The Wizard Who Cannot Be Defeated

I opened my eyes.

The basement was dim and smelled musty.

I had been here for nearly three years. My name is Charles Smith, seventeen years old, a high school student currently living at my uncle's house. I will be eighteen in a little over two months, and I'll be moving out of this place next month.

Loud noises came from outside.

When I walked out, my uncle was waving his wand. I saw the shabby broom in the living room grow hands and start mopping the floor by itself. The kitchen was alive with bubbling pots and clattering pans as everything cooked on its own, and the smell of food drifted out.

Yes.

Magic.

My uncle and aunt were both wizards.

"Ethan's starting school this year."

"We need to get everything ready for him."

My uncle said excitedly.

They checked each other's fancy magic robes, looking for anything they might have missed, pacing back and forth nervously from time to time, acting like parents sending their five-year-old to kindergarten. My cousin Ethan Smith's face couldn't hide his excitement. The young man with an acne-covered face kept feeling his brand new magic robe, as if testing the material.

"Honey, let's go over the acceptance letter one more time."

My aunt picked up a letter from the table with a maple leaf seal on it.

I knew what that letter said.

It was an acceptance letter from a magic school.

[Congratulations, Ethan Smith: You have been accepted to Maple Magic Academy for this academic year. Please report to the academy gates before 9 AM on Thursday, October 1st. Attached is a list of required items for enrollment. Room and board, wands, and other necessities will be provided free of charge by the academy. Looking forward to meeting you. Sincerely, Principal Anna York]

The letter wasn't for me—it was for my cousin Ethan.

I didn't have an acceptance letter.

I could only watch with envy.

Because I'd never shown any signs of magic my whole life. When Ethan could already make objects float freely with his mind, I still had nothing. I didn't fit in here. I'd never seen my parents since I was little. Whenever my uncle mentioned them, he'd just curl his lip and say:

"They're a disgrace to the Smith family."

The only thing my parents left me was a black ring made of some unknown material.

In the past, even though I ate leftovers and wore Ethan's old hand-me-downs, at least I had an attic to live in. But three years ago, my uncle seemed to finally make up his mind and took me to see a doctor from the magical world.

"Your magic power is too weak. Even a sewer slime has more magic than you. You're basically a Squib."

That's what the doctor said.

"The Smith family hasn't had a Squib in hundreds of years."

My uncle stared at me with the disgusted look of someone seeing something filthy.

So I was quickly moved from the cramped attic to the cramped, damp, moldy basement.

Not getting an acceptance letter over the past few days was the final nail in my coffin.

Next month, I am going to leave this place.

As for the magic school opening three months from now, it had nothing to do with me.

Just then, my uncle finally finished getting ready. They were about to go out to a special magic shop to buy things. Before leaving, my uncle waved his wand, and a vase grew eyes that rolled around staring at me.

"Charles, you bastard, stay home and watch the house. I want to see you here when I get back."

Holy shit.

Watch the house? No way!

Once they flew off into the sky on their magic carpet, I immediately used clothes and pants to create a human-shaped dummy to fool that magic vase, then snuck out of the house.

As I walked down the street, I felt lost.

Because I grew up in a wizard family, I wouldn't have my memories wiped like regular people. I knew magic existed, but starting next month, I'd be going to the normal world, finding a job like a regular person, or maybe taking out loans to go to community college.

"Charles!"

Someone suddenly called out to me.

It was Isabelle Roberts, my neighbor. Like my uncle and aunt, she came from a wizard family. She also had an older sister, Emily Roberts.

She is very pretty.

Golden hair reaching down to her waist, blue eyes like the ocean.

Unlike me, a Squib, Isabelle was a wizard, though she hadn't started school yet. But she rarely used magic in front of me. When I came over, her watering can was floating in the air, watering the lawn.

After seeing me, Isabelle canceled the spell. She caught the watering can with her hands, then carefully asked me:

"You... didn't get an acceptance letter?"

"No."

Actually, my uncle had already told the neighbors before that I didn't get a letter. Of course, everyone knew I was a Squib, so not getting a letter wasn't surprising.

"Isabelle, I'll be leaving here next month."

I showed a bitter smile.

Isabelle bit her lip.

"Charles, remember to write to me when you get to your new place."

"Of course, I will." I couldn't help saying, "But by then you'll be making lots of wizard friends at magic school. I might not be qualified..."

"No, Charles, I don't know what exactly happened to you, but I think you weren't born with so little magic power. There must be some reason we don't know about..." Isabelle had even more faith in me than I did in myself. She smiled at me. "Even if you go to the normal world, I believe you can become someone extraordinary."

In the face of her open praise, I could only laugh awkwardly, unable to say anything more. After chatting a bit more with her—someone destined to become a wizard—I made up some excuse and quickly escaped.

I must have looked pretty pathetic from behind in Isabelle's eyes.

Actually.

I had wondered before about why I had so little magic power.

But getting a doctor from the magical world wasn't easy.

Especially since I was an orphan without parents. Though it's not like no wizards had examined me, like Isabelle's father, a kind wizard.

But even he couldn't figure anything out.

Maybe I really was just a natural-born Squib.

That's what I thought, but I still felt unwilling to accept it, a tightness in my chest.

But what good did that unwillingness do?

Next, whether I went straight to work or tried community college, I had to decide in the next few days.

Honestly, I'd been dreaming about getting an acceptance letter before, so I was only just starting to plan now.

Only after leaving this wizard community did I feel relieved.

Outside was the real world of ordinary people.