Chapter 5

Two days later, Kanata was summoned to Guriare much earlier than he had expected. The other battlefield scavenger children, who were called in daily, looked at him with pity, but Kanata couldn't stop grinning. The thought of learning about magic made the loss of break time seem insignificant.

Halfway up the stairs to Guriare's room, Kanata was so engrossed in fantasizing about becoming a magician that he almost tripped. He was that elated.

"Alright, show me your finger. I need to cut it a little."

"Wh-What!? Why!?"

As soon as he entered the room, the sound of a sword being drawn silently made Kanata's blood run cold. He had come to learn about magic control, but now a skilled swordsman was in front of him, about to cut off his finger. If he hadn't just used the toilet, he would have wet his pants.

"Why... didn't you say you would teach me about magic control?"

"That's exactly what I said, Deputy Guriare! Why do you need to cut off my finger!?"

"Huh? I'm not going to cut it off, I need blood. Blood is necessary."

Guriare's tone made it sound as if Kanata was the one being unreasonable, which made Kanata tremble. But driven by his desire to learn about magic, Kanata hesitantly extended his index finger.

"Good boy."

Guriare gently held Kanata's finger and pointed the sword's tip at it. Kanata squeezed his eyes shut. Whether they were open or closed, the fear was the same. The sword touched his finger with a slight prick, and then Kanata's finger was released.

"Open your eyes, Kanata. I said I would train you."

"Huh...?"

When Kanata opened his eyes, he saw a small cut on his index finger, from which blood was slowly dripping. It was a smaller wound than he had expected, even smaller than the injuries he usually got from scavenging battlefields.

"This is the method I used. The nobles might have more efficient ways, but I don't know them."

"Um, what do I do with this?"

"Imagine that the blood flowing out is magic."

"Huh?"

Suddenly being told this, Kanata could only think of the blood as blood. Having been close to battlefields, he found it hard to imagine it as magic.

"I learned to feel the magic flowing inside me by using blood as a substitute. Blood is the best representation of something flowing inside your body. The blood will eventually clot and stop, but if you can imagine it, the magic won't stop. Feeling the magic is the first step."

"Imagine... isn't there a better way...?"

Kanata couldn't help but complain, as this was different from what he had expected. He had hoped to practice what was written in magic books or use magical artifacts. Guriare looked at him with a slightly surprised expression.

"You're unusual. I thought you were a well-behaved child... but it seems you've become a bit more assertive now that you know you can learn magic?"

"Ah... I'm sorry..."

Kanata bowed his head, realizing he had been out of line. Guriare was the deputy, a high-ranking member of the Carjas mercenary group. It was wrong to speak so boldly to someone who was teaching him, a mere battlefield scavenger. Scavengers were the laborers of the mercenary group, below the mercenaries, and he couldn't afford to be disrespectful just because he was a child.

"It's fine. I'm relieved to see you have some ambition. You were always well-behaved and diligent, but you were too quiet, especially outside of your scavenging duties. It's good to see some desire. A child who has lost their dreams is the saddest sight."

"Um... thank you?"

Kanata was relieved that he wasn't scolded. At the same time, he couldn't help but wonder what Guriare meant by being "too quiet."

(If you don't want to die, isn't it natural to be quiet...?)

He was only alive because the mercenary group had taken him in. His values were different from Guriare's.

"Anyway, if you can't do this, you won't get anywhere. It's difficult to become a magician, let alone a magic swordsman like us."

"Is it harder to be a magician?"

"Since you only need magic, it's a bit easier to be a magic swordsman, but the difficulty of controlling magic is about the same. We don't need to go into details now."

Indeed, it was unnecessary to explain such things to Kanata, who couldn't even sense magic yet. He hadn't even reached the starting line.

"Hmph...!"

Kanata closed his eyes and focused on his fingertip. The pain from the small cut, the flow of blood on his finger. He tried to imagine it as the flow of magic, as if he were releasing magic from his fingertip.

The two of them were silent. The noise of the town outside the window and the laughter of the other battlefield scavenger children on the lower floor could be heard faintly. Kanata had never focused on his finger like this before. Doubts and strange thoughts raced through his mind as he tried to concentrate.

"Can't do it?"

"Huh..."

Kanata opened his eyes, realizing that half of the break time had passed. The cut on his finger had already stopped bleeding. He looked disappointed and slumped his shoulders.

"Why are you so disappointed? You're not a genius noble child... it's not something you can do right away. We didn't manage it immediately either."

"R-Really...?"

"It's hard to imagine something just because you're told to. If you could do it in a day, I would be surprised."

Guriare squatted down to meet Kanata's eyes and gently wrapped a bandage around his injured finger.

"That's enough for today. Try to be more aware of magic in your daily life. Don't hurt yourself; it could cause problems. We'll only do this practice when I'm here."

"Eh, but...?"

"In return, I'll give you some homework to do when I'm not around."

"Homework...?"

"This practice of sensing magic is a step towards understanding the magic you used before... but why do you want to be able to use magic?"

"Huh..."

"Thinking about such things will help you become more aware... try to think about it."

With this strange homework, Kanata left the room.

"Ha..."

He sighed deeply in front of the door and slowly descended the stairs of the inn. He wasn't a genius, just a normal person. He had perhaps harbored a faint hope that he might be a prodigious young magician, but that was just a fleeting dream. The elation he had felt before entering the room had faded, and he was back to reality.

Yes... he wasn't a genius. It would take a little more time for him to realize that he was not just different, but something else entirely.