Chapter 1: A Seven-Year-Old Dark Mage (1)

In the age of myths and legends, there lived a dark mage. He was the first to ever go against the heavens to bring back the dead. He was also the first to venture down the forbidden path in order to create curses in this world. And, finally, he was the first to ever wield the darkness. This powerful being stood above everyone else in the world of myths. Yet there were limits to even the most powerful beings when they stood alone. 

“We shall now seal you away,” the twelve gods of heaven declared.

Alone, the twelve gods were less powerful than the dark mage, but together they overpowered him.

“Bahahaha!” the dark mage cackled. “None of you could kill me on your own, so now you’ve flocked here all together. And yet, here I am—still alive!”

How could he not laugh at them? The fact they’d decided to imprison him meant they’d failed to kill him. 

“Go ahead, I dare you to seal me away. But when the time comes and I’m reawakened…”

The dark mage’s smile grew more cynical as he continued. “The radiance surrounding your very existence will fade, and in the depths of despair, you’ll eventually beg me to have mercy and end your lives.”

Upon hearing the terrifying curse, the twelve Gods locked him up in the Chamber of Eternity without a second thought.

An eternity had passed since that day.

“My time has come!”

The dark mage awoke from his slumber…

“Waah!”

“Oh no, I think Jamie is awake!”

“Golly, why don’t you stay here, my lady. I’ll go check on him.”

“Jamie’s crying! Jamie!”

“Waah!”

“My lady!”

His time had come…as the eldest son of a peaceful noble family.

***

“It’s that dream again…”

A child slowly opened his eyes. He had long lashes and an unforgettable set of emerald eyes. As he got up from the bed, he ran his fingers through the green hair that matched his eyes. 

The room was far too spacious for a boy his age to use alone. It took awhile for him to get used to, but after seven years, it became hard to imagine waking up anywhere else.

The seven-year-old Jamie Welton slinked down from the huge bed and walked toward the window through which the warm sunlight shone.

The boy stretched out his arms and legs and opened the window. Winter was fading away, and spring was falling upon them. The scent of blooming flowers tickled Jamie’s nose pleasantly, but he was completely indifferent to it. Jamie leaned against the window and looked at the scenery outside the window. He had the face of a young boy, but his expression resembled that of a grown man who’d been through all the ups and downs of life. 

It’s been seven years already.

His manner of speech was also far from childlike. It would have shocked his parents and nanny if they’d heard him. So, in the presence of his caregivers and other adults, he put on an act to appear as a normal child of seven.

Tsk, it’s going to be another exhausting day.

Since his reincarnation, he’d grown up under the care of his parents. This was such a pain for Jamie, who remembered his previous life. Of all things in the present, the worst was…

Just imagining it made him pucker his brows.

Being loved is just such a drag.

Recalling his parents’ doting eyes on him, Jamie sighed. Ridiculous, he thought. 

Jamie Welton, the firstborn of the Welton family, was the official heir of Earl Welton of Seldam Kingdom as well as the greatest dark mage of all time—Diablo Volpir—who’d almost succeeded in bringing down the twelve Gods from their thrones. That was the true name of the soul inside the child’s body. Yet in this very moment, he was nothing more than just a boy.

I guess it’s not so bad.

Actually, it wasn’t that bad at all. Being reincarnated provided him with a fresh opportunity. What had seemed an inescapable eternity was finally over. Although he was in the body of a boy, time was on his side. 

It’s not like those bastards are going anywhere.

It didn’t take long for Jamie to discover that the twelve Gods were still feeding off their faithful believers like parasites. Over the course of tens of thousands of years, they hadn’t bothered to check the seal on the Chamber of Eternity even once. Diablo Volpir had been completely forgotten. What an arrogant bunch, as always.

Time is strictly in my favor.

Those pompous pigs wouldn’t lift a finger until Jamie decided to show himself. They might even scoff and dismiss him after discovering his reincarnation. That was to be expected. The only problem was…

The problem is that I’m so damn weak.

Just then, a creature that looked like a bat appeared on Jamie’s palm. It was a demon.

Peep, peep!

The demon purred and brushed its face against his hand. Someone was in a good mood. Jamie scratched its small head before he made it disappear. 

Since his body was still young, there was a limit to his magical powers. He needed a fully grown body to garner the full powers of his prime. His only other option was to tweak his current body. But now, during peacetime, no such dark magic existed. There may be someone still practicing it, but it was probably kept below the surface. He could go looking for it in the underworld if it weren’t for his seven-year-old body.

Fortunately, he was born into a prominent family. The Weltons were one of the most powerful families in Seldam. They possessed the fifth-largest estate and were in control of more than ten orders of knights.

Above all else, Jamie’s father, Earl Welton, was one of the five swordmasters in the kingdom. His mother also came from a prestigious family.

Apologies in advance. I must make use of all assets I have access to.

He wondered how his parents would react if they found out that their son, whom they’d raised for seven years, was actually a monster from the legends. Of course, Jamie had no intentions of telling them. It’s not like they’d believe it if he told them, and even if they did, they would never hurt their own son. After watching them for seven years, Jamie was certain they were good people. In fact, they were almost too good for their own good, which made him uncomfortable.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

“Master Jamie!”

He heard a familiar voice call to him. It was a voice he’d heard one too many times in the past seven years.

“Is it already time?”

Jamie checked the mana-powered clock on the wall. The hour hand was nearing eight. He realized he must have enjoyed his morning meditation for a tad too long.

Knock, knock!

“Young master!” his nanny called to him again while knocking on the door.

Jamie cleared his throat as he rubbed along his Adam’s apple. He erased all traces of the old man from himself and answered in the unique high-pitched voice of a young boy.

“Yes, nanny. I’m up!”

“May I come in?”

“Yes.”

The door opened, and an elderly maid with gray hair walked in. Her name was Anna. She was the nanny who’d raised two generations of the Welton family. Seeing Jamie still in his pajamas, Anna spoke. 

“His grace and Her ladyship are waiting for you. Let’s get you dressed, shall we?”

“I’ve lost track of time gazing up at the beautiful morning sky.”

“Oh, Master Jamie, that’s such a romantic thing to do,” Anna complimented him, her wrinkles curling up in a smile.

Romantic… Since when did I have such a sentimental side? Scoffing inside, Jamie changed out of his pajamas. 

And so it began again. Another tiresome, boring day just like the rest of the past seven years.

***

Jamie finished changing with Anna’s help and then headed straight to the dining hall. He was far from pleased because he knew what was going to happen next. He’d been going through the same motion for the past seven years and would continue to do so for at least a few more.

“Master Jamie.”

Jamie stopped upon Anna’s call. Standing in front of the giant doors, he dreaded what was to come. One would think that seven years would have been long enough to get accustomed to this.

Like that’s going to ever happen.

After all, it was the first thing he gave up when he decided to take up dark magic to kill the twelve Gods.

“Young master Jamie is here.”

The door creaked as Anna opened it, and the room came into full view. Under the grand chandelier was a simple but nutritious breakfast spread atop a long wooden table. Seated at the top of the table were a man and a woman to his right. The pair smiled at Jamie, who stood just outside the hall.

“Oh my love, come in and have a seat.”

“How’d you get so cute, my sweet bundle of joy?”

“Why, he takes after you, sweetheart.”

“Nonsense! He’s clearly an angel, just like you, darling.”

“Oh dear, you make me blush!”

“Hahaha!”

“...”

Jamie watched the pair—the boy’s parents—with a look of discomfort. 

The man was Earl Argheno Welton, Jamie’s biological father. As a genius swordsman, he’d become a swordmaster at the age of thirty-seven and was known as one of the top five swordsmen in the entire kingdom. And Jamie’s mother, Sears Belle Welton, was the lady of the house. She was the only daughter of the great family of Belle, and now she oversaw the entire Welton Household. And although Jamie couldn’t see the small creature, the three-year-old girl seated between his parents was his one and only younger sister, Sarah Welton. With Jamie Welton, the four of them made up the Welton family. There was just one problem.

“Baby, what are you doing standing there? Come and sit beside Mama. Time for breakfast!”

“Your mother’s calling, cutie pie. Come and join us.”

The Weltons were filled, nay, overflowing with love for each other. This was too much for the dark mage, who’d given up on love completely.

With goosebumps down his spine, Jamie tried to answer as cheerfully as possible.

“Coming!”

Just like always.

***

Sigh.

Jamie returned to his room after breakfast and threw himself on the bed. He was exhausted from their excessive love. Things were more tolerable now that he was accustomed to the whole thing. When he was an infant, all the doting had made him want to kill himself. Eons ago, when he’d forsaken love altogether, he’d never expected something like this to happen. 

Damn it.

Jamie wanted a break from it all, but in half an hour, he had to go read storybooks with his mother. He wanted to pretend to be sick, but that would only make matters worse. For Sears would come and nurse him back to health with all the love and concern she could muster. 

Ugh, I just want to go to the library.

Tens of thousands of years had passed since Diablo Volpir had been sealed away. The world was more advanced than ever before, and history was now recorded in the form of books. Jamie found a whole new world in these books in the library. There was no end to new knowledge, even for a man of great accomplishments like himself. 

It had been two years since he’d been granted access to the family library. Even after two years of extensive reading, he’d yet to finish reading a third of the Welton family’s vast collection. Jamie already knew more than the average intellectual of this time. However, a mage covets all the knowledge in the world. And before he was the conjurer of dark magic, he was a mage. He wasn’t going to settle for just being an intellectual.

And I do enjoy practicing the magic of this era.

He couldn’t annihilate the Gods with the preexisting magic, so he’d created dark magic. However, the magic of the present was incomparable to the magic from his own time. He especially liked how they’d classified it into nine levels. Back in Diablo Volpir’s days, it had been possible to identify a mastery of magic, but it hadn’t been nearly as well organized. 

Systems were essential. Things without systems collapsed easily and were ultimately incomplete. Admittedly, modern magic had a well-established system.

Very useful, I’d say.

It wasn’t as lethal as dark magic, but it was still highly versatile. He could use it to advance dark magic further.

“Hmm.”

He was feeling better now. Soon, Sears was going to call for him. Sure enough, Jamie heard Anna’s footsteps outside.

***

Sears waved toward her son with loving eyes.

“Sweet pea, come here.”

“Yes, Mother.”

Jamie hid the disapproval on his face as best as he could and approached her. Reluctantly, he dug into her arms.

“Aw, my precious boy.”

Sears rubbed her cheeks against her son’s. Jamie didn’t bother hiding his discomfort, but fortunately, no one saw Jamie’s frown.

“Here, this is the story we’ll read today.”

She read through the storybook with a lively voice. Jamie wanted to yawn, but he stopped himself out of respect for his mother.

“And Hynes lived happily ever after! The end!”

Closing the book, Sears asked her son with a smile, “Did you like the story?”

“Yes, I want to become a great mage like Hynes when I grow up!” Jamie produced an answer fit for a child his age that would please Sears. 

“You’re surely going to be a great mage one day, my son. You’re a genius who defeated three teachers of magic already!”

“Haha.”

Is she being sarcastic?

When Earl Welton had found out that his son was studying complex texts on his own in the library, he’d hired mages to be Jamie’s tutor. However, all of them had surrendered before the genius boy and resigned their posts.

“Papa’s already found an excellent mage to be your new teacher.”

“I’m okay.”

No matter how great Sears claimed the new tutor was, he would probably be no more than a rank four or five. Even a rank seven mage wasn’t enough for Jamie. Who would dare teach the greatest mage of his time? That was an impossible task for even the greatest mage of this era. He might be up for an exchange of information, but that was also a big maybe.

“Are you going to the library now?”

“Yup!”

“Why don’t you go out and play in the sun once in a while?”

“Don’t worry, Mother.”

“I’m not worried about you, my boy.”

Sears cuddled Jamie like he was the most adorable thing in the world.

Cut it out, Mother! Enough is enough! Jamie cried out in his head.