Chapter 5

A Starry Night

There was a man named Zik von Goethe.
He suffered from a condition known as .
His mana circulated at an abnormally fast rate, and even when his vessel broke, it would recover almost instantly.

Despite this, some authorities claimed that Zik von Goethe had reached the 10th Class—
a realm no human had ever attained, a state beyond the boundary of the other shore.

Due to certain conflicts with the royal family, he flew into a rage and reduced the royal palace to ruins.
He burned the capital.
No one could stop him.

The king bowed his head to the emperor.
After weighing gains and losses, the Empire dispatched its elite knights to the kingdom.
Hundreds of elite knights, along with two Imperial Swordmasters, were killed.

Zik von Goethe was executed on the spot.

The kingdom survived, but from that day forward, it became a vassal of the Empire.
By the king’s mercy, the Goethe family barely avoided extermination.
Instead, they were demoted from a ducal house to a count’s house.
They were also forced to relinquish their vast and fertile lands—second only to the royal domain.
They were exiled to the barren northern frontier.

This was what Isaac had learned from the records of his predecessors.
Zik von Goethe was Isaac’s great-great-grandfather.

The condition was identical to Isaac’s own abnormal constitution.
The reason Isaac had been able to create rune stones was because he had carefully studied Zik’s records.

Before his death,
unlike Zik—who had reached the 10th Class—
Isaac had been content with merely igniting a single flame.

Because of that, he had never realized
how his internal mana circuits were changing.

But now—

Isaac clearly sensed that something was different.

Whoosh—

A basic fire spell—
one that anyone with even the slightest talent could use,
as long as they had mana sensitivity, even without forming a core near the heart.

It was a fundamental spell that even mercenaries paid large sums to learn for convenience.

Tap.
Crackle.

But the flames Isaac created were different.

As if something were bursting—
sparks scattered as the fire flared violently,
revealing that Isaac’s mana circuits were anything but normal.

The output isn’t stable. And this sensation…

Like a tree splitting and branching outward,
Isaac’s mana circuit was expanding—
one pathway dividing into two, then three.

At the same time as a ticklish sensation near his heart,
it brought a strange exhilaration.

Fwoosh.

Another flame ignited in Isaac’s hand.

Whoosh.

And then another.

Three flames of different sizes hovered above his hand, each maintaining its own form.

This was not multi-casting.
Multi-casting meant forming multiple spells simultaneously—
something impossible for 90% of mages,
and even for the remaining 10%, it required immense mental strength.

But the three flames Isaac had produced—
they were something entirely different.

“Calling this multi-circulation would be more accurate.”

To prevent a mana explosion, the vessel must not break.
To keep it from breaking, one must either slow the violently fast flow of mana or disperse its impact.

Rune stones served to guide this process.
They intentionally damaged the single circular mana pathway.

For ordinary mages, that alone wouldn’t create a new flow.

But for Isaac—whose mana surged with immense force—
it was different.

Constant pressure was applied to the damaged pathway,
eventually carving out new routes for the mana to flow.

When these branching streams rejoined the original pathway,
a new mana cycle was born.

It was something that could only occur through pure chance and coincidence,
and each newly formed circuit varied in size and strength.

That was why the flames differed in size and nature.

At present, Isaac possessed three circuits.
As long as his mana allowed it,
he could manifest three spells almost simultaneously.

“…It actually works.”

Isaac felt his heart pounding.

It had only been a hypothesis.
Since mana circuits had no physical form, there was no direct way to expand them—
this had been a secondary approach.

Multi-circulation had been nothing more than a possibility.

And yet—it had become reality.

But it’s still not enough.

Isaac’s goal wasn’t multi-circulation.

It was to prevent explosions.
To ensure that no one would ever be harmed because of him again.

For that, there were still risks.

To permanently prevent the vessel from breaking,
more pathways had to be created.
More fine circuits had to spread throughout the vessel to disperse the impact.

The more spells he used,
the more frequently he used them—
and the greater the mana consumption—

the more his mana circuits would expand.

If luck was on his side,
even more pathways would form.

It wouldn’t be easy.
The more the circuits branched out, the further they strayed from the original flow.

There would be limits to multi-circulation.

But if he could reach that limit—
at the very least,
he would never have to fear an explosion again.

And until then,
he could not allow anyone to stay close to him.

—I should have been colder.
—I should have cut off my attachments.
—I should have kept my distance.

Isaac never wanted to mutter those words again.
Never again did he want to feel that same sense of loss.

He spent another half day creating one more rune stone—
just in case.

By the time he finished, the sun had already set.

“Where have you been?”

When Isaac returned to his chamber, Hans was tending the fireplace to keep it from going out.

“Didn’t I tell you to leave?”

“Please don’t be so angry. I just came to add more firewood. It’s unusually cold today.”

“I can do that myself.”

“Oh dear. If you catch a cold, I’ll be the one held responsible.”

Hans spoke playfully, his gaze filled with affection as he looked at Isaac.

Isaac deliberately avoided that gaze.

“Hans, how old am I?”

“Hmm? You turned twelve this year.”

Hans answered with a puzzled expression.

“Twelve… is it.”

Isaac searched his memories.

What had happened when he was twelve?

It was a time when he still acted spoiled.
He caused explosions and injured those around him—
yet believed he was the only one suffering.

A foolish, immature time.

“I’ve placed your meal on the table. It’s gotten cold—shall I warm it up again?”

“No, it’s fine. Leave.”

“I’ll stay until you eat. You haven’t been eating properly lately.”

“Don’t make me repeat myself.”

Isaac replied coldly.

“The nursemaid is worried. If eating in front of me makes you uncomfortable, at least show me you’ll eat a piece of bread. Then I’ll leave.”

But Hans didn’t budge.

“So you’re ignoring me now? Are you disrespecting me?”

“I’m worried about you.”

Isaac tried to get angry, but it was no use.
He wasn’t the kind of person who could deceive his own emotions.

“Just one piece.”

At Hans’s persistence, Isaac reluctantly picked up a piece of bread from the table.

Soft wheat bread, neatly sliced for easy eating.
It was likely the nursemaid’s consideration.

Something welled up inside Isaac’s chest.

Wheat couldn’t grow in the North.
It was too cold.

Only rye grew there.
But rye bread was hard.

Whenever rye bread was served, Isaac would complain to the nursemaid.
So once a week, she would take a carriage to a distant city, buy fine wheat, and bake bread herself.

In the entire estate, Isaac was the only one who ate wheat bread.

“…I don’t see the nursemaid today.”

Isaac spoke as if uninterested.

To him, she was like another mother.
Lady Goethe gave him boundless love, but it was the nursemaid who truly cared for him day by day.

“As you know… Hinder has pneumonia. The physician sent by His Excellency said he might not make it through today. So…”

“So she went back home?”

“…Yes.”

In any other noble household, such a thing would be unthinkable—
a nursemaid leaving her post to care for her own child.

“…Things are really running smoothly, aren’t they.”

“……”

Isaac spoke coldly as he chewed the bread.
His tone and expression were deliberate.

These were people who had died because of him.
Even if he failed to be completely harsh,
he couldn’t keep them close precisely because he cared.

“What was the name of the village where the nursemaid lives?”

“…Black Goose.”

Hans answered cautiously.

“Is Hinder the only one with pneumonia?”

“No. All the children in Black Goose have it.”

“I see.”

Isaac nodded.

At this time, knowledge about mana poisoning was still lacking.
After conflicts between the kingdom and the empire intensified, deaths from mana poisoning became frequent.
Only then did doctors, priests, and scholars begin studying it in earnest.

The deaths of the children in Black Goose were later confirmed—after investigation—to be a case of mana poisoning.

Creatures with low resistance, exposed to dense mana,
would slowly suffocate as if poisoned.

“When did Father subjugate monsters in that area?”

“It’s been about one or two months.”

“Did you hear what kind of creature it was?”

“I saw it when the Magic Tower bought the corpse for research. It looked like a giant spider.”

“Did it have white fur?”

“Pardon? Ah—yes. It was covered in slightly silver-tinted white fur.”

“I see.”

Isaac realized the monster his father had slain was a Winter Spider.
Creatures that had migrated south from the White Snake Mountains and settled in the forests nearby.
They had tremendous reproductive ability.

They weren’t particularly powerful monsters,
but for children with weak resistance,
even their presence nearby could have a serious impact.

“…A few years later, Winter Spiders swarmed around Black Goose.”

At this time, the spiders hadn’t been completely eradicated.
They must have reproduced somewhere.

They would grow by feeding on nearby animals,
and when food became scarce, they would attack human settlements.

Isaac swallowed the bread and organized his thoughts.

“Alright, you saw me eat. Now leave.”

“Ah, yes. Have a good night, young master.”

Hans tilted his head slightly at Isaac’s unusual behavior before leaving.

After sending him away,
Isaac tested several spells.

A fireball spell worked by igniting flames, condensing them,
then using phase transformation to move the fire to a designated location.

It normally required reaching the 2nd Class,
but with multi-circulation, Isaac could replicate it by casting three spells in sequence.

Whoosh—
Crackle—
Fwoosh—

The flames gathered at a single point, growing brighter.
The blazing fire condensed into a single glowing sphere.

Isaac flicked his finger.

The fireball moved toward its target.

“Huff… huff… huff…”

After dispersing the spell, Isaac gasped for breath.
Cold sweat covered his face.

The wall was slightly scorched, but nothing had caught fire.

“Again.”

There were so many things he wanted to do.

He wanted to see his father and mother.
He wanted to play piano duets with Jonas.
He wanted to spend a carefree day joking around with Hans.

But right now, his priority was clear—

to save Hinder, the nursemaid’s son.

He could ask his father for help,
but his father spent most of his time at the frontier fortress.
Sending a messenger and persuading him would take time.

His mother, though a great warrior, was traveling the continent to find a cure for Isaac.

Meanwhile, precious time would slip away.

With each passing day,
Hinder’s chances of survival would drop exponentially.

Monsters harmed weaker beings simply by existing.

—“I’m glad, young master… this time, I get to go first.”

In the past,
shrapnel from an explosion had pierced the nursemaid’s abdomen.

As she bled out, she said those words.

—“By now… my child would’ve been about your age. When he died first… my heart was torn apart. This time… I get to go first. I’m glad.”

Looking at her fading, tear-filled eyes,
Isaac understood how much loss she had endured.

He didn’t want her to experience that again.

A few days after realizing he had returned to the past,
Isaac trained relentlessly.

The unfamiliar sensation gradually became natural.
His control improved.

Though the number of circuits hadn’t increased,
the flow through the three existing circuits became far smoother.

Huuum.

Once he felt he could control the fireball to some degree,
Isaac took a fur cloak from storage and put it on.

He packed food and materials for a short journey.

There would likely be a curfew,
but this was no time to worry about that.

The night air was cold and biting.
The sky was clear, and beyond the estate, the road was shrouded in darkness.

Still, the moonlight was bright enough to see.

Isaac walked toward the village of Black Goose.

Though it was night,
memories surfaced of walking this path hand in hand with the nursemaid.

Just wait a little longer…

He didn’t know if he could defeat the Winter Spiders yet.
But he had knowledge of how to deal with them.

He had simulated countless battles in his mind while training.

Whether it would work in reality was uncertain.

Even so—
he had to try.

—“I’ll go ahead and wait for you. When you come to me… leave all your regrets behind.”

On a starry night,
Isaac recalled his father’s heavy voice before their final farewell.