Coffey Dreadroll.
She was twenty-three years old.
The daughter of my old man and a woman named Sophie Dreadroll, she was still young, but by relation, she was my aunt.
Her profession was mage.
She ran a private guild and was apparently one of the relatively well-known youngsters in the field.
Though she had been estranged from the Walker family for many years, the old man had contacted her a short while ago, asking her to look after me following his death—or so it seemed.
"Though when I say take care of you, I only mean to a certain extent, of course."
Adding that caveat, Ms. Coffey brought her teacup to her lips.
"I've heard the gist about you. The old geezer bragged that you were a talented grandson he was proud of. You two must have been close."
That was surprising.
The old man had been rather strict, so I rarely ever received praise from him.
"Well then, down to business. In the middle of next week, the entrance exams for Magias Magic Academy will be held. I came here today to give you the details."
"Next week?"
I glanced at the calendar on the wall.
There were less than three days left before next week began.
"I was only asked to do this recently myself. Originally, the old geezer probably planned to tell you in person, but I guess he didn't have the leeway for that..."
Indeed, while he was alive, the old man had mentioned that when the time came, he would have me enroll in an appropriate institution. He had probably been referring to this Magias place.
"You like magic, don't you? If you go there, you can research magic to your heart's content. Care to give it a shot?"
It was an offer too good to be true.
In my past life, I had hardly been able to go to school, and in this life, I hadn't been blessed with the opportunity either.
Just as I was wondering what to do with my life from here on, an alluring proposal had fallen right into my lap.
It almost seemed too convenient.
However, Magias was a prestigious institution that even someone as sheltered as me had heard of at least once. With the exam taking place next week, my options were limited.
"...I'd love to go, but starting now, I won't have enough time to prepare for the exams."
"It'd be tough for an ordinary student, but you were trained by that old geezer, weren't you? Why not just take it and see? Also, drop the polite speech."
Ms. Coffey said it nonchalantly, but in truth, the exam would likely be grueling. In the first place, you couldn't just decide to take a test this week and expect to pass the next. Normally speaking, it would be a complete waste of money.
"Magias has somewhat strict training policies, but the experience there will definitely serve you well once you enter society. Considering your future, I don't think you have anything to lose by enrolling."
"Even if that's true, there's the tuition to begin with..."
"Don't you have any savings? That old geezer should have earned a fortune back in the day."
"The old man was pretty reckless with his money, so we've been living frugally for about the last five years..."
Ms. Coffey crossed her arms and closed her eyes for a moment.
I felt the air grow just a fraction tenser.
"All right. On the condition that you work part-time at my guild while attending school, I'll take care of the tuition somehow. That's assuming you pass, of course."
...Taking care of it was hardly a simple matter.
No good; having a beautiful woman suddenly show up claiming to be a relative was making me overly suspicious.
Ms. Coffey's existence matched the information the old man had given on his deathbed. Let's stop doubting her for now.
"Well... it's not like I don't owe that old geezer. If the person I'm supposed to repay is dead, I'll just repay it to you instead."
"Could I... have the documents?"
"Here."
Accepting the scroll, I skimmed through its contents.
Initial enrollment costs, annual tuition.
Monthly living expenses.
It seemed tuition fees could be discounted depending on exam performance, but it was better not to rely on that.
Taking everything into account, under my current financial situation, attending would be impossible unless I sold the magic swords I forged or went into debt. That alone made Ms. Coffey's proposal undeniably extraordinary.
"...Well, I understand you're anxious, but..."
With an attitude that seemed to see right through my wariness, Ms. Coffey paused for a beat before continuing.
"Graduate from a proper school, and you should contribute to society. Life is far more fun that way."
She was entirely right.
If I stayed smoldering out here in the countryside, there would have been no point in training in magic. It would just amount to self-satisfaction.
The reason I was born into this world.
I could consider that duty fulfilled, just as the old man had said.
All that remained was figuring out what I was living for.
If I went there, would I find that answer?
"I'd like a little time."
"Sure, I can wait until around tomorrow. Think it over carefully."
That was plenty of time.
My decision was practically made, but I wanted to calculate the detailed expenses just to be sure.
"Also, I'm staying the night here."
"Huh?"
"Can't be helped, can it? This village doesn't have an inn."
◇
Night.
While Ms. Coffey rested in the spare room on the second floor, I decided to cook dinner.
It might have been an empty countryside, but I at least wanted to offer her a decent meal.
Since I handled almost all the household chores here, I had enough confidence in my cooking to serve a proper dinner to a guest.
In a rural backwater with next to no entertainment, fussing over food was practically my only amusement.
"Anything simple is fine, really."
She had said so herself, but I couldn't treat a relative who had traveled all the way from the city for the sake of my future poorly. I resolved to offer the best hospitality I could, using ingredients preserved for holidays.
And then came dinner time.
Ms. Coffey had arrived around noon, and night seemed to fall in the blink of an eye.
"My, isn't this delicious?"
Seeing Ms. Coffey happily stuffing her cheeks with my cooking, I breathed a sigh of relief.
The main dish I served was a seafood soup.
I had used fine herbs to give it a rich, aromatic flavor.
Even if I had to say so myself, it turned out quite well.
"How do you keep the fish and everything fresh? We're far from the sea, aren't we?"
"I stored what I was given in a specialized container at low temperatures to keep it from spoiling."
"Huh. But that's not the old geezer's technique, is it? Did you... did you do this, Brendan?"
"Well, yeah..."
"Aren't you amazing! And you're only seventeen!"
Ms. Coffey laughed and gave my back a hearty slap.
Apparently, she was an exceptionally cheerful, lively person at heart.
"Generally speaking, what kind of work do mages do?"
"Hmm?"
When I brought up the topic, Ms. Coffey held her spoon in her mouth and let her eyes drift up toward the ceiling.
"All sorts of things. Research, detective work, infrastructure maintenance, construction, mercenary work... Plenty of people serve in the national military as magical soldiers, too."
It was basically just as the old man had told me.
However, popular trends seemed to come and go with the times.
Back in the old man's day, the world was far more dangerous, and fighting for the country as a magical soldier in the national military to become a hero was every child's dream. Compared to those days, the field seemed to have diversified considerably.
"Magic has so many applications, so a lot of people use it to expand what they're capable of doing. While becoming a mage is a narrow gate, it broadens your choices in life and makes things exciting."
"What kind of mage are you, Aunt Coffey?"
"A jack-of-all-trades."
Holding a hand over her mouth and cheeks, which were puffing busily like a squirrel's, Coffey continued.
"Manufacturing and selling medicine, VIP protection, beast extermination, subcontracting magical experiments. Things have been dangerous lately, so combat jobs are pretty common, I guess. Seconds, please."
She looked slender, but she ate an impressive amount.
I was glad I had made extra.
"Ah, but among mages, I'm actually pretty incredible, you know."
"Pretty incredible?"
"Yep. To the point where people hire me to get rid of nasty dragons."
The old man was pretty casual about things too, but she was equally nonchalant. It was probably subconscious, but the family resemblance was unmistakably there. They didn't seem to have gotten along, though, so I refrained from touching on that for now.
"Bren, is there anything you want to do in the future?"
"Ah..."
Caught off guard by her sudden question, this time it was my turn to let my eyes wander toward the ceiling.
"I don't know about the future, but... I want to study magic more."
The words slipped out of my mouth with surprising ease, even to me.
Realizing what I had said an instant later, I slowly looked at my aunt.
She was resting her chin in both hands, grinning with childish glee.
"Then doesn't that mean you've got no choice but to go to school?"
"............I guess so."
I had intended to tell her tomorrow, but it didn't matter.
It meant that subconsciously, my mind had already been made up from the start.
Rising from my seat, I bowed deeply to her.
"I will definitely repay this debt. If I pass, please cover my tuition, Auntie."
"H-Hold on, raise your head! Good grief, stop that."
My aunt flustered in surprise, but establishing our terms clearly was only proper courtesy.
"For someone raised by that old geezer, you're quite a well-mannered boy. Yes, yes, rely on your aunt to your heart's content!"
Ruffling my lowered head vigorously, she laughed with hearty abandon.
At first, the offer had sounded too good to be true and I had harbored my doubts, but she was someone I could trust.
"Now that that's settled, we depart for the royal capital tomorrow! I'll help you cram for the exams during the journey!"
The very next day, I left the settlement and set out for the royal capital alongside Aunt Coffey.
It had been seventeen years since I was reincarnated into this world as Brendan Walker.
The season was right around the break of winter.
◇
The events of this day were recorded years later in "his" biography:
"Giving in to a vague yearning, I departed from the home of my birth and resolved to take the entrance examination for Magias Magic Academy. Ultimately, this proved to be the beginning of everything, and became the single most rewarding investment of my entire life."
—Excerpt from Brendan Walker, the Magic Sword King