Parallel History: Arturo's Wonder

Arthur the Great by Jairus.

The youngest grandson of Marquis Jairo, an ancient noble family with a rich history that was on the brink of financial decline.

Born with a superior intellect, Arturo has demonstrated abilities from a young age that go beyond those of his age group. From being able to speak with the same skill as a three-year-old shortly after turning one, to learning five different languages ​​by the age of seven.

Everyone in the family was amazed by little Arturo's intelligence; some even found him creepy for being so capable for just a toddler.

But more than that, most were content with his existence. They believed he would be the one to restore the Jairus house to its former glory with his incredible intellect when he was ready to inherit his grandfather's title of Marquis.

However, long before he could take the first steps in that direction, his family would receive a severe blow that would make it clear that they were destined for total decline.

His mother, Tatania Magnus von Jairus, was murdered.

The woman who had been chosen as one of the candidates for future empress for her efforts (Although in last place) died at the hands of the demons who began to run rampant with the weakening of the seal that contained the King of the Eternal Abyss.

Arturo fell into a deep depression as he quickly realized that the mother he loved would never return. And then came hatred; an intense thirst for revenge against the disgusting creatures who had taken away what he valued most in this world.

However, he didn't believe for a second that he could do it alone. He was too smart to be so naive.

Arthur knew that to kill all the demons and their King, the collective power of the entire Hazar Empire was needed instead of relying on the appearance of a mysterious hero, as most people of his nation did.

But as the empire stood now, it would be basically impossible to achieve victory.

No matter how arcanely advanced the empire was, its current technological capability could not stand up to a suitable horde of demons without exhausting a huge amount of valuable resources.

Even before they could defeat the most powerful Demon, the King of the Eternal Abyss, the empire would be short on resources like metals, mana cores, and gems essential for crafting their weapons. And any effort to replenish those resources in the midst of a massive war against the Demons would cause more harm than good.

Even if all the nations of the Fredonia continent were to unite to fight the Abyss Demons, they would still lose to the transcendent power of the Eternal Abyss King, if they only relied on their current technology.

They needed something that could be replenished quickly and cheaply so they would have a constant supply of new weapons to fight the demons.

And Arthur arrived at the answer after long study and reflection.

He concluded that they needed a technology that could summon combat magic to attack their enemies, unlike today's common weapons, which only use mana to enhance the destructive power of swords and projectiles.

If they could create a weapon capable of doing something like this, killing demons would be much easier than it currently is. And it would be ideal if the weapon in question relied on the user's mana rather than mana cores to operate at full power, reducing the need for those resources and ensuring high killing efficiency.

Intending to strengthen the empire so that all the demons could finally die, Arthur decided to become a wizard.

Mages were a profession that specialized not only in spellcasting, but also in the research and development of new arcane technologies. Only upon becoming a mage, and a particularly talented one, would Arthur begin the research that would allow him to develop the weapon he envisioned.

And I couldn't wait until he turned fifteen to see if he had the skill to be a magician or whatever.

Now knowing what he needed to do to perform magic, Arthur trained his mind and strengthened his will, allowing him to manipulate the world's mana to cast spells, once again astonishing everyone around him by doing such a thing at only 13 years of age.

And so, he caught the attention of an Archmage, the Sage Merlin.

The Old Man with the long white beard and narrowed eyes, famous for his incredible skill with both modern and ancient spells, as well as for his immense Magic Tower that seemed to touch the skies of Fredonia, arrived one day at the decrepit palace of Marquis Jairus to take Arthur as his disciple.

Although it was a great honor to be taught by such a great wizard, the elders of the family had reservations due to Arthur's age. Furthermore, he was the heir to the house.

However, the young master was determined to become that person's disciple.

It was all in order to build a solid foundation for the future... After all, if he is known as Merlin's most talented disciple, it will be easier for him to be taken seriously in the future.

But in the end he would be disappointed.

Although over the years he became a skilled wizard and was considered Merlin's most talented disciple, when he first proposed his idea, he was met with nods and ridicule. No one, not even his master, appreciated the idea of ​​creating a device that would allow anyone to use magic.

Arthur knew the reason, and it wasn't because it was unfeasible or because he was talking about using despised combat magic.

Well, in this world... It's probably the only thing! Something that would be happy if even ordinary people could cast spells that until now were the domain of the 'chosen ones'.

Even the so-called Sage did not consider the idea due to his pride as a magician.

Such absurdity led Arthur, frustrated, to look for another way to achieve his wish.

He contacted those who were still secretly researching combat magic, hoping that at least one of them would understand his goals. But he was even more disappointed to find that these people, considered eccentrics in the magical community, also disliked ordinary people using magic.

"We wizards would lose our privileged status if such a thing became possible!" they exclaimed angrily, staring at him for even thinking such a thing.

That led Arturo to make a decision.

If the older generation and his current students were too proud and foolish to allow ordinary people to use magic, then he would try to influence a young mind of great intelligence to think differently than they did.

With that goal as his main motive, he became a tutor…

But he would be very disappointed to discover that the children from families who could hire him were far too few by his standards.

Since he would become a suspect of some illegal magical experiment if a noble wizard like himself approached a common citizen to teach him magic, Arthur only targeted noble families to teach their children after subjecting them to a simple examination.

However, the stupidity of many of them led him to seriously consider whether he should risk teaching children from ordinary families, or perhaps from some wealthy merchant family, although he knew there were too many of them to go through one by one.

That was an especially strong feeling after dealing with Miss Praticia, who was too stupid and only saw him as a piece of meat to be devoured...

Therefore, when he received a request from House Dranalian to tutor their youngest princess, Arthur agreed to meet the girl without expecting too much.

When he first saw Ekaterina, she just looked like a little girl who seemed a little nervous about meeting a stranger, and he couldn't see the genius that the duchess was shamelessly boasting about to him.

But when Ekaterina demonstrated her ability to rapidly manipulate the mana of the outside world, not only at a speed greater than his own, but also at a speed a year younger than him, it made him sad, though it also filled him with a certain amount of anticipation. Still, he didn't let her sway him.

However, when he read the answers to his little questions, I suppose he finally found the gem he was looking for. He realized it was a little funny how he had previously told the Duchess that it was too much to call her daughter a gem, and that now he would think the same.

His impression of the girl improved greatly thanks to ideas such as using internal mana to cast spells through the development of what she called magic staffs, especially because of how Ekaterina expressed her thoughts in an understandable way and with a certain enthusiasm.

Arturo could see that he was fascinated by magic, something he liked.

However, it was Ekaterina's hypothesis about researching whether natural nutrition and good health could improve the quality of magical beasts that caught her attention the most.

He thought it would be an excellent idea to increase the fuel source for the Empire's arcanetenology weapons if it worked, but in a way, he was annoyed when he thought that no one would invest in something like that that would potentially result in nothing.

However, Princess Ekaterina would soon show him that his thoughts were too simple, failing to see the full potential of this idea.

Well, the girl eloquently explained the many benefits the nation could have if her ideas proved to have real merit. If the quality of the mana cores in a developing magical beast could be proven to be improved, not only would technological development grow with access to better energy sources, but the overall power of the donors would also increase.

But that's not all; the very quality of the magical beast's meat, something I already knew but had forgotten because it was irrelevant to mages, was an equally important factor that could increase the value of the research.

After all, mana-rich meat can improve the strength of Knights and Soldiers at a faster rate than normal, and access to higher-quality meat would reduce its price, making it more affordable and improving the overall quality of the armies of the Knights and lords of the Empire.

Furthermore, the Hazar Empire would become even richer in the process.

It would be such that those responsible for such an achievement would receive a noble title for their contributions, something Arthur couldn't help but recognize as the truth.

Something like that….

Realizing he couldn't see the bigger picture, he felt ashamed of calling himself a genius compared to the girl. Though for a moment he thought he couldn't help it, that was just an excuse.

He could only admit that Ekaterina was a true genius compared to him. If she was also skilled with magic… thinking about that, Arthur smiled.

It would be the birth of a future Archmage.

It was in the midst of their conversation about his acceptance of being Arthur's tutor, with typical noble language, that they would both be interrupted by a small, adorable existence that showed clear hostility toward Arthur; the same thing that would astonish Arthur more than anything that day.

A rabbit with horns... that can manipulate gravity!

Such a concept was not easy for Arturo to accept.

It's not that magical beasts capable of using gravity as their power didn't exist. The problem is that most of them were legendary magical beasts.

A horned rabbit capable of manipulating gravity? One that nearly killed several guards by increasing the area's gravity? One that could also destroy enormous trees and travel kilometers in seconds with that power?

Say something that makes sense!

That was what he thought as he patiently listened to all those absurd stories, but since the princess had demonstrated her intelligence and didn't seem to be lying given her immensely proud face, he decided to give her a chance to prove her word.

"Oh, yes..." Ekaterina nodded happily, understanding. She seemed quite excited and confident, and Arthur had a certain expectation.

Standing up from his seat with a happy, childlike expression at demonstrating his pet's power, he struck what he probably thought was a great pose after placing his horned rabbit on the table.

And so, the princess quickly ordered the horned rabbit named Drupi with a proud smile as she pointed at the top of the palace, shouting the name of a technique in a childish voice,

“Drupi, use Star Jump to go to the roof!”

“….“

“….“

The rabbit just looked at him out of the corner of his eye while Arthur adjusted his glasses with a trembling expression.

The young magician felt a little embarrassed by Ekaterina, although, to be honest, he found her actions quite funny.

Unfazed by the embarrassing moment, Princess Ekaterina brought her cheeky horned bunny ears to her lips and spoke softly to him with a smile.

“I’ll give you twice as many carrots as usual and have the guards catch more of those juicy bugs you like so much.”

She stroked him tenderly, saying something to him with an expression that reminded him of a certain merchant negotiating a price reduction in the Imperial Capital's Commercial District. Feeling somewhat nostalgic and amused, Arthur refrained from laughing.

However, soon he could no longer even think about laughing when he saw the next phenomenon.

Hearing the princess's seductive words, the horned rabbit's eyes flashed with a red light, frightening Arthur, and little Drupi quickly stood up, summoning a powerful amount of mana that left him stunned; causing his small body to glow faintly and beautifully, and finally leaping determinedly from the table upwards, 'flying' to the top of the Doge's Palace in an instant.

The little princess seemed to find his expression amusing as she laughed with the proud expression of a mother.

Analyzing the magic used by the horned rabbit, Arthur was even more surprised to find that he didn't feel it was interfering with the wind or anything; instead, he could sense a faint ripple in space in the air.

He could only speak in disbelief as he came up with an incredible answer.

"It's real... he's manipulating gravity... There's no wind involved... This horned rabbit is repelling the gravity of the world above him to jump to great heights like it's nothing!" "Incredible, absurd, how crazy!"

"Ha ha ha!"

Ekaterina laughed happily.

After overcoming disbelief, excitement set in. Arthur realized the tremendous potential of this magical beast, and if a wizard could harness that power on the battlefield…

It would be almost unstoppable!

If the princess were to tame Drupi and train her to use those abilities effectively, she would become a force to be reckoned with in the fight against demons in the future.

Arturo did not believe that his line of thinking was wrong.

First and foremost, all young men in the empire capable of using mana are trained to fight magical beasts. Sooner or later, they would find themselves on the battlefield, whether in a dungeon, a training ground, or elsewhere.

Furthermore, they would be frowned upon if they were guarded like precious jewels when they had the power to fight, becoming social outcasts who contributed nothing… Well, researchers are an exception to the rule, but that aside, that was the general line of thinking.

So he began to persuade her to make Drupi her tame beast without hesitation.

"What should I do?"

Although she seemed hesitant at first, she eventually agreed, to his delight.

He was determined.

I would help Ekaterina Sophrein von Dranalian become one of the most powerful magicians in this world!