Chapter 11

Kamui lived in a mansion located on the outskirts of Begratia.

Given how powerful he seemed, I had imagined a grand estate, but the place we arrived at was a fairly ordinary mansion, aside from the spacious garden.

The trees in the garden seemed to obstruct the view from outside—likely to keep any magic training hidden from prying eyes.

“I’m home!”

“Welcome back, dear.”

We were greeted by a gentle-looking woman.

Her face had a soft, round raccoon-like look, and her eyes were large and sparkling. Kamui had a sharp, almost blade-like impression, but she gave off a soft, marshmallow-like aura instead.

“H-Hello, my name is Kuhn.”

“Oh my, how polite! I’m Mel.”

“Dad, who’s this guy?”

As Mel and I exchanged polite bows, a voice chimed in from the side.

Standing next to the raccoon-faced beauty was a girl who looked rather stern.

Now that I thought about it, Kamui had mentioned he lived with two people, so this girl must be Kamui’s daughter.

Kamui mentioned her name was Alisa.

Her sharp eyes resembled Kamui’s, while her face shape and features reminded me of Mel. One look, and you could tell she had inherited both of their traits.

“I found someone interesting, so I brought him here.”

“What? He’s not a stray cat—take him back, you idiot!”

“He’s going to be living here from today on.”

“What, really?”

“Whaaaat!?”

I hadn’t heard anything about this on the way here.

And it was clear that no one had told her either, as her voice echoed loudly enough for the neighbors to hear.

“Oh my, I’ve always wanted a son, too.”

While Alisa and I were still in shock, Mel seemed blissfully off-topic.

Kamui looked around at all of us with a sly grin and then roughly patted my head.

“You wanted to be the disciple of a renowned magician, right? Well, you’re in luck. I’m strong, and believe it or not, Mel can use magic far better than those you were going to train under.”

“…”

I was taken aback by the sudden turn of events… but it was a rare opportunity.

If I missed this chance, I might never get another to apprentice under a true magician.

“Please take care of me.”

“Sure, leave it to me!”

We hadn’t spoken much, but Kamui didn’t seem to look down on me like other magicians did.

He seemed like a genuinely good person, and somehow, the aura he gave off made me feel like I could trust him.

Mel just stood by, smiling gently, showing no signs of intervening in Kamui’s decision.

However, Alisa was clearly displeased, glaring at Kamui with her father’s sharp eyes.

“Dad… are you serious?”

“Oh, I’m as serious as writing ‘serious’ in all caps.”

“What are you even thinking, Dad? I….”

“Even you need friends your age, Alisa. To grow stronger, you need someone to push yourself with, a partner to learn and grow with…”

“I don’t need anything like that.”

Alisa glanced at me, then looked back at Kamui.

“I don’t need any friends.”

Her gaze was slightly forlorn, a contradiction to her mature tone.

She sat down with a huff, crossing her arms. When she lifted her head, any hint of the previous expression had vanished.

“Alisa, enough. This is a family decision.”

“Family decision? Says the one who blows all our money! Now you act like the head of the household?”

“Head of the household…”

Kamui slumped his shoulders and retreated into his room.

…Can I really trust him?

Doubt crept in. Maybe I’d picked the wrong person to rely on…

And with these mixed feelings, it was decided that I would stay with the Kamui family.