Genius Wizard Conceals His Origins

Every relationship has an inherent purpose. This was one of the few truths that Julia Müller had learned in her life.

The reason the head maid serves her is because of the employer-employee relationship.

The reason students approach her is to form connections or develop romantic relationships, and when high-ranking officials speak to her, it’s usually mainly to foster friendship with her father.

On the other hand, the relationships Julia herself created were the same.

Just look at Eugene Oslo. Hadn’t she hired him with the intention of using him as a shield to drive people away? [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

Purpose. Gain and loss. Favors and grudges.

That was the essence of the relationships Julia had formed.

It should have been.

When Eugene suddenly said that, Julia felt only pure curiosity.

His intentions were unreadable.

Human desires are usually visible in the eyes, but Eugene’s eyes were clear. There was no hint of hiding or disguising his intentions.

It’s just…

He simply didn’t like something about her.

He seemed to want her to stand up on her own strength.

That was all.

#July 26th. Clear.

It had been over a month since the “walking practice” began.

Every day, after he had finished all of his lecture classes, Eugene would push the wheelchair to the lakeside at the edge of the campus.

Julia helplessly stood by the lakeside, fell, stood, and fell again repeatedly.

She still didn’t understand how such a bizarre tutoring had begun, but today was no different.

A gust of wind blew by the lakeside.

Whoosh—

Was it because she slightly frowned due to the wind? At that moment, when her concentration wavered briefly, the magical power gathered in her slender legs dispersed into the air all at once.

Four steps.

It happened on the fourth creaking step she took.

In an instant, strength left her legs.

This time, there was no one to catch her falling body, so she had to roll on the grass.

Although it was a soft slope, hitting one’s chin still hurts.

“Ugh!”

A loud scream escaped her mouth, and Julia fell face-first onto the dirt.

Even the fresh scent of soil had become tiresome by now.

It was an unsightly sight like no other. Her skirt fluttered, and grass entered her mouth. Her hat had long since fallen off and was probably rolling somewhere.

Eugene was watching all of this from two steps behind.

Eugene strode over and helped Julia stand up.

Then, while removing the dirt and grass from her face one by one, he spoke.

“The simultaneous activation of [Move] and [Rotation] is still clumsy. This time, you focused too much on [Rotation]. I think you can rely a bit more on your senses for joint movement.”

“…This is harder than it looks, you know. Even you wouldn’t be able to do it easily, Eugene.”

“Of course. Now, ten minutes of rest.”

Eugene smiled faintly and sat down nearby.

It was strange. Although he had been consistently stern, as if disciplining a child, he never forgot to give rest periods. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

As if wary of her collapsing from overexertion, he would mysteriously sense when Julia’s vision was getting blurry and give her a long rest of about an hour.

At first glance, he seemed indifferent, but in reality, he was closely observing her condition.

“…”

Sitting crouched with her knees together, Julia glanced at Eugene.

In this short while, he had opened a thick magic textbook and was studying.

There were only about two weeks left until the final exams. This was typical of Eugene, who was known as a studious person among the first-year students.

She felt mischievous.

Julia, with a seductive smile for the first time in a while—though her lips trembled due to exhaustion—parted her lips.

“You don’t have enough time to study because of me, right?”

“Well… That’s right.”

“I’ve succeeded in casting Type I magic, and in the past few days, I’ve even managed simultaneous casting… I think I’ve developed an interest in magic. The conditions of the request have been met.”

She tried to make a coy expression at that point, but her facial muscles wouldn’t cooperate.

Inevitably, she spoke with her usual blunt expression.

“I’ll give you 2,000 pounds. No, 3,000 pounds. Thanks to you, I think I’ll be able to walk well on my own with more practice. You must be busy with your studies, so why don’t we stop here and go to the library together to study for the final exams?”

“That’s fine. But if you’re going, go by yourself. I’ll follow behind.”

“You want me to cross this grass field alone in a wheelchair?”

“I mean for you to walk.”

He meant he wouldn’t let her go.

Eugene closed his book.

“Besides. If you didn’t want to do this, you could have quit long ago, right? For someone like you, getting me expelled would be no big deal. Isn’t that right, daughter of a powerful family?”

“…Expulsion would be too much. Indefinite suspension might be possible, though.”

“How scary.”

His words and actions don’t match. With the red sunset over the lake as a backdrop, Eugene grinned and said.

“But you still want to walk, don’t you?”

She didn’t answer.

Instead, Julia lowered her head and looked at her own hands.

Hands without a single wrinkle. Below them is a custom-made skirt from a high-end tailor. All of it was stained and discolored with grass stains.

Especially today, after rolling on the ground so many times, the hem of her skirt was too worn to be used anymore.

Eugene would probably faint from shock if he knew this skirt alone cost nearly a thousand pounds.

Hands covered in dirt and grass stains. Fingertips full of cuts from sharp grass blades.

Several droplets fell onto them.

Tears. But not stemming from sadness.

The tears flowed silently and endlessly like a spring in a mountain valley.

“…I’m done resting. Let’s go again.”

Julia slowly nodded.

“But catch me when I fall.”

Dusk was falling. Instead of tears, a fierce determination began to flow from her amber eyes, and Eugene also put away his book and focused on catching Julia’s falling body.

However, walking more than five steps still seemed far off.

Several more days passed like this.

#August 1st. Slightly cloudy.

Julia’s magic skills improved by leaps and bounds, and she gradually became proficient in the simultaneous casting of [Move] and [Rotation].

She used [Move] to prevent muscles from collapsing on their own and [Rotation] to adjust joints that were trying to bend in the wrong direction.

But that was merely an aid.

Human gait was not so simple.

“Wh-What?”

Julia still couldn’t walk more than five steps.

Her body tilted in an odd direction. If she fell like this, it was obvious she would roll right into the lake.

However.

“Got you.”

Eugene, who had flown through the air in an instant to rush to the lakeside, fully caught Julia’s collapsing body. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

20 times. 30 times. Maybe even 50 times?

Even though she had been caught in Eugene’s arms more times than she could count on both hands, her heart still wouldn’t calm down at times like this.

“Thank you.”

Julia sat down on the sloped area by the lakeside, trying to smile confidently.

Eugene also sat down next to Julia. Two handspans. Neither too far nor too close.

A thin sigh escaped.

“Eugene. What you just used, was it [Levitation]?”

“Yes.”

“I thought that was quite a difficult spell. Didn’t it take you less than a second?”

“I’m used to it because I’ve used it a lot. Also, I was confident in quick casting from the beginning.”

“…”

Julia glanced at Eugene’s profile.

He says such things with an indifferent expression. It must be something he can say because he was born with that innate talent for imagination and intuition.

Suddenly, she became curious.

Julia hugged her knees and turned her head towards him.

“Eugene. Are there any spells that are difficult even for you to cast?”

“Of course.”

“…That’s unexpected. Can you tell me what kind of spell it is?”

After seeming to ponder for a moment, Eugene soon nodded.

However, instead of taking out a spell book or raising his finger, he opened his mouth.

“Julia. What is magic?”

“Pardon?”

“It’s something my teacher… my father used to say. What is magic? Back then, I was just a novice relying only on instinct to cast magic, and naturally thought that magic was simply the realization of imagination.”

Eugene shook his head.

“But that wasn’t it. Modern magic studies is a rigorous discipline involving thorough theory, axioms, and strict definitions.”

As he spoke, he quietly recited an activation phrase. [Disc].

Whirrrr-

One second. A small disc unfolded in the blink of an eye.

It soon changed into a bowl-like shape, then became something like a horse saddle, split into two funnels, and began to rapidly change its form.

“That’s why I couldn’t do this before.”

For the current Julia, this would actually be easier. It would just be a matter of reflecting formulas like x² – y² = z and adjusting constant values.

However.

“But it’s not exactly like that either.”

Soon, the disc began to diverge and take shapes that Julia had never known before.

This was both an art and a trick.

Something that only those who have mastered both theory and imagination can do. Although it may seem like mere juggling or sleight of hand, the principle behind it cannot be ignored.

“What is magic? All the mature magic scholars I know had their own answers to that question.”

Three discs began to attract each other and perform a three-body motion while simultaneously distorting in different shapes and methods.

Eugene furrowed his brow. It meant he was concentrating with all his nerves.

“What is magic to you?”

And then.

Poof—!

Three roses bloomed in his hand.

“Whew, think about that. It might not be a shortcut, but I think it could be the right path.”

The next moment, Eugene handed the flowers to Julia.

Julia blankly accepted the blue roses.

It wasn’t simply a replication. The three roses differed in the number of leaves, the length of their stems, and the sharpness of their protruding thorns.

The three roses swayed in the wind, lingering by the lakeside for a while even after leaving the caster’s hand before eventually fading and becoming part of the lake.

“Magic is…”

This was his magic. His unique magic [Flowering].

Right after, Julia finally looked at Eugene’s face.

“Ah.”

She realized anew.

His profile, sitting by the lakeside bathed in the sunset light, looked ordinarily handsome.

For Julia, who had judged relationships by their purpose, there were few people whose faces she truly remembered. Her mother, who passed away early, her father, whose face she saw a few years ago, the head maid…

Now, a gray-haired young man was added to that list.

A few more days passed. Early August. It might even be right before the final exams.

However, the date wasn’t that important to Julia right now.

“Inhale, exhale.”

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes wide to look straight ahead.

Step.

The principle behind human bipedal walking is not at all simple.

Just moving the two legs involves more than ten muscles repeatedly contracting and relaxing, and the body’s imbalance created each time one leg is stretched out needs to be adjusted instantly.

Continuously supporting the body that’s trying to fall.

That is walking.

It’s different from the steps of a puppet. It’s the realm of the five senses and instinct and the realm of will.

All the effort Julia had made since birth until now was merely a struggle not to fall.

However.

“Unique magic, [Walk Assistance].”

Now, Julia’s slender legs were imbued with firm will.

The brooch on her chest emitted a bluer light than ever before. Strength entered her legs. Her field of vision moved.

Step.

Step.

With each step she took, the grass was pressed down, and the soil was dug up.

Though rough and clumsy, she definitely moved forward one step at a time.

Four steps, five steps.

And then. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

The steps continued.

She carefully turned her head to look at the lake, trying not to break her concentration.

In its mirror-like surface, her image was clearly reflected, moving through the world without a cane.

“…Ah, haha!”

Julia laughed.

Brightly.

And, without any shame, with a gait like a child who had just started walking, she approached Eugene, who was smiling slightly ahead, on her own feet and then.

Hug.

She embraced him.

Only then did she realize. What he had given her was unconditional kindness.

In other words, it was love.

#August 16th. Cloudy.

Ding dong—

The bell announcing the start of the final exams rang. That applied to first-year to fourth-year students. Regardless of their year, all students of the University of Magic were busy pouring their knowledge onto the exam papers.

Meanwhile, the two groups wearing badges had quite different thoughts.

After the exams, the mock duel would be held.