The Master of Language - T.M.L Chapter 31 (Part 2):

The jester tilted his head.

“What would you like?”

“Since you operate in the shadows, you must be well-informed, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“What about information related to other countries? Franche, for example.”

“I don’t have direct information, but I could obtain some through information exchange.”

I grinned.

“About a decade ago, the Prejean family was exterminated by the King of Franche. I’d like you to look into that. What exactly happened. The overall situation, that sort of thing.”

“The Prejean family, you say?”

“Yes. Prejean.”

His eyes changed slightly.

Has he caught on?

But if I don’t say anything, there’s no way for him to get information right away.

“Take care of it then.”

I entered the building.

Thud.

As the main door closed, I spread out both hands.

“By straightening my shoulders and back… did I gain dignity too?”

Strictly speaking, that was the very first thing I learned from Master Abana.

It seems to have become a kind of magic in itself.

“Magic really is interesting.”

I clenched my fist.

* * *

After finishing up company business, I returned to the mansion with Count Furst. Saying we couldn’t leave on the night road and should depart the next morning, he went to his room.

Since starting to study magic, my need for sleep had decreased significantly. I was sitting on the floor meditating.

In the dead of night.

Amidst the silence, I sensed a tiny thread of will coming from one of the walls. That will, which had pushed through between the wall and floor, crawled erratically until it reached me.

I opened my eyes. There was a beetle with two distinct red spots that caught my eye.

The beetle raised its front legs and rubbed them together. Those repetitive movements seemed to convey some meaning.

I scanned it with my psychic power.

“Ah, come in anytime.”

Then the door opened carefully.

Creeeeak.

Fabre poked his head in with wide eyes and looked at me.

“Ran the mage. I’m not disturbing you, am I?”

“Not at all. And don’t call me ‘the mage’, just call me senior.”

“Senior?”

“In the magic world, we call anyone of equal or higher level ‘senior’.”

“Ah, I see.”

Fabre entered the room and carefully closed the door.

He quickly approached and reached out to the beetle in front of me. The beetle climbed onto Fabre’s hand and up to his shoulder.

“It’s Jangsir.”

“Huh?”

“This little one. Its name is Jangshir. You told me to keep communicating with these little ones, remember?”

Did I say that?

“Well, sure. And?”

“Then I suddenly thought, it’s too difficult to communicate with this friend because it doesn’t have a name. So I gave it a name. Once I gave it a name, we became friends!”

Giving a name.

It means making an individual special.

In other words, it becomes a familiar.

“Did you actually make that beetle your familiar?”

“Familiar? Ah, you mentioned that before. But what exactly is it?”

Not knowing about familiars.

This needs urgent teaching. He could get into big trouble if not careful.

I explained everything I knew about familiars slowly and in detail.

Fabre furrowed his brow.

“You can only have one at a time?”

“That’s right. Because you only have one soul. A familiar connects to your soul.”

“That’s strange then.”

“What’s that?”

“I have more than just Jangshir. Others I’ve named.”

As I tilted my head, Fabre turned his head to one side. Then several beetles appeared from between the wall and floor, gathering around Fabre.

They were all the beetles he couldn’t make into his collection, so he had just placed them on his desk.

Fabre pointed to each one with his finger as he explained.

“This is Jangshim. This is Jangshib. This is Jangshik. This is Jangshihu…”

“W-wait. Wait a minute. You named all of these?”

“Yes! Is that not okay?”

“Your soul will be torn apart. Into as many pieces as the number of familiars you have. Hmm, but you… seem fine.”

Fabre looked up at me with anxious eyes.

His clear gaze certainly didn’t look like that of someone with a torn soul.

Could Master Abana have lied about familiars?

No. That can’t be.

Kalasta also told me to choose a fire attribute familiar over a water attribute one.

It wasn’t just about attributes or characteristics; there was a sense of urgency. It felt like once you chose, there was no turning back.

If you think about it that way, a familiar must be unique to a mage.

This might be a phenomenon even they don’t understand.

“I’m okay, right, Senior Ran?”

“You seem fine for now. Um… hmm. Can you send these little ones to the other side?”

“The other side?”

I stretched out my left hand. Then I summoned my magic book. A completely transparent magic book appeared above my hand.

Fabre’s eyes widened as if he sensed its presence.

“Wow!”

“Like this. Things connected to my soul can be kept on the other side, and I can summon them anytime. It’s the same for familiars. You can keep your familiar on the other side and summon it at will. That’s the advantage of a familiar.”

“Really?”

“Can you do it?”

Fabre frowned for a moment, then shook his head.

“I’m not sure.”

He can’t be unsure.

The moment my magic book connected to my soul, I instinctively understood how to summon and dismiss it.

It should be the same with familiars – you’d understand naturally.

“Then they’re not familiars. You’ve named them and you control them, but we can’t call them your familiars.”

“Oh no. I-it’s okay, right?”

Fabre looked like he might burst into tears at any moment.

I smiled gently and patted his head.

“Yes, it’s okay. Let’s first figure out how this happened.”

“Okay!”

And so, Fabre and I studied beetles until the sun rose the next day.

Dangun

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