"El...?"
"Yes? I'm El. Ermes. You were calling for me just now, weren't you?"
She looked as though she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
Katia stared at him with that expression, and Ermes replied with a blank look.
That said, he genuinely had no idea what was going on, just as he'd said.
The moment he'd arrived in the Royal Capital, though, he'd sensed a familiar magic power clashing spectacularly in the distance.
When he rushed over, he witnessed exactly what his senses had told him — for some reason, his childhood friend Katia and her brother Chris were fighting.
He froze in confusion for an instant, but right after that, Chris's Bloodline Magic Magic Bullet Archer was fired toward Katia.
He thought "this is bad," and since Katia had noticed him and was asking for help, he stepped in to lend a hand.
Incidentally, the difference in his manner of speech was simply because he was now keenly aware of his status as a commoner.
After verifying once more that the person before her was truly Ermes, Katia—
"——!"
"!?"
Her cheeks flushed deep red. She ducked her head, trying to suppress some emotion.
Even Ermes was taken aback by that. For a reunion after five years, wasn't this a bit much? he thought, and was about to say something when—
"...Hey. I don't want to believe it, but... is that really you, Ermes?"
An impertinent voice cut in between the two.
When he looked over, Chris's face stared back — thoroughly disagreeable, a far cry from before.
"Yes, it's Ermes. ...Shall I call you 'brother,' just for form's sake?"
"I'll pass. You're no longer part of the Frenbreed family. ...So you were alive. How irritating."
Chris glared at him with undisguised hostility, then snorted as if he couldn't be bothered.
"Well, it's got nothing to do with me anymore. ...Hey, you over there. Hand over the young lady beside you."
"And may I ask why?"
"Don't be ridiculous! It's got nothing to do with a commoner who doesn't even have Bloodline Magic. Drop the hero act and hand over that criminal quietly!"
"...Criminal?"
Ermes took his eyes off the shouting Chris and turned to the girl beside him.
"My lady Katia. My broth— my former brother says otherwise."
"It's a misunderstanding. A baseless accusation. I swear upon the pride of the Duke House that I have never done anything to betray the law."
Katia answered with unwavering eyes.
After that, her gaze wandered as though she were struggling with something.
"...But Chris has a point, too. You're no longer a noble. This has nothing to do with you. There's no need for you to get dragged into an ugly, hopeless quarrel like this..."
The same words as Chris, yet wrapped in a kindness that was the exact opposite — an attempt to push him away.
And so, Ermes said:
"My lady Katia. I owe you an enormous debt of gratitude."
"...Huh?"
He told her one of the reasons he had come to the Royal Capital.
"When I was declared incompatible and locked away in the underground dungeon... if you hadn't encouraged me, my spirit would have broken. I wouldn't even be standing here."
"Ah—"
"Back then — when you were still a noble — I'd like to repay that kindness. You're in trouble, aren't you?"
Katia's account and Chris's account contradicted each other. The current Ermes had no way to determine who was right.
If that was the case, then he would act according to his own will.
Between Chris, who had treated him cruelly — excessively so, even accounting for his own complexes — after his incompatibility was discovered, and Katia, who had believed in him even after the discovery, there was no need to hesitate about whose side to take.
With that, he spread his arms wide with a smile.
"Luckily, I met a wonderful master after that. I've gotten quite strong, you know? I think I can handle myself to some degree. For instance—"
His smile shifted to a fearless one — learned from his master — and he turned his gaze back to Chris.
"— how about I defeat that young noble over there?"
"!!"
Taking that provocation head-on, Chris glared at Ermes as though he could kill him with his eyes alone.
Katia, for her part, watched his reaction with a mix of surprise, and eventually—
"...You're terrible, you know that?"
She smiled with a touch of bittersweetness, tinged with a different kind of resignation than before — and an irrepressible hope.
"To show up at a time like this, looking like this, saying words like that... you make me want to cling to you."
And then—
"...Help me, El."
She said it anew, directly to Ermes.
"Defeating him is probably a bad idea. ...So please — I want you to get me out of here safely."
"Nothing could be easier. ...Yes, at your service."
Chris finally exploded.
"I've been listening patiently this whole time, but — aren't you getting a little too full of yourself?!!"
His eyes bulged with fury as he released his magic power.
"I don't know what you did, but don't let it go to your head just because you blocked that one attack! My real power is nothing like that!"
Responding to his magic, three, four orbs of light equal in size to the first materialized one after another.
Just as he'd said, the previous magic bullets had been nowhere near his full strength.
Whether he fled or did anything else, he first had to cut through this spell. Nothing else would matter until he did.
(...Now then.)
Ermes exhaled lightly.
...In truth, he didn't have nearly as much confidence as his bravado suggested.
Right now, at full power, he was facing a user of a duke-class Bloodline Magic. He still couldn't convince himself with certainty that he could reliably surpass that level.
But his master Rose had told him: "When you have the least confidence, that's when you should talk the biggest game."
Taking out insurance and preparing excuses for when you lose is a foolish thing to do. Put on a brave front, cut off your own escape route, and challenge your goal with everything you have. Only those who accomplish that reap the reward known as vast experience and undeniable growth.
If that was the case, then let him take on the challenge. Right here, right now—
"I'll expand my arsenal of magic by one more."
And he was glad of it.
One of his goals was to witness as many Bloodline Magics as possible in the Royal Capital.
In that sense, this situation was ideal. A powerful Bloodline Magic was right in front of him, and moreover, it was none other than Magic Bullet Archer — a spell deeply entwined with his own past.
What luck. An auspicious start. You couldn't ask for better conditions for a fight.
In fact, he'd been thinking it for a long time. — If he were going to see one first, this was the one he wanted.
After all.
His magic was perfectly suited to this kind of situation.
With that awareness, after taking his oath, he drew in a light breath—
"Thus was the world created; the infallible truth is recorded here; throughout all heaven and earth without distinction, it is for the sake of the sole miracle."
Everyone present besides Ermes held their breath.
Because that was unmistakably a chant — the incantation needed to activate a spell within oneself.
It was something that Ermes, who possessed no Bloodline Magic, should never have been able to sing. Yet he had just spoken those words.
Their understanding was correct. Ermes did not carry Bloodline Magic within him, nor would it ever manifest.
Therefore, what he was about to show them was not Bloodline Magic.
It was not a Heavenly Gift bestowed by the gods — but the crystallization of his own effort , learned from his master and forged by himself.
Coincidentally bearing the same color as his eyes, this magic would come to define him. Its name was—
"Creation Magic — 'Primal Inscription'!"
Upon his return to the Royal Capital, his legend had begun.
This was the moment his magic — the one that would set it all in motion — first saw the light of day.
Next time, Ermes's Time to Shine.