Chapter 1-2: Awakening Magical Talent

Three years had passed since Tenma was taken in and raised.

The man who had brought Tenma home was named Ricardo. He currently worked as a hunter. His wife was named Celia. Both of them had once been adventurers, and apparently they had been quite formidable in their day. In addition, many of the people living in this village were also former adventurers.

The village had a population of around two hundred people. Of those, more than one hundred and fifty had once been adventurers.

Although it was a small village, the people did more than just farm. Nearby stood a vast forest where many varieties of high-quality medicinal herbs grew. Since the villagers who had once been adventurers knew the terrain well, they could gather the herbs themselves while also guiding outsiders who came in search of them, allowing them to earn a decent profit.

They could not exactly be called wealthy, but life there was far from impoverished.

Recently, Tenma had finally been allowed to walk around the village on his own.

Before that, no matter where he went, his mother, Celia, would always stay right beside him and refuse to let go of his hand.

Tenma still was not allowed to enter the forest by himself, but simply being able to move freely around the village on his own made him extremely happy.

“Hey, Tenma! Come over here!”

One of the villagers spotted Tenma and called out to him.

It seemed the man had just returned from hunting, and several wild birds were slung over his shoulder.

“Hello, Uncle Mark.”

“Oh, hey, Tenma. Look at this! I got quite a haul today! Five Maru birds!”

Maru birds were a species of bird that were poor flyers but extremely fast runners. They weighed around one to two kilograms, and their meat was delicious.

“But Ricardo got three Maru birds and a wild boar too. He should be back soon, so we’ll start butchering them once he gets here.”

Uncle Mark had also once been an adventurer, and apparently he had known Tenma’s father, Ricardo, since their adventuring days.

While they waited, Mark taught Tenma how to use a bow.

Of course, Tenma still could not draw a bow made for adults, but he felt that every little bit of experience would surely add up.

While he was practicing with the bow, his father finally appeared.

“Father, welcome back. You caught a lot today.”

“Tenma, I’m back. We’ll have to ask your mother to make us a real feast tonight!”

Ricardo laughed cheerfully and pulled the wild boar out of the bag hanging from his shoulder.

Tenma still found it strange to see a wild boar weighing nearly two hundred kilograms emerge from such a small bag.

“That really is convenient, that ‘Magic Bag.’ I’m jealous.”

Ricardo looked quite pleased by Mark’s praise.

It was a treasure he had obtained only after a great deal of effort during his adventuring days. Apparently, even top-class mages found it extremely difficult to make one.

Its function was to store anything that was not a living creature, up to a maximum total weight of five hundred kilograms.

(Parasites living on corpses, such as insects and microorganisms, as well as things with extremely weak signs of life, such as eggs, did not count.)

It truly was an incredibly useful item.

“It’s certainly convenient, but apparently this one is only considered mid-grade. When you think about it, that’s pretty amazing.”

Even Ricardo, the owner of the bag, said so.

In this world, items were ranked from lowest to highest as follows:

Low Grade → Mid Grade → High Grade → Special Grade → Super Grade → Legendary Grade → Divine Grade

Not only items, but magic as well was classified according to the same ranking system.

“Oh, right, Ricardo. Have you heard? Apparently old Merlin is coming back.”

“That old ‘Sage’? This is the first I’ve heard of it. Hasn’t he been away for almost ten years?”

“Who is this old ‘Sage’?”

In response to Tenma’s question, Ricardo and Mark answered in unison:

“An eccentric.”

That answer explained almost nothing, so Mark continued:

“He’s one of the strongest mages alive, the kind of man who might end up having his name recorded in history. But at the same time, he’s also famous for his bizarre personality. He used to live in this village.”

“I heard that one time monsters poured out of a dungeon, and he charged in all by himself completely naked and defeated them.”

“There’s also a story that when he had an audience with the king, he wasn’t wearing anything under his robe.”

“And another time, he wandered all around town wearing nothing but his underwear.”

Listening to Ricardo’s stories, Tenma thought to himself:

(That’s beyond eccentric… He sounds more like a naked pervert.)

“Oh, and apparently he also possesses the ‘Blessing of the War God,’ which is extremely rare for a mage.”

Hearing Mark say that, Tenma found the stories slightly more believable.

“Well, we can talk about that later. First, let’s butcher this boar, roast half of it, and eat together.”

“Mark, could you get the fire started?”

“Tenma, go call the neighbors over.”

“Sure, but I didn’t bring my flint today.”

“In that case, there’s no helping it. Mark, you handle the boar. I’ll use magic to start the fire.”

Hearing that, Tenma thought this was a perfect opportunity.

“Father, I want to try starting the fire. Will you teach me magic?”

Ricardo thought about it for a moment.

Since it was the most basic kind of magic, he decided to teach him.

“All right. But first, you need to remember that not everyone is capable of using magic. If you can’t do it, don’t be discouraged.”

“And even if you can use it, you must never use magic on your own when there isn’t an adult nearby.”

“If you can promise me those things, I’ll teach you.”

“I understand! I promise!”

Ricardo nodded, then asked Mark to go call the neighbors.

“All right. First, calm your mind.”

“Bring your finger close to the place where you want the fire to appear.”

“Then imagine a flame clearly and speak the command.”

“『O flame.』”

The moment Ricardo said those words, the pile of gathered dry leaves caught fire.

“That’s all there is to it.”

“This is a very simple spell, so the most important thing is to form a clear image of the flame in your mind.”

“Give it a try.”

Tenma thought:

(That’s all?)

He pointed his finger toward the pile of leaves.

“『O flame.』”

The instant the words left his mouth—

BOOM!

A violent burst of fire erupted, instantly engulfing the dry leaves and causing a small explosion.

The force of the blast knocked Tenma backward.

Ricardo was so shocked that he froze in place.

But he immediately checked the surroundings, then rushed over and helped Tenma back to his feet.

“Tenma! Are you all right?!”

Fortunately, Tenma was unharmed.

Ricardo let out a sigh of relief.

Just then, Celia, who had come running after Mark called for her, rushed over in panic.

“Tenma! What happened?! Are you hurt?!”

Ricardo explained the situation.

However, Celia misunderstood and thought he had taught Tenma offensive magic, so she became furious.

After Ricardo and Tenma carefully explained what had happened, Celia finally, though reluctantly, accepted it.

“We’ll talk about this again tonight.”

“For now, let’s roast the boar and have dinner.”

“All right.”

For the time being, the matter of Tenma’s magic was set aside.

He enjoyed a cheerful dinner with the neighbors who had gathered.

That night.

After making sure Tenma was asleep, Ricardo and Celia began to talk.

“I think it’s still too early to teach Tenma magic.”

Celia believed they should wait until Tenma was a little older.

Ricardo, on the other hand, said:

“I think we should actively teach him magic.”

“Tenma has an extraordinary magical talent sleeping inside him.”

“A spell that should only have been strong enough to cause a mild burn became as powerful as an offensive spell when he used it.”

“That’s exactly why I think we should wait until he’s older. It’s dangerous.”

“Celia, I know very well that your mana reserves are much greater than mine.”

“But even now, Tenma’s mana may already be far beyond mine.”

“And in just a few more years, he’ll probably surpass even you.”

“I believe he has an absolutely terrifying amount of talent.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“A former adventurer’s intuition.”

“Intuition…?”

“You don’t believe me?”

“No, I do.”

“Back then, your intuition saved me many times.”

“But…”

“Celia, I don’t want to say this, but…”

“Tenma isn’t our biological child.”

“His real parents could appear tomorrow.”

“If they’re good people, then there’s no problem.”

“But there’s also the possibility that they’re bad people.”

“If they discover Tenma’s talent and try to exploit it…”

“Then we need to teach him how to protect himself.”

“If a sharp knife is already in a child’s hand, it’s better to teach him how to use it properly under our supervision than to let him learn the wrong way somewhere we can’t see.”

“That would be better for Tenma, and for us as well.”

“…I understand.”

“We’ll talk to Tenma tomorrow morning.”

“All right.”

“But first, I’m going to make him study the theory thoroughly.”

“Fine.”

“And I’ll slowly teach him how to use his body.”

“Whether it’s magic or martial arts, the first thing he needs is to understand how to control his own body.”

And so, Ricardo and Celia decided on the direction of Tenma’s education.

Tenma had begun to reveal a small part of his talent.

Because of that, they quickly decided to change the way they would educate him.

The old “Sage” is expected to appear in the next chapter.

Many of the perverted stories about him have been exaggerated, and some of them are not entirely true.