I'm the Only Magus in This Witch World

Magna finally asked the question that had been on his mind. "There’s just one thing that caught my attention. Witches need sound to control mana, and the honorific names of the Gods to make it real. So why don’t Shadows need either of those?"

His choice of the word "sound," not "words," made Celeste ask. "Sound? Did you mean words?"

To her surprise, Magna answered with a thoughtful look. "Aren’t words only there to train a Witch’s voice and make them gain experience more easily? I thought it was actually the sound itself that triggered the mana."

Celeste stared at his face for a few seconds without saying a word.

Her thoughts kept racing through her mind, one after another.

’Are all children from ancient families this sharp?’ Just thinking it made her feel small.

Magna was only seven or eight years old. He had grown up in a cave with no contact with the outside world, and he had even taught himself how to read and speak on his own.

As if that wasn’t enough, he had read an entire theory book on spellcasting in under an hour, and had somehow spotted its biggest mystery, its most important catch.

Any proper Witch would eventually ask themselves that same question at some point in their life, wondering if sound alone was the real trigger.

But that was as far as it usually went. They would only ever ask it with doubt, nothing like the way Magna had just stated it outright, so sure and so confident in himself.

He had simply stated it with total confidence, understanding on his own that words only existed to help train a Witch’s voice.

Celeste suddenly felt a pang of pity, thinking about how bright his future could have been if only he had been born a girl.

Still, even now, his future was bright enough, as long as he agreed to become a Shadow, specifically Faye’s Shadow.

"That’s right. Voice alone is enough to trigger a spell alongside the honorific names." Celeste patted his head, a small reward for such a sharp observation.

She walked over to her desk and sat down slowly before continuing. "But it’s not quite that simple. To control mana, aside from voice, you also need imagination. Words help you picture the spell you’re trying to cast, to a certain degree."

She paused for a second, then added. "Of course, if you’re skilled enough at imagining things, and you have good control over your voice, you could technically cast a basic spell just by muttering."

By "you," she wasn’t talking about Magna, of course.

Magna more or less understood the basic principle behind spellcasting now. His only remaining problem was still the same, his lack of mana.

"As for your question about how Shadows can cast spells without chanting." Celeste picked up a book from her desk and handed it to him. "This book covers all the theories on that, though don’t expect any proven answers inside."

Magna was genuinely surprised to learn there wasn’t even a real explanation for it.

Even Shadows themselves didn’t know how they cast spells, as it came naturally to them.

He reached out and took the book.

It was noticeably thinner than every other book he had seen so far, which made sense, since it seemed even the theories on the subject were few and far between.

"Thank you." He was already eager to head back to his room and start reading, hoping it might give him some insight to find the real truth that others had somehow missed.

"There’s one more thing." Celeste opened a drawer in her desk and pulled out a red object.

Magna recognized it instantly. It was the sharp object he had once used to cut goblin meat.

He had given it to Faye last time, so she could cut through the top of the ice dome, and he had completely forgotten about it since.

Before handing it back, Celeste asked. "Do you know what this actually is?"

Magna shook his head. "No idea. I just found it hidden inside a book."

"I see." Celeste nodded, then explained. "It’s a scale from a Giant Crimson Lizard. A very valuable ingredient for making artifacts, potions, and things like that. If you want to sell it, I can offer you a good price."

Magna already knew what a Giant Crimson Lizard was, thanks to Faye.

It was some kind of ancestor to the red lizards, or more specifically, a regional boss found in the swamps.

"How valuable is it, exactly?" He didn’t really know yet what he could even use money for in this world.

Honestly, he hadn’t even seen what kind of currency they used here. Still, it seemed like a good chance to learn.

Celeste leaned back slowly in her chair, thinking it over for a few seconds before answering.

"A Giant Crimson Lizard is a powerful deviant that can use strong fire spells. Just to harvest one of its scales usually takes at least three 12th trial Witches working together, which is exactly why it’s so valuable.

The price of this alone could let you and your next three generations live comfortably in any city, without ever needing to work a day in your lives."

Celeste added one more thing to help him understand better. "To put it in perspective, I’m only a 10th trial Witch, and my mother, the head of this family, is a 12th trial Witch."

Magna’s eyes went wide the moment he finally understood the object’s true value.

The fact that Celeste was giving the scale back to him, and even took the time to explain its real worth, was an incredibly kind gesture.

The object was clearly valuable enough to matter even to a family as wealthy as the Winterbornes.

"You don’t have to pay me anything for it. You can just take it as a gift from me." Magna said without hesitation.

Celeste paused for a moment, then asked, clearly surprised. "Are you sure? With that kind of money, you could leave this place and live anywhere you wanted."

Magna shrugged at that. "I’ve actually already decided to stay here. So you can just think of it as payment, for covering whatever I might need."

Celeste couldn’t quite tell if she should feel happy hearing that, or worried instead.

Happy, of course, because Magna had finally said out loud that he intended to stay.

Worried, because the Winterbornes had promised him everything just to win him over to their family, and now here he was, doing the exact opposite, buying his own place with his own money, something that could put the family in a difficult position.

’This kid...’

Celeste realized that with each passing day, she was starting to admire the kid more and more.

She even caught herself wishing Magna wasn’t quite so brilliant, since it was slowly getting harder to feel right about trying to bind him to her daughter.

But a mother was still a mother, and mothers would do anything for their children.

She just needed to push Faye a little harder, to make her worthy enough for him. That way, maybe someday Magna would choose to become her Shadow on his own, the same way he had chosen to stay in the estate, without Celeste ever having to feel guilty about it.

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