Mirac frowrying to remember where he had heard that name before.

  'Armin J. Bellsing? It sounds familiar…'

  His thoughts iwined for a moment until, in a fsh of uanding, he opened his eyes wide, struck by a suddeion.

  'Of course, how could I have fotten? Armin J. Bellsing… It's the same hat was on the book the librarian was reading! If I remember correctly, it was titled "Advanced Magical Arts of Fire." So, is he the author?'

  Mirac looked at the man with a mix of amazement and curiosity, his little heart beating faster at the thought of possibly disc, one way or ahe tents of the book.

  Meanwhile, Carmen politely returhe bow of the blond-haired man.

  "N-No way!" she excimed, her gentle voice overwhelmed with excitement. "It's an honor to meet you, Sir. Armin!"

  'Apparently, he must be someone really important!' Mirac hypothesized, watg Carmen stammer.

  There could be no other expnation. Out of all the guests present, he was the only one whose presence had Carmen visibly flustered and thrilled.

  Armin rose gracefully from his bow, shifting his gaze from the servant to little Mirac.

  "I apologize for not ing earlier," he expined gently, addressing them both. "Unfortunately, I was held up by some guests who noticed my presence."

  'Are y t about it?'

  "For this reason," Armin tinued, "I want to extend to you my warmest and most heartfelt wishes, my dear 'Risen Prince.'"

  Having said this, the blond-haired man bowed again, just as he had before. But this time, the gesture was directed solely at the young guest of honor.

  'Tsk, I don't care about your wishes!' Mirac scoffed inwardly. 'I've already had enough of those. Instead, hurry up and tell me more about your book and who you are!'

  Carmen gasped, then bowed once more toward the important guest.

  "Thank you!" she excimed. "I'm sure little Mirac is also deeply grateful for your kind wishes."

  'Hey! Don't say things I don't actually think!'

  The blond-haired man, having finished his bow, tinued speaking:

  "Unfortunately, I didn't have time to buy him a gift…"

  'Of course you didn't!' thought the guest of honor, rolling his eyes.

  "However, I still have a surprise for the little Prince."

  'A surprise?!' he wondered, intrigued.

  Armin turned and stepped down from the raised ptform where the throood, gesturing to follow him with a wave of his hand.

  "Please, e with me."

  Carmen picked Mirac up in her arms and, without hesitation, followed the man with the long blond hair.

  As they walked through the grand hall, the crowd parted to make way for them, bowing and greeting the little celebrant with smiles and admiring gnces.

  The voices rose in a quiet chorus of well-wishes and honors, and Mirac, though fortably seated in Carmen's arms, felt himself at the ter of everyone's attention.

  Among the faces greeting him, Miraaged to catch sight of his family: his mother, father, and sisters, scattered and engrossed in versations with other nobles, apparently unaware of his passage.

  Their sparkling garments shone uhe delier lights as they spoke animatedly with pleased expressions.

  Yet Mirac couldn't focus on the greetings or the general excitement. His mind was captured by a sihought: what would the surprise Armiioned be?

  With each step, he drew closer to the mystery and its answer, fueling his immense curiosity.

  'Wow! I want to have a cape too when I grow up!' thought Mirac, admiring with a hint of envy the white fabric that hung powerfully and elegantly over the man's shoulders.

  At the end of the path, Armin stopped in front of the rge baly, located on the opposite side of the throne.

  "Here we are," annouhe blond-haired man with a smile, as he opehe wide gss doors.

  As he did so, the fresh air immediately filled the hall, carrying with it the sweet st of flowers that adorhe castle's entrance. As Mirac gazed beyond the baly, he was able to catch a glimpse of the dense forest surrounding the castle. The high, distant walls seemed to encircle that sea of green, like an a boundary marking the world beyond its gates.

  The supposed baly, instead, turned out to be a rge white stoerrace, framed by a t balustrade decorated with floral patterns.

  On the shiny marble fle pots of exotits were arraheir brightly colored flowers emitting a delicate fragrahat blended with the crisp night air.

  Among the pnts, there were also small nterns hanging, their faint golden glows adding a warm brightness, casting soft, flickering shadows on the walls and floor.

  A full moon, pale and luminous, domihe horizon, casting its glow oowers and spires of the castle silhouetted against the starry sky.

  Just beyond the entrance, Mirac felt the cool breeze caress his face, a pleasant and rexiion, as if all the fatigue and tension accumuted throughout the night had vanished in an instant.

  The lights of the party behind him seemed distant, almost far away, while the darkness and tranquility of the night enveloped him.

  Armin, standing in the ter of the terrace, let himself be surrounded by the night's silence, inhaling the fresh air that caused his long white cloak to ripple.

  Only then did Miraotice that the same symbol from the crest was also imprinted on the cloak, in the same golden color.

  After a deep breath, Armin slowly turoward Carmen and little Mirac, who had remained aside behind him.

  "I kindly ask you to take a few steps back," Armin said, gently guiding them back to the terrace's entrance.

  'What is he pnning to do?' Miradered.

  Armin remaiill for a moment, his gaze fixed on the horizon, his body surrounded in an aura of calm and tration.

  His profile, faintly illuminated by the dim light of the moon, revealed a subtle, almost imperceptible smile, which Mirac could barely make out.

  'What the hell is he smiling about?'

  As his eyelids lowered, the man immersed himself in silence, allowing a deep breath to fill his chest and then leave it.

  From his right hand, open and raised before him, with the palm fag his body, a small fme began to appear, shimmering in the silence. Slowly, it danced between his fingers, like a lively and untamed little creature, struggling to escape his grasp, yet remaining bound to his hand in a perfect bance of trol and freedom.

  Mirac's eyes widened, uo look away.

  'What?! How did he do that?!' he wondered, stunned, his heart pounding wildly.

  The fme grew rger, crag and shifting colors in a hypnotic swirl: the fiery red blended into golden yellow, the cool blue merged with bright e, and here and there, green and purple sparks flickered, as if the fme itself were alive and stantly transf.

  Armin raised the hand with which he had been w, closing it pletely and gathering the fme into a single, pulsating sphere, filled with energy and light.

  Suddenly, he reopened his eyes and, with a quid fluid movement, spread his hand. In an instant, the fme lifted into the air, speeding away into the night sky with impressive speed, soon blending among the stars.

  The tongues of fire split into a cascade of sparks, shooting upwards and far ahead of the castle.

  The fmes erupted in the darkness, eventually painting the sky with vivid and spectacur explosions: indest flowers of red and gold bloomed oer another, followed by spirals of blue and green iwining, lighting up the night as if they were fireworks.

  Each explosion was apanied by a deep, vibrating sound that echoed through the air, while the sparks slowly desded like falling stars.

  Mirac watched in awe, his mouth slightly open and his eyes wide. In that moment, he was pletely absorbed by the wonder, uo refle what Armin had just done.

  Meanwhile, drawn by the sudden glow, much of the crowd ihe hall rushed toward the windows and the entrao the terrace.

  Nobles and servants crowded together to admire the spectacle, their faces painted with wonder and astonishment.

  Excmations of surprise and appuse were heard as the fireworks tio explode in the sky, painting the night with colors never seen before.

  "Incredible!"

  "Look, mom!"

  "Such magnifit colors..."

  "Strahough... I had no idea that fireworks were scheduled."

  "Now that I think about it, I didn't kher."

  Amid the growing background murmur, many guests turheir gaze toward the terrace, fog on the man with blonde hair.

  As soon as they noticed the golde on his white cloak, their eyes widened in surprise.

  "That symbol..."

  "These fireworks..."

  "Of course, I'm sure of it! It belongs to the Bellsing family!"

  "What?! Really?! So he..."

  "He's the firstborn of the family: Armin J. Bellsing!"

  At the revetion, which spread through the crowd like an oil stain, a growing murmur of surprise began to take hold, rising sharply from the background of versations in the hall.

  "What?! Armin J. Bellsing?!"

  "I 't believe it..."

  "It's really him! The 'King of Fmes!'"

  "Unbelievable!"

  "I absolutely have to ask him for an autograph!"

  "I hadn't even noticed he was here at the party."

  "But what's he doing here? From what I've heard, I thought he had retired to the Rospnit Volo s..."

  "Yeah, me too!"

  "I actually have some friends who know him personally. And all of them specute that, in just a few years, he will achieve Perfect Sintony with Fire!"

  "W-What?! You're kidding, right?!"

  "Perfect Sintony with Fire?!"

  "But if that's the case, he'd teically reach the same magical level as aal Angel!"

  "Exactly! And at that point, it wouldn't be impossible for him to repce the current Fire Angel!"

  Slowly l the arm with which he had worked, Armin turowards the ecstatic crowd and bowed respectfully, as appuse erupted around him.

  Then, with a fident stride, he walked back toward Carmen and Mirac, both of whom were stunned and speechless in front of the magnifit spectacle.

  "I'm gd you liked my 'surprise,'" Armin expined, addressing the little birthday boy with a sweet smile painted on his face. "ime we meet, I promise I'll show you fmes even more beautiful and grand than these."

  Mirac, however, remaiill and motionless, almost lifeless. His gaze was lost in the sky, while the fireworks tio dance.

  Amid the crowd, still in Carmen's arms, Mirac had gathered a great deal of useful information about the identity of the man with blonde hair. From this, he would certainly be able to derive further details about the world in which he lived.

  However, instead of doing what he usually did—immediately getting to work analyzing the new information he had just gathered—ohought dominated Mirac's mind, summing up everything he had discovered with the fireworks:

  'I… want to learn MAGIC too!'