I leaned down to meet his eye level.

He looked up at me with round eyes.

I guess it’s okay to ask now.

“I’ve kindly answered your questions, so I’d like you to kindly answer mine too. What do you say?”

“…”

Fabre made a strange expression.

I raised my hand and patted his head.

“The humans you killed. Where are they?”

“……”

Fabre’s expression stiffened slightly.

Now he’s not acting like a child.

“If you don’t want to show me, at least tell me why. Otherwise, I’ll have no choice but to tell your father.”

Fabre’s eyes suddenly turned fierce.

He looks just like his father.

“Don’t tell him.”

“Why?”

“Humans don’t need to know, right? What’s the point of telling them about this?”

Humans?

What an unusual way of thinking.

“So that’s why you didn’t say anything? Because they’re ordinary humans?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I just didn’t like it. Getting involved.”

Judging by his hesitant expression, he seems to realize that his thinking is a bit strange.

As I remained silent, Fabre couldn’t hold back and asked:

“Am I thinking wrongly?”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“That’s the rule you’ve lived by all your life, so it will affect you magically in some way. It’s certainly not normal, but breaking it now wouldn’t be good.”

His face brightened.

“Right?”

“So? The corpses?”

Fabre’s face darkened again.

His lips protruded forward and he made an expression as if he was about to cry.

Anyone seeing this would think he had secretly stolen some candy.

“Don’t worry. I’m a mage too. Tell me what happened. Then I won’t tell anyone.”

Fabre’s lips twitched several times before he finally spoke in a low voice.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Alright.”

Having said that, he stood up.

Then he walked to one side.

There was a black curtain hanging from the ceiling, and he grabbed one side and looked back at me.

“They’re here. Shall I show you?”

“Yes.”

The child slightly pulled the curtain aside.

Dozens of stacked skeletons were revealed.

That’s when I started to feel the remnants of their thoughts.

This is Fabre’s castle, so everything happens according to Fabre’s will.

But how should I put it, they’re so clean they look like decorations.

Even the corpse that seems to be the most recent is just bones, so he must have cleanly removed everything except the bones.

How he removed them… never mind. I don’t want to think about it anymore.

“Hmm, that’s quite a lot of corpses?”

“They came often. I don’t know who, but they kept coming.”

“Ah, so it’s not just today?”

Fabre nodded.

“About three years ago? They seem to have been coming since then.”

“Hmm.”

I slowly walked over to the skeletons and examined them closely.

Judging by the remaining thoughts, they did seem to be skeletons that had accumulated one by one since three years ago.

However, among them, there was one that strangely had strong remaining thoughts despite being old.

I used telekinesis to probe it. I could feel the deeply hidden thoughts within the corpse.

It was enormous.

Even if I gathered all the thoughts left in the other corpses, they would not compare to a fraction of this one.

Strange.

After death, thoughts should scatter more as time passes.

Why has that one become even more intense?

And why is it hiding?

I want to research it right away.

I want to take out my magic book and use death magic right now.

But death magic should never be shown to anyone.

Even if it’s an eight-year-old young mage.

Caution.

That’s the most important thing Master Abana taught me.

“Now that I’ve shown you, you won’t tell Father, right?”

Fabre’s eyes looked as anxious as his tone.

“Yes. I won’t tell. So you’ve been protecting your father all this time.”

“Yes.”

Hmm.

It’s certainly a contradiction.

I looked straight at Fabre and asked.

“If you don’t even talk to humans, why protect them?”

Fabre crumpled one side of his lip, then spoke with a pout.

“Three years ago, when these people came to the mansion, I didn’t care much. But that day, my mother died.”

For a moment, I doubted my ears, his expression and tone were so indifferent.

“Suddenly, I started to care. It’s not something I should care much about… I’m busy making my beetle collection, but I kept getting annoyed thinking about my mother. So I thought it would be more troublesome if Father died too.”

Looking at his face, it doesn’t seem that way at all.

“Actually, it was all Father who gave me this room and made these glass walls. I’m just protecting him in return, I guess.”

I suddenly remembered something Master Abana said in passing.

Those who awaken to magic on their own.

They have extremely unstable and imperfect magical power, and their mental state is the same.

Born with the awareness that they are mages, everything seems trivial to them. Then they often end up destroying themselves before long.

Magic is too dangerous to self-study.

“I’ll introduce you to my master. He’ll guide your magic well.”

Fabre shook his head.

“I don’t want a master. I just wanted an answer. I got it, so it’s fine now. Beetles have magic too. It’s an answer I never imagined.”

“If you have a proper magic book, staff, and familiar, you’ll be able to fully control those children and even more powerful individuals. You’ll be able to meet not just 350,000 species, but incomparably more beetles.”

“…..”

“Think about it carefully, Fabre. Don’t you want to become friends with all the beetles in the world?”

I put my hand on his head and stroked it.

However, my gaze naturally fell on that corpse with the powerful lingering thoughts.

If there are mages among humans.

And if there are beetles imbued with magic.

Who’s to say there can’t be among corpses?

Then Fabre muttered.

“I still don’t want to be someone’s disciple. Instead…”

“Instead?”

Fabre looked at me with a bright smile.

“I’d like the mage to become my friend!”

I felt a chill run down my spine for a moment.

Is he thinking of preserving me too?

“F-friend?”

“Yes! Let’s be friends! Hehe!”

Fabre stretched out both arms and hugged me.

In my embrace, he was just a child.

But why?

Why do I feel like all the numerous beetles around us are looking at me?

Fabre’s eyes filled with curiosity. He clenched his fists and asked, trembling:

“Mysterious power? W-what is it?”

“Figuring that out, researching, discovering, and applying it – that’s probably what you should do as a mage.”

“Pardon?”

“You like beetles, don’t you? Don’t you want to research and classify beetles?”

Fabre shook his head vigorously.

“No!”

“Then?”

“I want to become friends with all the beetles in the world!”

“Friends?”

“Yes! Friends!”

Hmm, kids these days keep their friends fixed in rooms, I see.

But I can’t point that out. He’s already unstable with his magic, having no master.

“I see. Be good to your friends then.”

“Of course! I’m already so good to them! Look how I’m protecting all of them!”

Fabre spread his arms and spoke cheerfully, seeming sincere.

How creepy.

Dangun

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