A Genius Boy Who Was Exiled From His Family Home for “Not Being Able To Use Magic” Becomes a Witch’s Apprentice and Masters All Magic in the Right Way. This Is How You Use Your Magic, You Know?

Chapter 122.1. The Story Changes

“Agh… ghaa…”

I look away from Clyde, who is writhing in pain on the ground, clutching his nose.

I don’t care what he does right now. What matters is—

“Sara-sama, are you alright?”

“Y-yes…”

Sara responds, her head lowered.

… She doesn’t seem to have any external injuries, but her magic power is heavily drained, and more than anything, she’s mentally shattered. As if she’s seen something terrible. As if she’s come to a harsh realization.

Something must have happened between Clyde and her before I got here. It seems she witnessed something significant in her exchange with him.

While thinking that I’ll need to hear about this once the current attack is dealt with, I move closer to offer her a hand.

“… Ah, aaaaahhh!!”

A scream-like groan erupts from behind me.

When I turn, I see Clyde standing, still clutching his nose, glaring at Hermes with eyes full of hatred.

“This is a joke… impossible, I won’t accept it. You? You hit me? You, looking down on me?! That’s—”

“…Ah.”

I knew it. It was about that.

Hermes speaks in a cold voice to Clyde, who got up far quicker than I had imagined.

“Even your reaction after being beaten up is just like Prince Aster. Did you also learn his useless toughness?”

“Don’t you dare insult me… I’m nothing like that guy. How dare you get close to her?!”

With those half-incoherent words, Clyde lunges at me like a wild beast.

But his movements are simple and sluggish. Hermes sidesteps easily and lands a high kick.

“Uggh! …Aaaaah!”

“Tch.”

“Ugh!! …It hurts, it hurts… you…!”

“…”

I land blow after blow with my martial arts, but Clyde keeps getting up and coming at me.

… I see. So that’s it. No wonder he’s unnaturally tough.

He’s guarding the areas I strike with magic, likely unconsciously, minimizing the damage.

That’s not something a mere amateur can pull off.

… What a cruel irony. It seems this man had extraordinary talent even in hand-to-hand combat.

Still, no matter how talented he is, he can’t hope to match someone like Hermes, who’s been honing this for over five years. The fact that he doesn’t go down in one hit just drags out his suffering.

Finally, after another powerful strike—a blow to the solar plexus—Clyde collapses with a groan, hitting the ground for the second time.

“I have no hobby of tormenting people, so I aimed to finish you with one blow each time… But your natural toughness and bizarre persistence at the last moment are just like his.”

“Ugh… it hurts…”

Clyde staggers to his feet again, but now, realizing he can’t win no matter what he does, he begins to shout.

“Why…?! Why are you still standing? Why aren’t you being punished?! I’m trying so hard, and I’m suffering so much!”

“As I said earlier—because you were weak.”

“That can’t be!! There’s no way all this suffering is my fault! It has to be something else—yeah, that’s it.”

Clyde suddenly seems to have an idea.

“It was the monsters. The monsters were too weak.”

“…”

“Yeah, that’s it! I even prepared so many monsters and controlled them so well, yet they couldn’t even break the barrier, couldn’t kill anyone! Even the dragon-type got taken out in one hit! No way should’ve happened. That man, he must have tricked me into using weak monsters on purpose!”

Even now, Clyde is trying to shift responsibility onto the very creatures he forced into servitude.

Hermes, feeling there’s no longer any point in listening, prepares to knock him out with magic and turn to finish off the remaining monsters.

But Clyde, oblivious to Hermes’ intent, continues to scream.

“Aaaagh! I was doing this for humanity, to put your monsters to good use, and yet! You’re so useless! If you’re really humanity’s enemy, then hurry up and kill these people already!”

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—He was watching.

Though he might seem weak at first glance, he was actually a fairly strong monster thanks to his unique magic—or rather, “they” were.

The magic Clyde, their current master, had discovered and given them intelligence was ‘sharing’ and ‘assimilation.’ This allowed them to share consciousness and act as both individuals and a collective entity.

Clyde had found them and bestowed intelligence upon them. They learned to use their magic to relay information to other monsters and their master.

Thanks to that, they were able to kill humans more efficiently, even though they were weak on their own. They were grateful to their master for giving them that opportunity.

But…

“Aaaagh! I did this for humanity, and this is how you repay me?!”

Now their master was angry. He was blaming them for his failure.

“You’re useless! If you’re really humanity’s enemy, then kill these people already!”

Hearing that, they felt genuinely sorry.

Even their strongest earth dragon couldn’t defeat that silver man. But it wasn’t surprising. The silver man was far stronger than any human they had ever seen.

Still… they couldn’t help but think:

Why is our master… so bad at this?

Their master, too, possessed power close to that man’s.

His magic, and his body—they were both top-notch. If only he could fully utilize his power and fight alongside them, they could have surely defeated the silver man.

And yet, their master was utterly incompetent. His magic handling, his control over his own power—everything was clumsy and dull. He couldn’t even begin to compare to the silver man, and it was showing. No wonder he lost.

Ah, it’s so frustrating.

If only I were there, I could have helped my master win, just like he wanted.

—If only I could use my master, we’d win.

…Wait.

What? That’s it.

That would solve everything.

Then, why don’t we do just that?

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