Episode 58. Eye

A little distance from the school, in a deserted forest park.

The scent of flowers wafted from the wind sweeping through the leaves, and the sunlight of spring on a sunny day came with a heat similar to body temperature and made the students shine.

“Is it really spring?”

As I murmured with cold coffee next to me, the mint student who had been spending time with me smiled brightly as he was hit by the falling petals.

“A lot has changed in a short period of time, Professor Ian.”

“Not yet… . lack.”

“is that so? But I feel that the atmosphere of the school itself has changed a lot.”

Mina confidently said that beyond the current changes, a bigger wind will blow here in the future.

“I hope so.”

“Do not worry. You are seeing the evidence right in front of your eyes.”

Mina and I sat on the same bench and watched the students concentrating on magic training.

“It’s a butterfly~”

“Ina, where are you going!!”

Even the scene where Ina suddenly started chasing a yellow butterfly while practicing magic, and Sepia, who was watching her, chased after her.

“… Would it be rude to say that he looks like a puppy?”

“Normal people would find such treatment unwelcome, but Ina seems to be different.”

“ah! professor. Come to think of it, why is Sepia-nee here?”

“They said it was a public lecture today, so I applied for the audition.”

“aha.”

Beside Ina, Frill was engrossed in practicing expressing the garden in front of him with elements such as fire, light, and ice.

The armor of the guardian knight guarding her side was embroidered with white ice in the shape of a butterfly, which seemed to take into consideration the iron armor getting hot in the sunlight.

Frill, who paints the world with his own aesthetic sense and imagination, was dealing with free magic closest to its essence at school.

“Princess Frill is really amazing. You’ve developed your free magic so far, but you’re studying really hard without missing the magic ceremony.”

“Both of you, you won’t be able to take this class next semester.”

“I’m sorry about that… .”

The other Magical Linguistics Department E class students were immersed in magic practice as well.

Students immersed in meditation to feel mana and students discussing a magic formula.

After everyone received one-on-one counseling from me, they were free to focus on magic practice following their own learning direction that they had decided after thinking about it.

Today before the weekend. The class in charge of the Department of Magical Linguistics, Class E, was decided to be held outdoors instead of in the old, dark classroom dedicated to Class E.

Outdoor classes like this are common in reality, but the students seemed to be deeply impressed.

“Everyone is working very hard. Everyone seems to be enjoying the magic… .”

“Because interest is a stronger motivator than competition for lower-class students. It’s fortunate.”

“Actually, me. When I was in the first year, I wanted to get out of Class E to death… . These days, that thinking is gradually changing.”

“is it.”

“I don’t mean to say that I purposely ruined the exam or that I lost my motivation to study.”

After quenching my thirst with coffee, I said to the Mint student, who looked complicated.

“Are you uncomfortable with the attention of professors and students just because you are a unique magic user?”

“Yeah… . Compared to the day I first consulted with the professor a few months ago, my words may sound like I’m full, but I think it’s harder now than when I was a freshman, when everyone ignored me.”

Mina told me one by one about the things I had been through when I was distracted by various things.

The fact that the school tried to secretly give me a scholarship, and even though I tried to take responsibility for my faults about Darby’s rampage, everything was dismissed.

Other professors from the department, who didn’t even know she existed, approached and greeted her first, and Professor Hadley kept bothering to schedule an interview.

“It’s disgusting. all.”

“There must have been a lot of offers that were hard to refuse?”

If nothing else, the scholarship must have been a great temptation to her, who was from a commoner background and did not even receive support from her family.

‘To cut even that like a knife is amazing.’

“I wonder if all the top students in this school were treated like this… .”

“Even if it’s not to the extent of a unique magic user, he must be receiving some kind of preferential treatment.”

“ha.”

“You don’t have to worry too much about those things, Spearmint. We are moving forward well now, so don’t lose that sincerity in the future.”

After the consultation with student Mina, I called Ina, who was at a loss as Sepia grabbed both ears this time.

“Nah, it’s your turn.”

“I lived… ! No, is he dead?”

“Don’t think of running away, come here quietly. I won’t kill you.”

I grabbed the Mint student who was trying to vacate and seated me back, and I continued talking to Ina.

“Ina, the magic formula construction has increased a lot.”

“Right!? I am almost the archmage among the Rang people!”

“Then, is learning free magic going well?”

“Nope… . I’m trying to learn from Princess Frill and Mina… .”

“Close your eyes.”

Ina desperately closed her eyes, like a child falling asleep while waiting for a Christmas present.

“The sepia has become much brighter.”

“… Yeah.”

“It’s really difficult to comfort the wounded and get them back to normal… . By any chance, do you still feel guilty about Sepia?”

“now… . I’m not here to take on the responsibility of being a student council officer.”

Ina calmly put her tail down as if recalling the first time she met Sepia.

“Your role was very important in Sepia’s recovery. Thanks to you coming over to the Ministry of Magic, Sepia was able to return to her daily life more quickly.”

“No, I just stick with it because I like it.”

“As a necromancer, you will continue to do it, but… . But do not lower yourself more than necessary. Healing the wounds of the heart is never easy.”

There are many people who endlessly ruminate on the wounds in their hearts that never heal, and live with dark emotions until the moment they die.

The surest way to rescue those floating in the sea of depression is to be with them and give them strength… . There are very few people in fiction or in reality who will pour out that much dedication for others. The world was vast and the individual was too small.

In the end, there are bound to be people who end their lives without being comforted to the end somewhere in the world.

“I can’t see it, but there must be many spirits by your side right now. All of them must be ghosts who suffered great scars in their lives.”

“… Yeah.”

“The Rang people say that necromancy is about edifying, keeping, and monitoring ghosts that harm people, and helping them to cleanse themselves of their sins. Is that true?”

“That’s right.”

“Since you received human blood, it might be a good idea to think differently from them.”

One of the things humans excel at compared to other races is their ability to empathize.

Since all humans have different ways of thinking, humans have developed the ability to think by projecting themselves onto others in order to understand their thoughts.

Conversely, heterogeneous people who all have the same way of thinking and there are not many differences between them do not feel this strongly.

“The Rang people will also go through various rituals to appease the spirits, but the only one who can truly understand their sorrow and anger is you, who can see the world of the dead from a human point of view.”

“Maybe… ?”

“Now, focus your mind again.”

“… .”

“Think of the most beautiful thing you can show to those who have lived in painful memories for a long time.”

Beside Ina, who was more serious than ever, the fallen petals slowly rose into the air.

As the spirits around her cheered, the spring breeze wrapped around her, and the fallen petals and leaves fluttered and danced in the wind.

The souls of her, who grew up in the warmest place among the Rang people, were cheering her on.

yet… .

The moment she opened her carefully closed eyes to see the world differently.

The surroundings of Ina, who had been smiling in the soft wind, turned white, like a white chrysanthemum shyly raising her head.

“Someday, when I return to Nodia… .”

The snowfield in Ina was pure white, as if pure white paint had been poured over everything, but nothing was frozen there.

“I want to go on a trip just for these people.”

Suddenly it started snowing.

Snowflakes that do not melt from the clear sky covered the forest.

“Cozy… .”

The warm snowfield, the scenery that can only be seen in Nodia, the students who had been talking happily with each other stopped talking before they knew it.

I just silently watched as the snowflakes piled up silently in the sunlight.

“My eyes are not cold… . It’s beautiful.”

“Spearmint, even if you are disappointed in this place, keep your passion for magic in a corner of your heart.”

I said to the Mint student while smiling at Ina, who splendidly performed free magic.

“Proving your efforts sexually would be nice, but magic itself is such a beautiful thing.”

“… I will keep that in mind.”

The wind blew again, and the snowflakes of Nodia, which had been gently laid on the floor, flew up into the sky shining in the sunlight.

As Ina ran after the snowflakes on their trip, Sepia had to run for a long time to catch her once again.

* * *

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Jun sat with his knees together between the bookshelves covered with a cozy red carpet and read through the magic book.

The central library is most famous for its open spiral staircase and sun-drenched ceiling, but introverted students like Jun enjoy the quiet and coziness of the corner of the library with blankets on their knees.

However, Jun, who was trying to focus on his task quietly today, was unable to achieve that goal.

“Here, the real concentration is good and good.”

‘I can’t concentrate at all… !’

After sitting together with Carol, whom I met by chance at the library, the contents of the magic book did not come into my head at all.

Was it wrong that she chose the seat with the math book she had recommended to Carol the other day?

‘But this is the sunniest spot in the library…’ .’

Bookshelf number 781.

Even though it was in a corner, there was a small window open nearby, so it was Jun’s best hidden spot where you could read while feeling the pleasant spring breeze.

“I heard there are ghosts here.”

“Yeah?”

“There were just rumors like that. I don’t know either.”

Rumors went around that the devil lived in the room he lived in, but now it’s a ghost?

‘Is this a school where ghost stories are popular?’

Wait, before Jun could even think about that, Carol called again.

“Jun, can’t the magic formula be ever-changing like free magic?”

“If you think the correct answer is fixed in the magic formula… Maybe… ?”

“It would be nice if I could easily use various magics with the magic formula.”

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Jun stared blankly at the troubled Carol while bathing in the sun shining through the window.

The petals blown by the spring wind were quietly placed on his head one by one.

That bothered him so much that he kept looking at him, but eventually Jun met Carol’s eyes.

“uh?”

“Yeah?”

“Wait a minute, stay still.”

“… oh wait-”

Carol stared at Jun and stretched out her hand.

‘… !’

White steam formed on Jun’s glasses for a moment, above his flushed face and tightly closed eyes.

After a while, when Jun’s tightly closed eyes opened… .

“What is this?”

“… That, will you?”

Carol was looking at her own finger, not at Jun.

Something white glittered at the fingertips that had removed something from Jun’s head.

“Is it dandruff?”

“Yes, yes, yes… ?”

“No, it’s snow. Eh? In this weather?”

The warm sunlight was still leaking through the window that Jun and Carol looked up at.

“What?”

“It’s amazing, it doesn’t melt.”

Even when Carol moved the snowflakes around by twisting her palms, the mysterious snowflakes that had chosen the wrong season kept their shape firmly.

‘Eyes, movements, shapes.’

And, while looking at the snowflakes on Carol’s palm, a thought suddenly passed through Jun’s mind.

“Karl-senpai, have you ever looked at a snowflake with a magnifying glass?”

“No, I don’t have one. why?”

“Try it now. It’s very beautiful, and it’s also strange.”

At first glance, all snowflakes seem to have the same appearance, but in fact, if you look at the ice crystals that make up them, they look different.

“Depending on several factors, such as temperature and wind, snowflakes are all shaped slightly differently.”

“Perhaps… ?”

“You asked if the magic formula couldn’t be ever-changing?”

Carol’s eyes shone brightly.

“Although we cannot directly control the factors.”

“Instead, if only we could embody the environment in which they arise… . Can you create magic that changes infinitely?”

“Just a hypothesis… I won… .”

“You really are a genius!”

In the corner of the Central Library, in front of bookcase 781.

The heat of the discussion, which had caught fire, did not seem to cool down until the sun went down.