The Twin Mage

Warning Selia about the magical beast took priority. Arthur quickly hid the stone in a leather pouch he always carried around his neck before knocking on her door. Once inside, he and Morgan explained everything to her in detail. Arthur described the size and power of the Ry, leaving her utterly dumbfounded. Of course, he carefully omitted any mention of the fight.

"We got away because of my magic," Arthur said, showing his tattered sleeves as proof. "I ran as soon as it spotted me."

Selia shook her head, incredulous. "Good gods, kid." She still refused to call him by his name. "You're lucky it went easy on you. If that Ry had decided to give chase, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. Still, thanks for warning me first instead of running to your parents." She ruffled his hair with a rare smile.

"How did you know I came here first?" Arthur asked.

"Because if you hadn't, your parents would've locked you in the house, and they would have come here to warn me instead."

Arthur froze. He had narrowly avoided a much scarier fate than facing the Ry: perpetual house arrest.

Selia chuckled. "You're not off the hook, though. Take the rest of the morning off, make up an excuse for those sleeves, and go home. Here." She handed him a rabbit and a blinker, already cleaned and ready to be cooked. "Take these as thanks for the warning."

Arthur bowed deeply. "Thank you. Meat's precious in Lutia, especially this time of year." He knew how much the gesture meant, even for a skilled hunter like Selia. She'd also saved him from a lifetime of being grounded.

Selia sighed, walking toward the shed where she stored her game. "I was about to head into the woods myself, but maybe I'll follow my own advice. I'll tan the pelts this morning and hunt later when it's safer."

Back at home, Arthur spent the rest of the morning experimenting with the magic stone. It seemed to feed on his mana—not like a parasite, but subtly, as if drawing in the natural energy his body released. He tried injecting mana into it and casting elemental spells while holding it, but nothing seemed to change. The stone behaved like an ordinary rock.

"Stones don't normally have such clear mana flows," he muttered, puzzled. "And they definitely don't have any life force. Maybe it needs time to recharge or heal from whatever the Ry did to it. Unless it starts harming me, I'll keep it. Who knows? It could be a treasure—or maybe I'll find something about it in Nana's books."

The last few days of autumn passed uneventfully until winter arrived. Now five years old, Arthur's growing magical talents became indispensable to his family.

He was in charge of maintaining the warmth of their home. By now, they relied on him more than the fireplace to heat the floors. The hearth became more of a cozy tradition than a necessity. He even took over cooking, using fire magic to prepare meals faster and more evenly than any oven could, keeping soups hot throughout dinner.

The only thing Arthur couldn't do was hunt; his parents forbade it due to the harsh weather. Still, he managed to escape the house occasionally by helping Selia. Over the last year, she'd grown so reliant on his magic and chores that it bordered on laziness. Arthur would clean her tools, sterilize her equipment, and in return, she paid him in both meat and coins.

His parents welcomed the extra income, especially since Elina now did Selia's laundry for an additional fee. With Arthur's endless supply of hot water, doing laundry for eight instead of seven wasn't much trouble.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Lith, boiler supreme," Arthur grumbled internally whenever they piled on more chores.

Winter brought a significant breakthrough in Arthur's magical studies. He finally mastered using Invigoration to scan other people's bodies. By allowing his mana to seep into someone else's mana flow, he could detect their physical condition in vivid detail. The process required constant physical contact, as Arthur searched for pathways that wouldn't harm the patient.

His first test subject was Tista. The results were appalling. Her lungs were riddled with tar-like impurities, spreading through her windpipe and healthy tissues. It was no wonder she suffered from chronic coughing and frequent pneumonia.

After careful thought, Arthur devised a solution, though it embarrassed him to no end. Despite his mental age as a thirty-year-old, his five-year-old body made certain topics uncomfortable, especially around women.

Taking a deep breath, he called his parents. "I can't cure Tista yet, but I've figured out something that might make her feel better. At best, it could even reduce her symptoms significantly."

"And at worst?" Raaz asked, his face etched with worry.

"She'll stay the same. I promise it won't hurt her, but I need you to trust me."

To Arthur's surprise, his parents readily agreed. Their faith in his magic was absolute. In their eyes, he was just a child helping his sister.

The first phase of the procedure was straightforward. Arthur used his mana to take control of Tista's flow and force the impurities out of her lungs, guiding them toward her skin. She would feel warm, as if running a mild fever.

Once the impurities surfaced, Arthur requested to be blindfolded and insisted on Elina or Rena acting as witnesses to avoid any misunderstandings.

Using water magic, Arthur massaged the impurities out of her skin and into a basin filled with hot water and soap. The process was tedious, requiring Invigoration, water magic, and dark magic to destroy the impurities before they released their stench.

When it was over, Tista beamed. "I've never felt this good! And a real winter bath? You just made two of my dreams come true!"

Arthur raised his hands defensively. "Please, no hugs. I'm filthy. I need a bath, food, and at least two hours of sleep."

Elina smiled. "That water massage thing—what was it?"

"Uh…" Arthur hesitated. "It's, um, a 'water massage.'"

"Sounds heavenly," Rena chimed in. "Could you do it for us too?"

Arthur groaned. He was too exhausted for games. "You're asking for hot water massages, aren't you?"

They nodded eagerly.

"I…" Arthur hesitated. His five-year-old body made the idea awkward. "Fine. But I need rest first, and you will blindfold me, with a witness!"

His mother laughed. "Oh, Lith. You're just a baby, not some thug."

Arthur sighed in defeat. "This is going to be a long winter."