The Youngest Daughter Of The Great Wizard Of The Famous Swordsmanship [EN]: Chapter 82

82. Michael Röscher’s Secret (2)

2024.01.21.

Perito, sensing Michael’s emotions, bared his sharp teeth, threatening the gentleman.

Usually, that alone would send people running. Especially someone like the gentleman in front of him, who seemed sheltered and privileged, would be terrified and flee.

But contrary to expectations, the gentleman didn’t run. Instead, he approached, reaching out a hand.

“Won’t you come with me?”

Perito bit the hand in the white glove. Even as the glove was stained with red blood, the man didn’t even flinch.

“What!”

Belatedly regaining his senses, Michael instinctively attacked with an unknown power. But the flame that flew toward the gentleman was blocked by an invisible wall and soon dissipated.

“……!”

He was the first to block his attack. Michael’s instincts screamed at him to run away.

“Perito, come here!”

Michael, with Perito wrapped around his arm, was about to flee when—

“Aren’t you tired of the back alley life?”

The man whispered as if he knew his innermost thoughts.

“And you can’t stand being alone anymore.”

“Shut up! What do you know to be spouting off like that!”

The man, having removed his blood-soaked glove, reached out his hand once more. The hand that Perito had bitten just moments ago was smooth, without a single scar.

“I will sponsor you.”

“Sponsor?”

Michael, who hadn’t received a proper education, didn’t understand what the word ‘sponsor’ meant.

“What does that mean?”

“It means I’ll take you in and help you, providing everything you need.”

“Take me in?”

Michael crossed his arms in an X shape, covering his body.

“Are you going to hurt me too?”

“I will never hurt you. I don’t know what happened, but I just want to help you.”

“Liar. Perito!”

Just as Perito was about to attack the gentleman again, a kite [a type of bird of prey] flying overhead swooped down like an arrow and tried to peck at Perito.

“Blitz, no. Stop.”

The kite, hesitating, landed on the gentleman’s shoulder. The gentleman took off his hat and properly introduced himself.

“Now that I think about it, I haven’t even introduced myself. My name is Frederick Röscher. Count Röscher.”

“…….”

“And the current Master of the Magic Tower.”

“Magic Tower? What’s that?”

The man, Frederick, smiled as if he was in trouble.

“Goodness. You have a long way to go. You know so little.”

Michael’s ears turned slightly red at the feeling of being mocked.

“I, I know a lot too.”

“Yes, you probably know a lot about your world. But you don’t know what you have, or what that snake is.”

“What I have?”

“Yes.”

Frederick said with a smile.

“You are a wizard, kid.”

“A wiz……ard?”

“And that white snake you have with you is your familiar.”

“Familiar? That’s…….”

Before he could even ask what that was, Frederick explained.

“A mysterious being summoned by your mana [magical energy]. A soul companion who will be with you until you die, no matter what happens. And the fact that you’ve already summoned it means you’re a very excellent wizard.”

“I’m a wizard……?”

“Yes. More importantly, how old are you?”

“Eleven. Not exactly. My body hasn’t grown properly since I was eight.”

“Oh, my.”

Frederick smiled bitterly.

“Your life must have been full of ups and downs.”

Michael didn’t bother asking ‘What’s full of ups and downs’.

“Let’s leave the long story for later, what are you going to do? Won’t you come with me?”

“…….”

“Let’s wash up first and have a warm meal together while we talk. I won’t force you to come with me.”

“A warm meal?”

“Yes. First, let’s warm up your body with a rich mushroom soup, and then eat some lean chicken. I’d like to serve you better food, but suddenly introducing greasy food would cause problems.”

Michael hesitated for a moment. At that moment, Perito, who was having an unknown conversation with a kite named Blitz, whispered that it would be okay to follow.

Michael reluctantly pretended to follow, saying snappishly.

“Well, a meal is fine.”

“Good decision, kid.”

That day, without a doubt, the meal he ate was the most delicious of his life. He ate more luxurious food later, but he couldn’t forget that day’s meal.

He ate freshly baked warm bread with plenty of butter and devoured the mushroom soup as if inhaling it. It was a taste that melted his body.

The chicken breast he ate afterwards was definitely lean, but it was still tender. At the time, he didn’t understand it properly, but Frederick explained it was cooked using a *sous vide* [a method of cooking in which food is sealed in airtight bags and then placed in a temperature-controlled water bath] method.

As his stomach filled, his mind became more relaxed, and Michael unknowingly rattled off the stories he had experienced to Frederick.

“I don’t know what they did to me, but it hurt so much. I thought it would be better to die. Even though he was a noble, he gave me dog food for food……. What, are you crying?”

But Frederick, who had been listening to his story without eating, suddenly had tears streaming down his face.

He realized he was crying only after hearing Michael’s words and belatedly wiped his eyes.

“It must have been hard.”

That one word came after a long silence.

Those sincere words touched something that had been dormant in Michael’s heart.

“I’m sorry I found you so late.”

“No, well…….”

Michael poked at the cake that came out for dessert with his fork for no reason.

“Even if you had been there all along, there would have been no way for you to find me, and it’s not your fault either…….”

“…….”

“Ah, come on! Don’t cry. Why is a grown adult crying?”

At that moment, tears also dripped from Michael’s red eyes. Michael rubbed his eyes roughly with both hands.

“Hey, you’re ruining my appetite. What is this? I was enjoying my meal.”

Michael sniffled and shoved the half-eaten cake into his mouth. In the meantime, the cake was delicious again.

After sniffling and finishing the cake, Michael quietly whispered.

“My name is Michael. I don’t have a last name because I’m from a brothel.”

“…….”

“Honestly, I still don’t know if I can trust you or not. But I’ll trust you one last time. I’m tired of wandering aimlessly through the back alleys now.”

That’s how Michael headed to Count Röscher’s territory with Frederick.

There, he learned that the place he lived was the Shelton Kingdom, located next to Ivelin, famous for its magic, and that the Magic Tower was an independent organization that did not belong to any empire or kingdom.

“You will succeed me as Count Röscher and Master of the Magic Tower.”

Frederick, who had no children, said that to Michael.

As his child and disciple, Michael began to learn magic from Frederick in earnest. He lived a prosperous life as a noble.

But even after escaping the gutter, Michael could not escape hell.

“Ugh, damn it.”

The recurring nightmares made him haggard, and the strange sensation flowing through his body made him sensitive.

Moreover, his growth was still slow. Frederick tried to find out all sorts of ways, but he didn’t grow even half as much as others.

“I’m sorry. My abilities are lacking.”

“No. Father is doing well.”

Frederick, a father he had never had before, was a really good person. Thanks to him, Michael was able to keep his sanity.

However, the cynical personality that had already taken root in his heart did not change. However, he was able to package himself with a smile and composure.

Besides, after having a nightmare, he couldn’t deceive himself, so he went on a rampage.

If he threw things around the room and acted hysterically at the employees, Frederick would come and hug him.

“It’s okay, it’s all okay.”

Thanks to that, Michael was able to endure it. Frederick was surprisingly similar to Michael in many ways and understood everything about him. For 4 years.

Four years later, Frederick died. He hadn’t told Michael, but he said he had been ill since he met him.

Michael became Count Röscher and Master of the Magic Tower at the age of fifteen, he guessed.

After Frederick died, there was no one left in this world who could understand Michael.

Of course, everyone said they understood him. But to Michael, humans were just insignificant creatures.

Foolish, and dying with just a little force, insignificant beings like ants.

Then one day, Michael heard about a girl who had turned the empire upside down. Her name was Rosette Adrian.

A genius of the century who summoned a familiar at the age of eight. He wondered if she would understand him.

But he couldn’t meet her. She went to the Adrian estate with her family not long after, and no news came from her at all.

Five years passed like that. Suddenly, a man named Duke Dallas of the Empire requested the Magic Tower.

The goal is one. To ruin the Adrian family.

‘If I go there, will I be able to meet Rosette, that child? How interesting.’

Michael decided to go to the Empire himself. He wanted to meet Rosette Adrian in person there.

And when he actually met her, Michael was quite shocked while talking to Rosette. That she, who he thought would be similar to him, was living in a completely different world from him.

He was disappointed. Still, he decided to find out a little more.

And…….

-I looked because you were pretty. Your eyes are like a rabbit.

-Because I thought you must have had a hard time too.

‘She will be able to understand me.’

Suddenly, he had that thought.

But it was still not enough. Rosette, who had only grown up in happiness, would not be able to fully understand his ugly darkness and shadows.

Then there was only one way.

Let’s drag that child into this darkness together. So that she can understand everything about him.

Then, first of all, we have to get rid of the happiness surrounding her.

Unlike his heart, Michael, with a seemingly harmless smile, left the room and headed to Duke Dallas’s office.

“I need to speed up the plan.”

Michael muttered in a languid voice. Duke Dallas asked, resting his chin on his hands.

“If you speed it up?”

“My patience is slowly running out. Bring that child here.”

“Rosette Adrian, you mean?”

“Yes. I need to take that child away quickly. Wouldn’t it be nice for you to destroy Adrian as soon as possible?”

“That’s right.”

Michael stroked Perito’s head and fell into thought.

“However, I can’t step out myself. She might hate me if she notices.”

“Then what?”

“Let’s do this.”

As Michael spun his hand in the air, a bracelet with a red jewel embedded in it, resembling his eyes, appeared. As he waved his finger, the bracelet flew and fell on Duke Dallas’s desk.

“You can use this to neutralize that child.”

“So?”

“Kidnap me and Rosette at the same time. And you use Rosette as a hostage to lure the Adrian family members and kill them all, and I will rescue that child and take her away.”

Michael, he had to become someone like Frederick Röscher to Rosette. A savior who would pull Rosette, struggling in despair, into the light.

Then she will only look at Michael and live. Michael will too.

A life where each other is each other’s salvation. Isn’t it beautiful?