Child Rearing Journal of the Strongest Wiseman～About My Daughter Being the Cutest in the World( Saikyou Kenja no Kosodate Nikki ～Uchi no Musume ga Sekaiichi Kawaii Ken ni Tsuite～) - Chapter 11

I Decided To Enroll My Daughter In the Magic Academy
「Well then, shall we talk about my niece’s future academic courses?」

The youthful woman, who was my master Iris Seymour, crossed her legs as she began to speak.
The Witch of Mirrodin asked whilst giving an enchanting smile,

「To begin with, I want to ask if you think of that girl as your own daughter? So no issues come up in the foreseeable future, that is.」

「I think of her as my own daughter, even if we aren’t related by blood.」

「Blood might be thicker than water, however, bonds run deeper than the ocean floor.」

「I feel the same way. Now, I have my sights set on the happiness of my daughter.」

「You were a person with great promise, even going as far as being guaranteed the seat of a great wiseman. It’s a shame to hear you, who abandoned it all and ran away, say such mundane filled words.」

Master gave a slight self-deprecating laugh.

「Good grief. If the you from two years were to know of this, he’d no doubt be surprised.」

「Even I still can’t accept it so easily. You were that much of a research freak. No, it’d be more apt to say you were someone who hated the world.」

「I did intend to come across as a research freak.」

「No, you really did hate the world; your devotion to research was just a pretense. Ever since you gained a body with eternal youth, and had leisure to spare, you became a man who focused solely on research.

「I can’t deny that..」

「You shouldn’t. Oh, how much I valued your talent.. If you continued to walk the path of a wiseman, you’d have been known as the 7th Great Wiseman by now. No, perhaps you would have become the top great wiseman, an existence fit to guide this world.」

「You’re overestimating me.」

「You’re being too modest.」

Master let out a sigh.

「As for your magic, its power surpasses even mine. If you ever do decide to aim for the height of a sorcerer, you’d for sure gain the power to pass me in the blink of an eye.」

「Wouldn’t that mean becoming the strongest in the world, then?」

「You’re right. That’s what surpassing me would amount to.」

「If so, it really is impossible. I have no reason to surpass Master.」

「The student always surpasses the master. It’s the standard for stories.」

After Master said that, she dismissed it, saying, 「Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter.」

「I won’t force you to become my successor after such a long time, and I won’t ask you to return to your previous principles and opinions. After all, being my successor would entail being tainted by the blood of numerous humans.」

Certainly, I had the choice of becoming her successor instead of being confined to that mountain, tirelessly researching.
I had the option to, like her, be involved in worldly affairs and put the magic I learnt to good use in human society.
I could’ve chosen the path to, like her, serve in a court somewhere, and utilize that magic in battle.
But, I feel as if that way of life wouldn’t suit me.
Yes, it couldn’t possibly have..
Everyone is suitable or unsuitable for something.
I don’t want to use magic as weapons of war. I don’t want to use magic as a tool for political strife.
It was certain that I had such feelings.
But can that statement really be trusted, after such a long time?
I’ve lived like this for a few hundred years. There’s no way I could change my lifestyle after all this time.
I lowered my head in apology.

「I see, therefore you don’t want to serve as a court magician, and you won’t turn towards becoming a war magician －－」
「I see. In other words, you don’t want to serve as a court magician nor do you want to become enlist as a war magician――.」

「I won’t turn towards that line of work.」

I tried it once upon a time, but it was no good. That wouldn’t change even after a few more centuries.

Due to the existence called Fiona, I remembered my dislike for killing humans with magic..

It was regretful, but I couldn’t follow in Master’s path.

I gave my outright refusal, but even so, her expression didn’t turn into a frown.

「Well, to each their own. For every woman like me, who doesn’t so much as lift a brow from being called a witch of fresh blood, there is a man like my disciple, who shows compassion to even the leech which sucks his blood. The world goes around well because of that. Even if you try changing at this later hour, it won’t lead to much of anything good.」

While saying that, she tore off the memo pages stuck to the bulletin.

She neither stood up, nor did she chant a spell.

It was a simple magic not requiring movement, let alone a chant.

The memo pages peeled off by themselves and moved towards the dustbin as if they had a will of their own.

「I thought I could make you seek asylum in some other country and become the court magician there, but I suppose that’s not to be the case ーー」

She muttered under her breath.

The memo pages were nearly half-peeled off. Perhaps that method might’ve been the best to ensure my and Fiona’s safety.

If we were to seek refuge in an enemy of the empire, we’d at the very least be protected from the evil clutches of the church.

Also, if I hone enough of my strength as a war magician, I’ll be able to protect myself and Fiona from those who seek to hurt us. I might be able to obtain the power necessary to protect Fiona from evil.

Perhaps I did abandon the best plan my teacher could conceive for me, but even then she didn’t forsake me.

She peered into my eyes with a scalding gaze.

I felt as if I’d been seen through by the witch, but still I didn’t avert my eyes.

I wonder if she was gauging my aptitude with that magic eye.

She peeled of a memo page stuck to the bulletin and handed it to me.

「What’s this?」

「This might be the best path you can take.」

I timidly looked at the memo page.

If she says it’s for the best, then that means there really is no alternative option. I had trust in my master’s keen eye for people.

Written in there was the name of a certain magic school.

「Leangrad Magic Academy.」

It was a nostalgic name; it was my alma mater, after all.
When Iwas young, the witch in front of me picked me to raise as one of her own.

After that, I enrolled in the Leangard Magic Academy at the time she told me that she was going to give up teaching. There, I learnt to become a sorcerer.

It was clear as day that she was aiming for a repeat of that.

「I don’t seek to make your daughter a sorcerer under these circumstances, if that’s what you’re thinking」

Master opened her mouth as if to beat me to the punch.

「Not all who become sorcerers turn out like I did.There are people who avoid killing like you do, and there are even women who get married promptly after getting the qualifications of a sorcerer. Moreover, there are women who opt to become librarians, and there are women who make it as medical sorcerers」

The point was, she concluded, that they could do whatever their hearts set upon.

「In other words, you want me to enroll my daughter in Leangrad Academy, where I can both teach and supervise her, right? If it’s Leangrad Academy, the empire and church won’t be able to lay a finger on her.」

I can’t say I thought about doing something like that.
Because such an action was quite unlike of me.

Leangrad Academy’s campus shared borders with the empire and a certain republic

The republic was the only country who could rival the empire in terms of military strength. It was listed as the top choice for my ‘places to seek asylum in’ list , on the page pinned up from before.

It was a country who engaged in a long-lasting war for dominance against the empire. And in between the empire and the republic was a small, sovereign country, the Leangrad Duchy.

Leangrad Duchy was, true to its name, ruled by the archduke.

However, it was a rank not bestowed by the empire; it had far more ancient origins.

It was recognized as a world power, had formidable army corps of sorcerers, and had a military acknowledged by both the empire and the republic.

To begin with, it managed to retain its independence in spite of its location, rubbing shoulders with two of those incredibly formidable countries. That in itself was proof of the Leangrad Duchy’s exalted history.

Leangrad, while bringing about a presence that neither the two countries nor the other major powers could make light of, was by no means putting up the pretence of being conspicuous, and had protected its independence for millennia.

Declaring permanent neutrality, it distanced itself from the interventions of the two countries.
Consequently, Leangrad Magic Academy flourished as the highest institute of education for sorcerers.

Regardless of birth or origins it accepted any who were capable people, and gained fame as a prestigious school for magic

「Leangrad Magic Academy, you say ……」

I mumbled that name again.

「Are you unwilling?」

「That’s not the problem though. No, rather, it’s a welcomed condition.」

After saying so, I continued.

「Leaving aside the fact of whether or not I’m cut out for teaching, it’s for the best. She’ll get a chance to study at a leading school, and will also be able to make friends of her age.」

「So, you agree wholeheartedly?」

「Leaving aside the fact of whether I want my daughter to eventually become a sorcerer, it’s not a bad learning environment.」

However, I added.

「Leangrad Magic Academy is famous. The written examination is difficult and you need to have at least some talent as a sorcerer. Moreover, you need to have connections.」

「Don’t worry about connections. I’m a former teacher. Moreover my name is still there amongst the trustees.」

「Her age is also a problem. If I recall correctly, Leangrad Academy only admits student who are ten years and above.」

「Everything will be resolved in due time. You can stay for a year at my home. During that time, that girl will surely grow to seem like a 10 year old. You can prepare her for the written examination in that one year, too.」

「You say it so easily. You know, their exam is tough.」

A wry smile inadvertently rose on my face. But more than that, the thing that worried me the most was her aptitude for magic. That couldn’t be changed.

If it’s writing, she has the opportunity of learning from the two greatest wisemen of all time, but her aptitude for magic couldn’t be changed.

Because magic was both technique and innate ability.

Even if a person memorised the spells, if they lacked the talent, then they still wouldn’t be able to invoke magic without internally possessed mana. By my diagnosis, my daughter Fiona lacked the talent for magic.

I couldn’t find that shining mana inside of her.

On the other hand, my teacher was of the opposite opinion.

「That girl is a homunculus. She is a child born inside a flask. Such a girl would surely possess various kinds of talent. Her talent will blossom in due time.」

「Do you have proof of that?」

「I have. That girl is your daughter and my niece. She surely possess extraordinary talent.」

She smiled with conviction, and her conviction proved to hit the mark.

A month later, when we began living in the Mansion, and at the time we began preparing for the Leangrad Academy entrance examination, my daughter’s powers had awoken.

That was just when I went out to buy groceries in town.

Thinking that I should buy preparatory books for the exam, I went around the bookstores and returned to master’s mansion; there, the incident had taken place.

It seemed she had climbed up a tree in the garden in master’s mansion when Chloe let her eyes off her for a moment.
Climbing a tree by itself showed her health and was something to be happy about, but the problem was its height.
She, without thinking, had climbed a huge elm tree.
It’s height was easily 10 metres. And the reason for climbing was also just like her.
She had climbed the tree to return a baby bird that had fallen off its nest.
Was it something that warranted a scolding?
I thought so.
Actually, hearing the report about her falling from the tree, I couldn’t bring myself to scold her.
Rather, master and the others praised her.

「Oh, Fiona, well done. That was commendable.」

Somehow, my daughter Fiona, even after falling from a tree, was completely unhurt.
It seems she had protected her body by invoking magic.
She protected her body by invoking 《Flight》magic that I had not even taught her.
And the next day, she flew across the skies after obtaining permission from me.
She, at once, brought an unreasonable demand.

「A kitty is stuck in a high place!」

She requested for permission to fly with a smile.
Of course, I couldn’t reject.
In any case, I had made preparations to be ready to chant support magic beneath her if anything went wrong, but that ended up going to waste.
In her second invocation, she flawlessly used《Flight》magic.
I watched the figure of my daughter petting the kitten, a complex feeling arising from within me.
Master was grinning upon seeing such in me.
Somehow, my daughter had the talent for magic, just as per her predictions.
I had to acknowledge that.
Anyhow, with this my daughter’s and my future was decided.

When she attains the height and weight of a 10 year old, I’ll forge the documents and make her attend Leangrad Magic Academy as a 『Human』.

And I’ll become a『Teacher』there.

It could be said that it was the best, for there were no options left other than that.

I decided that as I lightly took the cat from my daughter, who lightly adapted to the wind and came down from a high place.
Incidentally, the cat was a black cat.
A black cat residing in a witch’s house was said to be a sign of good luck.

It’d be nice if Leangrad Magic Academy became a place of happiness for me and my daughter.
While thinking so, I continued petting the cat.
Regardless of whether or not the cat actually understood my feelings, it cried out a 「Nyaa」.