Episode 70. sea of stars

Even at the moment that seemed like it would last forever, time passed.

The starry sky shattered in the setting sun, and everything that had been hidden in the warm darkness was slowly revealed.

The ruins of a rooftop destroyed by Yuri and Eugene’s duel, the alley melted by Dana’s magic, and the traces of various abuses clearly engraved on Yuri’s arm.

All wounded and naked were drenched in the pouring sunset.

The world was burning like the face of a disgraced child, but Yuri’s expression as she looked at her arm in the twilight was calm.

I looked down at the open view of the school through the wall of the collapsed roof. People who finally came to their senses were slowly moving towards the roof of the agoge.

First of all, the guards and faculty will be the first to arrive and control the entry and exit of other personnel.

‘I’ll be in charge of explaining the situation, and I’ll have to send these two to the health room right away.’

Not knowing when someone might come here, I approached Yuri and carefully lowered her sleeve.

“Yuri, you really worked hard.”

“Did I save you?”

“yes. It is the same this time.”

Yu-jin fell asleep with a cut on Yuri’s leg. Fortunately, there were no serious injuries, and there was no fever.

When I took off my suit and put it on Eugene, she burrowed into the bosom of her coat, as if the evening wind was cold.

I sat down next to the glass as it was. Looking at the sky as if red paint had been spilled on dark paper, Yuri said to me as if she had suddenly remembered.

“I wanted to be like Master. Slender height, long red hair, free magic and even a sword… . I wanted to imitate everything he did.”

I silently nodded and recalled Yuri’s unique magic in the novel.

The blazing sky, the hair blowing in the wind, the long white sword that matches his height, and the bright yellow eyes… . Originally, Yuri’s appearance was a transformation that was hard to find.

“So I wanted to change everything. However, I still lack a lot, so I always train and learn… . Eat a lot on purpose, go to bed early. I did.”

“It must have been hard.”

“I also wanted to learn the longsword that Master used. The problem was that there was no way I could handle that heavy weight with a body like this.”

Then, Yuri showed me the Miseri Code.

The token of friendship sent from Saint-Stica Cathedral to Yuri, who took care of Karin, fell just right for her size.

“Actually, that means that I didn’t like the person I was. I guess… . I must have hated myself.”

The confidence that Yuri showed in the novel as the only free magic user in the school and her admiration for her teacher seemed like a strong motivation to lead her unobstructed growth.

Even while reading the manuscript, I just cheered her on to cut off her past as a slave.

It had never occurred to her that self-loathing was lurking inside her.

“After I received counseling from the professor, I was able to think that I was no longer ashamed of my appearance.”

Embarrassed to take advantage of her thinness, she also said that she hadn’t used the wind control that she showed during the duel with Eugene before meeting me.

“Even though I’ve been told several times to use my lightweight body, I was so absorbed in the thought of wanting to resemble Master that I even forgot the teaching.”

The stars she lifted were now shining across the sunset.

Far different from the original, Yuri’s unique magic that seems to embrace everything around her.

The world of Yuri went on a new path different from the original.

Yuri stretched out her hand toward the sunset as if feeling relieved.

As the darkness gradually spreads, her hands are now warmer than the red sunlight.

“Thank you for guiding me.”

Fearing that Eugene would wake up, Yuri whispered in a low voice, looking straight into my eyes instead.

“My second master.”

On that day, I was able to see the brightest smile that illuminated the perishing world.

* * *

Kiruna’s senior professors, who had concentrated on nullifying Dana’s light source magic, regained their senses as soon as the sunset shone on them and ran toward the roof of the Agoge.

In order not to miss the moment when the second unique magic user of Kiruna Magic School appeared, and to grasp the circumstances of this large-scale incident, they did not hesitate to run over the alley that was burnt with high heat.

Dana was the only one left there, idly watching the sea of twinkling stars even as she was pushed away by the sunset.

‘Sister, what does it mean to be beautiful?’

The mana of the area rose like fireflies, and the comet fell in a familiar trajectory.

The unique magic of glass as warm as a summer night is… . It also resembled Dana’s precious memories.

‘Look, on the other side of the setting sun, the stars are rising from the ground like bubbles in a lake. The sky before sunset is really beautiful, with day and night mixed together.’

‘Well… .’

‘The whole world is dyed in so many different colors, doesn’t it feel like the scent of violet petals and roses is strong even in the wind?’

‘is it?’

A night so warm that the hand holding it feels cold.

The human-like sister held Dana’s hand and pointed to things that glowed even at night.

The hand her sister held in the dark was as cold as touching the moon in the sky.

‘Isn’t the Milky Way like a blue curtain? Out of all these stars, I like the brightest star over there.’

‘It’s a unique color only.’

‘Is it the same color as your hair? How come you shine so brightly? That’s why I always look for that star every night.’

The figure of the older sister right next to her looked blurry, but the distant stars were clear.

Dana listened to her sister’s story of the constellations in the dark, hugging her knees.

Love, legend, tragedy… . The foolish imaginations of humans knew no bounds.

It’s just that the stars are burning. What is the meaning of those things?

Even as she thought so, Dana kept looking at the amber star her sister had been talking about.

After that, the crickets stop, and the morning dawns slowly.

‘The light green leaves glistening with dew in the morning sun resemble your eyes. Dana. Beautiful things resemble precious things.’

‘Ah, isn’t it fitting?’

‘Really. you are shining That’s why everything that shines is beautiful to me.’

And then, her sister’s hand caressed Dana’s hair at an angle.

In the same trajectory, the stars of Mana, where comets fell with their tails trailing, had now disappeared, but Dana continued to look up at the purple sky.

“… Since that day, I have been interested in light science.”

Memories of frills, hearts of glass. The reason why the things drawn with mana felt beautiful was because they reminded me of my sister?

When I observed humans at this school alone, the hearts of humans, who were just disgusting, have a warm side that reminds me of my sister.

‘And the reason I was able to find such beautiful things in such a terrible school-‘

Dana, who was immersed in many sentiments, quickly wiped her eyes at the familiar footsteps and smiled cheerfully.

“Junior, are you all right?”

Ian, the first person who showed me the value of a human being approaches me.

* * *

The dark being who had the same thoughts as Dana had not yet been able to swim out of the sea of stars.

‘I was completely crushed and cornered. But my heart, which should feel a deep sense of defeat, is so calm.’

As the months pass, the anguish deepens. As time went on, the thought process stuck in one place rather than becoming clearer.

In the storage room of the student council room where there was no light, Filetta drew on the white wall with the black blood running down her fingers.

What the trembling fingertips drew was a black tidal wave at first. Destructive and silent, the water flowed like a waterfall.

A thin circle was drawn in the middle, and a few straight lines were drawn to serve as the skeleton. Then it became a doll now. There is no facial expression. There is no light in her two black eyes, and she has never met anyone’s eyes.

Skin that has never been exposed to light has no complexion. The stooped child was stained with multiple wounds. Numerous black bandages were attached to the dress made of thread-like threads of blood flowing from unhealed wounds.

The bottom layer of the pond, in the cave of autism, the ruler of the endless mire, living on his own nails.

“mother.”

Filetta confessed in front of a strange painting.

“Until I came to the ground, my heart for you never wavered.”

All creatures living in the colorless pond devour each other while waiting for the ruler’s command.

In it, at first to survive, and later just to soothe boredom, the drowning body has been making inventions.

How could you not serve the only one who recognized them and caressed them?

Grabbing a clear consciousness in a place without sun and moon was like torture.

The only one who can talk to the drowned body, she was like a ray of sunshine in a solitary confinement to him.

It was only natural that his faith deepened. All strange creatures in the pond instinctively serve her, but the drowned body is different.

The drowned body struggled to understand its mother, and she must have known this too.

Since she was the only entity capable of truly understanding her goals, planning and acting on them, she must have entrusted me with the crucial responsibility of observing the ground.

“Even on the ground, I was dedicated to carrying out your orders. To me, humans were just a means to achieve your will, so I did not experience any change of heart while interacting with them.”

Filetta gently rubbed the picture of the ruler. It becomes more and more distorted, mixed, and… . The walls were just painted black.

“However, meeting Ian, you faded from my heart. I couldn’t stop a new aspiration from sprouting in its place.”

She drew a new picture with her finger on the blackened wall.

The meaning of a new life engraved in pitch darkness… . It was Ian’s face.

“I wanted to know what a human being is like.”

When he first lost to Ian, who was not stronger than her and was even alienated by the other professors, he just thought he was careless.

However, despite borrowing a human body to observe and study his appearance, the drowned body was defeated by Ian again.

How the hell is Ian able to bring out the growth of other humans, and why are the results so brilliant?

Ian said I was not realizing the nature of growth. What is its essence, can I, a non-human, draw it out?

“It makes me wonder. Why did I have to lose twice in a row to that weak being even though I risked everything? And… .”

‘I wonder if I can grow too.’

She drew dots and lines on Ian’s back.

Ian and the unique magic of the glass spreading beyond him… . sea of stars.

“In order to realize the freedom of human beings taught by Ian, shouldn’t I first become a being close to humans?”

She unplugged the wire from the strange steam device and inserted it into her wrist.

Mana Diluter, her last invention. The principle is the same as all of her inventions that extracted and condensed mana from blood.

She borrowed human corpses to move, and prevented their decay with the mana of the pond.

If you dilute the mana in your blood, you will surely be far from your mother’s will… . It will become a fragile body that will not be strange even if you die at any time.

But she laughed. The moment the dilution machine was activated, she felt the joy of finally understanding human pain, even though the pain felt like squeezing her blood and organs.

After my eyes flickered several times and lost consciousness several times.

She opened her eyes to the light pouring in as the door opened.

“What, why are you lying in a place like this? Hey, now is not the time to be like this!”

“… Euryll?”

“Calm down, even if I ran away to where you were right now, it wouldn’t be enough… ! Now the principal is openly wanting you. There must have been some pressure in the imperial family. They’re going to catch you right away and examine you!”

“test?”

“Yeah, you said you were going to check if you were human or not. You’ve never been active outside of the student council, so how did you find out who you are… . uh? wait, you blood-”

“ah.”

red blood.

Payletta looked at the red blood still oozing from the wound on her wrist, then smiled at Euril.

“… I wish you well in the future. Auril.”