Only Wisdom Awakened - Chapter 117

Chapter 117: Freezing boy
Naomi Sato was at the time a teacher at the Japanese Academy, someone who was held in high regard even by the dean, his cousin, basically his brother.

Even if he had reached a life he could be satisfied with, it hadn’t always been like that, and the way he managed to gain all this fame and power inside the Japanese academy was a secret he held for himself and had never revealed to anyone:

Just him, alone in the dirty streets as an orphan, that is how his story began.

Years before the catastrophe was a thing people even dreamed about, an unfortunate incident enveloped the death of a couple, who left behind a child, just six years old.

The kid lived alone, passing from orphanage to orphanage, sometimes sleeping on the cold streets when a place for him wasn’t empty even in those.

His life was hopeless and solitary, until…

One day, inside an orphanage, the kid was lying on the floor, right beside the corner.

Some of the other kids yelled while some ran around, and he was the only one inactive.

In that moment of loneliness, the hand of an old granny was extended to him.

When his face looked up, a warm smile awaited him.

“Come child, someone is looking for you, they say they are part of your family”

“My… family?”

“That’s right, come with me, I’ll let you meet them”

The kid got up and followed the granny for a seemingly unending walk.

While he followed her, in his mind was the idea of his once-warm family.

‘My family? Has mom returned? Maybe Dad’s still here, have they come back for me?’

A spark of hope ignited in the boy.

But the delusion that hit him when seeing the people who described themselves as his family was immeasurable.

There were three people, but no shadow of his parents.

The first one was a middle-aged man, whose face looked annoyed and not interested.

The second one was a woman, with a warm smile on her face and smooth skin.

Lastly, there was a little boy, his smile was so bright that his mouth almost reached both his ears.

The two of them looked so happy to see him, it was a strange feeling, one he hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Hello there” said the woman waving her hand energetically.

“I am your aunt, do you remember me?”

Silence followed this question, so she replied instead:

“But of course you wouldn’t, you were so little when I first held you in my arms”

I was so happy when I finally got news of you, you have no idea how much time I’ve passed

Searching for you, my little nephew”

She held him up from his armpits, playing around with him.

From then on, he was given the attention he needed, sent to get a proper education, and established a bond with his new brother.

That period of his life he felt so… happy.

However, the happiness didn’t last long…

Eighteen months after his adoption, his aunt collapsed in the house, and at the time, being the only one with her, the young boy found the body.

Rivers of tears flooded his mind, as he helplessly tried to wake her up.

He couldn’t contact anyone, he didn’t have a telephone and knew nothing about how the house’s one worked.

Two hours later, his dad returned home.

The first scene he witnessed opening the door to his eyes after a long and hard day of work, was his wife’s dead body, in the hands of his desperate niece.

“Hanae?!”

Screamed the man.

He dropped his bag, running towards the fallen woman.

“Hanae, Hanae! What happened?!”

“She-she fell to the ground and…”

The little boy in tears managed to utter only these few words, and the man in front of him did his best to imagine all that being just a nightmare.

But every second that passed, the world seemed more vivid, the tears wetter, and his heartache stronger.

…

The man fell into a cycle of depression, and both the sons were left to themselves.

His half-brother half-cousin, in his mind, despised him, thinking of all the time he could’ve passed with his mom a perfect stranger like him had robbed.

Barely a year and a half after finding happiness again, it faded like it had never returned, and the young boy found himself lonely once again.

Lonely… sad… bored of life.

He lived on, repeating every day like a machine.

He was quite decent in everything he did, but his brother was always better.

By the time he graduated, he entered an agency founded by his brother and worked under him for years.

It continued…

Again… and again… and again… and again.. And again, and again, and again and again and again and again, andagainandagainandagain…

Until… on a slightly hotter spring than usual, the catastrophe hit.

For months, the cities were in a state of chaos, the people needed someone to lead them, and amongst the many groups around the whole nation, the young boy, already grown into a man, was one of the many leaders.

He had awakened superpowers, to be precise, he was one of the holders of the {mage} class.

At the time, when rare classes were as rare as a diamond in the dirt, people with magic-type classes were considered really special.

Leading his group, he hoped to reunite with his lost brother, to show him…

Not that he was superior, but that he could help him, that he could take care of him, that he was reliable.

But when their reunion came, it was while signing a subordination contract.

A faction had grown larger than all the others in the chaotic apocalypse, and all the others had decided to sign a pact of subordination in exchange for protection.

He only later discovered that his brother was the one leading the main group, and that his powers went way beyond what he could’ve ever hoped to achieve.

He once again found himself working as a replaceable.

His magic class was well sought after at the time, but that also didn’t last long.

With the appearance of countless more rare and epic classes, his presence became irrelevant.

He was just stagnant water who couldn’t do anything because of his common class and slow advancing rate.

To add on top of that, he wasn’t really talented in magic, and even having broken through the fifth circle, he could still only use top third-tier spells.

He was the definition of a fake mage, a mage whose stats and knowledge came solely from the gates and the system.

He couldn’t improve any of the spells, and he couldn’t alter any of the skills.

Time passed, and he began being looked down upon even by his own students, who, in their fourth year, had already reached a level similar to his.

He became desperate and ashamed, not having the will to teach anymore or see anyone.

His life took an unexpected turn when one night, after the moon had just passed the highest point in the sky, half-asleep, he heard the sound of something moving.

He turned around and saw a man dressed in black right beside the window.

“Who are you!? How did you get in here?!”

He was sure he had locked the windows, how could someone have slipped in under his senses?

Surprised, he felt threatened, and even ashamed.

He, as a mage, couldn’t notice the footsteps of an approaching warrior.

His spell chanting began, but being as slow as a third-tier mage, it didn’t take long for the other side to incapacitate him and silence him.

When the poor teacher was tied with a rope, the man dressed in black finally revealed his face, pulling down the hood that previously covered it.

He looked like a criminal, with slashes and scars all over his face, but most of all, his creepy smile was enough to make Naomi shiver.

“You pass” said the bald man.

“Here take this” he ordered friendly, “just use this spell on three people, and you will gain everything you have ever wanted.

Now in the hands of Naomi, the object handed over by the mysterious man was a book, with some elegant and noble words written on it.

‘Partial freeze’

“The people you will have to use this on are three:

…

….

…

“What… you want me to use a spell on three students!?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it, we will handle the rest.

Also, do you even care anymore? Those bastards would throw you in a pot of boiling oil if they could.”

It took a few seconds, but an important decision and statement was made that night:

‘That is right…

It does not matter whether I try my best to teach, to improve, or to surpass my brother, I won’t be able to do it,

So I am just going to live like a king and die as a dog if that is what is needed to attain happiness.’

“Alright… I… will do it””