Item #1: Let's Learn Magic! (5)

The fourth day since Sasha had started learning magic.

Two figures stood a few meters apart in the training ground. The older one was firm, as unmoving as a mountain, while the younger one had a chilling aura emanating from his body. Both of them held a steel blade on their hands, their sharp, murderous edges dangerously pointed at each other.

They sprung out in a heartbeat.

Baron Granberg kept his sword by his side, waiting until the last moment before letting loose a swift horizontal slash. However, Lenard had suddenly stopped in his track, causing the blade to miss him by a hair's breadth.

The youth returned a strike back.

The baron, however, corrected his position in the blink of an eye. He flipped his sword, letting the flat part of the blade to block Lenard's strike.

It was way heavier than he had expected, even strong enough to push him back a bit.

"Good! Good!"

He wanted to laugh until the entire world could hear him. This nephew of his, the more he trained him, the better he'd become. And at such a terrifying speed! He was only ten, and yet he kept on surprising the Baron again and again.

"Lenard, let me ask you. What's the most important thing in a fight?"

Was it strength? Was it technique? Was it a cunning mind or a quick feet?

"The most important thing... is the will to survive. And the only way to survive is to win!"

The baron lunged again, this time in an even more dizzying speed.

He was so sure that Lenard wouldn't be able to catch up. Surprisingly, the kid managed to do so!

He skillfully touched the Baron's blade with his own, and with a twist pushed it away from its trajectory. He then changed the direction of his blade, and then followed with a diagonal slash.

In that close proximity, the Baron wouldn't be able to avoid it completely.

Thus, he didn't do so.

The Baron swung his other arm, using a part of his armor to take the blunt of the attack. Following that, he pushed his body forward, ramming Lenard onto the floor.

"...Wearing armor is cheating, Father."

"Hahaha! Then train your body until you can do so!"

Techniques could be learned anytime, while strength was built slowly overtime with continuous basic training. What the Baron wanted to impart with these sparring, however, was the bloodlust that could only be attained in an actual battle. That was why they were using real swords instead of wooden weapons.

He had planned to instill it bit by bit, but Lenard was certainly exceptional. He was already so ruthless even though he was still young. He didn't pull any punches against his own father.

"Right, how is your brother?"

"..."

The Baron would ask him this question every time. He must be really curious, but he didn't want to show it by asking Rufus. Lenard ended up becoming his information hub.

Frankly, it was annoying. Lenard tsk-ed in his mind.

"He fainted yesterday. Rufus brought him back to his room."

The Baron's face turned ashen. Lenard let out a sigh.

"Don't fret, Father. He's fine."

Hearing his younger son's antics had filled the Baron with worries. The first day, he was standing as still as a statue in the backyard. The second day, he had erected bonfires for who knows what kind of ritual... now he had even fainted out of nowhere!

Was learning magic really this dangerous? He really shouldn't let him learn it!

"Lenard, tell me your opinion, will Sasha succeed or not?"

"...Unlikely."

Sasha had low magical affinity. It had been determined from birth. There had never been a case where people with low affinity could suddenly learn how to use magic in the entire course of history.

Of course, the Holy Sword was an exception. However, none of the people in this current time know about the Holy Sword. Not to mention, it hadn't been given to Sasha just yet.

Lenard's answer was grounded in reality. However, he had this bad premonition, judging from how confident his younger brother had sounded four days ago.

What if a miracle suddenly happened?

The Baron was concerned with something else. Mainly, the reason why Sasha had suddenly grew interested with magic.

To his knowledge, there hadn't been any mage visiting his land. Perhaps the boy did read about it in a book, but it shouldn't be to the point of struggling against the impossible.

He took a glance at Lenard.

Since his wife's passing, the Baron had shamefully doted on his only son. It all changed two years ago, when Lenard was adopted. He had to split his time to groom this nephew of his, not to mention his innate talent intrigued the Baron, so he couldn't devote his entire time to Sasha anymore.

His lovable little scamp had been getting wilder and wilder since then.

The boy had turned irritable and less sensible, causing trouble with the maids. He would also fight with Lenard from time to time, although the older kid was more patient, merely ignoring the dog's barking with undisguised mockery.

It caused so much headache for the Baron.

Could it be that him wanting to learn magic was another scheme to get the Baron's attention? If it was so, then he had clearly succeeded.

"Maybe it's just an excuse to get me to teach him personally... very well!"

Lenard should be able to progress by himself at this point. He could allocate his time to Sasha instead.

While he was thinking that, he noticed that Lenard had frozen on his spot. Following his gaze, he saw a silhouette obstructing the morning sunlight pouring through the entrance.

A cute little boy was peeking from behind the door. A wide smile was plastered on his face, while his eyes were curved upward. He was waving his hand like a fortune cat, beckoning them to come closer.

Now it was Baron Granberg's turn to have a bad premonition.

---

The Baron, Sasha, and Lenard gathered in the backyard, while Rufus stood by at the side. He looked distracted today, his gaze empty as if he was there but also not there.

The Baron glared at him, but he wasn't in the mood to reprimand him yet.

"Three day's up. Are you ready to admit defeat?"

The Baron said to the smiling boy. He had wanted to smirk, but that beaming face was too innocent to make fun of. In the end he just put a neutral face.

"Let me show you the fruit of my effort, Father!"

Sasha was beyond ecstatic. Actually, he had already forgotten that they had a challenge going on between them. At the moment, he was just too happy with his result.

"You... fine! But I warn you, I won't be satisfied with mere tricks! Don't think that you can fool my keen ey-"

Before the Baron finished, Sasha had started moving his mana. Slowly, the surrounding mana began to sway closer to him.

Lenard frowned as he watched his brother making a strange pose.

Sasha stretched out his hands, his palms facing diagonally upward as if holding a ball.

His control over performing multiple instructions at once were still poor, so the chance of actually succeeding were still low. However, he didn't care about that.

He just wanted to show off to his father.

The Baron couldn't feel mana, so he didn't know what his son was doing. However, that seriousness on his face wasn't a fake. His son was indeed trying his best, so he ended up clenching his fist, cheering for his son in his heart.

Yesterday, just before he had fainted, Sasha had discovered the final key.

He had been producing heat, but what he'd wanted was a flame. He could just use dry leaves as tinder, but that didn't look flashy enough.

At one time, he gathered too much air without thinking too much.

What followed was a small-scale explosion. Not enough to cause him harm, but it had shaken him silly.

That was when he realized that some kind of air could actually combust!

His experimentations following that had exhausted him whole, thus he had fainted on the spot.

"Grind..."

The mana applied pressure over a quick span of time, producing heat.

"Wrung out water... bring in more air..."

Before the heat could die out, he provided more warm, dry air. And then, he filtered out the last part from the air itself.

Dust.

Pouring them into the heat began a reaction which increased their temperature in quick succession. He then compressed them in a small bundle so the heat would be concentrated in one place.

When it reached the critical phase, it finally happened!

A burst of flame shot out in the space between his palms, shining brightly like the second sun!

As soon as it appeared, however, it quickly died out. His control had reached its limit, and his internal mana couldn't start another cycle to maintain the heat.

However, it was enough. For him, it was enough.

He had created the fire that he had dreamed about, with his own two hands!

For two lives, all his progress and achievements had been something he regarded as necessary. There was no joy in reaching the next stage of his training, only pressure to get stronger as soon as he could.

But this, was something that he did for himself, just to satisfy his own curiosity. Ironically, this simple trick felt thousand times sweeter than whichever overpowered sword style or combat maneuver that he had learned in the past.

"See, Father! I did it, right?"

His mind fogged with joy, Sasha clung at his Father's sleeves, pulling it up and down like a spoiled child.

Actually, Rufus had seen this beforehand when Sasha rehearsed one last time after breakfast. That was why he was out of his mind.

A low affinity individual... had learned magic! What kind of thing is this! It broke everything he had known in his entire life!

Oblivious to the people surrounding him, Baron Granberg was trembling. His mind couldn't comprehend what had just happen, but one thing popped out of his mind.

Since it was the most realistic thing at the moment, he felt strangely inclined to follow it...

"...Father?"

Sasha stopped pulling on him when he noticed the Baron staring at him with a strange gaze. As his lips parted, the boy felt shiver down his spines.

In a hoarse voice, the Baron called out:

"Unc-"

""Don't say it!!!""

Sasha quickly jumped to cover his father's mouth, while Lenard tackled the Baron down from the side...