My Childhood Friend Is An Archmage Chapter 66
Translated by d6y (ko-fi)
Chapter 66
"Nonsense. Apples are red."
At my comment, Lancer bursts out laughing. "Skyla, you've never eaten an apple, have you?"
"Aren't you the one who's never eaten an apple?"
"No, Rachel brings me apples sometimes, and I eat them in my room."
You don't know what an apple looks like. What kind of apples did Rachel give him?
With newfound curiosity, I drag Lancer into the end of the market. A playground where children can play while their parents shop is there.
As the kids are playing with a ball, the sand area is empty.
"Draw an apple in the sand there." I pointed using the cotton candy stick after I finished the candy.
Lancer crouches down to do as I say, but there's something odd about his apple.
The apple I know is round and has a wick on top, but Lancer’s is curved at the bottom like a half-moon and straight at the top.
It wasn't until I stared at his apple for a while, moving around to look at it from different angles, that I realised what he had drawn.
"It's a sliced apple."
Yup. Lancer's apple is a sliced apple. Now I get why the apples are white, he's never seen an apple on a tree before.
He'd seen the sliced apple that Rachel brought in, calling it an "apple," and so he thought that's how apples seem.
“Lancer, you….”
No matter how unrealistic his upbringing was, I thought he would at least know what an apple looked like.
The childhood friend I've always had by my side feels so unfamiliar today.
"Lancer, don't be surprised, but…." I crouch down next to him and lift the stick I'm holding. "Apples look like the ones you saw in the fruit shop earlier. They're red on the outside and white on the inside. And they can turn yellow over time."
Lancer's eyes sparkle like an adventurer exploring an unknown world when he sees the shape of the apple I drew in the sand.
"Then why do you peel them? Is it because they're poisonous?"
"No, you can eat the skin. Rachel probably peeled it so that it would be easier for you to eat."
"I see… I'll have to thank her later."
I smile. "Why would you need to do that?"
"I mean, it must be annoying to peel them, but Rachel still does it for me."
“....”
Lancer's words make me lost in thought.
Ever since he tore down the walls of the Imperial Palace, the people of the Soli Duchy have been more reluctant to serve him, seeing him as a ticking time bomb beyond repair.
Even during the last time I went to the Soli Duchy, they were all cursing Lancer under their breath.
Except for Rachel, the only one willing to warm up to him. Even when Lancer lost control of his emotions and let his magic run wild, she was always there for him.
She didn't just serve Lancer because he was her master, she did it because she genuinely cared about him.
When I think about that, I call out to him. "Lancer."
"Yes, Skyla?"
"You said you didn't know what to buy at the market, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then why don't we buy a gift for Rachel?"
"A gift?"
"Yeah. She's always so nice to you, and since you wanted to show her your gratitude, why don't you give her a gift as thanks? She'll like it even more, don't you think?"
“Okay,” Lancer replies cheerfully, jumping to his feet. “Then let's go back to the market. I'll buy a gift for Rachel and—”
Lancer couldn't finish his sentence.
"Whoa, the ball is flying!"
"Hey, watch out!"
In the distance, a group of kids, who were playing with a ball earlier, scream in unison.
I quickly turned my head to the source of the sound and saw a brown, leather ball flying towards me.
No!
I squeeze my eyes shut, expecting the ball to hit me in the face at any moment.
But no matter how long I wait, I never feel the ball hit me.
Instead, I hear the children's awe-filled exclamations.
"Th-The ball…!"
"No, my ball!"
Hmm?
I slowly open my eyes, and a strange scene unfolds before me. Pieces of brown leather are scattered on the ground. They're in a state of disarray, as if someone had torn it apart.
"...?"
What is this? Is this the same ball that was flying towards me?
As I stand frozen in place, dumbfounded, Lancer approaches me from behind as he holds out his hand. "Skyla, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Taking his hand, I pull myself to my feet and stare alternately at him and the brown leather scraps. "Did you do this…?"
"Yeah."
Holy sh*t.
He used his magic as soon as he saw the ball flying to me, and he'd done it with the quick reaction of a wild animal.
Just then, the kids who are restlessly standing in the distance rush towards us.
"I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"
"It's because he's bad at kicking the ball!"
"I'm not hurt, but…." I glance at the ball fragments scattered across the ground. It's impossible to recover, as if it has been torn to shreds by some cruel beast.
"My ball…." Someone among the children sobs. The others don't say anything, but they seem to be just as upset.
Judging by their clothes, they're commoners from families that were not very wealthy.
The leather ball I saw earlier was also quite loose and worn. It looked like a toy that had been played with for a long time.
Lancer had destroyed their only source of amusement.
The oldest of the children—who couldn't have been more than ten years old—speaks up cautiously. "Big brother… did you blow up that ball earlier…?"
"Yes."
"Aaah!"
Lancer's short response causes one of the kids to burst into tears. The others begin following to sob at the sight of the ruined ball.
The ball seems to be precious to these kids.
Lancer averts his gaze from them with a blank expression on his face. I hastily grab him by his cuffs and pull him toward me. "Do something."
"Uh… how?"
"The kids are sad because you blew up their ball."
"But they attacked you first."
Attacked?
At that strong word choice, I glance at him strangely. "Attacked. I don't think that's the right word, they were just playing around and made a mistake."
"But Skyla… you almost got hurt."
"I mean, yes, I almost got hurt as a result, but they didn't do it on purpose. Plus, they apologised," I tell Lancer while glancing at the crying children.
The sight of them sobbing pitifully makes me feel sick to my stomach.
“....”
Lancer doesn't say anything.
He observes my face for a moment, and then he says cautiously, "...I'm sorry, I thought you'd be happy I blocked the ball, but I guess not."
"What?"
"I'll apologise to the kids."
Hmm?
I blink at Lancer's meek admission.
What is he saying now? He's gonna go and apologise?
I'm taken aback by Lancer's unexpected behaviour.
He slowly approaches the crying children. "I'm sorry for blowing up your ball."
“It's okay.” The presumed owner of the ball mumbles through his tears, and at the same time, I can hear what he's thinking.
‘My dad bought it for my birthday….’
This makes Lancer look like the meanest villain in the world.
Embarrassed, Lancer turns to me and ducks his head.
"Listen, Skyla. My dad actually told me not to use magic outside."
"And?"
"So can you please not tell him that I used magic today?"
"...What are you trying to do?" You used magic earlier, so what are you going to do now?
I'm starting to wonder if he's about to get into trouble again. After all, every time Lancer used magic, unpleasant things often happened.
As if sensing my concern, Lancer whispers to me again, "don't worry. I'm going to use magic for them."
"What does that mean?"
Instead of answering my question, Lancer kneels on one knee in front of the child.
"How big is your ball?"
"Uh, this much…." The child stretches out his short arms to demonstrate the size of the ball.
Lancer picks up the ball's skin from the ground, holds it up in the palm of his hand, and enchants it.
It happened in the blink of an eye, the limp piece of leather floats to life in the centre of Lancer's palm and begins to form a sphere. A ball of brown leather appears in his hand, the same ball he had just torn apart.
"There." He holds it out to the gaping kid. The child stands frozen like a statue.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa… how did you do that?"
"Well, first I used transmutation magic to increase the mass of the leather, and then…." A long explanation followed, and none of them understood.
The child, who has been staring at Lancer in stunned silence, grabs the ball with trembling hands.
The other children who witnessed the scene are also dazed by it.
But only for a moment.
"Make me a ball too, big brother!"
"Me too, big brother!"
They soon pounced on Lancer.
"Please make me one, and please make it green, because green is my favourite colour!"
"I want mine in all the colours of the rainbow, please?"
"I have a little brother at home, and I want one for him, too, so please make two!"
And so Lancer is captured by the children, and released only after he made nine balls.
