Chapter 1: Being Kicked Out at the Age of Eight

Posted bytheredsargeantJuly 18, 2020Posted inFun Territory Defense

Original Authors Note: I’m going to write with a lot of gags and have lots of fun.
Please read it!

T.L.
Note: The notation [] will be used for internal monologue

“No aptitude for any of the Four Elemental Magics? To think that I would see such a failure within a marquis’ house.”

　That was what my father said.

　When you turn eight years old, your magical aptitude is assessed.
This is because, in this world where magic is commonplace, it is important to know who has what kind of magic aptitude.

　The reason you are tested when you are eight years old is that it is taboo to test anyone younger than eight.
It is believed that premature assessment has caused many tragedies in the past.

　By the way, there are two types of magic aptitude accepted by the nobility: Four-element magic which specializes in combat and healing magic which focuses on protection.
Each is used in order to safeguard noble houses and their fiefdoms.

　On the other hand, there exists magic which is not appropriate for a nobleman.

　There is magic which steals physical strength, magic power and objects from the opponent; transformation magic which alters one’s body; magical brainwashing which uses sound and light to bewitch and manipulate the opponent; appraisal magic to see the details of objects and people; puppetry magic to manipulate puppets and corpses; and many, many other magical aptitudes.

　Incidentally, the magic of production which I was judged to be suitable for is also considered unsuitable for a nobleman.

　The sorcery of production produces things(T.L.
note: Ah yes, the floor is made of floor).
It is also known as alchemy.
This magic consumes large amounts of magic power, but what you could make was piddling in comparison to the investment.
Most production magic users just prepared materials such as iron and copper and used it to make swords and accessories.

　There are some who invent things that didn’t exist before, but they are a rarity.

　However, there is a caveat: such things can be done even by those without an aptitude in production magic.
An inventor has no need for magical talent, and a blacksmith does not need magical talent either.

　Taking these factors into account, the users of production magic were generally considered to be the most unfortunate among the magically gifted.

　Aptitude for magic had a lot to do with genetics.
If the parents were four-element users, there was greater than fifty percent chance that their children would have the same magic aptitude.
Furthermore, if their grandparents were also four-element users, more than 70 percent of the children would have the same magic aptitude.

　Hence, there is longstanding tradition that nobles will take a person with an aptitude for four-element magic as their consort.
If everyone in the family is a user of four-element magic, the chances of a child having an aptitude for the four-element magic are almost 100 percent.

　Over time, the tradition became progressively rigid.
It eventually became disgraceful for a noble house to have a child that was determined to have any other aptitude than the accepted four-element or healing magic.

　That distorted ideal is not so prevalent in the houses of weak local nobles and semi-aristocratic knight barons.
However, when it comes to noble families like my family, it is espoused as if it were the Bible or something.

“My family is a military family.
It was my martial prowess that elevated my Fertio family, which had been counts for generations, to the rank of marquis.
That’s why I married Mira, a fire mage stronger than those of the barons.
It was to improve the power of my magic.
Mira was a good wife and mother, but her body was weak in inverse proportion to the strength of her magic.
You, the fourth male to carry the blood of my lineage, are the last.”

　My father, the Marquis Jalpa Bull Ati Fertio, said with a bitter expression.

　[My mother, Mira, died when I was five years old.
There was also a second and third wife, but strangely, my mother was the only one to give birth to a boy.]

　My father’s disappointment was great when my mother died.
It was then that the education of the four remaining boys took a turn to be more strict and rigorous.

　The eldest, Murcia, had my maternal grandmother’s aptitude for wind magic, but the second and third sons, as my father wished, had fire magic aptitude.

　Murcia, who was thirteen years old and in the midst of being educated to become the heir of the family, was ridiculed by his two younger brothers, who had an aptitude in fire magic.
Watching those second and third sons get unfairly pampered inspired Murcia to work harder, in order to prove his worth.
He even cut into his sleeping schedule in order to improve himself.
In the end, he became a respectable nobleman in the eyes of his father, even despite the undesirable wind attribute.

　His hard work paid off, and his position as heir of the