Sometimes I include subtitles and sometimes I don't. Please bear with me.
Three years had passed since Tenma was picked up. The man who had brought Tenma here was named Ricardo. He worked as a hunter. His wife was called Celia. The two of them were former adventurers and had apparently been quite capable. Beyond them, the village was home to many other former adventurers as well.
The village had a population of roughly two hundred people. Of those, over one hundred and fifty were former adventurers. It was a small village, but in addition to farming, there was a large forest nearby where high-quality medicinal herbs could be gathered. The villagers, who knew the terrain well and were former adventurers themselves, earned income by harvesting herbs and guiding herb-seekers through the area. As a result, while they couldn't be called wealthy, they never struggled to get by.
Recently, Tenma had been allowed to walk around the village by himself. Until now, no matter where he went, his mother (Celia) had followed him and refused to let go of his hand. He still wasn't permitted to go into the forest alone, but even so, he felt happy about being able to walk freely on his own.
"Hey, Tenma! Come over here!"
A villager who had noticed Tenma called out to him. The man appeared to be returning from a hunt, with several mountain birds slung over his shoulder.
"Hello, Uncle Mark!"
"Oh, hello there! Look at this, Tenma — a huge haul! I bagged five Maru birds!"
Maru birds were clumsy fliers but fast runners, and at one to two kilograms each, they made for a delicious meal.
"Well, Ricardo had three Maru birds and a boar to his name, but he should be back any minute. Let's get the butchering supplies ready and wait for him."
This Uncle Mark was also a former adventurer and had apparently known Father (Ricardo) since back in those days. While they waited, Mark taught Tenma how to handle a bow. Of course, Tenma couldn't draw a full-sized adult bow, but he felt the experience was building up. While he was practicing, Father arrived.
"Dad, welcome home! Looks like a big haul!"
"Tenma, I'm home! Let's have Mom cook up a feast today!"
Father was in high spirits, grinning as he pulled a boar out of the bag slung over his shoulder. It still felt surreal seeing a boar weighing close to two hundred kilograms emerge from that bag.
"As always, that
Magic Bag
of yours sure is convenient. I'm jealous."
Father beamed at Uncle Mark's words. This was a treasure he had earned through hardship during his days as an adventurer — an item that was difficult to craft even for first-rate mages. In terms of its function, it could store anything up to five hundred kilograms, as long as it wasn't a living creature (parasitic insects or microbes on corpses, or things with negligible life activity like eggs, were not counted).
"A useful tool indeed — but the fact that this is considered only a mid-level bag is what really blows me away."
As Father himself has told me, this world has rank classifications starting from the bottom: "Lower," "Intermediate," "Upper," "Special," "Super," "Legendary," and "God-tier" — and these classifications also apply to magic.
"Oh, that reminds me — did you hear, Ricardo? Apparently Merlin's grandfather is coming back soon."
"The Sage's grandfather? First I've heard of it. He left here about ten years ago, didn't he?"
"Who's the Sage's grandfather?"
When Tenma asked, Ricardo and Mark answered in perfect unison.
"A weirdo."
Unsatisfied with that unhelpful answer, Mark continued:
"He's the strongest mage in history — or at least he'll be remembered as such — but he's just as famous for being an oddball. He used to live in this village a long time ago."
"There are stories about him — like the time Monsters poured out of a dungeon and he charged in alone, completely naked, and defeated them all. Or when he went to meet the King and had absolutely nothing on under his robe. Or how he used to stroll around town in nothing but his underwear."
Hearing Ricardo's stories, Tenma—
(He's not just a weirdo. He's a full-blown exhibitionist pervert.)
—thought to himself.
"Oh, and apparently — which is rare for a mage — he had the God of War's Blessing."
At Mark's words, Tenma found himself somewhat understanding.
"But enough about that — let's butcher the boar, grill half of it, and eat together. Mark, get the fire going. Tenma, go invite the neighbors."
"I'm happy to, but I didn't bring my fire striker today."
"Well, that's no good then. Mark, you butcher the boar instead. I'll start the fire with magic."
Hearing this, Tenma thought it was a perfect opportunity.
"Dad, I want to try starting the fire — can you teach me the spell?"
So he asked, and after a moment's thought, Ricardo agreed to teach him, since it was about the most elementary magic there was.
"All right, but there are many people who can't use magic, so don't worry if you can't do it. Even if you succeed, never cast it on your own when there's no adult around. If you can follow those rules, I'll teach you."
"I got it! I promise!"
At those words, Ricardo nodded and had Mark go call the neighbors over.
"Listen, first calm your mind and bring your finger close to where you want to start the fire. Next, visualize fire and put it into words — 'Ignis.'"
The moment Ricardo spoke the incantation, the pile of fallen leaves he'd gathered caught fire.
"That's all there is to it. It's simple magic, after all. The key is to clearly visualize fire. Give it a try."
Thinking that the process seemed pretty straightforward, Tenma followed Ricardo's instructions and brought his finger close to the leaves.
"Ignis."
The instant he spoke the word, the leaves erupted in flames all at once, and a small explosion went off. Caught completely off guard, Tenma tumbled backward, rolling across the ground. Ricardo was frozen in shock too, but he quickly checked the surroundings and scooped Tenma up in his arms.
"Tenma! Are you all right?!"
Ricardo checked on him in a panic, but thankfully Tenma had no injuries, so he let out a sigh of relief. Just then, Celia, who had been summoned by Mark, came rushing over.
"Tenma! What happened?! Are you hurt?!"
Ricardo tried to explain the situation to the panicked Celia, but she misunderstood and thought he'd been teaching Tenma an attack spell, and he got an earful for it.
After Ricardo's frantic explanation — supplemented by Tenma's own account — Celia finally grasped what had actually happened, though she accepted it with a distinctly reluctant look on her face.
"Anyway, let's put this aside for now and talk about it tonight. For now, let's roast the boar and have dinner."
"Fine."
They decided to table the matter of Tenma's magic for the time being, and instead shared dinner with the gathered neighbors.
That night, once they confirmed that Tenma had fallen asleep, Ricardo and Celia sat down to talk.
"I think it's still too early to teach Tenma magic."
Celia argued that they shouldn't teach him magic until he was a little older.
Ricardo, on the other hand,
"I actually think it would be better to proactively teach him magic."
He voiced the opposing opinion.
"I believe Tenma has considerable magical talent sleeping within him. Moreover, magic that would normally only cause minor burns could have power on par with offensive spells."
"That's exactly why I think it's dangerous if we don't wait until he's older."
"Celia, I understand perfectly well that your Magic Power is incomparably higher than mine. However, even at this point, Tenma likely already surpasses me by a wide margin. And I believe that in just a few more years, Tenma will surpass even your Magic Power. That's the level of talent I think he has."
"What makes you think that?"
"My instinct as a former adventurer."
"Your instinct... huh."
"You don't believe me?"
"No, I do believe you. Your instincts have saved us many times in the past. But..."
"Celia, as much as I hate to say it, Tenma isn't our real child. His true parents could show up any day now. If they're good people, that's fine — but they could be bad people. And when that happens, they might take notice of Tenma's talent and try to exploit it. If that's the case, we should teach Tenma how to protect himself. If he already has a sharp knife in his hand, it's better for both his sake and ours to teach him the fundamentals properly under our watch rather than let him figure out how to use it on his own somewhere beyond our sight."
"...I understand."
"Let's talk to Tenma about it tomorrow morning."
"Yes. But for the time being, I intend to drill him thoroughly on book learning."
"Right. I plan to gradually start by teaching him how to move his body. Whether it's magic or hand-to-hand combat, it's best to at least know how to properly use your own body."
And so, Ricardo and Celia went on to decide on their education policy for Tenma.
Tenma had shown a glimpse of his talent. It seemed this led them to hastily establish an education plan.
The Sage's grandfather is scheduled to appear next time. Many of the perverted episodes are exaggerated and do not reflect the truth.