Operations Commence (2)
"First of all, congratulations. On the end of your confinement."
"Thank you."
Roy spoke while confirming the sum Marek had just handed him.
"You promised, right? That you'd lend me the money."
"Yes... I did."
"Don't look so worried. I'm not going to stiff you, so you can relax. You've already seen me keep my word."
"......"
Marek had already second-guessed, dozens of times while shut up in his room, whether making that promise with the young master in front of him had been the right call.
No matter how you look at it, he's a child...
By every measure he was clearly only five, yet the moment they started talking the boy was startlingly mature.
Incomparably more so than Jerry, Marek's previous master.
"There's one condition, though. You'll have to make me a promise as well."
"A promise, young master?"
"Father will definitely order you to report my every move. When he does, you must never tell him that you lent me this money, or anything about what I plan to do with it. Absolutely never."
"That is..."
"I know. Father ranks higher than I do. I also know he has the authority to dismiss you. But if you follow my lead, I won't let you come out the loser. This is a transaction."
"A... transaction?"
"Yes. This money I'm borrowing from you right now? I'll double it for you. Very quickly. If I fail to keep that promise, then you're free to report everything I've done straight to Father."
"......"
What kind of absurd talk was this now?
Marek had heard the rumors, of course.
Stories about the youngest young master's sharp mind and magical talent.
Somehow the maids and other servants had found out that, with his confinement finally over, he had been assigned as the youngest young master's exclusive attendant; they had come to him in secret and filled his ears with every scrap of gossip.
Even so—how was anyone supposed to double a sum this large?
This was money he had scraped together over five full years of wages.
I dipped into it here and there, but it still has to be worth about four and a half years' pay...
"What do you think of my proposal? You have nothing to lose, Marek. Even if I somehow squander every last coin, you only have to speak to the lord and he'll reimburse you in my place. You'll get a scolding, sure. And of course, if it comes to that, I'll be locked in my room even longer than Jerry was."
"......"
The youngest young master's words were not entirely wrong.
The lord would almost certainly do exactly that.
Marek himself would be thoroughly berated for lending money to a child on such flimsy trust and would probably face confinement of his own—but still.
"Marek?"
"Ah—yes. Very well. We already made the promise, so I won't go back on my word now. Only..."
"Only?"
"I would like a firm deadline. 'Very quickly' means different things to different people, depending on the circumstances."
Roy answered with a bright smile.
"Fifteen days, then. I'll double it within fifteen days. Is that acceptable?"
Marek had no choice but to nod.
"Haha. From this moment on, you and I are comrades in the same boat, Marek. At least until fifteen days have passed and you've confirmed I failed to keep my promise—don't you dare betray me."
"Of course not."
Roy held out his hand for a shake; Marek reluctantly clasped it.
This feels... really uneasy...
And yet, strangely, the handshake only made Marek more anxious.
Because the youngest young master Roy's hand was every bit as small and fragile as a five-year-old's ought to be.
"I probably won't start spending this money until tomorrow at the earliest. The lord is scheduled to leave tomorrow, you see."
"Your eyes are stinging from the glare right now, aren't they?"
"Y-yes..."
"Try flowing the mana more evenly. Once you've fully mastered this spell, I'll be able to teach you the magic Lord Roy used."
Anna's first lesson had been the Lighting spell. It was still imperfect, yet in barely an hour she had managed to produce a reasonably stable version of it.
Compared to peers born with similar magical aptitude, her progress was actually quite solid.
Unfortunately the only real point of comparison was Roy, so both Geren and Anna herself could not help feeling impatient.
Still, that pressure was not entirely a drawback.
Normally Anna's temperament would have had her declaring the lesson boring and quitting within minutes; instead she kept her mouth tightly shut and focused with unexpected intensity.
It was the girl's own way of protecting her pride against her little brother.
"Geren Bachtman!"
The door suddenly slammed open.
Anna's concentration shattered; the Lighting spell hovering above her palm went fwoosh! and vanished.
"Hey, what the—! You scared me!"
Annoyed, Anna whipped her head around toward the person who had barged in without knocking.
"Listen up, you little pipsqueak. Who do you think you're yelling at?"
"Hmph. Why are you even here, Jerry? Should I go tell Father you left your room without permission?"
"Shut it, pipsqueak. My confinement's over."
Sensing a fight about to break out, Geren hurriedly stepped in to mediate.
"What brings you here, young master? We're in the middle of a lesson, so if you have something to say, perhaps later—"
"Quiet. You're Geren Bachtman, right?"
"Yes... well..."
"I've already gotten Father's permission. Starting now, you're going to teach me cold-attribute spells. I want to learn them before I leave for the Knight Academy."
"Pardon?"
Geren had heard nothing about Jerry's temperament.
That morning the baron had summoned him, explained the second son's situation, and secured his agreement to take on the extra lessons—yet he had never imagined the boy would be like this.
"Father already told you, didn't he!"
"You are... the second son, Lord Jerry?"
"Who else would I be?"
"......"
Jerry addressed the still-dazed Geren.
"What are you waiting for? Come on, let's get started. Time's wasting. Start with whatever you taught Roy."
Anna could not hold back any longer and snapped at the rude Jerry.
"No cutting in line, Jerry! This is my lesson time!"
"Hey, pipsqueak. You can't even cast Lighting properly—sit this one out."
"No! It's my lesson!"
Anna charged at Jerry; he casually caught her head in one hand and held her completely still.
His build was already sturdy enough to pass for an adult.
Jerry Greenhilt possessed a physique far too impressive for a boy of only twelve.
Looks every bit the grown man on the outside, but his personality is pure trash.
That was Geren's first impression of Jerry.
"What are you staring at? Get on with the lesson already. If I want to make those country bumpkins at the Knight Academy jump, I don't have time to waste."
The makeshift training ground behind the manor.
"There are several basic spells that anyone can use simply by knowing the incantation. Lighting and Psychic, for example—anyone who can sense the mana inside their body can cast them with a simple chant."
Anna nodded seriously.
Jerry, on the other hand, dug at his right ear with his little finger as if the whole lecture bored him.
"I told you to teach at my level, not Anna's."
Geren politely ignored him and continued.
"Unlike unattributed magic like Lighting or Psychic that anyone can use, elemental magic comes with certain restrictions. Even if you know the incantation perfectly, innate mana capacity and the caster's experience can prevent the spell from activating or reduce its power. Take fire and cold spells, for instance. Wielding two opposing attributes is extremely difficult. Even when it is possible, it demands an enormous amount of the caster's mana."
"You're dragging out stuff everyone already knows."
"Jerry, be quiet!"
Geren barely managed to swallow the sigh that tried to escape.
There was a reason he had spent so long explaining the basics.
"Then, Lord Jerry—what attributes are you able to use?"
"Me? Fire and gale... I can handle some of the fluid—water—type stuff too, though I almost never use it. Hate the damp feeling."
"So primarily fire and wind, then?"
"Yeah."
Just as Geren himself could summon ice and flame at the same time, opposing attributes were not completely impossible if one simply forced enough mana into them.
Therefore the fact that Jerry had already learned fire magic did not mean he was incapable of casting cold magic.
The real question was how much mana Jerry actually possessed.
"I'll teach you the incantation first. However, because you have spent so long using fire spells, you may find it rather difficult to manifest the opposing cold magic. Still, since you've also learned fluid magic, as long as your mana aptitude is sufficient it shouldn't be a major problem."
"Hmph. You're sounding just like that old man. You think I can't do something a brat like Roy pulled off?"
In truth, Jerry's magical talent was, to put it bluntly, mediocre.
Considering the bloodline of a baronial house and his age, he was merely not falling behind—an awkward, middle-of-the-road level.
Jerry himself, however, was convinced his gifts were far superior and that the only reason they had not yet blossomed was because he had been stuck learning from that old fossil Boodle.
Geren deliberately recited the spell slowly so Jerry could memorize it, then summoned a sphere of ice.
"Whoa! That's amazing."
Even though she had seen it the day before, Anna stared as if it were the first time.
Jerry, without waiting for permission, immediately tried the spell himself.
"......"
No ice formed above his palm.
"What the hell! Why won't it work for me!"
"Hmm... the incantation was correct. Which means..."
"Means what!?"
"In cases like this, the usual cause is that the mana inside the body has grown so accustomed to the fire attribute that it no longer responds to cold-attribute spells."
"So what am I supposed to do about it?"
"Well..."
Geren could not bring himself to answer right away.
"That little punk Roy does it so easily—why can't I!?"
"In that case... try drawing out roughly three times as much mana as you normally would for a fire spell, and attempt it again."
"What?"
The reason the magic would not activate was clear enough.
The amount of mana Jerry had just gathered was far too little to force an unfamiliar attribute into existence.
Of course, if the mana inside his body had still been sensitive to a variety of attributes, the spell would have at least flickered weakly into being.
But whether from neglected training or simple habit, Jerry's mana had already rigidified around specific attributes; its responsiveness to new spells was markedly dull.
"There's no way I can't do something the youngest managed..."
Following Geren's advice, Jerry wrung every last drop of mana he could muster.
In the end he succeeded in producing a tiny lump of ice.
The waste, however, was staggering.
Creating that single small chunk had consumed enough mana to cast three or four fireballs with plenty left over.
"What? It's way smaller than Roy's."
"Shut up, pipsqueak..."
Even the finished product, no matter how generously one tried to frame it, looked nothing like a spell worth showing off at the Knight Academy.
"Tch. What a waste of time. Anna—you've learned swordsmanship, right? Come at me. I'll do you the favor of sparring with you."
Jerry was seething.
He absolutely refused to admit he had less talent than the youngest.
So he had come up with this instead.
If magic wouldn't work, then the sword.
At least in that arena he was confident.
His swordsmanship was the one thing both Father and Boodle had always praised; it was his greatest pride.
"Absolutely not!"
Geren stepped between them.
"Lady Anna's palms are currently raw and blistered; she cannot hold a sword for the time being. On top of that, today was her first time using magic, so she needs rest."
"Who do you think you are? Anna's my sister!"
This crazy little...
Geren clenched his teeth.
If the boy had been small he might have written it off as childish tantrums, but Jerry's size only made the arrogance more infuriating.
Second son of a baronial house?
Geren's own parents had been a viscount and viscountess of the Frost Kingdom.
"If you insist, I will face you myself."
"What?"
"As you know, I am the private tutor for both Lord Roy and Lady Anna. I can handle not only magic but the sword and various other weapons as well. You said you already received the baron's permission, did you not? If magic isn't to your liking, I'll teach you a thing or two with the blade."
"You look down on me because I'm young, but unlike magic, my swordsmanship already surpasses Boodle's, you know?"
"Boodle? Ah—the deputy butler? How fascinating. So because you've surpassed Lord Boodle, that means you have nothing left to learn from me?"
"Obviously. You're a mage."
"Who said I was a mage?"
As the two male voices rose, onlookers began to gather one by one.
Granted, one of them was still only twelve, but their builds were similar enough that anyone watching would have thought two adult men were about to brawl.
"Honestly..."
Anna heaved a long sigh, shook her head, and slipped out of the training ground.
She sat down on the steps in front of the building's entrance.
"I want to get as good as Roy soon..."
A tiny cluster of light soon gathered in the girl's small hands; she fixed it with a thoroughly serious expression.
And beyond that little glow, the duel between Geren and Jerry was just about to begin.
Or rather—a proper lesson.