A huge wall surrounded a gigantic city almost five times the size of Osmium. The roads are well-maintained while being wide enough to support four wagons side by side. All sorts of people, from small children to tough-looking adventurers, roamed the streets surrounded by shops, inns, and guilds.

 

This is the royal capital city of Lawrencium.

 

I'm currently staying with my family, including the 16-year-old Alex, in a luxurious villa situated in the noble district. Unfortunately, Sisley couldn't come for some stupid reason. Apparently, only servants who have noble blood can enter this district. Meaning that if you wanted to get maids in here, you somehow have to find one having a blood relation with at least a baron. Complete nonsense. Now I understand why people of low nobility don't stay here.

 

"Wow Max, you really have grown up. It's only been two years, yet you look… umm… shinier? I can't really put my finger on it, haha!"

 

"Thanks Alex, you also have changed. You seem to have lost some weight and it feels almost as if you don't like the Royal Academy."

 

"..."

 

Yup, Alex showed signs of bullying. Although there are no physical signs of it, he always tried to dodge topics related to the Royal Academy. No normal person can bully a duke's son, so who could possibly target Alex?

 

"Come on now! I'm not that skinny. Anyway, how have you been doing, Alice? You must be quite nervous since this is your first time visiting the royal capital."

 

"I'm fine, brother Alex, mama said that all I have to do is stand next to her and say nothing. Besides, brother Max is here too, so there is nothing to worry about!"

 

Alex gave her a confused expression. He must've thought that she was joking when saying the last sentence, but her tone didn't sound like it. Yes, Alex, I have been a reliable big brother that you couldn't even dream to become. This is your fault for being so obsessed with cursed magic that it made you a weakling.

 

"Alright kids, it's time to go to bed. We have to wake up early for when we visit the king."

 

Yeah, I'm kinda tired from the whole journey which lasted two weeks. There were faster means of travel, like airships, but they mostly use magic so I refused going in one. Thankfully, Magnus agreed with me saying that it is safer to travel on land. Of course it's safer, anything that uses mana is always dangerous and should never be used!

 

Let's sleep for now so that I have the energy to do my self-imposed mission, convincing a prince/princess into becoming my ally.

 

The night has passed quietly, a maid woke me up and, after wearing the clothes Sarah chose for me, the maid guided me outside the villa where my family was already inside a carriage. I sat down next to Alice and pondered. What about Jack? Isn't he also supposed to join us for the party? Maybe he got an exemption since he might be busy with his adventurer work. I heard that he's currently a B rank, which is quite high if what I read was correct.

 

Minutes later, we reached the front gate of the menacing-looking castle. It is so tall that it hurt my neck trying to see the highest tower of the stone structure.

 

"Good morning, Duke Magnus Phoenix. One moment please. Hey! Open the gate! Don't make the duke wait."

 

A guard captain greeted Magnus and, moments later, the iron gate opened allowing our carriage to enter. Then I saw it all. The most beautiful garden I have ever seen in my two lives. There were so many exotic flowers that I have never heard about before. Even the botany books I've read didn't include this many types.

 

As I was being mesmerized, Alex poked me from the side and snickered.

 

"First time in the castle, huh? This is just the outer garden. The rarest and most beautiful magical flowers are deeper inside the inner garden."

 

MAGICAL FLOWERS!? How could I have been so blind! Of course there is no way that normal flowers would have this disgusting aura around them. These plants must be using illusion magic to look like this. A bunch of tricks!

 

As I was thinking, the carriage stopped in front of the largest building inside of the castle. My family then got off of the carriage and I closely followed. We entered through a door guarded by two silver-armored knights, who gave us a respectful salute. After walking for an unbelievable amount of time through maze-like hallways, we finally stopped in front of a golden-glazed door leading to the throne room.

 

This was it; I'm now going to have my first real interaction aside from those in the Phoenix mansion. As Magnus opened the door, the first thing I saw was a red carpet leading to a golden throne that was currently empty. There were royal guards standing in orderly lines next to it, while many nobles who were chatting around the spacious hall began walking towards us with fake smiles on their faces.

 

"Duke Magnus, my friend! Congratulations on having such a talented daughter. King Lawrencium is going to be a bit late, apparently there is a problem with one of the princesses. For now, how about we have a toast for old times’ sake?"

 

That was Duke Franklin Lionheart, Sarah told me that his territory, located in western Lanthanum, is famous for its production of magic metals and has some of the greatest blacksmiths in the kingdom. He's also the only duke that has a good relationship with us since our region has a lot of mages. The clowns buy a lot of items made out of magic metals thus a strong economical bond was made between the two families.

 

Magnus went along with Franklin and some other nobles while Sarah, with Alice in tow, started chatting with noble ladies wearing very glamorous jewelry. Alex and I were left behind, so I stared at him with the intention of following him around. Sarah, after all, told me to stay close to Alex if she’s unavailable.

 

"Umm… So Max, do you want to check out the food displayed on the table over there? You will be surprised by how good it tastes."

 

Isn't it a bit unsightly to go for food first before doing anything else? I came here today to talk, not eat.

 

"Hey look, Alex. The group next to the window seems to be around your age, so let's greet them."

 

"Eh? Max, this…"

 

"Come on!"

 

I dragged my brother towards the group fully knowing that they might be the ones who bullied him. I have little sympathy for the one who tortured me all those years. My mission is much more important than Alex's feelings.

 

"-Then I cut the, hold on a moment! Is that Alex I see following a midget walking towards us? What a wonderful surprise!"

 

The over-the-top voice came out from what I assume is the leader of this bunch of kids. Alex seems to be a little frightened since he didn't answer back. At least his hand wasn't shaking. As I was confirming my brother's state, a red haired girl spoke.

 

"Hold on Mark, I think the cute little boy is actually the black sheep of the Phoenix family. This truly is a surprise!"

 

You are the sheep! This girl talked in a very haughty way which made me want to slap her in the face and tell her to respect her elders. Ok calm down me, I am 36 years old when adding up my total age, I have to act as an adult here.

 

"Oh Celestia, you are saying that this midget is Max the manaphobe? Hahaha! I never expected to be approached by a cripple who can't use magic. In fact, I bet he doesn't know what magic is in the first place! Here, see this sphere of light on my hand? This is magic."

 

"This is trash."

 

"What?"

 

Mark was taken aback by my words. He crossed the line by showing me the one spell that I was horribly subjected to every day while being a baby. Celestia snorted with laughter as if she couldn't believe what she had just heard.

 

"Did the little brat actually say that? We can't just leave him alone after insulting us, can we?"

 

"Umm… Please don't-"

 

"Shut up Alex, just because you are a high noble like us doesn't mean you can tell us what to do."

 

Alex tried to stop the inevitable and failed miserably. I can take care of myself, though.

 

"You really just called my spell trash. I don't care if you are an ignorant manaphobe or whatever, you'll pay for this disrespec-"

 

"THE KING HAS ARRIVED!"

 

A sudden shout interrupted Mark and silenced the entire hall. Dammit, I was about to show these kids why magic is a scam.

 

I looked behind me and witnessed a bunch of silver haired people appear around the throne. An old man with a long beard and an oversized crown teleported on top of the throne itself. The princes and princesses looked the same as you'd expect from royalty; extremely expensive attire covered them while their well-shaped faces can only be described as 'out of this world'.

 

One princess that looked around Alice's age was wearing what looked like leather armor, though.

 

Alex yanked me towards a spot in front of the throne where the rest of my family stood. We all gave a practiced bow at the same time before Magnus spoke.

 

"We are honored to have met your majesty today. I cannot express how happy my family is for your magnanimity in allowing such a great celebration to take place in this hall."

 

Wow, I didn't take Magnus for a bootlicker. I guess singing praises for a superior is common in this world.

 

"Worry not, Duke Magnus. All I wish for is to see the new talented Phoenix with my own eyes. Alice is her name, am I correct?"

 

"Yes your majesty. Alice is my daughter, and the one whose soul could not be measured. May your blessing protect her."

 

The king made a gesture and a bunch of servants brought out a heavy-looking chest.

 

"I am a king who rewards his loyal subjects. This chest contains a high-grade staff that will be of great use for the young one. I have also included a small gift of 90 gold coins for her as well."

 

"My daughter and I are grateful for your boundless generosity."

 

Magnus bowed and signaled Alice to do the same.

 

"This concludes our talk. Please enjoy the celebration for the rest of the day."

 

The king then disappeared and the throne became empty once again. It's weird though, he didn't complain about the fact that Jack isn't here even though Sarah told me everyone must come. Oh well, let's just go speak with some royalty. My purpose here isn't done after all.

 

"Hold it right there, midget. I think we still have some business to take care of, right?"

 

Mark and his circus came to me while holding the hand of a green haired boy who is approximately as tall as I am.

 

"You said that magic is trash right? You see, my little brother disagrees with you and would like to convince you otherwise. How about you two have a debate in a quiet room nearby?"

 

"Of course I agree, let's go."

 

I quickly answered and followed Mark. I obviously know that this is a trap, but he can't do anything too crazy inside the castle. I also want to show these kids the truth about magic since that's my goal for coming here in the first place.

 

We walked through a hallway for a while before reaching a dark room.

 

"Alright Max, my little brother is going to hit you with a spell. Don't worry though! It's nothing dangerous, just a small mud ball. Besides that, didn't you say that this is trash? Then you should easily block it with no problems in the first place. Hahaha!"

 

The clowns laughed as if they just heard a hilarious joke. The green haired child then started quietly mumbling and a brown sphere started forming on his hand. It slowly grew up to the size of my head, something like that would definitely hurt if it hits, not to even mention that it would ruin the clothes Sarah worked so hard to pick for me.

 

I smirked. Fools, did you really think that I actually don't know how to stop a magic trick? I took a deep breath, prepared my mouth, and faced directly towards the mud ball then-

 

*ptooey*

 

I spit on the almost complete mud ball which caused it to spin erratically before abruptly falling down on the child's leg. He then proceeded to cry loudly.

 

"Ewww, did the kid really spit on Jacob? Sorry but there is no way am I staying here."

 

Celestia booked it out of here with a bunch of her followers. Mark gritted his teeth while giving me a death stare. Let's rile him up a bit, shall we?

 

"See? A mud ball is so bad that even spit can mess up its composition. This issue is just one of the many flows of spells, therefore magic is useless and you should stop using it."

 

"Oh yeah? Then how about you try stopping this."

 

Wait wait wait, Mark has gone mad! He’s actually forming a fireball in the middle of a small room. I can throw an iron coin to stop it but doing this would cause the spell to explode and burn us all. My best bet is to try dodging the fireball so that it hits the wall instead.

 

I prepared myself while keeping an eye on the red sphere growing bigger and bigger. Sweat ran down my face from the radiating heat. Isn't this too big!? Someone stop this psycho!

 

"What's the matter! Are you scared? It's too late to apologize, so just stay there and accept your punishment for angering me!"

 

I kept concentrating, I don't really know when will he throw the spell so I have to rely on instinct. Not too early, not too late, jump to the left just as the fireball moves. Focus-

 

*poof*

 

…

 

Umm, why did the fireball disappear? Even Mark is flustered enough that his face contorted in ways I've never seen before. Could it be that there is a new flaw in the spell which I don't know about? Once again, a new reason for how bad magic actually is will be added to my collection

 

"You have gone too far, Mark."

 

Hmm? Who's that black haired guy? He seems young, but not so young to be mistaken as one of Mark's henchmen.

 

"Thankfully your reckless magic casting was easy to dispel. Your inferior talent saved me quite a bit of trouble, you know?"

 

"Who dares- Ack! Y-You!"

 

"What, cat got your tongue? Be grateful that Celestia told me about the little 'duel' you've had, or else I would've had to use more painful methods to stop you."

 

Wow, this guy sounds like a cool person. Maybe we can be friends if I’m able to convince him to stop using magic.

 

"W-Why are you helping that midget! Didn't you say tha-Urgh!"

 

"Isn't it a bit too disrespectful to insult someone's little brother? I guess this is something to be expected from a weakling who depends on his family to push others around."

 

Eh? The black haired guy just called me his little brother. The only person other than Alex who can say that is… Jack.

 

Why is he here now?