The True Genius

It had been two months since August revealed the dwarf town. The effect it had was apparent, with the paperwork the duke and duchess saw halving. The duke was still quite stoic, though a little closer to the duke August remembered.

So the reason why the duke was busy in this timeline was because they had not discovered the dwarf town yet. Then how did August’s father discover it much earlier? It was almost as if he knew where, like August did, the dwarf town was.

“August.”

It was Heilke’s voice coming from the brooch. August had originally planned to store her gift into a immaculately custom created box, before knowing the communication spell was cast. Thus, August battled the feelings of being sad where he treasure it by preservation, and being overjoyed that it meant Heilke was by his side at all times.

“My brother is free now. Let’s go meet him,” she said. “I’ll come get you right now so tell me if you’re in a bad situation for me to teleport to.”

August looked around, noticing there were no major issues in the surroundings. His clothing was sleek, and properly wrinkle free. Conveniently usable to meet the opposition’s family members. “It’s fine.”

“Look outside.”

August looked out the window. Turquoise hair holding a pearl hairpin. He made eye contact with Heilke.

“Heilke!?”

Before August could process what he saw, she had appeared before him. She fixed the hairpin back onto her hair, then held out her hand. She said with a smile, “I can’t teleport from that far away, you know.”

Phinn Crowell’s residence was the closest thing to a mage tower, the type of thing that only existed in fantasy. Hidden away from plain sight, but filled with something that indicated it was not a normal building.

“Brother, I’ve brought August with me.”

Heilke’s brother wore a stain-covered white robe. His hair was unkempt, as if it had been months since he last cut his hair. His hair had a combination of the turquoise similar to Heilke’s and the dark hair of his father’s, paired with the eyes that reflected little emotion.

“Welcome. I’ve heard from Heilke. You wanted to discuss something with me?” He gestured to a mattress on the floor, which then swiftly transformed into a couch. “Here, sit.”

Heilke shook her head. “Why do you keep using your magic for something like that?”

Phinn shrugged, then sat on his pseudo-couch. “So, what is it?”

“I’ve seen your magic in the crystal,” Heilke said. “What did you do to it?”

Phinn put his hand to his chin, then raised his head. “What crystal?”

“Father’s crystal.”

“Ohh, Father’s crystal. I could barely do anything, yet you noticed my mana?”

“It was obvious, no?”

“Not even Father noticed.”

“I thought you made up an excuse, like you were just trying the crystal out for yourself or something.”

“Unfortunately, I didn’t. If I get caught, I’m going to be in so much trouble…”

August watched the back and forth between the siblings, conversation moving so smoothly between the two. That would only happen if two people had common ground but different insights. August wondered if his conversations with Heilke were like that too.

“Ok, ok. Let’s get back to what I wanted to ask you about. Like your thoughts on time magic.”

“My opinion on time magic? I’m roughly looking into it. It’s quite interesting. Just not enough for me to look into that deeply, unless someone gives me a push.

“That’s fine. It’s just that August and I have regressed, but with different methods.”

Phinn’s eyes widened, then he smiled with great obsession. A deranged smile similar to his father’s. He turned to August. “Tell me about yours first.”

***

“Heilke, you have already cast a time spell with that perfection?” Phinn said with great surprise. “Interesting, interesting. I wonder what the difference in the formula is.”

“I have a feeling it had something to do with —.”

August did a double take. He could not figure out what Heilke said.

“Hmm. If it were me, I would’ve — the —,” Phinn said.

“I thought that didn’t work? I put the — where the — is — and the — is —.”

“Wait, that is genius. You’re so right Heilke. This way — would be able to —.”

The two continued to barrage each other with terminology August could not understand. Though he couldn’t catch most of what they said, he couldn't hold his curiosity either. “Do you think my father regressed?”

“Yes,” Phinn answered immediately. “He seems like someone who would do that. He holds a lot of regrets, that guy.”

“Oh right. I wasn’t able to contact Phinn after hearing about the news that August died,” Heilke added. “Duke Vin Gardner must’ve been making Phinn cast the spell.”

August felt a pang in his heart. The duke was the same duke. Though it took his death for the duke to realise what he did wrong.

“It seems that my father did a regression and created another timeline, but I got transported into this timeline. Why would you think that is?’

Silence filled the room, while the two powerful mages thought about it.

“I’m going to assume I cast the spell on the crystal the first time I saw it in your original timeline. Basing it off of the events of this timeline, I started dabbling in time spells five years ago and tried to mess the crystal two years ago. Maybe someone gave me a direction or like an incomplete spell before I messed with the crystal which I finished at the time, but it was not perfect enough to be a regression spell? Because I lacked the knowledge and experience that I would’ve had if I had more time.”

“That makes sense. Thank you.”

“Brother, I have another question for you.”

“Yes?”

“You’re against what father is using the crystal for, right?”

“Yes, I am.”

“I’m going to try to alter his spell, but I’m not sure what to alter it to.”

“Alter his spell?”

“Remember how he really wanted to use the crystal to find out how far he can push our magic.”

“Right.”

“So what kind of spell do you think is good? August and I were thinking about it.”

“Oh? Tell me.”

Heilke nudged August.

“We were thinking about mass healing? For like limb reattachment and other similar injuries,” August said.

The reason why they were thinking about mass healing was that it was quite a beneficial magic that pretty much only the Crowell family could manage.

“That’s pretty nice,” Phinn said. “All things considered, this as a temporary measure, then destroying the crystal would be the best option. Because Father is the way he is.”

He was worried about how the power would be used if it fell into the wrong hands.

“I’ll approve. Heilke, tell me how you plan on making the spell.”

Heilke shook her head. “August thought about it more. I was planning to do some refining after your approval, but currently he knows the concept best.”