The Secret Revealed
Sugar had no intention of telling him everything. This was for keeping secrets. So, she planned to throw out a few words and then go off for meditation practice.
“I have something to do now, so I’ll practice writing words by myself.”
As she climbed the tree, her thoughts were in abundance. Why had she been so disappointed just now? The disappointment that a friend she had been hanging out with for days actually didn’t know her name. She felt it quite sincerely.
‘There’s no point in knowing if it won’t disappoint. Just tell them.’
Since she hadn’t properly told them in the first place, it was natural not to know. If they answered “I know” to a question, it was to tease them with “You didn’t tell me, how do you know?” If they answered “I don’t know”, it was to tell them the name at that opportunity. She had asked under that assumption, but to be disappointed...
When she immediately corrected that she knew the name, she couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.
‘My heart must have gone farther than I thought.’
It seemed she had grown attached to the friend she was with. Since she was smaller than Sugar, she felt like a little sister, easy and comfortable. Or perhaps her way of thinking was childish to match her 11-year-old body. No matter what, it was a time when thoughts were abundant. However, what was important was this: When climbing a tree like this, one must concentrate; one shouldn’t have random thoughts. And so, she slipped.
Even Sugar, who climbed trees like a monkey, knew how to fall from a tree. The result of having too many thoughts.
‘Ah… it’s quite high.’
Wouldn’t one of her limbs break? It would hurt a lot, right? To prepare for the upcoming shock, she closed her eyes tightly and prepared her mind. After how many seconds did time pass like that? No matter how hard she waited, it didn’t hurt. There was even no falling sensation. Was it awakening of abilities in a crisis!?
With a good thought, she opened her eyes and saw Tomi’s face full of surprise. He had his hand stretched towards Sugar. When she lowered her head to look underneath, it wasn’t the floor but the air. She was floating in the air by some force.
“Wao.”
She didn’t know about the other things. It seemed she had found a magic teacher after all.
***
“Tell me. That.”
Sugar was sticking to him from behind, following closely.
“Tell me that. That.”
“…”
Tomi thought he had made a mistake because he was so distracted all evening singing. He had done something unnecessary.
“I told you too. Huh? You have to tell me too.”
Seeing her keep saying that, other friends who saw the curiosity asked.
“What is that? You’ve been saying it since a while ago.”
“That’s… that… that…”
The suspicious answer made everyone tilt their heads.
“Is it strange?”
“Just Sugar has been weird lately.”
“Yeah. She’s weird.”
With a rather cool reaction, Sugar, with a heavy face full of worries, continued with a heavy atmosphere.
“Just… I showed my secret… but he doesn’t show his…”
“... What?”
“What? Is that the case? Yes, yes.”
“Hah, no way. They’ve been sticking together all this time.”
The atmosphere suddenly heated up. In places with many children, such issues are the best topic of conversation, not just for children but for any gathering of people. Watching silently was interesting. Just as Tomi was about to approach to end the situation, Sugar decorated the ending in the midst of it.
“Waaah. He ate only the sweet part and threw it away.”
-Scratching sound.
The gaze was fixed. I don’t know what they were thinking, but these days, kids know everything.
“What nonsense are you talking! No! It’s not that!”
Denying it, Tomi headed straight to the attic, pushing Sugar in and closing the door. The pushing force carried quite some emotion.
“Cap.”
Immediately after, snapping his fingers created a faint light that was enough to identify a human face between the two.
“Hey! Speak straight. What exactly did you show me?”
“The tip of ancient knowledge…”
“As payment for telling the characters! …I never asked you to teach me magic.”
Even as the volume rose, the topic of magic lowered the voice.
“Then I’ll make a request now. As payment, please teach me magic, teacher.”
“Thank you very much for the earlier incident - bowing in gratitude, and Sugar also lowered her voice and said.”
Tomi covered his eyes with his palm. He didn’t know why things were getting twisted like this.
‘… I wanted to keep magic a secret at least.’
Everyone has mana in their body. There are individual differences in quantity and nature, but the fact that it exists is unchanging. Using that mana as energy to perform any action is magic. But ordinary people can’t even feel the mana in their body, let alone magic. Some said it’s similar to feeling the blood flowing in the veins. Even if they feel it, implementing it as magic is another problem.
In the midst of that, those with the talent to feel mana and use magic, i.e., orphans with magical talent, have high adoption priority. If lucky, adoption into noble families or rich households; if unlucky, they become experimental subjects or magic power shields. No matter where, orphans have no right to refuse.
Tomi, who still didn’t want to leave the slums, hated that. He secretly researched the grimoire that would label him as a heretic just by having it, and there was no better place than here to find a sacrifice for it. Even if a person disappeared, no big fuss would be made. He was an orphan with a hard-to-point-out identity.
With these two advantages, he planned to finish interpreting the grimoire here, and based on the magic skills he had accumulated in bits and pieces, go anywhere, whether to the capital or the floating island. Even a path stained with blood was fine. Abandon humanity, harm people, take their blood. No matter what he did, as long as he achieved the dream of being recognized by everyone.
But what is this? He hadn’t killed a single victim yet. He had intended to use that cute little girl who looked like she could be pitied with that smile as the long-awaited first human sacrifice. He had planned to trample her nicely and use her to fill the pages of the grimoire, but nothing was progressing. Moreover, this guy was even asking to be taught magic. He was raising the risk of revealing his magical talent. He had saved her from falling from the tree for nothing. Why did he save someone he was supposed to kill in the first place?
‘… It’s better if the sacrifice is in perfect condition.’
Tomi was always having this kind of self-questioning. Today too, he let out a sigh without making a clear decision.
“Hey. Listen well. I’m also learning magic on my own, so I don’t know much. I don’t have the ability to teach others. To begin with, why do you want to learn that?”
“Want to become strong? Um… want to run away? …I don’t know how to express it.”
It was an unexpected answer. He thought it would be something like “just because it’s cool”, and that kind of response.
“Just… I wanted to get away from a hopeless future. That’s all. It’s not like asking to be taught something difficult. I just want to have power, even if it’s a small one.”
His eyes were looking at a distant place.
What a strange kid. Childlike yet adult, adult yet childlike.
“If it’s hard, at least teach me how to awaken mana. Even a small tip would be fine, right?”
There was nothing difficult about it. It was just that the risk of revealing his talent in the orphanage was increasing, and the biggest problem was ‘Why should I spend time teaching magic to this guy?’
However, the words Sugar had spat out felt like they were overlapping on him for no reason. Tomi was how earnest he was. He even felt it was an unnecessary thing. No matter how much you struggle, you are my grimoire’s sacrifice. Nevertheless, Tomi couldn’t abandon the thought of at least playing along a little. For now, at least, he had told the ancient characters. He let out a deep sigh again. It was a sigh as if he was self-deprecating that this situation had come to be.
Just as Sugar, who didn’t realize that it was a refusal, was about to perform her ultimate move - lying flat on the floor -
“First, neither of us has a staff. We can only handle basic magic, so keep that in mind… But why are you lying flat?”
“Ah, it’s nothing. Thank you. Really thank you. For real. You’re the best.”
Sugar, as if nothing had happened, brushed off her knees and stood up, grabbing Tomi’s hand and shaking it vigorously.
“Stop, stop. First, there are three conditions. You have to swear to keep these.”
“Okay. Whatever. What is it?”
“First, absolutely keep it a secret. That I know how to use magic, and that you are learning magic are both secrets. At least until we both leave, no mention.”
“Okay.”
“Second. When you succeed later, pay me back.”
Before that, I’ll die in your hand, so no such future - this was a condition inserted because three is better than two. Sugar nodded repeatedly, of course, of course.
“And last.”
Tomi’s words were cut off, and the moment tension rose.
“From now on, don’t steal my food.”
In Sugar’s expression, which was nodding, there was a slight disappointment.
***
For a knight, a sword; for a magician, a staff. Without tools, that existence is worth nothing. However, even a knight holding a branch can imitate swordsmanship, and even a bare-handed magician can imitate magic. Even Tomi without a staff could teach Sugar the basics of magic. Of course, with the grimoire, he could handle more, but that was truly a secret. If Sugar learned about his grimoire, to keep the secret, at that moment immediately -
“…”
“Tom? Is this the way?”
Setting up a cloth to use as a blackboard, with wide eyes and a question, the face was full of joy.
Sugar was sincerely grateful at this moment. A friend she had made in the orphanage had magical talent, and she could learn magic from that kid! A way to escape the clutches of the cult was visible. She could escape from the crazy kidnappers, and moreover, couldn’t she create a future as ‘Magic Sugar’? She didn’t need to ask why magic was kept secret. Sugar knew well that the treatment of orphans with magical talent was at both extremes. She just wanted this kind boy to safely leave the orphanage and succeed with magic. Although it was a pity that she couldn’t steal the soup anymore, in front of the greater good, it was nothing. Smiling understandingly towards Tomi.
Tomi just lowered his gaze and began the lecture.