Chapter 188
Chapter 188
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 65
Chapter Title: Appointment (1)
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Once the situation had calmed down somewhat, the Welton Count asked Jamie the question he'd been curious about all this time.
"By the way, who's the kid who came with you?"
"Right? Mom was wondering too. That girl was so cute. Did you maybe make one back there?"
Sears hugged Sara close and wiggled just her pinky finger.
It seemed the two of them were talking about Anne.
Since he hadn't yet told them about Anne and Lennon, they both wore expressions full of misunderstandings.
"Um..."
"Is it true? Did our Jamie get himself a girlfriend?"
"Puppy love or something like that?"
"Kids these days move so fast! The son of Viscount Alter in the neighboring territory is only eleven this year, and he's already..."
"No, no, no. It's not like that, so don't get the wrong idea."
As Sears started spinning an utterly ridiculous tale, Jamie hurriedly cut her off.
The Welton Count and Sears stared at their son with wide, sparkling eyes.
Jamie let out a sigh and explained the truth.
"Well... she's my disciple."
"Aha. Looks like kids these days love playing teacher. I did that a lot when I was little too."
"Yeah, we played stuff like that all the time as kids."
The couple dismissed it as mere child's play once again.
It was understandable, so Jamie sighed briefly again and cleared up the misunderstanding.
"It's not play. She's my real disciple. She's learning magic from me."
"......"
"......"
The count and Sears stared blankly at their son before exchanging glances and suddenly bursting into laughter.
"Haha, kids' games these days are getting pretty realistic."
"Hohoho. Yeah, they do have to make it feel real for it to be fun."
"Play?"
In the midst of it all, Sara, who couldn't grasp the situation, looked up at her mother and asked.
Jamie's head throbbed. At this rate, anything he said would just be taken as play.
A picture is worth a thousand words, as they say.
He figured it would be faster to show them directly.
"Hold on a moment."
"Jamie?"
Jamie teleported out of the room.
As the couple exchanged puzzled looks, Jamie reappeared, grabbing Anne's wrist.
"M-M-Master?"
It was nearly dinnertime, so Anne had changed into the dress prepared for her here and was waiting obediently.
Though she was nobility, this was her first time wearing such an imposing dress, leaving her quite tense.
Then suddenly, Jamie appeared and whisked her away somewhere without warning.
It was none other than the large chamber where the Welton family was staying.
Suddenly brought to a place like this, Anne felt her mind go blank.
"Anne. Tell the two of them about our relationship."
And in the midst of it, her master was making this bizarre request.
"Eh... E? Eek?"
"What are you doing? Tell them about you and me."
"Oh my. I never knew Jamie was such a forward boy."
"......Heh heh. I wonder who he takes after."
The count and Sears covered their mouths in shock at Jamie's(?) bold statement.
Sensing the misunderstanding piling up even more, Jamie urged Anne on.
"Hurry and tell them you're my disciple."
"E-Eh. Ehhh?!"
Anne's eyes spun like a broken doll's.
Jamie grabbed her shoulders and shook her, causing the couple to gasp once more at his actions.
Sara found the whole scene hilarious and giggled to herself.
To put it simply, it took quite a long time to clear up this misunderstanding.
"......So she really is your disciple."
"She's two years older than you, like a big sister?"
"And you even took in the second son of the Simon family as a disciple."
Having finally accepted reality, the Welton couple still looked at Anne with expressions of disbelief.
There was no rule saying a master had to be older than their disciple, nor that a disciple had to be younger than their master.
But Jamie was only eight, and common sense dictated that eight was too young to take up teaching.
Jamie wasn't a common child, so it didn't feel all that strange for him to teach. In terms of magical prowess alone, he far surpassed most magic instructors.
The issue was that Jamie and Anne's relationship wasn't simply that of academy teacher and student.
Anne was Jamie's direct disciple. It meant she now bore the duty of passing on Jamie's magic to future generations.
The weight of that couldn't be brushed off as child's play.
But then again, this was Jamie. It was possible for him.
Their son was none other than the youngest archmage to break through the wall of 7th class.
'This is hard to explain in words.'
Sears might not know, but the Welton Count understood the master-disciple bond better than anyone.
He too had learned the sword from his father and predecessor as head of the Welton family. At that time, it wasn't a father-son relationship but a master-disciple one, and the harshness of it was indescribable.
In any case, the master-disciple bond was tough on both sides.
The master took on half of the disciple's life, and the disciple learned from the master's life.
But could these two children, still so young, navigate that?
Worries flooded his mind, but the count said nothing.
He trusted his son, and since the bond was already established, it would be ridiculous for a third party to interfere.
"Jamie, teach diligently, and Anne, learn diligently."
That was all he could say.
Sears still looked uneasy, but with her husband stepping in like that, she had nothing more to add.
"You two, fighting!"
So she raised her left arm to cheer them on.
Only then did Jamie smile and respond energetically.
"Yes!"
"Y-Yes!"
Anne followed her master's lead, shouting back with a tense face.
The count chuckled softly and rose from his seat.
"Then we should get ready too. Time's almost up."
"Anne, go back and rest. Jamie, take her."
"Yes. Let's go."
Jamie took Anne's hand and used teleportation.
Sears watched Jamie vanish in a flash and said to the count.
"......Jamie's disappearing in a blink still doesn't feel right."
"Isn't that what a mage is?"
Sears nodded with an "Ah."
It had been a long time since they'd had such a lively meal.
But the time wasn't entirely peaceful.
The Welton couple didn't think highly of Linmel and Siegfried.
And understandably so—hadn't their son gone to the mage world because of them and faced great danger?
Naturally, the two archmages had nothing to say.
Fortunately, no commotion broke out at the dinner table, but no sooner had the meal ended than the Welton Count told the two he wanted a word and whisked them away.
Anne headed back to her room to sleep, and Sears went to put Sara to bed.
Left alone, Jamie slipped out to wander the capital's night streets.
"It's definitely huge."
Pibre, the capital, looked big from afar, but up close, its scale truly sank in.
He'd been born in Hyes, one of the kingdom's premier territories, but compared to the royal capital, it felt like a village.
This place resembled the mage world.
The mage world had more advanced civilization thanks to being the center of magitech, but that was to be expected.
Pibre had quite a few things he'd seen in the mage world too.
Artrein lines passed overhead, and massive Magic Vision screens were installed atop tall buildings.
"No wonder mages aspire to the capital after the mage world."
Mages who graduated the academy and earned their official licenses either entered research labs or took jobs in magic-related fields.
Naturally, mage world companies hired the most, followed by the capital Pibre.
"The main streets are wide, and the night paths aren't dark."
Streetlamps stretched along the boulevards, shining bright enough for carriages to pass even at night.
This made him think modern civilization was quite extreme.
With the rapid advance of magitech, it felt like several steps had been skipped.
Art Rails zipped through the sky, yet well-paved roads still relied on horse-drawn carriages.
Before long, carriages would change form too.
"What a splendid fountain."
Standing before the fountain that sprayed water high even at night, Jamie clasped his hands behind his back and gazed at the full moon reflected above it.
The spraying water mingled with moonlight, creating a beautiful shimmering sight.
It was just as Jamie settled on a nearby bench.
"Pretty, isn't it?"
"Whoa!"
Jamie jolted at the sudden voice.
To his side stood a silver-haired girl smiling, her hair swaying beautifully in the moonlight.
Just looking at the girl, who wore a yellow cloth tied like a headband, calmed his startled heart.
'What's with this kid?'
Jamie had come here while roughly checking for presences around him.
Yet he hadn't sensed the girl's presence at all.
It wasn't because she was some extraordinary person.
'......Her life force is so faint, like it's about to flicker out.'
Weak enough to crumble if gripped in a hand.
That's why her presence hadn't registered.
The girl looked up at the full moon again and said.
"I like coming out sometimes to watch the night sky."
At the girl's abrupt words, Jamie wasn't sure how to respond.
Whether he replied or not, the girl continued.
"But I don't get to see it often. The moon and stars are always up there, but I can only catch glimpses like this once in a while."
"Why? Just come out and look."
"Yeah. It's that simple, but not for me. I've been sickly since I was little. Still am, even now."
The girl stuck out her tongue a bit and grinned.
Even for peers, it's hard to be so open with a stranger, but she was a friendly kid.
"How'd you get out today?"
"Hm. Sneaked out?"
"Huh?"
"Hehe. Secret."
She looked terribly frail, yet she'd snuck out just to see the sky.
Jamie let out a hollow chuckle at the tomboyish girl despite her weak body.
'But does a secret even mean anything?'
They'd barely met, not even five minutes ago.
Jamie decided not to overthink it. After eight years around kids, he'd gotten a rough sense of their ways.
"Yeah. Secret."
"How can it be a secret with a stranger?"
"......"
He should've remembered kids were sharp despite their innocence.
"Just kidding."
The girl beamed.
Jamie shook his head and turned back to the fountain.
The girl giggled and looked at the fountain too.
The two, meeting for the first time that night, felt no awkwardness and quietly admired the fountain and night sky together.
About ten minutes passed like that when the girl stood.
"Time for me to head back."
"I see."
"No 'see you later' or anything?"
"Hm. See ya."
Jamie waved nonchalantly, and the girl pouted.
"Next time, I'll be cold to you too. Nyah!"
With that random remark, the girl turned and started running off.
Her pace was so slow that Jamie leaned back on the bench and watched.
"Too slow."
"I-I don't run much!"
The girl, with some pride, shot back immediately.
Jamie chuckled and turned away.
The sound of her footsteps faded into the distance.
"Huff, huff."
The girl was utterly exhausted, leaning against a tree and panting heavily.
It had been so long since she'd run like that; her moonlit hair clung to her sweat-dampened cheeks.
Someone approached the girl.
"Was there any need to run, Your Highness?"
It was the voice of a polite old man.
The girl looked at the elderly man beside her, still catching her breath.
She smiled and said.
"Just. After talking with that boy, I suddenly felt like running."
"I don't recall the conversation being the sort to inspire that."
"Eavesdropping again."
The girl cutely pouted, and the old man chuckled as if at his granddaughter.
"That's this old man's job, so forgive me, Princess."
Called princess, Isabel P. Friedmoor puffed out her cheeks.
She was a member of the Seldam Kingdom's royal Friedmoor family and the current king's eldest daughter.
The old man who called himself "old man" looked helpless at the princess's antics.
"I hate you."
"If the princess hates me, this old man will be very sad?"
"Liar!"
Isabel stuck out her tongue and started running again.
But she clutched her chest and nearly collapsed, only for the old man to swiftly catch her.
He placed a hand on her chest and infused mana. It circulated rapidly through the princess's body, slowing her racing heart back to normal.
"Gasp, gasp, gasp."
Only then could Isabel exhale the breath that had felt stuck in her throat.
"No more running from now on."
"......Yes."
As Isabel replied glumly, the old man sighed and piggybacked her.
Isabel wrapped her arms around his neck and said.
"Jamie Welton."
"What was he like in person?"
She recalled the emerald-haired boy who'd chatted casually beside her.
A once-in-history genius who reached archmage at age eight.
Isabel had known she would meet him by the fountain tonight.
And she'd glimpsed it, to some extent.
Jamie Welton's murky, unforeseeable future.
"That boy will walk a long path of hardship."
"......"
"Whether light awaits at the end or the abyss of ruin, no one can know. It didn't show that far."
Isabel caught her breath and continued.
"He was pitiful."
"Why?"
"Because he knows it better than anyone."
Isabel's eyes grew sad.
The future she'd seen for Jamie Welton was horrific, and Jamie Welton himself foresaw that horrific future.
How must it feel to know he'd stand in that terrible fate?
Even Isabel, facing her own desperate situation, couldn't fathom Jamie's feelings.
"I want to go back and rest now, Sword Sage."
"As you wish."
Sword Sage Tariks Pan felt pity for the princess, who always empathized with others, and increased his speed.