Chapter 4: The Boy Who Can Aim for the Truth of Magic
The winter when Will turned seven.
I was growing up steadily, absorbing the teachings of the gods.
On Water Dragon Day, I trained at Ronin’s sword dojo, on Fire Dragon Day I attended Miria’s healing class, and on Wood Dragon Day I studied magic with Vandal.
Which meant that today, I was learning magic from Father Vandal.
Among the gods, Vandal was known as the theoretical type, so he did not suddenly hand me a wooden sword like Ronin.
Nor did he casually brew herbs like Miria.
First came lectures, which meant I was made to thoroughly read history books and the like.
“Why are we reading history instead of magic books?”
One day, puzzled at being made to read something completely unrelated to magic, I asked.
“The foundation of magic lies in knowledge. To understand the vast system of magic, one must first possess fundamental knowledge.”
And then, Vandal continued.
“I want you to become intelligent. I want you to learn many things and become a mage who can see the bigger picture. That is why I begin with basic education.”
Vandal first taught me how to read and write, and after that, he taught me about the structure of this world and the history of this country.
“The Kingdom of Midnia is a historic great nation located at the center of the world. Because it stands at the world’s center, it has constantly been drawn into wars, yet this Table Mountain alone remains an inviolable territory among nations. Do you know why?”
“Because Father Vandal and the others are here?”
“Correct. The gods reside on Table Mountain. In exchange for not interfering with the lower world, the nations below also follow an unwritten rule not to interfere here.”
“Unwritten rule?”
“A difficult term for a child. Simply put, it is an agreed rule.”
“I know about rules. Father Ronin’s rule is to drink alcohol every day. Mother Miria’s rule is to apply a beauty face mask every day.”
“My rule is to read a book every day.”
“Yeah, I’ve been following your example, Father Vandal, and reading one book every day too.”
“That is impressive.”
Vandal attempted to hand me a picture book, but I made a troubled face.
“You read one picture book every day, do you not? Then you must be running out. I shall buy new ones the next time I go to town. For now, make do with this.”
“That’s not it. The books I read every day are the same as yours, Father Vandal.”
“What? The same as mine?”
I pointed to a thick book placed in Vandal’s study.
“I read this yesterday.”
The book I pointed to was the Book of the Flame Dragon, a grimoire written by the ancient mage Cal Rahab.
“Impossible. That book is written in the ancient magical language.”
“But you often speak the ancient magical language, Father Vandal.”
“That is merely muttering to myself. Do not tell me you deciphered those mutterings?”
“Yep!”
I nodded energetically.
“Unbelievable. Is this the truth?”
“It’s true. I’ll prove it. Tell me any page number.”
“Very well, page 211.”
“Page 211 contains a passage of flame magic written by Cal Rahab. It’s his original work. Let me see, I think the incantation script was ‘يجوبان، لهب جوبان، لهب جوبان، لهب’.”
Vandal hurriedly checked the Book of the Flame Dragon.
“…It is exactly as you say. Will, are you telling me you read and memorized this difficult text in a single day?”
“I didn’t really understand it, so I worked hard to memorize it. If I memorize it, I can read it anytime in my head, right?”
Vandal’s narrow eyes widened as he muttered, “Is this child a genius…?”
“…Unbelievable.”
Still muttering, Vandal watched as I moved to convince him further.
“There are still parts I don’t fully understand, but I learned to use magic from that book. Watch.”
With that, I opened the window and pointed outside.
I cast a spell toward a rock outside the house.
It was the spell Flame Storm.
The small flame released from my hand began to swirl as it approached the rock.
By the time it wrapped around the stone, it had become a raging storm of fire.
Flame Storm burned fiercely.
“What is this, Will? At your age, you can already wield Flame Storm?”
Vandal looked astonished, but I calmly continued using the spell.
Watching Will casually and joyfully wield magic, Vandal thought to himself.
This child is a genius incarnate.
Ordinarily, even at the earliest, children begin learning magic around the age of seven.
And even then, they start with the most basic spells like Ignite or Telekinesis, and perhaps learn Fireball around the age of ten.
Yet this child skipped all of that and at seven years old was already wielding Flame Storm.
Moreover, Vandal had not taught him this spell.
He had learned it on his own.
Even Vandal himself had not been such a gifted child.
Which meant this child was an even greater prodigy than Vandal, who had once been hailed as a once-in-several-centuries genius mage.
When the Almighty God Reus first brought this child, Vandal had honestly not cared much.
He had not been as excited as Ronin or Miria.
In fact, he remembered frowning at the noisy infant.
But now, after interacting with the human child named Will, his thoughts had changed.
Knowing that there existed a human child in this world with greater talent and potential than himself made the blood of the old tree within him boil.
“This child may be able to reach the truth of magic.”
He murmured softly.
Countless mages, sages of the highest intellect, had challenged the ultimate truth of magic and ultimately failed to reach it.
But this child might succeed.
Thinking so, Vandal’s cheeks relaxed into a smile.
It irked him slightly that he himself might not be the one to reach that truth, yet the jealousy he expected did not arise.
When he looked at Will’s carefree smile, such feelings vanished.
The thought of his own son surpassing him filled him only with joy.
“O countless sages who once challenged the truth of magic, hear my declaration. My son shall be the one to fulfill the long-cherished wish of all mages.”
With that silent cry in his heart, the God of Magic Vandal embraced his beloved son.