My name is Zenith Greyrat.
It all started the day before the tutor arrived. I think that was two days ago. I'm not really sure, because that night Paul and I... well. That doesn't matter. There are things, certain moments, that deserve to be etched in your memory forever.
It happened while I was kneeling by some plants. As I was tending to them, I felt something gently tugging at my apron. Something... or rather, someone I wasn't expecting.
"Mom?"
That little voice belonged to my sweet Daiki.
I recognized him instantly, like a part of me always knew who was walking around my own house. I also recognized the way he tugged at my apron.
"Dai, sweetie, don't just appear out of nowhere like that." I smiled as I turned around.
"I'm sorry... but I wanted to ask you something."
"Of course, Daiki. What is it?"
No, wait.
The same boy who sometimes ignores me when I speak to him? The quiet one? The one who spends all his time watching his father and, above all, the one who tries to hide his interest in swordsmanship?
That same Daiki came to ask me for something? Me?
No.
Hush.
This is a major milestone in a mother's life.
So just relax, Zenith.
"Could you teach me healing magic?"
"Did I hear that right? Healing magic?"
"Yeah," Daiki answered right away. "So I can help you. I don't want to rely only on the sword. Besides, a swordsman's weak point is usually a direct hit to the arms or legs. If I get hurt, how am I supposed to recover quickly? That's where..."
"Hush, Dai," I said. "Are you telling me the truth?"
"Yes, Mom. Why would I lie to you? I'll learn the sword from Dad, but... what about you? What could I learn from you?"
I hugged him without a second thought. I was already crying. The same boy who almost never cried and never asked for anything wanted to learn something from me.
I hugged him even tighter.
"Kyaaah! I'd love to teach you!"
"Mother? Are you crying...? I'm sorry if I said something that..."
"Dai, stop. They are tears of joy. You did something amazing and that's why I'm crying. Okay?"
His expression relaxed again.
I felt a bit silly having to explain it, but seeing the relief on his face, I couldn't help but smile.
*What if he learns fast and doesn't need me anymore tomorrow...?*
A part of me wanted him to fail, to need more time with me. I know it sounds awful, but it's not normal seeing my son walk up so calmly to ask me to teach him healing magic just so he can help others.
I plucked a leaf.
"Look, Dai." I recited the basic healing spell over the plant. "Remember to say the chant."
I turned to look at my son.
What I saw was a boy utterly captivated just by watching a leaf regenerate from a basic spell. Well, I can't blame him. I always felt pretty good about my own abilities. Daiki repeated the spell with the exact same focus I had when I said the words.
His voice was so focused, yet so small compared to everything he still had to learn, full of effort and the drive to get the spell right...
Part of me was proud. Another part, a deep, hidden part I didn't want to admit, was hoping he'd stumble a bit. But he said it naturally, as if he'd practiced the words beforehand.
When the leaf grew back, I saw a tiny flash of excitement in those red eyes, but then I noticed he was frowning.
"Can I actually...?" He looked at the leaf from every angle. "No, I used too much mana..." Now he was staring at the clear sky. "The feeling is..."
"Dai."
"What if I channel...?"
My little boy just wouldn't stop.
"Daiki!" I ended up yelling his name so he would listen to me.
Daiki jumped, dropped the leaf, and looked me in the eyes.
"Yes, Mom?"
"Calm down. Don't overthink it just yet. Guide the spell with the chant."
"Understood, Mom."
After that incident with Rudeus and the intermediate-tier spell, I realized, or at least it was my theory, that Daiki always tried to deconstruct every spell, trying to understand the 'why' behind everything.
That was my boy.
We spent the rest of our time practicing. Two hours? I think it was three. The sun moved across the sky, I remember that much, and my left foot fell completely asleep and I had to move it carefully so he wouldn't notice.
"Mom, do you know why mana flows this way? What if I change the intention? What if it comes out differently? Why do I have to touch the wound instead of doing it from a distance?"
I kept telling him he didn't need to understand everything, that the chant itself was a guide, but I could see in his eyes that it wasn't enough for him. He needed to understand the reason behind things.
At some point, we moved on from magic and I started teaching him about plants. I explained which ones were good for ointments and which ones could be poisonous. Of course, I didn't actually have any of those around, so I just described their shapes so he'd know which ones to stay away from.
And Daiki, my little Daiki, was excited. Well, I thought he was.
No, I didn't just think it. It was true.
He was smiling. A subtle smile, but it was there.
*This... is what I wanted.*
I couldn't sleep that night. Paul asked me what was wrong and I told him everything.
"Really? Our Dai? Are you sure?"
"Yes, honey. I'm not crazy. I saw it! A faint smile. Small, but it was there."
I told him about his process. The questions he asked. The slight excitement he let slip.
"I feel like he's carrying a burden we can't see... Is he afraid of being happy? I don't know. He's just a child. As a baby he was always so quiet..." I said, deep in thought. Maybe too deep.
"My love, calm down."
"But honey..."
"He'll be fine."
He hugged me tight. He kissed me and we moved on to... well, to what we always do whenever something good or bad happens. And that night, after seeing our son so excited, giving myself to the man I loved was the best way to end the day.
---
*Daiki Greyrat*
I stared at my hands closer than usual.
Today, I channeled mana to heal. I tapped into the "power of healing", something that felt entirely different in my hands, with a completely different purpose.
In my past life, I used my elemental powers to deal damage and overpower my enemies. But now it's totally different, because this is about healing. And healing means taking care of those who need it the most.
That brought a brand new purpose with it: protecting the weak by healing them.
I formed a water sphere in my hands.
Offensive voiceless magic is easy, because the elements are simple at their core. You can figure out how each of them works. But healing magic has something that's kept me intrigued for a long time.
If it was possible to cast offensive magic without chanting, healing magic had to be the same.
Maybe understanding anatomy wasn't necessary. I mean, if you think about it, the "healing intention" should be enough in these cases. Right?
*"The chant knows what it's doing. Your only job is to guide it with good intentions through your words."*
If that was true, maybe healing didn't require a biological instruction manual... or maybe it did. Still, in my past life, I had dedicated myself to studying the human body. It was a crucial field I had to master to survive combat situations, long before I fully understood how to communicate with the elements.
If that knowledge was critical back then, it would certainly be useful now for perfecting healing magic and casting it voicelessly.
*Think...*
Condensing the abstract concept of healing into a single, concrete action.
The image of healing isn't a wound closing up. That's the result. The image of healing is the state before the injury even happened.
What I mean is, no matter how badly you get hurt, healing magic doesn't just seal the wound. It rebuilds the tissue and returns it to the exact state it was in before taking damage.
I walked over to the plant by the window and plucked a leaf. I touched the cut stem with one finger and concentrated.
*(Perfect. Whole. Green and full of life. With its cellular structure intact, its tissues properly organized, and the continuous flow of sap from the stem all the way to the leaf...)*
Exactly the way it was before I plucked it. I held that image in my mind, perfecting every single detail while feeling the mana course through my body until it pooled in my hand.
*(Heal...)*
When I opened my eyes, I noticed the plant had grown its leaf back.
[Daiki, you did it! You pulled it off on your own!]
(Did I... do it right?)
I went back to my bed with the leaf I had plucked earlier.
*Protect, heal, fix.*
Those weren't just words anymore. They were skills I could start honing today.
Maybe, if I worked hard enough, if I used this understanding not just to be strong, but to actually help... I could become someone.
With that final thought, I dropped the leaf and went to sleep.
---
The next day, the tutor arrived.
"I'm Roxy. It's a pleasure to meet you."
When hiring a tutor, my parents had pictured someone older, with a lot of experience reflected in their appearance. However, she turned out to be a pretty young girl.
"S-s-so you're, um... the tutor, right...?"
"Um, y-you... you look pretty..."
Paul and Zenith didn't know how to approach her, so Rudeus decided to step up and say something.
"You're really small."
"You're hardly one to talk," she fired back without hesitation.
Did he hit a nerve?
Roxy let out a sigh. "Haa... so, who are the students I'm supposed to teach?"
"Ah, these ones right here," Zenith pointed out, introducing both of us.
Rudeus was in Paul's arms and I was standing there, holding my mother's hand. I leaned in a little to get a good look at her.
"Haa... you get this from time to time, you know?" Roxy commented. "These kinds of foolish parents who think their kids are prodigies just because they developed a little faster..."
"Is there a problem?" Zenith flashed a smile so fake it actually made Roxy nervous.
"No, though I honestly doubt kids this age can grasp magic theory..."
"Don't worry, our boys are incredibly smart!" Zenith declared.
Roxy sighed again.
"Haa... alright. I'll do what I can."
Paul chimed in.
"By the way, Roxy. Rudy will be your main student. Dai will be training swordplay with me in the mornings, so you'll only be able to teach him magic in the afternoons," Paul said, unable to hide his excitement and pride.
"One in the mornings and the other in the afternoons?" Roxy asked.
"Daiki is more into swords... but Zenith insisted he learn a bit of magic too. Don't worry, his lessons won't be as long as Rudeus's."
Roxy looked at Rudeus. The kid looked so thrilled he was practically bouncing. I, on the other hand, stood completely still, just watching her.
"I see... in that case, this will be... interesting. I guess."
It seemed she had reached the conclusion that arguing would be pointless.
---
I watched Rudeus's first magic lesson from the window.
Roxy demonstrated a water spell and ended up obliterating one of the trees in the garden. Rudeus also cast his own voiceless spell, though he seemed to be holding back. Even so, Roxy was blown away.
When my mother showed up and scolded Roxy, I went downstairs and explained that I was just observing her teaching method before my own lesson.
"Dai, sweetie, your turn is later, okay? For now, let your brother finish his lesson."
After lunch, I headed out to the garden.
Roxy was visibly shaken by the morning's incident. She was sitting on the ground right under the tree that had been snapped in two earlier, with a clear look of defeat on her face. She looked like she was about to start drawing spirals of despair in the dirt.
"Hello."
Roxy slowly looked up. She stared at me, didn't reply, and went back to drawing spirals in the ground.
"The lesson. It's my turn now," I insisted.
"Ah, you're right..." she said, getting to her feet. "Alright, then... I suppose we'll start just like I did with your brother. First, let me see if you can..."
"I can."
I pointed my hand at the sky and a ball of water shot out. This time I wasn't planning on making Mom mad.
"...Right, yeah, you can do it too... This is a..." she stammered, on the verge of a breakdown.
"Roxy?" I asked.
"Tell me, is that all you can do?" she asked, pulling herself together a little, though I could tell her composure wouldn't last much longer.
"Well, I can also use healing magic..."
"What?!" Roxy yelled.
I held out my hand.
"Yeah, I learned it... yesterday. It's still basic. Beginner tier, but it works."
"No, wait, wait, wait a minute..." Roxy waved her hands nervously. "You learned it yesterday, you say? Are you telling me you learned healing magic yesterday and you can already cast it voicelessly today?"
"Yeah, that's what I said."
Roxy opened her mouth to say something, but the words died in her throat. She raised a finger, let it drop weakly, and finally gave up, slumping back down onto the grass.
"I can't believe this... this is... what? Since... since when can you use voiceless magic? And I don't mean the healing kind."
"Months ago."
Roxy straightened her back without getting off the ground.
"Two brothers. Absolute prodigies. Both capable of voiceless magic. One of them pulling off voiceless healing magic after a single day... What kind of family is this...?"
"Sensei, are you alright? You look pale."
"Sensei? What does that word mean?"
I sighed. What an idiot. I'd accidentally used Japanese to address her.
"Uh... it's a word I made up with Rudeus. It means 'great teacher,' but it carries an even deeper level of respect. I felt you deserved it because, despite everything, you decided to stay. Right?"
I could see something strange in her eyes. A spark I hadn't seen before? I'm not sure, but her gaze felt different.
"In that case... you can keep using it. I like the sound of it." Roxy smiled for the first time.
"Understood, Sensei."
Roxy covered her face with both hands and took a few deep breaths to process everything. Then she lowered them and stared at me for a few seconds.
"Alright..." She stood up. "Alright. If both you and your brother can use voiceless magic at this level, then my job here is going to be completely different from what I anticipated. I'm not going to teach you the basics, since you've already mastered them. That would be an insult to your intelligence and a waste of valuable time. I am going to teach you advanced control."
"Understood. I appreciate the tailored approach."
"But first..." she added with professional seriousness. "I need to know one thing... Why do you want to learn magic if your father has already decided you'll be a swordsman?"
I thought about that question way more than I expected to.
Why do I want it...?
Right now, I didn't need it. I lived in a peaceful village, with "tame" monsters that my dad could easily beat.
"The sword..." I thought about it a bit more. "The sword has inherent limits. If the enemy is far away, I can't reach them unless I'm faster or more agile. Magic has its limits too. But if I combine them... they can cover each other's weaknesses and stop me from becoming just a stationary cannon or a spear that can't reach its target."
"I see," Roxy nodded. "Even though spears aren't used much anymore, I get your point. You are... very different from your brother. Rudy is enthusiastic and expressive. You are... how do I put it? Methodical. Thoughtful. Calm and pretty straightforward."
"My dad says I think too much. He might be right. I don't know how much I actually do it."
"No, not at all," Roxy shook her head. "For magic, you need to overthink. Theory requires deep reasoning, and in practice, you'll have to apply that exact same logic. Both areas require a lot of thought. I think you'll be an excellent student, Daiki."
"Thank you, Sensei."
"You're welcome."
Roxy adjusted her robe, her hat, and fiddled with her boots a bit, and then the lesson began.
---
Later that night, Rudeus and I stayed awake, talking about everything that happened during the day. I don't know why it left us both so pensive, but I found myself staring at my hand.
"So... how did it go with Roxy?" Rudeus asked.
"Well, let's just say I did what you did. I showed her my voiceless magic a bit too quickly. Roxy was shocked, just like she was with you, or maybe even more."
Rudeus sat up abruptly. "Wait... you showed her...?"
"Yeah, I got too carried away... It felt like a part of me took control for a second, so I just did it."
"I get it, bro. Something similar happened to me, though mine wasn't really on purpose..." Rudeus went back to bed and pulled the covers up.
"Rudeus, you need to be more careful."
"What are you talking about? You did the exact same thing."
"Be a little more discreet when you're observing things, got it?"
"Brother? What do you mean by that?"
"You were looking under Roxy's robe. I saw you, Rudeus."
Rudeus snapped his head toward me and blushed. Even in the dark, I could feel the heat radiating from his red cheeks, faintly lit by the only candle in the room.
"U-uh... that was... the wind. Yeah, the wind. I was in the perfect spot, and since my height is just right, it's just..."
"Look, Rudeus, just hide it a little better, alright? We're kids."
"Yeah... I'll try."
There was a moment so quiet you could only hear the crackling of the candle.
"Now that I think about it... we really established ourselves as prodigies today," Rudeus commented.
"Aren't we already?"
Rudeus stayed quiet for a few seconds, then sat up and looked at me.
"Or so I think." I looked at the candle. "It helps that we have memories from our past lives, but something tells me that can't be the only reason. No matter how much knowledge you have, it won't work for everything. I just don't buy that in centuries of civilization, nobody figured out you can increase your mana capacity by training from a young age... Or maybe I'm applying too much logic to a completely alien world. Maybe this world's rules are just looser than our old one, but the doubt is always there."
For some reason, I was rambling. I'd said way more than I meant to, mostly because this was a theory I'd been sitting on ever since I discovered you could increase your mana pool by training early.
The books claimed mana capacity is fixed at birth, which means once you grow up, it can't be expanded. It's an advantage only children have—a "developmental window," so to speak.
"Yeah, I guess so, bro. Still, voiceless magic is super rare. Not even Roxy knows how to do it, and our mana grew a ton."
"Well, in my case it's not growing anymore, or so I think. You surpassed my capacity, Rudeus. My water bullets are more precise, but yours are larger and more devastating, packing far more power and a level of creativity I just don't have."
Silence fell over the room.
I lay there, thinking about what that meant. Folding my hands behind my neck, I stared up at the ceiling, as if the wooden beams might offer an answer. Of course there wasn't one, but I couldn't stop thinking about it.
Suddenly, I heard Rudeus mumbling something unintelligible.
"Rudeus? Are you okay?"
"Ah, yeah... I was going to ask you something. If I've been a good brother, I mean... has being my brother made you feel alive? Is it worth it for you?"
"'Is it worth it?'" I overthought the question for a moment, shifted on my pillow, and stared back at the ceiling. "I couldn't tell you. But as for your first question... yeah, you make me feel more alive than before. I still don't fully understand it, but this drive to keep growing actually exists now. The urge to die... not so much anymore."
"Alright... I get it."
"Rudeus."
"What is it, bro?"
I threw a pillow at him with perfect aim.
"What was that for?!" he yelled.
"That's my answer to those kinds of questions when I feel cornered."
Rudeus looked at my pillow, then back at me, then at the pillow again, and chucked it back with all his might.
"You better go to sleep."
"I was just about to." I grabbed the pillow and set it up. "We have to get up early tomorrow. Swordplay and magic."
"That's right, well..." Rudeus blew out the candle with a gust of wind. "Good night, brother."
"Good night, Rudeus."
And we let sleep take us away.