“You’re going to become a mage, huh?”

“Yes, it’s my father’s wish, and… if we’re just talking about utility, it’s clearly a higher path, so I’ve decided to go this way.”

“Sigh…”

Cazerose seemed a bit bitter in response to my words.

Noticing her attitude, I cautiously asked, “What’s wrong? Is there a problem?”

“Well… No, not really… It’s just unavoidable, that’s all…”

“…?”

I was puzzled by Cazerose’s words.

Just then, Polena brought us tea, her voice still brimming with energy, and said, “Why do you think? It’s obvious that this means Master has completely decided to ditch being a paladin!”

“…Ditch it or not, I’m already excommunicated, so I’m not a paladin anymore.”

“No, I’m not talking about those trivial formalities. I want to talk about the very existence of Master. Someone who chose the path of a paladin and trained in aura has decided to become a mage. I’m sure Mr. Santana knows what that means better than anyone.”

“…Ah…”

The moment I heard Polena’s words, I finally recognized how my choice was affecting Cazerose.

“Deciding to become a mage means I’m not just abandoning the formalities; I’m also giving up being a paladin, both body and mind. Cazerose is regretting that, because it means one less thing in common between the two of us.”

“What? No… That’s not what I’m worried about…”

Cazerose suddenly looked visibly flustered at my remark.

Even if she claimed otherwise, her expression suggested that Polena’s point was likely correct.

“Well… when you think about it, the time the two of us spent acting together as paladins is quite significant.”

Of course, that didn’t mean I was considering changing my already made decision, but I realized, looking at her demeanor, that this ‘job change’ I chose wasn’t something quite so simple.

“I might have thought about it simply until now, but… it’s true that when I think about it now, there’s a part of me that feels a bit regretful…”

As I pondered that, I began concentrating on my palm after so long, creating a green orb.

An aura-based green orb, about the size of a baseball.

It had a slight physical force but was far more efficient when used for recovery.

If I trained a bit harder here, I might have reached the level of a mid-tier paladin, but still, the fact that there are clear limitations to aura remained unchanged.

Honestly, in this situation, the power of aura itself wasn’t as important as the regret over the fact that by ceasing its training, one point of connection I had with Cazerose would disappear.

“To put it metaphorically, it feels like changing jobs that I used to go to with a friend, huh? Well, it’s unavoidable.”

With that slight sense of regret as a friend toward Cazerose, I began contemplating seriously about my choice to quit being a paladin and become a mage once more.

“Switching the path from aura to magical power… I’m sure I’ve seen something related to that in the original work.”

The source of a paladin’s power is aura, while the source of a mage’s power is magical power.

The two powers possessed contradictory natures, resembling a pencil and an eraser.

Magical power, with its limitless usability, allows one to draw their own pictures in the world, creating a masterpiece called magic.

Among those are not only those with immense destructive power but also progress in a wide range of realms from basic lifestyle convenience to enhancement of physical abilities and even immortality.

On the other hand, while aura’s uses are extremely limited compared to magical power, it has the property of easily negating any magic, much like an eraser can wipe away a drawing on paper.

Literally, it’s the embodiment of dispel.

Because of this, in this world, mages are generally at a disadvantage against paladins.

Of course, if there’s a significant disparity in ability, it wouldn’t be easy, but you can’t ignore the fact that a rookie paladin with just 1-2 years of experience could potentially take down a mid-level mage with 5-10 years of experience.

Additionally, the point that aura can effectively heal wounds without the need for complex formulas like magic certainly gives it its own strengths.

For these reasons, even though mages and their magic have been developing endlessly over a short period, the Church’s forces, which handle aura and the paladins, are still evaluated as a force that cannot be ignored in terms of utility, even now compared to 1,000 years ago.

And…

Due to the very nature of their powers, it is almost impossible for one person to properly manage both aura and magical power at the same time.

Of course, aura has its own merits, and while there were those who attempted to forcibly learn both powers, the results led them to a unanimous conclusion.

-Giving up is easier-

While it wasn’t entirely impossible to master both powers simultaneously, the efficiency turned out to be an atrocious 1+1=0.3, rather than a more favorable outcome.

Once a certain threshold was reached, aura and magical power would cause severe repulsion against each other, rendering the user unable to utilize normal magic or severely diminishing the total amount of magical power they could contain, ultimately turning perfectly capable mages into utterly useless beings.

Moreover, as a side effect, the efficiency of their aura would become less than half that of normal paladins.

To put it in game terms, it was like the very definition of a failed character with disastrous stat distribution.

In the end, mages who possessed aura were forced to engage in a so-called ‘dissolute lifestyle’ to reclaim their original magical power.

From this perspective,

It’s clear that as someone possessing the strength of a paladin, I would inevitably have to concede some losses when learning magic compared to someone who had only mastered magic from the start.

Still, the fact that my aura’s strength was at most that of a low-level and perhaps a mid-level at best was somewhat a relief.

If I were handling a more skilled mid-level aura, it would indeed mean having to drown myself in drinking and women before I could even start training as a mage.

In normal circumstances, that would sound like a dream, but in such a desperate situation, it might be a number of troublesome obstacles.

“I’m barely hanging by a thread to see if I can reach the basic level of magic training, so where exactly do I have the time to engage in that? Plus, just a little slip-up here can get my head to roll.”

Even a land of abundant pleasures must be enjoyed when there’s time and leisure.

From that standpoint, I couldn’t help feeling a great sense of relief knowing that I could overstep straight into magic training without any significant problems despite being a paladin.

Of course, separate from that, I couldn’t shake the burden of the class starting tomorrow morning.

“Magic training… I learned the rough methods in the original work, but I wonder if I’ll be able to do it…”

Generally, a mage’s talent is heavily influenced by bloodline, and as the son of Count Turun, an excellent mage, I probably inherited a decent talent.

However, that was only a probabilistic aspect, and the reality could turn out to be different.

Moreover, since I had been busy being a paladin and had accumulated aura in my body, there was also the possibility that my results would not be that great.

“Well… I suppose I’ll have to face it starting tomorrow anyway. They promised me a pretty good teacher…”

Thinking that, I gently patted Cazerose’s head, who was watching me with a worried expression.

At that moment, I didn’t even realize that she spoke something in a whispering voice…

“I think it’s going to be dangerous… that woman.”