Think of it as similar. If you have skill, you do it well. If not, you can’t.
“Wait… I’ll give you a stimulus, so follow it well.”
The only thing Tommy could do was give a little help.
First, I rolled up Sugar’s left sleeve up to the shoulder. Then, with mana on my index finger, I tapped from Sugar’s shoulder to the palm repeatedly.
“It itches.”
“Don’t laugh. Concentrate.”
Repeated again. The fingers touched the white, soft skin. The skin was slightly stimulated by the mana and turned a bit red.
“…It seems I do receive stimulation from external sources.”
“It’s not that I’m strong against mana coming from inside the body, right? Otherwise, wouldn’t it be the same as anyone else?”
“It’s a mutter. You concentrate.”
“Hing.”
Closed my eyes again and focused on that stimulation.
Follow the stimulation… follow the stimulation… follow the stimulation…
.
.
.
One hour passed.
Nothing happened.
It seemed I couldn’t even move 1mm. I was told to move the mana, but I kept moving my own body, like hitting it here and there. It wasn’t like someone playing racing games who hits the body together.
Then, my strength gradually waned, and I muttered with a disappointed expression.
“Why isn’t it working? Why…? Is it because of my mana property?”
“I don’t know. There are many people who can’t do level 2 even if it’s not you.”
“Tommy, how was it for you? Did you do well from the start?”
“Yeah.”
This is it.
When the Saint descended to this land, he said to spread magic and use it beneficially.
I crossed level 1 while risking my life, but there’s a level 2 wall called talent after that.
Sugar just sat down dejectedly. It was disappointment, but hunger was even greater.
I only trained for an hour now, so of course the results aren’t great. I accepted that. If I practice a little every day, it will somehow work out.
But I’m hungry. The orphanage in the slums, which is quite pitiful. It doesn’t seem like much was done, but I’m always hungry.
If this is the case, it’s hard to practice every day. I have to fill the extreme mental exhaustion with food, but I can’t.
It would be good if there’s a place where I can eat proper food wherever I go in the future…
Momentarily, I missed my past life. Those days had been quite abundant. When I recalled that era, what came back was a spinning head.
“Ah… My blood sugar is dropping…”
-Startled.
Muttering while holding my head, Tommy reacted unintentionally.
Perhaps the sweet taste of that forgotten day is coming back to mind now.
“Blood sugar drops. Do it while eating.”
“…”
“…”
“…”
He sat far away and stuffed the bread into his mouth, tearing it.
“I’m hungry…”
-Mumbling…
One was soaked in sweat and pleading hunger. The other was chewing a piece of paper to forget the dizzying sweet-bitter taste.
What a pitiful pair.
“This won’t do. This time, when I execute the plan to steal… Tommy! Why are you eating that!”
Because of you… Sugar, who couldn’t hear the muttering, just patted Tommy’s back saying “spit it out! support!”
The fact that I went to steal something and got caught by the director’s sister and had to do chores is another story.
-Thud. Thud.
A dull sound of hitting the floor. A woman walking while tapping the floor with a walking cane.
She seemed blind because her eyes were closed.
The fabric of the dark-colored one-piece dress from below the chest was beautiful. Long clothes with gloves. Her jet-black hair swayed as if not showing any skin outside her face.
It was a rather rare sight for such a woman to be walking in this rundown slum.
There were many blind people in the world, and many beautiful women.
It was rare for the two to come together.
Even excluding those external factors, it was a precious body.
Originally, it would be time to prepare for retirement, but she was so obsessed with the thing she accidentally discovered during her last mission that she willingly went out again.
While walking, she stopped and looked around, then fixed her head toward one direction.
As if hearing some sound, she quietly tilted her ear.
“Because of you, I had to go out for nothing…!”
“Instead, you ate the fruit. This is a precious thing that only grows on one tree among the trees in the orphanage.”
“Do you know?”
The sound of a girl and a boy bickering.
The woman with a gentle smile immediately headed to the two of them.
“Hello. Do you have a moment?”
The clear pronunciation and rich, resonant voice had the appeal to stop anyone.
Even if not, if a well-dressed blind woman spoke, it would be natural to listen at some point.
However.
“No. I’m busy.”
“…”
“…”
“…”
Sugar, leading Tommy, passed by ignoring the fake prophet like that.
I shouldn’t respond to each of those things one by one. In my past life too, when someone talked to me on the street, I always ignored them. Because they suddenly became nice while asking for directions, or I didn’t want to get involved with people trying to take me to strange places.
The woman who was treated like that class was, surprisingly, showing an even thicker smile. Because she thought that children need boldness.
Rubshi, the Apostle of the Shadow Cult, slowly followed behind the two.
The sound of the cane tapping the floor became lively.