Chapter 38
To think someone dared to keep Lord Lucael, the master of the Magic Tower, waiting—
Chiwa was so intimidated by Lucael’s presence that she didn’t even dare move her eyes.
The parents she had met until now had all asked how rich one could become as a mage, or whether there would be any money involved. The moment gold coins were tossed their way, they would hand over their children without hesitation.
So, even if they’d fallen from grace, nobles were still nobles, huh.
Chiwa glared at the door through which Helene and April had gone out.
Just then, the door opened.
Chiwa’s fingers fiddled nervously with a pouch of gold coins again. No matter how much it took, she just wanted to finish this conversation quickly.
“…I’ll become a mage!”
At the little girl’s bold declaration, Chiwa inwardly cheered.
Of course—no matter how noble they were, there wasn’t a fool in the world who would turn down the chance to become a mage.
Helene then asked Chiwa,
“By the way, if she goes to the Magic Tower, when will April come back?”
Chiwa froze.
Who in their right mind would leave paradise and come back down to the human world?
Sure, some intermediate or lower-ranking mages couldn’t stand their inferiority to the high-ranking mages and would leave the Tower to become royal court magicians or academy professors.
But most mages, filled with pride in their craft, hated mingling with humans and would never leave the Tower.
“And how long will it take to learn magic?”
Helene fired off another question without even waiting for the previous answer.
In truth, Chiwa was curious about that herself.
The five children Lucael had selected were only confirmed to have magical amplification potential—it was still unknown whether they could truly use magic.
Could ordinary children even learn magic at all?
Even children born from mage blood often got hurt attempting to wield magic they couldn’t control.
Perhaps under the guidance of the great Master of the Tower, Lucael, it might be different, but Chiwa couldn’t picture it clearly.
“Th-that depends on the child’s own effort,” she replied.
Lucael gave a faint chuckle at Chiwa’s smooth way of sidestepping a difficult question.
Truly, she was a mage who had studied the human world for a long time.
Choosing to bring Chiwa along had been the right call.
“I see… then, when should we send her to the Magic Tower?”
At Helene’s innocent yet ignorant question, Chiwa almost felt her eyes pop out.
She knew humans were ignorant about the magical world, but she hadn’t realized it was to this extent.
The Magic Tower was not a place ordinary humans could even set foot in.
And here was the master of the Tower himself offering to take the child personally, yet she was saying she’d send her “when ready”—Chiwa was almost dizzy at the absurdity.
“…We—we are mages. We are not that leisurely.”
“But you can’t send a ten-year-old child off with strange men she doesn’t know!”
Helene’s words aligned with human common sense, leaving Chiwa unsure of how to persuade her.
Was it really worth inconveniencing Lord Lucael, the master of the Tower, over just one human girl?
“…I’ll come back tomorrow,” said a voice.
Chiwa’s ears rang.
It was Lucael, answering in her stead.
“T-tomorrow? That’s too soon! We don’t even have the second child here right now—”
“As I said, we are not leisurely. If you refuse, I’ll find another child.”
Though his words sounded threatening, Lucael actually liked the red-haired little girl before him.
He knew perfectly well that Helene and April would be unable to refuse.
“…Fine, I understand…”
Unlike round-eyed Chiwa, Helene found it difficult to argue with this overwhelmingly imposing, handsome man.
She couldn’t sense his magic, but having read countless romance-fantasy novels in her past life, she knew full well how terrifying and ruthless the masters of the Magic Tower could be.
Still, if April was going tomorrow, there was at least time tonight to talk about Lilliana and April.
“Then, we’ll be going now.”
Seeing no reason to linger, Lucael swept his cloak around him and strode to the window. In a swirl of wind, he transformed into a silver eagle.
Chiwa also took the form of an eagle and followed after him.
In the orange-tinted sky, the shadows of the two eagles grew smaller and smaller.
“…I’m back!”
Hearing Helene’s voice calling from outside the estate, Lilliana smiled in relief.
“Welcome home!”
Helene and April came right to the door to greet her.
As Lilliana happily gazed at the two familiar faces, she suddenly noticed something odd.
April had a large bump on her forehead, and Helene had a purple bruise on the bridge of her nose.
“D-did you two… fight?”
She didn’t think it was possible, yet looking at the two of them, no other explanation came to mind.
Helene rubbed her nose and said,
“Yeah. I fought with April and lost.”
“I-it’s not like you lost!”
“In fights, the one with the nosebleed loses.”
It was embarrassing enough to have physically fought with Helene, but to have won against her?
April, the youngest daughter of a count’s household—even if she wasn’t a refined lady like Lilliana—felt her face burn as if she’d been some wild brawler.
“I-I got this huge bruise on my arm too! See, sister?”
“And I’ve got aches all over from slamming into the bookshelf, on top of the nosebleed…!!”
As the two argued over who was more injured, shoving their bruises and cuts toward her, Lilliana was at her wits’ end.
“Enough, both of you! Let’s get you treated first!”
Lilliana’s voice rang with the strong tone she hadn’t used in years.
It felt almost like the old days.
When they were young, the three sisters often played house.
As the eldest, Lilliana was always stuck playing the father—whether she wanted to or not—while April and Jaina would fight over who got to be the mother.
Now, it was just that the second sister, Jaina, had been replaced by Helene.
The diaphragm-powered voice she had once used to break up her younger sisters’ squabbles still worked just fine.
At the mention of treatment, both Helene and April immediately fell still.
Since they could no longer afford to call the family doctor, all medical care for her younger sisters had fallen to Lilliana.
Strangely, Jaina had been getting injured a lot recently.
No matter how often Lilliana told her not to go to the mountains because it was dangerous, she never listened.
Her arms had been covered in scratches lately—apparently from brushing against some strangely-shaped tree.
“This is bad… the bruise is worse than I thought…”
Lilliana muttered while inspecting Helene’s nose.
Now that Helene’s reputation had just started improving, she worried that seeing her with a bruised nose might give the nobles more reason to gossip.
April’s face grew serious as well.
“Well, it’ll heal with time. Just disinfect it a bit,” Helene said.
“Please, sister…” April whispered to Lilliana.
“…I was going to anyway,” Lilliana replied with a gentle smile, placing both hands in front of Helene’s nose.
A warm golden light flowed from her palms, and the stinging pain in Helene’s nose instantly vanished.
“…W-what is this?”
The bluish bruise that had been sitting on Helene’s nosebridge was gone without a trace when she checked the hand mirror.
The aches in her body had also mysteriously disappeared.
Helene realized then—the warm golden energy coming from Lilliana’s hands was divine power.
Lilliana could use divine power.
Helene couldn’t understand why Lilliana had kept this a secret until now.
“D-divine power?”
Lilliana gave an awkward smile.
She hadn’t meant to hide it, but she didn’t think it was something to boast about either.
After the family’s downfall, she hadn’t wanted to draw attention to herself for anything.
“…Lilliana, you can really use divine power?” Helene asked again, her voice trembling.
Those with divine power were rare, and while priests said faith and divine power didn’t necessarily go hand-in-hand, it wasn’t exactly surprising that someone as devout as Lilliana would have it.
“I-I think so…”
She had never dared to call it “divine power” herself, but that seemed to be what others called it.
Whenever the injury-prone Jaina got hurt, Lilliana would heal her with it, earning endless praise from her sister. But Lilliana herself felt oddly ashamed of having such an ability.
She didn’t think she was pure or good enough to deserve divine power.
Before the Sun God, she was nothing more than a shameful sinner.
There had been countless nights when she couldn’t sleep because of the hatred she felt toward her stepmother, Helene.
Though now, Helene had become the person she relied on the most, Lilliana still felt only embarrassment in admitting she possessed divine power.
