The Mysterious Child: An Adventure Tale Beginning with Numerology

Recently, Gavin's behavior has been strange.

"Hah! Hah! Hah!"

He's stopped oversleeping for early morning practice, and he's putting an unusual amount of effort into his sword swings. Even when he gets hit during sparring practice with Verugana, he doesn't complain, just silently looking frustrated.

After practice ends, sometimes he keeps running around the training ground, or he'll level and clean up the field in Verugana's place.

It feels like his usual troublemaker behavior has quieted down, and he's shifted to a serious apprentice mode.

I wonder what happened. Did he eat something off the ground?

Today again, as soon as practice ended, Gavin immediately shouldered a rake and started leveling the ground.

I don't have the strength to even lightly swing a rake, so I was resting in the shade, amusing myself by adding sound effects to Gavin's accumulating good deed points. Cha-ching~

Then Verugana approached and sat down next to me.

"Are you already exhausted from this level of practice? You're still as lacking in stamina as ever, young master Ruruk."

"That's not it. I just lack mental fortitude."

"Is that something to proudly declare?"

"I'm a beansprout, so if I grow too much I'll wilt."

"You were wilted before you even started growing."

I can't argue with that.

While exchanging such jokes, I was actually practicing spirit element manipulation on the side. It's nice that I can do it with just a fingertip. I wonder if there's a way to make Verugana's boot camp training not build up lactic acid... Well, that's impossible. Even if it were possible, it definitely wouldn't happen.

Because then Verugana wouldn't be able to see my suffering face.

"By the way, Verugana, what's up with him? Did he finally start climbing the stairs to adulthood now that he's 8?"

Gavin recently had his birthday. A summer boy continuing his diligent ground maintenance while sweat drips down his face under the scorching sun... Yeah, it doesn't suit him at all. I wonder if he got food poisoning or something.

"He probably had some thoughts about last month's incident. Let's leave him be."

"You mean the attempted kidnapping?"

"That's right. He was the closest one watching you, his younger brother, put on quite a show."

"Aha. I see."

The mystery is completely solved.

With a mind sharper than the Sleeping Detective, I immediately grasped Gavin's intentions.

"I get it. Gavin was really frustrated that he couldn't look cool in front of Lilith. So now he's earnestly doing good deeds and acting serious to raise his favorability for next time. He wants Lilith to like him that much... What a siscon. I respect that."

"...Sigh. You two really are brothers."

Well, we are connected by blood... Huh, that's not it?

"Hey, old hag! I'm done, so teach me magic!"

Gavin, having finished the maintenance, said that while glaring at me for some reason.

Verugana let out a single sigh. She stood up as if to say, "Good grief."

"Is that how you ask someone for a favor?"

"Please teach me, you damn old hag!"

"Very well. I'll teach your body thoroughly and slowly."

Hey, you're way too into this.

While the useless older brother and the sadistic old lady were doing magic practice (a.k.a. Gavin's execution), I was silently repeating my spirit element manipulation practice. This is really difficult; because they stick to my fingers on their own, it's so hard to adjust their arrangement.

It seems I just have to keep practicing until I can consciously keep the spirit elements in place.

After a while, Gavin's magical power seemed to run out, and he was on his knees, sweating like a waterfall.

He's working so hard in this heat. The temperature is rising rapidly even though it's still morning. This is why I hate summer. Even Gavin might get dehydrated at this rate. Verugana is just grinning with a cool face... Geez, what a troublesome brother.

I throw Gavin's water bottle, which was in the shade, to him.

Oh, it hit his butt. Turn around and glare at me, will you?

Alright, I should head back to the mansion too. I want to wipe off my sweat before breakfast time.

As I enter the mansion through the back door, I hear footsteps running from behind.

I turn around just as Gavin passes by and--

"Damn beansprout!"

"Whoa!"

He poured water on my head.

It wasn't exactly cold, but the water flowing down my upper body is definitely unpleasant. That little brat, returning kindness with malice.

Even if I wanted to retaliate, Gavin was already running down the hallway. As I was debating whether to chase after him, Gavin suddenly lifted the skirt of a maid girl who was cleaning the floor.

"Ahya-- Oof!"

The maid girl tried to cover her behind while screaming, spilled the water from the bucket she was using, and fell over. She ended up face-planting into the bucket in a pose that would score 100 points for artistic merit. It would be a gold medal if this were the Olympics.

Come on, Gavin-kun, your good deed points just vanished in an instant. Pouring water on me and lifting the skirt of a young maiden? Isn't that an unforgivable sin?

Normally, it would be justified for the maid girl and me to get furious and chase after him for such bad karma... but well, I'm big-hearted, so I'll forgive him.

Come to think of it, Gavin must have a lot of pent-up frustration. His beloved sister doesn't pay him any attention, and he gets beaten up by Verugana every day. When you consider that, you can overlook a bit of mischief.

Yes, I'm forgiving him because I'm big-hearted. It's definitely not because of the spectacular view I can see from here right now.

"...Pink, huh."

Gavin is a troublemaker. But even troublemakers do nice things sometimes, don't they?

"Wawawa! My head! My head is stuck!"

...Well. I've had my fill of this unusual sight, so I guess I'll go help her out.

I slowly approach the maid who's desperately trying to pull her head out of the bucket while her skirt is still flipped up, exposing her behind.

□ □ □ □ □

Come to think of it, there's one more thing that's changed recently.

"Big brother Ruru! Read this to me!"

"Oh my, Lilith. Ruruk-sama is reading. Don't disturb him."

"Eh~? But Lili wants to read together with big brother Ruru~"

"You can't always be spoiled. Ruruk-sama is the one who can be as spoiled as he wants, you know~?"

Lilith clings to me from the left, while Rina strokes my head from the right.

Let me say one thing... What is this?

"Um, both of you, this is the study..."

"I know! It's where we read books!"

"My, my. Ruruk-sama is stating the obvious."

No, no, no.

The study is a place for quietly reading books, right? It's not a place for having others read to you, nor is it a place to bring in tea sets and snacks for break time, is it?

Let's do those things in the living room or private rooms!

But I can't say that. I can't say it that strongly.

Because I'm basically a person who avoids conflict... The Japanese trait of not being able to say no... Inevitable defeat... Overwhelming passivity...!

So, this is how it's been.

Not only has Lilith gotten closer to me, but even Rina has started coming to the study. It's not like it was exclusively my place to begin with, so I don't have the right to say anything... but let me say this. You two are too close. Why are you always touching me somewhere? Isn't this closer than an extrovert's personal space?

But even if I wanted to escape, I can't turn on the lights in my private room, so I have no choice but to read here. I just want to concentrate and read my book... that's all.

"Hey, big brother Ruru."

"...What is it now, Lilith?"

"Lili wants to do Mystic Arts too! I want to do it with big brother Ruru!"

Huh? An angel with a sparkling smile is disturbing your reading?

You idiot, who thought that even for a moment? Come out here so I can beat you up. ...Okay, no one's coming out, so I'll let it slide. You'd better be grateful to your future self!

"Lilith, have you ever been appraised? What's your aptitude-- I mean, your proficiency level?"

"I don't know!"

Lilith answered with a confident smile. Ah~ so healing. Once again, the world's cutest little sister is right here... Oops, the Gavin in my heart just blurted out something weird. Excuse me, I'll discipline him.

"Rina-san, what about Lilith's appraisal?"

"Yes. Her proficiency was 130, so with effort, she might be able to..."

Right, the initial proficiency is what's important.

Proficiency seems to be something like talent. If the initial value is high, it simply means you have a good affinity, and the value increases as you use it more. The higher the value gets, the more precise your techniques and skills become, and it can also lead to learning new skills.

By the way, if the initial value is below 100, it means you have almost no talent.

Incidentally, my initial proficiency of over 1000 is "abnormal" according to Verugana. I have zero aptitude for magic, but it seems I do have talent for Mystic Arts.

Anyway, now it's about Lilith. A proficiency of 130 is probably about average. They say it's possible with effort, but... it depends on how serious she is.

"Lilith, can you see spirit elements?"

"I don't know!"

"Which means you can't... Hmm, how should I explain this?"

I understand now why the "Basics of Mystic Arts" didn't include a method for recognizing spirit elements.

Spirit elements are, in terms of feeling, like "unchanging humidity."

For example, if someone who lived in an arid region suddenly went to a humid region, they would feel a difference. That was like me with my memories from my previous life. But if you say to someone who has always lived in a humid region, "The air here is damp, isn't it?" they'd probably respond with, "What do you mean?"

No wonder it takes an average of two years of meditation to recognize them.

"Come on~ Teach me, big brother Ruru."

"If Lilith can persevere for about two years without giving up..."

"I'll do my best! Lili will definitely remember it!"

Kuh, it's dazzling.

If you're that determined, I guess it's okay. Well, it's not like we're losing anything.

"Before that, may I ask something, Ruruk-sama? What exactly is Mystic Arts in the first place?"

"Well, I only understand the basics so far, but..."

It's been only a month since I started self-studying Mystic Arts.

I've only learned two skills... but I've at least read through and memorized all the beginner's books, so explaining it to Rina is easy enough.

"There are three categories of Mystic Arts skills, and even here, there seems to be a matter of talent or aptitude.

First is [Summoning]. It's a skill that calls forth things that shouldn't be there. The 'Familiar Summoning' that the Mystic Sage often used in the Tale of the Three Sages falls into this category."

"I've read it too, so I know about that."

"That's good. According to Verugana, it's similar to the magic 'Tame' which controls familiars, but the advantage of 'Familiar Summoning' is that you can call forth familiars even when they're far away."

By the way, the only summoning skill I've learned is this 'Familiar Summoning'.

Familiars I can summon? Hahaha, just the baby mice I've been feeding in the attic, but so what??

"Then, the second is [Substitution]. This is a skill that rewrites material information. For example, it can be used to create imitations of things or to transfer objects from one place to another."

"My, teleportation! I wonder if we could go all the way to the royal capital. I'd love to go shopping there again after so long."

Rina-san smiles dreamily.

I've heard that women's shopping desire is bottomless, so it's probably not good to raise her expectations too much about teleportation.

"Well, you see, the information that can be rewritten with spirit elements is limited to what you can see. If you want to ignore spatial distance, it becomes a summoning skill, but apparently, you can't summon humans with 'Familiar Summoning'. By the way, I haven't learned any teleportation skills yet, and the book said it's extremely difficult to control. Also, the beginner's book didn't even mention human teleportation..."

"Oh, that's a shame."

"So going to the royal capital might be a bit difficult."

Maybe that Mystic Queen person could do it, but let's consider that an exception and not think about it.

"Lastly, there's the [Conceptual] skill. Conceptual skills seem to be a special technique that uses spirit veins to connect to the World Tree and creates phenomena based on 'memories' stored in the World Tree... To be honest, the beginner's book only had a brief overview of this, and there weren't any examples of actual skills. Of course, I have no idea how to do it either."

I mean, connecting with and using a mysterious substance that I've heard exists but have never seen or understood? Awakening memories? And then pulling them into reality?

Hmm, I don't get it at all.

This seems to require something beyond just spirit element manipulation techniques, and for now, I don't even have a starting point, so I'm not inclined to try learning it.

"So that's basically what Mystic Arts is. Honestly, magic seems more versatile and applicable..."

"That's how it seems, Lilith. Shall we give up?"

"I'm going to do it! Lili wants to be with big brother Ruru!"

She didn't waver at all even after learning it might not be useful.

After such a strong declaration, I have no choice but to agree. I smile while patting Lilith's head.

I-It's not like I'm smiling because I'm that happy, okay? This is a smile of admiration for Lilith's ambition. Geez, an older brother really has his work cut out for him with such an aspiring little sister, can't be helped.

"But the training is long and tough. First, you need to be able to sense spirit elements, so you'll have to meditate constantly--"

"Hey, you damn beansprout!"

Suddenly, the door burst open and the troublemaker came in.

What's the big idea? You're interrupting at a good part.

I was about to complain when Gavin threw a wooden sword at me and said:

"Duel me!"

...Huh?