Chersion realized that the world he had been seeing and feeling all along had been blurred.

Or it felt as if it had been wrapped in a hazy membrane.

That’s how much clearer and more distinct the world experienced through a magician’s senses was.

It felt as if he was born again.

Everything in the world seemed unfamiliar.

“Wow! This is so amazing! Does Sir Joseph always feel like this?”

Chersion’s reaction, looking around and finally getting up to peer out the window, resembled a small puppy wagging its tail in delight at seeing snow.

“Look over there! Even though it’s so dark outside, I can see the entire garden maze! Wow, that’s where His Majesty the Emperor sleeps! It’s so huge and magnificent!”

After bouncing around here and there for quite a while, Chersion finally noticed the mirror.

Only then did the child set aside his curiosity and look up at Joseph.

“But if you lend it to me like this, doesn’t that mean you can’t use magic, Sir Joseph? Since you said it’s a magician’s sense…”

“Not necessarily, but there are some restrictions. However, it’s fine since I don’t need to use magic requiring senses right now anyway. Moreover, lending you the sense isn’t permanent.”

“Phew.”

“More importantly…”

“Yes?”

Joseph lowered himself to sit down. Only after meeting Chersion’s eye level did he open his mouth.

“I’m going to show you something now. Can you tell me how it makes you feel after seeing it?”

“How it feels?”

Though he wasn’t sure, it didn’t seem like a difficult task. Chersion nodded.

Then Joseph extended his arm and raised a finger.

With a soft ‘pop’, that’s when a small flame appeared at the tip of his finger.

“Wow!”

“This isn’t a light created by magic, but a real flame.”

“Oh!”

Chersion almost froze at those words, but soon blinked his large eyes.

Indeed, upon closer look, the small flame was gently flickering.

“Hmm…”

Chersion’s brow furrowed as he intently stared at the flame.

He was told to answer how it felt, so he had to say something…

“…It’s small and cute?”

Pfft, Joseph finally let out a short laugh. Chersion’s face turned bright red.

“Sir Joseph! You’re making fun of me!”

“No, I’m not. It’s just that something truly small and cute reminds me of young lord Chelsea.”

“See? You are teasing me!”

“Ahahahaha.”

In the end, he couldn’t hide the laughter that burst forth.

As Joseph covered his face and chuckled, Chersion pouted and mumbled complaints.

“W-well… It’s so different from the fires I know… I don’t really understand. Usually even looking at a fireplace was too hard, but this fire isn’t scary at all, and it’s warm and cozy…”

“Ahaha, yes. That’s good enough.”

And that response was exactly the reaction Joseph had intended to confirm.

Having finally suppressed his laughter, he spoke with a gentle expression.

“Young lord Chelsea. You’re troubled by bad memories, aren’t you?”

“That’s…”

“And when you think of good memories, you feel as happy as you were in that moment, even now.”

“Yes…”

Chersion answered with a dark expression.

Joseph spoke before the child could delve deeper into his experiences.

“I’m the same way.”

“Huh?”

“In my case, the symptoms are a bit more complex. It would be too difficult to explain in detail, and it’s not really important, so let’s move on.”

His tone was so calm as he confessed to being of the same kind.

However, Joseph continued in a gentle tone before Chersion could properly react.

“In any case, we both have a memory that can’t forget experiences.”

“R-really?”

“Yes.”

“Wow. Then Sir Joseph also can’t forget any of the painful and difficult memories at all.”

“…That’s right. Just like you, young lord Chelsea.”

“…!”

At that moment, Chersion detected Joseph’s face subtly contorting.

The child’s face instantly turned pale. He realized this wasn’t something to be happy about.

“I-I’m sorry, Sir Joseph.”

At first, Chersion had simply been delighted to find something in common with someone he liked.

But thinking about it, those words meant that Joseph too was unable to escape from his past, just like himself.

Gently patting Chersion’s head, Joseph regained his kind smile.

“It’s alright. In my case, after becoming a magician, I gained a completely different sense, so it’s not as difficult as before.”

“Oh, is that because of the ‘magician’s sense’ you mentioned?”

“Yes. To be precise, it’s the sense of being able to see through to the essence of things.”

Joseph added that the ability to detect mana is the sense that only ‘true magicians’ can possess.

This is the ‘mana sense’.

The reason Chersion could perceive the world more clearly was because of this.

The mana sense that Joseph had temporarily lent him allowed Chersion to detect the mana imbued in objects.

“That’s not all. You can also place a protective barrier over memories you don’t want to recall. By doing so, you can avoid being consumed by old memories. Of course, this method is somewhat unstable, so it needs to be continuously reinforced, but…”

“I don’t really understand what you’re saying.”

“It’s alright if you don’t understand. I’ll be by your side from now on to help you anyway.”

This was quite a difficult concept for Chersion to grasp.

He seemed to understand at least that becoming a magician would reduce the suffering caused by unforgettable memories, but…

Seeing Chersion’s unfocused reaction, Joseph smiled softly.

He extinguished the flame at his fingertip and gently grasped the child’s small hands.

It was then that Chersion asked an unexpected question.

“So if I become a magician! I’ll be like you, Sir Joseph?”

“Pardon?”

“You’re saying that if I live in such a sparkling world, old memories won’t come to mind as much, right?”

Am I wrong? Chersion mumbled, tilting his head.

“Oh, am I… mistaken?”

Thanks to this, waves of confusion rose in Joseph’s pupils, which had been rippling like shallow seawater.

It’s correct, but.

No, it’s undoubtedly a good method, but.

“…”

Still, this was something Joseph had never even considered.

Because his inheritance of Chronomancy, the legacy of the Mage Emperor, was an inevitable choice he made to survive.

Even the mana sense was forcibly injected during the process of inheriting Chronomancy.

After all, people aren’t born with mana sense.

In fact, even for the Mage Emperor, who was said to be of true magician lineage from the Mage Era, mana sense was something inherited like an heirloom.

Not something innate.

‘So if I were to have Chelsea inherit the mana sense, it wouldn’t be impossible, but…’

That’s the problem.

Injecting mana sense ultimately means being chosen as the successor of Chronomancy.

It means having the same monster of Chronomancy implanted in one’s head, slowly going mad while counting down to thirty years old, becoming a time bomb.

Of course, it was out of the question. And not just anyone, but his son… no, the child who would become his son, he couldn’t let him suffer such pain.

‘If Chelsea were Lieselotte’s biological child, I wouldn’t be having this dilemma.’

Or…

‘Unless Chelsea lives with Lieselotte forever.’

There was something Joseph had learned while researching ways to survive for thousands of years.

Namely, that Chronomancy curls up quietly and doesn’t bare its teeth when passed on to a legitimate successor.

The reason Joseph suffers from headaches every day is because Chronomancy recognizes him as a usurper and is punishing him.

The reason Joseph’s pain disappears when he’s in contact with Lieselotte is none other than this.

‘Lieselotte is the true bloodline of magicians and the rightful heir to Chronomancy.’

Yes, though she seems unaware, the ancestor of the Landgrits was the last Mage Emperor who arrived on the Calant continent by ship long ago.

“…Young lord Chelsea, do you want to become a magician?”

Joseph asked with mixed feelings.

Chersion nodded vigorously with an excited face.

“Yes! So I can become an amazing person like you and mother! Helping people when they’re in trouble, protecting the weak!”

“…”

Let’s think about this coolly.

Having Chersion inherit Chronomancy is indeed the most effective way to permanently correct his memory disorder.

Especially for a Chronomancy magician, hyperthymesia is rather an advantageous condition.

In fact, it wasn’t uncommon for Mage Emperors to adopt someone with special memory abilities as their heir to Chronomancy.

In other words, Chersion has the talent to become an excellent magician.

If only the curse of Chronomancy could be solved…

‘…Wait a moment.’

Suddenly, Joseph noticed a contradiction in the succession system of Chronomancy.

They adopted a ‘successor’?

‘Not an heir?’

This was a point Joseph couldn’t possibly be confused about.

In the Mage Emperor’s records he had studied, Chronomancy strictly distinguishes between legitimate ‘heirs’ and ‘successors’.

But how could they call an adopted child a successor?