Yerna thought it would take a little time to find a facility that could accept Luke.
It was understandable, as victims of human trafficking like her could not be sent to just any orphanage.
Yerna decided to spend the day checking out the facility and took Luke to her home.
“Isn’t the Forest Keeper supposed to live in the forest?”
In response to his question, Yerna smiled and replied.
“How do they manage to keep watch every day?”
“It’s usually a group that rotates shifts to manage it,” Yerna smiled as she removed her outer clothing and lightly draped it over her arm.
“Is that so?”
In the past, elves were a race that lived in the forest. Elves are born in the forest, and they die in the forest.
With that thinking, Luke felt a bit confused but decided to let it go.
There were just too many strange things besides that.
“Your house is very tall. Could it be that you are of noble birth?”
“Haha! That can’t be. I’m just a tenant in an apartment.”
Luke followed her into the elevator.
Having never seen an elevator before, he examined the contraption with curiosity.
“The door opens by itself. What is this?”
“It’s an elevator. Is this your first time seeing one?”
“Yes….”
Yerna smiled as she looked at him, who was gazing at the elevator with wonder.
She thought the sight of a child’s eyes sparkling at something new was always adorable.
Ding-!
Just as Luke, fascinated by the elevator buttons, was engrossed in looking it over, he was startled by an unexpected sound and began to tense up, at which point Yerna placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled.
“Luke, let’s go!”
After walking down the hall for a moment, she unlocked a door with a key.
Tap.
Flash…!
“Okay, come in quickly.”
She pressed a button on the shoe cabinet, illuminating the previously dark room.
Luke was astonished by the scene.
His magic sight read the magical enchantments of the place in an instant.
The ceiling lights, the window blind magic, and the large rectangular box in the kitchen were enchanted with ‘low-temperature magic’, nearly perfectly balancing ice and water properties.
The sofa and carpet were made of materials he couldn’t even guess what animal they belonged to.
In his knowledge, no creature had such soft leather.
Either the tanner’s skill had reached the level of creation, or he considered it quite an achievement in craftsmanship.
Moreover, although the chair was a piece of furniture more comfortable than a bed, it was something so fine that even a noble of his time wouldn’t be able to use freely.
Even the wallpaper, which was utterly ineffective, was beautifully patterned and flawless…
‘Good gracious, who crafted all this…? I have no idea how much each of these items is worth. To be living in a place like this, Yerna must be a noble.’
Even though there were no attendants in sight, this kind of space didn’t really require attendants.
Luke swallowed hard.
He was no longer the Great Mage Luke Ilyushin.
A fact he didn’t want to admit.
Now he was without status, without a circle, not even a mage, just utterly ordinary.
‘Right now, I’m just a child.’
Feeling the weight of his powerlessness, Luke said with a somber expression,
“Is it alright for me to be in a place like this…?”
Seeing Luke’s eyes wide with concern, quickly turning glum, Yerna felt a pang in her heart.
His animal ears, perked up on his head, drooped down, making him look pitiable.
‘Has this child never experienced such simple kindness before?’
As she suppressed her own feelings, she forced a bright smile, knelt down to meet the downcast girl’s gaze, and said,
“You can come in as much as you like.”
Luke nodded weakly at her bright smile.
It couldn’t be helped.
If he had been in fine shape, at least if he had one circle, any trace proving his existence, it would have been a choice whether to accept her kindness here.
But as it stood, he was not even in decent health.
With a perplexed heart, he stepped forward.
“Should I wash up first? Can you wash by yourself?”
“I can wash by myself.”
“Really? You can bathe over there.”
“Understood.”
He walked in the direction she pointed, taking off the dirty blanket.
Looking at his small body in the mirror, Luke felt once again a sense of sorrow.
Ivory skin, small stature, platinum hair.
What on earth were these ears and what were these horns?
Curiously, he tugged at his ears, feeling an oddly intimate sensation.
“Ugh….”
A tingling sensation ran down his spine, awakening him to the fact that these were not mere appendages but organs that perfectly melded with him.
The same applied to the horns.
He could feel the sensations from the horns as if he were experiencing them directly.
Whether he squeezed it hard or gently, he felt every sensation in its entirety.
That sensation meant these playful ears and horns were indeed bona fide physical organs.
“Huh….”
It was astonishing.
However, his transformed body did not bring him only despair.
What could have possibly led to this?
He felt a sense of ‘curiosity’ about it.
Mages are those who exist out of curiosity and often meet death out of it.
They live their whole lives achieving curiosity and are fulfilled by it.
This was a truth that applied to him as well.
“How did this happen?”
As he tried to trace back his memories, he found there was almost nothing he could ascertain, which only spurred his curiosity more.
He resolved to uncover the events that had transpired with his body while thinking it was time to wash up first.
Looking around, he saw that he was surrounded by beautifully smooth material, making it a room where any splash of water wouldn’t be a problem.
Could this be an indoor bath?
He was amazed again by the luxury of it.
Although it couldn’t compare to public baths in size.
Lacking attendants and being a cramped indoor space, he had to make allowances for that.
By the way, where exactly was the bathwater stored?
If she didn’t think of him as a magician, there must be a way to get water somewhere.
As he pondered and touched this and that, he discovered a lever behind the well.
When he pressed it, water filled the empty well once again, which was quite a marvel.
“That’s really fascinating….”
Swash…
As the water refilled, he splashed some on his body.
The cool sensation wasn’t bad, but he wished the water had been warmed.
If it was his usual self, heating the water would have been easy for him.
This was just one of many deprivations he felt as a non-mage.
The water from the well ran out quickly.
While wondering how to refill it, Luke fiddled around and found the lever at the back of the well.
Upon pressing it, water filled the once-empty well again, which was quite extraordinary.
“That’s really impressive….”
Swash…
After repeating the action a few times, Yerna felt uneasy and opened the bathroom door.
“Hey, Luke? Are you okay? Why do you keep flushing the toilet…? What on earth are you doing?!”
Indeed, what Luke had thought was a well was actually a toilet.
———
Yerna immediately dipped Luke into the bathtub and sprayed him with warm water from the showerhead, letting out a sigh.
Luke, looking like a rain-soaked pup with drooping ears, spoke to her in a weak voice.
“I’m really embarrassed to put you through this kind of trouble… I can only blame my ignorance. I apologize once again…”
“Stop talking while you’re washing. Water’s getting in.”
“Um… understood…”
‘This child speaks remarkably well, where could he have learned such a thing… If I listen to him speak, he definitely doesn’t seem stupid…’
“Really, you’ve never used a shower before?”
“Ah, aaah—. Yes… The shower is quite nice. It’s comfortable and warm; it could make one sleepy…”
Indeed, Luke had never seen a shower before.
Nor had he seen anything similar.
Therefore, it was only natural that he didn’t know how to use it.
“Sigh….”
Yerna thought about how much this little child must have suffered, realizing there are too many bad people in the world.
“Ah, I poured toilet water on your head, so I have to wash it thoroughly.”
“Ugh, hehe…!”
As Yerna rubbed his ears a bit firmly, Luke raised his shoulders and let out a moan laced with pleasure, startling Yerna, who quickly withdrew her hand from his ears.
“Why, what’s wrong?”
Luke, feeling shy, cleared his throat before responding to the startled Yerna.
“Please try not to touch the insides of my ears, as they seem to be quite sensitive….”
“Is that so.”
Yerna froze, her expression startled.
To think they’d endowed this child’s ears with such sensitive functions, her anger toward those who had kidnapped Luke grew even stronger.
——-
In the pitch-black night.
Luke was staring outside at the sky from the balcony.
It wasn’t that he liked the night sky, but he wanted to confirm whether the stars’ positions matched what he knew to be the world he recognized.
‘This world is indeed the one I knew. But there seems to be a time discrepancy of about 5000 years.’
He didn’t know the exact time.
But he thought that the misalignment of the star positions used in calendars since the past was about 5000 years.
“What are you doing out here, Lu?”
Yerna, who had given him the nickname ‘Lu’ determining that Luke didn’t sound very feminine, approached with a thick blanket and gently draped it over his shoulders.
“Yerna…”
Although he once went by ‘Luk’ as his nickname, he couldn’t reveal his discomfort to her.
Hadn’t he already received too many favors?
“Are you cold? You’ll catch a cold, come inside. Do you want some cocoa?”
“I’m fine. Thank you for your concern.”
Luke politely declined her offer and looked back up at the sky.
“Lu really knows how to be polite….”
Yerna chuckled lightly at his response and stood up.
“Do you like stars?”
“Of course.”
For a mage, stars were the source of magic.
The songs of the stars, the whispers of dawn, the melodies of the moon all become materials for magic.
Surely there couldn’t be a mage who disliked such stars.
Even though right now, he couldn’t even be called a mage without a circle.
Well, he could just rebuild his lost circle from scratch.
Having once reached the 10th circle, he thought that he could regain his circles swiftly.
Even if the world had changed, he believed his knowledge would hold value.
After all, the laws of mana had not changed.
The city outside the window was beautiful.
Countless buildings rose up like towers, their windows glimmering with soft yellow light, and a massive tree far in the distance supplied mana to the entire city.
Truly, it was a magnificent magical city.
“Is that tree the World Tree?”
“Indeed, it’s an artificial World Tree. The real World Tree is not in our country, but in Beriton far away.”
“Is that so.”
An ‘artificial’ World Tree. The passage of 5000 years had reduced what once classified as divine to merely a ‘tool.’
‘But I myself have regressed.’
There was so much in the awakened world that was unfamiliar.
Once a mage, he found himself filled with a yearning to interpret and harmonize with this changed world.
Whoosh—!
As the wind blew in, Luke shivered slightly.
Seeing this, Yerna brought him inside, closed the window, and kindly said,
“You’ll catch a cold. Watch the stars from inside.”
“Understood.”
Nodding in agreement, Luke felt Yerna gently pet his head.
“Shall I bring you some cocoa now?”
“…Yerna.”
“Yes?”
“What exactly is cocoa?”
“…….”
