Dukedom’s Legendary Prodigy - Chapter 2

----------------------------------------------------------------- Translator: Vine Chapter: 2 Chapter Title: The Wise Elf ----------------------------------------------------------------- * * *

Back when the war between the Empire and the demons had not yet ended, Dale, in his past life as a hero, had witnessed the might of Lord Black just once.

When the demons' schemes pinned down the Empire's main forces, leaving the capital of the Sachsen Duchy defenseless and exposed to the enemy, it was there that Duke Sachsen calmly met them.

Facing a massive army of orc warlords that had surrounded the Sachsen ducal castle and its city, he stood alone, without a single knight to protect him.

Dale, who had been dispatched with a special unit at the time, could never forget the sight he witnessed that day.

As his ominous, jet-black robes fluttered, in the very moment he waved his hand.

The pouring twilight of dusk vanished.

Once the light disappeared, a host of darkness descended. Death knights, riding steeds of immortal shadow, poured forth.

An undying army that would never rest, never stop.

It was a thrill unlike any he had ever felt in this world.

“My lord.”

A woman's soft voice, calling his name, brushed past his ear.

“It's time to wake up.”

Dale quietly opened his eyes. The morning sunlight seeped through his eyelids.

‘Was it a dream?’

A dream of the man who was now his father.

“Thank you for waking me.”

Dale shook his head and expressed his gratitude.

Eve was a young maid working for the House of Sachsen. Though young, she was nearly a full zodiac cycle older than Dale, who was turning eight this year.

Eight years old.

Seeing the ducal castle already bustling with activity, Dale could easily guess what today was about.

Today, Dale was finally turning eight.

Even Lord Black, who rarely cared for the empty formalities and social gatherings of the nobility, had summoned his vassals and nobles to prepare a grand birthday celebration.

The Great Hall of the ducal castle.

Servants bustled about, and a considerable number of nobles had already gathered. The northern nobles loyal to Duke Sachsen.

“Congratulations on turning eight.”

Elena sat on the left of the thrones prepared for the ducal couple, wearing a gentle smile.

“Thank you for growing up so well, Dale.”

“Mother.”

With a maturity beyond his eight years, Dale silently bowed his head.

“Where is Father?”

“He had some urgent business and is in a meeting with Lord Helmut.”

Elena replied, sounding regretful.

‘Lord Helmut, the knight commander?’

Lord Helmut was the commander of the Night Raven Knights, who served House Sachsen directly.

To their enemies, they were infamous as the Black Cavalry, destroyers on the battlefield.

To summon the knight commander so urgently, it must have been something like a dungeon discovery within the territory. The duke's duty to ensure the safety of his domain made no exceptions, not even for Dale's momentous birthday.

“While the banquet is delayed, there's someone I'd like to introduce to you in your father's stead.”

But Elena, seemingly unconcerned, quietly rose to her feet. Someone to introduce? Dale blinked and followed her.

Accompanied by her ladies-in-waiting, Elena crossed the corridors of the lord's castle. Leaving the boisterous socializing of the hall behind, she led Dale toward a guest room on the lower floor.

“Lady Sephia.”

Elena knocked politely and bowed her head. Dale blinked at the courteous reception.

“My apologies, my lady.”

Soon, the door opened, and a calm, clear, beautiful voice drifted out.

“I'm not accustomed to noisy places.”

Dale gasped in surprise.

“Go on, greet her. This is Lady Sephia, the Wise Elf and an elder of the Blue Magic Tower.”

An elder of the Blue Magic Tower, the Wise Elf Sephia.

The guest in the room was a woman who looked about the same age as Elena, who had just shed her maidenly youth, or perhaps even a little younger.

A beauty that shone as coldly as a crystal. But the pointed ears peeking through her sapphire hair spoke of the meaninglessness of her apparent age.

An elf, a race beloved by mana.

“I am greatly indebted to Lord Black and his wife.”

Sephia replied with a bow. Elena shook her head as if to say it was nothing of the sort.

“On the contrary, I am overjoyed that my child will be receiving your tutelage, Lady Sephia.”

Lady Sephia's tutelage? Upon hearing those words, Dale roughly grasped the situation.

‘They've hired a truly extravagant tutor.’

“So that child is Dale.”

The elder of the Blue Tower, Sephia, was now gazing at Dale with serious eyes.

“He mentioned that the boy is forming a faint fragment of a mana circle within his body.”

That had been years ago. But the tender age of four or five was not a suitable time to unfurl the wings of talent.

Therefore, Dale had quietly waited for the right time.

A time when his abilities could be downgraded from the realm of 'monster' to that of 'prodigious talent.'

Of course, that didn't mean he had idled away the time. Still, Dale's 'training' during that period had been of a nature that didn't require him to be conscious of others' gazes.

“I can certainly feel the presence of mana.”

Sephia nodded without any sign of surprise.

“Dale, you said you wanted to learn magic, didn't you?”

Elena did not wish for Dale to become a necromancer. But she likely didn't want his brilliant talent for magic to go to waste either.

‘Magic of the Blue Magic Tower.’

Dale felt no sense of urgency. As long as Lord Black was his father, opportunities to learn dark magic would surely come.

Above all, Dale understood his own capacity.

A mage with ordinary talent would struggle to master even a single element in their lifetime. But Dale was different.

Rather, an elf beloved by mana and an elder of the Blue Tower would be a rare learning opportunity for him.

‘The more one learns, the better.’

Setting aside how much a mere elder of the Blue Tower could possibly teach him.

The first lesson began sooner than expected.

His mother, Elena, said she would return around the time Lord Black came back and left with her ladies-in-waiting, giving them space.

“I'll be in your care, Dale.”

Sephia smiled brightly at Dale, who was left alone in the guest room.

An elder of the Blue Magic Tower and a worldly elf, a rare sight indeed. Her crystal-blue hair, which seemed to exude a faint chill, was incredibly beautiful. And her pointed ears peeking through it went without saying.

“I'll be in your care, Teacher.”

In any case, such a tutor was only possible thanks to the ducal family's prestige.

In his past life, Dale had been an all-rounder who mastered swordsmanship, magic, and even hidden weapons and poisons.

As a human weapon called a hero, he needed to be perfectly adaptable to any form of combat.

For that reason, he was not entirely unfamiliar with the water-element magic that the Blue Tower specialized in.

However, what he had learned back then was a distorted method, extremely skewed toward combat and killing. It was a crude process of hammering all sorts of physical modifications and magical engravings into his body.

What Dale was learning now was far from magic intended for killing.

Water-element magic specialized in defense and disruption rather than offense, and thus the foundation of the Blue Tower's water magic was twofold.

Incapacitation and non-lethality.

‘Is this my mother's wish, too?’

Hoping her child would not see bloodshed, Elena must have invited a mage from the Blue Tower. Perhaps she was even considering a long-term path for him to become a Blue Tower mage.

But Dale had no intention of meekly deciding his future according to her wishes.

‘My vessel now is different from before.’

No matter how high a level of understanding he had inherited from his past life, Dale's current vessel was that of a mere eight-year-old kid.

Of course, having inherited the blood of the Master of the Black Magic Tower, he likely possessed more than double the talent for magic.

But that was the extent of it. It couldn't compare to his time as a 'human weapon'—an SSS-class monster hunter with decades of honed talent and a body enhanced by all manner of the Empire's human modifications.

Therefore, Dale needed to select and focus based on his profound understanding, rather than following the same path as before.

To open a new horizon that no one had ever reached.

‘Even if I get greedy, swordsmanship and two schools of magic will be my limit.’

Assuming one is dark magic, that means filling the remaining slot with water magic.

After thinking that far, Dale shook his head.

After all, he was only an eight-year-old child. Even with an elder of the Blue Magic Tower as his teacher, how much could he really learn right now? It would likely end with learning to handle mana, the basics of magic, and a few water spells.

Besides, Dale hadn't even fully formed his first mana circle yet. There was no need to be hasty about anything.

“Shall we go for a walk outside for a bit?”

Just then, Sephia, who had been observing Dale intently, spoke. Her eyes were clear and pure, as if they could see into the deepest parts of him.

“Yes, Teacher.”

There was no reason to refuse.

Dale was strolling through the central courtyard of the ducal castle with Sephia. A biting chill seeped into his lungs.

“The air is quite cool.”

Sephia spoke as they crossed the pure white marble cloister surrounding the courtyard.

“It reminds me of my home.”

Her voice held a faint longing. He had guessed as much, but she was likely a Snow Elf.

“Is it your will to learn magic?”

Just then, Sephia spoke. Dale blinked at the unexpected question.

“When you agreed to learn magic from me, I saw a hesitation unbecoming of a child.”

“My desire to learn magic is my own.”

Dale felt she had hit the nail on the head. He had been trying to find a suitable excuse, but instead, he shook his head and spoke.

“However, it's because there is another kind of magic I wish to learn...”

“Dark magic, I presume.”

Sephia replied as if it were no surprise.

“Lord Black's promise not to have his child inherit his trade is well known.”

The love story of Lord Black and Elena was an anecdote still gossiped about by the continent's connoisseurs.

“Teacher, don't you find the necromancy of the Black Magic Tower unsettling?”

“Why do you think that?”

Elves are a race that values the laws of nature.

So he thought Sephia, too, might secretly find Lord Black unsettling, but an unexpected answer returned.

“Well, reviving the dead goes against the laws of nature...”

As he was about to finish, Sephia burst into laughter, as if amused.

“You think bringing the dead back to life is an act that defies the laws of nature?”

“W-Wouldn't it be?”

“Then is the divine power of priests who revive terminally ill patients destined to die a part of nature's will?”

The moment he heard that, Dale understood what Sephia was trying to say.

“Of course, my own kind did not understand my views.”

Sephia said, feigning bitterness. Her voice was distant, as if speaking to no one in particular.

“Thanks to that, I've lived a truly turbulent life.”

“Does that mean...”

Sephia said no more.

Dale could roughly understand why an elf, a race that typically prefers a closed society, was in the midst of the secular world.

‘An outcast.’

Indeed, the intentions behind her words were far from the kind of ideas a typically rigid elf would have.

‘She might be a better teacher than I thought.’

Having glimpsed her true feelings, Dale finally felt certain.

‘There's no need to hide my talent any longer.’

As soon as Dale firmed his resolve.

“Then, shall we start with attuning to mana?”

With the faintly scattering sleet behind her, Sephia turned to Dale.

“Lord Black mentioned that you began forming a fragment of a mana circle in your heart quite some time ago.”

“Yes.”

After that, Sephia began a very fundamental lesson on magic.

This world is filled with mana. However, unless one is an ancient being like a dragon, it is impossible to handle raw mana without any filtering. Therefore, races like humans and elves must first process the mana within their bodies into the form of 'magical power' before they can use it.

In other words, the mana circle in the heart is a 'magical power plant' that converts raw mana into magical power.

Thus, the number of circles serves as a measure of a mage's level of mastery.

“First, we'll start by expanding the fragment of the circle you possess into a complete ring, forming the first circle.”

“Understood.”

“Of course, this won't happen overnight.”

Dale nodded silently.

“Let's begin gradually with training to rotate mana around your heart.”

On the spot, Sephia taught Dale the basic knack for manipulating mana.

“You must diligently repeat this process without neglecting it.”

After listening to Sephia's explanation, Dale took a deep breath, following the technique she had taught him.

The process of accepting the flow of mana from the outside, establishing a fixed route for it to rotate around the heart, and then expanding that into a ring shape—a circle.

“Even at the fastest, it will take several weeks, so in the meantime, let's take our time and explore the magic you wish to learn.”

Sephia spoke in a gentle voice to Dale, who was concentrating.

It was at that moment.

Dale quietly opened his eyes.

“Teacher.”

“Is there something you wish to ask?”

Sephia asked back with the gentle smile of a teacher, as if telling him not to hesitate to ask anything.

“It's done.”

“...?”

Feeling the ring of mana firmly fixed around his heart, Dale answered.