“You were just trying to cast magic on me, weren’t you?”
Shade answered my question nonchalantly.
“What do you mean?”
Shade’s hands are tied behind his back and his eyes are blindfolded.
Of course it was me.
Wolf’s blow was to his stomach, so there was no visible mark through his clothes, but the cut on his lip from my punch to his face looked painful. But that doesn’t mean I feel sorry for him.
I had intended to hit him with all my might, so much so that his cheek would swell up, but it’s frustrating that it didn’t get that far.
Shade showed no signs of opening up, but Wolf, who had been deep in thought after hearing my explanation, spoke instead.
“From what I’ve heard, he has the ability to ‘escape the seal’.”
“Escape the seal?”
“You were also sealed by the Magic Association when you were about five years old.”
“Yes. It’s to stop the magic from going out of control, right?”
As Wolf explains:
All children of noble families with magical abilities are “sealed” from their magic by the Society during their early childhood. They spend puberty, when magical ability is most clearly manifested, unable to use magic, and then at the age of twelve, they enter a magic academy. There, they gradually break the seal as they learn to control their magic.
In other words, 『Sealing』 was a measure to prevent a situation where magical ability was awakened and went out of control under weak control.
By the way, the reason why it is limited to “children of nobles” is because currently, most people who possess magical abilities are of noble blood. There are various theories as to whether this was an attempt to confine the special powers that manifested among nobles, or whether those who gained power rose to become nobles and have continued to do so to this day.
“There are two main exceptions to the rule where someone is born with magical power and is not sealed. One is a child born out of wedlock. The other is when a child is born from a non-noble family with a mutated magical power. In other words, both of these are exceptions that occur because the Association cannot fully grasp their existence.”
I had been listening to Wolf’s explanation with my mouth open like a complete idiot, but I finally came to my senses.
“Hey, hey, Wolf, you seem to know a lot about magic, don’t you? I’m sure children shouldn’t be given any knowledge related to magic other than the basics, right? I was told that self-study, even classroom study, was completely prohibited until I entered the academy. In fact, my tutor didn’t teach me anything about that sort of thing. Plus, books on magic are horribly tampered with so that children, and even adults who aren’t from the academy, can’t read them.”
“Ah, that’s true, but… In fact, there is a loophole. You can gain a certain amount of knowledge from conversations between adults, and in fact, if you go to the royal capital, you can have the artifice removed from the book temporarily for a small amount of money…”
I glared at Wolf in a fit of anger.
It brings back a bitter memory of one time, my curiosity piqued, I sneakily borrowed a book on the principles of magic from my father’s study and hid it, only to suddenly feel ill and be unable to get out of bed for half the day.
“That’s just how men are, isn’t it? They make unspoken rules that it’s normal for women to stay at home, restricting their actions, while they go out and do whatever they want, right?”
“N-no… that’s not what I was talking about… it’s about him now.”
I turned to Shade, obviously having been diverted from the topic. Of course, I had no intention of being fooled. I was determined to confront him about everything once this was all over.
In Wolf’s explanation earlier, the people who were born with magical powers through a mutated process were, for example, the game heroine.
And children born out of wedlock – that is, children born between people not married to one another – can potentially escape the Church’s radar.
“Escape from Seal, huh? But, if the Association finds out you’re of noble blood, won’t they say something?”
“Of course, I have said that. However, if the child is already skilled in controlling his or her abilities, there is a possibility that the Association’s seal may not be complete.”
“I see. So, for example, what would happen if a child with magical power was found to be using it without reporting it to the Association?”
“Unless it’s a criminal act, there’s nothing we can do. If the Association finds out, they’ll just put a new, stronger seal on you.”
“What if it’s a criminal act?”
“Aside from being put on trial, your magical powers will be sealed away almost permanently.”
I glanced over at Shade, but his expression didn’t seem to have changed.
“Is there any magic that can control the mind?”
“It’s charm magic. It’s highly effective on the opposite sex, and even more so if the other person is mentally weak. It’s magic that simply makes you appear more attractive to that person, but depending on the strength of the magic and how it’s used it can be troublesome.”
If things had gone badly, I would have found out about this firsthand.
“Shade, did you use that spell on Krinum?”
“No, really, I don’t know what you’re talking about…”
Shade put on a proud look.
Oh, this is such a hassle.
“I guess I’ll just have to torture him.”
“Don’t joke with a straight face. … You’re kidding, right?”
“I’m not”
Huh? Wolf is a bit of a pain too?
Well, leaving Wolf aside for now, let’s talk about Shade.
He is most definitely an “escape from seal.”
But then, one shade of shade would overturn my preconceptions.
Shade in the game even lies to the game’s heroine.
No, it’s not a lie, it’s actually an intentional omission. That’s quite different, but the latter seems even more sneaky to me than it would be acceptable.
In any case, in the past that Shade told the heroine, there was not even a trace or shape of himself as the “Escape from Seal.”
Come to think of it, there was no mention of Krinum either.
I do think that this “Shade talks about his past” event was quite early on. In the game, Shade talked about his past, cleverly hiding the parts that were inconvenient for him, in order to attract the heroine’s attention.
That is, in reality.
“You used magic to try and get your sister on your side, but it worked too well?”
Shade’s body twitched.
Is that right?
Although it’s a little silly, it’s still a little morbid.
If he wanted to get Krinum on his side, he probably should have just acted nice. Krinum is a kind girl by nature.
I think that her actions of bringing water and food to Shade were probably her natural actions and had nothing to do with Shade’s magic.
And yet Shade tried to control Krinum with his magic. It’s not that he didn’t believe it, or rather, he couldn’t believe it.
Distrust of women – well, it’s not like he can open up to people of the same sex, so maybe he distrusts people. Not trusting or being able to believe in people is an important point in constructing the character Shade in the game.
In fact, his bad endings are basically caused by his strong jealousy and fear of losing the heroine because he cannot trust her. It may be a template behavior for a yandere.
“Wolf, how do we break the charm spell?”
“It’s not permanent, so it will eventually go away unless you keep using it.”
“Well then, once Krinum returns to her senses, she will be living proof of Shade magic.”
“That’s a bit suspicious. The tricky thing about charm magic is that it’s hard to tell whether it’s an effect of the magic or the user’s natural charm.”
“Wolf! Why would you say that in front of Shade!”
“No. He probably knows his own abilities better than anyone else. So I think the surest way would be to threaten him with some violence to force him to confess…”
“Rejected!”
“Well then, let’s leave the rest to the adults. Fortunately, Duke Lilia is planning to come here tomorrow morning.”
It was very good news.
My uncle came into the room accompanied by his butler, so we gave him a brief explanation of Shade’s magic and then left the room.
I didn’t want my uncle and Wolf to be together if possible, and I also didn’t want to see my uncle as much as possible.
After that, I was stuck to Wolf for the rest of the day. Figuratively, of course.
I was moved by how reassuring it was to be two people rather than just one.
In the end, not a single member of the Rankrats family was present at the dinner table, but that was a relief.
The room that my uncle prepared for Wolf is far from the guest room that I use, which I felt was a roundabout way of harassing me, but I wasn’t satisfied with it. Well, if anything happened, I could run there immediately. No, let’s not say something ominous like “if something happens.”
Anyway, I lay in bed feeling surprisingly at peace, considering the unpleasant events that had happened today.
Knowing the power of Shade meant that Krinum’s sudden change wasn’t her fault (I’m not sure if I can say that for sure, but it’s not entirely her fault). My heart was filled with hope that I might be able to reconcile with my precious cousin if I took the time.
What’s more, it’s reassuring to know that my father will be coming tomorrow morning to sort everything out.
Everything.
However, there is one thing that will not be resolved unless I take action.
In the end, I couldn’t even tell Wolf about the opinion my uncle had given me about my mother.
Wolf would probably tell me to ask my father to find out the truth, which is what I would have advised him to do if I were in the opposite position.
But I clearly wanted to put it off.
A number of excuses come to mind.
First of all, it is a person who has passed away. If I end up speaking ill of a person who has passed away, I’m sure my father would feel bad about it.
My father is a talkative person, but he doesn’t talk much about my mother, which is probably because he doesn’t want to talk about her.
I wonder how my father would answer if I asked him, “Did you love my mother?”
It’s of the past.
But as long as I don’t mind, that’s fine.
Luckily, as soon as I closed my eyes, sleepiness washed over me. Luckily, not only was my mind tired, but my body was tired from all the walking around.
Close my eyes and wait until morning.
…But that didn’t work out that way.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reading!
