Published: August 10, 2026
"You should go out first."
"Lord Ferdinand, who does not seem to be feeling well, should go out first. It would be better to secure even a little time to rest before dinner."
"I am fine. Forget about me and go."
While speaking in a weary manner, Ferdinand gave a light wave of his hand. He looked clearly unwell, yet he kept stubbornly repeating that he was "fine," and that irritated me a little. Still, Ferdinand hiding his condition from other people was nothing new.
"If you are not unwell, then next time I will copy the contents of your Book of Mestionora into mine."
"What are you talking about? I refuse."
He said it with the look of someone staring at a complete idiot, and I frowned.
"What do you mean, 'what am I talking about'? It is you who are being unreasonable. Lord Ferdinand's Book of Mestionora had its contents increased by copy-and-paste, and yet you won't increase mine. That's cruel."
I want to read it too, so it felt unfair that he alone had a Book of Mestionora with more reading material. Ferdinand grimaced unpleasantly at my complaint.
"Your new magic has a strange pronunciation and principle. It will probably take time to learn, so I reject it."
"Lord Ferdinand will be fine. You learned the water gun right away, didn't you?"
My grandfather and the others struggled with it, but Ferdinand alone had learned it fairly easily. I was absolutely sure he would be fine, but Ferdinand had already taken a firm stance of refusal.
"If Lord Ferdinand cannot learn copy-and-paste, then I will copy-and-paste from Lord Ferdinand myself, so please lend me the Book of Mestionora."
"Can you even do that yourself?"
"I won't know until I try..."
I touched Ferdinand's Sacred Scripture, which remained open, set a starting point, and moved my finger to the ending point to designate a range. The instant I did, Ferdinand sucked in a sharp breath, slapped my hand away, and immediately closed the Book of Mestionora to make it disappear.
"Ah! It looked like it might have worked, so why did you erase it?"
"You are too early for that. At the very least, wait until you are an adult."
"Eh? It's still two years until I'm an adult, isn't it? That's so far away. Just a moment ago you said..."
I stared at Ferdinand in surprise, because he had seemed willing to let me try just a second ago, yet suddenly changed his attitude. But Ferdinand glared at me and shook his head.
"I have my reasons. Absolutely not, for now."
"What reasons? Are they reasons I can accept?"
He refused to explain and just kept repeating "no." When I leaned in to his face and demanded an explanation, he pressed his hand to my forehead and pushed me back.
"You said yourself that time is short. More important than increasing the contents of your Sacred Scripture is completing it as a magic tool, is it not? It would be for your own good to leave here before I take out the mana stones for the preparations."
"...Lord Ferdinand, is that Gervasio person a threat?"
It felt like ever since Leticia mentioned the name Gervasio, Ferdinand kept saying things like "there is no time" and acting anxious to create the Book of Mestionora as a magic tool as soon as possible.
"Is Gervasio your older brother, since he was raised to become king of lanzenave?"
At that moment, every trace of expression vanished from Ferdinand's face. His angry expression, his anxious feelings—everything disappeared. Only his thin golden eyes remained, gazing at me for several seconds as if trying to gauge me. Then, looking down at his own hand, he slowly opened his mouth as if carefully choosing his words.
"I myself do not even remember meeting Gervasio face to face. But I know of him."
It must be knowledge from the Book of Mestionora. Ferdinand stared intently at his own hand, as if looking at the Book of Mestionora he had already made disappear.
"Among the sons born to the three women of Adalgeisa at that time, Gervasio was the one chosen to be king of lanzenave because he had the highest mana of all attributes."
"So that means he has more mana than Lord Ferdinand?"