Overpowered Archmage Doesn’t Hide His Talent
Chapter 101: [▶I want to confirm if we are siblings.]

Chapter 101 – [▶I want to confirm if we are siblings.]

“…”

I opened my eyes at some point. 

A white ceiling came into view in my still blurry vision.

I had a mountain of research to do today.

Without any hesitation, I got up. 

The sunlight coming in from the window was warm, and it seemed like a perfect day to explore magic.

“Hmm.”

Just as I got out of bed.

─Kaplan, are you still there?

Someone called me from outside the door.

I doubted my ears for a moment. 

It was the voice of someone I could no longer hear.

Bang─

The next moment, the door opened without permission and a familiar silhouette appeared. 

At the same time, the smell of the witch’s workshop wafted in.

“You…”

“You skipped your meal again because of your research, didn’t you? I brought you something.”

Her face was faint as she showed me the basket. Her snow-white hair shone, but I couldn’t see the rest of her clearly.

My heart sank for a moment.

“Hey, master! I’m here too!”

As I stood there blankly, her disciple appeared behind her, waving his hand. His face was full of smiles.

“…What is this?”

“What do you mean, what is this? I’m your master’s disciple!”

He grinned and started to help her lay out the food from the basket. 

The empty table was soon filled with food by the two women.

“…”

I couldn’t believe it, so I stared at her. 

As our eyes met, she blushed and tucked her hair behind her ears.

“Why are you looking at me like that? You’re making me embarrassed.”

I felt like I needed to wash my face with cold water, so I moved to the sink. But something was wrong.

I slowly lifted my head and looked at the mirror.

I looked sad in the mirror. 

I couldn’t understand why I felt sadness.

It was also something that shouldn’t be tolerated.

Then I heard his cheerful voice from outside.

“Master! Can I eat first?”

I finished washing my face and headed back to the table.

Delicious sandwiches, lettuce, and sliced fruits were already filling the table. 

I just watched the two of them eat.

“…Kaplan.”

Suddenly, she called my name in a serious tone. 

I focused my mind without knowing it.

And the next moment.

She said something that made no sense.

“It’s nice to see you like this. But I have to go now.”

I didn’t know where she wanted to go. 

She was the uninvited guest, not me.

“Huh?”

The disciple uttered a question.

“You sang so much that you missed our master. And now… already? Won’t you have a cup of tea?”

He said that as he bit into his sandwich. 

It was a bad habit that I had pointed out many times, but I still couldn’t forget.

“Master~ Master, you should think of the great witch sometimes too. I thought you were engaged to magic.”

I would have told him to shut his mouth if it were normal, but for some reason.

“I’ll do that… when I have time.”

I felt like I had to say that.

Then she opened her mouth again.

“Anyway, you should go now. Keep your promise.”

“I said I had no reason to go to the tower.”

“No. Not the tower.”

She cut me off firmly.

As our eyes met in the air.

I lost my words for a moment.

“We had a promise, remember?”

She had such sad eyes.

“We promised not to be lonely by ourselves, right?”

“…!”

I opened my eyes wide.

I felt suffocated and my throat was dry. 

My forehead was soaked with sweat as I touched it with my palm.

“…”

It was a dream.

I didn’t think of anything for a while. 

I just realized that I would never see those two again.

I also feel an indescribable emotion. 

I never thought that my simple but special daily life would unfold before my eyes like a dream.

“Sigh.”

I must have been very tired. 

Anyway, the morning of the festival has dawned.

I quietly recalled the promise I made with her. Then I thought of Becky, Louis, and Trixie in order.

“A promise.”

And a faint smile appeared on my lips.

“…I wonder if I’m keeping it well enough.”

◈

Before leaving the inn, I checked a few things.

The journey to Verkel had given me quite a lot of meaningful help.

My mana was not infinite in this world. 

So I had to calculate the optimal way to use magic every time, and squeeze out my mana to the limit.

But because of that.

This series of processes has been a great training for me. 

My intimacy with Hera had also increased greatly.

The night spirit, Hera, opened her mouth with an excited voice.

[Don’t you think you can do spiritization now?]

“Spiritization.”

Mana capacity increase.

In fact, the only function I had received from Hera so far was that one.

It increases your calculation ability, it boosts your magic power in dark places… The other functions didn’t really help much.

But ‘spiritization’ was different.

Now I could change Hera, who had been fixed in the form of a glove, into something I wanted. It had to be useful.

“I know I can choose the shape.”

[Yes, you’re right! But we have to get closer and closer for more elaborate shapes.]

“Let me try it once.”

[But first, we need to resonate!]

“That’s what I meant.”

I took in Hera’s mana with all my strength.

“…!”

At the same time, I felt a pain that was astonishing.

It felt like my bones were splitting, my muscles were twisting and tearing, and my frail flesh was transforming. 

A torment.

Crack─!

A sound that shouldn’t come out of my body hit my ears clearly. 

The pain didn’t subside as time passed, but rather grew worse.

But.

I closed my eyes and focused, enduring it all. I couldn’t help the sweat that flowed, but I didn’t show any weakness.

Maybe it was something more old-fashioned than the nobles’.

‘The dignity of a mage’

I had to be faithful to that.

The mana I took in gradually came under my control. 

I distributed it evenly in my body, and understood its flow, making it completely mine.

“Cough…!”

I spat out a murky blob of blood. 

It was more painful than ever, but the result of the high-dimensional reaction was a success.

I slowly lifted my eyelids. 

My body was burning with the new power I had absorbed.

“Let’s try elementalization this time.”

[Master, please be gentle…?]

Elementalization was basically a summoning magic, but it had a great synergy with manipulation magic.

I focused on Hera’s shape. 

As I poured mana into her, she started to squirm in the black glove.

The experiment that followed was simple.

Shapes that required multiple parts like a music box were a failure. 

However, simple shapes like a needle were successful without any problem.

“That’s enough for now.”

[Ah, can’t you play with me a little more…?]

As soon as I finished the final check.

─Bang!

Someone suddenly opened the door.

“Flan! I scored big in the poker game…!”

The person who opened the door was Becky.

“…!”

Becky couldn’t finish her sentence. 

She saw my mess and trembled her eyebrows.

“What do you want?”

I cleaned up the blood-stained mouth and desk with magic, changed my shirt on the spot, and asked quietly.

“Uh… Well…”

Becky’s eyes scanned me once. 

She stuttered for a long time, then asked me with a very worried look.

“Flan, are you… Ouch, are you hurt? Where does it hurt?”

“I’m fine. I asked you what you want.”

Becky finally started to explain the situation.

“Oh. That. Um… I got the money. I won the poker game, you see, and I bought some souvenirs for you too…”

“I’ll check them later.”

“Oh, okay. Sorry. I’ll go now. I came in too suddenly…”

Becky backed away with a very worried look. 

Until the door was completely closed, she kept peeking at me.

After I was left alone in the room, I checked a few things.

“Come to think of it…”

I suddenly remembered the blank card I had received from the dean of the magic department, Conette.

It had been a while since I looked at it, and there was a significant change. 

The letters were almost all revealed, and I had a vague idea of what it was.

It was probably an artifact that provided mana. I guessed I could draw as much as I wanted within the limit.

“So this was a blank check of sorts.”

It was a very dean-like way to give mana instead of gold. 

I nodded involuntarily.

Then, at some point.

‘…?’

In the previous world, giving someone an object with your own mana was a very tempting act among magicians. 

I wondered if it was the same in this world…

“Well, whatever.”

It didn’t matter right now. 

What was more important was how to use this card.

I put it in my pocket and took out Trivia.

Someone had spread the word, and there were quite a lot of requests coming in for the teaching auction.

“I only said I would accept things related to magic…”

Unfortunately, most of them were rather trivial.

For example, someone who seemed to be a Maiev asked me to teach him an assassination magic that uses blue mana and leaves no trace. 

Of course, I had no intention of teaching him.

[*Trixie] 

[▶Ah, sorry for not contacting you earlier] 

[▶I forgot to take Trivia with me] 

[▶Are you upset with me… 8ㅅ8]

I only sent a brief reply to Trixie.

I skimmed through the requests and filtered out the useless ones. 

Finally, I found something that caught my interest.

[*Wildspark] 

[▶Hello. I would like to ask you politely.] 

[▶Is it true that you can answer anything related to magic?] 

[▶If so, I would like you to study one person’s magic in detail. I will pay you as much as you want.]

[▶The target is Flan Judith, a first-year student at the academy.]

Flan Judith.

The anonymous requester clearly wrote that. 

He already knew that I was from the Judith family.

But what bothered me more was the line below.

[▶Also, I would like you to study the unique ability of Scarlet Judith, the famous Knight of the Flickering Flame.] 

[▶Please compare and analyze the energies of the two.]

─Representatives, please gather at the plaza! 

─I repeat. 

─Representatives, please gather at the plaza.

Just then, an announcement rang inside the dormitory. 

I immediately left the room.

As I walked down the hallway, I asked the requester.

[▷It’s not a difficult request.] 

[▷But I need to know your intention.]

The reply came back without any gap.

[▶I want to confirm if you are siblings.]

And that, with a rather surprising content.