Chapter 9: The Disaster Star became a racist.
****
Bator, a member of the Raven Squad, the covert operations unit of the Labellion Kingdom's intelligence agency, couldn't hide his surprise as he looked at the audacious boy before him.
'He noticed my presence?'
Bator wasn't particularly strong, but he was a master of stealth.
Under the right conditions, even Master-level experts couldn't detect him.
Normally, no one could sense his presence.
Enoch was the anomaly, his senses abnormally heightened from constantly trying to detect Rionne.
-Rumble!
A blinding flash of violet lightning filled Bator's vision.
A beast emerged from the dazzling light.
Physical confrontation was supposed to be avoided, but…
"Tsk, I need to subdue him…"
Bator drew his dagger and moved.
He kicked off the ground lightly, his agile body vanishing.
He kicked off a wall, then off a flying piece of debris, appearing behind Enoch.
[Oh dear.]
The spirit clicked her tongue, watching him.
[He's so bad at fighting!]
As Bator was mentally berating himself, a flash of light appeared beneath his feet.
His startled gaze dropped to the ground.
A magic circle. He reacted instantly, throwing himself aside.
Flash!
A bolt of lightning scorched his leg.
"Gah…!"
Bator gritted his teeth against the pain and looked up.
The boy was charging towards him.
The lightning in his hand was clearly a form of hand-generated aura.
Bator hurriedly imbued his dagger with blade aura.
Blade aura and hand aura.
Techniques that used mana to enhance destructive power.
And they were also a symbol.
A symbol of Experts, those who stood at the starting point of superhuman abilities.
'An Expert at that age, and he uses magic, too?'
Setting aside his power level, the technique was familiar.
Perhaps the kingdom's assessment had been correct.
Bator cursed his ignorance for dismissing it as absurd.
"Haa…!"
He gritted his teeth and swung his dagger desperately.
Enoch easily countered.
He hooked the dagger with two fingers, pulling it towards him, opening Bator's body wide.
A terrifying amount of lightning gathered in his other hand, glowing brightly.
"W-Wait…!"
Bator started to shout, but then…
"Enoch."
The killing intent vanished from Enoch's eyes.
He blinked innocently, then toddled over and hugged the owner of the voice.
"Rionne?"
"What's going on?"
"He was following us."
Enoch pointed at Bator, who was struggling to regain control of his trembling body.
He bowed his head.
"P-Please wait…! It's a misunderstanding!"
The Sword Marquis was a relatively moderate superhuman.
He'd been instructed to reveal his identity if necessary.
He quickly caught his breath and continued,
"I am Bator, from the kingdom's intelligence agency. We received information that the Sword Marquis had taken on a human disciple, so…"
Rionne interrupted him.
"Tell the king…"
"…Yes?"
"…that if he touches Enoch, it means war."
The Sword Marquis had left her family.
It was an arrogant statement, threatening war against the kingdom single-handedly, but Bator couldn't speak.
It wasn't just that the Sword Marquis was powerful; he was physically paralyzed.
It felt as if the very air around him had turned into blades, all pointed at him.
Only after she withdrew her pressure could he speak.
"…Yes, ma'am."
"Get out."
Bator obeyed. After he left, Undine slapped Rionne's arm in the wrecked alley.
[Rionne! Rionne!]
"What is it…? I already have a headache."
[That's not important right now! Enoch! What have you been teaching him!?]
Rionne frowned.
'What have I been teaching him?'
What was Undine talking about? She'd seen everything.
[Do you know what he said?]
The spirit recounted everything she'd heard, detailing Enoch's casually racist remarks.
Rionne was horrified.
"Enoch…!"
Enoch knew he wasn't going to be praised. He stammered, trying to defend himself.
"But… it's true. Humans are inferior."
"Enoch…!!??"
Rionne was on the verge of fainting.
Her precious child making such racist remarks…! And Enoch himself was human!
"E-Enoch…! Racism is bad."
"…But elves are clearly superior to humans."
"No! Humans are plenty capable! They control the largest territory on the continent!"
Even if that was the achievement of a single individual, not the human race as a whole, it was still true.
And Rionne had taught him that.
"That's because the Emperor is exceptional, not because humans are."
"Oh…"
"Elves have much higher mana and spirit affinity."
"Ugh…"
"They're physically superior."
"Hmm…!"
"And they're much better looking. They're the race of beauty."
Had Enoch always been this articulate…?
Rionne stammered, panicking.
No, this wasn't the time for that.
She had to reason with him.
"B-But Enoch, even you are human, and you're much more capable than other elves. I couldn't do anything at your age!"
"That's because 'I'm' exceptional, not because humans are."
"Oh…"
It was true, but… Rionne's eyes started to tremble, losing focus. She was speechless.
And that was Enoch's chance. He delivered the final blow.
"Humans don't even live for a hundred years. Elves, beastkin, dragons, even those little dwarves live for hundreds of years."
"…What? Even Poppy, my old dog, lived for a hundred…"
No, no. She couldn't be swayed.
"B-But Enoch! We're all sentient beings. We live together, so it's not good to think like that."
"But you said humans keep kidnapping elves, so they don't get along."
"..."
'What have I been teaching him…?'
Come to think of it, Rionne had taught Enoch most of what he knew.
She realized there was a serious problem with her teaching methods.
"Wait… humans don't even live for a hundred years?"
She hadn't taught him that.
She hadn't even known that herself.
Information about human lifespans wasn't a secret, but she'd never been interested enough in humans to learn it.
She didn't even know the lifespan of a honey badger; how could she know a human's?
"Ah."
Enoch realized his mistake and shut his mouth.
"Ugh…"
Rionne clutched her head. Right now, Enoch's education was the priority.
"Enoch, you can't discriminate against people based on such things. Would you ignore and discriminate against me if I suddenly became powerless?"
"No…"
"And elves aren't that great, either. Just look at dragons."
Which was why dragons generally looked down on other races.
"Anyway… this is a problem."
Rionne regretted her past remarks about dwarves.
She'd said those things out of habit, due to the historically bad blood between elves and dwarves.
Perhaps that was why Enoch had developed such thoughts.
"Enoch, come with me."
She'd made up her mind.
She would buy books about racism from the bookstore, study them, and guide Enoch onto the right path.
Meanwhile, Enoch, who had fallen silent, had made a different decision.
'Dragons are better than elves?'
Unacceptable.
He would make elves great again.
If dragons were superior, he would simply change that.
Then it wouldn't be racist to look down on other races, would it?
[…What a mess.]
The spirit, watching them, sighed deeply.
****
Back in the forest, Rionne put all other lessons on hold.
Character education was the priority now!
If Enoch continued down this path, he might become a menace to the continent!
She studied racism and humans, gaining new knowledge.
'Oh, humans consider twenty years old to be adulthood?'
Elves didn't have a fixed age for adulthood.
You were an adult when you had your coming-of-age ceremony, or even without it, you were considered an adult around that age.
Some had the ceremony as early as eighty, while others had it as late as one hundred fifty, so generally, anyone over one hundred fifty was considered an adult.
Since the ceremony wasn't particularly significant and just needed to be done before marriage, elves didn't think much of it.
'And most humans never even awaken to mana…? Is that really true?'
Rionne tilted her head, confused.
The housewives in her village imbued their kitchen knives with blade aura, and sometimes even blade force.
She couldn't quite grasp it.
The elf passing by was an Expert, and that elf over there was a Master.
Wasn't that common knowledge?
She continued reading, finding it surprisingly interesting, and ended up staying up all night.
And the next day…
"Hmm… maybe elves are a bit superior…?"
[Hey! You crazy idiot!]
****
"Ahem. Anyway, Enoch, you shouldn't judge people like that. Of course, there might be priorities in terms of power or a nation's system, but every life is precious."
"Mmm…"
Enoch seemed to not quite understand, but Rionne wasn't too worried. They still had over a hundred years…
"Oh…!"
This was bad.
Enoch was thirteen now. Humans reached adulthood at twenty.
She only had seven years left to teach him…!
****
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