"Oh? You wanted to learn magic so badly? Alright then… I'll teach you."
Hearing that sudden almost too easy agreement, Sethos felt a bead of sweat slide down his cheek.
"H-Haha, sir… I was just kidding…" he laughed nervously. "I didn't expect you to take it that seriously…"
"I am going to teach you magic," Reol replied flatly.
"For real?" Disbelief was written all over the child's face.
But Reol only bother to answer his doubts by raising a hand.
A faint light formed in the air before him, spreading outward like ripples on water. Then, it solidified into a thin, translucent barrier, which is barely visible unless the light catches it just right.
He tapped it once with his knuckle, and a dull thud followed.
"A basic shield," he said. "Just do it like this. As long as you intend to, you would."
Then, Sethos stared at the space where the barrier had been. His mouth stayed open for a moment before he spoke. "I don't understand… how does that work?"
"I already showed you," Reol replied. "You should've learned it by now."
"…Pardon?"
"Alright, Test time," He spoke over him without hesitation. "Try to block my attack with that barrier."
"But I didn't understand it yet—"
The sentence never finished...
Because for an instant, a small water droplet shot past child's face, fast enough to sting.
He instinctively yelped and stumbled backwards, nearly tripping over his own feet with his hands flying to his cheek where a thin cut was already bleeding.
"Eek!"
"The test has started," Reol reminded for the last time.
Despite the warning, Sethos only froze on the spot. Arms raised in a pose that would have been useful five seconds ago. His heart pounded as his mind raced, desperately searching for instructions that had never actually stuck.
That was when the realisation hit.
He had been the one who insisted on learning this immediately.
And that was a very bad choice.
Before he could breathe, another water droplet shot out immediately.
Sethos squeaked and threw himself to the side, barely avoiding it.
He scrambled back to his feet, just in time to dodge another droplet that punched into the ground, whizzing through where he'd been standing a second earlier.
He stared at where the attack had landed. The tree that once refused to cooperate with his axe, split cleanly in half upon getting hit by that water droplet attack.
Crazy! His head will be shot straight to the skull if he didn't move there!
"What's wrong?" Reol asked calmly while not moving an inch. "Didn't I tell you to use barrier magic?"
And the child barely had time to answer as he ducked again. "I'll die if I take that!"
"If you're feeling confident by dodging alone, then I'll make it faster,"
And he did.
The droplets came quicker now, with shorter gaps and heavier hits. Each one snapped through the air with more force, forcing Sethos into frantic movement.
He ran, stumbled, rolled, and barely kept himself upright, his arms flailing uselessly as panic took over.
And Reol remained exactly where he was, one hand raised, casually forming a finger gun. Each flick of his fingers sent another shot flying.
"Barrier," he reminded him flatly.
"I'm busy not dying!" Sethos shouted, leaping aside as another droplet tore past his shoulder.
A shot grazed his sleeve. Another clipped the ground near his foot, splashing dirt onto his legs. The child yelped again, heart pounding, lungs burning, mind completely blank.
"Focus," Reol said. "Or you're going to get hit."
Sethos skidded to a stop, nearly tripping over himself. Then, he raised his hands again, finding himself shaking badly.
"I—I'm trying!" he yelled.
Another droplet formed at Reol's fingertip.
"Then, try harder."
The green haired child squeezed his eyes shut, fully convinced this was how he was going to die during his very first magic lesson.
Then, in a brief, terrified peek between blinks, he saw it.
Reol was laughing. Not loudly nor openly. Just a small, barely-there 'hehe' sound as he continued firing water droplets in his finger gun with an aim so perfect.
"You sadist!" Sethos screamed while diving out of the way again. "You're enjoying this! You're clearly enjoying this!"
"I am not,"
"YOU ARE! YOU'RE SMILING! THAT'S A SMILE!"
"It's not," Reol argued calmly, firing another shot. "It's educational satisfaction."
A droplet exploded into the ground inches from Sethos' feet.
"That is the worst lie I've ever heard!" And he shrieked while scrambling away. "You waited years for this moment, didn't you?!"
Upon seeing his useless attempts, Reol tilted his head slightly, still not moving from his spot. "Focus on the barrier."
"I'M FOCUSING ON SURVIVAL!"
Another droplet formed at his fingertip.
"Barrier,"
The child screamed something unintelligible and kept running.
Then, he squeezed his eyes shut and skidded to a stop, finding his hands trembling in front of him.
Running wasn't working. Screaming wasn't working either.
So he did the last thing to do... he tried to remember the explanation of that barrier magic.
"What's wrong?" Reol taunted from behind him. "Did the cat bite your tongue?"
Sethos swallowed hard, ignoring Reol's taunting and instead trying his best to recreate the barrier magic.
Yet no matter what he does, nothing happens.
Instead, another droplet whizzed past his ear.
"Are you calling for a bee or what?" Reol remarked flatly.
"I'm trying!" Sethos yelled in response.
He tried once more. Too hard this time, where his arms ended stiffened, his breath hitched, and again, he did nothing.
Another shot slammed into the ground nearby.
The child groaned as he tried again and again.
Each attempt failed in a slightly different way. One time, he overfocused; another time, he lost concentration halfway through. Once, he even opened one eye to check if it was working, only to dodge another attack immediately after.
"This is humiliating," Sethos muttered.
"Correct," Reol replied.
Then, between ragged breaths, something clicked in his mind.
'Come think of it... he specifically said as long as I had intention, I could do it... is that a clue?'
He closed his eyes again. This time, he deliberately stopped running.
Sethos attempted to do either the most worthwhile gamble or the most stupid idea.
He steadied his breathing and fixed his focus forward, imagining a surface in front of him... Something like a wall, placed there to take the hit.
Unbeknownst to him, a faint shimmer appeared.
Bracing himself for pain, the child stood still. Then, cautiously, he cracked his eyes open.
A thin, pale light formed in front of him, catching the incoming water droplet. For a brief moment, it held strong... right before shattering like glass and vanishing like a mist.
It was a barrier, albeit a little different than Reol, but it was truly a barrier.
"I—I did it!"
The words had barely left his mouth when a sharp pain shot through his head. His nose started bleeding, and the world tilted.
"Ehh?... I feel dizzy..."
Then everything went dark.
Sethos collapsed, his body going pale as he fell forward.
Before he could hit the ground, his collar was caught midair.
It seems Reol held him up with one hand, dangling him loosely like an unconscious cat.
"…I didn't expect him to manifest it," he muttered.
The intention had only been to scare the boy a little. Maybe push him a little into giving up.
However, He hadn't planned on going that far... though he had to admit, he enjoyed it more than expected.
The child's first manifestation of the arts had been unexpected.
It wasn't anything remarkable. Not genius-level, nor anything extraordinary. In fact it might be even lesser than D-rank.
Still, Reol found himself amused.
There was something there.
He looked down at the unconscious boy and spoke quietly.
"Perhaps it will be worthwhile to teach you after all."
____________
Author's Note:
Thank you for 43 collections! For those who might be wondering why my book cover looks familiar, it's because it was inspired by the manhwa Raising Villains the Right Way. ^^ I absolutely adore that manhwa.