Chapter 9: CHAPTER 9 TEACHER DROUOT

I now see Drouot in a different light.

He is not just a jovial side character. He is a hero. Yes, he is a political pawn that the Kingdom can discard at any time, but his symbolic purpose is something that spans over classes.

This man deserves what he is due. “Thank you,” I tell him with my sincerest wish. “I now understand.” I now understand why the story of Black Clover is set up like that. Why is the grimoire tower out of nowhere and near Hage Village instead of being conveniently in the capital?

Heck, Drouot identifies himself with the Forsaken Realm. “Thank you for your sacrifice, Tower Master Drouot. You are the bridge that connects the people of Clover Kingdom through this tower. Nobles? Peasants? Lower peasants? Even though the hard line of discrimination is still there, you strive to provide as this tower’s master. For that, thank you.”

Drouot sadly smiles at me. “Thank you, young man… But you got it wrong. I am not a bridge, I am a destroyer.”

Drouot summons two seats from nowhere. He seats and points to the chair idly standing at my rear. “What do you mean?” I didn’t seat. I look at the old man in front of me.

“Do you know why nobles still come to this place? Do you know why grimoires are publicly displayed when it is being given? Think, why do others have to see what you have? Think, why does another have to show what you have? Young man, think.” The old man hunches his back as he summons his cider. He silently drinks to his sorrows.

This old man’s smiles were a mask. I… I feel terrible.

“It was intentional on the part of the kingdom,” Drouot whispers to the wind, and I listen to it.

Sigh… This is life. It is full of complications. An anime will never be able to summarize a person’s life, I guess.

It is not that my assumptions are entirely wrong. It just has a darker side to it. I acknowledge this tower’s good and bad. Looks like ‘Black Clover’ is not so simple, huh?

I walk to the old man, and with one mighty slap, I wake him up to reality.

SLAP!

“Old man Drouot, don’t make yourself a villain. This is not an anime. You cannot define bad and good so easily.” That’s right, this is my reality now.

Drouot sobers up from his boomer drunkenness. “Hahahaha, I don’t know what anime is… but thank you for cheering me up.”

I then kowtow to the ground, my forehead sticking to the cold floor. “Old man Drouot, become my teacher! Please accept me as your disciple!”

“…”

The silence did not last for long as Drouot quickly expresses his shock. “Young man, you are ruining the mood. Requesting this useless bag of bones for something so tiresome… too... suddenly...”

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I beg him. “Please, I am ignorant of the ways of magic. Please! Even the most basic teaching would be of great help to me.”

That is how Drouot has become my teacher.

After some back and forth, Drouot finally agrees to teach me in exchange for owing him a small debt. I don’t know how much 30, 000 Yul is, but fine.

Seating for a table of two, Drouot serves me a cup of tea. “Tell me your worst, young man.” The old man then sips his tea happily. “Tell me your worst then we’ll start from there.”

While drinking my tea, I nonchalantly tell Drouot my worst. “I cannot detect mana.”

Drouot explosively spits his tea, the liquid splattering right on my face. “W-what? Are you serious? 8-year-olds naturally learn how to detect mana, and you are telling me you can’t?”

Sheesh… I know it’s coming for me. I want to argue a magicless idiot was able to overcome it. I want to argue, but I can’t. “Old man Drouot, what now?”

Drouot is pale. He staggers to stand up as he whispers to himself his regrets. “My 30, 000 Yuls…” A look of enlightenment abruptly flashes in his mind. ‘If I cannot do it, I will fake it!’

I cannot read minds, but I feel that Drouot is thinking of something ominous judging by the scarily trembling eyes looking at me. “O-old man, w-hat do you have in mind? Am I really that hopeless?”

Drouot straightens his back. “Have you heard of Ki? I only read it in books, but I thought of special training that would allow you to learn how to perceive mana.”

W-what? As an alien to this world, even I who is completely clueless about the basics, think that Drouot is speaking BS. Deriving from Ki to detect mana? Are you nuts? That’s not even logically possible. Is it? That’s too much of a stretch!

Ki is the flow of life energy within people's bodies, including humans, elves, and devils, and is affected by their thoughts and actions.

Mana is an important aspect of every mage that has ever lived, as it is their source of "magic power", which is cast to use magic spells. This energy is naturally existing and flowing in the environment and within everyone.

Ki is within and represents man’s attributes— you nurture, read, and breathe with it. Mana is without and represents nature’s and the world’s attributes— you destroy, release, and coexist with it.

Basically, Ki and Mana are two different things. I am a total nerd, but that doesn’t make me omniscient. I am totally clueless as to how I can learn to detect mana. Teacher Drouot's knowledge excites me.

I wonder, where would my decision of having Drouot as my teacher will bring me to?