After arriving in the city of Cyrus, Arthur reunites with his parents and discovers he now has a little sister named Ellie. Alice and Reynolds have been telling her stories about Arthur for years, so she’s thrilled to finally meet him. Once inside, Alice immediately asks if Arthur is feeling well. The last time they spoke, he mentioned being sick, so she wants to know if he recovered. Arthur reassures her that he’s fine and there’s no need to worry, although he has a lot to share. He recounts everything he experienced after being separated from them, except for his encounter with Sylvia and her beast will. Instead, he tells them about meeting Tessia and his time in the elf kingdom seeking a cure.
Alice presses again, concerned that if he were to relapse, they wouldn’t be able to help him here. Arthur assures her that won’t happen. Since he can’t reveal the truth about the beast will, he fabricates a story that his sickness was due to awakening too early, which caused his mana to become unstable. Though he feels bad lying to his parents, he believes it’s necessary until he becomes strong enough to handle future threats.
Just then, Reynolds notices Sylvie and asks where she came from. Arthur quickly claims he found her in a mana beast’s cave and decided to keep her as a pet. Ellie instantly takes a liking to her. Moving on, Reynolds becomes curious about Arthur’s mana core stage. When Alice scolds him for picking a fight so soon after Arthur’s return, Reynolds defends himself, saying he just wants to gauge his son’s strength. Arthur doesn’t mind and turns the conversation around, asking what kind of job allows Reynolds to live in such a nice house.
Reynolds explains that he’s a security instructor at the Xyrus Auction House and that his mana core is currently at the dark orange stage. Arthur is impressed, as reaching the orange core stage is quite difficult. Mana cores range from black to white, with lighter colors being stronger. As an augment, Reynolds clearly trains his body rigorously, but Arthur hadn’t expected that he also trained his mana core. Proud, Reynolds asks about Arthur’s stage. When Arthur replies that he’s at light red, Reynolds curses in surprise, forgetting Ellie is in the room — and now she won’t stop repeating the bad words.
Still shocked that Arthur is just one breakthrough away from surpassing him, Reynolds challenges him to a sparring match in the garden. Arthur agrees, but before they head out, the living room doors swing open and Vincent enters, asking if Reynolds‘s son is back. Reynolds introduces him as Vincent Helstea, his boss and the owner of the auction house. Vincent and his wife Tabitha are happy to meet Arthur, having heard so much about him. Arthur is respectful, and Vincent is surprised by his manners, joking that he couldn’t have learned them from Reynolds.
Then, Vincent and Tabitha introduce their daughter, Lilia. She is initially reserved, but immediately becomes affectionate when she sees Sylvie. With Arthur‘s permission, she starts cuddling her. Meanwhile, Reynolds mentions that since Vincent technically owns the house, they should probably ask his permission before causing any damage. Alarmed, Vincent asks what’s going on, and his fears are confirmed when he learns about the sparring match. As everyone heads outside to watch, Vincent still questions whether it’s really okay for someone as young as Arthur to fight Reynolds, but Alice assures him that Arthur has always been a fast learner.
Plus, it’s not like he has a reason to lie about it, so Tabitha tells Vincent to just sit down and enjoy the show. In reality, Arthur could have broken through to the orange stage years ago, but while training with his beast will, he wasn’t allowed to train his mana core. Still, he has other tricks he’s eager to show off. As the match begins, Arthur and Reynolds start trading blows, and Reynolds is impressed by how strong Arthur has become. However, he still overpowers Arthur in terms of raw strength.
Eventually, some distance forms between them, and Reynolds says he wants to kick things up a notch. He engulfs his hand in flames and tells Arthur he can back out if he wants. In this world, all mages have a type of elemental mana they’re most compatible with. While conjurers can easily manipulate elements, augmenters usually can’t—unless they reach a certain level. At that point, they can identify their compatible element and use it to enhance their attacks. Imbuing his body with fire magic makes Reynolds a much tougher opponent.
So, Arthur decides to go all out too and channels mana into his arms. They clash again, more evenly matched this time, though Arthur still gets blown back by Reynolds’ force. Thanks to all the knowledge from his past life, Arthur‘s training with Virion was extremely effective—so much so that he mastered fire magic early on. Virion even encouraged him to begin training to surpass regular fire magic, and this match shows the result.
Arthur gathers mana in his hands again, and this time, electricity crackles around him as he generates lightning. Reynolds is stunned—he can’t believe Arthur is really capable of using a higher form of fire magic. But Arthur isn’t done. While controlling lightning, he simultaneously manipulates water from the fountain to attack Reynolds from behind. Reynolds blocks the attack, completely shocked that Arthur can use both fire and water elements. He’s beyond proud of his son, hugs him, and asks where he learned all that—and if he has any more surprises.
Arthur explains that he only recently learned to use lightning magic and still struggles to control it, but he’s making progress. Ellie runs out onto the field to check on her father and brother. Meanwhile, Vincent and Tabitha stand in awe—no ordinary child should be capable of what they just saw.
Later that evening, everyone sits down for dinner, and Vincent can’t stop praising Arthur. Reynolds says he’s known Arthur was special ever since he awakened his mana at age three. That sounds impossible to Vincent, since even the geniuses of this world only awaken around age eight—though most of them don’t blow up their house in the process. Reynolds bursts out laughing at the memory but laughs so hard he falls out of his chair.
Just then, Vincent suggests that Arthur should enroll in Xyrus Academy. Reynolds had never considered it, since the academy is mainly for wealthy and influential mages. But Tabitha agrees with Vincent and even offers to sponsor Arthur’s tuition, believing someone so talented is destined for greatness. Alice hesitates to accept, knowing they’ve already received so much help—and Arthur is only eight, while the academy’s minimum age is ten. However, Vincent reveals that he personally knows the director of the academy thanks to his work, and he’s confident he can arrange an exception for Arthur.
However, before Vincent can say anything more, Arthur speaks up. He calmly but firmly points out that it would be nice if they asked for his opinion before making such a big decision about his future. After all, he just reunited with his family today, and the last thing he wants is to immediately talk about leaving again for school. With that, Arthur excuses himself from the dinner table and begins walking through the halls, still unfamiliar with the layout of the house.
Just then, Lilia calls out to him, warning that he’s heading toward the basement and might get lost. She offers to guide him instead, and since Arthur doesn’t have anything better to do, he agrees. She leads him to one of the break rooms where the house servants usually gather during their free time.
All the servants warmly welcome Lilia, who often visits them to relax when she has the chance. Even though Arthur just arrived today, they all already know who he is—after all, he burned up the garden earlier during his sparring match with Reynold. Arthur apologizes for the damage, but none of them seem upset. One of the servants even jokes about it.
Lilia asks Maria, the cook, if there’s still any leftover duck. There is, but Maria teases Lilia, warning her not to overeat because she’s been getting a bit chubby. The playful banter lightens the mood, but Arthur also picks up on something more serious. One of the maids quietly explains to him that Lilia often comes here when she’s feeling stressed. Her parents, eager for her to awaken as a mage, push her into constant lessons. Lilia does want to become a mage, but all the pressure clearly takes a toll, and this break room is her escape.
Later that night, Arthur is relaxing with his parents, who are still overjoyed to have their little boy back. He’s grown and changed on the outside, but to them, he’s still the same Arthur on the inside. With his talents, he’s destined for greatness—but even if he weren’t, they would still love him just the same.
They’d love to keep talking, but they know Arthur must be exhausted from the day. As they get up to leave and wish him good night, Reynold stays back for a moment. He wants to clarify something. He admits that Vincent might have seemed pushy, but everything he suggested came from a good place. Neither he nor Vincent expects Arthur to go to Xyrus Academy if he doesn’t want to. The choice is Arthur’s, and it always will be.
The next morning, Arthur wakes up to some surprise guests—members of the Twin Horns adventurer party, who heard he was back and came to visit. Arthur is happy to see them, and Angela is especially thrilled—she immediately pulls him into a big, heartfelt hug.
After Angela finally lets go, Arthur greets the rest of the group. Jasmine, without a word, starts gently checking his arms and torso. At first, it seems strange, but she’s just making sure he hasn’t suffered any lasting injuries. Once she’s satisfied he’s okay, she hugs him too and apologizes deeply. She still blames herself for not being able to protect him the day they got separated, and the relief of seeing him safe overwhelms her.
A little later, everyone settles down to catch up. Arthur is surprised to learn that the Twin Horns recently took a job in the remote city of Estatine, which was lucrative enough to keep them busy for a while. They only returned to the capital because of a new commission.
Hearing about their travels makes Arthur realize how little he actually knows about the kingdom of Sapin, let alone the continent of Dicathen. Becoming an adventurer could be a great way to learn more about the world. But at the same time, that would mean leaving his family again… and he’s not sure if he’s ready for that.
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