TYND 36

TL: Motokare

Chungnip rushed past the frozen Theon.

“Rothy! Good heavens, what’s wrong?!”

“I’m sorry. This happened because of my mistake…”

“What’re you saying?! What mistake? Get up now!”

He lifted Rothy and sat him in a chair. 

Scree, screee! 

The weasel tugged at Chungnip’s robe, refusing to let go. The mage ended up busying himself trying to comfort both Rothy and the weasel.

“I messed up…”

The faint voice trailed off again before Theon finally snapped out of his daze. He then approached Rothy with long strides and pulled him into his arms before sitting down on the chair Rothy had been occupying. Normally, Rothy would’ve settled comfortably in Theon’s embrace, but now he was all stiff and reluctant, his shoulders hunched. 

“Rothy, only apologise when you’ve done something wrong. You protected yourself from people who tried to kill you, and you protected Aeruhen too. I don’t understand why you’re apologising.”

Theon tried to keep his voice as soft as possible. Holding Rothy close, he slowly rubbed his small back. Gradually, the boy stopped his trembling.

Thop…

Rothy rested his head against Theon’s shoulder though for some reason, Theon felt a thrill at the feather-light weight. 

Screee…

The weasel, which’d been gnawing at his trouser hem decided to climb up his leg. Theon picked up the weasel and placed it in Rothy’s lap. The little creature wriggled its way into Rothy arms, but for some reason, the boy kept pushing it back to Theon.

“Your Grace. It must’ve been Rothy’s first… you know… that… It explains why he’s…” Chungnip whispered.

Theon didn’t understand what Chungnip meant by ‘that’. 

“The first kill’s always the most traumatising…”

Chungnip gently stroked Rothy’s fluffy white hair. The unexpected touch made Rothy’s shoulders, which’d just started to relax, hunch up again. Immediately, Theon’s eyebrows shot up. 

“Even for killing, there’s a big difference between ending a life without damaging the body and mutilating it.”

“……”

Rothy, he… blew up two heads and a person’s limbs with localised explosion magic, but he’s still just an ordinary sixteen-year-old boy…”

A crease formed between Theon’s brows.

“Hmm? That’s not true…”

Rothy, who’d been trying to hand the weasel to Theon, lifted his head.

“I’ve killed many times.”

“What—?”

“When the other children were suffering and in pain, I ended their lives myself…That’s why I got scolded a lot by my master……”

Chungnip’s mouth fell open. Theon, however, kept his brows knitted. 

“Chungnip.”

“Y–yes?”

“Your hand.”

“Ah……”

Chungnip pulled his hand from Rothy’s head in surprise. He didn’t know why he needed to remove it, he just instinctively knew he had to. 

“I–I see. Sending those children to Seará’s side was the right thing. But today’s killing was different from those deaths… it must be shocking.”

“……”

Chungnip looked at Rothy’s blinking eyes and realised the child’s cowering wasn’t because of the psychological shock from the killing. He definitely wasn’t an ordinary sixteen-year-old boy. Chungnip stepped back with a complicated look on his face. Theon, meanwhile, had already suspected from the start that Rothy’s anxiety and fear weren’t about the killing. 

The killing had nothing to do with it.

“Rothy. I’ll say it again—I won’t throw you out. We’ll live together in the North forever, so stop worrying about that. What happened today was my failure for not protecting you properly, even though I anticipated this.”

Rothy was afraid of being thrown out.

“But… should I remain here, assassins will continue to come for me.” 

“Doesn’t matter. Let them come.”

“Your Grace, the others will beseech you to banish me.”

“No one can command me.”

Theon remembered having this conversation recently. Repeating himself was what he hated the most, but for Rothy… he was willing to say it as many times as needed. 

“Rothy, I’m the master of the North. Do you know what that means?”

Rothy’s green eyes sparkled—he remembered too, their conversation from before. 

“That’s right. I’m the strongest. No one can order me around, and no one can force me to do anything. I don’t have to do things I dislike.”

“Theon’s the strongest. No one can order or force you to do anything……”

“You understand well.”

“Yeah… I like Theon.”

Rothy buried himself in Theon’s embrace. Theon realised Rothy’s heart had settled when he began speaking casually again. Holding the small body, Theon finally felt his own stiff muscles relax, and his racing heartbeat slowed. Only after the tension released did Theon realise he’d been tense.

Now that the mood had lightened, it was time to ask Rothy about his magic…

Is he not planning to let go of Rothy?

Chungnip was a bit taken aback that Theon still held Rothy in his arms. Those red eyes that people called sorrowful now held a firm resolve not to let Rothy go. Chungnip had no choice but to question the boy while he was nestled in Theon’s arms. 

“Lord Rothy, did you memorise the localised explosion magic and telepathy magic?”

In his surprise and fluster earlier, he’d used casual speech, but now that he had collected himself, he could no longer bring himself to speak casually. 

“Yeah, there’s still a lot of the spells left from back then.”

“Why would you… Wait, you still have a lot left?”

“More than a hundred left. With my level of magical power, I can store many at once. Let me know if you need any…”

Chungnip couldn’t believe that number came out of Rothy’s mouth so casually, like it was nothing. Since Theon, being a knight, mightn’t understand the significance, he explained. 

“I don’t know how many spells a seventh-grade archmage can memorise, but a sixth-grade high-mage averages between three to five spells. We don’t usually store them for more than five days. It consumes a lot of magical power and requires intense concentration. It’s like trying to memorise an entire book in your head while going about your daily life.”

Theon frowned slightly. For the archduke, that sounded like absolute torture since he wasn’t very fond of books. 

“But Lord Rothy, why memorise something like localised explosion magic? Telepathy I understand, but why destructive magic like localised explosion…?”

“Because my master told me to…”

“Yolone Sirin? Why on earth—”

“……”

Rothy shook his head, making it clear he couldn’t explain more. His lips pinched into a small ‘ㅅ’ shape, causing a small walnut chin to appear.

He stuck his forehead firmly against Theon’s broad chest. In response, Theon stroked Rothy’s back.

“He often clams up when that person is mentioned. Chungnip, are you certain it’s not a silencing spell?”

“Yes. No spells have been cast on him. It appears he hasn’t recovered psychologically. Well, it’s understandable for six years’ a long time…”

Chungnip considered how to rephrase his question, then tried a different approach.

“Can you tell us what other spells he made you memorise besides the localised explosion and telepathy magic?”

Fortunately, Rothy lifted his head, appearing ready to answer this question.

“Flight magic, explosion magic, vine magic, swamp magic, fire magic, ice magic, acceleration magic, body enhancement magic, electrical discharge magic…”

“St–stop for a minute.”

Just as living creatures were classified by kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species, magic also had three classification systems: realm, class, and type. For example, the telepathy Rothy used on Aeruhen was one of twenty-eight spells in the Combat realm, Support class, Mental Connection type. But what Rothy had just listed weren’t specific spells, he was naming entire types, and each type contained anywhere from three to fifty-one different spells.

“You learnt all those spells?”

“Yes.”

His jaw nearly hit the floor. 

Come to think of it, if he had a living magic stone as a disciple, he’d probably have them learn every magic in existence too. But then again… 

It’s one thing to make him learn, but is there a need to make him memorise all of them?

The more spells stored, the greater the magical power consumption and mental fatigue. The purpose of creating a living magic stone was to receive unlimited magical power… so why make the living magic stone store spells for instant use? It wasn’t as if Rothy would be sent to battle. 

Wait.

Flight, explosion, vine, swamp, fire, ice, acceleration, body enhancement, electrical discharge—these were magics commonly used on actual battlefields.

Could it be……

Chungnip thought of one possibility, but it made no logical sense. That was when Theon, who’d been listening quietly, broke the silence.

“If you can’t find a logical reason, then the only one that remains is the illogical one.”

“Your Grace, you mean…”

“Rothy has been using those lethal spells himself.”

Rothy let out a startled ‘Hiiing!’ and jumped up. If Theon hadn’t caught him, his head would’ve hit the ceiling. 

“Are you saying… Rothy was actually on the battlefield?”

Chungnip thought it was ridiculous. Setting aside the ethical issues of sending a child into battle, it was implausible. He’d never seen Rothy on the battlefield. Yolone Sirin had always fought alone, never using support mages. Not to mention, Rothy’s appearance was far too distinctive. Even if he’d disguised himself and operated somewhere in the rear, with Rothy’s level of magical ability, there would’ve been rumours. It was impossible for him to have been active without anyone noticing. But unlike Chungnip, Theon was certain.