🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 10
The disappearance of the maids was something Isaac didn’t know about.
The older Jonas had only told him about major events or stories about the family, never about the entire household staff.
He probably didn’t have time to care about them either.
Around that time, Isaac himself had been drowning in self-loathing and despair due to the mana explosion.
Back then, when his heart wasn’t yet hardened, he was so consumed with self-pity that he didn’t care about others at all.
Of course, that doesn’t mean there weren’t any clues.
“Why don’t you tell me in more detail, Bill?”
For a moment, the atmosphere in the kitchen turned icy cold.
The maids turned pale, and the servant standing among them also lost all color in his face.
“Oh. Is it uncomfortable talking about it in front of so many people? Then let’s have a private talk, just the two of us. Bill?”
“Uh, um. I mean, what I said was just, you know, crude jokes that the lower servants say.”
“I get it. That’s why I want you to come with me. I just found it funny and want to hear more.”
The servant looked tearfully at the maids.
But none of the maids looked like they wanted to help him or even pitied him.
It seemed he had been disliked for his usual behavior.
Isaac went to the empty parlor and took a seat.
“Sit.”
“No, I can’t possibly sit with a young master like you…”
“Sit. Unless you want to see the noble side of me.”
Isaac said with a stern face.
The servant shut his eyes tightly.
That meant he had heard everything the servant had said.
The servant awkwardly sat down on the chair across from Isaac.
The luxurious wooden chair was cushioned, but the servant sat nervously as if he were sitting on needles.
“Bill. Your name’s Bill, right?”
“Y-yes, that’s right.”
“You said three maids disappeared?”
“Y-yes.”
“What are their names?”
“Hilde, Clara, and Enette.”
“When did they disappear?”
“Well… I’m not exactly sure.”
“Roughly.”
“H-Hilde disappeared about two months ago, and then a few weeks later Clara vanished. And just this past weekend, Enette went missing after going to a church service.”
Bill couldn’t meet Isaac’s eyes and looked down instead.
What kind of kid has eyes that sharp?
He’d seen the eyes of all sorts of crazies, killers, and junkies while hanging around the slums of Bernshi.
But this young master’s eyes were chilling in a different way.
They were noble, yet inside them was something clearly abnormal.
If he had to put it into words—it was madness.
Above all, the idea that this kid could explode at any moment made Bill’s spine go cold.
“Any idea why? Whether they ran away, disappeared, or were kidnapped.”
“…”
Bill glanced at Isaac, then shook his head.
“You can be honest. I promise I won’t punish or expel you for it.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Isaac nodded.
“Hilde thought she was nobility, always stuck-up. Clara was kind of promiscuous. Enette… she was just an ordinary girl. Honestly, if it were Clara, I wouldn’t be surprised if she ran off after stealing something expensive from the mansion, but the other two, they didn’t seem like the type.”
“And?”
“The only… common reason I can think of…”
Bill glanced at Isaac, then quickly looked down again.
“Is it me?”
“Isn’t it? Look at Hans’s face. It’s always bruised or scratched. That guy always complains about being sick. I bet he won’t live long if this keeps up…”
Bill shut his mouth tight.
Idiot. He wanted to smack himself for saying something so stupid.
The one who wouldn’t live long was him.
Goosebumps rose on Bill’s arm.
The young master’s strange condition, the explosion…
Those kinds of words were taboo among the servants.
Gossiping among themselves was one thing, but saying it to the head servant meant getting whipped twice that same day.
And now he had brought it up in front of the person himself.
It was practically asking to be killed.
“Bill.”
“Bill.”
“Y-yes! Please spare me! I’m not even married yet, I don’t have kids, but the priest said life is a gift from the Lord…”
“You don’t want to die?”
Isaac looked at Bill with a blank expression.
Bill trembled as he felt Isaac’s gaze.
This wasn’t the time to be proud or stubborn.
“Then. In exchange for sparing your life, do some work for me.”
“Y-yes? Excuse me?”
***
‘Right. That was her name.’
Isaac recalled the names of two maids he had been close to.
One was a red-haired maid named Roza who always took his side in the kitchen.
And the other was Enette—one of the missing maids.
A blue fireball hovered in the air, spinning around the room.
Generation, condensation, condensation, phase shift.
Recently, a new mana loop had opened up, and now it was possible to change the phase while generating a fireball hotter than the red one.
The blue fireball was a type of magic not recorded in any common spellbook, so it was unclear what class it belonged to.
Considering the red fireball was classified as a second-class spell, this one was likely third-class or higher.
Thanks to the panacea left by the doctor, the expansion speed of his mana circuits had also increased.
At this rate, he would soon have five loops.
‘Enette was close with Clara, wasn’t she?’
Enette was a quiet girl.
After Hans and the nanny died due to the mana explosion,
No one was willing to serve Isaac anymore.
Roza and Enette were the only ones who had volunteered to care for him, ignoring everyone’s objections.
Roza always comforted Isaac with kind words.
Enette only said what was necessary, but she silently stayed by Isaac’s side and cared for him.
One day, Isaac fell into extreme despair over his unexplained condition and the people who had died because of him.
Roza’s kind words didn’t help, and even Enette, who stayed with him, felt annoying rather than comforting.
—You, do you even understand? Do you know what it feels like to kill someone you cherished with your own hands?
He must’ve snapped at her with something like that.
But unexpectedly, Enette, who rarely spoke about herself, opened her mouth.
—I do know. Because I killed Clara with my own hands.
—Who…?
—Clara. She was my closest friend.
She didn’t explain exactly what had happened.
She only said that Clara had died because of her.
—If I had just turned around once, if I had reached out to her, maybe I could have saved her. Young master. I know your situation is a special one. But even if it weren’t, anyone can end up doing something they regret.
Enette didn’t try to comfort Isaac.
She didn’t tell him it was going to be okay.
She just told him the truth.
That even without something like a mana explosion, people inevitably do things they regret.
That people commit irreversible acts.
—Once in their life, everyone does. Even saints. Otherwise, there would be no reason to believe in God so desperately.
Somehow, Enette’s pessimism comforted Isaac.
He didn’t know if that was what she intended, or if she was just frustrated with how self-pitying he had become.
‘I should’ve asked her more back then.’
Isaac moved the blue fireball as he recalled Enette’s words.
In curves, at right angles, drawing an S-shape, a circle, a U-shape, and a spiral—the fireball moved accordingly.
More than ninety percent of combat magic relies on the role of projectiles.
In other words, if it doesn’t hit the target, it’s meaningless.
That’s why in combat magic, the most important—and most difficult—aspect is phase shifting.
If one can freely shift phase, they can snipe targets even behind barriers or obstacles.
On the other hand, if one is not skilled at phase shifting, then no matter how powerful the spell is, it becomes useless in one-on-one combat or against small monsters.
Unless, of course, you don’t mind wiping out your allies too.
You can never practice phase shifting too much.
“Hoo.”
Isaac wiped a stream of sweat from his forehead.
A headache and slight dizziness were setting in.
His brain was overloaded from calculating phases.
Just then, he sensed someone outside the room.
Rustle—
The blue fireball vanished into the air.
Knock knock—
“Young master, it’s me. May I come in?”
It was the nanny.
“Yeah. Come in.”
Isaac opened a random book on the desk and spoke.
“What’s going on? I told you to get off work before sunset.”
“The dormitory’s right next door, it’s no big deal.”
“Spend more time with Hinder.”
“Hinder’s grown up now. He doesn’t like having his mom cling to him anymore. Seems like he’s got a girl he likes in town.”
“…..”
“Anyway… how are you feeling? Did you take the potion the doctor gave you?”
“Yeah.”
The nanny checked Isaac’s condition as she always did.
Even though he knew her concern didn’t really help, Isaac still answered all of her questions.
Knowing that someone cared about him was a comforting thing.
He’d realized that too late in his past life, but he wouldn’t make the same mistake this time.
“Is there something you want to eat tomorrow?”
“Apple pie.”
“Again?”
“It’s good. Everything you bake is.”
“Hehe, alright. Then I’ll put my skills to work again.”
The nanny smiled warmly at Isaac’s compliment.
“And, here.”
“Hm?”
The nanny extended a hand she had behind her back.
In her hand was a wooden doll.
“What’s this?”
It wasn’t carved particularly well.
It was just vaguely shaped like a human, and even that was so uneven that it was hard to make out the figure.
“It’s a knight, supposedly.”
“A knight? Did Hinder give it to you?”
“No. Hinder has no talent with his hands.”
“Then did you make it?”
Isaac tilted his head.
“No, of course not. I received it from the nanny of the second young master. She asked me to pass it to you.”
“Jonas…?”
“Yes. She said he was told not to enter your room, right? He’s been avoiding you. It’s been two weeks already. The second young master says he misses you. He wants to play together like before. He knows the explosion is dangerous, but… maybe it’s okay to talk for a little bit, at least?”
The nanny asked carefully.
Isaac blankly stared at the wooden doll he’d received from her.
Now that he thought about it, he used to be good with his hands as a child.
He used to carve knights, horses, and dragons out of wood and gift them to Jonas.
Jonas would take them and make up knight stories like something from a dime novel and play with the figures.
Those were precious times.
He wanted to go see Jonas right away, but Isaac couldn’t move so easily.
The probability of a spontaneous mana explosion due to his condition was currently very low.
Ever since his mana loops exceeded four, Isaac had started to feel some certainty.
The wild flow of mana that once overwhelmed even his body and mind—
It still flowed quickly, but as more circuits formed like webs or tiny branches, he could feel that it had stabilized significantly.
Even so, the reason he still found it hard to face Jonas was because of the memories.
Eyes.
The pale rubble and the collapsed servants.
Raindrops falling like blood through the broken windows.
The taste of blood. Of metal.
His younger brother’s eyes staring at him in disbelief.
The blood that kept pouring from his brother’s wrist.
The belated scream of his brother.
The sense of spiraling downward, as if he were plummeting—
When he first saw Jonas after returning to the past, he had been happy.
But the more he saw him, the clearer those memories became.
‘Not yet…’
Isaac stared vacantly at a point in the air and then spoke.
“Nanny.”
“Yes?”
“Could you bring me a chisel and a few carving blocks? Is it too late at this hour?”
“No. The second young master likes carving, so there’s always a pile of wood blocks behind the annex shed. Shall I bring some?”
The nanny brightened up.
“Yes. Please do.”
Isaac nodded.
***
The desk by the bedroom window was a complete mess.
Wood shavings and sawdust from chiseling were scattered everywhere.
Unfinished carvings from failed attempts were piled around in a chaotic heap.
There were at least a dozen of them, maybe more.
Among them, the only completed wooden doll stood in a corner of the desk.
It was shaped like a knight in armor, holding a sword upright.
It was in the same pose as the figure Jonas had clumsily carved.
“Young master? Young master?”
Hans had been knocking on the door for a while, and when there was no response, he cautiously opened it and entered.
“What in the world is all this?”
Hans was stunned at the thought of having to clean the room.
Isaac was slumped over the desk, asleep.
“Ugh…”
Sensing Hans’s presence, Isaac slowly opened his eyes.
His back was stiff and sore.
Thankfully he was young—if he were older and had slept like that, he wouldn’t be able to walk for days.
Isaac yawned and stretched deeply.
“When did you get here?”
“Just now. I knocked several times, but you didn’t answer.”
“Ah, I see.”
Isaac rubbed his bloodshot eyes.
“You didn’t sleep?”
“I think I started dozing off when the sun came up.”
Because he had overslept, he hadn’t gone for his run either.
Isaac scratched his messy hair.
Then he noticed the wooden doll sitting in the corner of the desk.
“Hans. Can you take that to Jonas for me?”
“Did you carve it yourself?”
“Yeah. And tell him to wait a bit longer.”
“Wait for what?”
“For when we can meet. Tell him big brother is a little busy right now, so it’s hard to see him.”
“…Understood.”
Hans stared blankly at Isaac for a moment before nodding.
“Um, should I come back later?”
Just then, a voice came from the entrance of the room.
It was Bill.
“Ah, this guy said he had something urgent to tell you, young master. He claims you gave him an errand. Is that true? He tends to exaggerate, you see.”
“I’m not exaggerating! It’s important!”
Bill snapped back at Hans.
“I did ask him to do something.”
“Is that so?”
“Give us the room for a bit.”
After sending Hans away, Isaac spoke privately with Bill.
Sitting on the bed, Isaac let out repeated yawns.
Even in a twelve-year-old’s body, fatigue was still fatigue.
‘I overdid it.’
Isaac wiped his face dry.
“So, did you find it?”
“…Yes. I did. It didn’t take long to locate either. There’s a southern territory where they’re willing to register someone as a free citizen.”
Bill lowered his voice.
Isaac nodded silently.
This was it.
The thing about Enette causing her friend’s death.
His guess had been right.
