After the declaration in Sears Hall, in the family head’s quarters of the North Wing.
“Family Head, it’s Rowen.”
“Come in.”
The one who visited Family Head Blake Sears’s office was a young man with red long hair.
He was a 6th Circle mage who served as an instructor teaching magic in the East Wing.
“About the declaration, sir, are you certain this is alright? I think it would be quite difficult for someone with no foundation to create a Circle within a month and stably implement ‘Fire’.”
The ultimatum given to Cain.
Since it was an official declaration made in Sears Hall, even the family head would find it difficult to simply retract it.
To satisfy everyone with the standard of “producing results” that Blake Sears had mentioned, Cain Sears would need to not only create a Circle but also implement the basic magic ‘Fire’, maintain it stably, and even demonstrate coordinate movement.
However, while creating a Circle might be possible, mastering the handling of magic within a month seemed rather short.
“No, we can’t delay any longer. If I hadn’t judged it so, I wouldn’t have made the declaration in the first place. And Cain is…”
Blake Sears was about to add something but stopped himself.
“…It’s nothing. Is that all you came for?”
“No. I came to report changes in the movements of the snow mountain monsters recently.”
“Changes?”
Rowen brought up the main topic of his visit.
“Yes. First, the population of Snow Rabbits that mainly inhabit the northeast has been increasing recently, and their territory is gradually expanding as well.”
Snow Rabbits.
Despite their rabbit-like name, they were quite fierce monsters contrary to their appearance. Like small kangaroos, they had considerable aggression and close combat abilities, often causing disciples who confidently went hunting in their first trials to panic.
“Still, for Snow Rabbits, we can solve it by increasing the number of disciples assigned during trials or subjugation. But right now, the Snow Leopards in the northwest are a bit concerning.”
“Snow Leopards?”
Blake Sears, who had been indifferent to the Snow Rabbit story, frowned.
“Recently, adult Snow Leopards that used to dwell deep in the snow mountains have been frequently spotted outside their habitats.”
“Is that so…”
While regular Snow Leopards might be manageable, adult ones could cause terrible incidents in an instant if faced by disciples without much combat experience.
“For now, refrain from sending disciples to the northwest for subjugation. Even if you do send them, only send disciples of at least 3rd Circle or higher. And we’ll investigate that matter separately later.”
“Understood. Then.”
Rowen bowed and left the office.
“Phew…”
Left alone, Blake Sears stood up.
Looking through the window facing the courtyard of the East Wing, he watched the disciples practicing flame magic and muttered quietly.
“Cain… when will you change your mind?”
He had devoted his entire life to ice magic.
He had more talent than anyone, and worked as hard as his talent warranted in training.
As a result, he was able to reach the 9th Circle, known as the human limit, and became the first ice mage to earn the title of Grand Mage.
‘But in the end, I couldn’t reach the realm of the 10th Circle.’
After his research, he discovered a theory that could overcome the limitations of the 9th Circle, but by then it was already too late.
‘There wasn’t even a little space left in my heart for fire mana to settle.’
What he realized while watching the magic of flame-type Grand Mage Harman Flameforce, and became convinced of through research.
It was that the extreme stability that ice mages had pursued thus far, and filling all four Circle rooms of the heart completely with water mana, actually created limitations for ice magic in the end.
Sein Sears devised a method to accept both water mana and fire mana together to overcome that limitation.
‘Independent Circle.’
A theory that would allow the creation of two completely independent Circles within one heart that would not interfere with each other in the slightest.
However, to implement that theory with Sein Sears’s body, he would have to tear down everything he had built while reaching the 9th Circle and make his heart clean without any remaining mana and Circles.
In other words, he would have to abandon everything he had accumulated over decades.
‘If it weren’t for Desmond, I would have at least had a chance to try.’
Starting from the beginning didn’t matter in itself.
Sein was prepared to try anything just for the chance to gain new enlightenment and reach higher realms.
However, Sein Sears at that time was carrying too much on his shoulders to do so.
He had to stop Desmond who was right before his eyes.
‘But if it’s now.’
Desmond was dead, and his newly born body was still an empty shell that hadn’t even learned basic magic, with no foundation to tear down.
‘With this body, I can try.’
Cain quietly recalled in his mind the research he had done in his previous life.
Even now, every single line of all the base theories and formulas came to mind very clearly.
It was natural.
Since it was a theory that made the impossible possible according to the world, the danger level was correspondingly high. He had to memorize and understand everything without missing a single detail.
‘If I make even the slightest mistake, the two opposing mana attributes will collide in the heart and the heart will burst.’
Not only must the theory be perfect, but he must respond accurately without a single error to everything that occurs while handling it in real time.
Even Sein, who had reached the realm of Grand Mage, couldn’t guarantee one hundred percent success.
‘But I must succeed.’
Walking the same path as before would only lead to being blocked by the same wall.
At best, he would become another 9th Circle Grand Mage on the continent, receive moderate reverence, and end his life.
Cain didn’t want to waste his new life in such a manner.
‘Moreover, the Sears family now, from some point unknown, has been inheriting flame magic.’
Though it still felt uncomfortable thinking about it again, it was already done.
‘No matter how lacking Cain Sears was in talent for handling mana, he must have inherited some affinity for fire mana congenitally.’
If Cain Sears’s body’s affinity for fire mana combined with Sein Sears’s understanding of water mana.
‘It’s definitely worth trying.’
Anyway, as long as the Sears family currently used flame-type magic, it would be good for Cain to learn and use flame-type magic for the time being.
He would have to reclaim the family’s ice magic, but that wasn’t something Cain, who was on the verge of being expelled, could do immediately.
If he wanted to change the family, he had to prove it with skill, earn the right, and change it according to proper procedures.
Simply overturning things because he didn’t like them or solving everything with force alone was something that shouldn’t happen in the proud Sears family.
‘Though the disciples would call me old-fashioned again if they heard this…’
—Big brother, did you get rejected by the family head again? Honestly, couldn’t you just handle this kind of thing casually?
—Sigh, you know the family head’s personality too. He’s really a good person, but at times like this he’s a bit old-fashioned… Gasp! F-Family Head! How long have you been listening?
—Old-fashioned? What does that mean?
—Well, that is…
What he learned from conversations with disciples was that ‘old-fashioned’ was a new term that somewhat crudely referred to ‘a wise person who is thorough in everything and knows how to follow established rules.’
Anyway, it was an obvious fact that one needed power to have a voice.
First, he needed to gradually raise Cain’s status, who was currently at the lowest position among the direct lineage in the family.
To do that, it would be good to prioritize learning flame-type magic for the time being and use flame magic in front of family members.
After all, the reason for being expelled was also because he couldn’t use flame magic.
‘And as for ice magic, well, if I set my mind to it, learning it itself would be quick.’
Cain, who had memories of his previous life, could build Circles at a much faster pace than other ice mages if he wanted to.
However, Cain planned to learn ice magic more slowly but more solidly than in his previous life.
He would solidly build up everything he had missed while running the royal road backed by talent in his previous life, without missing anything in this life.
‘Doing so will play an important role in reaching the realm of the 10th Circle later.’
By directly using flame magic to absorb only its advantages and building ice magic solidly based on that, even the same Circle would show stronger power than anyone else’s casting.
Having organized his thoughts, Cain Sears straightened his posture.
‘First, I need to assess the current state of this new body.’
If his talent for handling mana was so lacking that he couldn’t even learn basic magic, then his mana circuits would probably be incorrectly opened in a haphazard manner from countless previous attempts, and mana residue would remain in every corner.
‘And there would be incomplete rings barely parasitizing the walls of the Circle room, too embarrassing to even call Circles. I need to deal with those first.’
After overhauling the mana circuits and Circle room, he would have to rest helplessly for about a week due to aftereffects among the remaining grace period, but it was a necessary process to surpass his previous life’s realm.
Cain quietly closed his eyes and concentrated his senses inward.
The mana circuits rooted deep beneath his skin.
And the heart that was both the starting point and destination of all those circuits. The Circle room.
“…”
How much time passed while he concentrated and thoroughly scanned his entire body?
Eventually, Cain opened his eyes and muttered with a perplexed expression.
“What the hell is this guy?”
Cain was surprised for two main reasons.
First was that the mana circuits Cain possessed were quite suitable for learning flame magic.
More precisely, they had a structure quite advantageous for manifesting flame magic.
This level could be considered to have inherited considerable advantages of direct bloodline.
Second was that, despite this, Cain’s mana circuits and the inside of his heart were too clean.
‘As if he never even attempted to learn flame magic.’
It was an incomprehensible result.
Sometimes there were disciples who had good physical conditions but struggled due to poor sensitivity to mana, and among them, many ruined their foundations by trying to solve things themselves.
So Cain had planned to tear down all the wrongly built foundations from before he regained his memories and prepare new foundations more neat and solid than any other mage.
However, now there was no need for that.
Since he didn’t need to forcibly overhaul the existing circuits, the burden on his body in future processes could be minimized.
‘The conditions are too good.’
A body born with talent for flame magic was possessed by Sein Sears, who had been a master of ice magic.
And with the optimal conditions he exactly wanted.
Could it get any better than this?
‘But why exactly?’
However, he couldn’t help but be concerned about one thing.
‘The conditions are so good that it’s rather unsettling. It would be nice if some memories returned at times like this.’
Cain sighed.
‘No. Rather than memories, I should focus on what’s right in front of me. Starting with learning magic and hunting Snow Leopards to avoid expulsion.’
Just as Cain made up his mind and was about to close his eyes and concentrate again.
Knock knock knock.
“…”
At the sound of knocking, Cain got up from his seat.
“Young master, are you there?”
“Come in.”
The one who opened the door and entered was.
“So you’re… Um. Nefti?”
“It’s Alice, young master. You seem to have received quite a shock.”
“…”
It seemed he really needed to regain his memories soon.
“Young master, are you really alright? You’ve never failed to recognize me before.”
“I’m sorry about that.”
“Even your way of speaking…”
“I’m sorry.”
“Young master…”
“Sorry. Sorry? I’m sorry?”
“…”
“Damn, this isn’t easy.”
Cain Sears muttered.
After hearing it, he finally recalled that the name of the maid in front of him, who had a red ribbon tied on her back, was Alice.
And he also recalled that Alice had been taking care of Cain since he was young, and that Alice cherished Cain dearly.
“Young master, please listen carefully.”
“I’m listening.”
At Cain’s answer, Alice’s large eyes became moist.
Just when he wondered if he had said something wrong again, Alice opened her mouth with a face that seemed to have made some firm resolution.
“Even if you are really expelled, I will definitely stay by your side.”
Alice pressed her lips tightly together.
“Even if I’m caught and punished, I’ll accept it gladly. But if young master is thrown out empty-handed like this…”
“Thrown out?”
“…I don’t even want to think about what happens after. Though I’m of humble birth, I will assist you to the extent my strength allows.”
Seeing her fumble with words, it seemed Alice also knew well about Cain’s desperate lack of talent and what would happen because of it.
Of course she would. Having watched from beside him since childhood, how well would she know?
If Cain Sears before regaining his memories were expelled in this state, he would likely encounter monsters or have even what little he possessed stolen by bandits and his life endangered before long.
‘There’s no way there would be guards or anything.’
The Sears family wasn’t lenient enough to provide guards for someone being expelled.
“The family head will formally assign guards, but they won’t be of much help.”
“…”
“Even if the guards perform their role properly, you’ll be left alone after completely leaving the territory. I have a plan, young master. There’s a faster route to the Alken Duchy, and if I move that way and secretly rendezvous with you…”
“That’s not necessary.”
Cain, who had been listening quietly thinking it might help him regain memories, raised his hand to stop Alice’s words.
“Young master…?”
Alice seemed not to have expected Cain to refuse, showing a flustered expression.
But that expression soon changed to one of emotion.
“Young master… You’re worried about me… You really are a warm person, young master. But my resolve won’t change. I swore to serve young master Cain until I die.”
“No, what I mean is.”
Cain sighed softly.
Explaining everything he was about to do one by one would not only be troublesome, but even if he explained, she wouldn’t believe it.
So the most effective thing was to state the conclusion first.
“I won’t be expelled, so there’s no need to use that shortcut or whatever.”
“Young master… No matter how much the family head cares, he really will expel you this time. You heard the declaration.”
“I don’t mean to rely on the family head’s mercy. I mean I’ll show results.”
At those words, Alice’s eyes widened.
Alice looked properly at Cain Sears, whom she had been serving, once again.
‘Young master just said he would show results…’
Cain Sears, who had been avoiding others’ gazes until now, had said with his own mouth that he would produce results.
‘Come to think of it, young master’s eyes…’
Are different.
At first, she thought it was just because he was shocked by the expulsion declaration.
‘…Deep.’
The vivid but anxious look in his eyes now seemed as deep as the ocean. So deep that she couldn’t even guess its depth.
Gulp.
‘Was young master this kind of person?’
His way of speaking had also suddenly become calm and measured.
‘It’s not just his speech. His entire atmosphere has changed.’
What Cain had just said. If the Cain that Alice knew before had said it, even if he had said exactly the same thing word for word, it wouldn’t have given this feeling.
‘Has there finally been some change in his state of mind?’
Cain continued speaking, paying no attention to Alice’s surprised expression.
“I was actually preparing to train before you came. I’ll be having personal time, so don’t disturb me.”
Alice quickly composed her surprised expression and bowed her head.
“Understood. Then I’ll tidy up the room until you return from the training room.”
At those words, Cain paused for a moment, but soon nodded.
“Alright. I’m counting on you.”
“Young master.”
“What is it?”
“Are you… planning to keep speaking that way?”
“…Uh.”
“Understood.”
