Published: August 25, 2025
Today, three chapters are posted simultaneously.
This is the second chapter.
“Oh.”
Miseria, who happened to be standing right behind Ryoma, caught his collapsing body.
“He fell asleep in an instant.”
“That’s partly due to the effect of the medicine, but I think he was also extremely fatigued.”
“Though he looked fine on the outside, it seems he was really struggling.”
“I’ve never seen Ryoma-kun put slimes aside like this before.”
“Normally, the owner would say something like ‘I’ll finish quickly, just need to check a bit before drinking,’ you know…”
“Given Ryoma-sama’s usual behavior, I’d say this is definitely an abnormal situation.”
At this point, everyone except Rosenberg and Miss Eleonora—who had only recently met Ryoma and didn’t yet know how much effort he put into slime research—nodded deeply in agreement.
“Um… Is Lord Rosenberg alright? You seemed quite tense while supervising.”
“Miss Eleonora is quite observant.”
During Ryoma’s training, Rosenberg had been using his own magic to monitor the situation to prevent accidents. If the magic had run amok or Ryoma had overexerted himself to the point of collapse, Rosenberg would have intervened swiftly.
However, something unexpected happened. When Rosenberg used his magic, he received clearer-than-usual information about Ryoma’s magic and mana.
“I think it was my magic being affected by his magic and mana. My magic analyzes and comprehends details from the target’s mana, so I was paying more attention to Ryoma-kun’s magic than usual for safety’s sake. Also, Ryoma-kun used an unusually large amount of mana.
He seemed severely fatigued with hazy eyes, but it was the first time I’ve ever sensed another person’s magic as scenery and sound.”
“Is that not a problem? Shouldn’t Lord Rosenberg rest as well?”
“If I had surrendered myself to that sensation, I believe I would have been drawn into his imagery. Fortunately, I managed to escape before that happened.”
Looking back now, Rosenberg said it was the right call.
At this, Eudam noticed a faint hint of fear in those words and asked,
“What exactly happened?”
“I don’t know. Nothing was clear... To describe it, it was like a painting drawn only with shades of black ink or a shadow picture, with vague outlines... A long line stretching from a dark ground up to a dark sky. Compared to that, tiny, short, thin lines like grains.
The small lines seemed to move freely between and around the long lines, so they were probably people. The long lines were buildings... It looked like a vast city far surpassing the Royal Capital.”
“A city larger than the Royal Capital… We’ve been to the Royal Capital on work before, but I can’t even imagine a city bigger than that.”
“It’s just an image, so it may not necessarily correspond to reality. Since Ryoma-kun’s hometown is the Tree Sea, those might not be buildings but trees instead. The problem was the countless people writhing among them… I sensed various malice directed at Ryoma-kun from them.
Each seemed to offload their own dissatisfaction, unhappiness, and bad traits onto him, making him bear an unfathomable malice that ordinary humans wouldn’t experience in a lifetime… There was an intentional feeling in the flow of this gathered malice. Perhaps, Ryoma-kun was raised as a sacrifice for cursed arts.
Mr. Sebas, Ryoma-kun is an orphan, but were his former guardians trustworthy people?”
Caught off guard by the question, Sebas thought for a moment and then nodded deeply.
“I believe there is no reason to doubt the grandparents who raised Lord Ryoma. I have not heard any talk of him being mistreated by them either.”
“If that’s the case, then perhaps it was before he was taken in by his grandparents… No, this is just speculation based on what I felt. I shouldn’t say anything definitive without proof.
However, the negative emotions embedded in that magic were so strong they were on the verge of running amok. As a supervisor, that’s a failure on my part, but it was truly unexpected. I thought I had anticipated unexpected results, but he easily surpassed those expectations.”