The Perfect Knight and the Illusionist (BL)
Chapter 28: Witches and Folk Magic

Chapter 28: Witches and Folk Magic

LEO

I was so full after dinner, so I was glad that Mario—I mean Marius!—suggested we look around the mansion a little before we headed back to the dormitory again. It might have been better if we had walked back, just to digest the enormous amount of food we had, but the mansion was probably big enough that going around it was similar to taking a stroll outside.

I noticed that the house was eerily quiet, and both Albert, the gentleman from before, and the pretty lady in the black-and-white dress walked with such light footsteps that they hardly made any sound as they closely followed us from behind (unlike Dimitri, whose every step made sure everyone knew he was coming).

We first reached what felt like a library. It wasn’t as big as the one at the Academy, but I thought there must still be thousands of books here. Marius said we could look around and pick any book that we wanted to read, and even take it back to the dormitory if we wanted to spend our evenings reading. I didn’t really want to read, for I’d never been a big fan of reading, but everyone else seemed excited about the chance, so I started to walk around with Thomas through the aisles of shelves packed with books.

Most of the books seemed to be history books, "Battle of" this and "Battle of" that, but some books were about the legends and heroes that even I had heard of back in the village. I thought maybe I’d pick one of those books, although I was pretty sure I wouldn’t read it back at the dormitory, unless Mariwuss forced me to (so I was glad we didn’t share a room).

"Oh, look at this," Thomas said, pointing at one book on the lower shelf.

"What is it?" I asked.

He knelt to take the book out, and showed me the book with the dark red leather binding.

"Tales of Witches and Folk Magic," Thomas read out the title.

"What is folk magic? And aren’t witches like—bad?"

"Not necessarily. They are sometimes just misunderstood."

"They were always scary old women who liked making potions with children in the stories I had been told...," I said.

"Hah, far from it. Of course, there are mages who are good and mages who are bad. But sometimes, witches are just mages whose magic nobody understands."

Nobody understands.

Those words echoed in my mind.

"And as for folk magic—you know, magic isn’t exclusively for the battlefield, at least it wasn’t always the case. It is now somewhat controlled by the Royal Association of Mages and you need a license to use it freely, but heck, no Imperial Soldier is going to go around visiting villages to catch people lighting their kitchen fires with magic and such."

"Oh... I didn’t know that."

"Leo," Thomas said, looking into my eyes, "were there any magic users in your village?"

"No."

The answer came out very quickly.

"How did you learn to use magic?" he asked me.

"I—I didn’t learn anything," I answered.

Thomas narrowed his eyes, not in a way that he was trying to judge me for it, but more like he was trying to figure out how I could use any magic at all.

Then he seemingly gave up and shrugged. "Well, the fact that you can use it means you have a talent for it. I just... have never seen a dual magic user other than Isabelle before."

"I see. I guess Isabelle is special."

"Heh—are you saying you are special too then?" Thomas said, teasing me.

"That’s not what I meant..."

"It’s all good. I think I will take this book."

"But you don’t use magic, though...?"

"It’s for Isabelle. She likes these things."

"I see."

Then a voice came from behind, which I immediately recognized as Marius’s.

"Have you found anything interesting?"

"Yes, I’d like to borrow this one," Thomas said, showing the book he had just chosen to Mario.

"Oh, that’s an interesting one. How about you, Le—Skylark?"

"I... may I go to the toilet?"

"You don’t need to raise your hand, Leo," Thomas said, laughing.

Damn, what did I do again...

"Sure, if you turn left after leaving the room, it’s at the end of the hallway. The door on your left," Marius instructed me.

"Thank you..."

With my face burning hot, for some reason, I ran out of the room and down the hallway, but then just as I approached the end of the hallway, the toilet door opened and someone walked out of it.

I froze on the spot.

"Mi... mister?"

It was the gentleman.

My personal trainer.

"Good evening, Leo," he said casually, almost as if he already knew I was here, and almost as if he himself wasn’t a guest in this mansion.

"I was, mister, just visiting my friend, and... and..."

"I see you are a good friend of Marius Valenkraft."

He sounded like he was merely confirming, not asking.

"Yes, mister."

"Friends are useful, Leo. Keep up the good work. Make as many friends as you can. It will help you make the most out of your days at the Academy."

I appreciated the unexpectedly warm and kind advice.

"Thank you."

"I will be on my way then."

With that, he walked past me, and as he did so, I thought I smelled a faint, but very rich, fragrance of whiskey. Dad used to like drinking whiskey when he had a chance. It was a very rare drink and was available only when someone went to another city and came back and brought it as a souvenir. Village people used to gather together to take a small glass each, and although I never drank it myself, the memory of the smell stayed with me. What I smelled from the gentleman was undoubtedly whiskey, but it just felt, somehow, more luxurious.

After entering the toilet, without closing the door, I stuck my head out a little and peeped at the gentleman walking down the hallway. He walked past the library, and toward the end of it, another man emerged from the shadow and led him into a room on the right side.

Once I was done in the toilet with what I came to do, I returned to the library. Mario was still chatting with Thomas about something, but my curiosity couldn’t hold me back from asking,

"Mariu... do you know the gentleman outside?"

He looked at me, blinked a few times, and asked,

"Who are you talking about?"

"The man who smells like good whiskey."

"Oh, it might be my father, or one of his guests. He does like to have whiskey in the evenings."

"Your father’s here?" Thomas asked.

"I assume so, yes."

"Shouldn’t we then go say hello?" I asked Marius this time, but instantly regretted it as his face suddenly turned cold.

"It won’t be necessary."

And that was that.

City boys and their families were certainly different when it came to having guests at home.