Book 1 Chapter 3
**Episode 2**
“Family?”
I remember Rista asking a strange question during our journey to the South.
“Yeah, Lin, have you ever thought about wanting a family?”
“No. I don’t even know the face of the mother who gave birth to me.”
I grew up in the slums of the North.
If the dean of the Osarius School, who was passing by, hadn’t seen my magical talent and taken me in, I would have lived and died as a street orphan.
“So I don’t know what a family is. And since I don’t know what it is, I have no interest in it.”
“Oh, you poor thing….”
Then the shamaness Fride playfully hugged the boy tightly, letting out a puff of cigarette smoke. He resisted the embarrassment and retorted.
“Even if I had a family… I wouldn’t know how to treat them. So I don’t need one.”
“It’s not difficult, Lin.”
On Rista’s face, who heard that empty murmur, a flower fresher than spring bloomed.
“Just cherish them dearly. Lin is a kind child, so you’ll do well.”
Young master.
Young master, it’s morning….
As my vision opened with a polite whisper, the scenery of nostalgic memories closed.
“Mmm…”
The boy sat up in bed and stretched.
Deep and brilliant sunlight.
It was morning, a spring melody of birds chirping.
“Then, Young Master Rain, I will prepare breakfast for you.”
The boy yawned languidly, then looked into the mirror and tidied his clothes.
Glossy black hair and red eyes more beautiful than rubies.
A body with an elegant presence.
His dignified features showed no trace of the rusticness or crude lack of refinement characteristic of someone who grew up in the slums.
To cut a long story short, the boy had reincarnated.
It was only twenty days ago that the naive and blunt nine-year-old child regained memories from 300 years ago.
His reincarnated identity was none other than the eldest son of the Ludwig Count Palatine family, one of the five magic noble families representing the Empire.
The Ludwig family is a prestigious household tracing its origins to Ryuken Ludwig, the 5th Great Mage, who could be considered the boy’s great predecessor.
Unlike his previous life as a penniless orphan, he was born into a harmonious and affluent family, so the boy had to make constant efforts to adapt to his changed daily life.
“Good morning, Young Master.”
“Oh my. Rain, you’re already up. How commendable! Go on, call your father. He’ll be happy if you come.”
“Yes.”
Father was in the lord’s study.
It was a cluttered room with luxurious furniture and countless documents.
“Rain, did you not sleep well? You don’t look good.”
Rain, Rain Ludwig.
The proud eldest son of Count Palatine Ludwig.
“Is it… the travel fatigue still hasn’t worn off?”
His father, Kayburn Ludwig, placed his hand on the boy’s forehead to check his temperature. Suddenly, he remembered the days when Rista used to do similar things for him.
“They said breakfast is ready, and for you to come down.”
“Haha, did my son personally come for that? Thank you, but go ahead and eat first.”
“Why?”
Father hugged the boy, rubbed his beard against his face, and led him to the desk in the lord’s study.
The boy saw it.
A large drawing paper spread on the tabletop, where spring sunlight slanted in. Three layers of magic circles were drawn on that paper.
“Magic?”
“Yes, the theory presentation is next week. Eating something makes your head hazy, doesn’t it? I’m trying to exert my maximum effort while my mind is clear in the morning.”
The boy’s eyes quickly and accurately scanned the information of the magic circle drawn on the paper.
The form of the magic circle was three squares. The inscribed runes were Ju (周), Da (茶), Go (庫).
Since it’s a square, it’s Earth-attribute magic.
As indicated by the three numbers in the magic circle and the three runes, it’s 3-star magic.
It’s the realm of high-level magic that even a genius can barely reach.
‘He’s stuck there and there.’
But the boy was a great mage.
The problems were visible at a glance.
“Shall I help you?”
“Why, are you planning to cheer me on?”
“No. I mean, I’ll help you.”
“Of course, Rain’s cheer is welcome. But if you did that, only Dad would get scolded by Mom. Now, go eat your breakfast.”
No, I’m really going to help.
Before Kayburn could stop him, the boy climbed onto the desk and took a quill pen in his hand.
‘Magic is.’
First, determining the attribute with shapes and the nature with runes.
‘Interpreting natural laws with mathematical equations, distorting and transforming them.’
The part where Kayburn was stuck was, naturally, what could be called the final stage…
‘The mathematical calculation part.’
The mathematical equation that was densely filling the inside of the magic circle was abruptly cut off at a certain point.
“The rune Go (庫) makes the mathematical equation more complex and clashes with the rune Da (茶). So it’s better to change it to Gu (丘).”
“…?”
“Then, with the establishment of Imperial Mathematical Formula 41-2, the answer comes quickly. Like this.”
The boy finished writing on the drawing paper with the quill pen and showed a smile.
No, how was I supposed to smile?
Amusingly, he couldn’t remember how to smile then, so he had to twitch the corners of his mouth upwards with both hands.
“This… a method like this…?”
Kayburn, who had been at a loss due to his son’s mischief, his eyes widened, and he alternately looked at the drawing paper and his son’s face.
‘How, how could this be…?’
It was a difficult problem that even the Empire’s most capable scholars dared not find a solution for. It was a high-level magic that had been lost about 200 years ago.
If this magic could be re-established, many would receive miraculous help from natural disasters like floods and landslides.
But Rain is only nine years old. At an age where he can barely use basic magic, how could he possibly…?
“Can we eat breakfast together now?”
The boy asked.
Father blankly raised his head, then wildly stroked his son’s hair and laughed.
“Yes, let’s go eat together.”
* * *
The boy’s family line was not complicated.
He had parents above him and a six-year-old younger sister below him.
The child peeking her head out from beyond the bookshelf, looking at the boy, was that very sister.
Hair as fine as ebony and red eyes.
A pretty girl, who, just like Rain, was born inheriting the physical traits of the Ludwig family.
“…?”
But if their eyes met, she would run away.
It was understandable.
Because in the boy’s memories, Rain had not been kind to his younger sister.
Rather than being unkind, he had been indifferent to the world from the start.
Was it because of the solitude etched into his soul?
Perhaps the pain of being born in an era where all his comrades had died and become legends remained in his spirit, causing him to live a life filled with emptiness.
“….”
As she kept running away, he tried to ignore her and read a book, but a voice kept bothering him.
– Cherish them dearly.
How, when she keeps running away like that?
I’m busy with my own things.
This body’s magic power is a mess, and its stamina is lacking. Even if I know how to use magic, it’s all for nothing if I don’t have mana.
– Lin is a kind child, so you’ll do well. I believe that.
The boy let out a deep sigh.
And when his eyes met his sister’s again, he gestured.
“Come here. Shall I teach you something? Or shall I play with you?”
His younger sister, Seri Ludwig, seemed flustered by the question. Because of that, she mumbled for a long time, then quickly ran away.
But after a moment, she reappeared and held out a book to Rain with both hands.
“『Basic Formulas of 1-Star Magic』… You’re six years old and already studying something like this?”
Seri nodded her head vigorously.
Then she started dancing joyfully. She had an expression of being incredibly excited that she could talk to her older brother.
– Come here, Lin.
At that moment, a nostalgic memory briefly washed over the world before his eyes, making it clear.
Every time he encountered a beautiful landscape.
Every time he faced vast nature, a brilliant world, Rista would sit Lin on his lap and teach him various things.
– Lin, do you know what the language of this flower is?
– Lin, do you know the story behind that cliff?
Lin grumbled, saying he was being treated like a child… but in fact, he loved those moments more than anything. Therefore, he sat Seri on his lap.
“What don’t you know?”
“Th-this one!”
“You don’t know it right from the very beginning…”
“Uh-huh!”
“Alright. Here, I’ll explain it.”
How should I talk about the vast world of magic?
“Have you ever played house-building?”
“Yes-!”
“A thatched house, a brick house… The materials differ depending on what kind of house you build, right? The magic circle plays that role.”
Magic circle.
The form of the magic circle determines the attribute of the magic.
“If you draw a triangle like this, it’s a fire attribute, and a sector is a wind attribute. So the magic written here is wind attribute magic.”
“Wi, Wind!”
“The next step is runes. Runes determine the nature of the magic.”
Runes are spiritual words bestowed upon magic, ancient words with different meanings.
In the case of Yul (律), it’s restraint\/binding.
In the case of Ho (扈), it’s scattering.
For example, if you inscribe the rune Yul into a triangular magic circle, it becomes fire-attribute binding magic.
“Now, you just need to solve the problem using mathematical formulas here.”
“Ma-the-”
“No, it’s ‘su-hak’ (math).”
“What’s ‘su-hak’?”
“….”
“…?”
“In the case of Yul (律), it requires a quadratic equation… Never mind, let’s just start with addition and subtraction.”
The maids and butlers exchanged hushed smiles as they secretly watched the lovely scene.
“Young Master Rain has changed.”
“Indeed. Before, he wouldn’t even care if Lady Seri cried next to him…”
“They say his eyes seem to have regained their spark after he visited the square.”
When the boy’s parents came to the study, the boy and girl, unable to fight off the sleepiness of their young age, were lying side-by-side on the desk, dozing.
“Oh my…”
The boy’s mother, Brim, wiped away tears and covered her mouth.
“Darling, I want to capture this scene in a painting.”
“They’ll probably wake up by the time the painter arrives. And you know Seri is terribly shy with strangers.”
“Still…”
Kayburn carefully approached and examined the items spread out on the tabletop. A basic magic book, a quill pen, clumsy magic circles scrawled on drawing paper…
“Yes, he was teaching his sister.”
Kayburn smiled gently and placed his hand on the boy’s head. His small, soft hair slipped through his fingers and fluttered in the spring breeze.
“After visiting the square, Rain seems like a completely different person.”
“His speech has also become more mature. Could he perhaps be possessed by the Abyss?”
“Abyss, my foot. They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, don’t they? I’ve had a similar experience myself.”
To the top graduate of Delhiten, the foremost magic university, the opportunity to pay respects to the Great Mage Lin’s sacred body has been granted since ancient times.
“It was 14 years ago that I received that opportunity and paid my respects to Lord Lin.”
“Yes, it was.”
“It was embarrassing. That person reached 5-star in an era of war, and here I was, boasting as a mere 3-star mage.”
A mage of Atlas (3-star) rank is also a genius who will leave their name in history. Currently, there are only about 150 such mages in the entire Empire.
“Of course, I didn’t become a 4-star mage from that meeting. But it certainly was a major turning point. Isn’t Rain the same?”
“Is Lord Lin’s body really frozen?”
“Of course. It didn’t look like a corpse at all. To think how skillfully he must have used freezing magic. His eighteen-year-old appearance remains vivid.”
“Tell me more.”
“Tell more? There’s nothing more to tell even if I wanted to.”
Kayburn, who had been shaking his head with a bitter smile, suddenly touched his chin with an “Ah.”
“Now that I think about it, there was mana left behind by the hero Rista in the middle of the ice.”
“Really?”
“Even the Dragonkin priests confirmed it. It seemed like mana that only Rista or Lord Lin himself could awaken, and it must be a letter.”
Rista’s mana was whispering like this:
To you, who will one day awaken, who promised that it would certainly be so, I leave this letter of soul here. To you, who is coming here from somewhere far away.
Kayburn, who had been reminiscing about that day’s memory with a bitter smile, raised an eyebrow.
“Ah, come to think of it… I had something to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“Rain seems like a genius. Not just a simple genius, but perhaps… he might reach the realm of a sage.”
Kayburn told her about Rain solving the magic circle in the morning. Something he had struggled with for a year but couldn’t solve, Rain did in an instant.
“Ah! So that’s why you were able to come to the breakfast table?”
“That’s right. So, although it feels a bit early, I’m thinking of starting to teach Rain the family-inherited magic (家傳魔法).”
The Ludwig family has been called the ‘Stealing Mages’ since ancient times.
Because when one’s level reaches its peak, they awaken a Magic Eye (魔眼), and this eye was famous for its ability to read and steal all magic.
That was the Ludwig family’s inherited magic, also known as a bloodline limit that only those who inherited the family’s blood could use.
“Of course, I don’t know how much I can teach him…”
“Is it that much?”
“It is.”
“Then what will you do?”
“We’ll think about future matters when the time comes. For now, I’ll just do my best to teach him.”
Kayburn gently stroked the boy’s head and smiled freshly once more.
“Since he’s such a lovable son, as a parent, I want to do everything I can for him.”