Chapter 61
Plop!
As Aslan felt the cold water of the lake seep into his body…
Just moments ago, he had been wading through the fiery wall, and now, as the heat began to dissipate, he finally let out a sigh of relief. But then, he heard bang from outside.
Kraush was buying time against Adolf.
Aslan couldn’t quite grasp why he was going to such lengths for him.
Kraush had mentioned before that he had the skill to steal the gem of the Spirit King. If that was true, then he had already achieved his goal.
Yet, despite having a way to escape, Kraush chose to confront Adolf directly.
Adolf, being of Valheim’s direct bloodline, would have preferred not to create a stir, so Kraush likely knew that Adolf wouldn’t go too hard on him.
From Kraush’s perspective, he had no need to take the risk of facing Adolf head-on.
‘Could it be…’
Was it because of Lirina?
Kraush seemed rather close to Lirina when they were talking.
After all, he first came to meet Aslan through her, so there might have been something more than just friendship there.
‘That’s something to ponder later.’
Aslan didn’t know why Kraush was helping him this much.
All he knew was that he was grateful enough to feel like he owed him a lifelong debt.
What he needed to focus on right now was not to waste this favor and to achieve his goal.
Aslan hurriedly took out the Spirit King’s egg and Dorothy’s essence from his pocket.
He slowly pushed Dorothy’s essence into the Spirit King’s egg under the water.
Fwoosh!
At that moment, the Spirit King’s egg, having swallowed Dorothy’s essence, started to emit a dazzling light.
Seeing this, Aslan cradled the Spirit King’s egg tightly.
‘Dorothy.’
Despite being the sole direct descendant of the Igrit family due to the curse of the Spirit King, he had endured countless hardships in the past.
Aslan sensed the fatigue creeping deeper into him.
His mother, Agatha, grew sharper and harsher by the day, while his grandfather, Adolf, never acknowledged him for even a moment.
No matter what effort he put forth, Adolf never looked back at him.
Without being able to learn Igrit’s fire magic, he was forever treated as an outsider to the family.
Amidst the pressure from such a family, Aslan’s insides rotted away.
Eventually, he succumbed to mental exhaustion.
He felt meaningless more than ever, not just in his studies of magic but in life overall.
“Aslan! What kind of attitude is that?!”
His mother’s booming voice echoed in his ears.
It was only natural, seeing as he had made no progress in his studies.
Yet even amidst her scolding, Aslan’s mind remained blank.
The face of his once-feared mother now felt insignificant to him.
Perhaps he even felt a twinge of pity for her.
Aslan knew all too well why his once-kind mother had turned into this person.
“Aslan, how about taking a little walk for a change?”
Seeing Aslan like this, Lirina asked with concern.
Since she was his dedicated maid who always did her best for him, Aslan, despite his exhausted heart, stood up and started moving sluggishly.
As he passed through areas where the lush green trees were visible, a figure caught his eye.
A girl with translucent, pale blue hair and eyes like crystals.
She had a face so beautiful it looked sculpted from ice, and she was sitting in the grass, engrossed in something.
Aslan paused, captivated by the girl’s striking presence.
What drew his gaze even more was the spectacle occurring in her hands.
Naturally, it was because the girl was using magic.
And, unfortunately, it was a rather trivial magic creating tiny ice sculptures.
Crack!
“Ah!”
At that moment, the tiny sculpture she had crafted crumbled due to a magic mishap.
The disappointment etched on her face was so apparent, it involuntarily drew a chuckle from Aslan.
“Hehe.”
“Huh?”
The sound of his laughter reached her ears, causing Aslan to blush and cough awkwardly.
Laughing at someone else’s magical failure was rather rude after all.
Noticing his laugh, the girl’s expression morphed into a slight pout.
“Who are you to laugh at my magic?”
“Ah, it’s not that, I just… um, was just surprised by the result.”
Aslan felt a bit guilty and scratched his head as he approached her.
“Do you want a hand with that?”
“Are you a mage?”
“Sort of.”
Although he couldn’t use fire magic, Aslan did know some other types of magic.
So, he used the ice manipulation magic the girl had attempted to create a small horse statue.
Her eyes widened in astonishment when she saw it.
“Wow, you’re really good at magic! I keep failing!”
“It’s nothing special.”
“So I’m someone who can’t even do that?”
She seemed quite negative about her abilities.
“I don’t think there’s a significant difference between my magic and yours. What could be wrong?”
In the meantime, the girl gazed at the miniature horse statue, deep in thought about her magic.
It was basic magic, yet it seemed like she made a few mistakes in the incantation part.
It looked like she didn’t even realize where she went wrong.
“…Want me to teach you?”
Feeling awkward about having laughed, Aslan offered shyly, and her eyes sparkled.
“Really? Then can you teach me this and this as well?”
In an instant, she retrieved a book from her bag like she had been waiting for this moment.
To Aslan’s surprise, she was a first-year student at the Red Tower Academy.
Despite attending the academy, she was an F-student with no talent for magic at all.
But she loved magic and was overflowing with enthusiasm—her name was Dorothy.
Thus began their first encounter.
After that, Aslan ended up meeting Dorothy every day by chance.
She would bring him food from a place she often visited and share it with him in exchange for magic lessons.
It was absurd that she, the one who fed the direct descendant of the Igrit family, was treated like this, yet somehow, Aslan didn’t feel bad about it.
He thought it was better to do something than nothing at all.
“Oh, I see! This part of the incantation was wrong!”
“That wasn’t the only mistake. These parts were wrong too.”
“Who messed this up?”
“Well, that would be you, Dorothy.”
Dorothy turned out to be quite the unique failure student.
Normally, a talentless student would be bored with everything.
Even if they tried hard, they wouldn’t see results, so who would keep pushing?
She’d even been bullied in the academy for being a failure student.
For a mage, not being able to wield magic meant a lack of existence value.
But Dorothy loved magic.
She would bring new magic ideas to Aslan for discussion, and she genuinely enjoyed it.
Aslan found himself lost in thought as he watched her.
Here he was, unable to learn even fire magic and treated like a nobody in Igrit.
Yet this girl, who couldn’t wield magic at all, sincerely loved it.
That realization often led Aslan to reflect.
What was his reason for studying magic anyway?
One day, while Aslan was bedridden with a fever, he found himself in a daze.
As he had often gone out in the mornings lately, it was no surprise he got sick.
Aslan lay there with his eyes closed.
He had taken medicine, but he felt like his body was on fire.
It was painful.
He longed for something refreshing.
And above all, it was frustrating to feel so powerless doing nothing.
It felt like life was reminding him just how powerless he truly was.
“Dorothy…”
She must be waiting for him.
Was it because it had become part of his routine by now?
While thinking of Dorothy, Aslan couldn’t help but smile apologetically.
He had promised to meet her for magic lessons every day at this time.
Now that he couldn’t keep that promise, he wondered if he’d get to see her again.
“Why am I only thinking negatively?”
Aslan thought to himself as he drifted into unconsciousness.
Suddenly, a cool sensation pressed against his forehead.
As his eyes fluttered open, he saw Dorothy’s translucent hair.
He wondered how she managed to enter his room, but Dorothy was diligently wrapping ice she created with her magic in a handkerchief to cool his fever.
“D-Dorothy?”
“Oh, Aslan, does that feel nice?”
“It’s amazing! I feel like it might freeze to my forehead!”
As Aslan replied, struggling to speak due to the heat, Dorothy puffed her small chest proudly.
“That’s my magic! What do you think? Isn’t it impressive? My magic can help someone!”
As he looked at her, Aslan couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.
“Still a long way to go!”
At his playful remark, Dorothy scrunched her nose in annoyance.
Still, she rested her arms on Aslan’s bedside and grinned brightly.
“Then you have to hurry up and get better! I understand magic the best when I learn from Aslan!”
Though the ice magic on his forehead was cold, somehow, it felt the warmest of all.
That day, he realized something.
Magic can indeed warm others, depending on who wields it.
“My magic… ”
He had thought it existed just to survive within the Igrit family.
But the essence of magic wasn’t rooted in that false pretense.
Aslan felt like he had received profound enlightenment after all this.
And perhaps he’d be able to like magic again, even just a little.
Days later, when Aslan’s fever finally broke, he learned that Dorothy had come by with Lirina.
“Aslan! When your girlfriend is sick, being by her side makes her recover faster!”
What a ridiculous misunderstanding that was.
Aslan tried to hide his blush as he scolded Lirina.
Thanks to that, Lirina had to kneel with her arms raised high for a while, serving punishment.
From that day onwards, Dorothy would often visit Aslan’s house.
She gained entry through Lirina and would knock on Aslan’s window to learn magic from him.
“Why do you want to learn magic, Dorothy?”
One day, Aslan asked her.
Today, she was using the tiniest bit of mana to practice wind magic.
She looked back at him surprised.
“Huh? Because it’s fun!”
Fun.
The simple nature of her answer rendered Aslan speechless.
Dorothy’s eyes shone with such innocent brightness.
She genuinely delighted in the art of magic.
That was an astonishing revelation for Aslan, who had been mentally drained by magic.
“What about you, Aslan? Why do you study magic?”
Dorothy countered with a question of her own.
Why did he study magic?
“Well… I was born into a prestigious magical family.”
Aslan had never pondered why he had to learn magic.
He was part of the Igrit family, after all.
So, he learned magic.
No, he had to learn magic.
“Nah, that’s not it. Honestly, magic is difficult and a hassle to learn. Kids don’t want to deal with hard and tough things. Even if the adults tell them to, in a kid’s world, they are the center. If they don’t want to do it, they just won’t.”
With that, Dorothy laughed cheerfully, looking at Aslan.
Her laughter was as beautiful as ice flowers sculpted under the moonlight.
“I bet you enjoyed learning magic too, huh?”
Aslan blinked in surprise.
He had totally grown weary of magic long ago.
But enjoy it, she said?
“Was there ever a time I enjoyed learning magic?”
Aslan watched Dorothy run around gleefully after successfully casting a basic wind spell.
Her happiness sparked childhood memories in him.
“Well done, Aslan! That’s exactly the magic you can demonstrate! And from now on, it’ll bring light into your life!”
The day he finally succeeded in magic, his mother had lifted him into her arms and smiled warmly at him.
It was often said that praise from parents significantly contributed to a child’s initial interest in achievements.
Agatha taught him new magic every single day, showing it off in front of him.
A magnificent bird of fire soaring through the sky, a rock beetle scuttling along the ground, the sound of flutes played by rustling grass, and a ball made from soft, flowing water.
Every single magic his mother displayed was enjoyable and beautiful.
Each piece of magic was a gift for Aslan, and that led him to cherish it.
Aslan surely remembered the joy of magic back then.
He loved magic more than anyone else.
Aslan lifted his head.
Directly in front of him was Dorothy, cheerfully chasing the paper airplane he had launched using wind magic.
An uncontrollable grin spread across his face.
He had forgotten the fact that he once truly adored magic, even amid the bitterness and hatred he had felt toward it.
“Dorothy!”
Seeing the girl call his name, Aslan stood up.
And in that moment, he was rekindling his joy for magic.
All because of the girl named Dorothy.
The breeze began to blow.
The wind generated from the magic Aslan cast lifted Dorothy’s paper airplane even higher into the sky.
A solitary paper airplane soaring in the bright blue sky felt like it could take him along with it.
“Dorothy.”
“Huh?”
“I think I like you.”
And without realizing it, those words slipped out.
Words that had been swelling up inside him all this time.
Hearing him, Dorothy’s eyes widened in surprise as she flailed her arms and stepped back.
“Uh, wow.”
The look of utter confusion on her face quickly turned as red as a ripe tomato.
Aslan couldn’t help but laugh.
Following a day filled with exhaustion, the sound of his laughter rang out brighter than ever before.
“C-Could I answer later?”
In response, she answered shyly, far from her usual self.
Oh, she had a knack for teasing!
“Nope, say it now.”
And Aslan himself could be a bit of a troublemaker too.
He grabbed Dorothy’s wrist and looked directly into her eyes, making her face flush beet red.
“I don’t know! Let’s talk tomorrow!”
And then, seemingly reaching a boiling point, Dorothy sent Aslan flying away with a blast of wind magic before making a hasty getaway.
Aslan pondered that the trap she set with her best magic was the most finely crafted spell she had ever executed.
“Tomorrow, huh?”
Thinking of the embarrassed Dorothy, Aslan resolved to wait for tomorrow.
And when the next day arrived, as he always did, he woke up late in the evening.
“Aslan!”
With Lirina’s urgent shout filling his ears, Aslan turned to her in confusion as he finished getting dressed.
“They say there’s been a fire at the academy dorm!”
In an instant, Aslan’s eyes widened in shock.
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