Naeva POV

This little girl in front of me looks a lot like that boy. The only thing different about them is their gender.

No... Her talent too.

That boy was just lucky to have a dragon's eye, magical talent and a poor physique. Whereas his descendant, Ophelia Calliope is practically a genius, even I don't deny that. But a genius child who exceeds that boy is considered a failed product? What the hell is that!?

That's an insult to me too who once taught that boy.

"Information about my people, huh... What can I do... Okay, I'll tell you."

I need to know why this gem in my eyes is considered a roadside stone by her family.

Ophelia Calliope, the little girl descended from the boy began her long story. Her hands were covered in cold sweat and her pupils glanced everywhere, though her expression remained calm as if what she was about to tell was nothing.

"Naeva, in the Calliope Family... there is something called Weapon Selection. It's a tradition of our family since ancient times," she said with a trembling voice.

Weapon Selection huh... I've heard about that.

"The tradition requires Calliope Family descendants who have turned 10 years old to enter the Calliope Family weapons room. There, the weapons will choose their master. So we don't have the right to choose our own weapons," she continued.

"Therefore, you could say this tradition determines our destiny. If we are lucky, a strong weapon will choose us. And if we are unlucky, a useless weapon will choose us."

"Our position in the family is also determined by the tradition. The more family support there is, the stronger the weapon that chooses us."

What does that mean? Wasn't Calliope supposed to contain war brains who led troops from the rear? Since when did the family focus on weaponry?

Ophelia looked at the expressionless me with an incredulous face.

"You might think this is absurd, that one's talent is measured by the weapon that selects it? But in fact the measurement has always been precise, so none of the Calliope Family has questioned it."

"Because I knew that, the 10-year-old me confidently entered the weapons room. I thought a powerful weapon would definitely choose me, everyone in the family who had previously warmed up to me thought so too."

"But that turned out to be just my expansion. The weapon that chose me was just a weapon that was useless in battle. On that very day, my position in the Calliope Family went into freefall and people's attitudes changed 180° towards me," Ophelia explained with a wry smile.

"Even so, I didn't give up at all because there were still people who supported me."

Now that her expression had improved, it seemed that she was remembering the good people she had mentioned earlier.

As she said, measuring one's talent from the weapons that chose them was absurd. But it was a different story if it was in the Calliope Family.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

It was possible that the beginning of this tradition was thanks to the Erato Family. For those who specialized in love magic, indicating who one would be matched with was not something difficult. Mates were not just living beings. Weapons and other inanimate objects are too. It looks like Erato did that to show which weapon Calliope was matched with.

The strangeness came from this. It was impossible for Erato's matchmaking spell to miss. Even if it failed, it would only make the match unable to be found, not miss. Then what was really going on? How could a genius little girl pair up with a useless weapon?

That's impossible, there must be a misunderstanding.

"What weapon did you get?" I asked matter-of-factly.

Ophelia was a little surprised, "Pfftt... Usually people who hear about it will avoid the topic that reminds me of it or even avoid me after hearing that story."

"This is the first time someone has tried to pry further."

"You don't have to answer that."

She shook her head softly, "Emm, emm... Okay. It's not a secret at all."

The little girl was looking for something lying on her bed. After finding the object she was looking for, her hand showed her the object.

"!"

It was not a weapon-shaped object that she showed. It was a pen. The beautiful pen bearing the Calliope Family crest that she showed to the receptionist of the inn.

"My weapon is this pen. Just a pen, you know. I was told that this pen has a long history as it has been around since the Calliope Family was formed. But a pen cannot be used as a weapon, that's why even though it's an important pen, my family says it's a useless weapon that chose me..." She replied with a sad expression.

"......."

....What?

What did she say...?

Useless... Pen...?

What the heck is that...?

"Naeva?"

Ophelia seemed to notice the change in expression on my flat face.

Undeniably, my heart was raging right now. The words the little girl spoke stirred up an emotion in me.

Anger.

Not that I'm a patient person. It's just that it's been a very long time since my heart last burned with anger.

BWWWOOOOSSSHHHH

"!?"

"N-NAEVA!!??"

Ahh... I've let go...

The temperature in this room had plummeted to minus degrees Celsius and made the room freeze. The blast of ice and cold that came out of me I couldn't control for a moment.

BRRUGGHH

"Nae..va..."

"Ukhh..."

Ophelia whimpered in pain. Not surprisingly, this cold air made it difficult for people to breathe due to her heavy mass. Now her face was also starting to turn pale.

Calm down myself, it's not like you're the only one.

I breathe in and out to calm myself down. When I was on Earth, my emotions making my powers go out of control was not a problem. But this isn't Earth, control yourself!

After a few seconds, the temperature in the room began to return to its room temperature. Although there was still a lingering chill, it was not to the point of hurting or making others uncomfortable.

"What was that?" Ophelia's mind was still shocked.

"Is something wrong, Naeva?" the little girl asked.

Something wrong?

"No, it's nothing. I'm going out first," I replied.

Ophelia didn't ask any further questions, she let me out without saying anything. Her sensitivity probably let her know that I was in the mood to be alone. Good for me.

Even though I've started to calm down, this anger hasn't died down.

I quickly walked out of the inn.

It was already nighttime, but people were still passing by. There was no quiet inside the Tower.

This sucks.

Just seeing random people makes me even more annoyed. It's all because of those Calliope Family bastards.

Passing by those people wastes too much time. So I flew straight away from the inn. Calling it flying might not be right. What I was doing was removing gravity from my body so that my body could levitate.

I tried to do it as inconspicuously as possible. People didn't care too much about it either, after all there were not that many who could fly in the Tower.

From there, I honestly didn't know where to go. The direction I flew was indeterminate, only towards the original place that was visible to my eyes.

In the end, the place I went to was the top of the giant bell tower in the town square. Because it was quiet and didn't attract people's attention because it was too high, it was the perfect place to be alone.

"....."

The memory of the incident earlier flashed through my mind, along with memories of the past that I thought I had long forgotten.

Without realizing it, my hand grip strengthened and my teeth gritted slightly.

"Asterio..."