The Day of Determination.
This is the day of the ceremony that turns children into adults.
In this world is something called "Talents."
Every single person is born with a Talent.
It might be easier to understand it as an ability.
Be it sword or spear or what have you, there is a huge range of talents. And today is the day when that is confirmed.
The best ones are Talents related to magic.
People without Talents in the sword or spear can still learn them.
Even if they have no talent, there is a large range of growth that can be attained through effort and nurturing.
However, it is not so for magic.
To be blunt, it is absolutely impossible for someone without a magical Talent to use magic.
People who possess a magical Talent…… in other words, magicians, are very few in number. So they are given high salaries and offered extremely favored positions.
I actually think that a side goal of this Day of Determination is to find children possessing magical Talents.
Or perhaps they are even looking for Talents that rank even higher than normal magical Talents.
There probably are Talents like "Hero" and "Champion," but well, it"s none of this countryside village"s business.
"Line up."
We don"t even have enough kids to need a line.
The soldiers who"ve come from the city sure are serious about their job.
This year"s Ceremony of Determination at our tiny village of Albat involves me, my friend Nahbal, and Shieron, who"s one year older. Just us three.
Children who reach 15 years old have to go through this Day of Determination before they are considered adults.
But in the case of our village, there are very few children.
So that"s why the Ceremony is hosted only when there are at least 3 children of age. It"s either go to the city personally or wait until a year when there are 3 children. That"s why Shieron is one year older than us.
In this country, undergoing a Ceremony of Determination is mandated by law, so every single person has to do it once.
Our Village Chief and the two soldiers who"ve come from the city are standing together in the center of the square.
Adults aiming for the alcohol and children aiming for the food that will be served in the Coming of Age Banquet are watching over us.
——I don"t really like standing out, so I"d be grateful if this would be over soon.
Though I admit it might be partly just my disposition, but I am quite sensitive to other people directing their attention towards me. And with such a large crowd……
Oh well, this will probably be the last time in my life that I gather so many people"s attention at once.
Let"s just quickly get the Ceremony over with, eat some good food, go to sleep, then return to my solitary inconspicuous life from tomorrow onwards.
"Oi, Eil."
While Village Chief is going on and on about the meaning of becoming an adult or the significance of it or whatever, Nahbal whispers to me from my side.
"I"m definitely going to draw a Talent even more amazing than Horun"s."
Horun.
My elder sis, huh.
"Do your best."
Is all I can say, so I said it. Though this isn"t something that can be affected by effort.
"I wonder what Horun-chan is doing right now?"
Now even Shieron has joined in on the conversation. So I wasn"t the only one who was feeling bored. Of course, of course. Our Village Chief is pointlessly long-winded, after all. No one ever really listens seriously to his pointless speeches anyways. I think.
"Beats me. Probably just doing something random in the capital."
My older sister Horun drew a rare Talent, Shadow Hunter Warrior, two years ago during her Ceremony of Determination.
Receiving holy blessing from birth, a warrior that possesses the strength to resist and fight against evil…… is where her talent lies, apparently.
Talents are, at the end of the day, only what the person is talented in. Whether or not to use and nurture that talent is entirely up to the person.
It was a rare Talent that we had never heard of before in our village.
A child with such a rare Talent was naturally taken to the capital by the soldiers who"d come to perform the Ceremony.
The aim was to have her meet directly with someone of power in the royal palace, and if she is determined to be of use, then they"ll employ her at the palace.
After leaving for the capital two years ago, Horun has never come back.
Based on her infrequent letters, apparently she"s not employed at the palace, but has become an "adventurer" and is getting by as a jack of all trades with daily employment.
Completely opposite to me, my elder sis is active and conspicuous and energetic. Too energetic. So energetic that she"s just annoying.
All the adults who were looking at Horun being Horun were all whispering, "Horun is definitely too big to be contained within such a small village."
I think so too.
Probably even this country is too small to contain my elder sis. That"s how capable she is. I totally agree that she"s so not suited for working in the palace.
"Shieron of Albat! Step forward!"
"Yes, sir!"
Before I knew it, Village Chief"s speech is over, and the Ceremony is finally beginning.
Shieron of Albat is called first, and he steps forward.
"Your hand, please."
What one of the soldiers is holding is an unpolished lump of crystal. It"s around the size of an adult"s head.
It"s the Stone of Determination.
By placing one"s hand on it, the name of that person"s Talent would appear within the depths of that crystal.
It"s already the nth time that I"m witnessing this scene.
The other kids who used to play with me have all turned into adults in this way.
And now, it has become my turn to become an adult as well.
Nahbal seems to be holding huge expectations of drawing a Talent more awesome than my elder sis"s.
He"s said again and again that he wants to leave this tiny and boring village.
I don"t really care though.
Regardless of what comes out, I plan to continue living as a hunter.
I"m already doing work that no way pales in comparison to that of an adult"s, and meat from prey is delicious. This profession that I can do by myself and at my own pace is great.
In place of my aging mentor who will eventually quit being a hunter, I intend to become this village"s hunter.
Regardless of whether my elder sis wished for it or not, she will become someone amazing. But her younger brother only wishes to live in a tiny village like this, out of people"s sight.
If possible, it"d be great if it turns out to be a Talent useful for hunting.
Shieron got the Talent of Nursing.
Nahbal got the Talent of Woodcutting.
"Pretty much as expected, I guess……"
"So not interesting at all……"
Shieron"s mother is an herbalist, and Nahbal"s father is a woodcutter. It really is reasonable if you think of it as them having inherited their parents" Talents. It"s so reasonable that it"s just plain boring.
But that"s just how Talents are.
Most likely I"d just get a totally boring Talent like my dad"s "Relatively Good Chef" or my mom"s "Superstrength Farmer." My sister? She"s just, you know, mutation.
"Eil of Albat! Step forward!"
Shooting one last look at the two guys who look like the world has just ended, I step forward for my turn.
For the sake of this day, Shishou had brought down a fine specimen of a black mountain goat. That"s definitely gotta be delicious. That is the only thing I"m looking forward to today.
Let"s get this troublesome ceremony thing over and done with already.
"——me, ga, ne……? It says "megane," right……?"
Both soldiers and Village Chief are all squinting their eyes.
The unpolished crystal is lumpy and has an irregular shape. In other words, it"s kind of hard to see inside.
But the words floating up from the bottom of the crystal are, to my eyes also, as such.
Me, Ga, Ne.
Megane. Gla.s.ses.
What does it even mean that my Talent is Megane.
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My earliest memory is from when I was 4.
I was on a stroll inside a forest with adults, then I was left all alone.
That moment, I definitely thought it.
I thought that I was going to die.
That is the oldest memory that I can recall.
It was nighttime, and there were wolves howling in the distance. The eeriness of the forest with its rustling leaves had me shivering in fear.
And thinking about how I was deep within that target of fear, I had resolved myself for death.
The only thing that my little child mind could think of was to get home by myself.
Adults and the older children that I could rely on were all gone. There was only me. Thus, I had to do something about it myself.
That, I fully understood.
What I learned at that time was "hide your breathing, move without getting discovered by beasts, search for clues."
I really, really wanted to cry, but held it in.
Well, the truth of it was that I cried a little bit in m.u.f.fled sobs. Just a tiny bit.
With a slight trail of sweat flowing from my eyes, I calmly, very calmly, went back the way I thought I"d come from.
I was actually not that far away from the village.
After all, I had gotten there by my own two feet in the first place.
There were no footprints on the ground.
However, there were areas where the gra.s.s was slightly flattened.
That was likely the traces of my having pa.s.sed there.
Having been convinced so, I followed that, and was able to safely return home.
Thinking about it now, I was only in a grove quite close to the village. It wasn"t even a forest. No man-eating beasts lived there. It only seemed so frightening through the eyes of a four year old.
——Furthermore, of the leading adults and other kids who had been coming along, not a single one had even realized that I had been left behind.
I was not a conspicuous child in the first place.
More like, I was quite the quiet child.
I grew up frequently being told "I didn"t even know you were here," or "you have no presence, " or "speak up if you"re there," and other such.
As a result of that experience in the forest, perhaps in readiness for if I find myself in a similar situation again, the consciousness of "don"t let yourself get found by the enemy" strangely stuck to me.
The "enemy" was the adults after I took part in a prank with friends, the boss of the kids that was my elder sister, and my mother when she was coming after me with the vegetables that I hated in hand.
It was not that I had no presence, but that I purposely erased my presence.
It was not that no one could sense me, but that I purposely silenced my footsteps.
In this way, I became "the child with a weak presence."
After that, time pa.s.sed uneventfully, until that incident that happened when I was 10.
In the village where I was born in, population is low and everyone is poor. Therefore, even kids are considered a source of labor, to some degree.
When I became 9, "it"s about time" began being brought up every once in a while.
By that time, Sis was already tilling fields at full strength, then in her free time playing around with, again, full strength. She was the complete opposite of me, always conspicuous and active and energetic.
But it was then that intervention came in from an unexpected source.
It was from the hunter ossan who lived in the same village, Bekt.
It seemed like my parents wanted me to help out at our family"s farm, but I ended up working under the hunter living in the village.
It was all because of the weakness of my presence…… no, it was because of my habit of purposely hiding from various things. Bekt noticed that, and saw the potential in it.
The ability to sneak up to prey.
The ability to not be sensed by prey.
Apparently that was very suitable for becoming a hunter, so he went to convince my parents to let me become his apprentice.
My will?
It seemed that I would get to eat the meat that I love much more frequently if I agreed, so I said yes on the spot. My motive was the meat.
Just as Bekt had predicted, I very quickly awakened my talent as a hunter. Only three days after starting my apprenticeship, I was already able to bring down rabbits and birds with my child-sized bow.
It was the beginning of a mind-whirling meat festival.
My parents, and also my unnaturally active sister, were all delighted at the meat that began to grace our dinner table every once in a while.
Naturally, I was delighted too.
"Ya~HOOOOO————!! It"s meat, IT"S MEAT————!!"
Everyone might have been creeped out by how ecstatic Sis was, but I was the most ecstatic. I was more ecstatic than everyone else. I just didn"t show it on the outside, but I was very ecstatic indeed.
Then that incident occurred about a year into my apprenticeship.
"Ah."
When we were in the middle of searching for prey in the forest, Bekt the hunter farted. Oh, that was some fart indeed. The sound was so explosive that it actually sent all the neary birds flying off in startlement.
Well, it"s human physiology. It can"t be helped.
Even kids understand that what needs to come out will come out.
But I really wish he had given it more thought.
As an adult. About the height of a child.
That"s right.
It was a direct hit.
The face of the apprentice who was closely following behind his mentor received a direct hit of lethal gas.
"Ugh, so smel——ah……UWAAAHHH!!"
I attempted to back up in evasion, but then realized that there was nothing underneath my feet.
Yep. The direction that I was trying to escape towards had no ground.
Cus the only thing there was a steep slope.
So I slipped on dead leaves, crashed into trees, and basically just fell. I fell very hard.
——And that is where my memory blacks out.
According to what I was told later, apparently I had hit my head. My consciousness did not return even after a full day, and I had been toeing the very fine line between life and death.
"I"m very sorry! I"m really sorry that my fart almost killed you!"
Bekt, the hunter, my mentor, cried while apologizing to me.
I answered with "That was my mistake."
I knew that it was a steep slope next to me. That was the terrain that I was traversing, following Shishou and killing the sound of my footsteps.
Upon suddenly being a.s.saulted by a world-ending roar and poison gas, it was me who dodged towards that side without thinking. It was my mistake.
However.
If I am to really speak my mind, what I wanted was not an apology for farting, but an apology for the fart directly hitting me and its smelliness.
Well, perhaps the smelliness was not something that he could have done anything about.
But at the very least, the accuracy of the hit was definitely on purpose. Premeditated, even. That"s the kind of ossan that Bekt is. The kind of ossan that likes to tease and prank kids. That"s why I am 100% sure that he was targeting my face when releasing that attack.
But before the sight of a grown man bawling while apologizing, I could not bring myself to say that out loud.
And that is how that incident drew to a close.
——Leaving behind just one problem.
Was it because I hit my head?
Or was it because I had injured my eyes during that fall?
After that incident, my eyes became just a little bit worse.
I can still see close things clearly, but faraway things I can no longer see as clearly as before. What I could see normally before, I now can only see vaguely.
Well, it"s not that serious a problem, so it"s fine, I suppose.
I, Eil, apprentice hunter of the village of Albat, became 15, and came to greet my Day of Determination.
And I gained a Talent that I don"t know how to make heads or tails of, "Megane."
I can"t make heads or tails of it, but I can just think about it simply.
For me, whose eyes had gotten worse after the farting incident, this was perhaps, above anything else, the power that I would be most grateful for.
In the city, there is indeed a sight corrective item called "megane." But for a poor child of a poor family living in a poor village, it is as far away as the physical distance to said city.
Could this be, exactly as it reads, that "megane"?
"…… Megane?"
I remove my hand from the Stone of Determination, look at that hand, then murmur softly.
At which——
A whole bunch of strength abruptly drains out of me, while at the same time a mysterious item appears on my hand.
——I can tell instinctively.
——The strength that was drained from me just now is contained within this item.
I suddenly remember seeing a traveling merchant from the outside wearing something that looked exactly like this on his face. It was troublesome so I didn"t ask him what it was, though.
But for sure, that was "megane."
If that"s the case, then the way to use this item in my hand is——
"…… Oh."
The two stems are supposed to rest on my ears.
The clear lens settle right in front of my eyes.
Then what I see through the lens, is a brilliant world.
The cloudy sights, the world, that I had been seeing vaguely up to now, suddenly appears so very vivid and clear through the gla.s.s.
"M-, materialization……?!"
"Eh?! That was Materialization?! But it"s megane!!"
The soldiers are bewildered, and that spreads to the villagers.
Everyone is repeatedly murmuring "megane" with question marks almost visible above their heads.
While clearly and vividly and distinctively looking around my surroundings, I come to terms with it.
So what I had is "the Talent to create gla.s.ses."
What is with that.
What is the point of that.
I mean, I needed gla.s.ses, so I welcome it though.
Materialization.
With "a magical Talent" as the base requirement, it is a form of magic. Just as the word says, it is the power to create something material.
In terms of the Ceremony of Determination, it"s jackpot.
Materialization is "a magical Talent," after all.
The issue, however, is that the item being materialized is gla.s.ses, an item that has very narrow application.
The soldiers, Village Chief, and all the villagers too.
Even if it was just "a small knife," or simply "can produce fire," then everyone would surely have leaped with excitement.
The fact that a magician has been born in this entirely unremarkable village would have been honestly received with joy. Just as it did for my sister, Horun.
But, it"s gla.s.ses.
My Talent is gla.s.ses.
To be even more specific, it is the birth of a magician who can create gla.s.ses.
Even I can"t bring myself to blame them for their bewilderment.
Probably the only person who is honestly happy about this is me. Because I needed gla.s.ses.
A so-so ability?
Perish the thought.
It is what I wanted beyond anything else.
At first glance, I might appear to be calm, but I am very happy right now. The happiest I"ve been in years. As happy as I was when I hunted my first rabbit. As moved as the moment I ate the first rabbit that I brought down by myself and thought it delicious. Really.
With this, I can now aim for prey at mid-range and even long distance.
I no longer have to get close enough to prey to see clearly.
My hunting is going to be way more effective than it ever has been.
——It seems that an air of bafflement has been cast over the village. n.o.body seems to know whether to be glad about the birth of this shabby magician or to just make a joke out of me.
But I am happy.
Even if I may not look like it on the outside.
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With the strange mood over the village remaining unaddressed, the Ceremony draws to a close and proceeds into the feast to celebrate our coming of age.
Well, it"s a village in the countryside with no entertainment whatsoever, so everyone kinda just livens it up themselves with just alcohol and food.
It might have been mundane, but the Talents that Shieron and Nabhal drew were easy to understand. So just like all the other years, the two of them are welcomed into the ranks of the adults.
As for me, who drew a Talent that is so unique and hard to understand that it"s almost bordering on being a joke, well, I"m treated like a tumor. Tons of adults came over to offer me words that may or may not have been consolation.
I found it so bothersome and uncomfortable that I quickly erased my presence and chose to devote myself towards my sole source of enjoyment – the food.
Oh yea, this is good.
As expected of meat…… is what I"d like to say, but I actually don"t hate vegetables. The large onions grown in Albat are just amazing. Put it over the fire for a while and it becomes sweet, grill it for a while and it becomes good to eat as is, boil it for a while and it turns into the perfect sweet, gentle-tasting, harmonious accompaniment to any other ingredient.
I hated it when I was a kid, but now I love it, having grown used to eating it. It"s the best when it"s boiled together with meat.
"Oi."
The only person capable of finding me eating by myself under the shade of a tree removed and out of view from the open square where the feast is being held is my Shishou.
He normally wears pelts like he"s a barbaric hunter trying to hide his humanity, but today he"s wearing normal clothes.
Bekt the hunter.
He"s a giant man that looks like a bear sporting a thick beard. From afar, he looks like a coa.r.s.e and jovial ossan.
But in reality, he is a highly skilled hunter capable of hunting down prey with delicate and precise movements.
I think myself still far from having reached Shishou"s level.
Of course, in terms of height, I have to look up to him. But in terms of skill also, I look up to him. Would I ever be able to catch up?
"At least for a day like this, go mingle with the others."
He sits next to me.
Shishou has also secured for himself a plate piled with food before coming over.
"Here"s fine for me."
I don"t want to stand out, don"t want to be seen. I might even venture to say that I don"t want to be found.
That sort of skill is sought after during a hunt.
That"s why being a hunter suits me.
"Haah, what a boring kid you are. Haven"t you ever had thoughts of wanting to make a name for yourself in the city? Back when I was your age, that was all I could think about."
This talk from Shishou, I"ve already heard countless times.
Normally I just casually brush it aside with a "good for you."
But for today at least, maybe it won"t be so bad to hear him out a bit.
Cus today I"ve become an adult too.
"Did you actually, though?"
"You bet. I did my very best in the city for ten whole years."
"And the result?"
"The city didn"t suit me. Then someone told me about a village that needed a hunter and introduced me, and so here I am."
Heeh.
"That time, I invited this woman that I was interested in. In other words, I proposed to my wife, and we moved together."
Ah, I"m good on this topic.
"I"m just going to lay this out first, but I was only on the level of being interested, and it was her who fell in love with me first, alright? But you gotta keep that a secret, yea?"
"…………"
"…… You aren"t going to listen to me even at a time like this?"
Seemingly having given up upon seeing my lack of a reaction, Shishou ends the conversation that I have zero interest in.
"So, your gla.s.ses. How"re they?"
"I like them."
I can see really well. I can see Shishou really well. But I could have done without seeing him really well. There"s nothing to be gained from seeing an uncle clearly and vividly and distinctively, and for some reason it makes me feel depressed. And his forehead seems larger than I had expec-…… no, let"s not have anymore discoveries.
"Still, it sure is an incomprehensible Talent."
So it would seem.
For others, it just comes across as questionable.
But for me, it is an item that I cannot be more grateful for.
——It was supposed to be a special day, but here I am, eating and chatting about things that I couldn"t care less about with Shishou as usual.
Around when I am about to start dozing off from my full stomach, Shishou stands up.
"Eil, come with me for a bit."
Shishou"s house is at the outskirts of the village.
He cuts apart the prey that he hunts, he tans leather, and he processes meat. It was with consideration of all the smells that this arrangement came to be.
The meat and leather he either uses to barter with the villagers for vegetables, or sells to traveling merchants.
I, too, have saved up a bit of money with the prey I hunted.
Well, there"s no way to use money in a village like this, with buying things from traveling merchants being the only exception. But there"s nothing that I particularly want.
Right now, I would have thought "if I can buy it with money, then I"d want gla.s.ses."
But even that I"ve gained without having to spend money.
"Wait outside."
Shishou disappears into his house. Incidentally, his rumored wife is currently at the feast.
In front of his house are pieces of leather in the middle of being tanned and pelts laid out to dry in the sun. Apparently he has no intention of going out on a hunt today.
"Here ya go. Gratz on becoming an adult."
It didn"t take long before Shishou returns and thrusts a bow towards me.
I know Shishou owns several bows, but I"ve never seen this one before.
"You made it? For me?"
""Course I did. You"re my apprentice. Like there"s a mentor who wouldn"t congratulate his apprentice upon coming of age."
I accept the bow.
It"s a composite bow. It"s light, yet tough. It"s probably made from Spectre Tree wood.
It is reinforced with the horn of a black mountain goat that has been carefully shaved down, curved, bent, and thoroughly polished with resin.
It"s a brand new bow that has yet to be broken in by anybody.
It"s a shortbow for adult use.
Furthermore, it"s one that can generate quite some power.
As my body is not that big, I"ve had no problem using the child-sized bow that I received when I was a kid all the way to up today.
Due to my eyes being bad, I had to get close to my prey anyways.
That"s why what I"ve been training was not strength, but the accuracy to hit a prey"s weak point without fail.
As can be expected, large prey is beyond me. Medium-sized ones, however, I"ve already brought down a ton.
But having obtained this composite bow, now I am able to handle large prey as well.
"I"m sure you can draw a bow of that level, right? Give it a try."
Upon being prompted, I take out the bowstring that I keep on me at all times, and string up the composite bow.
I make sure to string it as tight as it can go without bending the bow. I do it again and again, just as taught. The way to string the longbow that Shishou uses is so complicated that I still can"t do it, but this one I can string just like I do my old one.
I pluck the bowstring to confirm that I"ve strung it properly. A dry note rings out.
Well, yea, that should do.
It probably doesn"t need to be said, but this bow is different from the one that I"ve been using up to today. The weight is different, the length is different, the strength needed to draw it is different, the overall balance is different. It"s going to take some time for me to get used to it.
"Try aiming at something."
The arrow that he hands me is of a length that I"ve never used before. The weight is also different. It"s an arrow that can fly much further and pierce much deeper.
Surely it would not fly like I expect if I loose it like I"ve been doing so far.
This, too, I will need to accustom myself to.
I plant my feet, bring up the bow, draw, and loose.
——Fast.
With speed beyond what I"d expected, the arrow pierces into the piece of leather being tanned that"s hanging from a scarecrow.
"Oh, you"re already hitting the target."
No, that was a miss. I was aiming at the corner. But the arrow is standing smack dab in the middle.
It"s no good if I"m missing at such a close distance. I can"t use this yet in real combat.
I need more practice.
…………Ah.
"Shishou."
"Yea?"
"Thank you. I"m very happy."
I am happy about the gla.s.ses, but I am even happier about receiving this present.
"Hehe, it"s fine that you"ve taken a liking to it."
Shishou laughs embarra.s.sedly. As I thought, this really isn"t something I want to see clearly and vividly and distinctively. His forehead…… no, let"s just stop looking.
"Well, if you said that you don"t need it, then I woulda socked you good though."
Ahh, right.
Every time he brought up "it"s about time for you to get a new bow," I did refuse and say I didn"t need it.
——Because I thought that if I got a bow that can hit far away, my bad eyes would get found out.
The fact that my eyes got worse after that incident of near death due to Shishou"s fart, I haven"t told anyone. And I don"t intend to ever tell.
It"s not something that anything can be done about even if I do tell, and would just bother whoever it is that I tell.
My eyesight might have dropped a bit, but I have all four limbs and am in perfect health, so that"s good enough.
It would have been fine if Shishou didn"t know my original eyesight, but he did test me when he accepted me as his apprentice.
Well, I mean, of course he would. Eyesight is directly tied to range, after all.
If I changed to a bow that can aim far away, he would immediately become aware of the fact that my eyes had gotten worse.
And then, judging by how I haven"t had a serious injury ever again since, he would realize that that incident was the cause.
In the first place, that incident was partly my fault.
I don"t want Shishou to bear the full burden by himself. Though I still do want him to apologize for the smelliness and for purposely targeting my face. On that front, I am holding a rather deep grudge, actually. That moment was definitely the worst possible timing for Shishou to release all the ill will that"s been fermenting inside his body.
But well, even that"s now been pretty much resolved thanks to my gla.s.ses.
I immediately throw myself into practice to familiarize myself with my new bow.
Perhaps due to having used the same bow for so long, the new one still feels kind of strange in my hands. I need to make my hands, body, eyes and ears, and sense become used to it as soon as possible.
"Eil, you will surely leave the village tomorrow."
What?
After seeing me shoot about ten arrows, Shishou suddenly says something weird.
"Why?"
"Because of your gla.s.ses."
……? What about them? Though they are incredibly handy.
"To be honest, even I"m not sure what your "Talent for Megane" is. I"ve seen my fair share of the world, but it"s my first time even hearing of it. Part of me feels like it"s just a practical joke, but part of me feels like it surely has its own meaning and usage.
However, what I can say for sure is that it was created through Materialization. In other words, you do have the talent to become a magician."
Well, I suppose that"s so.
"That"s why you will go to the city at least once. Just as Horun did."
Ah, I get it.
Even if it"s an incomprehensible Talent like "creating gla.s.ses," Materialization still lies within the realm of magic.
"So tomorrow, I will be departing together with the soldiers who"ve come to Albat?"
"That"s about it, yep."
"Understood. I"ll go, wrap things up in a flash, then come back as soon as I can."
Just as I turn away to resume my practice, Shishou calls me back to continue the conversation.
"It"s a good opportunity for you. Go take a good look. Not just at the capital, but also at the world."
"Eh? Why should I?"
"Because you are talented with the bow. Far more so than me. Surely there is a mountain of people who would need your skill, people who are waiting for you to enter their lives. And for you, it would be an opportunity to grow.
You can return to the village if you want.
It"s your freedom to choose to live in this village for the rest of your life.
However, there are many things in life that you can only do in the moment.
I won"t tell you to force yourself to find something. But at least make the effort to look. You haven"t even tried doing that yet. Search for your own potential."
Potential.
Potential, huh.
…… How am I even supposed to respond here?
"All I want is to just get by without being found by anyone, though……"
I hate being on the receiving end of attention, and I hate being conspicuous.
If possible, I"d very much like to continue living quietly in this village.
The next day.
Bright and early, the soldiers who came to conduct the Ceremony of Determination knocked on the door to my house.
"We did deliberate for quite a while, but…… we have determined it to be indeed "a magical Talent," so we are ordering Eil of Albat to present himself at the royal castle. On authority of the king."
At the very edge of his words, I can really tell how conflicted they had been. But well, the final decision seems to be to bring me along.
Departure would be immediately after breakfast.
I would be riding the carriage that the soldiers took to get here. On authority of the king. On orders of a guy that I"ve never even seen before.
Two years ago, this was what happened to Sis.
But that time, the entire village came out to see her off.
In my case, the village do come out to see me off too, but everyone is still puzzledly going "Megane?" "Megane…?"
——And it is in this way that I leave the village that I had been born and grew up in.
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The trip from Albat to the capital, Nastiara, took 2 days by carriage.
During the eventless journey, I had nothing else to do, so I spent it testing my gla.s.ses in various ways.
It"s an incomprehensible Talent, but I like it.
Furthermore, I also have the bow that Shishou gifted me for my coming of age.
Without time to gather my bearings, I was brought out of the village the very next day. On authority of the king. On orders of a guy that I"ve never even seen before. He"s probably just some old guy who"s never known a day of hardship in his life.
So this is my first time since to have this much free time to examine and test my gla.s.ses.
After a simple self-introduction and brief chat with the soldiers, I tell them "I want to sleep" and retreat to the roof of the carriage.
Having someone sit next to me does bother me, but what bothers me even more is having someone sit across from me and staring at me.
I am a guy too, so especially now that my eyesight has improved, I have absolutely no interest in seeing another guy clearly and vividly and distinctively.
And I personally don"t want to be looked at either.
The jolting of the carriage transmits quite directly to the roof, but it"s still much better than being stuck inside a small s.p.a.ce with ossa— actually, the soldiers are quite a bit younger than I"d expected — with dudes that I don"t know.
With my luggage pack as a pillow, I lay face up on the roof.
"——When I get home, I"m going to propose."
"——Good luck with that. As for me, I have to think of a name for my newborn child."
I hear the soldiers talking with each other below me. For some reason, I feel a sense of foreboding from the content of their conversation, but I"m sure I"m just imagining it.
While looking up at the clear blue sky, I fiddle with my gla.s.ses.
Hmm…… so the lens is curved. The curvature curves the sight in a way that makes everything focused.
If I adjust the curvature of the lens, would I be able to see even further? Or should I overlap them?
——After various tests, I learned three things.
Firstly, I am only able to make 3 gla.s.ses in one go.
The strength that gets drained out of my body — that"s probably what people call magic power — is expended, such that after the third one I get dizzy and cannot move properly anymore.
Secondly, I can return my gla.s.ses into magic power.
After returning, I can then create it again. Rather than saying that my magic power is expended, it"d be more accurate to say that my gla.s.ses are my magic power. When I return my gla.s.ses, my magic power returns.
And lastly, it becomes a physical existence separated from me.
Simply put, with time, I can increase the number of gla.s.ses.
The first pair that I made, I"ve been wearing the entire time. Aside from when I sleep, of course. But even when I sleep, I didn"t return it into magic power.
During that time, the "magic power worth 1 pair of gla.s.ses" recovered naturally.
In other words, the gla.s.ses that I am wearing right now are no longer a magical creation, but a physical object that exists on its own.
I can probably give it to other people too.
According to what I heard from the soldiers, gla.s.ses are considered a high-cla.s.s item in the royal capital. If I sell them, then I may be able to earn quite a tidy sum.
"Sell gla.s.ses and earn money," huh.
On paper alone, it looks really stupid.
In the first place, it may be a high-cla.s.s item, but there"s no point if there"s no demand.
Are there many people with bad eyes? Or are there only a few? In the first place, are there even people aware of it? I was aware because my eyes went from fine to bad, but if someone was born like that, then would they even realize that what they see is different from what others see? And even if they realize, would they even give it thought?
Moreover, if it is the curvature of the lens that corrects eyesight, then I think each person would require curvature specific to that person alone.
I think that each pair of gla.s.ses would need to be tailor-made to each person.
Just as everyone"s "gla.s.ses in their heart" is different, surely their physical gla.s.ses would be different too. Incidentally, what does "gla.s.ses in the heart" even mean.
Though well, gla.s.ses have indeed already secured a living s.p.a.ce inside my heart. They"ve become an existence that I can never ever live without again.
——Upon mulling so deeply upon gla.s.ses, I find myself slightly excited.
Regardless of how everyone around thinks "gla.s.ses summoning" is just meh, I like it.
Even aside from the pair that I"m using myself, I"m beginning to take a liking to this Talent. It is turning out to be much deeper than I had originally thought.
Now I want to know even more about my gla.s.ses.
In addition, I also learned that "the shape cannot be changed" and "the color of the lens can be changed."
Well, in regards to the shape, it might simply be because I lack the imagination or visualization to make it happen. If I have a clear image that I think "I want it to look like this!", then perhaps I can make it.
"The color of the lens can be changed" I discovered because I realized how bright the sun is.
Because I"m lying face up on the roof, the sun comes into my view whether I want it to or not.
When I am wearing gla.s.ses, it concentrates light, so everything becomes even brighter.
The sun isn"t bright when it"s covered by thin, dark clouds.
If my gla.s.ses provide me vision through the lens, then could I make the lens more clouded, so that the sun won"t be so bright according to the previous reasoning?
So thinking, I mentally willed it to become as dark as night, and it worked.
The world that I am looking at right now is "night."
Despite it being high noon, everywhere is dark like it"s night time, thanks to me looking at the world through black lenses.
I can look right at the sun and it"s not bright at all.
It even looks kind of like a yellow spot.
…… Ok, I thought that it"s not bright, but when I stare at it for a long time, it turns out to be bright after all. The sun is strong. My thought that gla.s.ses may perhaps be the strongest thing in this world is dispelled immediately. How I arrived at that thought is completely beyond me.
On the first day, as well as the second, I stayed on the roof of the carriage. I pondered upon my gla.s.ses, napped every now and then, and fiddled with the new composite bow that I"d received from Shishou.
"——I"m almost home."
"——When I think of how my child is waiting for me, I just can"t sit still."
In the evening of the second day on this journey that even the soldiers have gotten tired of, we finally see castle walls far off in the distance.
So that"s the royal capital. It"s huge.
I only know my own village, so I can"t even imagine what kind of place the royal capital is.
…… Sooo, first I"ll be going to the castle to meet somebody important, then I"m going to look for Sis.
Because my parents told me "go take a look at your sister"s face."
I too — well, I"m not that worried about her — am kind of curious about how she"s been these past two years.
To be honest, I only wanted to go back as soon as possible at the start of the trip. But now I"ve changed my mind just a little.
When I reach the royal capital, I want to look more into gla.s.ses.
According to the soldiers, there is a place called a "library" where there are a whole ton of books. Apparently that"s the place to go to look something up.
I can only do simple reading and writing, so I won"t be able to read difficult books. But I think there"s value in at least going to check it out.
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"——mega, ne? Eh? Megane?"
It is the second day after my arrival at the royal capital.
Having arrived in the late evening, I was bundled off into an inn first thing. I spent the night there, and now it is the morning of the next day.
Before I was even able to eat breakfast, the soldier bro who said he"d propose after getting home came to pick me up, then promptly escorted me to the castle.
Due to the early hour, the streets still seem a bit empty. But I"m just amazed at the quant.i.ty and size of the buildings everywhere.
Last night, I was tired from the journey, I was brought directly to the inn, and I was even told expressly not to go walking about, so I had just eaten dinner then bathed then went straight to bed.
That is why this is my first time taking a good look at the townscape.
This is so different from my village. The city is amazing.
By going down the wide road that connects directly with the highway outside the walls, we eventually arrive before a splendid-looking castle paved entirely with stone. I"ve only ever heard of a place like this from children"s tales and fairy tales. It feels so overwhelming to see it in person.
Well then.
The soldier bro shows some kind of identification to the guards who are already standing in front of the gate this early in the morning, then he is allowed to pa.s.s through. I follow along behind him. With the guard scrutinizing me from head to toe. I really am bad with people looking at me.
And then.
Almost immediately after pa.s.sing through the gate, there are two people standing in our way.
One is a bearded ossan wearing top-quality clothes who looks to be in his forties, while the other is a pretty girl who looks to be two or three years older than me. Ah, the girl is wearing gla.s.ses. She"s my first megane person in the royal capital.
"Welcome to Nastiara Castle, oh child of a sublime Talent."
So says the girl in welcome. The ossan looks neither moved nor welcoming, and just stands there with an unreadable face.
Being welcomed with a smile is well and all, but the very fact of being welcomed out here means that I"m not allowed to step foot into the castle, right? Since we"re technically not inside the castle yet. This place is literally just the other side of the gate.
In other words, this place isn"t indulgent enough to allow b.u.mpkins inside w.i.l.l.y-nilly. Not that I particularly want to go in, though. There"s probably a ton of people inside, after all.
Soldier bro tells the girl and bearded ossan my Talent.
Which brings us to——
"——mega, ne? Eh? Megane?"
Let alone a second look, both the girl and the ossan take even a third look.
"…… Eh, "megane"? By "megane," you mean gla.s.ses? Like those? Like these?"
The girl points towards the gla.s.ses that I"m wearing ("those" gla.s.ses) and the gla.s.ses that she"s wearing ("these" gla.s.ses) repeatedly for confirmation.
The soldier nods again and again upon being asked, confirming that their bewilderment is not misplaced.
Ummm.
So I"m going to get those faces even here, huh.
The girl and ossan, both of whom are surely people with great authority, are making the exact same faces as the villagers who watched my Ceremony of Determination. This awkward air is also exactly the same.
"Wh, what does that mean?"
Who am I to ask if you ask me?
I"m the one who is the most desperate to know what a "Talent for Megane" is all about. I"ve already made my peace with it ages ago, but the mystery behind it is only growing deeper by the day.
At any rate, it"s probably best to just show them directly.
The "Talent for Megane."
I directly stick out a hand——then create a pair of gla.s.ses on top.
"Ah, gla.s.ses……!"
Yes. These are gla.s.ses.
"Materialization……!"
The bearded ossan opens his mouth for the first time. Unlike the girl, he seems calm, but I suspect that he"s even more bewildered than she is. It is "megane" after all.
"Eh? Eh? Are you giving them to me?"
Eh?
…… I had no intention of giving them away, but if she wants them then I might as well. She"s a megane comrade, after all.
Despite it having been only a few days, now I am also a splendid megane-user. You may even call me a megane-man.
I nod, then the girl accepts the gla.s.ses. She puts them on in exchange for hers.
"Uwah…… th-, the clarity is totally different! These are lenses of the highest quality……!"
Hm?
I don"t quite get it, but the girl seems quite moved. Clarity…… huh. Now that she"s brought my attention to it, the lens of the gla.s.ses that she had been wearing do look slightly clouded. Is that what"s normal?
"U~wah…… I can even clearly see Leoud-san"s eyebrows. These are amazing!"
"Shut up. Don"t look."
The ossan looks annoyed at the girl"s delight. Seemingly bothered by having it brought up, he"s covering his nose and mouth with a hand.
I myself don"t really want to look directly, but it seems that being able to clearly and vividly and distinctively see a middle-aged man does not bother this girl much. I don"t know if this is true only for this girl, or if this is true for all females in the world.
""Megane"…… what a difficult Talent to make use of……"
Placing his other hand on his forehead, the ossan sighs heavily. I personally love it, but I suppose this is the normal reaction from everyone else.
"——kun, stay in the royal capital for a while."
Eh?
I want to go back to the village soon, but have just heard something unbelievable.
"If my memory serves me correctly, I have never even heard of a Talent called "Megane." It is surely a very rare Talent, one that even this country with its long history has never come upon.
However, I can"t discern right now whether it is important to us or not."
Which reminds me, if it"s honestly accepted as "a magical Talent," then the country would personally employ me, right? This is the interview to decide that, right? That, and "rare Talents."
In other words, he cannot determine on the spot whether or not my Talent is one that is worthy of direct employment by the country.
That"s why he needs some time to discuss it with other people in power before making the final decision, is the general meaning.
I get it.
Judging by this super awkward atmosphere.
The bewilderment of whether to welcome me or to chase me away on his own judgment is so palpable as to almost stab my skin.
"I don"t mind staying for a while, but working at the castle——"
"That talk will be at a later date. For today, just go back. You, hand him funds for several days of stay."
"Working at the castle is something I have no interest in"…… is what I wanted to say though.
But without properly listening to me, the ossan just says what he wants to say, then drags the girl back into the castle with him.
Left alone with me, the soldier bro tells me "from today onwards, continue staying at last night"s inn." He hands me some money, then drives me out.
Ummm…… after being jostled by the carriage and coming all this way, this is my treatment? It seems that people in power treating country b.u.mpkins unceremoniously really is true.
Well, whatever.
I have things I want to do in the royal capital anyways, so I actually don"t mind having to wait for a few days.
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Since I was told to wait for several days, it means I can"t move from the royal capital for several days. On orders of the king. Not that I know how much of an old guy it is that gave the order. Nor how much hardship has the old guy that gave the order known.
In any case, since I can"t move, I might as well do what I need to do during this time.
Firstly, let"s go look for Horun. My sister.
Looking into gla.s.ses can wait.
It is an amazing construct of technology, but anyone can tell with a single glance that its structure is simple. I don"t think I"d be able to learn much from cursory research.
For sure I would have to go into technical specifics. It will take quite a lot of time if I am to begin.
Sis has become, according to the letter she sent, an adventurer based in the royal capital.
Adventurers did stop by our village every once in a while, so I have a general idea of what kind of occupation it is.
To summarize what all the villagers were saying, if I remember correctly, adventurers hunt magic beasts and gather herbs and mess with promising newbies to enforce a pecking order, and in spite of their large bodies and att.i.tudes are actually just a reserve army of mean-spirited and selfish criminals.
They don"t have a specific job to do, instead relying desperately on commissioned jobs to sc.r.a.pe together enough spare change to make ends meet day by day. Also, they eat things that they pick up off the ground, and frequently fail because of being drunk. They go broke because they gamble, and sometimes end up foolishly accepting highly dangerous jobs because of a debt they have to pay back.
There is surely no other profession that suits my sister so well.
Ever since I can remember, Horun has always been of a caliber that cannot be bound by concepts within common sense such as "ordinary" or "stable."
Generally, she often ate things she picked up off the ground.
When eating meat, she would unfailing always gnaw on the bone afterwards.
That time when she buried a bone saying "it might turn into a tree of meat," I seriously doubted her sanity.
How I pretended to be unrelated to her while watching her later get into a fight with a dog that dug up the bone is a rather treasured memory of mine.
""Scuse me~"
My objective has been decided.
Let"s ask this gate guard who is looking at me warily with a solemn face the location of the nest of adventurers.
"……"
""Scuse me~"
"…………"
""Scuse me~, there"s something I want to ask you."
"…………"
""Scu—"
"G.o.dd.a.m.n you"re annoying! I"m in the middle of work, don"t talk to me!"
U~wah, how scary. He got mad.
"And here I was thinking that you were ignoring me because you"re in the middle of work."
Since he didn"t even flinch. I couldn"t help taking one step closer to him every time I called out again. I"m already close enough to touch him with my hand.
"That is exactly what I was doing! I was ignoring you on purpose! ON. PURPOSE! If you get it then leave me be!"
"Ah, is that so. So then, where can I find them adventurers?"
"Don"t talk to me when I"m in the middle of work!"
"That way? This way?"
"…… Follow the large avenue in front, you"ll find the Adventurer"s Guild near the city entrance."
Even though he clicked his tongue, the gate guard still properly answered my question. What a relief. People from the city have this cold and uncaring impression, but I guess it"s not actually true.
"Thank you~"
I say my thanks, but he doesn"t respond to me anymore. He must be shy.
Alright. I got the information that I needed.
Adventurer"s Guild, huh. I"ve heard of this as well. Let"s go check it out.
As I proceed down the largest road amongst all the roads, I spy a building from which people wearing armor and carrying swords and axes and whatnot are coming in and out.
I can tell immediately.
That is the Adventurer"s Guild.
It says so on the sign too. As if they"re trying to flaunt it.
But that sure is a lot of people…… can I not go in?
And there"s that too, right? If I go in, a bald adventurer with a terrible personality and half-a.s.sed skill whose career has already peaked will come pick a fight with me, right? Haaaah.
…… But I can"t very well not go in, right? It"s not like I don"t care about Horun, even though I haven"t seen her for two years already.
There"s no helping it. Let"s slip in sneakily.
I wait around for a while, until I spot a large man wearing jangling armor who completely looks like an adventurer. Right before he enters, I erase my presence and follow behind him into the building.
Then I smoothly proceed inside with an innocent face and grab a seat. Not at a table that can seat several people at once, but at the counter seats, which is for people who come alone.
I wasn"t seen.
I did not feel a single gaze on me. It seems that my infiltration was successful.
——No, that"s incorrect.
There is one person looking at me. I feel a gaze on my back.
…… Hmm…… oh boy, that"s strong. The person who"s looking at me, I mean. Definitely much stronger than I am.
If it is a wild animal, then it would not be my prey, but a predator looking to prey upon me. Those eyes are looking straight at me, out of the sea of people armed to the teeth. Even taking my personal feelings out of the equation, this is definitely not a good thing to happen.
"…… Eh? Welcome……?"
There is a female wearing an ap.r.o.n looking at me with a "since when has he been there?" face. So that"s a waitress, huh. We didn"t have those in our village.
The waitress who was busy going in and out of the kitchen carrying dishes and drinks finally noticed me when going behind the counter to grab a bottle of something. Our eyes did meet over the counter, after all.
This person definitely feels like I"d appeared all of a sudden.
Even though she pa.s.sed right by me just now. She didn"t notice at all that time.
I don"t really have anything I want to order, but…… oh right, I haven"t had breakfast yet. Might as well eat here then.
"Please give me something bread-like and something soup-like."
I don"t know what they actually serve here, so I give a vague order.
"Bread, -like……?"
As I can"t imagine most of the adventurers that are going in and out possessing any substantial wealth, the menu here shouldn"t be that expensive. It should be fine to just let the waitress decide for me. But I am on the lookout for rip offs. If it seems expensive, then I"ll just run away.
"Ahh, umm, would the breakfast set be fine? It comes with bread and soup and fruit."
"Ok, give me that, then."
So then.
For now, I"ve gotten the ordering out of the way, so I can look for Sis…… but it seems that she"s not here at the moment.
Keeping my eyes forward, I probe for presences.
Right now, there are a total of 20 adventurers inside the guild. Of the six tables, five are in use, and the flow through the doors is high volume.
Seeing as how after they gaze at the papers stuck on a wall they then turn to talk with their friends or head straight out of the guild, I deduce that those papers must be the request forms that detail the daily employment jobs.
Yep, Sis" presence is not here.
And, same as before, there is still one person looking at me. I don"t know what their intention is, but they are stronger than me, so I have no intention to engage.
Dammit, I feel that person approaching me.
"——Young man."
I think I just heard a woman calling out to someone. But well, there"s no guarantee that it"s directed towards me.
"——You there, young man."
She"s grabbed the counter seat next to mine and seems to be looking in my direction though.
No, no, no, there"s still no telling with that alone.
That"s not enough to be sure that it"s me that she"s calling out to. There is still the possibility that she"s calling out to someone on my other side. There is no one suitable to be called "young man" on that side though.
"——Thank you for waiting."
As I keep up my "it"s no concern of mine" att.i.tude, the waitress comes back with my food. Oh, this looks good. The bread doesn"t seem all that different from what I was eating back in my village, but it"s my first time having a soup that smells like this. Did they put in a spice that I don"t know? And there"s even meat inside. What a feast early in the morning. Thank you for the food.
"——Oh hi there, Lorobel. What"s the matter?"
I maintain my "it"s no concern of mine" att.i.tude even while picking up my bowl of soup, but the waitress calls out to the woman sitting next to me.
Let"s casually listen in.
Why is she looking at me, and why did she call out to me. That"s what I want to know. Though well, it"s still not confirmed that it"s me that she has business with…… Haah, I guess that"s too large of a stretch, huh. Since she"s even gone and sat next to me.
"Oh, I get it. You"re trying to hit on him? But isn"t he a bit too young to hit on? Even though he does have a cute face."
"What, no. It"s just that there"s something I"m curious about."
I would very much like for you to not be curious though.
"You know this kid?"
"No, it"s my first time seeing him. Hey, we"ve never met before, right?"
The waitress looks at me.
But there"s no guarantee that it"s me that she"s talking to, so I don"t say anything and don"t look at her and just continue sipping at my soup. Mmm, soup in the city is delicious. I wonder what they put inside. Is it really an unknown spice?
"…… He"s been like this the entire time I"ve been calling out to him."
"He probably doesn"t want to get involved with other people. It"s not that rare to see adventurers who don"t want other people interfering with themselves, right?"
Hear, hear. Adventurers who don"t want other people interfering with themselves is not rare, you hear? Not that I"m an adventurer, though.
"Ahh…… I think you are listening, so I"ll just tell you what I want."
Having understood that I have no intention of responding, the woman next to me has apparently decided to tell me the reason why she"s been calling out to me.
"Young man, your gla.s.ses. I was wondering where you got your hands on those."
Gla.s.ses?
…… My gla.s.ses, huh.
I see, so it"s my gla.s.ses that she has business with.
After enduring the gazes of the waitress and the woman next to me for a while longer, I think about it for a bit, then turn my face.
"What is it about my gla.s.ses?"
I dislike getting involved in troubling things, but since it"s my gla.s.ses that she has business with, then I feel willing to at least hear her out a bit.
In any case, I"d need to ask someone for information about Sis.
This woman next to me——her name is Lorobel? Yea, let"s ask her various things, then.
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