Volume 5 Chapter 5 Memories
"Hey, show me some magic, will you?"
After having a fun dinner with his family of eight, which included a lot of deer meat, Gabby urged Al to use the 'Light' spell. Al watched the light closely, and every time he cast the spell, Gabby reacted with excitement.
"That's amazing! How did Sir Al learn magic?"
"My Grandpa was a magician. I learned from him."
Al's grandfather was skilled in magic. When he was young, he was an adventurer and later became a magician for the Margrave Rain's knight order. Al wanted his grandfather to teach him spells too.
"That's so cool..."
Gabby said with envy. Becoming a magician requires special knowledge. For example, spellbooks are in an ancient script, which means you must learn to read and write it. There are many things only magicians know. To learn them, you could hire a tutor, study in middle school, or become an apprentice to a magician like Leda. But all of these options are hard for someone from an ordinary background.
To hire a tutor, you need money and good connections. To get into middle school, you must have a recommendation from someone important. If you want to become an apprentice, be ready to work hard for more than ten years. Al's family was poor, but his great-grandfather and grandfather were respected knights and lords. Because of their status, he learned magic from his grandfather and later from his teachers in elementary school.
However, learning magic requires strong will and talent. Becoming a magician brings power and respect in society, so many people wish to do it. But only one in ten people has the talent for magic. This is also true for the children of magicians. Unfortunately, even if you work hard, the chances of not having talent are high, and only a few can keep their motivation to continue despite this.
For Al, the desire to learn magic began with a major event from his very early childhood.
Actually, Al had a twin sister. The reason he say "had" is that he was still very young and doesn't remember much. What he does remember is a young girl with slightly brighter blonde hair who called him Ally in a cute way. Her name was said to be Ingrid, but young Al couldn't say her name properly and called her Grii instead.
When Al and Ingrid were 3 years old, they went to a nearby forest with some helpers to pick wild strawberries. They were happily exploring when suddenly, one of the helpers shouted about a goblin. Al and Ingrid held hands and tried to run away, but their little legs couldn't keep up, and they were quickly caught. Al was hit and lost consciousness.
When Al woke up, he found himself on someone's back. Confused, he soon recognized his grandfather's voice. It seemed he had been saved from the goblins. His grandfather was on the move, shooting shining arrows that took down goblins. Al looked around and saw his father and some village guards fighting, but he couldn't see his sisters anywhere.
In this era, battles with magic beasts and barbarians were not uncommon. Especially for those living in border areas, they fought against them almost every year. The attack that Al and the others faced was one of those incidents, and Al was probably taken to be food for the goblins. It was very fortunate that he was rescued.
Al was in shock and had injuries, so he stayed in bed for a while. The bed that his sister always slept in was empty for a long time, and a few days later, it was cleared away. Even though he was young, he realized that his sister would never come back.
Al's grandfather always wanted him to stay in bed, but he also gave him a special magic tool he found in ancient ruins when he was young. He shared stories of his adventures with Al, filled with scary magic beasts, fierce warriors, and tricky puzzles. His grandfather's magic was what always saved the day. These tales fascinated Al and helped him feel better over time.
One day, Al took out the pendant──a magic tool that had recently started to glow softly──which his grandfather had given him over ten years ago. His younger sister, Ingrid, was now the same age as Gabby he was back then, and he wondered if she would be upset about it.
Gabby was staring at the pendant with wide, curious eyes. Al remembered his grandfather saying that the pendant was decorated with a statue of a goddess. Although he wasn't sure how much of his grandfather's stories were true, he decided to share those tales with Gabby, looking at the glowing pendant.
* * *
The next morning, Al started his journey with Gabby, who volunteered to guide him to a cave known as the hot spring. The path was rough, with hilly areas like where they hunted deer the day before. Without Gabby, it would have been difficult to find the way. They passed areas where water bubbled up, and at one place, steam was coming out. It smelled like rotten eggs. When Al asked Gabby about it, she explained that near the hot spring, the bubbling water formed a small, clear pond.
On the way, Al heard a loud rumbling sound, like "rumble rumble" and "boom boom," and he felt the ground shake slightly. According to Gabby, this area often made such noises. There were also frequent earthquakes, and just a month ago, there had been a couple of big shakes.
Al had never experienced anything like that before; he had only heard about earthquakes from stories. Feeling anxious, he continued up the mountain slope.
Before noon, Al and Gabby arrived at a cave called a hot spring. However, Gabby tilted his head in confusion.
"The cave is collapsing!"
Part of the cave's ceiling had fallen in, and dirt from above had spilled inside. Al and Gabby hurried to the entrance. The entire cave wasn't buried, but the remaining opening was just big enough for Gabby and Al to crawl through. They shouted loudly, but there was no response from inside.
"I'm going to check inside. Gabby, wait outside."
Al hooked his backpack onto a small, hook-shaped spell disk called 'Carrier' and cast a spell on himself to see in the dark.
"Be careful."
"Yeah, I'll be fine. There might be goblins around here. You be careful too, Gabby. If it gets past noon and I don't come back, don't hesitate to go back to the village and talk to the village head."
"Got it."
Al smiled and waved to Gabby to keep him from worrying. Then, he returned to a serious expression and entered the hole.
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