Chapter 20
The first time Wendy used magic was when she was five years old.
Born as the eldest daughter of a poor farming family, Wendy helped her parents with farming from a young age.
Like any farming work, it was extremely tough for the young girl.
She followed her parents to the fields, tilling the land from dawn till late at night, picking out stones.
The field allocated to her family was ridiculously large.
Even with little Wendy’s help, there was no end in sight.
There wasn’t a day without wounds on her hands.
Wounds upon wounds, repeated over and over.
Each time, it was her older brother who treated her small hands.
“Are you okay?”
The eldest son of the family, her only brother.
Though he was young too, he worked as well as any adult.
Her brother was the pillar of the household.
At the same time, he was Wendy’s support.
While doing his own work, he secretly helped Wendy with hers.
So his clothes were always dirtier and sweatier than others.
Wendy thought he looked incredibly reliable.
Then one day, a severe drought came.
The land dried up, and the hearts of the tenant farmers burned black.
As the drought continued, even the rationed food became scarce.
Her younger siblings cried every day from hunger.
But Wendy didn’t cry.
Because she was the eldest daughter.
Because she was their older sister.
…Because she had her brother.
One day during the drought, Wendy found her brother in the field.
He was kneeling, muttering something.
“Brother, what are you doing?”
“Praying.”
“Praying…? To whom?”
“To God. Asking Him to save our field.”
Her brother looked desperate.
She knew he hadn’t eaten for days.
His arms had become noticeably thinner.
His cheeks hollow.
His eyes lifeless.
She wanted to give him strength.
“I’ll pray too.”
Under the scorching sun, the young girl knelt beside her brother.
And prayed fervently.
Please save our field.
Please make it rain on the dry land.
Please help our brother….
Plop.
That’s when it happened.
Perhaps the heavens were moved by Wendy’s prayer.
A single teardrop fell on the parched ground.
Plop. Plop.
One drop became two, then three… and soon countless drops fell.
It was a downpour.
A miracle had occurred.
“Brother!”
Soaked through, Wendy hugged her brother in joy.
I helped my brother!
She wanted to receive her kind brother’s praise.
She wanted him to pat her head.
But no matter how long she waited, her brother said nothing.
There was no warm touch.
No kind words.
Wendy looked up at her brother.
And realized… she was wrong.
The look in her brother’s eyes was filled with some complex emotion.
“Brother…?”
Did I do something wrong by praying…?
Is that why you hate me now…?
Wendy only realized later that it had been magic.
The drought ended.
The scarce food rations started again.
Farming work resumed.
Everything returned to how it was before.
Except for one thing.
“Brother……”
No matter how much Wendy called, her brother didn’t respond.
She was bewildered by his cold attitude.
She tried to think what she had done wrong, but as a young girl, she couldn’t figure it out.
He didn’t wipe her tears.
He didn’t tend to the wounds on her hands.
The brother who had been Wendy’s support was gone.
Not long after, her brother decided to leave home.
He said he would follow traveling merchants to the city to earn money.
Wendy grabbed her brother as he tried to leave.
“B-brother! I’m sorry…!”
If she didn’t stop him now, she felt she might never see him again.
Wendy pleaded.
“I… I was wrong… sob… I won’t pray anymore… I won’t use magic or anything… so… don’t go….”
“Wendy, it’s not your fault. It’s just….”
Her brother swallowed his words.
What had he been about to say?
Without another word, her brother bid Wendy farewell.
“Take care….”
“Brother! Don’t go!”
Wendy couldn’t stop her brother from leaving.
She could only watch helplessly as he walked away.
She wanted to pray.
To ask him to stay.
To ask him to return to being her kind brother.
But Wendy didn’t.
She couldn’t.
Afraid she might lose him forever if she did.
She decided not to pray.
To never use magic again.
Rustle.
Something shattered inside her.
Thinking about it made her voice tremble and her heart race.
How much time had passed since her brother left the family?
A man in expensive clothes came to her village.
“The Ruelberta Count Family is hiring servants. Is there anyone in this village who wants to apply?”
The Ruelberta Count Family… probably near the imperial capital of Ludrow.
Becoming a servant for a noble family would be quite a step up for this poor village.
“Is there no one?”
Yet no one raised their hand to apply.
After all, Ruelberta was notorious for its infamous Count.
Perhaps it was better to be content with their current lives than to become playthings for nobles.
“Oh, are you the first applicant?”
When she came to her senses, Wendy had already raised her hand.
As if under a spell.
No, actually, she had some expectations too.
The vague hope that maybe if she went to the capital, she could see her brother again.
And so she became a servant of the Count’s family.
There, she didn’t find her brother.
Instead… she met him.
“Little miss.”
“Yes.”
When she looked up, an old cat stood before her.
“This test was specially prepared for you. Many wish to take it but cannot. Please keep that in mind.”
“Lord Myoil… no, Lord Myohail….”
“Just call me Myoil. Hehe.”
“Lord Myoil, are you perhaps much more amazing than I thought…?”
Myohail scratched his ear.
“Though now I’m trapped in this humble body, I was once praised as a Sage.”
“A… Sage……”
The cute cat before her was a Sage who had reached the pinnacle of magic.
Wendy instinctively shrank back.
Seeing this, Myohail chuckled.
“Don’t worry. I wouldn’t show my true power to a cute applicant like you. However….”
Myohail’s whiskers twitched.
“Before we start the test, there’s one thing I want to ask.”
“Yes…?”
“What do you think of the Count?”
“…!”
Wendy flinched.
“As someone serving the Count, you must know. The bad rumors about him.”
“……”
“He spends money lavishly, looks down on and ignores everyone. He torments nobles and commoners for fun, and is said to have huge connections in the underworld. That’s why….”
Myohail’s eyes narrowed.
“Some say he deserves to die.”
“That’s not true.”
Whoosh! Wendy covered her mouth as the words slipped out unbidden.
More than anything, she was surprised at how clearly the words had come out, unlike her usual self.
“That… that’s not true….”
“Oh…? So that’s what you think. Then shall I tell you something you don’t know?”
“Yes?”
Myohail jumped and perched on Wendy’s shoulder.
And whispered in her ear.
“He killed his own father.”
“……!”
At that moment, Wendy’s pupils shook.
Myohail’s whiskers trembled.
“He shot his own father dead to take the Count’s seat. And that was when he was only about your age.”
“Th-that’s a lie….”
“Would a former Sage lie to you? Well, fine. But why would I lie to you?”
“The Count… he wouldn’t do that….”
Wendy looked at the man sitting far away.
A tall, fat man with a nasty-looking personality.
But a man she trusted without doubt.
And yet, this Count had killed his father?
Wendy shook her head.
It couldn’t be.
The Count wasn’t the type to kill anyone.
At least, not from what Wendy had seen.
But Lord Myoil wasn’t the type to lie either.
So Wendy was confused.
Her heart was in turmoil.
At that moment, what held her heart was a very brief moment.
‘Don’t trust me? Then trust yourself.’
The words that had allowed her to take a step forward.
Those words were holding her now.
So Wendy decided to accept it.
“Lord Myoil….”
Even if some truth awaited her.
Even if she couldn’t trust herself.
“Please start the test….”
She decided to trust the Count.
“Hehe, right… I’ve been rambling.”
Myohail sighed as if lamenting, then explained.
“The soil in this arena conducts magic well. It’s similar to the magic stones used in Go.”
“Yes. I remember….”
“The test is almost like Go too. You’ll summon a golem by pouring in magic. I’ll summon one as well. But….”
As Myoil poured in magic, the ground rumbled.
Soon, the soil glowed golden and formed the shape of a giant.
“Pour in as much magic as you can. This is a pure contest of strength… no, of magic power.”
The golden giant roared.
“I want to see your potential, little miss. Please give it your all.”
“……”
Wendy took a deep breath.
A desperate feeling arose in her chest.
Like when she had prayed before the dry land in her childhood.
Because she wanted to repay ‘him’.
Because she wanted to receive his pure praise.
Wendy released her magic.
The ground greedily absorbed her magic.
Rumble.
The ground was splitting.
The shaking was incomparable to when Myohail had summoned his golem.
Boom!
Soon, a black hand burst forth.
A giant body was emerging from the ground.
The giant’s body grew so large it seemed to absorb all the soil in the arena.
When the giant Wendy had summoned finally appeared in the arena, Myohail gasped.
“I see… I hadn’t thought of that… you didn’t have black, but the ‘sword’ of black….”
The multicolored glowing giant she had summoned.
Looking at it, Myohail muttered as if lamenting.
“You… could you be of the Hero’s bloodline….”
