| The Adventures Of The Black Cat Nyango | Next Chapter>>
Translator: Nonon
The priest’s solemn voice echoed in the plaza in front of the church surrounded by the people.
“Attuca village, believer Miguel, step forward…”
“Y-yes!”
Miguel, the lupan who usually had a high nose as the village chief’s grandson, seemed nervous today.
He was pale and his normally fluffy tail was drooping.
Every year in the town of Ibro, a ceremony called ‘the rite of independence’ is held on the Spring Equinox Day.
There is a church in Attuca where we live, but there’s no priest to hold the ceremony there so we came to Ibro while shaking on a carriage.
In the plaza in front of the church, located in the center of the town, the locals had also gathered to watch, along with the children from surrounding villages that were going to participate in the ceremony.
In a town with less entertainment compared to Japan, ‘the rite of independence’ is kind of like a festival.
Miguel walked stiffly towards the priest, kneeled and folded his arms in front of his chest.
The priest held his staff, which was engraved with intricate patterns and had a large jewel ingrained at its tip, over Miguel’s head and started chanting.
“Bless thy believer, who has spent his life in good health under the protection of Goddess Fatima and is now ready to become independent…”
After the jewel shone in white, Miguel’s body was wrapped with red light.
“Your attribute is fire! Believer Miguel, let Goddess Fatima see the blessing you have been bestowed with.”
“Yes!”
After standing up, Miguel turned back towards the plaza, took a deep breath and raised his hands towards the sky.
“In the name of the Goddess Fatima, let the flame blaze up!”
A fireball with a diameter of about 50 centimeters blazed up at the tip of Miguel’s raised hands.
Impressed voices resounded from the crowd gathered at the plaza, but the applause that followed right after lacked any kind of enthusiasm.
‘The rite of independence’ is said to be a ceremony in which children who have reached the ages of 10 in that year, show their determination to leave the blessing of the Goddess Fatima behind and live as adults, but its original purpose is different.
Everyone in this world is born with their own unique magic, but there are times when young children end up hurting themselves because they cannot control their powers.
It would be fine if things stopped only at the rooms being ruined like in the cases of the wind and water attribute magic going out of control, but in cases of fire attribute or lightning attribute, there’s a risk of dying.
The countermeasure they came up with was for the church to use a spell called ‘the protection of the Goddess’ that would seal magic and the ceremony to unlock that seal is the ‘rite of independence’.
‘The protection of the Goddess’ has reduced the number of children that ended up harming themselves due to their powers going out of control and the church has also obtained a firm position.
The ‘rite of independence’ is a demonstration for the church, but it also has another purpose.
The magic that’s dedicated to the Goddess right after the seal is unlocked seems to also show the talent of its caster.
Those who can use a big and stable magic right away are said to grow stronger faster after that too.
The examiners from the Order of Royal Knights and the knights of Viscount Lagert, the feudal lord of this area, are also attending the ‘rite of independence’.
In other words, this is also a place for scouting future promising personnel.
Right after the magic is used, the examiners call out to those whose talents they’ve acknowledged, but nobody said a word to Miguel who turned around after extinguishing his fireball.
The kid with the fire attribute which was scouted, had created a fireball more than twice the size of Miguel’s fireball.
“Attuca village, Horacio, step forward…”
“Y-yes sir…”
The bovan Horacio, whose name was called, stepped forward timidly.
Horacio was about a head taller than Miguel, but he had a very quiet personality.
“Bless thy believer, who has spent his life in good health under the protection of Goddess Fatima and is now ready to become independent…”
As the priest chanted, Horacio’s body was enveloped in green light.
“Your attribute is wind! Believer Horacio, let Goddess Fatima see the blessing you have been bestowed with.”
“Yessir!”
Horacio stood up, turned towards the plaza while breathing heavily and raised his hands.
“In the name of Goddess Fatima, let the wind soar!!”
Horacio, who was usually very quiet, shouted so loudly that you’d think he was a different person and a strong wind blew through the plaza.
A wind current appeared at the tips of Horacio’s raised hands, sucking in the air of the plaza.
A loud roar rose from the gathered crowd and when the examiner from the Order of Royal Knights raised his right hand, a thunderous applause erupted.
If you are scouted by the knights and you manage to survive the rigorous training period, you will be officially appointed as the Knight.
At the same time, this also means gaining a noble status, making it a success story that the children living in remote villages can only dream of.
Horacio covered his face and bawled, and was guided to the line of the recruits by the clergy, held by his shoulder.
Miguel saw him off with a bitter expression, but the connections of a mere village chief aren’t enough to join the order of royal knights.
Even if he managed to get in, the knight order is basically a meritocratic society and unless you’re from the royal family or a son of some big-name noble, you cannot become an official knight.
This year, four children attending the ‘rite of adulthood’ from Attuca village are, the village chief’s grandson Miguel the lupan, a bovan male Horacio, an ovan female Ines and I, a felan male.
When it became clear that Ines had water attribute and weak mana, the crowd gathered at the plaza started to disperse.
It was because the only remaining child was me, a felan.
Generally, it’s known that the strength of mana is connected to one’s physique.
Within felans, who barely reach 120 centimeters even as adult males, it’s rare for children with strong mana to be born.
In other words, they expect nothing from me, who’s not even 80 centimeters at the moment.
“Attuca village, Nyango, step forward…”
“Yes!”
The moment the staff was held over my head and the priest started to chant, a change happened inside me.
To give an example, something started to circulate through my body, just like water flowing from the faucet and at the same time, information flooded my brain at once as if a folder had been unlocked.
This is the magic I’ve been given… no, I had possessed.
Even the words I was going to chant after this flew into my head even though nobody had ever taught me.
“Your attribute… is not water, right?
“Yes, it isn’t.”
“Hmm, your attribute is sky! Believer Nyango, let the Goddess Fatima see the blessing you have been bestowed with!”
I was wrapped in a blue light that was lighter than the blue of water attribute.
I started to hear snickering from the crowd, but I was engrossed in using my magic.
“In the name of the Goddess Fatima, let the sky solidify!”
The moment I raised my hands to the sky, laughter erupted in the plaza.
“Gyahaha, look, nothing’s happening!
“Ahahahaha, it’s an empty sky attribute so that’s natural.”
“Felans already have weak mana to start with and to have a sky attribute on top of that? … that guy’s finished.”
In the eyes of the crowd that had gathered to watch, it might have looked like nothing had happened, but my magic did activate and the air the size of a paperback book solidified at the tips of my hands.
It’s probably only as strong as Styrofoam.
I lowered my hands, bowed to the priest and ran away from the venue.
The laughter was still continuing and my face was burning with embarrassment.
It’s said that the sky attribute is useless, but there’s no way I would give up on my childhood dream of becoming an adventurer just because of a small handicap like this!
Paying no attention to the priest’s closing remarks, I started thinking about how to use sky attribute magic.
Silavin: Haa… Cause I was overseas for a long period of time, this novel got picked up by another group. At the same time, I wanted to have more stockpile. Well, I talked to the other guy and he can’t join our group base on his own commitments. Since I’ve already paid for the chapters, I thought, why not just continue?
