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Chapter 54

Seizing the brief lull, I gestured and dispersed the thick fog. Having apparently decided to listen now, it dissipated easily.

"Whine..."

Though Bibi, who had been enthusiastically eating that fog, collapsed in shock when it suddenly vanished.

"What is all this commotion?"

The entire household had come out, and it was chaos.

"Sier."

"...Yeah."

"Ambiguous? In-between? Say that again. Isn't it because you've been thinking that way that the fog wouldn't listen? Huh?"

"Th-that can't be..."

"Of course it can! Magic doesn't have a will of its own, but it's affected by the mage's mentality! If you've been thinking that way about your own magic, of course it wouldn't cooperate!"

Wait—could that be why the original Algenprina Hariella never discovered the Goblin Club's abilities? Anyway, that's beside the point.

"Apologize right now!"

"To who?!"

"To the fog!"

"But I can control it just fine now..."

"It acts up because you keep thinking it's weak!"

When I pressed him firmly, Sier hesitated, looking at the fog swirling around his feet.

"Well..."

Sier glanced at the gathered crowd, then at me, and whispered toward the fog.

"S-sorry."

Then he quickly dispelled the magic out of embarrassment. I don't know if that's the right approach, but coaxing it did work.

"Sier, Hariella."

"Eep."

Father's voice came from above.

"Both of you, to the office."

Sier and I exchanged glances and thought the same thing.

We're doomed.

After we confessed what had happened, Father held his head with an expression that said he had a lot to say.

He started with a worried lecture about how we could have been seriously hurt, then bombarded us with questions.

"You praised Sier's fog?"

"Yeah, praised it."

Magic has no ego. It shouldn't. Magic is the mage's will, and the mage is their magic.

"Sier, is that true?"

"It did calm down when Hari praised it like that."

"When you were young, I thought you struggled to control it because your mana capacity was too large. As you grew, you started controlling it properly, so I assumed it would just get better with time—but there was another issue."

Father tapped the table, then clapped his hands.

"Then Sier, here's your homework. Once a day, make friends with your fog."

"What? Make friends with magic? How?"

"Didn't Hari just show you?"

"Praise it, coax it, soothe it!"

"Praise it, coax it, soothe it."

Sier looked back and forth between Father and me in disbelief. When he looked like he was asking if we were serious, Father and I shrugged simultaneously.

"No saying 'mediocre'! No saying 'in-between'! No saying 'weak'! No negative words at all!"

"...You're serious? I have to praise it?"

"It calmed down when I shouted that! You saw it too, Brother!"

Seeing that I wasn't backing down, Sier finally nodded in resignation.

"And Hari."

"Hm?"

Father stared intently at my face, making me look away.

"So the subspace isn't all there is."

"Th-they're both subspaces! Just with different uses..."

Of course, I never planned to hide it forever. I was going to tell them once I figured out how to use it. If they asked how I knew about an ability I couldn't use, I wouldn't have had an answer!

"A subspace that stores others' magic."

A rare magical tool unique magic, with transportation properties—plus a subspace that can store and freely use others' magic. Even I could see it was a drool-worthy package.

"Good choice picking Sier's magic. It'll be useful in many ways. What do you plan to put in the other two slots?"

"Yours, Dad!"

I thrust the club at Father without hesitation. He took it, smiled brightly as if to say "of course," and stood up.

If he hadn't accepted, he'd definitely have sulked.

"Father's magic is formless—I wonder if it'll work."

Father examined the club, then placed his finger on a golden gem and began infusing mana slowly. After a moment, he pulled his hand away—the color had shifted closer to amber.

"I-I'll try it? Use it? Now?!"

Taking the club back from Father, I gripped it tightly with both hands. Father crossed his arms and nodded at me.

"Peace Zone activate!!"

"Hahaha! Hari! You don't need to shout it like that!"

"Tch! I know! But it feels more like using magic this way!"

Like with Sier's, the center of the gem split open, revealing a pupil filled with silver star clusters. The moment the silver magic circle spread across the floor, I grabbed my brother's arm and shook it.

"Try using magic! Quick!"

"Okay, okay. Hold on."

At my urging, my brother waved his arm hastily. He just swung it and that was it—not a trace of fog appeared.

"But Hari, Father's magic is..."

Just then, a strange noise came from a bookshelf in the corner of the office, and it began shaking violently.

"Oh dear, Hari! Deactivate the magic!"

At Father's urgent words, I deactivated the magic. Having done it once, it was easy to cancel this time.

The moment the silver magic circle faded, books from the shelf came crashing to the floor. As far as I knew, that shelf was a magical passage leading to Father's private storage.

I stared wide-eyed at Father, who scratched his chin and spoke.

"When spreading a magic circle, you need to maintain existing ones while blocking new flows."

"...What does that mean?! How do you do that?"

"If you don't, you'll sever the flow of existing magic circles—like that."

What a ridiculously overpowered magic. If he wanted to, he could render any magic circle useless.

"I-I'm not using this."

I was scared I'd cause a major accident.

"Use it outdoors as much as possible."

"Outdoors?"

"In an open field... or a forest where you can't even see the word 'magic'..."

Realizing he was talking nonsense, Father averted his gaze.

"Ahem, have you thought about what to put in the last slot?"

"Of course!!"

"Of course?"

"Kali's fire!"

At my answer, Father and my brother's expressions grew subtle. Why?! It's an insanely powerful offensive magic!

"There's no better magic than that. But you must be careful—something like what just happened could occur again."

"Kali couldn't control his magic when we first met either. Could it be the same case as Brother's? Should I tell him to praise it?"

Just imagining Kali flustered and praising his blazing fire made me laugh.

"Haha, Kali's case was simply because his mana capacity was too large—different from Sier's."

"Aww, I was hoping to see something fun."

"Now, both of you head back to your rooms. It's late."

"Okay! Sweet dreams, Dad!"

"Good night to you both."

After leaving the office, we exchanged goodnights and headed to our rooms. I paused briefly in front of my door, then flung it open and peered behind it.

Sure enough, Kali was there, just as I'd expected.

"What are you doing?"

"Didn't fool me."

"You've been fooled too many times already."

I grabbed Kali, who had been waiting instead of going to his room, tossed him onto the sofa, and paced around the room.

"Hey."

"Huh?"

"What was that? How did you use Sier's fog?"

Without a word, I pulled out my club. Of the three golden gems, only one remained unlit and empty.

"These green gems are subspaces for objects, and these golden gems are... subspaces for magic."

"For magic?"

Kali's brow furrowed. He'd been so excited about the unburnable club, but now he seemed displeased. Why?

"Why didn't you use it before?"

"I didn't know how. The Mountain God helped me figure it out last time. Now I can use it! So, you know, Kali..."

I inched closer to him on the sofa, and he extended his leg to push me away.

"No. Don't want to. Get lost."

"Ah, you don't even know what I'm going to say!"

"You're going to ask for my magic."

"You're like a mind reader."

"I said no."

"Ugh, why not! Share a little, you stingy thing!!"

When he coldly ignored me and got up to leave, I grabbed the hem of his clothes.

"Why not!!"

"I don't want to give it to you."

"What a rude little...! Who said you had to give a lot? Just a tiny bit! You promised you'd do me a favor if I told you about this."

"When did I? I don't remember."

Of course, my memory is hazy too—but I'm sure I said something like that... at the lake!

"Are you really saying no?!"

"Yeah. Really. I'll use my fire myself—you just keep swinging your club."

"You won't always be by my side, you know!"

The words slipped out before I could stop them. We wouldn't be children forever—it was only natural.

I thought he'd take it as a joke, but Kali was silent.

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