When Hermes was banished, he was given some relatively decent clothes instead of the rags he was wearing until now, as well as a small sum of gold coins.

Although he was expelled from the household, he was a former noble.

They must’ve spared me some consideration so I wouldn’t immediately die on the roadside—

Thinking that was a mistake on Hermes’ part.

“HYAHAHAHAHA! This is our lucky day!”

“I thought this wasn’t gonna be a worthwhile job, but I never woulda thought we’d get such easy pickings!”

“These clothes are ridiculously high-end. To think a little noble boy would be strollin’ around in these parts! It’s like you’re just asking us to capture you!”

The Flembreed household never had even the slightest intention to let Hermes live a decent life after banishment from the beginning.

Hermes was dumped in a slum district far removed from the royal capital.

He was an obviously frail young boy walking in the slums by his lonesome. He wore decent clothes, but commoners would find his attire to be extremely high-end. He held a relatively small sum of money, but to commoners, the money he carried was enough to blind their eyes. 

Kidnappers could probably only see Hermes as a walking target who was begging to be robbed.

Father didn’t kill Hermes himself purely to avoid any scandals that he had killed his own family.

That was why he hung bait all over Hermes in the guise of thoughtfulness to have the people from shady areas dispose of him appropriately.

And sure enough, just as Zenos predicted, Hermes was captured by some vulgar men in the blink of an eye, had all of his possessions stripped away from him, and was thrown on the street of some unpopulated suburb.

“So what are we gonna do with this kid? Should we aim for ransom, or maybe sell him to a slave trader?”

“Don’t do either. These kinds of abandoned noble kids show up from time to time. Naturally, they aren’t worth shit, and we ain’t gonna be selling this frail little boy for much either.”

“In that case…”

“Yeah, let’s kill him so it doesn’t bite us in in the ass later on.”

And then, ever so easily—

They cheerfully decided on the worst way possible to deal with Hermes as if they were just making small talk. One person from their group approached Hermes with a bladed weapon in one hand.

“Eeek—”

I don’t wanna die.

Yielding himself to his natural fear, Hermes crawled away in an attempt to escape. However—

“Hey hey, don’t make this take any longer than it needs to. Ey!”

“Augh!”

His unsightly escape wasn’t tolerated whatsoever. The man stomped on Hermes’ back, preventing him from moving.

Not a second later, he was sent flying away by a kick, and he was slammed against the nearby wall.

“I’ve heard, little boy. You were discarded by a prestigious noble.”

The man smiled vulgarly as he approached Hermes with several other people in tow.

“You don’t seem to know, so I’ll go ahead and teach you. Us low class people DESPISE nobles!”

“Even if you were discarded, you must’ve lived the good life up until now, right?”

“If that’s the case, at least let us pitiful commoners vent our anger in the end. That’s what you call a noble’s duty or something, right?”

Just like that, they took turns continuously assaulting Hermes, and he gradually lost the will to resist.

—What did my life amount to?

Everything Hermes has done until now flowed and revolved throughout his mind as he finally resigned himself to his fate.

His glittering childhood days and the juvenile days where everything flipped on its head. The continuous hard work, which he believed would be rewarded one day, was all brought to naught. His life would fade away without anyone knowing in a place like this.

If that was Hermes’ life—then absolutely everything he did was pointless; there was no meaning in his life whatsoever.

He couldn’t help but conclude like so.

I hate this…

No matter how he rejected reality, he was no longer able to do anything.

Having gotten bored of Hermes’ lack of resistance, the man casually held his knife aloft.

With empty pupils, he waited for the knife to swing downwards on his neck—but it didn’t happen.

“Goba!?”

The reason being that some kind of magic violently exploded at the side of the man’s face just before he swung down.

He raised an odd scream and was blown away from Hermes.

“—Hey, give me a break.”

A beautiful woman replied with a tomboyish tone of voice.

“I went on a rampage for the first time in a really long while today, and I was about to go home in a great mood, you know?

Surprised, Hermes turned his eyes to the voice. There, he saw the figure of a beautiful woman, the red sunset of the evening behind her.

“Here I am on my way home, and what the hell do I find you all doing? There couldn’t be anything more goddamn sickening than a bunch of guys ganging up on some adorable young boy and assaulting him. My good mood is ruined now.”

It looked as though her long, crimson hair burned even brighter amidst the red sunset. In contrast to that, her intelligent, blue eyes glinted with apparent displeasure as she glared at the men.

“—Aaand that’s why—”

From her well-shaped lips came words brimming with animosity.

“To free you from your pain, I’ll be beating the absolute shit out of you fuckin’ shit-eating bastards. Don’t complain, alright?”

What he saw in the battle that started from there was absolutely unbelievable.

In response to her blatant provocation, the men flew into a rage and rushed at the beautiful woman in unison.

“Don’t look down on us pretending like you’re the champion of justice, you stupid fuckin’ bitch!”

“Look at you gettin’ all cocky! We’ll use your body to teach you what happens when you defy us!”

The men angrily yelled at the beautiful women with voices tinged with fury, shame, and even lust.

However, contrary to what they said, they conducted themselves in battle with refinement.

There appeared to be a few people with knowledge of magic. Various tactics were employed, such as using powerful long-range magic or utilizing body-strengthening magic to quicken their movements.

Moreover, they had a huge numbers advantage. Even a user of Bloodline Magic would end up being killed without any means of resisting if they fought half-heartedly.

However—

“Ooh, so scary, so scary.”

Along with an elegant smile devoid of any worry, she deftly handled everything.

She fended off the men that charged at her with even greater body-strengthening magic and martial arts, letting not even a single finger touch her. The long-distance magic was completely defended against by a wall of light spread around her, which allowed not even the slightest breeze to pass her.

Then, she returned the favor by firing numerous spells so powerful that it made the men’s magic that Hermes had seen so far seem like child’s play.

Balls of fire, blades of wind, clusters of ice—She deployed a great variety of magic as if to show off and fired them as she fluttered about.

The men were crushed by her power and movement. She theatrically trampled over them in a display of overwhelming and completely one-sided might.

“No way…”

In the midst of their battle, Hermes reflexively let out a murmur.

Although he was surprised by the sheer difference in power, what he was most astonished about was something else.

“Just what kind of magic is that person using…!?”

I’ll mention here one of the properties of Bloodline Magic.

As a general rule, Bloodline Magic only manifests once in each person.

As a result, the magic that a person uses fundamentally leans to a single element.

Naturally, there were exceptions. For example, take the “generic” magic that’s said to be usable by anyone—there were no limitations set on each person. The magic the men were using was probably that, and it wasn’t impossible to display such a wide variety of magic just as the girl did with that magic.

However, there was a single, massive inconsistency in that assumption.

“It’s way too powerful…!”

That’s right—All of the magic that she used went far beyond the scope of generic magic. And that’s to say nothing of her magic exhibiting nearly the same power as a poorly-done Bloodline Magic.

Hermes wasn’t the only one who’d be astonished by the current spectacle. Any noble who understood Bloodline Magic to some extent would be doubting their own eyes.

The events unfolding before his eyes were the embodiment of total absurdity. Hermes stared at what was happening, but he stopped fussing over it soon after.

The reason being that—

“…Amazing.”

—He was captivated. She galloped through the battlefield more freely than anyone else, understood magic more deeply than anyone else, and wielded magic as she pleased more than anyone else.

She was the picture of the magnificent magician that he so yearned to be; The very embodiment of the aspirations that he dreamt of since childhood now existed in plain sight.

“…That hair, that tone of voice, and more than anything, that ridiculous magic… It can’t be…!”

Before long, one of the men realized something, despair written all over his face.

“You all, we’re withdrawing! This is the Witch of Heaven Rose, the walking calamity! Before we suffer any more injuries—”

“It’s already too late, dumbasses.”

I won’t let you escape—

As if proclaiming that, the beautiful woman called Rose enclosed the surroundings with a wall of light, closing every single man inside.

“Despite your guys’ extremely low-life appearances, you were all surprisingly strong. That’s why, as a super pain-in-the-ass token of gratitude, I’ll show you all my magic.”

She then raised her right hand to the heavens, took a deep breath, and began singing.

“I overlook all that the universe has to offer; My eyes to the spring, my skull gifted to the gods; Know that I reside at the summit of heaven.”

She brought her hand down with a fearless smile and proclaimed in a loud voice:

“Bloodline Magic: Throne of the Fallen Star, Hliðskjálf!”

The next moment—

Innumerable rays of light, which I could only presume rained down from heaven, impacted the ground. Worthy of being called her trump card, it possessed extraordinary power even among the arsenal of magic she employed. A cloud of dust was kicked up in a single swoop of her magic, and the cries of the men echoed therein.

Before long, their cries would come to a complete stop, and what laid beyond the clearing of the dust cloud was—

“I won’t kill you guys. No one would wanna go outta their way to get their hands dirty with garbage, right?”

—the men collapsed flat on their faces, as well as Rose’s ever-gorgeous figure standing in the middle.

“…Now then.”

After making sure they were all incapacitated, she relaxed her shoulders.

“Hey, you. You’re safe now—”

With a gentle smile, she attempted to rush over to Hermes. However—

At that instant, Hermes sensed a faint mana fluctuation from far away.

“—Miss! A sniper at your rear left!”

“!?”

Letting his intuition guide him, Hermes squeezed what little energy he had left and shouted.

Hermes didn’t know if his warning made it in time, as a streak of light flew from a building in the far distance moments after.

Just before it would directly hit the side of her temple—

“…Not bad.”

The streak of light was blocked by a wall of light milliseconds before it hit.

“If that hit me just now, you might’ve just scratched me.”

As a return gift, the girl pointed at the source of the light, and streaks of falling stars fell onto the building immediately after.

“So they hired a sniper as a contingency plan. You guys are surprisingly well-prepared… Not that it matters, though.”

Having confirmed she incapacitated the sniper, this time she walked over to Hermes, then came to a stop in front of him.

…Now that I get a better look, she’s younger than I imagined. She must be somewhere in her early twenties just from her appearances.

Her large pupils reflected the vestiges of her maiden-like innocence, and the bridge of her nose was well-defined. You’d seldom see such beauty even in the royal capital.

Her perfect golden-ratio body was dressed in a chic dress with a black undertone, and her slender arms and legs extended from the sleeves of the dress. Her nearly transparent, pearly white skin tone vividly shined as it contrasted with the evening sun.

In addition to her overwhelming ability in magic from earlier, she gave off a somewhat isolated appearance. 

She locked eyes with Hermes and leaned over to him.

“—You’re pretty amazing!”

She brought her face close to Hermes, her eyes suddenly sparkling with the innocence of a young girl.

“Although I wasn’t paying attention, you noticed the mana that I didn’t notice from so far away. Just what kind of perception abilities do you have!?”

Far different from the impression she gave off earlier, her beautiful, sweet face flushed with excitement as she spoke very close to Hermes.

Hermes momentarily forgot all about his nervousness, unrest, and even the pain and fatigue in his body.

“Let alone at this age! You’re really amazing. This might be the first time I’ve seen someone more talented than me.”

Taking no notice of his daze, she made a sweet, amiable smile and said in the end like so:

“You’ve intrigued me, you cute little magician boy. I’m called Rose, but what’s your name?”

Hermes von Flembreed, aged 10 years old.

At this moment, the same boy who hit rock bottom as his life flipped upside down when he was 7, now 10 years old—

Had a chance encounter with the Witch of Heaven Rose, his life about to flip upside down for the second time.

---

Yesterday’s second chapter. This one was 2300+ words long, I couldn’t finish this yesterday. By far the longest chapter I’ve translated. Magic Arrow is usually 1200-1300 words long, so this is like 2 of those in one chapter. I’ll try to triple release, but if I can’t I’ll just post an extra chapter on Saturday or Sunday to make up for the one I missed. Anyway that’s all, see you guys next post. EDIT: This chapter was added to magic arrow for some reason, I apologize if you came here because of that. I put in a ticket so it should be fixed soon.