In his past life, Oscar had visited his village when his father lay on his sick bed, close to death. Brian had called him closer and whispered in his ear that he could finally confirm his son had a talent for magic. By then, Brian believed it had been a mistake to make him give up on it.
This time around, Oscar was ready to walk up to his father and bravely ask him to sign the letter for the magic academy.
Later that night, Oscar found him and stood there with the letter in his hand. His father asked him what he wanted, and Oscar told Brian that he had come to have him sign his application.
Brian took the application expecting to see the sword academy, and instead he saw the magic academy. With a smile on his face, Oscar told his father that he could not enroll in the magic academy without his signature. Brian held his head in frustration and asked his son why he would choose magic when he had been born the son of a sword master.
Oscar asked his father whether he remembered the day he had told him that he wanted to use magic. Brian threw the letter on the floor and told Oscar that his desire had been nothing but childish nonsense. Then he reached out to touch his son, meaning to infuse the sword ki into him, and he was repelled by the mana already flowing inside Oscar. Brian exclaimed in shock and asked whether he had mastered mana, and Oscar told him that he had gone ahead with it because he did not think there was any other way to persuade him.
Brian was utterly furious when he heard that. He mentioned that he had heard Oscar defeated his brothers, and he told his son that he possessed an immense talent, to have beaten a swordsman without using sword ki at all. Oscar assured his father that he was aware of it, but Brian argued back, saying that he clearly did not know.
Brian screamed out in frustration that Oscar's success was guaranteed as long as he became a swordsman. Oscar told his father that he was right, but he let him know that success did not necessarily bring happiness. Brian grabbed his head in frustration and lost his patience completely. He decided that if he acted quickly enough, he might still be able to fix the error.
He told Oscar that he was not going to stand aside and watch him walk down the wrong path, because he was simply going to beat some sense into him. Brian drew his sword and told Oscar that he might not understand now what his father was trying to do for him, but that a day would come when he would thank him for it.
Oscar mumbled quietly, because he knew that day never came, and that his decision to learn swordsmanship had led to his death.
Brian told Oscar to pick up a sword. Instead, Oscar took a deep breath and dumped the sword academy application into the fire, reminding his father that he was a mage. Then he dared him outright, telling him that he was curious to see whether he really could beat the desire to become a mage out of him.
Brian decided to show his son exactly what he was capable of, since the boy was clearly acting arrogant simply because he had withstood his sword ki. He dashed toward Oscar and delivered a powerful strike, and Oscar dodged it, shocking him. Oscar could read his father's attacks perfectly clearly while the man held a sword in his hands.
Brian kept swinging, and Oscar kept slipping away from everything thrown at him, because in his past life he had modelled himself after his father. Reading those attacks was easy. Moments later Brian paused, and he told Oscar that he could see he was living up to his words. He admitted that Oscar had dodged well even without using sword ki to strengthen his body, and he said with confidence that there was not a single man in the guild who could do the same.
Brian told Oscar that his talent for the sword was immense, and that this was exactly why he was betting everything on him taking the path of a swordsman. His aura started leaking out to show how serious he was, and he urged Oscar to accept his sword ki right there and then. Oscar reminded him that he was the one who had said he would beat the desire for magic out of him.
Oscar smiled and asked his father whether he was asking him to yield simply because he could not hit him. That got to Brian. Oscar went on, telling his father that just as talent was more important than anything else to him, he also had things that he could not give up. Then he whipped out his wand, and his father scoffed and asked whether he planned to use that as his sword.
Oscar proudly told his father that what he was holding was his wand, even if it was only a beginner's model. He did not have the knowledge to use magic properly yet, but he pointed out that the same went for his father. Brian had no idea what he was about to do, which meant there was no way he could predict it.
Brian dashed toward him, accelerating to get behind him, but before he could land the strike, Oscar reacted and slipped the attack. With his father out in the open, Oscar pointed the wand into his face and decided to use the first magic he had ever seen, the same magic he had dreamed of countless times.
The magic was a spark. Thanks to his unending desire for it, he was able to pull it off. He unleashed a bright spark in his father's face that almost blinded him, and while his eyes were closed, Oscar took the opportunity to reach his back. Brian reacted instinctively, believing that the magic attack was meant to be a distraction, but Oscar countered even that by getting behind him and knocking the sword out of his grip, disarming him completely.
Brian expressed his frustration and asked Oscar whether taking his sword away had been the goal from the very start. Oscar reminded his father that hiding a true objective among several aims was something his father had taught him. Brian told Oscar that he could guarantee his talent with the sword, but he wanted to know who was going to guarantee his talent for magic, and Oscar told his father that he had only shown him the path he wished to walk.
Then Oscar asked his father whether he had become a swordsman because someone had guaranteed his talent for the sword, and that question hit Brian very hard.
Brian remembered a conversation he had once had with Oscar's mother, back when their son was still in the womb. He had talked about how he wanted to put the boy on the path of swordsmanship, and his wife had reminded him that he chose swordsmanship himself because he believed it was cool, and that they did not need to choose for their son. She told Brian that Oscar had to choose his own path.
After the memory passed through his head, Brian smiled and admitted his deepest desire, that he had truly thought Oscar would one day become a sword saint. Then he walked over to where he had dropped the magic academy application, and Oscar feared that he meant to tear it up. Instead, Brian shocked him, revealing that he intended to sign it.