Ludger stared at Carlo, who was shooting him a look full of grievance.
Carlo did not avert his gaze either, and he could not afford to.
Why was it that he himself had been dragged off to a real combat scenario where he was beaten senseless in real time by an enormous, intimidating beastkin, and yet Robert was being treated differently?
If anything, shouldn’t someone like Robert be the one forced to accumulate even more concrete real combat experience so he could actually use magic?
Carlo could not understand it at all.
“Carlo. I won’t say anything about you observing the lesson, but I will not tolerate interference. I’ll let this pass as a warning—just this once.”
With just a few words, Ludger forcibly suppressed Carlo’s dissatisfaction, then turned his gaze to Robert.
Robert looked visibly tense at Carlo’s appearance.
He was not particularly close to Carlo, but even so, he had noticed that Carlo had changed in a strange way recently.
How should he put it?
Before, Carlo had always seemed full of resentment toward the world, giving off an air like he was just waiting for someone—anyone—to cross him.
Now, that violence and anger had settled down considerably.
His eyes looked more ferocious, but he did not really express it outwardly.
The turning point of that change was clearly after he had taken Ludger Cherish’s private lessons.
“Robert Hirston.”
“Y-Yes!”
“You only need to answer once. And there’s no need to be that nervous. The lesson I’ll be teaching you today isn’t something you dislike that much.”
“Uh... what are you going to teach me?”
Robert asked in a thoroughly cowed voice.
Ludger had told him to relax, but the last time Robert had seen Ludger was during a magical sparring match.
The dazzling spectacle of countless spells that Ludger had unleashed back then had firmly engraved just how incredible a mage he was—and how terrifying an existence he could be.
Robert had been born and raised in a mage family, yet he was still afraid of mages.
“What I’m teaching you isn’t simple magic. Because you already have complete theoretical mastery over the magic you’re supposed to use.”
Robert was a coward, but that did not mean he was completely ignorant of magic.
In the first place, there was a reason he belonged to the Special Class.
Robert had been born with overwhelming talent for magic.
However, while other students were born with innate senses or peculiar powers, Robert was a little different.
His understanding of magic, his analytical ability, and his capacity to systematize it were exceptional.
The moment he saw a spell formula or equation, its principles and inner workings were instantly understood by his brain.
In the end, magic was fundamentally a technique executed on the basis of clear understanding.
Just as someone who knows proper posture, footwork, and breathing runs better than someone who just charges forward blindly.
“Th-That’s true, but......”
Robert spoke in a crawling voice.
This was where his problem lay.
Robert had been born into a mage family—one with a military background that had produced War Mages.
He was the fourth child and the youngest.
And at the same time, he was the only male of the Hirston family.
‘Quite an interesting situation.’
Ludger already knew Robert’s family background, so he understood why the boy had turned out the way he had.
Robert had three older sisters, all with a significant age gap.
All of them had inherited the family’s traditions and were outstanding War Mages or soldiers, and naturally, their personalities were rough and rigid.
‘A youngest son born into such a family. On top of that, his understanding of magic and his talent ranked among the very best in history—no, not just “among,” but an unquestionable number one.’
For the family, it was enough to make their eyes turn red.
If this child grew up properly, it was obvious that he could elevate the family’s name to an even greater height.
And so, the Hirston family poured immense zeal and effort into Robert’s early education.
‘The problem was that their method was the soldiers’ trademark Spartan approach.’
Instead of coaxing him gently and teaching him kindly, they barked at him and trained him harshly.
Robert’s sisters took turns putting him through what they called “education,” and young Robert was forced to learn magic in that environment.
The problem was that his innate disposition was completely incompatible with being a soldier.
Robert was quiet, easygoing, and fond of peace.
As a result, his sisters’ teaching methods only produced the opposite effect.
‘From the backlash of being taught too harshly, Robert developed trauma. And because of that, he became unable to properly realize magic in real combat.’
For his sisters and parents, who had wanted to raise him into an outstanding War Mage, it was like a bolt from the blue.
It was also the moment they realized that the educational policy they had believed to be correct was wrong.
‘They may share the same blood and family, but people’s personalities are inevitably different. And they pushed him without taking that into account.’
Of course, Robert must have tried desperately to live up to their expectations.
But in the end, he could not endure it, and he must have asked for help because it was too painful.
But his family did not listen.
You’re weak, that’s why.
Overcome it with grit.
Soldiers don’t cry.
They dismissed his pleas like that and instead drove him even harder.
In the end, Robert could not endure it and broke.
Even so, his talent was so exceptional that he still made it into the Special Class, which made Ludger feel deeply regretful for him.
If he had grown up in a normal educational environment from childhood, he would not have been broken to this extent.
Perhaps he might have achieved even greater magical accomplishments than he had now.
But that was a meaningless assumption.
There was nothing more foolish than constructing hypotheses about things that never happened.
What Ludger had to do was give his best to the Robert of the present.
“Don’t worry too much. I have no intention of teaching you about real combat or anything like that.”
“Th-That’s really true?”
“Yes. Robert, look at this.”
As he spoke, Ludger caused a geometrically structured mass of mana to appear before him.
Covered in complex and ornate patterns, it was one of the frameworks that formed a spell.
“Ah.”
Robert stared at it blankly.
Like someone having their soul stolen away, a fleeting sense of sweetness filled his eyes.
“Do you know what this is?”
“It’s a spell I’ve never seen before. But...... I think I know what it is.”
Robert murmured as if bewitched.
“The surrounding space is distorted, and mana is accelerating enormously through the gaps. And it even redirects external force back outward.”
“Well observed. Then how about this?”
Ludger manifested another framework.
Robert pressed his lips tightly together and stared straight through the framework with both eyes.
“It disperses and gathers, feels free, yet there’s a certain pattern. Like the flapping of a butterfly’s wings. This is... almost like a dream.......”
“Sharp.”
Ludger erased the frameworks he had created and spoke to Robert.
“Robert Hirston. You possess remarkable talent. Exceptional judgment—the ability to analyze unfamiliar magic in an instant.”
“Th-That’s not really true.”
“There’s no need to be shy. You may even take pride in it. Talent like yours is something even active magic researchers cannot possess.”
Perhaps he was not used to such praise.
Robert’s face reddened, and he smiled awkwardly.
No matter what he did in his family, all he ever heard was scolding—telling him to do things properly.
His sisters only pressed him harder, saying that instead of theory, a War Mage’s destiny was to run on their own two legs and hone sharper, more lethal magic.
Robert hated that with all his heart.
“Robert. Your talent is not that of a mere War Mage. It is far greater than that.”
“R-Really?”
At the words that he did not need to become a War Mage, Robert’s expression brightened.
From his parents to the rest of his family, everyone had forced him to become a War Mage, but Robert knew well that he was not suited to being a combat mage like that.
Yet he could not bring himself to openly say that he hated it.
He knew that their harsh treatment of him was born from their expectations.
Betraying those expectations outright was more terrifying than anything else in the world.
Perhaps realizing that himself, Robert’s expression darkened once more.
“B-But I.......”
“Robert. Focus on what you can do, and what you want to do. Right now, you are not a member of the Hirston family—you are a Seorn student named Robert.”
“B-But still.......”
His hesitation might have seemed frustrating, but Ludger quietly listened to Robert’s words.
“I can’t betray my family’s expectations.”
“Right. A teacher you’ve only seen a few times can’t deny and overturn the life you’ve lived with just a few words. I don’t intend to force that either. So how about this?”
“I-Is there a way?”
“You like theory and have an aptitude for it, but your family wants you to become a mage who excels in combat as well. So I will help you satisfy both.”
At the mention of combat, Robert’s pupils trembled violently.
“I-I want that too, but...... it doesn’t come easily to me.”
Robert had tried many times to overcome this trauma.
But whenever he tried to use magic while facing an opponent, his breath would catch, his head would turn white.
The image of his sisters using magic on him under the name of “training” overlapped in his mind, plunging him into a panic in an instant.
It was not something that could be overcome by willpower alone.
“Robert. Is it when you face an enemy directly and cast magic that you feel fear?”
After a brief hesitation, Robert nodded.
Facing someone, exchanging gazes, and preparing magic—every step of that process returned to him as immense pressure.
“Then can you use magic on something like that tree over there?”
“I-I can manage that much.”
“Then what about animals?”
Robert shook his head.
Even using magic against animals was difficult for him.
“Hm. So you harbor a kind of aversion to any act of injuring others.”
In other words, the act of inflicting harm itself—and actions that reminded him of it—were impossible for him.
“I-I tried to work on it somehow, but it just didn’t go as easily as I wanted.”
“Of course. Trauma built up from an incorrect method since childhood is not something that can be easily overcome.”
Robert’s family might have intended an extreme prescription to fix him, but that had only backfired.
Ludger felt that a different approach was necessary.
“There is a way.”
“R-Really?!”
“Yes. There is magic that can be ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) used in real combat to a minimal degree without triggering your trauma.”
“Wh-What is it?”
“However, to master this method, it will demand considerable effort from you. Talent alone may not be enough.”
Despite the warning, Robert did not retreat.
“I-It doesn’t matter what it is. If I can fix this constitution of mine. If I can earn my family’s recognition. I can endure anything.”
Seeing the resolute voice and unwavering eyes, Ludger nodded with a smile.
“You mean it. Very well. Then I will teach you. The magic you must learn from now on.”
As he spoke, Ludger raised a single framework.
Naturally, without anyone telling him to, Robert immediately began analyzing what the magic was.
When he recognized the spell, Robert’s eyes flew wide open.
“S-Professor, that magic is.......”
“Yes. As expected, you recognized it immediately.”
It was impossible not to. The magic Ludger had shown was a branch of [Curse] magic, which was taught even at Seorn.
“A mage doesn’t always have to stand face-to-face and just hurl elemental magic.”
Enchanters, curse casters, necromancers.
They were called mages all the same, differing only in method.
“And at the same time, using curses to weaken and incapacitate opponents also falls within the scope of combat.”
Ludger said to the flustered Robert.
“From now on, you will become the greatest curse caster.”