The World of this Fantasy Novel is in Crisis

The cleverly concealed handle resembled a manhole cover. It didn’t seem to require any special mechanism—just brute strength to lift it—but it was incredibly heavy. No ordinary kid could possibly lift it.

Satin barely managed to open the lid and peeked inside. It wasn’t easy to see, but it was immediately clear the space wasn’t very large. He knelt down, reached his hand in, and quickly touched the bottom.

Was this a space meant to hide something? Like treasure, or important documents…?

‘…What is this?’

As Satin fumbled around the floor, his fingers brushed against something. It was solid, but when he pressed harder, the surface crumbled. It wasn’t dirt or rock. So what was it?

A strange intuition struck like lightning. The nape of his neck stiffened, and his heart pounded violently in his chest.

Satin suddenly remembered the house where he’d lived with his father. His father often brought people over. Every time, Satin would pretend to be asleep. The people who went down to the basement with his father never came back up again.

A high-pitched ringing exploded in his head. His stomach turned. Nausea welled up.

“Uugh…”

He clamped his filthy hand over his mouth. He forced himself to swallow the bile rising in his throat.

Satin shut the floor hatch and hurriedly scrambled out of the space.

***

Satin was acting strange. He’d always been weird, but now he was even weirder.

Cain silently clicked his tongue as he watched Satin mouthing empty air like some dazed idiot. Just yesterday during history class, he’d seemed unusually focused. Today, he was the complete opposite.

Even the crazy old man must’ve thought something was off, because he frowned and asked,

“Were you dozing off?”

“…I’m sorry.”

Satin bowed his head deeply. A few kids snickered. That old man never raised his voice at the students. Even if someone didn’t pay attention in class, they wouldn’t get scolded too harshly, so the kids laughed without a care.

“Go splash some water on your face.”

As expected, the old man didn’t get mad. He simply gave Satin a few light pats on the shoulder. Satin replied with a sleepy-sounding “Yes…” and walked out of the classroom yawning like someone who genuinely hadn’t slept.

‘Of course he’s sleepy. He didn’t sleep at all last night.’

Cain had stayed up late watching the movements outside. Since their team could be called into the old man’s lab at any moment, he hadn’t dared to go to bed.

Satin had been awake too. Cain had excellent night vision and could make things out clearly even in the dark. The faint moonlight filtering through the window would occasionally catch in Satin’s eyes, making them glint.

What’s he thinking about, staying up this late? That was the last thought Cain had before sleep overtook him. He hadn’t been sleeping well for days and couldn’t fight the wave of fatigue any longer.

When morning came and he opened his eyes, Satin was still awake. He was crouched on the floor by the bed. Cain had almost asked him what he was doing—but stopped himself.

There was soot smeared on Satin’s cheeks and hands.

[Where’d you go and get yourself looking like that first thing in the morning?]

[Huh?]

Satin looked genuinely confused, like he didn’t even understand what Cain was saying.

[If you’ve got eyes, look at your hands.]

Only after hearing that did Satin glance down at his hands. His eyes widened. His parted lips released a sound—unclear whether it was a groan or a sigh. His expression looked warmer than a snake’s—but not by much.

Leaving Satin where he was, Cain went to wash his face.

By the time Cain came back, Satin was still crouched there, staring down at his hands. Cain tried to ignore him and began changing his clothes when Satin suddenly asked,

[Do you know what kind of magic the teacher uses?]

[Roughly.]

Discovering a completely new magical formula was as difficult as plucking stars from the sky. But if you already knew a formula, it wasn’t too hard to infer similar ones.

Because of that, most mages focused on researching a specific branch of magic. And since they rarely shared formulas with others, it was only natural they became lone wolves.

There were mages who could burn down mountains but couldn’t conjure a drop of water to drink. Of course, there weren’t many mages to begin with, so even saying “many” meant only a handful.

[Is it fire magic, by any chance? I don’t mean just a little spark—something bigger.]

[Why are you asking if you already know?]

As far as Cain knew, the old man was a fire mage. The other kids seemed to think any magician was impressive, but Cain didn’t see it that way.

The old man was probably second-rate even among those in his own field. That’s why, instead of strutting around pretending to be some grand sorcerer, he put on the act of a kind-hearted philanthropist.

Cain was sneering inwardly when Satin raised his head. He must have rubbed his eyes with those soot-covered hands, because the skin around his eyes was smudged dark.

The sight wasn’t funny—it was… strange. His expression looked different somehow, like he wasn’t the same person. It was solemn. Gloomy.

[Could you burn a person with it?]

[What are you talking about?]

[The temperature in a crematorium is around 900 to 1,000 degrees. But even at that heat, the body doesn’t burn completely. Bones are left behind… and they have to be crushed after…]

[I don’t know what you’re getting at, but yeah, it should be enough to burn a person. There’s a reason the military gives special treatment to mages.]

Suddenly, Satin stood up from where he’d been sitting blankly. He carefully wiped his face clean with his sleeve, then changed his shirt. After that, he said he was going to wash up and left.

Cain couldn’t understand why he’d dirty his clothes only to clean up right after, but he didn’t bother to think too hard about it.

During breakfast, Satin behaved more or less the same as usual. When the other kids spoke to him, he responded with polite smiles (though his eyes were still cold), and he even exchanged a few words with the shaggy-haired Rufus.

Cain spent the morning in the archive room, so he didn’t know where Satin had gone during that time.

It wasn’t until after lunch, during the afternoon classes, that Cain saw him again. Satin entered the classroom as if nothing had happened but couldn’t focus at all during the lecture. When the old man called him out, he froze like a statue.

‘Something’s definitely going on.’

After washing up, Satin seemed more alert and listened attentively to the rest of the lesson. He looked like the usual Satin again. But Cain couldn’t shake the doubt from his mind.

‘No, something’s definitely up.’

***

Karen was the short-haired girl who shared a room with Heather. She was a little shy and not very good with words—Satin had heard she often made slip-ups while trying to express herself.

And who told him that? Tim, who was no longer around.

“There was another time something like this happened…”

While Karen sat lost in thought, Satin didn’t rush her. He just quietly pretended to nibble on a snack Rufus had given him earlier. It wasn’t sweet at all and was hard as a rock, but the kids loved it.

‘Sugar used to be incredibly expensive, right? And butter—well, that’s still expensive.’

Even if sugar and butter weren’t pricey, this school’s remote location made it hard to get any kind of sweets. This must’ve been the best they could do.

As Satin quietly evaluated the treat in his head, Karen finished her reflection and spoke.

“There was a girl named Maggie. She was a year older than me, but one morning she was just… gone.”

Maggie. He’d heard the name in passing before. Karen gave a slight shake of her head and corrected herself.

“No, not morning. It must’ve been at night. We just found out in the morning.”

Just like Tim. Had that girl also been to the teacher’s lab?

“The teacher tried asking around about Maggie, but he never found her.”

“Is there anywhere she might’ve gone?”

“I don’t know. Rufus said she ran away. Apparently that happens sometimes in places like orphanages. No matter how well you treat them.”

“Why would they run away if they’re being treated well?”

“I’m not really sure…”

Karen rolled her eyes around, then sucked on the corner of the hard snack. It was so tough it was hard to say whether it was candy or a biscuit—honestly, she might’ve had the smarter approach.

She nibbled at the softened edge, now melted slightly by her saliva, and continued speaking.

“They say it’s because they’re too suspicious.”

“Suspicious?”

“Kids who grew up on the streets… even if you treat them well, they don’t trust anyone. So they get scared and run away… That’s what Rufus said.”

“So they get scared something bad will happen to them, and they run before it does?”

“Uh-huh.”

Karen nodded and glanced at Satin nervously. He held out his snack to her.

“Here, you take it.”

“Can I really have it?”

“I’m not big on sweets.”

“Is it because you lost your memory?”

Looking curious, Karen quickly accepted the snack. She tucked it into her pocket. Watching her do that, Satin briefly worried it might break—but that probably wasn’t going to happen. The thing was hard as a brick.

Watching Karen’s face relax slightly, Satin asked,

“What do you think? Have you ever thought something bad might happen to you too?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“Do you trust the teacher?”

“The teacher’s a good person. He taught us how to read and write, and even gave us these clothes, and the snacks too…”

As Karen hesitantly listed the teacher’s good qualities, she stole a glance at Satin. Maybe she was just now starting to worry about why he was bringing this up. Or maybe… she was starting to doubt him.

“Do you not trust the teacher, Satin?”

“I don’t have my memories, remember? It’s just… this is all new to me, so it caught me off guard.”

“Well… yeah, I guess…”

That was an odd reaction. When Satin looked at her, Karen gave an awkward little laugh.

“When Maggie disappeared, you were the one who got mad. You said, how could anyone suspect the teacher…”

“I said that?”

“Yeah. You even told the teacher there was no need to look for her. Said there was no point trying so hard to find a kid who ran away.”

“Guess I used to really trust him, huh.”

“Uh-huh. Satin’s the teacher’s real student, after all.”

A real student. Rogers had said something like that too.

Satin had wondered what Tim thought about it all.