Esther took a slow breath before continuing.
"As I was saying... from the age of seventeen... I worked for—or rather, with—Mazin."
TWENTY-THREE YEARS AGO.
The mansion was never quiet.
Servants moved from room to room while merchants came and went. Business never rested.
And somewhere within that enormous house, a little boy's laughter echoed through the halls.
Ozaki.
He was always cheerful, always smiling.
Raised amidst the wealth and fortune of his father, he grew into a child who enjoyed showing off. He bragged, made fun of others, insulted people without thinking, and boasted whenever he could.
Not because he was cruel... simply because no one had truly corrected him. Except one person.
Esther.
Whenever she was home, Ozaki behaved himself. The moment she left to help manage Mazin's businesses, the mischievous little boy returned.
On watch, he was sweet. Off watch... he became surprisingly nonchalant.
Yet behind that carefree smile, a silent problem had already begun to worry the adults.
Children usually displayed signs of their magic before, or at the latest, on their first birthday. Sometimes it appeared as a strange glow. Sometimes an unusual reaction. Sometimes an uncontrollable burst of magic.
But by the time Ozaki approached his second birthday... Nothing.
Not even the smallest sign. The matter remained known only to two groups.
The Graders. The people responsible for examining children's magic.
And Mazin's household.
To everyone else... Mazin had already solved the problem.
Money.
Being the richest man in Kehi, he simply bought the truth.
The public was told Ozaki possessed weak, low-grade Air Magic. People accepted it easily.
After all... everyone already knew Ozaki's mother had once been a whore.
A child born from such circumstances... was believable to be weak. No one questioned it.
Around that same time... Freya, Ozaki's mother, had become the talk of Kehi once again.
No longer because of her profession, now...
People spoke of her as the woman who wandered drunk through the streets or strangely sober.
Depending on the day.
Perhaps... she had finally regretted why she had held over Ozaki's life for money. No one knew, no one cared enough to ask.
Ozaki, however... Knew nothing of any of it. His world was simple. He had friends, lots of them.
He invited them to play inside the mansion, hosted lunches, dinners, and birthday celebrations.
Children loved visiting his home. Everything there was bigger, brighter, better.
Still... one question always lingered quietly in the back of his mind. Whenever his friends spoke proudly about their mothers...
"My mum made this."
"My mum cooked that."
"My mum scolded me yesterday."
"My mum tells the funniest stories."
Ozaki would simply smile. He had no stories to tell. He didn't know his mother, he had never even seen her.
Several of his friends use to gather inside the mansion for dinner.
The long dining table overflowed with food. Perfectly roasted turkey. Freshly baked bread. Rare fruits.
Fine wine poured into expensive cups that reflected Mazin's wealth without needing words.
Everyone had a place at the table. Even the slaves or rather... The employees.
Within Mazin's household, they all dined together like one enormous family.
Ozaki loved eating.
More specifically... He loved stuffing his mouth full of food. The faster he ate... the sooner he could return to talking. Because Esther had taught him one rule. No talking while eating.
So he obeyed.
His friends, however, had never been taught that lesson. They laughed with food still inside their mouths.
Talked endlessly, chewed without manners. Ozaki looked toward Esther with puzzled eyes.
"Big Sis Esther..."
"...won't you caution them to stop talking while eating?"
Esther smiled softly. "They're guests."
that was all she said.
Ozaki accepted the answer and continued eating. The conversation drifted from one topic to another.
Then… It landed on parents. More specifically... their mothers.
"My mum makes the best soup."
"My mum's bread is sweeter than this."
"My mum burns fish every time."
"My mum shouts whenever I steal food."
Laughter filled the room. Then another voice spoke. "But Ozaki's house still has the best food!"
Everyone laughed again.
It was the twenty-first of the would be month, May.
Ozaki's birthday.
The meals had been prepared with extraordinary care.
The turkey was richer, the drinks were finer. Everything placed upon the table surpassed ordinary days.
His friends couldn't stop praising it.
"My mother's cooking isn't even close!"
"This is amazing!"
"I wish I lived here!"
Esther smiled quietly. Then... something felt wrong. She looked toward Ozaki.
For the first time since he had learned to hold a spoon... his mouth was empty. He wasn't stuffing it with food, he wasn't smiling, he wasn't laughing.
He simply stared at his plate, thinking, slowly... he raised his head.
His eyes met the man sitting opposite him, his father. "Daddy..."
Mazin smiled warmly.
"Time for my birthday present?"
The servants smiled too. Whenever Ozaki asked for gifts... he usually requested things that benefited everyone in the household.
No one expected what came next.
Ozaki looked directly into his father's eyes.
"Daddy..."
"...where is Mummy?"
Silence.
Every servant froze, forks stopped moving, even the children fell quiet, no one dared speak.
Everyone listened.
Mazin's smile slowly disappeared. "...Ask for something else."
Ozaki shook his head. "I need answers." His voice grew firmer. "Is she alive?"
"...Did she leave us?"
Esther gently reached toward him, "Ozaki..." But he pulled away.
"No." He kept looking at his father.
"I want to know... Where is my mum?"
Again and again and again. The questions continued. Each one pressing harder than the last.
Until.
Mazin exploded.
"YOUR MOTHER IS A WHORE!" His voice thundered through the dining hall.
"SHE'S GONE!"
"SHE LET YOU BE BOUGHT BY MONEY!"
The room fell deathly silent.
Ozaki's eyes widened. Tears instantly filled them.
Never... not once... Had his father raised his voice at him. Yet on the one day meant to celebrate him...
His birthday... He was shouted at before everyone. His friends looked at one another.
Children understood one thing very well. When an adult is angry... You left.
Quietly, one after another, they excused themselves and hurried home.
Before long... whispers followed them. "Did you hear?"
"Ozaki's mother was a whore."
"No wonder..."
Children repeated what adults spoke without understanding the weight behind those words.
Back inside the mansion... Ozaki remained seated, silent, completely sober.
The food before him had gone cold. His birthday... was over before it had truly begun.
That night... the mansion was unusually quiet. The laughter that had filled its halls only hours earlier had vanished.
Ozaki shut himself inside his room.
BANG! The door slammed closed.
CRASH! Something struck the wall.
Another crash followed, then another. His cries echoed through the room.
"AHHHHH!!"
"WHY?!"
"WHY DIDN'T SHE STAY?!"
His small fists struck whatever they could reach, the wall, the table, the bed, the floor. Anything, everything.
Tears streamed endlessly down his face, his father's words replayed over and over inside his mind.
Your mother is a whore... She's gone... She let you be bought by money.
Every sentence hurt more and more as they played.
Outside the room... Esther stood quietly before the door. Her hand rested against the wood.
"Ozaki..." she called softly. No answer.
She knocked.
TOK. TOK. "Ozaki... please open the door."
Only another loud bang answered her. She closed her eyes. There was nothing she could say that would erase what he had heard.
So... she stayed. If he wouldn't let her in... then she would remain outside. At least he wouldn't be alone.
Another loud smack echoed from within, then another. But this time... something was different.
A faint silver light escaped beneath the door. Esther frowned. "...?"
Another impact, another flash.
Silver.
Again and again, each blow became brighter than the last. The light slowly spread across the cracks in the wooden door.
Her eyes widened. "What..."
The silver glow continued growing stronger, until it illuminated the entire hallway.
That night... Ozaki's magic awakened. Not ordinary magic, not Fire, not Wind, not Earth, not Water, not Lightning.
Silver.
A magic that appeared only once in centuries, not because of bloodline, not because of heritage.
It simply chose... whoever it deemed worthy, and on that night... the first Silver Magic user ever born in Rokye came into existence.
Morning arrived.
Sunlight poured through the mansion windows.
Mazin walked toward Ozaki's room, he hadn't slept much either. Regret lingered in his heart.
He had shouted at his own son, on his birthday.
He wanted to apologize.
Slowly... he pushed the door open.
CREAK. His footsteps stopped.
The room... didn't look the same anymore.
Esther was already inside. She knelt on the floor, quietly scrubbing strange silver stains from the wooden planks.
Ozaki sat upright on his bed, his eyes were swollen. Dark circles rested beneath them. He hadn't slept.
Not even for a moment.
Mazin's gaze slowly wandered around the room, the bed frame...
Silver.
The floor... Silver, the ceiling... Silver. The window frame, the door, the furniture. Everything carried a strange silver coating.
The room itself felt... Heavy, oppressive, almost impossible to breathe in.
Mazin instinctively took a step back. He had felt presences like this before. Only once.
A-Rank.
His heart skipped.
"This..."
"This is magic."
Fear replaced confusion. Without wasting another second, he grabbed Ozaki by the hand. "We're going."
Esther immediately stood. "I'll come too."
---
The Graders' building stood quietly near the center of Kehi.
Mazin pushed the door open.
Five elderly men instantly turned toward him, all were past their fifties.
Three Fire users, two Wind users.
Each already stood in a fighting stance, their magic quietly gathered around them. The overwhelming presence they had sensed moments ago had led them to believe danger was approaching.
Then... they saw the source.
A sleepy little boy.
Ozaki's eyes still sagged from exhaustion. He slowly looked at the five men.
Then asked, "Did you old men know my mother was a whore?"
Silence. No one answered.
He simply walked past them and sat down in the waiting chair.
The room remained frozen. Mazin slowly looked at the Graders. His expression changed.
A single glance, one message.
Don't answer.
The Graders understood immediately. No one spoke.
Instead, Mazin explained everything, the birthday, the silver room, the strange pressure, the glowing magic.
His conclusion. "It has to be magic."
The Graders exchanged looks, one of them nodded. "Bring the Orb."
A crystal sphere was carefully brought into the room. The object used to identify a person's magic type.
Normally... children stood before it, placed a hand upon it, waited for it to react.
Ozaki didn't even bother standing, he remained slouched in his chair. "If I can blow off that ball..."
He lazily raised one hand, his fingers folded together, forming the shape of a gun. "...then maybe it's magic."
CLICK. Nothing seemed to happen.
Then,
CRACK!! The crystal sphere exploded into countless fragments.
Silence. Absolute silence, every eye widened, the room froze.
Esther stared at the shattered pieces, the other Graders looked around in confusion.
"What happened?"
"What broke it?"
None of them understood. Except... ywo people.
Mazin and one of the Graders.
Mazin had grown up in LOUNGE. He had once heard stories, old stories. Stories of a Silver Magic user.
The elderly Grader... had also visited LOUNGE years ago during an exploration.
There... He had read an ancient record. A warning. One sentence from that record echoed inside his mind.
The Silver Magic user LOUNGE had, brought disaster. His expression changed immediately.
Slowly... he rose from his chair.
Step.
Step.
Step.
He approached Ozaki carefully. The boy looked back without emotion, the old Grader finally spoke.
"Your mother... is alive."
Ozaki's eyes lifted.
The Grader continued. "And I can bet... she truly wants to meet you."
"But your father—"
"Enough." Mazin's voice cut through the room.
Before another word could leave the Grader's mouth... Mazin clamped both hands over Ozaki's ears. He refused to let him hear another sentence.
Without another word... He dragged his son toward the exit. Esther hurried after them.
The Graders watched silently. No one tried to stop them.
Outside... Mazin's heart pounded. He finally understood what had happened.
A record... unlike anything ROKYE had ever seen... Had just been born into his own bloodline.
And deep inside... that realization terrified him. The journey back to the mansion was quiet. Too quiet.
Mazin walked ahead without saying a word.
His face remained calm, but his mind was anything but.
The Grader's words refused to leave him.
Your mother is alive...
If Ozaki learned the whole truth... Would he leave? Would he abandon everything Mazin had built?
His hands tightened. No. That couldn't happen, not after everything.
Behind him, Ozaki walked with Esther. His eyes remained fixed on the ground, yet, despite the pain in his heart... one sentence echoed louder than every other.
Your mother is alive.
Alive.
That single word was enough. For the first time in his life... hope had replaced emptiness.
From that day onward... Ozaki's dream began to take shape. He no longer wanted to remain inside luxurious walls.
He didn't dream of becoming another wealthy businessman like his father. He wanted something else.
He wanted to become... an adventurer. If he travelled the world... he might one day find his mother.
And if others carried the same pain he did... children abandoned, children separated from their parents.
He wanted to help them too, it became his purpose.
Mazin, however... had already planned a different future. He wanted Ozaki to inherit everything. The businesses, the wealth, the influence.
He envisioned his son as a man with white-collar knowledge. A businessman greater than himself.
But Ozaki was still only a child. His father's word remained law. Unable to oppose him directly... he found another path.
He buried his dream. For now.
Instead... he poured every ounce of effort into his studies.
If his father wanted him educated... then he would become the very best.
His results surpassed everyone's expectations. Before long... he entered the first phase of school within the village.
Mazin couldn't have been happier. "My son..."
A proud smile crossed his face.
"...will become even greater than me."
The mansion gradually became quieter. Ozaki spent most of the year at school, he returned only during holidays, then left again as soon as classes resumed.
But every holiday... Nothing changed. His dream remained alive. To become... An adventurer.