How a Catastrophe-Level Magician Lives

The head of the family summoned him.

Knock knock knock.

“I’m coming in.”
-Enter….

It didn’t feel like usual.

There was a lack of strength in his voice.

Click, he opened the door and entered.

He saw the head of the family still resting in the bedroom.

The head of the family was sitting up in bed, quietly gazing out the window.

“……I’ve come as you called.”
“Yes.”
Only then did the head of the family, Count Sunlight, turn his head towards where Frey was.

The head of the family spoke.

“Iolus has left.”
“……”
“He came to see me separately last night. We had a long conversation after that. And in the end, Iolus told me that he would leave the family and live his own life from now on.”

‘So it turned out like that after all….’

Perhaps it was something everyone had somewhat expected.

After all, the fact that he wasn’t truly of Phoenix blood was revealed, and he couldn’t inherit the position of heir here anymore.

Born from a one-night stand.
Not knowing his real father.
A situation where he was ultimately an outsider to House Phoenix, unable to do this or that.

It was no different from becoming an ugly duckling.

‘Living his own life from now on….’

That might have been the best, most correct choice.

Frey thought that if he were in the same position, he would have made a similar choice.

‘…Truly, what a cruel fate.’

He sympathized with him.
After all, he was someone who had been raised as the likely heir to the family from birth and had dedicated his entire life to the family even after becoming an adult.

While he was thinking this, the head of the family spoke again.

“……Alcas still doesn’t acknowledge his own problems. That boy, while he looks the most like me among you all on the outside. He’s not suitable to become the family heir.”
“……”

Somehow, Frey could somewhat predict what the head of the family was going to say.

Frey said.

“…Are you thinking of placing me in the heir’s position?”
“….”

This time, it was the head of the family who was silent.

They say silence is sometimes affirmation.

The head of the family, who was sitting up, turned his gaze and quietly looked at his own hands for a while, one hand gently placed on top of the other.

Eventually, the head of the family spoke.

“Drop out. From Sepirion Academy.”
“……”

The head of the family was serious.
As if it was a decision made after careful consideration.

“If not you, I’ll have no choice but to place your sister, who is female, in the position of family head. However, that also has many problems. That child is still young in age and unprepared in many ways. Moreover, there have been relatively few instances of female family heads in our empire.”
“……”
“I’m sorry. To you all, truly. Sincerely. I may have succeeded as a family head, but as your father, I failed. At least, that’s what I think.”

How could it be only his fault?
The head of the family himself might have found it difficult to get his bearings in such an adverse situation in many ways.

But he couldn’t just place Iolus, who wasn’t related by blood to either side, in the position of family heir….

‘If at least Alcas or Brother Albert had been fully qualified to succeed the family as heir, there wouldn’t have been such worries. But Brother Albert has no intention of inheriting the family. The head of the family himself had realized this fact early on.’

It was pitiful.
The one who had always seemed so strong.
The one who had been the head of the family since childhood now looked terribly shabby and gaunt.

Was it right to just lament him like this?

Frey felt some kind of emotional stirring within himself.

Clench.

He firmly closed his mouth. He brought one hand to his chest, over his heart.

Gripping it over his clothes, Frey thought.

And he spoke.

“…I understand. ‘Father’.”
“……!!!”
For the first time,
He couldn’t help but show a surprised expression, his eyes wide open, at the voice that called him father instead of head of the family.

“Y-You……”

At the voice calling him while trembling, Frey just slowly closed his eyes.

‘Let’s acknowledge it.’

That he,
Is my father in this life.

It was also the moment when Frey,
For the first time, opened his heart to the head of the family.

“I’m sorry, Aina.”
“Mm, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”
He had to tell Aina that he was sorry, but he had to go back to the Orwen Empire alone.

He was seeing off Aina at the main gate as she was about to set off on her journey alone before the end of the vacation without further delay.

Aina said.

“More than that, it’s a shame. That Frey will drop out of Sepirion Academy like this….”
“……”

He had nothing to say.
Because in her regret as she spoke those words, there seemed to be a greater regret that she would no longer be able to be with Frey himself.

And Frey felt the same.

“I’m regretful too. Somehow, as we’ve come this far together. I’ve grown quite fond of you in various ways.”
“……”

It was the first time he had said such words.

“…Frey. Has there been some change in your state of mind?”

To the extent that he would directly express such words in front of her, not just in thought. Aina felt that while Frey’s appearance remained the same, something inside him seemed to have changed a little.

Frey said with a self-deprecating smile.

“Well…… I’m not sure exactly what’s changed, even myself.”
“……”
Frey had changed.
Different from his previous self.
The part that he had shown an attitude of outwardly denying and not acknowledging, that had not yet been freed from the knot in his heart.

His past life.

‘Perhaps I’ve shed a layer of skin. A curse that wasn’t a curse, that I had unknowingly bound myself with.’

Even though he had started a new life.
It was also the point where the chains of the knot that had been locked on his ankles and wrists had finally been completely undone.

“Frey, you’ve changed. Something, definitely.”
“……Yes. Maybe so.”
“But Frey is still the Frey I know.”
“……”
“See you again, Frey.”

With those final words, as Aina turned her back and showed her departing figure.

Frey, for the first time at this moment, expressed the honest feelings he hadn’t been able to voice until now in front of Aina.

“Yes. See you again, Aina. Someday, for sure.”
“….”

At those words, Aina’s steps hesitated for a moment.

But she just slightly turned her head towards Frey behind her.

With her back to the warm sunlight of the rising sun, she just beautifully smiled brightly in response.

“Mm──.”

It was the first time he had seen her smile so brightly.

Frey had just returned to the family after seeing off Aina, who had left alone, and had come to an empty individual training ground.

And for the first time in a while, he took out his dark blue grimoire with a red jewel embedded in the center.

“Summon.”

What appeared with the summoning spell was several magic books.

And among them was also [Essential Reading on Multiple Magic III] that he had personally received from the head of the family a few days ago.

‘Originally, this was the third volume of the Essential Reading on Multiple Magic that I would have received upon successfully graduating from Sepirion Middle School Academy after 3 years.’

He had received it after being directly and definitively mentioned as the family heir by the head of the family and initiating the withdrawal process from Orwen Empire’s Sepirion Academy.

It was a matter of the head of the family himself giving it to him as compensation for undoing that promise, as a promise was a promise.

Several magic books floated around him, circling as if wandering on their own.

Among them, he gently held the Essential Reading on Multiple Magic III that had appeared before his eyes with one hand and thought.

‘This magic book contained the essence and core of the content that helps improve the caster’s casting speed to allow for more skillful execution of multiple magic than before. It aids in accelerating the thought process.’

Therefore, unlike before.
It meant that he could now deploy multiple shields of different attributes simultaneously in an instant, rather than slowly unfolding in sequence like the multiple shield magic he had cast during the magic duel with Rekas.

‘The basic content structure didn’t deviate far from the previous Essential Reading on Multiple Magic books, volumes 1 and 2, so I was able to understand and master it faster than usual.’

Frey had already acquired the core essence of multiple magic.

‘Next were [Methods of Applying Attributes to the Body] and [More Efficient Mana Release Methods] volumes 2 and 3, which I had received in advance from Aina as a farewell gift when we parted.’

As the multiple magic book moved to the side, what floated in front of him in the air were the complete series on methods of applying attributes to the body and more efficient mana release methods.

‘These were contents of a system that would take a bit more time to master. It was judged that it would be somewhat unreasonable to master them as quickly as the Essential Reading on Multiple Magic.’

Therefore, these magics would be the main focus to master for a while.

And.

‘……Lastly.’

Float.

A ‘highest-grade magic book’ appeared before his eyes.

It had a hexagonal red jewel embedded in the center of its golden cover, exuding its presence.

‘The highest-grade magic book left behind by the old man who claimed to be the former headmaster of Argen Academy.’

Its contents unfold in the air before his eyes according to his will.

The name and content of that magic was──.

‘Spirit Summoning. Summon Spirit.’

And it wasn’t just at the level of summoning ordinary low or mid-grade entities.

It was an instant consumption type magic book that could summon just one entity of a high-grade or above, surpassing even upper-grade spirits.

The magic book itself was the medium for summoning and the main ingredient that was the power and driving force to summon a highest-grade spirit from the spirit realm to this human realm, which was a different dimension.

Frey thought with lowered eyes.

‘Now, here. I will perform the ritual to summon a highest-grade or above spirit from the spirit realm to this human realm.’

It was the moment when Frey finally made that decision.

Whoosh──!
The golden magic book that unfolded before his eyes began to turn its pages on its own, emitting brilliant golden light from each turned page.

The hexagonal red jewel embedded in its cover was also emitting its red light very fiercely.

“Spirit Summoning.”

Summon Spirit.

Crackle──

A powerful entity,
Began to be summoned.

Forcibly absorbing even all of Frey’s mana,
Using it as a foothold and driving force for the summoning.

Eventually,
A king,
Descended.

None other than the one called the king of spirits.
An absolute entity of the strongest grade, surpassing even the highest grade───.