Chapter 1 Part 10: People Are The Enemy

“I’ll come back in two hours.

Even then, if you don’t want me to, you don’t have to open the door.”

Good, that should be enough.

I pulled Clam along.

Clam, who had been sticking flowers in his hair, looked at me as if asking why we were leaving already.

As we got on the elevator, Clam asked,

“Why aren’t you taking care of him?

Isn’t taking care of him your job?”

“Right now, leaving him alone is taking care of him.”

“Why?”

Well, um…

After thinking about it, I finally said,

“You don’t like being forced to be with someone you don’t like either, right.”

“Yes, of course I hate it.”

“It’s the same for that kid.”

“Ah.”

I placed my hand on the crystal ball and said in a deliberately bright tone.

“Let’s just go to the restaurant or somewhere for now.

We can have some tea for two hours.

Oh, by the way, does that kid know how to tell time?

What if he doesn’t know when two hours later is?”

But no answer came.

Sensing something was wrong, I looked at Clam.

This wasn’t really the right time to say it, but Clam with flowers in his hair was surprisingly radiant.

A fairy-like kid with flowers in his hair looked even more like a fairy.

The white flowers made his black hair stand out even more vividly.

I asked Clam, who was staring blankly at me without a single flicker.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah, well.”

Clam kept staring at me as he continued.

“I can just tell you’re different from us.”

Suddenly, the first time I met Clam came to mind.

Back then, Clam was like a doll that only repeated one action when you wound it up.

That doll-like part wasn’t the problem, but the action he repeated was being spiteful, which was the issue.

With an innocent face that seemed to know nothing, he’d grate on people’s nerves, making clients dislike him.

It was only about three years ago that Clam’s behavior started to change.

It was a really hard time back then, and I patted his poor shoulder as I asked,

“So, do you dislike it?”

Clam’s expressionless face crumbled.

He beamed a smile and called out to me.

“No!

I love it!”

At the same time, Clam spread both arms and lunged at me, and I leaned back to avoid him.

***

Don’t get involved with mages.

Getting entangled with them brings misfortune.

That’s one of the stories passed down like a fairy tale.

People admire mages, but they also fear them.

For one simple reason: they deviate from the ordinary standard.

Humans who deviate from the ordinary standard are hard to predict.

Ordinary people don’t know what mages think, or how they’ll act.

Mages are the same.

They don’t understand ordinary people either.

For mages, acquiring knowledge and handling mana is only natural.

Like breathing, like adding one to one, like blinking an eye – it’s just that natural.

But ordinary people couldn’t do those things.

Seeing them unable to do anything, mages developed a sense of superiority.

Mages immediately stopped trying to understand ordinary people.

‘I’m special.

I don’t need to understand you.’

It was the same for the humans ignored by mages.

They too stopped trying to understand mages.

‘I’m insignificant.

I don’t have the confidence to understand you.’

And so, an invisible wall came to exist between mages and ordinary people.

As time passed, that wall only grew higher, and people gave that insurmountable wall a name.

They called it “talent.”

***

Mages are born with talent in their mouths, grow up with talent in their hands, and use talent as a stepping stone to climb higher.

This is especially true for the mages of the Magic Tower.

Usually, in heroic novels, the main character is born with a “special ability.”

They hear things like, “That talent is a gift from heaven!” as often as they eat.

You can think of the Magic Tower as having about 300 of those main characters gathered together.

They’re constantly fighting, saying things like “I’m the best” or “I’m right,” and just trying to keep your sanity among them is incredibly stressful.

Clam, who was sitting across from me and working his fork, interjected.

“You always talk as if you’re not included among them, Senior.”

“Well, that’s because I’m…”

No.

I just stirred my poor teacup with the teaspoon.

Above all, there’s no way a timid protagonist like me would appear in a novel.

Even if such a novel existed, it wouldn’t be popular.

Readers would get frustrated and throw it away.

Clam shoved cake into his mouth.

His habit of eating something sweet in the morning was still the same.

“You’re not eating bread, Senior?

Ah, maybe you ate breakfast on your way here?”

“Ah, I usually don’t eat breakfast.”

“Why not?

Your brain won’t work properly if you skip breakfast.”

“I’m of the school that prefers sleeping more over eating breakfast.

You try commuting once, you’ll see even time for breakfast feels wasted.”

Clam shook his head.

“Don’t be so realistic for a mage, Senior.”

“…What’s wrong with being realistic?”

“It’s fine in front of me, but don’t do it in front of other people.

People have such fantasies about mages.”

I looked at Clam silently, then asked.

“Do you like that people have fantasies about us?”

Clam affirmed without hesitation.

“It’s not particularly good.

But we can’t help it.

We’re the chosen ones.”

Clam pressed his finger to his forehead, pondering.

“Ah, how should I put this.

Is it responsibility, or is it superiority?”

Probably both.

But I didn’t bother saying that out loud.

After thinking, Clam put down his fork and answered cheerfully.

“Anyway, I think that as the chosen ones, we need to live up to those fantasies to some extent.”

“Clam, hey.

I’m…”

Shh.

Before I could even finish, Clam put his finger to my lips.

“Mages are just people too.”

“…”

“That’s what you were going to say, right?”

I grabbed Clam’s wrist.

“Right.”

“Why did your expression suddenly turn bad?

It hurts my feelings.”

Holding onto Clam’s wrist, I asked.

“Clam, did you really behave?

On missions, with people, like before?”

Before I could even finish, Clam burst out laughing.

He twisted my wrist and yanked it towards him.

“Senior, you’re suspicious of the wrong person.”

Through the back of my hand, I could feel his soft cheek.

Clam rubbed his face against my hand, acting cute.

“Trust me.

I really did behave, okay?”

It’s bad to suspect people without reason, but considering this kid’s past, I couldn’t stop doubting him.

“You’re suspicious of the wrong person.

That comment is more suited for Senior Aslan than me.”

“…Why?”

“I told you earlier.

He’s been running wild.

Want me to tell you what happened?”

It felt like I was facing Pandora’s box, which I shouldn’t open.

The moment I heard it, my stomach would probably ache and my blood pressure would spike, but I had to listen.

I nodded.

It was the truth I’d hear eventually anyway.

There’s a reason they say it’s better to be hit first.

“Then I’ll tell you right away, starting with what happened recently.”

Aslan’s magic was excessively skewed towards offense.

A mage’s magic is greatly influenced by the caster’s personality.

Because of that, the magic used by the aggressive Aslan was almost exclusively offensive magic.

Even when he causes trouble, the scale is different.

Even fellow mages gradually started avoiding him, saying they couldn’t handle that fiery temper and magic, and if he used that in front of ordinary people…

The longer Clam’s story went on, the paler my complexion became.

“Senior, are you okay?”

Huff, gasp…

I leaned against the wall like I did when I first arrived, struggling to catch my breath.

I hadn’t even run like when I met Mr. Pierrot, so why was I so exhausted?

It was definitely due to the extreme mental shock.

Clam, receiving a basket from the waitress, asked.

“How do you feel after hearing about Senior Aslan’s atrocities?”

Even when I, his thorn-in-the-side, was around, he wasn’t that out of control.

Why did it get so much worse?

I said, almost muttering.

“Goo…”

“Good?

No way you’d say good.

Ah, you’re trying to say you don’t feel good, right?”

Again, I didn’t have the confidence to say “crappedy” in front of my junior.

After finishing catching my breath while leaning against the wall, I straightened up.

Clam held out the basket he had just received.

“Take this.”

“What’s this?”

“It’s that beast’s meal.

He has a huge appetite.”

I opened the lid.

Inside were ham and vegetables cut into bite-sized pieces, bread, and a thermos with soup.

We returned to the child’s floor.

“How did you feed him before I came?”

Clam’s expression quickly became distant.

“I never knew feeding someone could be so hard.

I’d rather do missions until dawn a hundred, a thousand times over.”

“…What happened?”

“All the food he threw, we had to use cleaning spells over and over again.”

Especially since these clothes stain so easily…

Clam looked at his pure white robe, lost in thought, and in the meantime, I checked the basket’s contents once more.

“You didn’t pack any spoons or forks?”

“Think about his arms.”

I recalled his two arms covered in scales.

Certainly, his hands weren’t structured to hold things properly.

“Did you ever try feeding him?”

“I gave up after he punched me in the jaw and sent me flying.”

“How hard was it for you.

Ah, wait a minute.”

The door, which had definitely been closed earlier, was now wide open.

Because of that, I unconsciously looked inside.

A thick tail swayed lazily in the air.

The child was curled up like a cat, munching on something.

He was so focused on that something that he didn’t seem to notice we had arrived.

I held my breath and watched the child.

His plump, puffed-out cheeks and sparkling eyes.

He was a completely different child from the one surrounded by mages.

Could a dragon hybrid be this cute?

He’s just like a cat, I thought inadvertently, when the basket in my hand caught my eye.

But what on earth was he chewing on?

I hadn’t brought his meal yet.

It was right here.

Just as I thought that, Clam sighed.