Episode 28: The Gift
A studious atmosphere had now settled over Glaube Magic School.
The troublemaking mages had all left, leaving only those serious about their studies.
Perseta had stayed at the school the whole time, observing and shaping the atmosphere, but now there was no need.
Even if he just threw out assignments, the classes ran smoothly with the students discussing things on their own.
“We now know the human world rotates. Therefore, we must determine its rotational speed, correct? Now then, how might we calculate that rotational speed? Summarize your findings by tomorrow. This is your assignment.”
“Hmm…”
“Hmph…”
Whenever Perseta assigned homework like this, the magicians would let out groans mingled with pain and a sense of challenge, then begin self-study on their own.
Thanks to this, Perseta found the time to leave the magic school after just over a month.
The first thought that came to mind was:
‘I should go say hello to Father and Mother.’
Truthfully, he had been deeply impressed by Al Adne, the Sage’s disciple.
The Sage, who naturally trusted her own disciple, and Al, who carried out her instructions to Al Adne’s complete satisfaction.
Did their relationship look exactly like that of parent and child?
‘I want to be that kind of reliable child to Father and Mother too.’
Hadn’t he resolved this upon leaving the secluded retreat?
To live not just for study, but to care for his family too.
Yet he’d become engrossed in his studies again, living over a month without seeing his parents’ faces.
Reflecting on his own thoughtlessness, Perseta hurried his steps toward the baron’s castle.
**
The first place Perseta went was his father’s study.
His father, Baron Plian, was beaming.
He was passionately debating with Zvart, who had regained his confidence, about how to make the estate prosperous.
“Oh! My eldest son! You’ve come!”
Baron Plian greeted his eldest son Perseta, who had appeared after a long absence, with great enthusiasm.
He hugged him tightly and patted his shoulder.
“Father. Have you been well?”
“What? Well? Hahahaha! Thanks to you lately, I’m about to grow black hair again!”
It didn’t seem like an empty remark.
When he first saw him, Baron Plian had shown signs of aging, his hair graying. But now, he looked like a man in hisprime, full of passion, as if he were in his mid-forties.
Satisfied by this sight, Perseta asked.
“What were you all talking about?”
“Ah, that, you see.”
His father explained the various business ventures he was currently undertaking on the estate.
Several ventures were running successfully, but there was a problem.
It was the same problem across the board.
“People are the problem. People. Money is pouring in, orders are flooding in, but we lack the labor to handle it. So Zvart and I were discussing where we could possibly draw more manpower from the estate.”
The Verite estate was currently suffering from a labor shortage across all industries.
After Perseta and Salinelle arrived, the quality of all goods in the Verite Barony improved significantly. Ironware, bread, grains and vegetables, textiles—everything.
Consequently, demand surged not only from surrounding estates but across the entire kingdom, eager to purchase these goods. The problem was that supply couldn’t keep up with that demand.
The population of the Verite Barony was a mere 4,500 or so. Of those, the number of people capable of working, men and women combined, was only around 1,500.
Amidst this, the victory in the Kingdom’s trial meant they gained the vast lands of Altazad, and additionally, they seized the Lis region, which the Viscount Felix had forfeited as compensation… The shortage of people meant land lay fallow.
Until now, they had somehow boosted productivity using the magic laid down by Perseta and Salinelle. But the explosion in demand had long since pushed that to its limits.
“But that’s the problem. The number of subjects equals the strength of the domain. Other lords would never give up their subjects, even if it meant their own deaths. And with the kingdom’s long peace, there are no wandering refugees either…“
It was certainly a cause for concern.
But,
“Father. I think I can handle that.”
“You?”
“Yes. Increasing the number of subjects won’t be easy, but I have a way to dramatically boost productivity right away.”
“Oh? What is it?”
“We can mobilize the mages from the magic academy.”
“Huh?”
“If we can’t find people, we must increase production efficiency. By mobilizing those mages, we could cover the entire domain in magic.”
Baron Plian looked slightly flustered.
“Ha, but there’s no way those distinguished individuals would agree to such a thing…”
“They will.”
“They will?”
“Yes.”
“Th-that. Son. Those individuals there—the headmaster of the Imperial Academy, the Crown Princess of the Kingdom of Vishena… I hear even the Sage is there these days?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“But you intend to mobilize them for labor?”
“Yes. I can manage that much.”
That was precisely what it meant to establish a studious atmosphere at the magic school.
It meant clearly defining the hierarchy of who teaches and who learns.
No fool remains at the magic school now who doesn’t know that Perseta is generously bestowing great knowledge upon them.
So, of course they have no choice but to grant Perseta’s ‘small request’.
“Please list what you need and send it to the magic school. I’ll review it and lead the mages there.”
Should this be called reassuring? Or utterly mind-blowing?
Baron Plian blinked in confusion, then finally relaxed his arms and pulled Perseta into a tight embrace.
“My son. You’re incredible…”
**
Perseta, bouquet in hand, headed toward the garden where his mother resided.
He’d heard she felt mortified that the family garden wasn’t beautiful enough to host a tea party for the noble ladies.
So lately, she tended to the garden whenever she had free time.
Perseta suddenly gazed at the flower in his hand, radiant with seven brilliant hues.
His father’s voice seemed to echo in his ears.
‘What does your mother, Lady Roorua, like? That’s my specialty, of course. I have a secret weapon.’
The confident move his father had pulled out was none other than the ‘Seven-Colored Peacock Flower’.
‘Your mother really loves this. I used this to charm your mother.’
Coming from a father who had charmed his way into marriage, Perseta found his words utterly credible.
That is, until he arrived in the garden, exchanged warm greetings with his mother, and presented the peacock flower he’d been hiding behind his back.
“Oh my? A peacock flower?”
Mother Roorua accepted the flower Perseta offered with an ambiguous expression.
“Your father told you about this, didn’t he?”
“Yes. He said you’d really like it…”
At that, Roorua burst out laughing.
“Well, well. That man still thinks I genuinely love this flower.”
“No? Father swore up and down that he charmed you with this…”
“I was just pretending to like it back then. That man who brought me the most dazzling flower in the world to charm me… he seemed cute back then.”
Ah.
As Perseta gaped in shock at this shocking truth, his mother chuckled.
“Truth is, flowers like this aren’t really my taste. They’re too flashy for me. I much prefer wild chrysanthemums. And even then, I don’t like them in a vase—just scattered blooming here and there. When you see wild chrysanthemums clustered together, don’t they just look so endearing?”
“I-I see.”
“But it’s fine. This is from my forever adorable son. I’ll put it in a vase and look at it every day.”
Roorua clutched the iridescent peacock flower to her chest as if determined never to let it go, quietly inhaling its fragrance.
Perseta, feeling embarrassed, scratched his cheek and asked his mother.
“Mother. Isn’t there anything you’d like to try?”
“Something I’d like to try?”
“Yes. I’ll do it all for you.”
At that moment, Perseta thought of Al Adne, the sage’s disciple.
Al, who would step forward without hesitation at the sage’s word.
Perseta wanted to be that kind of presence for his mother.
Roorua smiled faintly.
“There is.”
“What is it?”
“Listening to Perseta chatter.”
“Huh?”
“Kids do that, you know. They blab on all day about what they did. Listening to it is such a chore. I want to try that.”
“But I’m not a kid.”
“That’s exactly why. I didn’t get to hear it when you were a kid. Tell me now.”
Scratch.
It was a request Perseta hadn’t anticipated at all.
But it wouldn’t be difficult.
The only thing worrying him was…
“That… It might be boring for you.”
“That’s exactly why I’m listening.”
“Hmm. In that case.”
Perseta and Roorua set up a tea table in the garden and sat down.
They began their conversation while enjoying tea and sweets together.
- Perseta!
Led by Hinari Ririane, fairies fluttered over and perched on teapots or plates, chattering away as they listened to the story.
Mother Roorua, seemingly already accustomed to the fairies, skillfully played with them using her fingers while listening intently to Perseta’s story.
“Hmm… So, I proved that dimensions rotate using a long pendulum. What I’m trying to teach the magicians these days is…”
Roorua didn’t seem deeply engrossed in the story, but she didn’t appear bored either.
She listened to Perseta’s chatter with sparkling eyes, as if simply watching him explain was enjoyable in itself.
After he had been explaining for quite a while, Roorua suddenly asked.
“Son.”
“Yes?”
“Listening to your story made me think.”
“Yes.”
“So, doesn’t that mean the human world isn’t the center of the universe after all? You said the human world rotates. So, doesn’t that just make it seem like other worlds are moving? Maybe our world is actually spinning around something else’s center?”
“!!!”
“The center. So, what could be the center? Could it be the Mana Sun?”
Perseta was stunned.
Truly stunned.
That fact, which even the magicians hadn’t grasped yet—except for the Sage and Salinelle—Mother had figured out instantly.
Seeing Perseta’s dazed expression, Roorua chuckled softly.
“Why? Did I guess right? I’ve got a pretty good intuition.”
“Wow… I’m a bit shocked.”
Perseta wasn’t just shocked.
He was simultaneously gaining some realization.
Why did his mother grasp this fact immediately, while other brilliant mages failed to notice it?
‘Preconceptions.’
Perseta realized it with bone-deep clarity.
How terrifying a firmly entrenched preconception could be.
Ironically, because they had studied so much, they couldn’t think to look at things from another perspective… That rigid knowledge was actually hindering the magicians’ growth.
Therefore, if only that preconception could be shattered, the magicians would become far more useful.
Perhaps they’d feel far less stifled.
Discovering this new possibility filled Perseta with genuine joy.
And then, another realization.
Mother is… clever.
For some reason, Perseta felt immensely pleased.
And suddenly, it dawned on him what to give Mother as a gift.
“Mother.”
“Hmm?”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“This is a gift from my heart.”
Whoooosh!
Magic power streamed out from Perseta’s body.
It overlapped and scattered, creating a certain harmony.
?♬♪♩♬
“What is this…?”
Mother’s eyes widened. The fairies lounging on the tea table seemed pleased, closing their eyes and relaxing their bodies.
“Isn’t that singing?”
“It’s a spell.”
“A spell? Magic?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t you usually mumble it with your mouth?”
“Hmm… Sometimes it is, but this spell has a certain level of difficulty. It’s easier to just have my magic recite the spell than to do it with my mouth.”
“So this music is the sound of magic reciting a spell?”
“Yes.”
“Oh my. How romantic.”
“I knew you’d like it.”
Perseta smiled faintly.
Then he raised both hands.
Thinking of Al Adne, he mimicked him to signal the spell’s completion.
Clap!
With the sound of applause, flowers bloomed all over the garden.
The fairy realm’s singing chrysanthemums.
Smaller than fingernails, tiny, tiny flowers gather in clusters and bloom.
Whisper♩
Whisper whisper♬♪
Whisper whisper♪♩
The Song Chrysanthemums sang.
In a voice so small you couldn’t hear it unless you held your breath and listened intently. Or, in a low harmony barely audible unless you pressed your ear right up to the flower.
But as those flowers bloomed everywhere throughout the garden, the entire garden filled with the whispering sound of their song.
“Wow… Did you summon them?”
Perseta shook his head at Roorua’s question.
“No. I transferred them.”
“Transferred?”
“Yes. I brought them completely into our world. Even if the connection to the fairy realm is severed, these singing chrysanthemums will remain forever. Right here in Mother’s garden.”
Not summoning but transferring.
Roorua didn’t grasp how incredible a magic this was.
But she felt very keenly what a wonderful gift it was.
“So now they’re part of our family! These lovely chrysanthemums!”
She jumped up and strolled through the garden filled with the fairy realm’s Song Chrysanthemums.
Fairies fluttered up after her, drifting among the Song Chrysanthemums.
Because of the fairies’ light, it looked exactly like Roorua was a magician commanding a flock of light.
“With these adorable friends, I can finally host a tea party! Our garden has been a bit shabby lately, so I hesitated to invite others. Ah~ The fairies, the chrysanthemums… it’s just wonderful.”
A gentle blush spread across Mother Roorua’s face, different from the one she’d worn when receiving the peacock flower.
Perseta realized then.
‘Ah, so this is the expression she wears when she’s truly delighted.’
Must remember that.
Perseta leaned back comfortably and leisurely in his chair.
Whisper♬
Chatter♩♪
Sway♪♬
The little chrysanthemums’ song tickled his ears pleasantly.
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