Chapter 15

Dissonance.
Sounds that ring out at the same time without harmonizing with one another, creating an uneasy feeling.
As an evaluation from someone who had heard the performance, it was among the worst, but because of his satisfied expression and tone, it sounded like praise to Serpens, who knew nothing.

“Oh, what? Did I do well?”

Serpens smiled with an awkward expression.
Lucas looked at him with eyes that were a little pitying.
Only a little.

“I like beautiful sounds too, but I also like dissonance. What I mean is, every dissonance has its own distinctive character.”

Lars took the conductor’s baton back from Serpens.

“Distinctive character?”

“Yes, distinctive character. Some are so awful you would rather die than listen to them, while others have a clumsy oddness that comes across as charming. You belong to the latter. I like it very much.”
“……That is a good thing, right?”
“Of course! It is good. It is a hundred times better than mass-produced music that tries to imitate guaranteed checks. At least, that is what I think.”
“Thank you!”

Serpens decided to take it positively.
The more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed, but it didn’t seem like sarcasm.

“So. Why did you suddenly do this?”

Serpens asked.

“Good question!”

Snap.

Lars snapped his fingers once more.
The space returned to normal.
As it returned from a grand concert hall to an empty house, the desolation felt even greater.

“You can think of it as a simple test. Something to help decide how to develop a person like you.”

Lars answered with a slight smile.

‘Of course, I was also curious what kind of brat my bro Lucas had chosen.’

Lars Musica.
His magic was special.
Sound magic, different from elemental magic such as fire and water.
He used every sound he could hear and produce as power.
Of course, he could attack and defend, and he could also use high-level magic befitting the title of archmage.

Handing Serpens the conductor’s baton was also a type of magic.
It was high-level magic that expressed everything about the caster as music.
It did not simply express the caster’s life, power, and personality.
It was magic that showed even a person’s past and future.
It was magic that literally expressed everything about the caster.

It had the drawback that he could not directly convey that information to others, but it wasn’t a major problem for Lars.
Because if he obtained dangerous information, he was confident he could handle it alone, and he was capable of doing so.

That was why his impression of “dissonance” was by no means welcome news to Lucas.

“Serpens. Step outside for a moment.”
“Outside where?”

Ting.

A gold coin spun as if flicked from Lucas’s hand.
The gold coin that left his hand settled into its new owner’s hand.

The new owner asked no further questions.

Clatter.

He simply opened the door and went out at once.

Lars only found the boy amusing.

“Is he usually like that?”
“I don’t know either.”
“If you didn’t know, you wouldn’t have tossed him a gold coin.”
“…….”
“Still, I like that sort of thing. Someone like that is actually better because there are no lingering hard feelings.”
“It isn’t good to be materialistic.”
“I think one needs to be materialistic to a reasonable degree.”
“…….”

Lucas looked at Lars with his mouth shut.
At the warning conveyed through his gaze, Lars’s eyes turned quite serious.

“So, what is this dissonance supposed to mean?”
“You know I cannot answer when you ask like that.”
“Explain it however you see fit. As you always have.”
“Yes, yes. Understood.”

Lars shrugged and began to explain.

“It means the overall evaluation of the kid is dissonance. Most of the off-notes I heard from his present and future are not serious enough to worry about. It will be a little troublesome, but I can correct them all within my ability.”

He walked a little and looked down outside the window.
He saw Serpens running around with clumsy, thudding steps.
Looking at that thoroughly excited back, Lars gave a lonely smile.

“The problem is his past, bro.”
“His past? Are you talking about his life as a beggar?”
“Well. Yes.”
“Will that be a major problem?”
“They say the future is made by the present, and the present is made by the past. If I compare it to a performance, the past is like tuning. If the tuning was not done well, even an outstanding performer is bound to struggle.”
“Are you saying he is not well tuned?”
“No one has a perfectly tuned past. That kid is just especially far off.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“Be careful, bro. Both that kid and you. You are in a situation where each of you is a double-edged sword to the other.”
“…….”
“Well, I’m sure you will handle it well.”
“I see.”

Lars took a sheet of paper from his sleeve.

“Here. Take this.”
“……?”
“It is paper imbued with magical power. If you write the contents inside it and think of the recipient in your mind, it will be delivered to that person. If you place that jewel on it, it will be sent with it.”
“Did something like this exist?”
“There is hardly anything magic cannot do.”

Lucas looked closely at the paper.
He didn’t feel any special energy from it.

“Now that I think about it, there is one more being besides me who might know something like this.”
“…….”
“Go to the dwarves.”
“……If you don’t know, he likely won’t either.”
“You never know. It is also true that Optatum reached the realm of 9th class longer ago than I did.”
“I will take it into consideration.”

Lucas turned his back.
Watching him head toward the door, Lars opened his mouth.

“Still, given our relationship, you should at least say goodbye.”
“…….”

Clatter.

“You really aren’t honest.”

Lucas opened the door and left.
He soon entered Lars’s field of vision.
The sight of Serpens and Lucas outside the window.
Lars looked at them and fell into a small worry.

The two began to move.
Watching them slowly grow distant, Lars quietly began to hum.

“Oh. This melody is nice. I should refer to it when I make a new song.”

Step.

A faint footstep.
Serpens knew the owner of the sound.

“Huh? You came out quickly.”
“Did I not say to step outside for a moment?”
“You even gave me a gold coin, so I thought you meant for me to walk around for about a day.”
“……We do not have that much leisure.”
“Well, that works for me. If you want, I’ll gladly step outside for a ‘moment’ anytime.”

Serpens made a circle with his index finger and thumb.

Lucas recalled Lars’s words while looking at him.
The words that each of them was a double-edged sword to the other.
What situation exactly did that imply?

“Let us do that.”
“Nice!”

Whatever that situation was, he didn’t care.
Even if this kid became a shallow blade that only cut his finger, or a deep sword that cut into his heart, he thought he could allow that much.
At the very least, he hoped he would not be the one to cut the boy.

Was it affection that had formed in such a short time?
Was it because he couldn’t resolve the resentment tied to his past?
Or was he growing dull with age?

Riiiip.

“Ah.”

Just as Lucas was lost in thought.
The lower part of his robe tore.
Because the tip of the greatsword on his back had unfortunately scraped against his old robe.

‘This…… is unusable now. I did think it was time to change it.’

At something that had never happened until now, Lucas’s eyebrow twitched faintly.

“Serpens. First, let us get a room to stay in.”
“Ah. If it’s an inn, there was one over there.”
“Let us go there. Once we get a room, have some free time until before dinner.”
“Free time?”
“I need to change my robe. There is also somewhere I need to stop by.”
“Ahh. Take your time. But…… I think I’ll need something to enjoy outside……”

Serpens once again made a circle with his index finger and thumb.

“You really are like a robber.”
“I’ll take that as praise.”

Ting.

This time, it was a silver coin.
Serpens was fully satisfied with that.
Because he had already earned in a single day the amount of money ordinary people would have to work several months to earn.

“Ah. I’m bored as hell.”

Serpens was walking through the streets of Oratio.
He had money and had come out to indulge in some luxury, but once he was actually walking around alone, Serpens found himself not knowing what to do.

‘Should I eat? But it seems like we’ll eat dinner together.’
‘Then should I buy a weapon? But the sword I am using now is good too.’
‘What should I do……?’

Serpens turned his head this way and that.
Even if his pockets were full of money, he was not the type to spend recklessly.
He liked the sense of security that came from saved money, not luxury.
Of course, if someone else indulged in luxury to feed and clothe him, he wouldn’t refuse.
That was someone else’s money.
Because the sense of security that came from saved money was limited strictly to ‘my money.’

He wandered the streets for a while.
He brushed past countless people, and countless people brushed past him.
The merchants were selling goods instead of chasing him away.
The people passing by did not look at him with strange eyes.

“This feels awkward. So awkward.”

It was truly a rare sight.
It was the peace he had dreamed of his whole life, but the fact that he couldn’t easily let go of his tension was an unavoidable habit.

‘Should I go buy some clothes?’

Serpens moved his gaze from his surroundings to himself.
Dirty clothes, strange clothes mixed with blood and sweat.
Looking at it like this, he felt he could understand a little why people avoided him.
He had his own circumstances, but there was no way they would know those circumstances.

After scratching his head a couple of times, Serpens headed off to look for a clothing store.

“Where should I go so people say I bought some fine clothes?”

In truth, Serpens had one store in mind.
He hadn’t seen it himself, but rumors were bound to be heard.
There was one place that passing people kept mentioning.

Quantums Merchant House.
To be exact, it was not a place that sold only clothes.
A massive merchant house that distributed almost every kind of goods.
The goods they distributed were top quality. Trustworthy enough not to take advantage of people. On top of that, reasonable prices.
People even called such a Quantums Merchant House the empire’s finest merchant house.

‘Everything is finest this, finest that.’

But Serpens didn’t have great expectations.
Because about an hour ago, he had already been disappointed by the word “finest.”

It was true that Lars Musica had surprised Serpens with magic.
Suddenly changing the space, creating instruments, and handing him the conductor’s baton had all done so.
But it made him question being called the finest.

The magic Serpens had imagined was something like spewing fire or dropping lightning.
The magic Lars used was certainly high-level enough that comparing it to those things was meaningless.
But it was nowhere near enough to impress Serpens.

The fact that Serpens was ignorant about magic.
And the fact that Lars was an archmage who had lightly activated high-level magic with the snap of his fingers.
It was a special case created by an unapproachable difference in ability.

“Oh. It really is big.”

Following what people said, Serpens found the Quantums Merchant House faster than he expected.
A size comparable to Lucas’s house. If there was a difference, it was the white exterior and red roof. And the fact that people were moving actively inside it.

“They sell goods in a huge house like this?”

Serpens quietly set foot through the main entrance.
At the moment he was wondering where he should go to find clothes that fit his size.
A sound that reminded the boy of unpleasant memories began to be heard not far away.

Thud. Thud.

A dull sound heard together with someone’s groans.
It was by no means a welcome sound, but for some reason, Serpens’s steps naturally turned that way.

“Damn it.”

Serpens’s resolve to only check.
It was an impulsive resolve, and surely one he would regret.