Crabbe has agreed to teach me magic, but he can't always be there for me.
　He is actually quite busy with his military work, his work as a mage, and his own small territory. Therefore, I was basically given assignments and asked to evaluate my performance in my spare time.


　On this day, he was reading an old book on magic power that he borrowed from Crabbe.


　The purpose of this was, of course, to look for hints on how to increase the amount of magic power.
　In the man's world, there are many books that say that magic power increases as you use it, but this is not true in this world. It is common knowledge that a person's magical power capacity is fixed from birth and cannot be increased by anything.


　That's why he borrowed an old book, but Crabbe had already researched the contents of the book, and it didn't contain any information about increasing magic power.
　However, if you have a man's memory, you might be able to discover something.


　............ thought Arx, but of course the reality was not so easy.
　After all, the book did not tell him how to increase his magic power, but only listed things that were unlikely to be of much use, such as the results of manipulating magic power.


　On top of that, towards the end of the page, there are things that even Crave doesn't understand.
　For example, the part that Arx is reading now, the part about "kneading magic power", is written in the following way


According to Crabbe, "Well, I don't really understand this part either.


　I don't know what's going on here.


　Knead magic. Crabbe also obeyed his words and tried to manipulate and knead the magic in his body, but he could not get any results.


　But what exactly does it mean to knead magic?

Knead?　What does it mean to knead?


　I couldn't help but use a man's tone of voice.
　Knead. Does it mean to keep changing its shape like clay - or does it mean to keep folding it over and over again? Or is it the same as the word in man's country, "wrought" when metal is beaten to make it uniform in hardness.
　I can't figure out what the word "knead" means.


I think I'll try .......


　I said to myself, and started to knead the magic myself.
　Practice makes perfect, right?
　As for the manipulation of magic, he had become quite proficient at it because he had followed Crave's instructions and had been moving it around and separating it from his body day after day.


　It's not so bad if you consider this work as part of the magic manipulation.


"neru neru neru ......


　Knead the magic in your body, stir it, fold it, tap it (the mood), and repeat it over and over again.
　When I had been working like this for several hours, I suddenly realized something.


"...... is my magic power getting low?


　It seems that when you refine magic power, it is consumed little by little. It's strange that it's consumed just by moving it around in your body, but the magic power is definitely less than it was when you first started refining it.


Maybe I should try ...... more.


　Could this be a result of something else? If so, I might be able to find something. In the hope of finding something, I worked on refining the magic power in my body.


　I went to ...............


I'm not sure what to do. I overdid it .......


　I got carried away and worked until I had very little magic power, and the magic power that was as warm as warm water turned out to be as hot as boiling water.


　Moreover, when I tried to move it inside my body, it was difficult to do so. It's as if something that used to be light has suddenly become heavy.


　Do you want to release ......?


No, no, no, no. No, no, no, no. You can't do that in your room. ......


　If you release the magic as it is, the resistance will cause waves to roll in. Therefore, if you release this unknown magic power in a room, there is a possibility that everything in the room will be blown up.
　However, if you don't release it, this magic will not disappear. But if you don't release it, it will stay like this forever.


　Will this be okay? I'm getting more and more worried.


"............ Yeah. Okay, I'll think about it later.


　I decided to put the dangerous thing I had created in my body on hold and turned around.
　In the first place, you can't feel the heat of magic unless you are aware of it.
　If you leave it alone, it will cool down. ...... I hope it cools down.


Well, it's not that easy to make everything work .......


　Magic has been studied for decades, even centuries, before you were born.
　There is no way that a child's little idea can lead to the discovery of something new that has never been done before.
　Moreover, increasing the amount of magic power is one of the propositions of mages. It would be strange if it were easy to find.


　With this in mind, I left the room with the instruction book and unexpectedly ran into Joshua.
　I was met with a cold stare, and my body stiffened.


　Joshua became even colder after ...... Crabbe started teaching him magic.
　You will find a lot of things that you can do to make your life easier. And now that he had added himself as an annoyance to the mix, his hatred for Joshua doubled, maybe even tripled.


　Joshua's gaze fell on the instruction book he was carrying.


"You're studying ...... magic?

Yes.


　You'll be able to find a lot more information on the web.
　And then.


I'm not going to make you my heir just because you study!

I have no intention of becoming heir to the House of Raytheft.

"Even if my brother teaches me magic, I can't override his magical prowess!

The superiority of a mage is not only determined by the amount of magic power he possesses.


　He continues to reply calmly to the anger being thrown at him.


　Then, suddenly, I got a shock on my face.


"Ugh. ......


　Apparently, I'd been punched. The next thing I know, I'm blown to the wall of the hallway. I can taste blood. I think I cut myself in the mouth.


"Godd*mn kid. ......


　Joshua spat with indignation.
　Joshua spat it out with indignation. The sight of him made me feel more angry than sadness.
　How could he be so unreasonably violent towards his own son?


　As I kept my head down, Joshua eventually lost interest and walked away.


　As I stood up, I noticed Lisha peeking out from the corner of the hallway.
　Was she watching the whole exchange? Her eyes were shaking with anxiety.


"Ni-sama ......

Lisha.


　When I call out, Lisha rushes over to me, paying attention to her surroundings.


Are you all right, my dear?

I'm fine. I'm fine. It's nothing.


　I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine.


...... I'm sorry.

Why is Risha apologizing?

It's my fault that you got upset and beaten up by your father and mother. ......


　Lisha seems to have misunderstood something.
　She's about to cry, and her shoulders are shaking.


"Lisha. It's not your fault that I'm in this mess, Lisha.

But, but ...... because I became the decoy.


　Or... I'm sure you're not the only one.


You're wrong. It's my fault because I had less magic.

It's not your fault!　It's not your fault!


　Lisha screams.
　Eventually she couldn't take it anymore and started crying on the spot.
　I stayed with her until she calmed down, and then she started to sob and squeal.


I want to be friends with you. I want to play with you. ......

I want to play with you. ...... That's right. It would be nice if we could do that.


　But that's not possible anymore.
　My relationship with my parents has already broken down beyond repair.
　Lisha is right, it's better to have a close family. There was a time in my life when my parents had a fight when I was a child. At that time, I felt painful, just as Lisha does now.


　Children want their parents to get along with each other, and they want their parents to be kind to them.
　And it is all because of those parents that such a small wish is never fulfilled. It's because those parents are the kind of people who only see the value of children in their talents that they are making Lisha cry like this.


　When I think about it, my anger starts to boil up.
　It's not enough to get even. Someday I'll have to settle this properly.
　Decisively, thoroughly, to the point of wiping the Raytheft family off the face of the earth.


"Dear .......

Come on, stop crying. I'll play with you.

...... Are you sure?

Of course it's okay.


　Then I took Lisha by the hand and went back to my room.
　I played with her for a while, and then she said.


"Can I come to your room sometimes?

"Just make sure your mother and father don't see me.

"Yes!


　Lisha smiled.
　Seeing her smile, the pain of Joshua's beating disappeared from her mind.