As Alex reaches six years old, the mysterious woman once again returns to their home.
"Mom! Is it my turn?" Alex excitedly asked.
"Yes, yes. It's your turn," the mother murmured as she carried Alex to the living room.
After waiting patiently for five minutes, the mysterious woman finally came out of his parent's room.
"You guys can come in now."
As Alex and his mother stepped inside, he was stunned by the look inside.
The bed, along with the ceiling, was completely gone, replaced with some sort of black void.
If he had not seen them step foot onto the black void that turned out to be solid, he could never have stepped foot inside.
"Woah... What is all this? Is this magic?" Alex curiously asked.
"Yep, it's magic... Hey Katherine, where's Paul?"
The mysterious woman turned her attention over to Alex's mom, who shrugged her shoulder.
"He had been busy dealing with the monster outbreak," Katherine replied as she carried Alex to the floating crystal ball in the middle.
"Ah, I see... Okay, Alex, it's time for you to put your hand above the crystal ball and start imagining things," the mysterious woman whispered.
Alex quickly followed through with the instruction, but a problem appeared.
"What am I supposed to imagine?"
"Just anything when your hands hover over the crystal ball."
Despite the mysterious woman's advice, Alex just couldn't feel anything after putting his hand on the crystal ball.
See nothing appearing, the mysterious woman pushed his hands away before putting the crystal ball inside her bag.
"Amelia, is Alex okay?" Katherine's voice started to sound a little concerned.
"He has zero magical capability. Is he really your son? How is he so drastically different from your daughter?"
What? That can't be right——"
"Alex, shush. Don't question Miss Amelia like that... Is there any way for me to help him?"
Seeing a mother genuinely wanting to help his son, the mysterious woman decided to give her a little hope.
"When your other daughter is old enough to take the test, I'll come back again to give you an answer."
As the mysterious woman snapped her finger and vanished from the room, the black void disappeared, and the room turned back to normal.
"Mom... am I a failure?"
"No, you're not a failure. I don't want to hear you say that ever again, you hear me?"
Alex nodded in agreement, but his face was on the edge of tearing up.
"Alex, you wanted to be an adventurer, just like your dad, right?"
Katherine asked as she lifted Alex to her arm and gently patted his head as if he were still a baby.
"I-I do..." Alex softly replied.
"Then you can't cry over things like this. You have to have a strong heart to become an adventurer."
After a short silence, tears eventually fell as he couldn't believe his fantasy of being a wizard had ended before it had a chance to start.
He couldn't face the reality that he was now going to be a normal person with zero powers to do anything.
"It's okay, Alex. Just let it all out. You don't have to hold it in..."
Katherine's sudden change of strategy made Alex sob even harder, but the sobbing eventually began to die down.
"How can I be an adventurer if Miss Amelia just said I don't have any magical capability——"
"So? Magic doesn't define someone as a failure or not. Your dad doesn't have any magic either, and he's doing just fine as an adventure."
Seeing Alex finally stop sobbing, Katherine put him back down on the bed and wiped the tears off with her finger.
"Alex, you want to be a boy, right?"
The question caught Alex a little off guard, but he nodded in agreement.
"Then you're going to learn your daddy's sword skill and become a swordsman just like him.
You'll still be able to use magic that way as well, too, so your dream of using magic isn't over yet."
Within seconds, the sadness on Alex's face quickly disappeared. Instead, it will filled with hope.
"Really? I can still use magic?" Alex excitedly asked.
"Yes, Alex, a swordsman doesn't need any magical capability to use magical scrolls.
Look, let me give you one to use right now... Just let me find it in my bags."
After digging in the drawer for a while, Katherine finally turned back around to hand Alex a piece of cloth with an unknown letter on it.
"Here, just imagine fire as you hold this scroll."
As Alex closed his eyes and started imagining fire in his head, he could feel a burning sensation, making him open his eyes again.
"There's fire on my finger!" Alex excitedly pointed out as a small flame hung on his fingertip.
"Be careful... Don't be sad about not being able to use magic now, okay?" Katherine softly lectured as she took the scroll away from Alex.
"Thank you, Mommy! I love you!"
"I love you too, Alex."
---
Ever since the day after the crystal ball test, Alex had been working extra hard on his training.
Despite his dad only coming home occasionally, he was still training, asking him for tips the moment he walked inside the house.
However, just as Alex thought the two years would pass uneventfully until his little sister's test, tragedy struck the family.
It was a rainy afternoon, and several men and women in knight's armor came into the house soaking wet, carrying a box along with a sword.
"Mrs.Katherine. I'm afraid your husband Paul, he's..."
One of the knights in front hesitated for a second as he couldn't express his thoughts.
"He's what? Just tell me."
Katherine nervously asked, her face hoping it wasn't the bad news despite all the evidence against it.
"We were fighting a monster outbreak, and he fell into one of the monster's traps while saving us——"
"Where is his body?" Katherine urgently asked.
"We couldn't find it. The only thing we found was his sword on the ground when we came back." the knight replied as he shook his head.
As soon as the knight finished talking, Katherine's face suddenly darkened for the first time.
Everyone in the room knew there was no chance for him to come back, especially swordsmen who had lost their swords on the battlefield.
"We're terribly sorry, ma'am... If there's anything we can do for you, please contact us."
Seeing Katherine not speaking a single word, the knight puts the sword and the box on the table before leaving the house in silence.
"Mom... Are you okay?"
Sophia curiously asked as she and Alex walked out of the bedroom after hearing the footsteps disappearing from the living room.
"I'm fine, Sophia... Take care of Alex and Mary, okay? I'll be right back."
Katherine quickly ran back into her room and then came out into the living room with a bag.
Alex immediately recognized it. The bag almost looked exactly like the one the mysterious woman had carried with her.
Without saying another word, Katherine left the house as the door slammed shut from the wind.
"Alex, what should we do now? Why did Mom look so angry and sad?" Sophia asked nervously, looking a little lost with Mom missing.
"I don't know. But Mom told us to take care of Mary. Let's go bring her here."
As the two headed back into the bedroom, Mary was walking around in her crib, looking a little curious at the two who just walked in.
"Mary, you want to wait for Mom with us?" Alex asked.
With a nod, Alex tried to reach inside to get Mary out of the crib. But he was too short even to reach the top.
Fortunately, Sophia was tall enough to reach inside and carried Mary out, allowing the three to head straight back to the living room.
The three waited on the sofa together, but Mary quickly fell back asleep as she was only a toddler.
Alex went back to the bedroom to get a blanket, covering both Mary and Sophia, who soon fell asleep as well.
But just as Alex was about to fall asleep, someone suddenly knocked on the door.
"Wait, don't open the door yet. Mom has a key. It might be a stranger outside."
Sophia was also awakened by the sound, holding back Alex, who was just about to open the door.
"You're right."
As the two stood in front of the door, neither could reach the peephole.
"Wait, I got an idea."
Alex quickly moved his back against the door, his shoulder against the door, as he signaled Sophia to jump on his back.
Sophia immediately understood as she began crawling on top of his back, balancing herself to reach the peephole.
"It's Miss Amelia!"
As Sophia jumped back down, the two both reached for the door and opened it.
"Oh hey, Sophia and Alex, do you guys know where your mommy is at?"
Sophia shook her head, but Alex threw out everything he knew of.
"Our dad's sword is on the table... And a lot of people came to the house earlier."
As soon as Alex finished, the two of them could see her face change to panic.
"Shit, you three stay inside the house, okay? Don't open doors for strangers."
Seeing Miss Amelia disappearing into the rain, the two of them started to have a bad feeling.