Chapter 15

“I’m sorry,” Zack muttered, quickly glancing downward. He was too weak to summon the strength to even look him in the eyes.

“Being an adventurer must not mean much these days if this is all you wanted to be, Zack.”

Zack couldn’t defend himself.

“Forget it. Someone’s here to see you.”

“Me?” Zack struggled to think of who that might be.

Just then, another of the tavern doors opened and a mother and young child walked in.

“Excuse me, but are you Mr. Zack of the Gray Wolf’s Claw Marks?”

“Hm? Oh, uh, yeah. That’s me.”

At his words, both the mother and child lit up with joy, smiles spreading like flowers in bloom.

“Thank you so much for defeating the basilisk! Everyone in our village is so grateful for your help!”

“Thank you, Mr. Zack!” said the child.

Their gratitude was completely genuine.

“Y-yeah, of course,” Zack said sheepishly. “I just took on the bounty, that’s all.”

“Even so, thank you so much.”

The two of them bowed their heads in thanks several more times as they took their leave. Alfred watched silently over Zack as he sat there, dazed by the encounter.

“Al, what was that…?”

“Don’t know. They asked me to find you, and I did,” Alfred said shortly. “And now I’m leaving. Ain’t got time to sit around with some worthless, drunken bastard.”

Alfred departed, and Zack was left alone, a bit stunned by what had just happened. He drained what was left of his drink and set the glass back on the table.

“…‘ Thanks ,’ eh?”

Been a while since anyone’s said that to me in person. I took bounties, made my money, earned my fame… But after so many days of the work, I guess at some point I started to forget. Why did I become an adventurer in the first place? Why did I really want to be a hero?

“I guess…I wanted to help people.”

There are heights so dizzying I’ll never reach them, no matter how hard I stretch. But that doesn’t mean that everything I struggled for up until now has been worthless. Because somewhere, someone is going to need my strength, I just know it. Even if there are others more powerful than me, that doesn’t mean my power isn’t needed. We can’t rely on just a handful of the best of the best to protect the whole of humanity.

“Heh. I’m such a kid.”

That was the first day that Zack didn’t refill his glass—and a few days later, the Gray Wolf’s Claw Marks ended their hiatus.

It would be a few more days on top of that before Zack learned the truth: All of it had been arranged by Alfred himself after he’d heard about the state of the Adventurers’ Guild.

***

The intricately detailed and finely decorated horse-drawn carriage flew the flag of the Kingdom of Milestia. No expense had been spared on the magic items employed within, such that the passengers of the carriage never felt jostled or bumped about, no matter how rough the road. There were ten mounted Royal Knights surrounding the carriage, all clad in armor of pure white. They had been tasked with guarding the carriage’s occupant, but in truth, the escort was for show. The woman inside could defend herself—she was, after all, an elemental magic user.

“The house of Gilbert,” announced the woman’s assistant. “They have a long magical lineage, but none with an elemental aptitude have appeared in recent years.”

“Ah, I wanna go hooome,” the woman moaned. “Why did I have to come here? I hate the outside. I want to be inside . I hate all this sunlight.”

“…The Gilberts are a powerful noble house. Please ensure you do not offend them in any way. I will do my best to support you.”

“I know that, assistant. Just who do you think I am?”

And who was she? She was Amelia Von Eleftheria.

Amelia was a woman of many titles, but perhaps her greatest was Chief Researcher of Elemental Magic at the Magic Ministry. An outstanding young prodigy, she climbed to this position at the unprecedented age of twenty-two. She was one of the most knowledgeable people in the kingdom on the subject, but on that particular day, she did not wear that impressive title. She was riding in the carriage on account of her position as a magical examiner—a person tasked with determining the nature of an individual’s magical talent, if any.

“Ugh, I should never have gotten this stupid qualification.”

She had acquired the certification because it made some things more convenient for her studies. That was the only reason, and now it had come back to bite her. The house of Gilbert specifically requested the “most capable” magical examiner to be dispatched, and quite inconveniently in this case, Amelia perfectly matched their specifications. Marquis Gilbert was one of the largest landowners in the kingdom, aside from the king himself, and his own personal military strength was nothing to sniff at. There were questions raised by the conditions of his request, however—why exactly the most capable examiner would be necessary for a simple magical aptitude test, for one. What was it he was after? What was his goal? There was much speculation. Of course, at the time, no one suspected that it was simply because he was a doting father.

“Please don’t get so down about all this. We might even discover a rare aptitude while we’re here. Something like—”

“Light, maybe?” Amelia interrupted her assistant mid-sentence. “Well, that’d be nice, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for that one… I mean, when was the last time a rare aptitude was discovered? I think maybe it was… Oh, wasn’t the mentor of the former headmaster of Aslan Magic Academy a Light user?”

“So the records say, yes.”

“Man, I wanna see those records so bad. I mean, the headmaster could use three elements, which is totally crazy in its own right, but apparently, that was nothing compared to their mentor!”

“It seems hard to believe.”

“I hope I see one someday. I really want to meet a Light user,” Amelia lamented. “Ah, I’m going to bed. Wake me up when we’re there.”

“Understood.”

With that, she softly closed her already heavy eyelids.

***

When Amelia and her assistant descended from their carriage, they were welcomed by the present head of the house, Claude Gray Gilbert, his butler, Alfred, and several of his other attendants.

Claude’s deep-set facial features were made all the more imposing by the finely crafted mustache above his lip, and there was a sharpness to his eyes that gave him the impression of a bird of prey. It was an almost impossibly difficult task for any who met him to determine that he was, in fact, a loving father.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Lord Gilbert. My name is Amelia Von Eleftheria, and I will be serving as your magical examiner for the day.”

“Ah, thank you for coming, Lady Amelia. I have heard much about you. I am most comfortable entrusting you with the task of my son’s aptitude test.”

“Thank you.”

All traces of her demeanor during the carriage ride had vanished. Her present behavior was that of a consummate professional.

“Let us get to it at once, then. Alfred, please take her inside. I will go and get my son.”

“Understood, Master. Right this way, if you would.”

Alfred led her to a little room where she only had to wait a few minutes before the door clicked open. Luke entered the room, accompanied by both of his parents.

“What are you doing here?”

“It’s my son’s appraisal! I could never miss this!”

“Ah, my apologies, Lady Amelia, but would it be all right if we joined you?”

“Of course, that’s quite all right.”

Luke sat down in the seat opposite Amelia, seemingly unfazed by his parents’ back-and-forth.

“So, you’re the one? I hear you’re good,” said the boy.

Amelia paused. “I am honored.”

Luke’s disdainful attitude certainly rubbed Amelia the wrong way, but she was careful never to let her emotions rise to the surface.

“Fine. Whatever,” Luke replied. “Get on with it.”

“I would like to confirm one thing with you before we begin. If it is determined through the course of this aptitude test that you are in possession of elemental magic, you will be obligated to acquire an elemental magic use qualification.”

“You’re saying I’ll need to graduate from a magic school, right?”

“Indeed, I am.”

“Hmph.”

Luke had thought long and hard about this. That little requirement—to prevent elemental magic users from leaving the country and wreaking havoc—was a chain that would bind him for the next few years, and he didn’t like that. However, he knew he had no choice but to take the aptitude test if he wanted to learn magic.

“Very well,” he answered.

“Okay then. I will be using an Information spell called Examine to inspect you.”

Amelia held one of her hands out toward Luke. Within it, she conjured a circular magic sigil filled with strange geometric shapes and patterns—which quickly disappeared.

“…Huh?”

“What’s wrong?” asked Luke.

I felt like my mana was being sucked away.

The clear, rational part of Amelia’s brain immediately answered the question for her, but she herself couldn’t believe it. She froze up for a few seconds.

“Nothing. Once more.”

She activated Examine again, and again she felt her mana draining. She was forced to pour even more into the process to confirm her suspicions.

It can’t be…

As she checked the results, a cold sweat broke across her skin.

“Dark,” Amelia mumbled to herself.

“What did you say?” Claude demanded nervously. “Does my son have an aptitude for elemental magic?”

Luke’s father awaited the results with ten times the nervousness of his son. The answer he received, however, was beyond anything he’d possibly expected.

“Dark magic! Holy crap!” Amelia’s voice was suddenly strange and intense. “This is so freakin’ cool!”

She shed all pretense of professionalism when faced with such a rare discovery.

Meanwhile, everyone else was speechless. Particularly Luke, who sat in silent dejection.

Dark, he thought miserably. So I’m undeniably the villain, huh?

***

Sometimes one action had a cascading chain of consequences—known as “the butterfly effect.”

As Luke began to study the art of the sword, his father, Claude was deeply affected by the sight of him never missing a day of training, and his doting went from bad to worse. It was that doting that compelled him to summon the “most capable” examiner for Luke’s aptitude test. The royals, unable to ignore a request from the house of Gilbert, dispatched the incredibly capable but completely unhinged mad researcher Amelia for the task. Luke’s aptitude for Dark magic should have been revealed much later, but it came to light immediately upon examination instead.

Amelia screamed.