Chapter 11

That Voice (3)

Once I realized that I might actually have a talent for magic, it felt—maybe just my imagination—that manifesting magic became noticeably easier.

Well, I am an outsider possessing someone else’s body. I deserve at least this much of a perk.

In just thirty minutes, I had become perfectly accustomed to this magical training.

Vrrrmm—

It was a practice where I made a fruit orbit around my hand in circles.

I decided to call this exercise “orbital training,” after the Earth and the Moon.

Since I have to keep changing the direction of gravity magic with each turn, it’s quite an effective method of practice.

I checked my skill window.

┏━━━━━━
┃ Faint Dragon’s Bloodline
┃ Basic Gravity Magic (2%)
┃ Basic Mana Affinity (0%)
┃ Highly Educated (17%)
┃ Sturdy Body (67%)
┃ Superior Willpower (32%)
┗━━━━━━

Whoa, look at that! It’s already gone up by 1%!

See?

That’s plenty effective.

Didn’t they say it takes even geniuses about a year to reach the first rank? If I can raise 1% in thirty minutes, that’s lightning-fast, even among geniuses.

Of course, once I advanced beyond the basics, my growth would definitely slow down.

“…Ugh.”

Honestly, though, did any of that really matter? Genius this, prodigy that—at the end of the day, it’s all just part of the setting.

What was real was the fact that I was already feeling frustrated with my slow progress.

If I don’t grow faster than Seymour, there’s no way I can meaningfully change the future.

And there was so much to do if I wanted a peaceful retirement life with Lucis.

First, I had to sort out the family’s internal mess. Then, I had to get rid of the underworld connections.

I also had to overcome the schemes and obstructions of people like the Ishtar family, who bore grudges against me. On top of that, I needed to ensure the protagonist’s party grew strong enough.

Every single one of these is hard enough already. Can’t at least magic training be simple and easy?

I knew better, of course.

The easy path is always the one you forget the quickest.

From the time I first dreamed of becoming a webtoon artist, I had nearly twenty years of never letting go of the pen.

If anyone understood the value of effort, the “ten-thousand-hour rule,” it was me.

Still… this is a fantasy world. Can’t I get some kind of cheat code drop from somewhere?

I was sighing quietly to myself as I sped up the fruit’s orbit when suddenly—

The fruit froze midair.

“…Huh?”

And then, against my will, it started spinning in the opposite direction.

“What the—?”

“Kekeke.”

I looked down at the laughter and found Lucis staring up at me, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

Apparently, he had interfered with my magic.

“Oh, really now?”

My lips curled into a grin.

For Lucis, who rarely showed emotions, to play a prank on me—it actually made me a little happy.

Did that mean he had grown that comfortable and familiar with me?

Or maybe he’s just that bored.

I’ve always been a cheerful person at heart. When someone plays a trick on me, I never reject it.

I raised my mana and will, countering Lucis’s magic.

“Oh?”

Lucis’s eyes gleamed as he focused more on the fruit.

Vrrrm—

Caught between my magic and his, the fruit began trembling violently, unable to move either way.

Of course, Lucis wasn’t even using his full power.

If a dragon like Lucis were serious, I wouldn’t stand a chance. This really was just a playful game for him.

…Hm?

And then I saw something strange.

Around Lucis, tiny sparkling particles floated in the air.

Like someone had ground jewels into fine dust and scattered them from the sky.

I immediately realized what they were—shards of mana leaking out of Lucis’s spell.

Mana Field.

A Mana Field is what people call the magical aura that naturally forms around a dragon.

Unlike humans, who have very little mana, dragons themselves are essentially walking reservoirs of magic.

The concepts of “conserving” or “restraining” mana simply don’t exist for them.

Even for the simplest spells, they pour in excessive amounts of mana, so the leftover, unused energy just scatters everywhere like this.

In Earth terms, it’s like the residual heat from a monitor or computer that raises the room temperature even when you’re not actively using them.

So for Lucis, creating a Mana Field while casting was perfectly natural.

And as I watched it, another part of the setting came to mind.

Mages who stand within a Mana Field can wield much stronger magic.

Ownerless mana belongs to whoever picks it up, after all.

Instinctively, I drew in the scattered fragments of mana.

“Oh?”

As the fruit started inching toward my direction, Lucis’s eyes widened.

“Hmm…”

A glint of competitiveness sparked in his gaze.

He poured more mana into the fruit. And the Mana Field grew denser.

Then I’ll just… draw in even more from the Mana Field—

I took a calm, meditative breath.

While using my own internal mana required fierce willpower, harnessing Mana Field energy instead demanded cold composure.

Rrrrmmble—

I could almost hear the clash of mana ringing in my ears.

The fruit shuddered as though it might split in two at any moment. Grass on the ground bent flat in waves toward either Lucis or me.

“Haa…”

I exhaled deeply.

This tug-of-war wouldn’t last long.

Controlling both internal and external mana simultaneously drained an enormous amount of mental strength.

Because it required me to hold completely opposite emotions at once.

So this is what “MP consumption” feels like, huh.

Amidst the crushing fatigue, I glanced at Lucis.

“Mmgh…!”

He was staring intently at the fruit, his cheeks puffed out, brows furrowed.

The sight was so unbearably cute—he looked just like a squished apricot.

“Pfft—”

A laugh burst out of me, breaking my focus.

The fruit immediately swung to Lucis’s side under his control.

Lucis let out a victorious snort as it spun merrily around.

“Hmph!”

His curved eyebrows reflected his delight, golden eyes shining with self-admiration, lips twitching smugly side to side.

That proud, self-satisfied expression was so adorable I couldn’t help but pat his head.

“Haha. As expected, Lucis really is a great dragon.”

“Oh?”

Lucis pulled back his neck slightly, surprised.

Come to think of it, this was the first time I had ever touched his head.

“Ah…”

Was that a mistake? I froze mid-motion.

Touching the head of a proud race might be a great insult.

“Mm…”

But soon, Lucis let out a pleased little sound and leaned his head gently into my hand.

Relieved, I stroked his hair softly.

It was fluffy and silky, scattering smoothly beneath my fingers—clearly well cared for by Sia.

I enjoyed the pleasant sensation for a while until I suddenly remembered—

Right, didn’t something pop up on my skill window earlier?

I opened it.

┏━━━━━━
┃ Faint Dragon’s Bloodline
┃ Basic Gravity Magic (6%)
┃ Basic Mana Affinity (4%)
┃ Basic Mana Control (2%)
┃ Highly Educated (17%)
┃ Sturdy Body (67%)
┃ Superior Willpower (32%)
┗━━━━━━

My eyes widened in surprise.

A new skill appeared.

[Basic Mana Control]—a skill of immense importance in mage-versus-mage battles.

At its peak, it allowed one to steal another mage’s spell and mana outright.

And on top of that, both [Gravity Magic] and [Mana Affinity] shot up by a lot.

When I trained alone for thirty minutes, those skills only rose by 1% each. But now, they had jumped nearly 10% in just a short while.

They say play develops children’s emotional abilities, don’t they?

But it seemed I was the one growing more from playing with Lucis.

The influence of the Mana Field must be huge.

Using mana beyond my natural capacity for high-level training—it was only natural that my growth spiked.

And that voice didn’t show up either.

I had used far more mana than during the pigeon incident.

Yet Seymour’s thoughts and traits had failed to affect me.

So, being with Lucis really does reduce that voice’s influence.

During the pigeon incident, the voice had weakened when Lucis pulled me back.

And the banquet hall incident happened when Lucis wasn’t around.

I hadn’t been sure, but now it seemed clear: Lucis protected my sanity.

I looked down at Lucis, smiling happily under my hand, and chuckled softly.

I thought I had to protect Lucis… but maybe it’s Lucis who’s protecting me.

He made me stronger, and he shielded me.

With gratitude swelling inside, I petted him even more gently.

“Mmm…”

Watching his smile, I made a vow.

To grow stronger. Faster.

Because no matter how great a dragon he was, I couldn’t remain a pathetic adult relying forever on a child’s protection.

* * *

Dinner was, as always, with my immediate family.

“You’re going up to the Capital soon, right?”

At Sia’s question, I nodded as I cut Lucis’s meat.

“I have to, in time for the succession ceremony.”

“Then it’s the start of work hell for you, Seymour.”

Going to the Capital meant returning to everyday duties.

Right now, the funeral had only just passed, so things were relatively quiet. But soon, the duties of a family head would pile up relentlessly.

Of course, I’m not actually planning on doing them.

Just thinking about the patriarch’s responsibilities made a voice scream inside me—

The soul of my past life, who had died from overwork.

Why would I do the work myself? I’ll just grab some smart guy and make him manage everything for me.

That’s the whole point of being a transmigrator, isn’t it?

I’ll just take some poor sap who’s doomed to die to the protagonist anyway, and stick him in a key position.

“Well, yeah.”

Of course, there was no need to explain all that to my siblings.

Besides, if they picked up ideas like that and tried to apply them when they became counts, that’d be troublesome.

It’s fine if my younger sibling as Count just hands me allowance money, but if they became professional managers, that’d be awkward.

After finishing Lucis’s meat and giving him a pat on the head, I returned to my seat.

I was just about to start eating my own meal when Simon spoke up.

“Uh, brother.”

I blinked in mild surprise. Simon had always avoided talking to me.

“Um… about tomorrow.”

He spoke in a trembling voice, unable to meet my eyes.

“Could you… spare me a little time?”

Sia looked at him with pride, as though her little brother had done something brave.