How a Catastrophe-Level Magician Lives

The celebration party had ended.

Lady Aura, the duke’s daughter, was currently
Just arriving in front of her father, Duke Aust’s, office in the family mansion.

“Phew…!”

After hesitating several times to open the office door while taking deep breaths, she finally announced her presence with a knock, her eyes showing determination.

Knock knock knock.
“It’s me, Father.”

-Come in.

With the duke’s permission heard from inside the office, Aura carefully entered, holding the doorknob.

“Yes, what is it?”
“I came because I have something to talk about.”
“…I see.”

The duke sensed it.
That this would surely be a continuation of their previous conversation.

Lady Aura took another deep breath, opened her eyes that had been closed, and spoke boldly with determined eyes.

“Father…! I still like swords after all. I choose swords, not magic. So please don’t tell me to give up swords anymore…”
“Hm? Wait, what do you mean by that?”
“Pardon?”

In the middle of Aura’s speech, Duke Aust, noticing something odd, stopped her from continuing.

“What do you mean by that, what…?”

As Aura looked puzzled, Duke Aust furrowed his brows and seemed to be deep in thought for a moment. Then…

Could it be…

“Aura. I’m asking this just in case, but… Did my words about learning magic sound to you like I was telling you to completely let go of and give up on swords?”
“Huh? Isn’t that what you meant?”
“……”

Haah, Duke Aust soon sighed after hearing Aura’s answer and reaction.

“…It seems there was some misunderstanding between us. I didn’t mean for you to give up on swords. I never directly said such a thing. I just meant that given the times, magic is also important, so try learning it as a supplementary skill.”
“…Whaaat?”
If anything, the one most surprised and flustered by those words was Lady Aura.

“W-Wait a moment. Then, don’t tell me…”

It was then that Lady Aura and Duke Aust realized there had been a huge mistake, misunderstanding, and misconception between the father and daughter.

“……”
“……”

Sometimes, such conflicts are surprisingly common in the world.

Just as words can be easily misunderstood.

“Then, excuse me.”
Tak, after closing the office door and coming out into the hallway, Aura remained in place for a while with her head bowed, still holding the doorknob with one hand.

Then,

‘Aaah…! It was a misunderstanding! How embarrassing…!’
Out of shame and embarrassment, Lady Aura plopped down on her knees, covering her reddened face with both hands.

After sitting in that state for a few seconds.
Soon, Aura sprang up…! and turned to approach the window she had been facing away from.

The sunlight was greeting her excessively.
To the point of being dazzling.

“Ah… Of course. There’s no way Father would tell me to give up on swords. He was the one who used to boast all over the neighborhood that I might become the first female knight to inherit the family…”

Aura had just now realized this again.

Memories of past events are sometimes completely forgotten as time passes.

‘Why didn’t I try to have a calmer conversation? How foolish. How stupid…’

Sometimes, when emotions between two parties can’t be controlled, conversations can go awry.

Lady Aura, at her young age, had learned this fact acutely today.

‘Wait. Then did that young master quickly deduce the truth on his own after briefly hearing about my misunderstanding with Father at that time?’

Now that she knew all the facts, thinking back to that time.

Aura suddenly realized that Free, the fourth son of House Phoenix, was somewhat unusual.

Indeed, he was. He was just ten years old, the same age as herself. Unlike her position as a duke’s daughter who had learned precociousness and basic etiquette and manners early on, he was clearly an ordinary child of the same age.

If it were other boys, even if they were noble children, most of them would have just blankly blushed and lost themselves in her beauty, as she had seen in the ballroom then.
It’s not boasting, but people with pure white hair were very rare even in the empire.

It was something she couldn’t help but know, as it would be stranger if Aura herself didn’t notice the attention she received.

But in her memory of that time, he didn’t show the same reaction as those boys when she first appeared in the ballroom with her father, the duke, she suddenly recalled.

To the point where she might have overlooked it if she wasn’t careful. Because that child was just quietly standing in one corner of the ballroom without any presence.

At that time, she had just passed it off as nothing, but thinking about it now, it seemed like there was something unusual about him compared to others from the beginning. Free, the fourth son of House Phoenix…

“…What kind of person was he, really? As the fourth son of a count’s family, he would be in a position where he hardly receives attention from the family and probably didn’t receive proper prior education…”

Aura, having received high-level education from the family since she started walking, knew some of the noble world, customs, habits, and trends.

That’s why she couldn’t understand the unusualness of that young master named Free even more.

“…Next time I see him, I must have a more detailed conversation. And thank him again…”

For some reason, Lady Aura, the duke’s daughter, had become particularly interested in Free, the fourth son.

“Phew…”

Free, who had returned to House Phoenix, had just come out of the family head’s office, just like Lady Aura.

This was because the family head had said he would give a kind of reward for his efforts this time.

What he asked for was information about [Essential Reading on Multi-Magic II]. He requested to receive that if possible.

However, the family head only asked, “…Oh? Did you perhaps find that secret book in the family library?”

After I hesitated and honestly nodded in response, the reply I received was this:

-‘Very well. I’ll lend you the next volume of that magic book. In exchange, once you learn that magic, don’t show any more interest in the family.’
-‘….’

In other words, it meant that since you’re just the fourth son, give up on any thoughts of family succession from the start, don’t even show interest, and live quietly – a roundabout way of saying this.

‘…Well, I never thought I could inherit the family from the beginning. I wasn’t interested either. But hearing those words directly from the family head, the owner of the family, face to face. It feels different now.’

It felt most urgent to acquire the foundation and ability to become independent as soon as possible.

‘But I’m still young. Legally, I have no choice but to stay here quietly until I’m at least fifteen, the minimum age for a quasi-adult.’

There were a few routes I had thought of as means to earn money.

Like becoming an adventurer by getting an adventurer license using my experience as a war magician from my previous life and traveling to earn money.

Or joining a mercenary guild and living as a mercenary was also one of the routes.

I had also considered making magic scrolls that anyone could use magic immediately if they just supplied a certain amount of magical power, but.

Honestly, I have no experience in making them, and it’s a bit too much to do with my current magical power.

Therefore, I had to find a way to earn a lot of money even at a young age as soon as possible and prepare a plan and countermeasures to build some foundation early on, even a year younger.

‘…It’s completely unavoidable in the current situation. It’s just not the right time yet. There’s no need to be impatient and hasty from now on. Rather, in this kind of situation, I need to think more calmly and coolly.’

Realistically, I’m still young, and there are quite a lot of magic books I haven’t learned in the library.

However, when I reach a certain age, prepare some means to earn money, and have learned all the magic contained in the magic books that can be learned from the library.

Then, like his name, he will gain the wings of freedom and fly away from this place. Taking his mother and younger sister Reina with him.
That was the plan.

──However,

Several years passed.

After completely mastering [Essential Reading on Multi-Magic II] that I later received directly from the family head.

He was called to the family head’s office again.

And the words he heard face to face from the family head were…

“Enter the middle school division of the Academy in the Orwen Empire.”

At the age of 13 full years, exactly 14 years old by Korean age reckoning, he was told to enter the middle school division of an academy in another empire.

Free von Betelgeuse.
Currently 14 years old by Korean age reckoning.

It was the age when he was decided to study abroad and enter a middle school academy in another empire, just 1 year before he would legally become a quasi-adult.