Book 13 Chapter 2

`Episode 1: Prologue

I was thirteen when I was chosen to be the mage of the Hero's Party.

Becoming an apprentice mage, that is, learning magic for the first time, happened when I was roughly eight years old.

I use the word "roughly" because I don't know my exact age. At that time, I only knew two things for sure.

One was that I was an orphan.

I didn't know my parents' names or faces.

Even mere beasts have mothers who care for them until they grow up, but I had none.

The other was the combination of numbers.

I didn't know how it happened myself. It just, from the time I could think, basic arithmetic came naturally to my mind.

Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division.

At the time, I didn't know that this talent for interpreting all creation with mathematics was the quality of a great mage. It was merely a means to survive each day.

"Thank you for the meal. How much is it?"

"Haha, let's see… Originally, a whole roasted turkey is 25 bronze coins, but you two only ordered one leg each, so that's 10 coins. And you each had a bowl of duck soup at 2 coins each, so… that would be 16 bronze coins."

In this dirty world, numbers were power. Those who clicked abacus beads all used numbers to deceive others and profit.

Just like now, in this very situation.

Even at this moment, as a traveling woman with a child finishes her meal and is about to pay.

They are saying 2+2=5.

How can 2+2 be 5?

That 2+2 is 4 is a truth, but in this world, those who claim to know numbers would twist the result to 5, 6, 7… whatever they desired.

"How is that 16 coins?"

My way of survival was to pinpoint the correct numbers for those about to be swindled and receive a small token of gratitude.

"Are you stupid or do you not know how to use an abacus? You can't even do such a simple calculation."

"…?!"

"You made it sound complicated by bringing up the total cost of the turkey, but a turkey leg is 5 coins, and there are two, so that's 10 coins. Two bowls of soup are 4 coins. It's just 14 coins."

Of course, those who twist numbers as they please, instead of being grateful when their ignorance is pointed out, get angry.

"You, you stinking orphan brat… Oh, dear customer, I apologize, it seems I miscalculated with the abacus. Hey, calculate these customers' bill! It's 14 bronze coins. And you, you punk, come here."

As I was dragged into the alley by my ear, I didn't even feel miserable.

"How dare you call an adult stupid? I should cripple a guy like you."

Now, these situations aren't even funny anymore. Nothing changes no matter how much I laugh.

Now, I don't cry either.

No matter how much I cried, and cried again, and kept crying and crying and crying, nothing ever changed.

"If you're going to kill me, just kill me."

Why am I living?

It'll always be the same life. Even if I continue to live this miserable, wretched, painful life, nothing will change.

Then, perhaps, dying would be better…

"I was going to overlook your audacious attempt at fraud, assuming it was due to poverty, but I will not forgive you for laying a hand on that child."

That's just what I thought. Until that day, before I saw the vortex of light unfold before my eyes in a warm glow.

The light of magic (魔法).

The mischief of nature, called calamity or disaster, that is, 'magic' (魔), clearly and vividly interpreted by 'law' (法)… that is, mathematics, clarifying it into light.

That light existed.

Upon a woman's palm, that light danced.

"M-m-mage? …P-please spare me, my lady! I-it's true, I just made a mistake in the calculation, I just, really just made a mistake!"

"Is that so? Then that child merely corrected your mistake, so instead of hitting him, you should thank him, shouldn't you?"

"O-of course, my lady! Th-thank you, I will never forget this kindness. Th-then, Mage-nim, I, I'll be going now…"

Such a light exists in this world…

Such a clear, warm, brilliant light existed…

I just gazed at the lingering glow of that light, entranced.

"Child, you are very good at math. Children your age don't even know two plus two."

A mage (魔法師).

Those beings, revered by all, whose name was spoken with awe, even an orphan like me knew about them.

Mathematicians who interpret the providence of the world through mathematical equations, transforming, manipulating, or newly composing them to manifest miracles.

"Are you hungry?"

"Not really…"

"I heard your stomach growling? This is a meat pie I just bought from that shop. The owner may have no conscience, but they have skill."

In my life, I had never received anything from anyone. I thought even the light of creation had given me nothing.

For others, it was an obvious daily routine.

For others, even the simple thing of having a name, which was so obvious. Even dogs had names, after all.

"Eat slowly, slowly. I won't take it away. What's your name?"

"I don't… have a name."

As I took the meat pie and devoured it ravenously, for some reason, tears that I thought I would never shed again in my life flowed repeatedly.

I have nothing…

I have nothing at all…

What I received then was not just simple food, for me, who had never received anything until then. It was the light of goodwill, the first I had ever received in my life.

"Look at the sky."

That day, the light that came to me.

At that time, the light that shone into my life.

"Isn't the moonlight beautiful? That moon is shining for you. Not just the moonlight. All the suns and moons in the sky are shining for you. And that food, it tastes good just for you."

"What…?"

"Light and color, taste, fragrance… the reason they can all be so diverse is because the possibilities of this world are infinite. And in this world of infinite possibilities, your possibilities are also infinite. So, you must not say that you have nothing."

At that time, amidst the long-unfelt trembling of my heart… I thought the light of magic shook my soul with a distant thrill.

I thought magic was light.

Much later, when I became a Grand Mage of Aquizard (5-star) rank and looked back… I realized that wasn't it. Not at all, not at all.

"Come, follow me. This is not where you belong. I will show you your potential."

That day, the light that found me…

The light that shone upon me, who was sobbing painfully in the darkness…

It was you… Dean Atlante.

"You're going to become an apprentice mage."