Chapter 290

“……”

I forgot to say that I looked forward to it too. Instead, I smiled and took his hand. As soon as I took his hand, Leonard blinked his eyes rapidly. Judging by where his gaze was going, he seemed surprised by the magic power he felt from me.

“Then, Teacher. I’ll see you after class.”

The Crown Prince’s secretary said that and then disappeared with the other servants.

After the class, I will be evaluated by both sides. The king has a good impression of me, but it’s true that I’m a little nervous.

“Teacher.”

As everyone disappeared, Leonard gestured for me to follow. A typical five-year-old would pull an adult along or linger around them, but he didn’t.

‘…He’s mature….’

It’s natural since he would have been taught to act like an adult since he started walking, but I can see his personality that I know overlapping. In this aspect, he doesn’t seem much different from the seventeen-year-old Leo. Of course, I know he’s the same person as the seventeen-year-old Leo, but I still can’t believe he’s the same person, so he’s considered as a separate life form from the 17-year-old Leo. And in some sense, he probably is.

The me of 21st-century South Korea and the me of 19th-century German Empire are disconnected in one direction.

I have inherited a lot from the me of 10 years ago, but at the same time, the me of 10 years ago is a different person to the extent that I can’t believe he’s a continuous being to the current me. Whether I’m trapped in someone else’s body or turn back time, my mind does not deviate from the unidirectional time axis and moves forward. Even if I live the life of a 23-year-old in Luka’s body, I will be essentially different from the me of the past who was 23 in my original body. And even if I really go back to my 23-year-old body, I can’t be the same as before I came here. The human mind changes under the pressure of time, whether it’s an external or internal experience. A single drop of water falling from the eaves can pierce a stone. This person can grow up to be the person I knew, but there is also a possibility that he may not. I must fundamentally treat this person as a different person. I can’t treat the 5-year-old Leo like the 17-year-old Leo.

‘Of course, collecting information from this period and using it on the 17-year-old Leo is a different story.’

Anyway, it’s still true that this person is a part of that 17-year-old Leo. Even if the reverse is not true.

I went and sat at the table in the middle of the garden where Leonard led me. Only Leo’s chair was a bit taller. As the wind blew, the scent of the roses in full bloom in the garden brushed my nose.

“Now, since it’s the first day, let’s have a simple get-to-know-each-other session before we start the main class.”

Leonard nodded with a smile.

“Why do you like combat magic, Your Highness? I heard you have an extraordinary passion for it.”

Actually, I’ve never heard that; I just know from future information. Leonard answered calmly without being flustered.

“Because a monarch must be able to protect his subjects.”

“A monarch protects his subjects through politics. In the future, instead of fighting on the battlefield yourself, Your Highness will be sitting in the heart of Munich, commanding the army. In that sense, it is right for Your Highness to be knowledgeable in combat magic, but I have heard that you have a particularly strong passion and interest in combat magic compared to other fields such as tactics or magic medicine. I want to know the reason.”

“……”

“Please answer honestly. I’ve come as a teacher. I plan to decide the direction of future classes based on the reason you give me.”

“…Magic….”

Leonard finally looked away as if he were avoiding the question, then looked at another place and answered in a crawling voice.

“I like it because the light is pretty.”

“……”

Ah, this is fun. I’m going to pull the pranks I couldn’t before. How could I hear such words from the 17-year-old Leo? Even if I did, I would hear words like ‘I like the way it shines when I swing my wand’ in a stoic voice.

But if I tease him a little more here, the little kid might pout.

“I’m sure you do.”

“What?”

“Good. Then it would be better to have theory and practice classes back-to-back rather than separately.”

I could see a bright smile spreading on Leonard’s face. The 17-year-old Leo only smiles like a class president, and when he’s with us, he’s basically expressionless. He smiles often when we argue, but that’s more of a sarcastic smile than a real one. It’s natural for him to grin right away when he’s happy like this, but it’s a reaction that’s hard to see from someone who’s a bit older.

As I thought that, I brought up a question that might sound a bit out of the blue.

“Did you happen to come to my room yesterday?”

“…!”

The smile disappeared from Leonard’s face in an instant. The typical expression of children who have done something wrong appeared. In other words, he froze, pale. Leonard answered in a small voice without taking his eyes off mine.

“Yes.”

He doesn’t lie. He’s that kind of person. If I had asked the 17-year-old Leo like that, he would have answered annoyingly, something like ‘I did, so what?’, but this 70-month-old Leo’s reaction is interesting. I suppressed my playfulness and asked.

“Why?”

“…I’ve only learned theoretical magic, so it’s my first time having a combat magic-type mage as a teacher, so I was curious.”

Now that I see, he speaks quite long sentences. The fact that his pronunciation is slurred is something kids are like, so that’s fine, but he’s speaking more properly than I expected.

“Hmm, so I’m the first. I’m honored.”

Leo seriously got into combat magic after seeing Luka’s magic, so it will be more than half a year from now. Right now is the stage before that, just a taste, so it makes sense that I’m the first.

At my words, Leonard just smiled and then asked.

“I have something I’m curious about too. What’s that on your ear?”

For a moment, I felt my blood run cold.

The thing on my ear? It’s a tracking device and artifact with a core-beating function. And it’s an artifact that contains the magic power of the very child who is asking me this question.

But why is he asking this in a world where every Tom, Dick, and Harry of a mage uses artifacts?

Could this be connected to this five-year-old’s core? No way, right? If so, I’m now….

“…It’s just an earring.”

“It’s an artifact. Did you make it yourself? Or did you get it from somewhere?”

Leonard corrected my words and asked.

I could clearly feel it in this persistence. This is Leo. It’s the past of that 17-year-old Leo. Instead of answering, I tapped the table lightly with my fingers.

“Your Highness. Is your core alright, by any chance?”

“I’m perfectly fine. Why do you ask?”

As expected, the quick-witted Leonard noticed that there was some connection between my hand gesture and my question and asked, imitating me.

‘…That’s a relief.’

It’s not connected to the core of the Leonard here. I won’t be dragged away for the crime of regicide.

“Just because. A friend of mine gave me this artifact. By the way, do you have a favorite food?”

I changed the subject.

After that, a series of trivial stories followed. It was a process that had to be gone through to win the heart of a student, no matter who the subject was. Still, since he was very young, the process wasn’t difficult.

When I started to see Leonard getting tired, I brought up a topic that would interest him.

“Now, shall we try some magic?”

“…! Yes!”

Leonard, as if his energy had been restored, ran to an open space in one corner of the garden. As I stood in front of him, he pulled out his wand with a confident face and lightly extended it to me.

I touched the light blue magic power spreading in the air with my hand. Even though he didn’t mix in healing magic, it barely tingled. Compared to the 17-year-old Leo, he really has no aggression.

It’s optimal for magic medicine, but there are many problems if he wants to go down the path of combat magic.

‘He must have worked hard.’

Now, if I get hit by the magic power Leo releases unconsciously, it honestly hurts. Didn’t Leo say so himself? Even if it’s a magic power suitable for healing magic, there’s still some aggression left, so you have to polish it to use healing magic properly.

Leonard was looking at me with a nervous face, so I smiled and answered.

“Your magic power is clean. It’s objectively on the superior side. Now, before we start in earnest, did you see my magic yesterday?”

The royal guard was there before the king even arrived, so I was wondering if this kid was sitting there. I heard later that only the royal guard was there and no one from the royal family, but I asked just in case.

Leonard got nervous and then nodded.

“I saw it from a distance. But I want to see it for real too.”

From a distance?

Anyway, I understand. I got up from my seat and twirled my wand in my hand, turning it into a staff.

“I’ll show you properly after class. Now, I’m going to launch a light attack. Try to dodge it.”

“Yes!”

I lightly swung the staff.

Leonard, flustered, widened his eyes and jumped back indiscriminately, casting a barrier.

“Ugh!”

Just before my magic power hit the barrier he had cast, I pulled the staff back and retrieved the magic power. Leonard, noticing that keenly, caught his breath and turned back. I smiled and said.

“It’s better not to cast a barrier as much as possible when there’s a severe difference in the amount of magic power or skill level.”

“Why, why…?”

“Because the barrier is easy to break. It’s a different story if you can immediately disperse the magic power of a breaking barrier, but usually you can’t, so you get secondary damage. Like glass breaking, it becomes like this.”

I set up a barrier, then drew a little of Leo’s magic power that was wrapped around my core and shattered my barrier. Then I grabbed the fragment, showed the broken part, and then immediately dispersed it into the air.

“Anyway, it will lose its shape and disperse on its own over time, but by then it’s too late. And even if it doesn’t break, it’s better to dodge first. Because the light and sound interfere with your senses.”

“Ah….”

Leo taught me all of this.

And now I’m teaching it to another Leo.

This feels new.

“For the time being, we will only practice dodging attacks with our bodies first like this. This is the basis of combat magic.”

“…I understand! I want to try again.”

“Alright.”

I expected him to cry because things weren’t going his way, given his age, but he doesn’t. His temperament is originally mild, and his passion for learning is also outstanding, so that’s probably why.

And so, the class ended only after two hours.

‘What?’

Is this really a kid?

A 70-month-old concentrating for two hours straight? Isn’t it usually 30-40 minutes at best? Even though he’s 70 months old, he’s a New Human, so his stamina is far superior to that of an Old Human, but this is actually a matter of mental strength, so even New Human children can’t train for two hours at a time.

Leonard, as if he wasn’t even tired, was just looking at my wand while wiping his sweat.

“Your Highness. You shouldn’t overdo it. Let’s stop here for today.”

“Yes.”

‘No. He must have been tired.’

That magic maniac always forces me to do it for 5 more minutes, so considering that, it ended much more cleanly than I thought.

Leonard plopped down on a seat. I held out the children’s elixir I had received from his secretary.

“Here you go.”

“Thank you.”

“Is it fun?”

At my question, Leonard answered with sparkling eyes.

“A lot.”

‘He’s honest….’

I nodded and sat down next to him, asking some trivial questions.

“Do you have a unique ability?”

“Yes, I do.”

Leonard snapped his fingers. Then, plants grew from around where I was sitting.

‘Oh, could it be….’

Is this a time when the Leo here hasn’t developed his unique ability yet? The plants he grew with his ability didn’t crawl as if they were going to eat a person, but just grew upwards.

“Your Highness. Would you like to try bending this plant with your unique ability?”

“Bend it?”

Leonard, flustered and seemingly at a loss, just waved his hands.

I lightly grabbed the plant’s stem and tilted it slightly.

“No, like this….”

“Huh?”

Leonard’s eyes widened. He looked back and forth between me and the plant with a dazed face.

I was doing the same.

“…Gasp…!”

I belatedly shot up from my seat. The moment I bent the plant, light green stems grew from the surrounding soil like vines. Leonard quickly spat out words with a slurred pronunciation.

“T-t-teacher, you have a unique ability too…!”

“No?!”

“What?”

This isn’t my ability. It’s Leo’s ability, how can it be mine?

I turned around and strode to the end of the garden. I could hear Leonard calling me from behind. The moment I sat in a corner and put my hand on the soil, a green leaf suddenly sprouted from the brown soil where there was nothing.

I felt the skin all over my body turn into goosebumps.

‘…This is crazy…. But why? Why…? What for?’

A unique ability can be copied? Wow, how exciting. I composed my expression as if nothing had happened, got up, and went back to Leonard. This was not the time to think about this now.

“Your Highness. This is not my ability.”

“What? But just now….”

“Could it be that you succeeded in bending the plant, Your Highness?”

“But….”

“Congratulations. You’re really talented. Keep it up.”

I patted Leonard’s shoulder with a smiling face to divert his attention. At this point, he was also confused as to whether this was a real compliment or not.

I gathered my scattered soul and brought up another topic to divert his attention.

“That’s all for today’s class, and now we need to wrap up. Is there any magic you’d like to see?”

“…! You’ll use the one I request?!”

“Well, it’s not difficult.”

“Th-then, something flashy….”

“Hmm.”

“I couldn’t properly appreciate your magic earlier because I was busy dodging. I’d like to see it in detail this time.”

“Alright….”

That’s so you….

‘No, try more. Use it more’ is more polite than that, so maybe I should take it well.

What should I do? The covenant magic is the most flashy, but there’s nothing to make a covenant about, so I can’t. If I don’t want to be arrested for the crime of regicide, I can’t use a highly aggressive spell either.

Then there’s just the right spell. It’s a protective spell that uses divine power. I’ll also mix in magic power here.

I lightly tapped the ground with my staff.

—For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

Kwaang—….

With the sound of the air bursting, blue magic power rode up the staff, shot up, and then spread out in all directions. My hair flew back from the magic power.

At the same time, Leonard’s mouth fell open. His light blue eyes were shining blue.

“It’s like fire.”

“Is that so?”

“It looks like I’m seeing a blue fire.”

“……”

I nodded. Then, the light of the divine power covered the spot and flowed with the wind to me and Leonard. Leonard was looking around the brightly shining garden, dazed. He caught the gradually receding divine power in his hand. Then he looked up at me and said.

“Please use it one more time.”

“……”

For a moment, I felt a chill on the back of my neck. His eyes were the same. Those frighteningly bright eyes were not looking at my eyes, but at what was inside my eyes. I’m sure that gaze was still alive 12 years later.

To think that that gaze was there from this period, his passion for magic is certain.

I sat down to meet his eye level and created a burst of magic power in my hand. This time, too, his eyes turned blue like the summer sky. Leonard, without taking his eyes off my magic, muttered.

“Is there another mage in the world who uses magic like this?”

“There is. He’s about your age, Your Highness, and I’d like to introduce you.”

“There is?!”

“Yes. Try to become friends when you meet. You can play with that friend later.”

“‘Later’?”

“You’ll meet someday.”

Perhaps because that wasn’t what he meant to ask, Leo shook his head.

“What about you, Teacher?”

“We will study together, but when Your Highness goes to school, a private tutor will no longer be necessary. The school Your Highness will be attending is a boarding school, so it will be difficult to have a private tutor. Play with that friend then.”

“……”

“Of course, that’s a long way off, so for now, you should focus on my classes and improve your skills. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

Leonard nodded with a face lost in other thoughts. His expression was slightly dark.

And so, 3 days passed.

I had a feeling something was amiss. What was wrong with that last statement? That’s the only thing that’s bothering me right now.

I am moving all over the mansion’s garden to avoid the 5-year-old who is chasing me. For the past 3 days, Leonard would come to me after class and try to stick to me like glue. No, in fact, he even tried to skip classes often.

‘Kids are like that sometimes.’

I also have experience teaching a student for a short time. When both the teacher and the student are young and there’s a moderate age gap, the student sometimes sees the teacher as a close older sibling. It’s only possible because the student is good and young.

So I already expected it. That he would follow me around to some extent. But there’s a limit to everything, and this has exceeded my expectations.

‘Something must have happened at the end. He’s the type to be like this just for magic… but this is too much.’

I feel like I don’t even have 8 hours to myself a day. He has a separate nanny—that New Human secretary who was attached to Leonard was the one who did the child-rearing—but I feel like I’ve taken on that job as well.

I want to be alone too.

Still, in the meantime, I achieved the 24-hour suggestion, and I raised the time lag level again. Now, 1 hour here is 2 minutes outside. 24 hours is 48 minutes. It’s flowing much faster than when I was in Pleroma’s world, so I have no intention of raising it further. Even if I stay here for 100 days, if not even a day passes outside, the gap will be too large, and with 1 day-48 minutes, my goal of moving up the birthday celebration has been sufficiently achieved. The king’s birthday celebration is about ten days away, so it’s fine if only about 8 hours pass outside.

I cast an invisibility spell and lay down in the forest behind the Crown Prince’s palace. The coolness on my head is refreshing.

Tak—

The sound of a branch breaking came from right next to me. A person. As I lifted my head, I saw a familiar face.

‘…This person.’

“You shouldn’t say things like that to kids~”

Emanuel Wittelsbach was looking down at me with a grin. Unlike when I saw him before, he was wearing a flowing shirt that showed no regard for formality. No matter how I look at him, he’s the Elias type.

More than that, why is he here? How did he know I was here?

As I was about to break the invisibility spell and get up, Emanuel waved his hand.

“No, stay down. I know you’re resting after a long time, so I’m sorry. But… hahaha, he cried all day to His Majesty that day.”

To tell me this story after seeing me only once?

More than that… I know well who cried. If it had been the 17-year-old Leo, I wouldn’t have been very sorry—in the first place, a 17-year-old doesn’t cry over something like that—but since he’s 5, I feel sorry.

“It probably wasn’t something to cry about.”

“Even if kids don’t seem to understand what you’re saying, they understand everything. Didn’t you say you’d have to part when His Highness the Crown Prince goes to school?”

That was what I meant.

As I couldn’t answer, Emanuel Wittelsbach smiled leisurely and pointed to the corner of his eye.

“His Majesty the King was so stressed out that he had dark circles down to here. What are you going to do if he offers you a lifetime contract as a kingdom mage now?”

“…That’s a bit….”

Emanuel Wittelsbach nodded as if in agreement with my words and opened a bottle of alcohol. He tilted the bottle at me as if to ask if I wanted a drink.

“Thank you, but I’m fine.”

Emanuel nodded and took a swig of the alcohol. Then he wiped his mouth and said.

“It’s hard to deal with kids, right? You shouldn’t tell them the truth even if you’re leaving soon. You have to talk as if you’ll play with them forever.”

“……”

“Later, a time will come when they’re so distracted by other things that they won’t care whether you leave or not. You can just leave naturally then.”

Someday, that Leonard will also see Luka’s magic. At that point, there’s a possibility that his interest will wane.

“I see. But does Your Highness Emanuel think I will leave?”

“I think you’ll quit the private tutor job soon.”

“I have no intention of quitting.”

“You don’t seem like you’ll stay in the kingdom for long…. But you also don’t seem like you’ll go to another country for good. I don’t know why I get this feeling?”

He didn’t pay attention to my words and just said what he wanted. Emanuel Wittelsbach took another swig of the alcohol and asked in a low voice.

“You came here looking for someone, right.”

I turned my eyes and looked up at him.

Emanuel Wittelsbach’s eyes, half-closed in a gentle smile, were dark under the shade of the forest.

“Why are you looking for someone from the Austro-Hungarian Empire?”

“……”

Can a level 3 Connoisseur’s Eye know even this much? Not insight, but ‘Connoisseur’s Eye’, how likely is that? What does this question mean? Even if it’s not a clear hypothesis, can’t a few possible hypotheses be made?

I sat up and tilted my head.

“It seems Your Highness knows them.”

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