It was true.

From the afternoon I went to Lerrhagen to ask for help, he suddenly disappeared without a trace.

When I asked Hasis, his answer was that he didn’t know either.

“Do you think my master has the considerate personality to tell us where he’s going?”

“No.”

Of course, there was no absolute reason Lerrhagen had to stay at the imperial palace.

However, since I had to meet Sever Kelliard in two days, I wanted to borrow his power and needed to revise my plan.

‘This is why asking for help is such a hassle. You can’t make demands of the other person.’

If Lerrhagen had at least properly taken something in return, he wouldn’t have acted this way.

This is why I hate being weak. You have to bow down to others.

Feeling irritated, I took a bigger bite of bread. I heard Sela saying, “You should eat slowly,” but pretended not to hear.

Then that afternoon.

Did he sense what I was thinking?

I opened my eyes wide when Lerrhagen suddenly appeared before me—more precisely, threw something at me the moment he showed up in my office.

“Try it.”

“…?”

“See if it feels familiar in your hand.”

At Lerrhagen’s words, I lowered my head.

Something lay on my desk among the scattered documents.

It was an elongated rod that looked somewhat like a rapier, with elaborate platinum craftsmanship at one end. Anyone could see it wasn’t an ordinary object.

“What is this?”

Though I didn’t think Lerrhagen would give me something dangerous, I still asked with a suspicious face.

No sooner had my question ended than my surroundings suddenly distorted, and in an instant, Lerrhagen and I were standing on what seemed like an endless plain.

I blinked at the wind brushing against my cheek.

“A warp? So suddenly?”

“An office isn’t a good place to swing weapons.”

Only then did I realize what was in front of me.

It seemed Lerrhagen wanted to give me a weapon.

‘He could have just said so, why bother with a warp… Is he really this lazy?’

But anyway, this wouldn’t hurt me.

I immediately reached out and grabbed the weapon.

‘Huh?’

Whoosh-!

At that moment, the rod that had been only about the length of my arm stretched like a string.

When I instinctively pulled my arm back, the extended string traced dozens of beautiful, large circles in the air at a terrifying speed.

“Could this be… a whip?”

I recognized the weapon from the familiar sensation.

Though slightly different from what I used before, the translucent glowing thin string definitely had the form of a whip.

This time, I raised my hand and struck the ground with the whip.

CRASH-!

Along with an ear splitting sound, I was amazed to see the ground split.

Moreover,

‘Why is it so light?’

No matter how thin it was, a weapon of this length should require quite a bit of compressed magic power.

Yet a weapon with this much power weighed only about as much as a pen?

As I looked somewhat surprised, Lerrhagen’s low voice reached me.

“Is it usable?”

“Did you… make this, Lord? With your magic?”

“Yes.”

Lerrhagen’s face showed no sign of pride as he said this.

Despite it being a weapon so extraordinary by human standards that it should be enshrined in a museum.

“Ha.”

I couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.

Then I deliberately furrowed my brow with a smile.

“Ah, this is really annoying.”

“Is it a problem that I’m helping you?”

“Don’t you consider my feelings of inferiority and relative deprivation? This makes me sad again.”

“You don’t look particularly sad. You’re exaggerating.”

“I know. I’m just being petty because I’m annoyed.”

“You’re annoyed?”

“Humans have limitations. When I became emperor and learned magic, I compressed and compressed magic power to create weapons that weighed that much, but for you, Lord, such weapons are nothing.”

“Hmm.”

“But that’s not your fault. Ah, why was I born human?”

The last part was almost sincere.

But at the same time, it wasn’t.

Anyway, the fact that I was born human is true, and having limitations because of that is also true, but I don’t particularly resent this state.

However, however Lerrhagen understood my words, his voice soon reached me.

“Well, but humans have value precisely because they are human.”

“Pardon?”

“That’s Gela’s favorite saying.”

Gela? The Creator Gela I know?

I raised an eyebrow and looked back. Lerrhagen was still watching me with indifferent eyes.

I just laughed it off.

Sure, my fake father could be close friends with the Creator, why not?

A person should have such experiences in life.

I fiddled with the whip in my hand.

Anyway, this weapon had come into my possession.

Judging by Lerrhagen’s personality, he wouldn’t take it back after giving it to me, which was reassuring, but I was quite concerned about how to use it now.

‘Since I have a child’s body, should I increase my agility? Actually, though it’s difficult to lift heavy things, even with a child’s body, I might be quite strong.’

While pondering this, I soon lifted the whip.

At that moment, Lerrhagen, who had been quiet behind me, spoke.

“Don’t use force.”

“How do I swing a whip without using force?”

“Control it with magic power.”

I was completely lost at Lerrhagen’s words.

Of course, controlling it with magic power was natural for a magical weapon. However, no matter what, it seemed impossible not to use force when handling a materialized weapon.

I looked at Lerrhagen with an expression that said this was nonsense.

Lerrhagen stared at my puzzled face for a moment, then unfolded his arms and approached me.

Soon, meeting my gaze, he flicked his hand slightly.

At that moment, I felt something cool at my fingertips.

Magic power that wasn’t mine was circling around my fingertips.

“Do you feel something?”

“My fingertips feel cold.”

“That’s my magic power. It connects your will to the whip.”

“Connects my will to the whip?”

“Which way do you want to swing the whip?”

“For now, forward-“

“Try swinging it slightly to the side.”

I obediently followed Lerrhagen’s instructions.

It didn’t seem particularly meaningful, but anyway, he was the strongest…

“Huh?”

That’s when it happened.

With a half-doubtful face, I slightly moved the whip handle to the right, and my eyes widened as I saw the whip coiling largely and advancing forward.

‘Is it moving along the trajectory I want?’

I immediately changed my thoughts.

No sooner had I thought about striking the ground than the whip struck down with enough force to split the floor.

Bang!

‘Is this possible?’

Without using force, without activation words or magic circles, the whip moved exactly according to my thoughts?

As I was thinking this, I suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu and raised my head.

When I looked at Lerrhagen, he was watching me indifferently.

“What’s happening here? Did you do this, Lord?”

“You did it.”

The moment his words ended, the cool sensation at my fingertips disappeared.

Instead, that gap was naturally filled with my own magic power.

I looked surprised at the whip still moving according to my thoughts in the air.

Although less stable than before, I was clearly controlling the whip with just my thoughts, without any activation words or magic circles or any arrangement process.

“How do I do this…”

“People have a misconception. That more magic power means stronger magical effects.”

“That’s true, isn’t it?”

“Of course, if there’s a big difference in the amount of magic power, that’s the case. But the amount of magic power humans are born with doesn’t differ that much.”

“…That can’t be right, even I had a big difference from my sisters.”

“The key to magic is controlling magic power. You have to control magic power and merge it with your will.”

“Merge with will?”

“Yes, merge your will directly with magic power, making the magic power execute everything you think.”

“……”

“It’s difficult for humans, of course, but anyway, you can move the whip with minimal force, so what you need is practice and effort.”

“Will practice make it possible?”

“If it’s not possible, will you not do it?”

“Of course not.”

While secretly harboring doubts, I gave a clear answer to Lerrhagen’s question.

Indeed, does it make sense not to do something just because it seems impossible?

“The weaker you are, the more noisy and flashy the battle becomes. Humans like that, but I don’t.”

“Why?”

Thinking there might be some great secret about magic, I asked with a serious face. However, Lerrhagen sighed lightly and opened his mouth.

“Because it’s troublesome.”

“……”

“Why bother moving your body? When thoughts alone can become reality?”

I suddenly remembered the mutterings I heard when first summoning him, about researching magic that allows you to live without breathing because breathing is troublesome. I thought maybe it wasn’t just idle talk.

Somehow, I feel like he could actually do it.

‘So when a person who hates troublesome things has skill, they make great contributions to the world’s development.’

I shook my head while gaining a somewhat valuable lesson as a ruler of a nation.

I injected magic power into my fingertips again.

It didn’t work as easily as when Lerrhagen did it, so I stirred my arm a little. And tracing the sensation from earlier, I safely retracted the whip.

Soon I turned my gaze back to Lerrhagen. There was nothing that could be called an expression on his face. At that, I bit my lip tightly.

“Don’t tell me you disappeared these past few days because of this?”

“Among other things.”

“To help me?”

“Didn’t you ask for help?”

“Well, yes, but.”

What’s this? If I ask for help, does he normally help? Couldn’t he just ignore me?

“And you were envious.”

“Of what?”

“Of me using magic without any activation words.”