At his gaze that was even gradually becoming sharp, I opened my mouth as if I didn’t attach much significance to it.
“Or not.”
“Of course not! Why would I like that eccentric old man!”
Then young Ruvlian became furious. To call his master an eccentric old man. An unprecedented, uniquely blazing personality.
“Can’t I not go down?”
“Why?”
“The old man keeps being a bother. He’s old enough already, yet he’s needlessly overflowing with energy.”
His small lips protruded like a duck’s. A sulky face that showed his displeasure.
It was fascinating no matter how many times I saw how his emotions were all revealed on his face. Swept up in an unfamiliar sentiment, I examined the child closely, then lowered my gaze. As if noticing I was looking at him, rough-looking hands darkly tanned by the sun raised a hood. Brown hair hanging long and green eyes that seemed to contain this entire forest were revealed. The atmosphere he gave off was close to an old man, but his appearance was no less than someone in their twenties. Behind his back, immense mana like a calm sea rippled. Probably because of this, his aging seemed slow.
“Hehe. So the guest Big Celton foretold has come.”
The guest Big Celton foretold. If the guest was me, then Big Celton would be Ruvlian. Seeing that he’d given notice, it seemed he’d come and gone here while crossing various worlds. Just how much did he run around in those few days, a little over a week? I was worried whether his body was alright.
Even though I’d crossed worlds, since I hadn’t cast the magic myself, I didn’t know how much mana was shaved away. It was certain that no small amount of mana would be consumed, but there was no other way to know the exact figures. I was thinking that when my neck was suddenly strangled.
“Don’t think about other things while you’re with me.”
The small face was filled with more dissatisfaction than when he’d said he liked his master. Was there a reason for his personality when young and now to be this identical? Swept up in a strange feeling, I closed my mouth. It seemed he wanted to be coaxed, but I didn’t possess the skill to coax a young child.
Then the child sulked even more. He grasped a handful of my hair and pulled it, expressing that his feelings were hurt. Tilting my head in the direction the child was pulling, just as I was pondering how to get through this predicament, another voice stole my attention.
“Why don’t you ignore the child and come down.”
The bastard who was Ruvlian’s master was smiling benevolently. It was a smile that didn’t match the word eccentric, but at the part “ignore the child,” I felt a somehow familiar feeling.
Before I could answer, young Ruvlian took the initiative first.
“Ugh. I don’t want to.”
“My disciple, I didn’t raise you to be so stupid that you can’t figure out who I was talking to.”
In other words, what he just did was stupid. As if young Ruvlian also understood that meaning, he raised his already upturned eyes even more sharply.
“I learned all this from you, you know?”
“Where are you even lying? This master is so ashamed he can’t show his face, can’t.”
“What lie! You raised me! And you think I’m not ashamed of you? I don’t like that my master is an eccentric old man who pretends to be young even though he’s old, even using magic to hide his aging! Always making unfunny jokes, your oldness all shows!”
……I knew where I’d felt that familiar feeling. It was Ruvlian’s personality. It was the exact copy of Ruvlian’s personality when dealing with people other than me. Though he was Belitent’s blood, at this moment they seemed like father and son to that degree.
Sparks flew between the crossing gazes. Neither young Ruvlian nor the child’s master who was pretending not to be old showed an inch of backing down. Caught in the middle of the master and disciple’s standoff, I went lightly down with a futile heart. The ground overgrown with grass touched my feet.
“Why are you going down!”
Because the curse is still on. Muttering that inwardly, I handed young Ruvlian to his master. Then both young Ruvlian and his master shuddered identically and broke away from each other. Both reeked terribly of how much they disliked it. They also sent me gazes filled with resentment. Like carbon copies.
Just as I was about to roughly set coordinates and teleport like this, the master who noticed the shallowly spreading mana interfered with the casting. Young Ruvlian too, whether he was sensitive to the flow of mana, frowned and approached me. Perhaps because of the difference in leg length, when I took one step back, he came two steps forward. ……Petty.
“There’s no need to match the child’s tune like that. I’ll break the curse, so just come here.”
At those words, I stopped my steps abruptly. He seemed to already know about the curse, which I hadn’t mentioned a word about. God said the curse had been cast through someone he knew, so was it this person?
“A curse? You got cursed?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you do something bad?”
The face that seemed as if God had poured all his efforts into sculpting it contorted. Eyes holding the same color as the present gazed openly and directly at me, not just glancing—they were clear. Soon I heard a mutter saying, “But…… there’s no way he’d bother doing bad things with that face.”
A small laugh flowed out between my lips. It was the first time in a really long time I’d laughed, not a hollow laugh. The child who had been looking at me had his pupils grow even larger. In a short moment, both cheeks flushed red. No different from the current Ruvlian.
“I didn’t.”
After saying that one word, I passed the child and approached the child’s master. At the approaching footsteps, the master asked with a triumphant expression.
“Asking with honest feelings, do you have no thoughts of not breaking the curse?”
“……?”
“I’m wondering whether I should do a good deed for a disciple who doesn’t listen and isn’t even lovely, and that child is already overflowing with life force so it won’t be much different even if it’s taken.”
This side’s personality was burning no less than young Ruvlian’s. This side was the original, but did they need to resemble each other this much? I was at a loss for words.
“This old man, really! And what do you mean taking my life force!”
“It’s an adult’s conversation that you don’t need to know. Come back when you’re bigger, my disciple. Your height is like a peanut, so I’m afraid someone might mistake you for the ground and step on you while passing.”
Young Ruvlian’s master naturally diverted the child’s attention with extreme damage. Young Ruvlian, busy being indignant, didn’t show even a hint of noticing that fact. It wasn’t a technique done once or twice.
Placing one hand on the small head and blocking the fist that cut through the air, the child’s master looked at me in that position and asked.
“So will you break it?”
“Yes.”
It was an answer that came out in one stroke without hesitation.
The child’s master sent the child flying to a place full of magic traps with one gesture, then placed his hand on my forehead. Smoothly. An invisible energy burrowed into my head. My eyes reflexively squeezed shut and my body shrank at the energy burrowing into an important part without a word of warning. The energy gradually descended downward. Only after it finally reached the tips of my toes did the energy that had been swimming through my body subside.
When I lifted my eyelids, I saw a somehow satisfied face. Young Ruvlian’s master opened his mouth as if pleased like a child who’d gotten a new toy.
“Your mana is very immense. Plus your divine power is outstanding too! Those who have a vessel that can contain both mana and divine power are only heroes who came from other worlds, so you were born with a hero’s fate!”
The child’s master who saw through it at once had eyes that wanted to tear me apart and study me. Seeing those sparkling eyes reminded me that this master was also a mage. He wasn’t different from those at the Magic Tower. A screw was loose somewhere.
“To burrow into someone’s head without a word, and not just break the curse but look around at the mana and divine power inside the body without the other party’s permission. Now even eyes that want to experiment. I don’t know what you trust to act like that even though you know what kind of power I have.”
Applying pressure with that immense energy, I produced a flat voice without change in pitch. Perhaps because he’d aged considerably, the one who couldn’t distinguish between what should and shouldn’t be done bent at the waist. Trembling hands tanned by the sun supported his body by pressing on his thighs.
I watched that sight indifferently, waiting for when he’d collapse. I didn’t feel guilt. The three things I mentioned shouldn’t have been done without permission in the first place. Especially burrowing into the mind and examining the energies inside the body—even between intimate people, the majority were reluctant about it. That was what someone I’d met for the first time today had done. It wasn’t something that could be overlooked just because he was Ruvlian’s master.
Not even lasting a few minutes, young Ruvlian’s master’s knees touched the ground. As I watched him gasping and exhaling breath, I withdrew the energy at the small presence coming this way.
“Huff. Huff……”
As I watched him finally properly regulating his breathing, an uneasy premonition suddenly surged. For some reason, it seemed he’d burn even more with scholarly passion after experiencing my power. Most mages were such types, so it wasn’t an impossible story.
I thought surely not. Would he really do that fearlessly to a person who could choke his breath and harm him?
“Amazing!”
And as always, that “surely not” hit the mark. When the child’s master raised his head so vigorously that his hair floated up and settled down, the green eyes that were revealed sparkled much more than before. I didn’t want to see the sight of someone who wasn’t Ruvlian’s eyes sparkling. I tried to leave the spot, but he who had prostrated himself grabbed my pant leg and wouldn’t let go.
“I’m sorry for doing such things without permission. I’ll apologize. By any chance, could you give me some blood, a few strands of hair, and just a bit of flesh?”
“What is this old geezer doing right now!”
Since it was clear that if I answered he’d cling on even more annoyingly, I tried to remove him with magic, but young Ruvlian who came running helter-skelter struck his own master. The child’s master who had been defenseless had no choice but to fall after being hit, and as a result, the child got his revenge for being sent flying.
I wondered if this was okay. When I looked back at young Ruvlian, the corners of his small lips were pointed toward the sky and his eyes were softly relaxed. No matter how you looked at it, it was a face proud of succeeding in an attack.
A burning filial son…… no, he couldn’t not be a burning disciple.
