Was That Man My Uncle?
“I’ll call for a maid. We need to clean this up.”
“Yes, you’re right. But what is this wood debris? Did it fall from the ceiling?”
Saying that, my parents looked up at the ceiling.
N-no, that’s not it, Chichiue-dono, Hahaue. I did that with alchemy magic… well, I should probably just show them directly.
“Chaa~ L-look, look.”
“Eh? Look at wha… A magic circle!?”
“An’ then, like dis!”
I pushed the floating magic circle down with both hands and placed the remaining knitting needle in the center.
The word that floated into my mind again was still [Crush].
“Cush.”
The moment I said it aloud, the knitting needle on top of the magic circle shattered into pieces.
Ah… I-I destroyed the second one tooooooo!?
“Ukyyaaaahhhhhhh! Sowwy, sowwieeee Hahaueee!”
I tearfully pleaded my case, but neither Father nor Mother were even listening. Their eyes were glued to the magic circle on the floor.
Ah, though the magic circle had already disappeared by now.
“M-my goodness...”
Aaaahhh, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!
“Then... this wood debris was also made by Der’s magic...?”
I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’ll definitely pay you back for it.
“That’s incredible, Dermont! Receiving bestowed magic alone is amazing enough, but to already be capable of using it!”
“Eh...?”
“Really, Der, that’s wonderful. And you properly apologized after turning it into wood chips too. What a good boy.”
“Au...”
I’m... not getting scolded? Even though I ruined two of them?
If anything, they praised me.
“There’s no need to worry, Dermont. We can simply make more knitting needles.”
“That’s right, Der. If we ask Tony the gardener, he’ll make new ones right away.”
“Make... nuh... one?”
Right. I could just make them.
The priest had said so too, hadn’t he? That the person in the past who received alchemy magic had made all sorts of things.
Since it was alchemy, I couldn’t create something from nothing. Materials were necessary to make something.
And the material here... was these wood chips.
I coated my fingertips with mana and touched the wood debris.
I slammed the floating magic circle down over the chips and gathered up the pieces from the first needle too.
“What are you doing?”
“Achwemy magik~”
The moment I planted both hands down with a smack, the words appearing in my head differed from the earlier [Crush].
The words that appeared probably changed depending on the materials placed there. Maybe they represented the available processing steps.
What floated before me now were [Synthesis] and [Formation].
Since I’d turned the knitting needles into pieces, synthesis made sense. Do I need to shape it too?
“Nncho, Sintishis und wepail.”
Both.
The words floating in my head changed.
The moment I imagined a knitting needle, the wood chips glowed in seven colors and began changing shape.
D-did it work?
I actually made something with alchemy magic!?
Ahh… It worked, but this is...
“Ooooooh! What an incredible son you are!”
“Y-yes, truly... but Der, this is...”
Please don’t say it, Mother. I already know.
The wood chips placed on the magic circle had come from two knitting needles. After synthesizing and forming all of it together, the resulting knitting needle had become absurdly long.
The amount of materials and the finished product had to match. I’d better be careful.
“Sowwie. One mo’ tim. Ah...”
When I tried to perform alchemy again, dizziness hit me as I gathered mana.
This was... perhaps...
“Der? Oh my, your complexion...”
“You’ve consumed too much mana. Dermont, that’s enough alchemy magic for today. If you continue any further, you’ll lose consciousness.”
Just as I thought. Mana depletion.
So using alchemy magic three times was enough to do this... Did I simply have very little mana?
Laid down on the bed, I fell asleep as though I’d fainted.
But when I woke up, I felt completely refreshed.
Apparently, I’d slept for an entire day.
The moment I opened my eyes, Mother burst into tears and clung to me, and when Mother hurried over, he stared at me anxiously too.
I should probably avoid overdoing it.
But I did want to increase my mana. And Father taught me how.
“Dermont. Twice. You may use alchemy magic twice a day. Twice, understand?”
“Ai!”
“Good. Mana is something that increases the more you use magic. Of course, everyone has a fixed amount of latent mana capacity. However, unless you train it, you’ll never reach that latent limit.”
“Hoooh~”
The more I used it, the more it increased. That was excellent news for me.
Though only twice a day...
Well, I couldn’t exactly keep sleeping for entire days either. It couldn’t be helped.
But after several days, I noticed something.
Every time I used alchemy magic once, a little over thirty percent of my mana disappeared. Most likely, using it three times would empty me completely.
I also learned that the amount of mana consumed changed depending on the size of the material being alchemized. Naturally, larger objects consumed more mana.
Then what if I alchemized something small?
That was what I thought, but knitting needles were already pretty small.
For the time being, I’d just have to train by alchemizing the tiny building blocks Father had prepared for me.
And though I’d been told only twice a day, mana recovered over time.
After using alchemy magic twice first thing in the morning, I could use it twice again in the afternoon. Then twice more before bed at night, for a total of six uses a day.
That made training progress a lot faster.
As one month became two, the number of times I could use alchemy magic at once steadily increased.
The harder I worked, the more my abilities reflected that effort.
It wasn’t meaningless… that alone filled me with motivation.
While spending my days diligently training my mana and practicing alchemy magic under the watchful eyes of those around me...
The storm arrived suddenly.
At one year and two months old, I’d started eating meals in the mansion dining hall.
While enjoying lunch together as a family, helped by one of the maids…
Bam! The dining hall doors suddenly burst open and a man appeared. Behind him stood the butler, looking troubled.
“Ohh! My beloved younger brother!”
“A-Aniue! What brings you here so suddenly?”
B-brother? Then that man was my uncle?
That uncle paid no attention to the fact we were in the middle of eating and strode straight over, grabbing Father’s hand.
“Younger brother! At long last, I too have been blessed with a son. A son who shall become my heir!”
“T-that is wonderful news. Congratulations.”
“Congratulations, Count-sama.”
Ohh, that’s great ne… hmm?
The maid helping me with my meal had an expression like she’d bitten into a bug.
That wasn’t the face of someone offering heartfelt congratulations.
The butler standing behind Uncle looked the same.
Even Father and Mother wore strained smiles. It didn’t feel like they were congratulating him sincerely at all.
“Ahh, it is wonderful. After all, my son has been born. And yet!”
Uncle’s expression suddenly changed. His voice grew harsh as well.
“And yet, Saul! How dare you not send even a single congratulatory gift! What is the meaning of this!?”
Hah!? A-a congratulatory gift!?
Did he seriously come all the way here just to demand money!?
What do you think about this chapter?
