"Hold out your hands."
Utaha and Hayasaka simultaneously extended their fair, delicate hands, placing them before Roy.
They looked at him with eager anticipation.
Roy also looked at the two of them with eager anticipation.
"..."
"..."
"Your lines?"
Roy frowned, displeased as he glanced at them.
"Lines?"
Utaha wore a blank expression.
Hayasaka froze for a moment, her pink lips twitching slightly as if she couldn't bear it, before she quickly put on a flawless smile.
"Master, please test our magical aptitude!"
Roy nodded in satisfaction.
Utaha's cheek twitched slightly.
"M-M-Master... p-please test me too!"
The black-haired, straight-haired girl took a deep breath, enduring Roy's unrelenting gaze, and spat out the words as quickly as a machine gun. Her face turned as red as if it had been painted, her ears burning crimson.
Only then did Roy nod in satisfaction, reaching out to grasp their hands.
For a brief moment, Hayasaka wondered if this was all just a scam to trick them into holding hands.
But then, a warm current flowed from where their hands touched, spreading into her arms and body. Her spirits lifted in delight, and she immediately focused on sensing the changes within her.
However, after concentrating for a while, all she could feel was a warm current circulating inside her body—no actual changes whatsoever.
A faint sense of foreboding rose in her heart, and she instinctively looked up to observe Roy's expression.
Roy's brows were tightly furrowed.
His expression was the polar opposite of the pride one would feel upon witnessing the birth of a new magus.
Utaha also caught on, her face gradually darkening.
Before long, Roy withdrew his hand.
"...Well?"
Utaha asked stiffly.
Hayasaka silently stared at Roy.
"Couldn't find a single Magic Circuit."
Roy didn't beat around the bush—his blunt words were like a knife.
"No Magic Circuits means we can't use magecraft?"
Utaha pressed on, unwilling to accept it.
"Correct. Magic Circuits are the foundation for all magecraft. Though different systems and terminologies exist across regions, this fundamental requirement remains unchanged. Moreover, Magic Circuits are innate—they cannot be increased through effort. Since I couldn't detect any in either of you, it means you'll never be able to use magecraft in your lifetimes."
The knife stabbed in, then stabbed out—over and over, leaving them utterly devastated.
The two girls retreated, filled with a sense of loss.
Soon after, they put their inner garments back on.
Though disappointed, life had to go on.
Under Hayasaka's guidance, Utaha slowly learned the duties of a servant.
The Aozaki residence was massive, and cleaning it was a laborious task. Even for experienced hands, a thorough cleaning could take an entire day, let alone with one teaching and the other learning.
Hayasaka wasn't actually a maid who did such rough work—she had originally been the personal maid of a young lady, handling more refined, upper-class tasks. But she was also effortlessly skilled at chores like cleaning.
Roy couldn't help but feel tempted to ask Rin to transfer her to him.
***
Deep in the front yard's lawn stood a small hut, inside which grew vegetables like radishes and potatoes that could survive the winter.
Hayasaka stopped on the lawn, her gaze probing as she studied the little hut.
"What's wrong?"
Utaha wiped the sweat from her forehead and walked over, puzzled by her fixation on the hut.
"The Aozaki family must be quite wealthy in Fuyuki City. Why would they grow vegetables in their own yard?"
Hayasaka stared at the vegetables inside the hut, her tone laced with confusion.
She hadn't seen anything like this at the Tohsaka residence.
Utaha froze for a moment before finally understanding.
For ordinary families, growing seasonal vegetables in their yards was perfectly normal. But the Aozaki residence was so large—occupying such a vast estate in a place as expensive as Fuyuki City—that their status was undoubtedly high. Growing vegetables in their yard seemed... rather undignified, didn't it?
"If you have this much space, of course you should make use of it."
Roy stepped onto the corridor, hearing their discussion, and replied in a perfectly natural tone.
"Wouldn't people of similar status to the Aozaki family mock them for this?"
Hayasaka's voice still carried a trace of bewilderment.
"They wouldn't."
Roy sat down on the corridor's edge, a faint smile on his face.
"Because everyone does the same. Every magus in Fuyuki City probably racks their brains to grow vegetables in their own land. In fact, magi all over the world might be the same."
Hayasaka fell silent.
This was far removed from the nobility she was familiar with.
Utaha, however, didn't mind much—her family wasn't some high-society household either.
"Hayasaka, this world is vastly different from the one you used to live in."
Roy looked meaningfully at Hayasaka. "Ten years ago, the Curse erupted, and the great fire covered the world for over a year. Think about it—what remained after that fire?"
"It was the Curse!"
Without waiting for Hayasaka's answer, Roy provided it himself.
"Right now, the reason humans haven't expanded beyond the fortified cities isn't just because the wilderness is overrun with monsters. More importantly, the land outside is saturated with the Curse. That Curse doesn't just pollute people's minds—it also taints the earth, rendering it uninhabitable, unfarmable, and unlivable."
"The only land that can be used for farming or construction now is land that magi have purified of the Curse. But the Curse is too widespread, and there are far too few magi to keep up. The result is an extreme scarcity of food resources—and an abnormally high status for magi."
"Now, do you understand why refugees are treated so poorly?"
Hayasaka and Utaha fell completely silent.
When food supplies are barely enough for the city's own people, allowing refugees like them to stay was already an act of mercy.
Only now did they truly grasp how benevolent Fuyuki City had been to take in refugees like them—useless, only good for consuming resources.
"Rescuing you refugees, bringing you into the city, and letting you eat your fill was already the result of Rin's struggle against the Mage's Association."
After saying this, Roy stood up and walked back into the mansion.
Getting this much concession in negotiations with the stubborn, profit-obsessed old men of the Association's local branch was no small feat. Those old men couldn't care less about the lives of refugees. Who knew how much Rin had sacrificed to secure even this?
The only reason the Tohsaka residence didn't have a vegetable plot was because she was constantly swamped with work, leaving no one to tend to it.
Hayasaka and Utaha stood in the yard, silent for a long time.
The faint resentment they had felt after being treated as lowly refugees—stripped of dignity and denied proper status—dissipated without a trace.
***
Nighttime.
Hayasaka and Utaha had already gone to sleep.
Okita Souji had also been ordered to rest.
Roy lay sprawled on the master bedroom's large bed, eyes wide open, hands gripping the sheets tightly, his entire body drenched in sweat.
A bone-deep, burning pain wracked his body, as if flames were scorching him from within. He lay on the bed, unable to move, his frail frame twisting and turning in agony.
At first, Roy clenched his jaw, stifling any sound—but eventually, he could hold back no longer. A low, guttural roar escaped his throat.
Soon after, the sound of something heavy hitting the floor and flesh slamming against walls echoed through the room.
It wasn't until deep into the night that the commotion finally subsided.
***
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