My Ex-Boyfriend Gave Birth to My Child? What Does That Mean? - Chapter 57

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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My ex-boyfriend’s child was born to me, and what does that even mean? Episode 057
I exhaled slowly and added,
“For now, I’ll calculate fair wages for all the work you’ve done and add it to your allowance this month.”
“There’s really no need for that.”
“No, no—this is also to show the others in the household. If everyone knows I pay fairly for work, won’t they all work harder?”
“I see.”
Peron nodded obediently and added quietly,
“I’ve learned something precious.”
He really was impossibly diligent.
And diligence was truly a remarkable gift.
“Well, the reason I came looking for you today was because I wanted to start teaching you magic.”
I expected Peron to bounce with excitement.
Or rather, I’d believed that even if he didn’t leap about with joy—given his temperament—I’d at least see his eyes light with anticipation, some flicker of enthusiasm. Learning magic ought to be genuinely astonishing, after all.
My assumption proved wrong the moment I saw his face fall into quiet resignation, as though he’d just been handed down a sentence of guilt.
Peron had grown up in the Temple.
He’d been forced to listen, day after day, to words that seemed to deny his very existence as a Mage—spoken by people the moment he understood he saw the world differently from them.
Before formally beginning magical study, he would naturally have much weighing on his mind.
After a moment of silence, he looked up at me with steady resolve in his gaze.
“Thank you, Master.”
There was no question—the boy had just set his life firmly back on course.
My role as an adult was to answer to that determination.
I steeled myself and opened my mouth toward Peron.
“First, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Yes. I’ll listen carefully.”
“What you need to become a Mage is… an Underground Laboratory!”
Anyone would wonder what I meant by that.
The boy’s bewildered expression finally made him look his age.
* * *
When we burst into the Underground Laboratory, Herdy Pua adjusted his spectacles irritably, as always.
“Why do you keep barging into other people’s research labs?”
“How’s the miniaturization coming?”
“I don’t know why you keep rushing me. Did you give me any money?”
“I did, didn’t I?”
“That’s true.”
The cantankerous Mage, who had Magic Stones scattered across his desk and was sketching some bizarre schematic, kicked a nearby chair squarely toward me. In the language of Herdy Pua’s gestures, it meant: go ahead and make yourself comfortable.
As I tried to sit, Herdy let out a sharp squawk.
“Sit the kid!”
“Why are you shouting?”
Peron, watching our bickering, said neatly,
“I’m happy to stand.”
Both Herdy and I opened our mouths at once.
“Just sit!”
“Just sit, child.”
Even under our forceful insistence, Peron refused for a long time until I simply grabbed any box nearby and plopped down on it, at which point he—looking terribly apologetic—finally, barely, settled his rear end into the chair.
I spoke to Herdy.
“I’m going to teach this boy magic.”
Herdy gave Peron a skeptical once-over and opened his mouth with clear disapproval.
“You’re going to give him a research lab in the basement?”
After hearing Herdy’s words, Peron’s expression grew serious.
“Master said that an Underground Laboratory is important to a Mage.”
To Peron, who answered with a neat nod of understanding, I replied,
“So what grudge could I possibly have against Doctor Herdy that I’d assign him a basement for it?”
“…I had wondered, perhaps, whether you assigned the basement out of concern that an accident might occur during research.”
“Right! There’s some of that too. Actually, there’s quite a bit. A lot.”
I suddenly felt embarrassed.
“But you see, a Mage’s research lab is fundamentally built underground as a matter of course!”
Herdy, listening to our conversation, snorted derisively.
“You have to teach even that?”
Peron ventured carefully,
“I do understand that Mana drips slowly downward from above and pools below.”
That is simply the nature of Mana.
Just as water flows from high ground to low, and footprints left in mud after rain become small pools, the world’s Mana fundamentally flows downward in a slow cascade, pooling in ever-deeper places.
Peron tilted his head slightly, as though struggling to grasp the concept.
“Yet surely the places where Mages study are called Magic Towers, are they not?”
“There is profound reason for that as well.”
I ignored Herdy Pua’s snort of derision and pressed on with my explanation.
“The scriptures tell us that Divine Power slowly descends to the earthly realm and spreads across it, and that this spreading Divine Power returns to the heavens alongside the human soul, creating one vast cycle. Magic seeks a similar circulation. To achieve that, it must somewhere climb back up to the heavens, yes?”
The boy listened intently, as though hearing tales from another world entirely, then let out a small sound of realization.
“So the Magic Tower stands at that very place.”
“Exactly! Our predecessors built the Magic Tower at that precise point where Magic surges skyward. A tower that descends a hundred stories underground.”
“……What?”
Herdy Pua giggled at the bewildered expression on the boy’s face. I barely managed to restrain myself from losing dignity in front of my apprentice.
It’s quite satisfying, actually—a child who doesn’t startle easily.
“The optimal structure for maximizing circulating Mana is one that stretches vertically from ground level down one hundred stories beneath the earth.”
“And yet it is still called a tower……”
“Because it resembles an inverted tower. The first underground level is the broadest and largest, and it narrows as you descend.”
Herdy Pua interjected.
“We’re not moles, after all! From the first to the twentieth level—the broadest section—there are openings in the ceiling to let some light filter through, or so I’ve heard.”
“Like an open-pit mine.”
“Something like that!”
I clapped my hands once and added to Herdy’s remark.
“The Mages of this Kingdom only began creating Magical Formulas once the Magic Tower was under construction. That’s why most of the easier spells from the early and middle periods are suited to earthwork and construction. Beyond that, well, there are a few Combat Mages here and there.”
Herdy Pua, who had been pretending to focus on his research while listening to us, suddenly broke in.
“Don’t forget that Research Mages stand at the very frontier of expanding the varieties of Magic!”
“Yes, yes.”
I gave a perfunctory nod and looked directly at Peron.
“……So I’m going to prepare an underground study for you, separate from your bedroom. Because it’s underground, you won’t get much sunlight, and you might feel a bit melancholy. But let’s be clear about this so there’s no misunderstanding—that’s all!”
“You would provide me with a separate underground study? I’m honored by such generous treatment. What if I simply moved my bedroom to the underground level instead?”
Is this child also addicted to self-denial, like Vivian Rochelle?
While I stood there stunned, Herdy Pua suddenly bellowed.
“Live in the room next to mine? Don’t talk nonsense! Creating a research laboratory was already a huge concession. I won’t tolerate anyone disturbing my private time!”
“I am very quiet.”
“Can you hold your breath? I’m an extremely sensitive person!”
I reached out and stilled my business and invention partner, who was bouncing about in protest.
“I have no intention of moving Peron’s bedroom! My apprentice will have both a bedroom and a study, separate from each other. I’ve already finished setting up the far end of the underground level as a research laboratory.”
“Exactly! This wretch who won’t even leave the Magic Tower shouldn’t be allowed to interfere with the great inventor Herdy Pua!”
I placed a hand on Peron’s shoulder.
“You understand, don’t you? To avoid becoming like this sort of adult, it’s best to keep your study and your living quarters properly separate.”
My remark was unmistakably a slight, but Herdy Pua somehow puffed up with pride anyway.
“Do you think becoming someone like me is easy?”
I smiled at Peron and helped the boy up from his chair.
Now that I’ve confirmed what the final form of a Research Mage looks like, surely this child won’t choose that path willingly. This entire visit was meant for that purpose.
Leaving Herdy Pua behind as he shouted for us to leave, we walked out of his laboratory.
I glanced at Peron, whose expression remained composed, and clapped my hands lightly.
“There! Your lunch should have settled by now, and you’re in the perfect state for a lesson. Let’s head to your study first, and I’ll explain the tools I’ve prepared for you. Today, let’s start by slowly figuring out which kind of Magic you’d like to learn.”
Peron nodded with an expression of firm resolve.
I opened the first chapter of instruction, confident that this child would become an excellent Mage.
“Well then, first I’ll teach you the very foundation of Magic—the Earth and Gravel Manipulation technique……”
* * *
“……But why do my predictions always fall short?”
After finishing the lesson, I caught Countess Fontaine just as she was about to leave as usual, and began a consultation.
It would be no loss for her either. Through long observation, I’d confirmed her favorite snacks and arranged them in abundance on the table—sweet Lemon Cake and warm tea.
The Reception Room was quiet, and birds fluttered past the window. It was perfect weather for a good talk.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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