WFMW 2

Chapter 2

A Past Gone By

2024.03.02.

Of course, he didn’t realize I was a magician. He simply praised me, saying my mind was different from others.

“She’s excellent at interpreting data, with a strong memory and numerical ability.”

“But Nellie speaks clumsily. Sure, she sits quietly and reads well enough, but…”

“Most geniuses can seem lacking to others. Their thought processes are different. But this is undoubtedly a special talent.”

“Even so…”

My father didn’t believe the tutor’s words. And honestly, his doubts weren’t unreasonable. Looking back, I was a dull child who couldn’t even wipe my own nose properly. I couldn’t put on socks by myself, making the maids sigh in frustration.

Me, a genius? Of course he couldn’t believe it.

‘What if this is a scam? He’s just saying that, and then he’ll demand extra money for some “special education program.”’

‘That might really be the case.’

My parents didn’t trust the tutor. The tutor sighed and said:

“If you don’t believe me, why not have her tested at the Academy?”

Skeptical but curious, my father took me to the Academy. He must have been thinking something like this:

‘The child is kind but clumsy. I worry about her future. But if she has any talent at all, that would be a blessing.’

In the carriage to the Academy, I had no thoughts whatsoever. I just learned something new — reading in the carriage made me carsick.

At the Academy, they confirmed that I had high intelligence, especially in arithmetic rather than language. Up to this point, everything the tutor claimed was true.

“What—what’s going on here?!”

“Good heavens, the mana-measuring orb just exploded! This has never happened in the history of the Academy!”

The real incident happened when I touched the mana-measuring orb. I had an enormous amount of mana in my body. By current standards, it was unmeasurable — comparable to the legendary mana levels of a dragon.

“A talent like this walks in on its own!”

“We mustn’t let her slip away!”

“Leave her to me! I’m the most suitable teacher!”

“Get lost! I’m the one who brought her here!”

The professors of the Magic Department fought fiercely to take me on as their disciple. They all shouted the same thing:

“This child will definitely become a great archmage!”

To be honest, even when I heard such words, I couldn’t feel that I possessed some innate, extraordinary gift.

Neither I nor my now-deceased parents knew that my distant ancestor, the Archmage Ferryway, had left his legacy to the Academy. It had been entirely his decision:

[If an archmage appears among my descendants, pass my legacy to them.]

[And if none appears?]

[Then just leave it here.]

As if an archmage were some common neighbor’s dog. Even if he himself had been one, how could he be so sure that the talent would manifest again among his descendants?

Yet for a very long time, the Ferryway line produced no archmage — not even a decent magician. Thus the legacy slumbered in the Academy for generations.

Then, when I was seven, my magical talent was discovered and I entered the Academy.

But after that, nothing special happened. The professors clearly saw their students as slaves. They claimed to be teaching me magic, but spent more time giving me pointless errands:

“Copy that for me.”

“Summarize that for me.”

“Go make me a jujube tea.”

“Are you kidding? You didn’t put pine nuts in the jujube tea? You drink this yourself!”

“Hohoho, I’ll have chrysanthemum tea, please.”

It was like being a servant. Not just any servant — a clever one who could instantly understand whatever they said.

‘If I were really that smart, I’d have strangled my master long ago and run away.’

Ordinary slaves usually have some kind of collar preventing them from disobeying. Mine was graduation.

“With skills like that, you dare call yourself a magician? I won’t let you graduate!”

Without a professor’s approval, you couldn’t become a recognized magician. And unrecognized magicians were legally barred from earning money through magic.

Unfair? This whole country worked that way — you couldn’t even get a job without a recommendation. If a professor insisted, you had no say.

I was a slave, held hostage by my graduation. Ten years flew by like that.

The words I said most often at the Academy were:

“Damn it, I can’t take this anymore.”

The second most common:

“I’m quitting.”

Pretty similar to the first, isn’t it? Anyway, that was my life — constantly muttering “I want to quit, I want to stop.”

What kept me going was my family’s support.

“I’m proud of you, Sis. I tell all my friends about you every day. My sister is studying magic at the Academy!”

“Magical Studies covers the entire field. I’m specifically researching the correlation between spatial transfer and time…”

“Anyway, I’m proud of you!”

Looking back, Diana was probably just saying it out of habit. She must have been satisfied simply to brag about me to her friends.

‘Well, it wasn’t all bad.’

There were fifteen students in the magician program. Being worked like slaves by the professors, we developed a kind of familial bond. I even had a kid I thought of as a younger brother.

“Sis, what will you do after graduation?”

Grisha was four years younger than me, a delicate-looking, beautiful boy. His gentle face even softened the harsh professors.

“Who knows. It’ll probably be the same even after graduation.”

I answered his question indifferently. Graduation? What’s that, something you eat? First, ask whether I can graduate at all.

His sapphire-blue eyes sparkled as he asked:

“Then… would you like to start a magician’s guild with me?”

“A guild? You’re going to be a mercenary?”

“Yes. I want to live freely, in a place where no one knows us, doing what I want.”

“If that’s the case, don’t I count as ‘someone you know’?”

“Y-you’re an exception, Sis!”

What a cute kid. I ruffled his black hair.

“Sure, let’s do that.”

“Y-you promised!”

“I did.”

If only the future had unfolded as we’d promised.

One day, while I was undergoing yet another graduation assessment, lightning struck my world.

“S-Sis, our parents…”

My parents had died in an accident.

Now, Diana was the only family I had left in the world. To support my sister, I needed to leave the Academy. Fast. Graduate quickly!

‘Damn it! Just let me graduate already! From where I’m standing, I’ve been working as a magician for ages!’

Why wouldn’t they? Did they plan to turn me into the Academy’s ghost?

Grinding my teeth, I worked on my graduation research again and again.

Eventually, I passed the final hurdle with a thesis titled:
“Magic Beyond Time: Can Only the Soul, Excluding the Body, Be Transferred — and Can It Still Be Considered the Same Person?”

On the day of the official magician’s certification ceremony, the head of the Magic Department shook my hand and said:

“Congratulations, Archmage Ferryway.”

“…Pardon?”

Oh, so you do know how to speak politely. No — wait — what did you just call me?

“Archmage?”

I couldn’t believe my ears. The professors were all smiling broadly — the fact they even had such expressions shocked me — and offered their congratulations:

“Indeed. All of us here at the Academy have been waiting for you to reach the realm of the Archmage.”

“We knew you would succeed.”

“You have our deepest respect.”

“At last, an Archmage has been born in the Empire.”

It felt like I was the butt of some cruel joke. Was this a prank? Any moment now, would they laugh and say I’d actually failed to graduate?

While I eyed them suspiciously, the Academy’s Grand Chancellor stepped forward and revealed something I hadn’t even known existed:

“At last, we can hand over the Archmage’s legacy, which the Academy has guarded for so long, to its rightful owner.”

“From this moment, the Archmage’s legacy is yours. However…”

“However…?”

Still dazed, I blinked as he added:

“Archmage Ferryway left instructions to deliver the legacy three years after you attain the title of Archmage. Being a master of space-time magic himself, perhaps he foresaw something of the future.”

I didn’t realize at the time that this mysterious, ancient legacy would be the flute-call of misfortune in my life. I was simply happy to have graduated.

I had no idea my sister would try to kill me over it.

If I hadn’t been researching time-reversal magic, that would have been the end.

‘If only I could have gone back even further.’

If I had, I would have silenced the Chancellor before the word “legacy” ever left his lips. But the day I opened my eyes was the day after I’d been appointed Archmage.

‘So I’m doomed to walk this hell over and over again.’

Outside, relatives who coveted the legacy hounded me; inside, my own sister watched for a chance to take my life.

Repeating the same events was driving me insane. I scratched my head irritably.

‘The legacy doesn’t even open until three years later. No one knows exactly what it is. And yet they’re already trying to kill me.’

Diana. A frightening child.

According to her explanation before she killed me, the legacy had already been transferred to me. The Academy merely held it in name, so even if I died, the inheritance wouldn’t be invalidated.