2 – Episode 2
# 2
There is a term called ‘reverse scale’.
It refers to a scale that sprouts upside down in a dragon’s jaw, touching it supposedly causes the dragon to rampage, incinerating its surroundings.
Thus, it often refers to ‘the point you should never touch’ as the reverse scale.
A woman is not a being that grows scales, but she has a limit. That limit for women is ‘age’. This can be explained biologically since the chance for a woman of over 30 to bear healthy children rapidly decreases. No parent in the world wishes for their offspring to be born sick or weak. So, men instinctively prefer younger women. Women, in turn, wish to remain eternally young. Unlike women, men don’t see their reproductive abilities diminish with age (although their virility might). It is not uncommon to hear stories of men over 60 getting women in their 20s pregnant. That’s why men are unperturbed when hearing the term ‘middle-aged’. Aging is somber, but it’s not something one can deny. However, for women to be called ‘middle-aged woman’ is a blow, suggesting the end of life. Hyperbolically speaking, it sounds like, ‘You, as a woman, are finished’. “Am I… a middle-aged woman?”
She shudders. Even from a distance, the shaking of her shoulders is evident. The younger sister has no idea
My little sister had disappeared somewhere. I wasn’t worried. She moved around all the time and this place was as familiar to her as our yard. Go ahead, eat some wild strawberries first. I focused my attention on the woman in front of me.
“Excuse me, but who are you, traveler?”
The woman looked a bit surprised as she looked back at me.
Polite speech that didn’t match her age. Completely different from my little sister.
“I am Eredis. A wandering wizard.”
“…A wizard?”
I was surprised. This place is medieval, but it’s a fantasy world. A land where monsters and magic exist.
Here, a wizard is another name for war. Where there is war, there is a wizard. Actually, seeing a wizard for the first time, I felt an inexplicable fear. The wizard is a vague entity. Obviously, since I have never met one in my past life, that existence can only be fearful.
‘Why is a wizard here…’
I recalled the common sense of this world.
A wizard is another name for war.
‘Could it be…war?’
But soon I shook my head. The ruler of this village, the Feldenberg family, is not wealthy enough to wage war by bringing in a wizard. They are just able to fend off thieves; what could they do with a wizard? But, of course, we cannot disregard thieves. Once thieves establish a system, they become an army, and the leader of the thieves is often eventually called a lord. Still, to properly conduct war, the power of the Feldenberg family is woefully inadequate.
“I came to find a black-haired boy who lives in this village…”
“Pardon?”
The woman who introduced herself as Eredis looked intently at my hair as she spoke.
If he wasn’t a child with the disgusting hobby of dying his hair, Ian would be the ‘black-haired boy’ that the wizard was looking for.
“Do you know of any other black-haired boys?”
Ian shook his head.
He was the only black-haired boy, hence the honourable nickname: ‘Ian the Raven’.
“I’m the only one.”
After observing Ian for a moment, the wizard Eredis burst into a cheerful laugh.
“The time sorcerers, really.”
‘Time sorcerer?’
To Ian, these words were incomprehensible.
#
Eredis Manscarl was a wandering wizard.
The Empire’s wizards can be categorized into two main classes; secular wizards and truth-seekers.
Secular wizards – commonly referred to as “wizards” – are those who learn magic to influence others. War wizards and university professors of magic belong to this group.
In contrary, truth-seekers don’t settle in one place, they are always on the move.
Their sole purpose is to explore magic. They are the ones who spare no effort to achieve greater success.
There isn’t a clear distinction between the two. A truth-seeker might accept the favor of a noble and settle down, or a comfortable person might choose a journey for magical attainment.
Eredis leaned more towards being a truth-seeker by nature.
Achieving higher grounds and becoming a great wizard.
Leaving her accomplishments to future generations to progress the world. These were Eredis’ reasons and purpose in life.
At thirty-five, she was a pretty well-known wizard among other wizards. Once a person attains a certain level of stability in life, they naturally desire to have children. Having achieved respectable accomplishments as a wizard, Eredis began to entertain the slight yearning to take on an apprentice.
As if penetrating her every thought, a magician came looking for her. His name was Gerard, a comparatively ordinary man from Eredis.
“Do you not want to take a disciple these days?”
“Where did you get that peculiar idea from?”
For a wandering magician to come ‘looking for her’ was strange in itself, but Gerard was a notorious spacetime magician with no ability to control the storm. Their ability to control time and space allowed them to pull threads of the future from beyond time, resorting to offering ‘prophecies’ as a kind of mischief. It was never clear what they had actually seen in the future.
Gerard offered Eredis some unexpected information.
“Seek out a black-haired boy in the Feldenberg territory of Colbruin. If you make him your disciple, good things will inevitably happen.”
Eredis dismissed Gerard’s advice with a snort.
The prophecies of spacetime magicians were usually like that – do something somewhere, and good things will happen. It was an open secret that spacetime magicians shared visions of the future amongst themselves. Moreover, she knew that at the meetings of the spacetime magicians, there were endless debates on what constitutes a ‘better future’. To realize their version of a ‘better future’, spacetime magicians wouldn’t hesitate to manipulate people in the present. That’s why they were so often scorned. It was annoying to see them in the background constantly whispering about the future, trying to play God.
Eredis pondered.
She thought – Gerard had seen some strange future that he was now pushing her to make a reality. Spacetime magicians did not speak explicitly about the future. The first reason being because they themselves were not 100% sure of the future, the second being a prohibition on disclosing prophecies.
There was no reason for Eredis to heed Gerard’s advice.
While Gerard would be disappointed, he would soon move on to seek another future.
Yet, the spacetime magician’s proposal was enticing. They enjoyed changing the future by using others as chess pieces. In order to manipulate others, they needed a premise, which usually goes like, ‘good things will happen if you listen to me.’
True enough, good things did happen if one followed the word of a spacetime magician.
But it felt terrible to become a puppet in their schemes.
This was the second reason why spacetime magicians were reviled.
‘Maybe I should go just for fun.’
While Gerard made the proposition, it was Eredis who had the choice.
There was no need to seriously consider it. Just act based on your mood. Do it if you want to, and stop if you don’t. However, Eledis hadn’t been feeling great lately. Her magical progress was halted by a wall, stuck in one place. With no recent happiness in sight, she thought it may cheer her up to go on a journey. After all, traveling was what Eledis had been doing for her whole life. Shortly after, she headed straight for the Colbrun region. And as cursed by the Time Mage’s prophecy, she met the young boy with black hair. The first button of the prophecy was stitched together.
“Little one, what’s your name?”
“It’s Ian.”
Eledis gently touched the boy’s head. His eyes, a mix of curiosity and fear, shining brightly with charm. Gerard. This unfortunate Time Mage kid. She should take him as an apprentice, right?
“I suppose there’s no need to beat around the bush. I came here to make you my apprentice.”
“… Eh?”
Ian was speechless at Eledis’s sudden proposition. Here was a woman he just met today, saying she was going to make him her apprentice. Surely, apprentice isn’t a euphemism for experimental sacrifice, is it?
“You’re… taking me as your apprentice?”
“Indeed! I want to teach you magic. What do you think?”
“…”
Ian could not continue speaking. A tremendous shock had hit his head.
Whether in his past life or present one, skills were power.
As the saying goes, if you learn a skill, you won’t starve to death, and artisans are respected everywhere because they do work others cannot.
Therefore, there is always a price for learning a skill.
Whether that’s money or connections. Without offering something in return, one cannot learn a skill.
This is exactly why Ian cannot dream of a job besides farming.
Not only does he lack money, but there’s also nobody around to teach him a skill. Who in their right mind would hand over their precious means of livelihood to a stranger for free?
In this world, it’s absurdly tough to even begin to learn a skill.
After establishing some acquaintances through introductions, you have to serve as an apprentice for years at the very least, conforming to the artisan’s ways.
You provide meals, take care of the artisan’s family, do mundane tasks, and accept verbal abuse…
Only after being treated like a slave for 3-4 years will they finally begrudgingly teach you the simplest of skills. After learning each skill one at a time, you begin to dream of working independently after about 10 years.
If your master happens to be a famous artisan, new apprentices might come in during this time.
Then there are the first, second-line apprentices. That’s how the hierarchy gets established.
While the gap between ranks isn’t substantial when it comes to an individual taking on an apprentice, in guild-like places that have been in business for over 100 years, the rank system keeps expanding, and various bad customs grow like cancer cells.
Polishing your senior’s shoes, preparing their tools in advance.
Always greeting them with a 90-degree bow. Smiling and accepting even their crappiest jokes…
Anyway.
Learning someone else’s skills is no easy task. The only ones who would teach their skills without any recompense are parents.
But an exception had just appeared before him.
Eredis.
“I…I don’t know.”
Good things usually come with a catch.
Crooks exploit human greed to do their business. They play with people’s hearts by whispering extraordinary offers that only a fool would refuse.
If Ian had been an ordinary medieval man, he might have fallen for it right away.
But Ian was a reincarnated medieval man.
His Korean black hair served as proof.
“Is she a fraud?”
Human trafficker. That’s the term that comes Ian’s mind.
To begin with, Eredis did seem like a real wizard. Because she was traveling alone as a woman. Otherwise, her companions must be hiding somewhere in the forest. That would make her a kidnapper.
‘…What?’
Meanwhile, Eredis was speechless at the change in Ian’s eyes.
It’s inappropriate to claim herself, but Eredis is one of the most popular wizards nowadays. In other words, she is a wizard in high demand.
Even the noisy ones have already started calling her ‘the great Eredis’.
And she, Eredis herself, had asked if he wanted to be her disciple.
What’s with that look in his eyes? It was as if he was looking at a street vendor fraud!
If she went to any city and announced that Wizard Eredis was looking for a disciple, it would be overflowing with volunteers.
However, the pure evil from the boy, who was completely unaware of that fact, left a scratch on Eredis’s pride.
“What do you not understand? Huh? Tell me.”
Ian was in a dilemma. How could he say ‘you seem like a fraud’ indirectly.
So, he said this.
“Big sister… seems like a fake magician.”
“???”
Eredis was staggered by the shock.
Wizard Eredis.
To be slapped with it by Ian, right after his sister…