4. A Warm Palm

Three months have passed since the old man came.

I was still awake in the prison where I was sleeping.

I placed the ring with the red jewel in my hand on the desk and hit it with a fist covered with Mana.

“―― ‘MARK’.”

Yellow Mana was injected into the ring, and a “character stamp” emerged on the ring.

” ’CLOSE’ “

When I chanted, the ring was sucked into the rectangular talisman next to it.

I saw the ring disappeared and the talisman was dyed red. Then, I clench my fist made a small victory pose.

“Sealing, complete!”

<Mark it> → <Write out the name> → <Seal>.

This was the basis of Sealing Technique.

<Mark it> by hitting the object with a fist with Mana, then, placed a vessel (talisman, jar/box, object that does not contain Mana) with the name of the target and an appropriate magic circle written on it, and lastly, recited the incantation, ‘CLOSE’, to <Seal>. Then, the object to be sealed would be sucked into the vessel.

If I broke the vessel or if I thought about releasing the object that I sealed, the seal would be broken. This was called <Unsealing>.

There was no need to ‘Write out the name’ except for living things. That was why, I straight chanted ‘Close’ after I marked it.

No, but…

Never did I think that I really could do it…!

I had accumulated it as knowledge, but I didn’t know if I could actually do it.

It was unexpectedly easily. I was honestly happy… Hmm? Maybe I’m a genius?

” ’OPEN’ “

The seal was broken, and a ring with a red jewel embedded in it popped out of the talisman.

The unsealing was also successful.

The name of this ring was 《Osiris Orb》. It was a magical product imbued with Mana that the old man asked to be brought to the cell by the guard.

“Good.”

I suddenly heard a voice from behind.

Looking back, a familiar white-haired old man stood there.

“Did you see that…”

“Well, yeah.”

As expected of a grandpa, he woke up early.

“How is it, I could do the sealing technique properly, right?… Well, you’ll scream ‘slow’ anyway … “

“It took me about ten years to learn how to seal.”

At the same time, I said, ‘What?’, A hand with only bones and skin was placed on my head.

Even though it was only bones and skin… it was a warm palm. I was stroked for the first time in my life.

“Well done, Seal… you’re a genius.”

The old man laughed, and I could see the wrinkles on the corners of his eyes.

I wondered what was the feeling that I felt at that time. If I was to take it easy, I would definitely cry.

I was purely… really happy.

“tch, don’t treat me as a kid.”

Contrary to the inside of my chest, I glared at the old man’s hand.

“Huh, I’m sorry. I just remember that my granddaughter is about the same age as you …”

“Granddaughter? Is she cute?”

“Yeah.”

“Introduce me to her.”

“… I’ll kill you.”

I could feel a serious murder intention from the words. Perhaps because of his love for his granddaughter.

Well, I don’t really care even if you don’t want to do that. Also, I don’t trust that your granddaughter is cute.

“Now I don’t have anything more to teach… Please practice by yourself from tomorrow. “

Huh?　

Hey, Old man Bar. You only taught me one sealing method yet….

“If I teach you a lot, you’ll have no creativity. That’s why, find out how to use it yourself.”

The old man brought a wooden chair in the corner of the room and placed it in front of the chair I was sitting in.

“Didn’t you say that you won’t teach me anything anymore?”

“No, the only thing I won’t teach is about Sealing Technique… Let’s change the topic a little today. Well, it’s just an ordinary story. “

The old man smiled and closed his eyelids.

The story that spilled from the old man’s mouth was neither about something that had to do with Sealing Technique nor Magic. It was just an adventure story.

White sea, rainbow-colored fog, fortress floating in the sky.

The story of the dragon and the sacred sword that appeared in the story about a Hero. 

Oceans, deserts, volcanoes, trees. The beauty of nature.

The old man talked about all of that. But, I quickly realized that the adventure was the old man’s own adventure.

The story that the old man told was full of romance.

The old man happily talked about the beauty of the world.

Sometimes he was laughing, sometimes he had a sad face.

The old man didn’t talk about the dark part of the adventure at all.

He told me only the story of the beautiful world from beginning to end.

My heartbeat kept skipping a beat when I listened to the story.

I had never left the city I was born. Therefore, I was afraid of the outside world. I didn’t know what’s there, I was scared because I didn’t know anything.

The old man might have seen through my weak heart.

That was why the old man told me that story… about…The fun of adventuring in the outside world …

“Old man. I will travel to the outside world when I leave here.”

A dream was born within me for the first time.

“Oh, that’s good.”

I wanted to say, ’together with you…’, but I decided not to say it.

The old man had the face like he had achieved his purpose… He had a happy face.

He talked about adventures like a young boy, and when he was done, he realized like an old man.

The face of the old man who had returned to the young boy looked really happy. That was why I also wanted memories that I could laugh and talked about.

Perhaps the old man’s story would be over soon.

And, surely… that was where the story of a man named Seal began.