With the help of the shopkeeper and Amalia, I managed to carry my father back to Groot. We laid him down in the shopkeeper's first-floor room, and the three of us set to work treating his injuries.
"Your old man doesn't seem to have any broken bones, but... the burns are severe. All we can do is cool them down with water."
"Guest, um... can't you heal him with magic or something?"
"Amalia, magic isn't omnipotent. It doesn't have the power to sway life and death."
Unfortunately, there was very little magic could do when it came to medicine. At most, one could conjure clean water to wash out a wound.
"Dad, are you in pain anywhere?"
"I'm fine... It's much easier now..."
"I see. I'm sorry. If only I had handled things better..."
"Don't be. It's nothing you should blame yourself for..."
Watching my father try to put on a brave front made my chest tighten. If only I had surrendered my left hand right away. Or if only I had been skilled enough with my magic to drive them off. No matter how much I agonized over it, the regret wouldn't fade.
"Um... thank you, shopkeeper, Amalia. You came because you heard the explosion, right?"
"No, I didn't hear a thing like that."
"Yes. There wasn't any sound at all."
"What?"
That was impossible. A detonation of that much mana had occurred. Groot wasn't all that far from Heldt Square; it made no sense that they wouldn't have heard anything.
"Like I told you, I only went to the square because I had a bad feeling. And when I got there, you and your old man were in terrible shape."
"But there was definitely fire magic—"
"...Which just means this plot was far more calculated than you think, kid."
"Huh?"
"You said there was a woman in a nun's habit, right?...Kid, from here on, not a word of this leaves this room."
Faced with the grim, oppressive air settling over the shopkeeper, all I could do was nod. As I fell silent, he began to speak in a low, steady flow.
I'll give it to you straight. Just like you saw, this is without a doubt the Church's doing.
Surprised? But think about what you told me earlier. You said your old man asked the Church where you were staying....That's right. The Church is about the only one who would've known he came to Ulm.
I'm sure you've got plenty of questions, but let me tell you an old story first. As you probably know, I took the mage examination thirty years ago. Back then, there was no preparatory school. It was rare, sure, but there were people who came all the way from the countryside—like your uncle, Leonard.
The buddy who took the exam alongside me was Heinz Ahrendt. Yeah, the guy who's the principal of the preparatory school now. I was pretty confident in my magic, and he was sharp as a tack, too... but I failed the first exam, and he failed the second.
The one who was head and shoulders above everyone else that year was Leonard. Even though he'd come from the sticks, word was that none of us city kids could even hold a candle to him. Heinz and I could only sigh. We wondered if, in the end, it really did just come down to raw talent.
Leonard was famous among us. Partly for his brilliant intellect, of course, but also because of the rumor that he read books in Heldt Square every single night. Even now, that square is pitch-black at night, just like it was back then. In a completely empty square, he'd quietly kindle a light and study all by himself. Naturally, he made a name for himself.
After we failed the exam, Heinz and I talked about heading down to Heldt Square one night. We just wanted to talk to the kind of guy who could pass the written exam at the very top of the class.
And then, right around the day Leonard passed the third exam, I think it was... Heinz and I went to Heldt Square. But when we arrived, there was an unusual commotion. Wondering what was happening, we rushed over... only to find Leonard collapsed on the ground, clutching scraps of shredded paper.
Panicking, we tended to him and asked what happened. And then... it's a disgraceful thing. A rejected examinee, blinded by spite, had jumped Leonard and torn his exam slip to ribbons. Being a country bumpkin probably made him an even bigger target for their envy... Heinz and I were left utterly dumbfounded.
Leonard was weeping. But you know, I really respect him for it. He didn't fight back. With his magic, fighting them off wouldn't have been any trouble at all. He just didn't want to hurt anyone. In a way, maybe that was his pride as a gifted mage.
Still, the fact remained that he'd lost his exam slip. He couldn't take the exam anymore. Leonard had no choice but to head back to the countryside. If he stayed in Ulm, there was no telling when he might be targeted again.
Heinz and I joined forces to help Leonard slip out of Ulm that very night. I channeled every last drop of mana I had into casting cognition impairment magic across the whole area. I made everyone forget the name "Leonard Bauer" to lower the chances of him being attacked even a little. The spell I used was so powerful that I ended up forgetting it myself, though.
That night was the last time Heinz and I ever pursued the mage examination; we gave up. I ended up as nothing more than a humble innkeeper... but Heinz was different. Only those blessed with innate talent basked in the limelight as mages, while those with nothing envied them. Heinz set out to change that.
He founded the preparatory school. Using every trick in the book, he gathered students and turned "if you're taking the mage exam, you attend the prep school" into common knowledge. The results showed immediately, and before long, the people passing the mage examination were almost entirely prep school students. Even without talent, if you worked yourself to the bone, your efforts would be rewarded... That was what Heinz proved.
That's right. Ever since the year Heinz and I took the exam, almost no applicants from outside Ulm have passed. Well... the only real exception might be Edel Wittmann. I've heard he's exceptionally gifted.
To get back to the point: the share of court mages hailing from Ulm grew larger and larger. They weren't brilliantly talented with magic, but they were the sort who handled their duties pragmatically and efficiently. Since the preparatory school's curriculum only ever cared about getting them through the exam, it couldn't be helped. The court mages in particular are in a sorry state—some of them can't even cast magic properly.
Kid, what do you think a court mage's job actually is? Naturally, administrative work is part of it... but magical research is a vital duty, too. Yet there's no way people who only ever studied to pass tests could understand the true essence of magic. That's why this country's fundamental magical theory has been frozen in place for thirty years. You said you passed the exam using an old grimoire... and that's the reason why.
Still, even without understanding the fundamentals of magic, you can still apply it. The mages from Ulm actively worked to integrate magic into their hometown. As a result, this city transformed. Over these past thirty years, Ulm has grown at a blistering pace by harnessing magic.
So what Heinz did wasn't entirely wrong. The wave of education that began with his prep school gradually took root throughout Ulm. Even if they didn't go so far as aiming to become mages, more and more children learned to read and study. Amalia is probably one of them.
Magic brought prosperity to the royal capital. Ulm underwent an astonishing transformation. But there were people who looked upon that with displeasure. People who felt a profound sense of crisis and tried to put a stop to it.
—Children of man, usurp not the works of God. Know thine own limits through science, and revere the Almighty.
It's a famous passage. Yeah, that's right. The ones driven into a corner as the city of Ulm was steeped in magic...
...were the Church.