Chapter 125: A Useful Skill

Ren turned his face towards the corner of the room. In each of the four corners of the narrow room, one little “small box”, blazing away. The light that filled the room wasn’t what came in at the small window; it was the light of the “small boxes”.

If you weren’t looking closely they might pass for oddly shaped lamps. But there was no fire burning inside them, and it wasn’t a magic stone or anything of that sort that was shining.

Ren swallowed. What rose in his mind was his father’s and his mother’s disappointed faces. At the “Blessing Ceremony”, when they heard that the skill Ren had been given was the thing called “Small Box”.

And then, when he was told to try using the skill, and what he put out on his palm was a faint little “small box”.

When they heard the name of the skill they had looked stunned at first. Their faces had said they couldn’t believe it. When he put out the dimly glowing “small box”, their faces were resigned.

Something throbbed in Ren’s chest as though there were a wound there that hadn’t healed.

He drew a breath in, and let it slowly out again.

“……It’s ‘Small Box’……. It’s my skill……”

“Well!”

Eugene’s eyes went wide, and then he walked over to the nearest “small box”, crouched down and looked at it.

“It’s bright……. Isn’t it brighter than a lamp? Splendid!”

“Eh?”

Ren thought he must have misheard.

(……Splendid……?)

Ren studied Eugene’s face. There was nothing in it that looked like mockery.

“……I……, I’ve been told mine is a ‘dud’ skill……”

“Oh? ……Is that because it isn’t a skill for fighting?”

“I think so……. Not a sword, not a spear or a bow either, and not magic……. So……”

He clenched both hands where they lay on his knees.

“It’s tremendously bright. That’s a useful skill, isn’t it.”

“Useful……?”

“It’s being useful, isn’t it? You put them in the four corners yourself, Ren-kun, because you know they make the room bright.”

Eugene said it slowly, in a mild voice. The voice sounded warm, and Ren felt a sting behind his eyes. He set his mouth firmly and nodded.

(It’s useful. ……I know that……. “Small Box” has been helping me all along……)

He raised his face and turned his eyes to the “small box” shining near Eugene.

“Yes……. It’s useful. ……’Small Box’ helps me.”

“Well then, that’s all right.”

Eugene smiled at him.

“My skill is Wind Magic.”

“Wind Magic……”

“Yes. The same as your mother’s.”

Ren thought of his mother. He had known that his mother’s skill was the “Wind Magic” skill. But he had no very strong picture of his mother using Wind Magic. He had glimpsed her teaching it to his elder sister, Liese, and that was about all.

“……As to whether Wind Magic is useful in everyday life — not particularly. You can’t light a room with Wind Magic, can you?”

“But……, you could make it cooler, couldn’t you……”

“Ha ha……. So you could.”

Eugene laughed, and stood up.

“……I used to be a knight.”

“Eugene-san was a knight……”

“Yes. In a magic knight company. ……With training, you can attack with Wind Magic.

But you have to train in order to fight with magic. If your mana runs out, you can’t fight.

Somebody with the ‘Wind Magic’ skill who hasn’t trained enough can’t fight either.

They say that ‘a skill you can fight with’ is what matters — but among people with the same ‘Wind Magic’ skill, there are those who can fight and those who can’t.

And in spite of that it all gets lumped together as ‘a skill you can fight with’. Strange, isn’t it.”

“A magic knight……”

It had a fine ring to it, Ren rather thought. A picture came to him of someone letting fly with magic, bang, bang.

Eugene drew over an old stool that stood at the end of the room and sat down. He looked steadily at Ren.

“……Ren-kun, are you having a hard time of it in this house, on account of your skill?”

“……”

Eugene was looking at him with such a serious face that Ren grew a little tense. Eugene went on in a quiet tone.

“At the guild, when you heard that a guardian didn’t have to be present for the provisional contract, you looked to me relieved. And there’s this room. And you asked about the Academy, too. You said the workshop looked as though you could live in it. It occurred to me that you might not be comfortable in this house.”

Eugene looked at Ren straight.