Cain snorted at Satin’s words, but Satin knew the future. It wouldn’t be long before the Temple Knights came to rescue Cain. Well, strictly speaking, they weren’t coming just for Cain but to save all the children here, and Cain is just one of the children saved in the process.
‘But for that to happen, the teacher has to be a bad person.’ Satin thought, Satin recalled what Rogers said earlier. The children envied Satin. They ate, slept and studied together, but only Satin was considered the teacher’s true apprentice. Even if Cain didn’t believe it, the other Children did.
‘Is it because Satin, as the true apprentice, is the one who goes out to avenge his teacher?” he mused. Even an evil dark wizard could be a good person to someone. He suddenly wondered what differentiated a dark wizard from a regular wizard. Why did Temple KNights deem it necessary to dispose of the teacher?
“Why are you staring at me like that?” Cain snapped, misinterpreting Satin’s blank stare as a glare.
In Dark Age, A twenty-year-old Cain was described as having a fairly impressive build, but now he looked quite ordinary. He was shorter than Satin, so looking up at him naturally made his eyes narrow.
Satin blurted out without thinking, “You know, you kind of look like a kitten.”
“What?”
“Oh, sorry, I got lost in thought.”
“...You really lost your mind.” With an angry expression, Cain stomped out of the library.
Feeling awkward, Satin glanced around the library, wondering if anyone had overheard their conversation. Fortunately, no one was around.
‘Maybe I should’ve called him a caracal instead.’
“Are you just loitering around looking for something to eat, Cain?”
As Cain passed through the kitchen, the shaggy-haired Rufus asked. Cain snapped back, “I don’t need anything.” and stormed down the hallway. When he reached the lobby, he could hear the laughter of unsuspecting children from outside open the door.
‘Kitten? What nonsense.’ Thinking about what Satin had said made his face flush. It wasn’t out of embarrassment but anger. Satin really wasn’t in his right mind. Even by just looking at the neatly made bed, Cain could see he was different from the old Satin. Before, Satin never kept his bed or desk tidy, but now he was as orderly as a different person.
Cain had caught snippets of what the other children were saying. He had some idea that something had happened to Satin.
‘Lost his memory?’
Even while eavesdropping on the conversation between Rogers and Satin outside the door, Cain couldn’t fully erase his doubts. That crazy old man’s apprentice was probably up to some cunning trick.
From the moment Cain arrived, he hated Satin, the other children thought Cain just hated Satin for no reason at all, but the truth was a bit different. Satin hated Cain too. And Cain knew the reason: They saw each other as rivals.
Rogers thought the old man, the crazy wizard, had taken Satin as his apprentice, but he was mistaken. Cain clearly remembered what the crazy old man had said when they first met.
‘He said I have potential.’
At that time, Cain didn’t understand what he meant. It was only after he spent some time here that he figured it out. The children who came here were all around twelve or thirteen years old. Rogers was fourteen, but Cain had heard he had been here for over a year, so he must’ve been twelve or thirteen when he first arrived.
The crazy old man had standards for bringing in children. They had to be young, but not so young that they couldn’t communicate. They had to be obedient and not too clever. And they had to have no one to rely on.
In summary, the old man preferred easily manageable kids. Cain didn’t meet any of those criteria. He was already sixteen and not particularly obedient. He had no place to go, but he did have a group he used to run with on the streets. And despite all of that, Cain was still brought here. He had tried to pickpocket the old man without knowing he was a wizard and ended up getting caught.
‘I should’ve been more careful about who I was targeting.’
Cain was usually a meticulous person. He was careful in choosing his targets. But the old man seemed so easy that Cain made the mistake of going after him, leading to his current situation.
‘I won’t make that mistake again.’
Trying to figure out what the crazy old man was planning, Cain kept a low profile. But Satin kept catching his eye. Satin was similar to Cain in many ways. He was older than the other kids, appeared obedient but occasionally showed a sly nature. When he dropped his smile, his face becomes unsettlingly cold.
‘A snake-like bastard.’
The other kids didn’t notice Satin’s dual nature, but the old man couldn’t have missed it. Regardless of his personality, the old man must’ve seen some use in Satin to bring him here. Maybe that very nature of Satin made him more useful.
Cain began to suspect that Satin might’ve been brought here for a different reason than the rest of the kids. With that suspicion, he naturally started to understand why he himself was here. The old man had talked about potential, potential in magic. Maybe Cain was meant to be Satin’s replacement. Though he hadn’t confirmed anything yet, Cain was convinced that the old man was up to something—and it wasn’t good.
“Hey, Cain.” Tim, who had been running down the stairs, called out to him but seemed taken aback. Cain started to ignore him but then stopped.
“Hey, mouse.”
“Don’t call me that!” Tim bristled, his eyes wide with defiance, but he looked about as threatening as a mouse. In fact, it made him seem even more like one.
‘A mouse in front of a cat.’Cain thought with a smirk, but then he felt a wave of irritation. Satin's earlier words resurfaced in his mind. His face must have shown his irritation because Tim, thinking Cain was mad at him, shrank back.
“Why did you call me?”
“Where did you go last night?”
“W-what do you mean?” Tim averted his eyes, trying to play dumb.
“You went somewhere last night. I saw you.” In truth, Cain didn't actually see him. He only heard the door open in the middle of the night. Being sensitive to noises, he could tell it came from the room in front of his.
Someone had left the room, but he couldn’t tell who it was. There was only one set of careful footsteps, so he assumed it was just one person. The kids living in the room in front were Tim and Robin. Cain subtly questioned Robin during breakfast, but Robin seemed genuinely confused, leaving Tim as the likely culprit.
“I-I just went to the bathroom…”
“Don’t lie. You didn’t go down the stairs.” The bathroom, washroom, and bathhouse were all on the first floor. If Tim had gone to another kid’s room, there wouldn’t be a reason to lie about it. It was obvious where Time had actually gone.
“You went to the teacher, didn’t you?” Cain’s confident question made Tim drop his gaze again. His sun-tanned face turned pale.
“Why did you go?”
“I just had something to ask…”
“In the middle of the night?”
“That’s possible. When you’re curious about something, you should ask right away.” Tim stumbled over his implausible excuse.
“Did the teacher call for you?” Tim looked up, startled. He was still too young to hide his emotions effectively. The crazy old man had specifically picked kids like this. Cain quickly glanced around to make sure no one else was around. Tim, now anxious, did the same.
“Mouse, you know that Satin has lost his memory, right?”
“Maybe the teacher thinks he needs a new apprentice.” Cain continued.
Tim didn’t respond, just continued to stare at Cain, trying to figure out why he was saying all of this.
Cain feigned friendliness as he placed a hand on Tim’s shoulder, though he didn’t expect Tim to see it that way. The other kids were all somewhat intimidated by Cain, instinctively sensing he was different from them.
“Don’t you agree? How can Satin help the teacher when he doesn’t remember anything?”
“Yeah…”
“ So, the teacher actually called you?”
“ Kinda like that.”
“What did you help with?”
Tim opened his mouth, then closed it again. Cain chuckled, “I don’t want to become a wizard. I just don’t like Satin.”
Tim looked up at Cain, unsure, and swallowed hard, his throat bobbing slightly.
“I think it'd be better if you became the teacher’s apprentice instead of Satin.” That was a lie. Cain didn’t care who became the mad old man’s apprentice. He was just curious about what was going on in the lab.
Tim hesitated, then spoke, “I-I like Satin. He’s been nice to me.”
Childish sentiment. Tim didn’t see the coldness in Satin’s eyes, whether before or after his memory loss. That unreadable look often irritated Cain, but Cain didn’t reveal his true thoughts and said, “Why does it matter? You’d just be doing what Satin can’t.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. So tell me, do you think the teacher wants you as his apprentice?”
Tim hesitated, then nodded. Even after checking earlier, he glanced around again to make sure no one was nearby, then whispered, “The teacher discovered a new kind of formula, and he needs my help to use it.”
“What kind of formula?”
It’s really suspicious. Discovering a magical formula meant the old man knew what the spell could do. That’s why it’s called a discovery. So why would he need help now?
Tim shrugged, “I don’t know, he said he needs to verify it.”
“Hmmm.”
“But it’s a secret, okay? Don’t tell anyone. I don’t want things to get awkward with Satin…”
Tim, worried, repeatedly urged Cain. Cain nodded, pretending to understand, “Now go.”
“Huh?”
“Go play.”
“Oh, okay.”
Tim glanced around nervously before dashing down the stairs. Cain rubbed his chin thoughtfully and headed up to the second floor.
‘What does he mean by verifying a new formula?’
Credits:
TL: Sajin
TL Comments:
TL: We trust the process
