Witnessing Magic
The person approaching Luke was a young man in a white robe and glasses.
His black hair was neatly arranged, and he was so tall that the diminutive Luke had to crane his neck quite a ways just to look up at him.
Though tall, his frame was slender, giving him a somewhat frail appearance—yet his voice was warm and open, leaving a rather favorable impression.
"Nice to meet you. So you're Luke? You're younger than I expected. How old are you?"
How old was he? That was a difficult question for Luke to answer.
He couldn't even remember his exact true age, and he had no idea how old this body was supposed to be either.
So he dodged a precise answer.
"One does not ask a child their age, magician."
At Luke's deflection, the man's eyes went round with surprise, then he burst out laughing.
"Oh, my! Hahaha! I've been quite rude, haven't I! Sorry, sorry. That must have been a rather sensitive question."
Well.
In truth, Luke had merely been hard-pressed for an answer and had made something up; it hadn't been a particularly sensitive question, nor had he been angry. So he quickly nodded and decided to accept the apology.
"I forgive you."
Luke accepted the apology with the aristocratic gesture that came naturally from long habit and manner of speech—but to the young magician watching, it looked for all the world like a short little kid putting on adult airs, and he couldn't help but smile.
She looks young, but she's quite sharp. Speaks without hesitation, too. Well brought up, maybe?
"Incidentally, by what name should I address you?"
"Ah, my introductions are late. I'm Gerard Colson, the magician in charge of this Sephiro-02 Mana Power Plant."
The man who introduced himself as Gerard Colson mimicked Luke's aristocratic gesture with a slight bow of his head.
Luke thought the etiquette was a mess, but perhaps this was simply the etiquette of five thousand years later.
So he decided not to comment.
"A pleasure to meet you, Gerard Colson. You may call me Luke Irushi."
It seemed he already knew the name—the guard from earlier had probably told him—but exchanging names was meaningful in itself, so Luke introduced himself again.
"Alright, Luke Irushi. You said you came to tour our mana power plant because you want to become a magician? Which part did you most want to see?"
"I should like to visit the place where mana flows at the highest density."
"Hmm, the high-pressure mana zone would be dangerous for a little kid like you…"
"I am not the little child you take me for. So might it not be possible…?"
"E-even if you look at me like that, no. High-pressure mana areas are dangerous, so only authorized personnel can enter. But I can show you all the other facilities."
Luke was disappointed, but decided to accept it.
Even if it wasn't the place of highest mana density, it would still be far better for accumulating mana than home.
If he toured the facilities thoroughly while accumulating mana, he might even be able to inscribe his first Circle by the end of the day.
"Hmm… Then I shall follow your proposal. Would you guide me?"
"Sure. First, shall I show you the mana refining facility?"
Luke hurried after Gerard, who had started walking ahead, and quickly felt his breath catching in his throat.
Unable to keep up, Luke finally stopped, bracing himself against the wall to catch his breath, and said to Gerard:
"Hah, hah… Walk a little more slowly… I cannot match your stride."
"Ah, sorry. I'm busy every day, so a fast pace has become habit. I try to adjust, but it's not easy…"
Gerard scratched the back of his head apologetically and sat down in front of Luke.
"Still, the corridors are quite spacious. How large is this facility?"
"Huge. Just walking around takes hours. Hmm… size-wise, if I compare it, about the size of an amusement park?"
That was Gerard's attempt at a child-friendly comparison, but Luke didn't know what an amusement park was and tilted his head.
"Amusement park? What is that?"
"What, you don't know amusement parks? Your parents never took you?"
Gerard felt a slight puzzlement at Luke saying he'd never been to an amusement park.
In this day and age, was there a kid who didn't know amusement parks?
And then Gerard immediately regretted the question at Luke's calm reply.
"Hmm, so an amusement park is a place parents ordinarily take one? Then regrettably, I shall not be able to go. I have no parents."
"…I-is that so? Hmm…"
"Why do you look at me so…? Ah, stop that—you're mussing my hair."
"I'm sorry. That was a blunder on my part."
So coming here alone, too…
A little girl with no parents, wanting to become a magician, had somehow made her way to a mana power plant all on her own?
That was quite astonishing.
That such a small child could possess such fierce passion.
Gerard's chest swelled with a tremendous emotion as he looked at this future magician.
Pity? Worry? Admiration? How could one even define it?
"Incidentally, I cannot quite gauge the size from that comparison. I have somewhere I must return before nightfall. Will we be able to see everything within that time?"
Gerard thought carefully.
Touring every facility in one day… even on the shortest route, each facility took at least ten minutes.
The mana power plant's main facilities alone included mana refining, mana processing, mana arrays, enchanting, magic design facilities, and more—if they tried to see every little place as well, time would be quite tight.
And he himself had just stepped out of the lab; he couldn't leave his post for too long either.
"It might be better to skip a few facilities. Just the main ones…"
"That will not do! I must see everything today…!"
Luke found himself shouting before he could stop, then clamped his mouth shut with a start.
However urgent the Circle might be, he wasn't living only for today—and even touring only the places his feet could reach would clearly be of great help.
Absorbing mana that way would certainly accelerate the Circle creation he'd originally estimated at a month.
So there was clearly no reason, no need, to be stubborn.
It would be a breach of courtesy.
Making things difficult for someone who had come to help him out of goodwill was wrong in principle.
For the sake of a positive relationship going forward as well, not pressing such a demand was the better choice.
"No—there is no need to see everything today. Simply being given this tour is help enough. Forgive me for raising my voice."
Thinking that he'd been forgetting his dignity and raising his voice more often of late, he sheepishly stroked his chin out of habit.
Where a long beard ought to have been, he felt only the soft texture of young skin, and a bitter feeling rose with it.
But Gerard, seeing her bitter expression, read it as resignation.
To have such passion even without parents… I want to do something for her, but…
Gerard had never seen a child like her.
Perhaps that was why she seemed all the more endearing.
She was different at the root from the spoiled children of the modern world.
A child so well brought up despite having no parents was that rare—and that precious.
He thought of his own nephews.
Wild, restless little brats who couldn't sit still for a second.
Utterly incompatible with his temperament as a born magician—whereas Luke somehow felt kindred, and he liked her for it.
She would surely become a fine magician.
Perhaps even one permitted up to Class 8 someday.
For the sake of a future archmage, Gerard decided to sacrifice himself.
"Alright, then I'll give you a piggyback. That way we can get around quickly, right?"
"Will… that be all right? I am rather heavy…"
However much of a little child Luke might be now, Gerard's frame looked like it couldn't properly carry a ten-kilogram sack of grain.
Luke couldn't help but worry.
"It's fine. This uncle's a magician, right? I'll just use Strength Enhancement magic."
"Truly? I shall be able to see magic?"
At this unexpected windfall, Luke could not hide his excitement.
Magic? He would see Class magic right before his eyes?
At Luke's voice, flushed with excitement, Gerard grinned.
"For Class 3 support-type magic, magicians and doctors don't need separate permits."
"How marvelous!"
Watching Luke clap and beam with delight, Gerard looked down fondly, then drew a slender wand from his robes, closed his eyes, and began the incantation.
"Ravet, Ahanum, Ziregt, Hallen."
⟨ Strength Enhancement ⟩
Luke stared fixedly at Gerard's mouth and wand.
What his Mana Sight revealed was shocking.
Mana imbued each word Gerard uttered.
The mana took form, arranged itself, and became magic.
Weaker in willpower than Circles, but strong in Words of Power. To construct magic from speech alone even with little accumulated mana—truly a new method. Minimizing physical constraints lowers the barrier of talent as well. In short, anyone who can hold a tool and speak can use magic.
What made it possible was that wand.
Of course, wands had been used even five thousand years ago when Circles were in fashion.
But they had been purely auxiliary.
The true agent of magic had been the person's will, and thus magic itself had been possible without a wand.
This method was different.
Mana management relied entirely on the wand.
Thus, even with no Circles inscribed in the body at all, the wand itself functioned as a Circle.
He had been astonished by the smartphone, but that wand was nothing short of a miracle.
It was like having one's heart removed from the body.
He had thought it impossible—but shouting "impossible" at a phenomenon unfolding right before his eyes was useless.
Having witnessed it, only understanding and interpretation remained.
I see. I could not easily grasp the concept of restricting magic… so the existence of that wand is what makes the concept of "Class" possible.
The wand was a Circle.
So there was no need to inscribe Circles in the body.
People simply used magic.
The universalization of magic!
How many sages had desired it, and labored for it.
The answer was here.
A world where everyone could use magic.
No discrimination by Circles, no gaps of talent—a world where all people could use the same magic.
What Luke was seeing was not mere Strength Enhancement magic. It was an era.
"Truly magnificent! What extraordinary magic!"
"Ah, you're making me shy. It's nothing special."
"It is not so. It was truly splendid magic!"
But Gerard, with no way of knowing the high-dimensional thoughts unfolding in Luke's mind, saw only the reaction of a child who dreamed of becoming a magician, excited and marveling at magic for the first time.
Making such a fuss over nothing but Class 3 support magic—if she saw Class 6 magic cast with a wand permitted only inside the research institute, he couldn't imagine how excited Luke would get.
Ah, what am I thinking.
Class 6 magic was extremely dangerous.
He himself was only permitted up to Class 5, and even that required a three-day review period for a single use permit—it was extremely dangerous magic.
No matter how he thought about it, it wasn't something to show a child just to see a reaction.
Her reaction was just so entertaining I got carried away. What a childish thought.
Slightly embarrassed by the thought, Gerard quickly cleared his throat and said:
"You can hop on now."
"My deepest thanks, Gerard."
Once Luke was on Gerard's back, Gerard started walking quickly—and soon let out a yelp.
"Ow! Luke, keep your head still, will you? Your horns keep poking me!"
"Ah, I am truly sorry! I forgot I had horns…"
While surveying the facilities with Mana Sight and busily accumulating mana, Luke had accidentally stabbed Gerard's back with a horn growing at his side.
Gerard set Luke down and rubbed the poked spot, checking for blood—fortunately there seemed to be no bleeding.
"I am truly ashamed…"
"Haa, it's fine. You didn't mean to…"
He had cried out in momentary pain, but his anger had already melted away like snow at Luke's attitude.
After all, with that apologetic face, ears drooping, rubbing the very back she'd stabbed—what kind of demon could stay angry at that?
But that didn't mean he wanted to keep getting poked in the back.
He had no taste for pain.
Nor could he forbid a curious child from turning her head.
Even so, piggyback is a bit much… what to do…
"Ah, then let's do this."
Gerard proposed:
"…I'll give you a shoulder ride."
"That…"
However childlike he might look now, Luke was an adult.
He had lived so long he couldn't even remember the last time he'd ridden on someone's shoulders, and a shoulder ride was…
"Will that truly be all right?"
To refuse, though—surveying every corner of the facility with Mana Sight was far too important to Luke.