After Mordred's audience with the King, the news of his talent at Magic had spread through the palace and eventually reached the Kingdragon Kingdom's Court Magician - Sofia Vexmoor.
It is publically known that the Court Magician was perpetually engrossed in her Magic research, rarely leaves the tower and pays no attention to worldly affairs.
It was her disciple Julius Frostguard who had passed her the news inside her tower, along with the king's decision regarding this matter.
Before her disciple finished his report, a young man around 20, the elderly woman frowned and unhappily said, "The king wants me to teach a 2-year-old boy Magic? Has that man's brain been replaced with sperm too? So what if he cast Magic at 2 years old? Anyone with some talent and the ability to repeat a string of words like a parrot could succeed with some effort."
Sofia spoke with distaste. She was sick of having talentless noble brats as her disciples. In particular, teaching a 2-year-old child was utterly beneath her status and a complete waste of her time.
Julius formed a very bitter smile. Although the king's debauchery was no secret to anyone, only his Master would have the guts to comment on the king's decision in such a manner.
And in fact, he also agreed that it was unfitting for the Court Magician to waste her time teaching a child the basics of Magic; anyone could do this.
But this situation was different.
Julius patiently continued, "I haven't finished yet, Master. Apparently, the boy can completely omit Incantations when casting."
"... Mm, what did you say?" Sofia heard this and looked at him again, stunned. "That boy can perform Silent Casting?"
Julius nodded. "Apparently, yes, the King had personally confirmed it."
"You're not lying to me?"
"I wouldn't dare." Julius solemnly touched the area round his heart.
"Hm…" Gradually, Sofia's face became increasingly dignified.
She had long dreamed of performing the so-called legendary Silent Spellcasting, except it was a dream she had long buried alongside the memories of her youth.
That was because there was simply no formal method of learning Silent Casting, so even if one wanted to learn it, they would have no idea how to go about it.
Even for the old man in the Ranoa University who can apparently do Silent Casting, it isn't very useful because he can only do it with low ranked spells. An enchanted wand or a Magic Circle scroll could do the same thing and be even better at it.
As such, Sofia simply gave up on Silent Casting just like every other Magician, viewing it as nothing but a dream. As an older woman she focused on the study of Magic Circles instead, believing that it was the future direction of Magic.
Silent Spellcasting was a dead end.
But now she heard that a 2-year-old child is able to skip the Incantation entirely and supposedly cast a spell silently.
Was this really true?
If it were, this thought made Sofia, the number one Magician of the Kingdragon Kingdom, feel quite bitter.
But at the same time, it also gave her a sense of relief.
Because the one who managed Silent Casting was a 2-year-old, it can be interpreted that it can only be achieved by those with inborn talent for this unique skill. It didn't necessarily mean that her own talent was bad or that the boy was so much better than her at Magic in general.
'It just means he's good at visualization... Wait a moment. But this basically means he will be good at casting higher level spells too because the main difficulty in casting King-rank spells, apart from requiring copious amounts of Magic Power, is that they're more complicated and require a powerful visualization ability... Eh. So as long as he has enough juice, his talent for Magic is actually incredibly high?...'
As Sofia was thinking of this, her disciple said again, "Master, what do you think of it now? Will you begin teaching the boy?"
Julius was aware that his Master was picky about choosing her disciples. If not for his father, Julius himself would not be chosen.
Sofia noticed her disciple's slightly teasing smile and snorted. "What are you so smug about, Julius? What you said changes everything."
She hummed again.
She was getting older. She had many regrets in life, but as her death neared, for a while now she secretly hoped to have a true legacy disciple.
A legacy disciple. This meant not only a student but someone equal to her in skill who could inherit her complete legacy and research, and continue it, eventually maybe even surpassing her!
Unfortunately the disciples that she had picked up so far were all unsatisfactory.
Let's look at Julius for example. He has a decent level of talent and should achieve Saint rank in the future, but that was his limit; he was simply not good enough to reach King-rank.
Julius's biggest deficiency was that he lacked the monstrous amounts of Magic Power necessary for King-ranked Magic, so no matter how hard he practiced, he could never jump over this limitation even with a good staff.
"Interesting. I want to meet this boy," said Sofia, before correcting herself: "I mean, bring him to me, Julius."
"I understand, Master." Julius gently smiled. This matter could be delegated to a servant, but he too wanted to meet this interesting boy.
…
In his room, Mordred laid on the bed on his stomach and read a book titled "Three Swordsmen and the Labyrinth".
Apparently, it was one of the classic and well-known stories in this world similar to "Perugius's Legend" which he had already gone through with his mother while learning to read.
At one point there was a knock on the door.
His caretaker Charlotte had brought a guest. It was a fairly handsome young man that might not be 20 years old yet, wearing embroidered black uniform, having quite long black hair and piercingly cold light-blue eyes.
"Hello. Are you the 16th Prince, Mordred Kingdragon?" the man asked with an amicable smile.
"Yes."
The man bowed while touching his heart, performed the Kingdragon nobles' greeting. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness. My name is Julius Frostguard. I already heard about your talent at Magic."
Mordred didn't say anything, thinking, 'Is he my teacher? He looks too young. And he also carries a sword. He must be a messenger…'
Julius continued, "I'm here because my Master, who's to be your teacher, wishes to meet you. Please come with me."
After leaving the room, Mordred began to follow Julius through the palace. Anyone decent would be good enough as long as he finally gets to read books on Magic, but would his tutor actually be some kind of big shot?
Thinking this, Mordred spoke up, "Mr. Frostguard, who is the person assigned as my teacher?"
Julius turned to look down at him and smiled. "You're very polite. You can just call me Julius."
"Oh, okay…"
"As for the person who's to be your teacher, it's the Court Magician – Grandmaster Sofia Vexmoor. It's shocking for my Master to be assigned to teach a child your age, but if the rumors about your talent are true, then it isn't something shocking anymore."
"Ooh…"
So his tutor is going to be the Court Magician? This means she should be at King rank at least! He remembered that this was the level Roxy had when she was proposed to become the Court Magician of the Shirone Kingdom, but the Shirone Kingdom is a smaller kingdom than the Kingdragon.
A good Magic tutor did not seem too important to become a powerful Magician in this world, but it was of course a good thing if his teacher was more experienced and skilled than your run of the mill average Magician. In a royal palace, or even in a Kingdom at large, there would usually be no one better than the Court Magician.
Following Julius, Mordred arrived at a somewhat secluded tower of the palace.
'I guess a Court Magician isn't exactly meant to be the king's protector, so their residence doesn't need to be close to the king's quarters. They're more of a war machine for large scale battles…' Mordred thought.
After the long journey through the palace to reach the tower, the stairs leading up the tower also looked quite long.
The two climbed several steps and Julius said, "It's quite a long walk to reach the Court Magician, and especially the stairs are a hurdle. Should I carry you?"
Mordred formed a bitter smile. For his short legs, these 20 centimeter tall stone steps were actually huge and required large strides, quickly tiring him out; after all, he was still less than 90 cm tall. A normal 2-year-old would probably have to take a break after climbing several or ten of such steps.
Luckily, Mordred had Reinforcement Magic. Climbing stairs was also a form of training that he rarely had a chance to do before.
"I'll… manage," said Mordred.
Julius smiled and said, "It seems you're struggling with those steps. I'll still carry you."
He casually picked up Mordred like a doll and placed him on his shoulders.
Given that Mordred was only around 13 kg, it was not difficult.
"Haha, Your Highness, you're so light."
"..."
While carrying Mordred, Julius continued speaking, "Master doesn't like to be bothered, so that's exactly why she stays at the very top of the Court Magician's Tower. Even though there are also chambers downstairs. People are less likely to go see the Court Magician if they had to climb all those stairs each time, right?"
"I get it... So does that mean I'll have to walk this distance every time for my lessons?"
"It can be arranged to have you carried, Your Highness," Julius answered in a tone as if it was only natural. "Unless you move in. But that's if Master accepts you as her disciple."
…
Some time later.
"Well, we're here… Your Highness," said Julius as he placed Mordred on the ground.
The two stood in front of a large tough-looking oak door with cold iron nails.
Mordred noticed that after quickly striding through all these stairs Julius didn't even get winded once; his breath was always calm and steady. Being a little curious about it, he said in the voice of a child, "Wow, you carried me all this way and didn't get tired at all. You're amazing!"
"Haha!" Julius laughed at this childish praise. He smiled and said, "I can use Battle Aura to strengthen my body and stamina, so walking some stairs is really nothing."
Mordred raised his eyebrows when he heard this. "Battle Aura? So you're… at Advanced rank?"
Julius nodded. "I reached Advanced rank in Water God Style and I'm also an Advanced rank Magician, with Water Magic being my specialty. I'm a Magic Swordsman."
"Ooh…" It seemed that this guy was actually quite impressive. After all, in this world an Advanced rank as a swordsman was enough to become a high-level S-rank adventurer like Paul or Soldat, and Magicians were supposedly even rarer.
"At any rate, let's come in."
........
Name: Julius Frostguard
Titles: Magic Knight, mid-ranking noble
Age: 19
Strength: E
Endurance: E
Agility: E
Mana: E*
…
Water Magic: Advanced
Fire, Earth and Wind Magic: Intermediate
Healing and Detoxification Magic: Elementary
Barrier and Divine Magic: Elementary
Water God Style: Advanced
Sword God Style: Intermediate