"Linmel...! I'll miss you!"
"Rian...!"
The day the knight came to take Linmel arrived. The orphanage became a sea of tears.
"Sob... Linmel! We'll miss you so much, sniffle!"
The Director was wailing as if someone had died, blowing his nose into a handkerchief, and since Linmel got along with everyone so well, not just the children her age but all the others came out to the empty lot to see her off. ... Really, is it that big of a deal?
It's not like she's going off to die. It's a twenty-minute carriage ride away. At that distance, you could even walk back and forth.
For Linmel, it would probably take ten minutes one way. But I couldn't just ruin the mood with a tactless comment, so as I stood there awkwardly, a carriage entered through the gate. It was a carriage befitting a knight, luxurious for being made of oak, but without a single ornament.
From inside, a middle-aged knight with an impressive mustache opened the door and flinched in surprise at the sight of several dozen people crying in a group.
"Ahem, I've arrived on time... but, what is all this?"
"Sniffle, Sir Knight, you've arrived?"
"Uh... yes, I have. What in the world is going on?"
"Everyone gathered to see Linmel off. Sniffle."
"... I see. My daughter is blessed with many friends."
When the knight stepped out of the carriage, everyone fell silent. It was my first time seeing one, and wow. Of course, I'd seen plenty of knight trainees at the academy, but a real knight was completely different.
A build closer to a gorilla than a man, and muscles that asserted themselves even through his thick clothes. Less a man, and more a weapon designed to kill men. That was the distinct impression he gave.
He held a sword, far too small for him, by its scabbard and stood before Linmel with a solemn expression.
"Linmel. My name is Gwalan. I am the vice-commander of the Red Knights, and the knight who has struck down five necromancers, seven demon tamers, and one witch."
"Am I to understand that your presence here today signifies your acceptance of becoming my daughter?"
"Y-Yes!"
Linmel answered confidently, though her voice was stuffy from crying.
"In that case, daughter, this sword and armor are now yours. I swear before your family that you will one day become the most outstanding knight of all."
"This is my goal as well, so I shall ensure you never forget these words for the rest of your life."
"Thank you!"
Linmel bowed deeply and accepted the sword, which was much too large for her, then drew it.
Shing!
The texture was different. The blade was so white you could tell it wasn't ordinary steel.
"It is a Lordlight Sword. No matter what you face, it will never break."
"Wow..."
Linmel blinked at its beauty, then swung it a few times.
"Ooh...!"
Seeing this, Gwalan's eyes widened and his hands trembled.
"So it is destined...."
"What is?"
"It is nothing."
Gwalan wiped his nose with a satisfied look, then, as if remembering something, he took a box out of the carriage.
"Director, this is for you."
"Huh? What... Whaaa!"
The Director, opening the chest, jumped back in shock and waved his hands in refusal.
"I-I've done nothing to deserve such a sum of money."
"Retract that statement. To say so is to diminish the grace you've shown in raising my daughter."
"From now on, I will make a monthly donation to this orphanage. And for the children, I've prepared this."
Gwalan brought out another box. Inside was something incomparably more precious than silver coins.
"It's, it's Ruinel candies!"
"That stuff is super expensive...!"
"I searched as hard as I could for snacks that children enjoy, but this was the best I could do. Still, there should be enough for everyone, so please hand them out."
My assessment of Gwalan rose vertically. He might be a bit stiff, but seeing him prepare gifts for the kids meant Linmel wouldn't suffer under him. While the other children's eyes spun as they rushed the box, I approached Linmel, who was still examining her sword.
"Linmel."
"Oh, Jern!"
Linmel sheathed the sword and smiled at me. Aside from the faint tear tracks, she looked much the same as always. Then she looked at me with sparkling eyes, full of expectation.
I just came to say goodbye.
"Uh, work hard."
"Okay!"
"... That's it?"
"What else am I supposed to do? You're going to come by every day anyway. If I send you off with tears now, it'll just be awkward the next time we meet."
"Hmph..."
Linmel puffed out her cheeks, sulking in dissatisfaction, but then quickly broke into a grin.
"It's okay, I knew you were dumber than you look. I can bear it!"
"What? Hey, I can take that from anyone else, but from you—" "See you tomorrow!"
"Gyaahk!!"
Linmel gave me a hug tight enough to crush my bones, then boarded Gwalan's carriage. I lay collapsed on the ground, glaring at the carriage as a hand waved from inside until it was out of sight.
"Sniff... I'm so proud... Jern? What are you doing lying down there?"
"... Watching ants."
She was a noisy one, right to the very end. With Linmel gone, I returned to my life of eavesdropping on classes at the academy. By now, the empty lot behind the children’s class classroom felt like my own cozy nook.
I even had my own prime spots, like a place where the sound carried well, or a spot that was well-shaded. Today, the sun was blazing, so I was listening in on the class from a shady spot while cleaning, and a laugh kept escaping my lips.
"Heh heh..."
In my arms, I held something worthy of such a reaction. The textbook, that 599-silver-coin monstrosity. You could buy a house with this one book.
I still couldn't quite grasp the nobles' sense of money, but at least this book seemed worth its price.
Swish, swish.
I cleaned with the broom while reading the book floating in mid-air. Doing something like this so naturally made me feel like I had truly become a mage.
"Which is to say, none of you are mages yet."
"?"
Apparently not.
Today's class had ended, and during the leftover time for review, I heard something strange. The kids had been pestering the professor to tell them stories about his first love, so I'd been ignoring it, but it seemed he'd moved on to something important. I closed my textbook for a moment and pricked up my ears.
"But we can use magic, so why aren't we mages?"
"Hmm, what you use can't exactly be called magic."
"... What?"
"How should I explain this... Ah, do you see this?"
After a brief pause, the professor clapped his hands and held something up. Naturally, I couldn't see what it was. Maybe this would work.
I activated Tide Sense, blanketing the classroom. In an instant, the scene inside the classroom came into view. ... Why didn't I think of this before?
Anyway, what the professor was holding up was a fan.
"If I wave it like this, it creates wind, right? Don't you think this is a form of wind magic?"
"That's a stretch! How is that magic?"
"It produces the same wind. By that logic, striking a flint to make fire, sprinkling water, or even farming are all forms of magic."
"They produce the same results, so why are they different? Simply because one uses mana?"
"Then should waving a fan be classified as a body technique because it uses muscular strength? Should we give everything a different name depending on the power source?"
"... Well, no, but they're completely different. Magic is much stronger..."
"Don't be like that. I'm not saying magic is nothing special. Mana is the most efficient fuel there is."
"However, I wanted to tell you that there's a clear difference between an act performed using mana and actual magic."
Tap, tap, tap. The professor wrote something on the chalkboard with a piece of chalk. Of course, Tide Sense was supreme.
I could even make out what he was writing.
"Magic is—the act of creating something that does not exist in the physical-realm within one's own world. And then projecting that back into reality. That is what the word refers to."
"???"
The children looked like they didn't understand a thing. The professor gave a wry smile and explained it in a way they could understand.
"There's fire in reality, and the wind blows, right? There's light, and water, and earth, and grass and trees too, right?"
"Yup."
"In that case, what you're doing is just taking things that exist in the physical-realm, bringing them into the world inside your mind, and then spitting them back out."
"You haven't created anything; you've only taken what's already there and expelled it using mana. That's less like magic and more like an act of outputting an input."
"Is that a bad thing?"
"No. The level of output is one of the biggest factors in distinguishing a mage's level. However, the input is just as important."
"But everything already exists in reality. What doesn't exist?"
"Usually, you create things by combining elemental spells. If you properly condense a flame so it doesn't go out, solidify it into the shape of an arrow, and shoot it with wind magic, that's magic. Something like a fire arrow doesn't exist in reality, does it?"
"No." "Taking it one step further, if you organically combine dozens of elemental spells... Hmm, this is the next step, but I'll show you to make it easier to understand."
"Have any of you ever seen something suddenly float up in the air in reality? Without any other force acting on it."
"No." "Right? So, this is magic."
Woosh— A cadet who had been dozing off in the front row floated slightly into the air.
"Huh, huh?"
"Telekinesis. Once you reach the state of Dim Sky, the minimum requirement to be called a mage, you'll all be able to do something similar."
"Wow...! How do you do that?"
"It's too early for you to be learning that. When you've studied hard and become great, the elders of your respective families will teach you."
Ah. Right.
They would all learn advanced magic from their own families.
"Do I really have to get adopted or something..."
I sighed in frustration. There was also the option of marriage, but any noble who would accept a proposal from an orphan had to be insane, so I'd have to decline on my end. In the end, becoming Dersia's disciple was the top priority.
Sighing, I focused on what I could do now. I used wind magic to gather the nearby trash. I normally did this with currents, but I was doing it this way to improve my proficiency with wind magic.
It felt awkward. No, not awkward, but... I was already too familiar with the Deep Sea.
It felt like trying to eat and write with my left hand. Like tying up my right hand, the Deep Sea, and trying to manage with my other. Still, it had to be done.
"Telekinesis, huh..."
It was faint, but I could see a path to fulfilling Dersia's conditions. I diligently gathered the trash with the wind.
"... Hm?"
In the middle of it, my Tide Sense picked something up. A cadet was coming this way. Judging by their height, they were young.
No one ever comes to this empty lot anyway. They must just be passing through. I shielded the textbook floating by currents with my body so it wouldn't be seen and continued gathering the trash.
Rumble...
"?"
Suddenly, my magic felt strange. 'What is this...?' As if something was blocking it, the broom began to shake on its own.
My control over the spell was slightly twisted. Something was wrong. As I pondered what the problem could be, I grabbed the broom.
The cadet was getting closer. I could think about it later, first I had to act. As I calmly swept the trash, the cadet sat down on a nearby bench and let out a deep sigh.
"Haaah...."
Naturally, I ignored them.
"Haaaaaaaah....."
The sigh grew deeper. I felt like I'd be discovered if I stayed any longer, so I did a quick sweep, picked up my broom, and tried to leave quickly. That was my mistake.
"... Huh? Hey, you're that janitor."
It was someone I knew. No, someone whose face I recognized. I tried not to let it show as I scowled and replied.
"I think you have the wrong person."
"What are you talking about, it's you. Hey, why did you leave without a word back then? You should have at least stayed for a thank you!"
Elysia said, patting the spot on the bench next to her. It was an invitation to sit. As much as I disliked it, she was a noble, so I couldn't refuse.
Gritting my teeth, I sat next to her, and Elysia, as if she'd been waiting, began to chatter.
"First of all, thank you. If you hadn't helped me back then, I would have been in big trouble. But why did you leave in such a hurry?"
"I get scolded if I rest for too long."
In reality, I left because I didn't want to listen to her talk. She was probably here now to escape from Hyuins and his cronies.
"Really? Oh, right. I'm not complaining or anything, but couldn't you have said something before wrapping me in bandages and throwing me out the window?"
"I thought I was going to die of shock..."
Blah, blah, blah. I sighed, feeling that even this time was a waste, and secretly cast a wind spell above us. She seemed like she would talk for a while, so I figured I might as well practice.
I had my head bowed low, so she wasn't looking at my eyes and wouldn't notice. But the spell wouldn't activate. No, it activated, but... only a very weak, faint breeze blew.
What?
I was bewildered because I could still feel the sensation of mana being expended. Is there something wrong with me? ...
Or maybe.
"Excuse me, just a moment."
I cut Elysia off, stood up, and put some distance between us.
"H-Huh?"
Leaving the bewildered Elysia, I conjured a breeze. It was a little distorted, but it worked. I then moved closer to Elysia.
With each step I took, the wind wavered and twisted uneasily. There was no room for doubt.
This girl.
She possesses a world with some property that destabilizes magic.
"Wh-What is it? Why are you staring at me so scarily?"
"It's nothing."
I quickly bowed my head so she wouldn't see my mana circle. A Fall... it doesn't seem like it's quite that. I'm not sure.
Should I take her to Dersia? But how? ... No, that's not it.
That's not what's important right now. I did a complete 180 and sat down right next to Elysia.
"Please, tell me more."
"Huh...?"
"I'd like to hear more."
Watching her face, a mix of slight confusion and pleasure, I calmed my pounding heart. I had no idea what the mechanism behind this was. I didn't have a clue, but— One thing was certain.
I could make use of this.