Chapter 49

Tristan clutched his chest and gasped for breath.

The magical power trying to run wild seemed too much for the young boy to handle. If left alone like this, his body might be damaged by a larger magical explosion.

‘Has his magic circuit become tangled?’

I stood close beside the suffering Tristan. With my hand on his tense shoulder, I spoke to him slowly.

“Take a deep breath… and exhale, that’s right.”

“Sh-shut up! Huff. Th-this kind of thing gets better after I rest a little.”

“Can you use magic?”

“Not yet. But once the magical power settles, I can use it again as much as I want.”

“Then it will be too late.”

There was a faint acrid smell.

I shouldn’t have been reassured just because the initial magical explosion was small. With my senses keenly heightened, I detected heat spreading not far away.

Fires caused by magical power couldn’t be extinguished by conventional methods.

“The fire is spreading quickly.”

“I’ll handle it somehow with magic soon. You should mind your own business and disappear or something.”

“That’s not possible.”

I slapped both his cheeks with a clapping sound. Then I grabbed his cheeks and forcibly lifted his face. Tristan’s face, which had been full of bewilderment, gradually contorted with irritation.

“How dare you touch me!”

“This is no time to be angry, Tristan. You’re in a state where you can’t use magical power.”

Even a grand magician couldn’t use magic in an unstable state with tangled magical power.

“I just need to rest for a few minutes.”

“No, it will be too late by then.”

I turned Tristan’s head toward where I felt the heat. Perhaps because the ignition point was close, the fire had already grown and was surrounding us.

Only then did Tristan’s complexion turn pale as he saw the flames quickly spreading between the bookshelves.

The only escape route was blocked by burning bookshelves. The fire spread rapidly in a place full of paper and wood.

Realizing the situation, Tristan mumbled blankly in dismay.

“When did the fire get this…”

“We need to escape.”

“How can we escape when the entrance is blocked?”

“Lucas is also in this building. Is Tristan okay with Lucas being in danger?”

“…Brother.”

A faint light entered Tristan’s unfocused eyes. Deep despair shadowed his face, which had momentarily seemed to regain its senses.

“Because of me, my brother…”

Tristan’s legs wobbled and buckled.

With both hands on the floor, he hung his head and said nothing. We barely had time to figure out how to escape, and this was his reaction.

Just as I was thinking I should force him to get up—

RUMBLE.

The bookshelf above Tristan’s head collapsed and fell on him. My body moved reflexively before I could even think.

“Watch out!”

I embraced Tristan and rolled.

Tristan’s body, pushed with all my strength, tumbled to the floor. Fortunately, thanks to pushing him away in time, he was unharmed.

As I sighed in relief, Tristan’s trembling voice reached me.

“You… the doll.”

“Huh?”

Indeed, my hand felt empty.

It seemed the doll had been caught under the burning bookshelf when I was getting Tristan to safety. Looking at the fierce flames, I quickly gave up.

‘The spirit won’t burn anyway, so it should be safe.’

I could come back to find the doll after escaping this place with Tristan. Tristan’s eyes flickered precariously as he grabbed my shoulder.

“The doll will be fine, Tristan.”

“Are you stupid? You said that doll was your precious fairy friend.”

I was surprised that what I had casually told Sen had spread to Tristan, too. Sen’s ability to spread rumors was more powerful than I had imagined.

After thinking briefly, I confessed the truth to Tristan.

“There is no fairy. Tristan, you’re so innocent.”

“You! After you said it yourself!”

“I just wish there was a fairy. Because it’s lonely to think I’m alone.”

“Everyone likes you, how can you be lonely?”

“What does it matter what other people think? There’s no one who really sees me.”

I got up from above the dumbfounded Tristan. Shadows from the flames spread across his exquisitely sculptured face.

‘It’s a nostalgic color.’

With his malice gone, Tristan’s face was as cute as a baby angel. Even though he had done something wrong, I couldn’t leave a child to die.

I helped him up and pointed to the window.

“Listen carefully, Tristan. I’m going to break that window.”

“How will you do that?”

“That’s not important. Tristan will go out through the broken window.”

I picked up a suitable book from those scattered around.

‘This will do.’

One with a sharp corner and thick enough to serve as a hammer looked good. I wrapped magical power around the corner of the book and threw it hard toward the window.

CRASH!

As the book struck the center of the window, glass fragments showered down. Tristan’s mouth fell open at the sight of the window, now cleanly broken with only the frame remaining.

“A six-year-old wrapped magical power around a book?”

“You saw wrong.”

“That’s impossible. Even my brother couldn’t do that.”

“You saw wrong, Tristan. Your eyesight must be bad.”

It was annoying that my power had been discovered, but there was nothing I could do. If Tristan had any conscience, he would keep the secret.

Wrapping magical power around a small object was a different level of difficulty from drawing it out as sword energy. Tristan, dumbfounded, wiped his face.

I firmly pushed his back, signaling him to leave quickly.

“Go now, hurry.”

“What about you?”

“I told you I need to find Lucas. If you die, Lucas will be sad.”

“What about you?”

What a random question.

“Are you asking if I would be sad too?”

His eyes, looking at me steadily while standing firmly on both leg,s were serious. Thinking he wouldn’t move until I answered, I reluctantly replied.

“Yes. Me too.”

At my answer, Tristan’s mouth crumbled. Obvious joy spread across his expression.

‘He’s still a child.’

I reached out and stroked Tristan’s smooth hair. Seeing it in the dark place reminded me of someone.

“When I first met you, I thought you had very handsome red hair.”

“You have the same red hair as me, don’t you?”

That’s why I felt regretful.

If you had a color more like Juno’s, this longing would have deepened. Even if not similar, I had a weakness for red hair.

Why would you, who are not even blood-related to me, have red hair similar to mine?

“Make sure you survive, Tristan.”

I let go of his hair and stepped back.

Tristan’s fire-attribute magical power had a knack for fueling fires like this. If Lucas was not far from here.

‘He might have been caught up in this.’

I wrapped magical power around my entire body and leaped into the flames, blocking the escape route. I wondered how many times I could break through the flames with a body unskilled in magical power.

***

The smoke made it impossible to see what was ahead.

Lucas tried to disperse the flames by swinging his sword. He was somehow moving forward, but the fire was spreading too quickly.

‘Almost as if covered with magical power.’

There had been many chances to escape, but there was a reason he couldn’t. He had arranged to meet his comrade around here, but hadn’t seen her yet.

Had he needlessly put the child in danger by sending that letter?

‘I wanted to apologize.’

He had accepted the child as his comrade and had many conversations with her. But looking back, he realized he knew nothing about her except her name.

He had always been excited, only talking about Kashian in front of her.

“Was it boring for you?”

“Not at all. You know what? When Lucas talks about Kashian, your eyes shine.”

“T-that much…”

“You don’t have to be embarrassed. I like Lucas, who loves Kashian so much.”

He had behaved selfishly, relying on the child’s consideration.

He should have asked why she said such things, if she had felt hurt. He knew better than anyone that the child who saw through his materials collected over the years couldn’t possibly dislike Kashian.

‘I was only thinking of myself.’

He remembered the conversation they had when writing the contract with the child.

“Tell me if there’s anything else you want.”

“There isn’t.”

People had always asked him for something.

For money, time, sometimes they manipulated and betrayed or abandoned the young him for connections. She could have at least asked him to acknowledge her as a sister, but she didn’t.

“Lucas will become incredibly strong. I know it.”

He had heard countless times that he would become strong, but why had her words made him so happy?

It was he who had not accepted the child because of his petty pride.

‘What kind of comrade am I?’

He wanted to meet her again and tell her he wanted to know more about her.

What food she liked, what she did on weekday mornings, and what her hobbies were.

Having been obsessed with becoming stronger and living alone, he didn’t know what a normal relationship was. He wanted to get closer to the child slowly, even if awkwardly.

This time, truly.

“Liat! Answer if you can hear my voice!”

The fire, which had grown larger using books and bookshelves as fuel, couldn’t be extinguished with sword wind.

‘If only I were a Sword Master…’

Even the sword he had boasted about was useless against the flames. Imagining Liat’s frightened face, he recklessly broke through the flames.

“Liat? Are you there?”

He heard something like footsteps from inside the rare book storage that was on fire. In truth, he hated dark places and enclosed spaces.

Because ‘that accident’ had happened in a carriage.

But if you’re in there.

Swallowing hard, he gripped his sword firmly and walked into the storage room. In the darkness, the yellow light of a beast flashed.

SQUEAK! SQUEAK!

A rat that had been hiding in the storage room darted past his legs and shot outside. The unexpected event happened immediately after.

“What!”

RUMBLE! CRASH!

With a collapsing sound, several bookshelves fell over the exit. The pile of fallen books completely covered the entrance, making everything pitch black.

“Help me! Save me. My mother!”

The screams he had swallowed on the day he lost his family revived like a hallucination. He could escape this place by swinging his sword to cut through the pile of books.

But that simple task wasn’t easy.

‘Is this the end?’

If only he had been as strong as Kashian, who overcame numerous hardships. His hero, who called herself a coward despite possessing great strength.

If it was impossible to catch up to her no matter how hard he tried, then perhaps… Everything was the fault of his weak self, who couldn’t protect anyone.