I opened my eyes with a startle, and all I could see was the blue sky.
Splash, splash.
A small sound tickled my ears.
“Water?”
I raised my head and looked around. A shallow surface of water was covering my body.
It’s the lakeshore.
I got up from where I was lying.
“Ah, my hand.”
Looking at my left hand, it had become completely clean. Perhaps because new skin had grown, it looked even smoother than before.
I lifted my hand to touch my face and chest.
Though I should have suffered severe burns, the skin I felt was incredibly smooth.
“Ran!”
I turned my head at the sound of a voice in the distance.
Psyche was running towards me.
She came into the lake, approaching me.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’m fine.”
“……”
As I answered properly, the worry in her eyes gradually disappeared.
Strangely, her gaze slowly shifted downwards.
And then it fixed.
I twisted my waist inward and covered my lower body.
“Hey! What are you looking at?”
Psyche bit her lip and then looked back at my face as she spoke.
“What do you mean? I was just checking if you’ve recovered well.”
What exactly was she checking to see if it had recovered well?
“Uh, c-could you bring me some clothes?”
Psyche turned her head abruptly and said,
“You can take care of that yourself.”
With that curt response, she quickly walked back to the cabin.
I was left all alone in the lake.
“Seriously. Come to think of it, I had lost my staff. What about my magic book?”
I held out my left hand and tried to summon the magic book.
I felt the transparent magic book appear in my left hand.
Fireball floating above the head.
Fireballs supporting the two legs.
Keren’s fire magic feels like it’s fading away quickly, like a dream.
“No, I can’t let that happen.”
I should record it right now.
I opened the magic book. And I turned the pages until I reached the fire magic spells.
“Keren’s fire magic. It was quite unique. On the ship, it only emitted light, and when boiling the sea, it only had heat. Is it converting fire into light and heat? Also, he flew around with it attached to his legs. How does that work? There was nothing like that in Speria’s spells.”
I noted various parts of the fire magic spells. I saved everything I could remember, recalling Keren’s application methods.
I saved everything I could remember and closed the magic book.
“After all that trouble, you’re already learning magic again?”
When I looked to the side, Master Avana was there.
Her gaze, of course, went down…
“Really. Are all elves like this?”
“Like what?”
She asked that while still maintaining her gaze.
“Stop looking already. Just give me some clothes.”
Only then did Master Avana avert her eyes and hand me some clothes.
The slightly disappointed expression on her face was oddly similar to Psyche’s.
“I was just curious. I’m sorry if it made you uncomfortable.”
“What’s there to be curious about? Don’t elves have men?”
“No.”
“……”
They don’t?
Then what about partners?
When I didn’t say anything, Master Avana continued speaking.
“Anyway, hurry and get dressed. Speria wants to greet you.”
“Alright.”
We went to the cabin through the gap in the intertwined trees.
Speria was in the yard of the cabin. I watched her through the window.
She was kneeling respectfully, holding up a fireball twice the size of her face with both hands.
But in her right hand, she was holding a staff.
“Master? You gave Speria a staff?”
Master Avana gave a faint smile.
“Last night when Count Furst came, as soon as Speria heard his words, she desperately asked me to let her go, saying there was no need to return the staff or familiar. Very earnestly.”
“……”
“So I decided to trust her and sent her out. As expected, she brought you back.”
“So you trust her now?”
Master looked at Speria.
“Go on. She’s the one who saved your life, after all.”
Hmm, it’s good that their relationship seems to have improved.
I opened the cabin door and went outside.
As soon as I did, Speria looked at me and smiled brightly.
“Ran! You’re awake!”
She had never smiled so brightly before.
Golden eyes.
White skin.
Red hair.
Snow-white teeth.
“Yeah. Thank you, Speria. It’s thanks to you.”
She met my eyes and then suddenly turned her head away.
“It’s nothing. I just, you know, felt the fire energy. I thought the robe might be there. And then I found you collapsed next to it. So I just picked you up, that’s all.”
I chuckled and sat down next to her.
“I heard from Master that she gave you back your staff and familiar.”
Speria nodded.
“Yeah. So I’m reviving my familiar. I gathered all the fire energy from inside that robe. It’s not enough, but I should barely be able to revive it.”
Its level must be unimaginably high if she says that’s not enough.
“I see.”
Speria stared at me for a while and then said in a low voice.
“I’m sorry for using your things without permission. But when we go back, I’ll give you proper compensation.”
I didn’t really think of it as mine.
No, come to think of it, I guess it is mine.
“Leave the robe. I don’t have a robe.”
She looked at me and smiled.
“Okay. For now, use this robe. I’ll give you a much better one when we get back. Deal?”
“So, are we going back to Yura continent now?”
At those words, Speria’s eyes widened as she looked at me.
“What? Didn’t you hear? You’re coming with us.”
“Huh?”
Speria’s expression became playful.
“Hmm. Then I guess you just rushed out without talking much? Were you that eager to see me?”
“No.”
I immediately got up and walked towards the cabin.
I could hear giggling laughter from behind.
Why do I feel like I lost somehow?
Master Avana was leaning against the doorframe, looking at me intently, and just as I was about to go inside, she casually said,
“Promises must be kept, Ran. That’s why I let that child live.”
“Don’t worry. Who would ever…”
I trudged over and sat down at the dining table in the cabin.
Thud.
Psyche set down a plate filled with various vegetables in front of me.
But there was meat cut up in it too. And it was blackened, charred meat.
“This? Is it grilled?”
Psyche looked at me blankly, then nodded towards the plate.
“Eat.”
Still answering in a way that doesn’t match the question.
I picked up a piece of meat.
And tasted it.
At that moment, all the salivary glands in my mouth opened up like a flood.
I can barely even chew properly.
“Is it good?”
Psyche asked, bringing her face close to mine.
Her double eyelids have grown even more.
“It’s really delicious. Did you make this, Psyche?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I learned fire magic. From Speria.”
If I, a human, could learn water magic, there’s no reason an elf like Psyche couldn’t learn fire magic.
“You two have gotten quite close. Even teaching magic.”
“I asked her to teach me.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted to feed you meat.”
Psyche looked at me without blinking.
My heart is pounding.
What should I say?
“Ran.”
Master called my name as she sat down on the other side.
Thank you, Master.
I turned my head to Master.
“Yes, what is it?”
“I heard from Count Furst. All the soldiers were killed by the natives, so they have to return to their home country and get support again.”
“Ah, yes. That’s probably the case.”
“He asked me to protect him and the company building as he returns to the Yura continent. I agreed. You know my specialty magic well, right?”
Hearing the last part, I can guess why Master agreed to this.
Master Avana is a death mage.
She needs death to raise her level.
In other words, from Master’s perspective, it’s good if the pioneers from the Yura continent bring death to the new continent.
Looking at it this way, Master is quite brutal.
“So you’re sending me and Speria together?”
Master crossed her legs.
“You’ve already learned all the magic. Staying here any longer won’t raise your level. It’s safe here, but it’s difficult to develop further. If you don’t develop, you won’t be able to protect Psyche in the future.”
Master seemed determined to send me to the Yura continent.
What if I die along the way?
Or if I fall under Kalasta’s control?
Or if I try to go my own way?
Is she willing to take all those risks?
“That’s quite a bold decision, Master.”
Master Avana nodded.
“You killed a mage two levels higher than you, didn’t you? You’ve already proven yourself. If possible, I wanted to send you out after you got your staff and familiar. But your staff needs special materials, and you refuse a familiar, so in the end, I thought it would be better for you to go out and find them yourself.”
Well, if I stay here cooped up, all I can do is study psychokinesis.
Is it because of the intense fight I just had?
I had a strong desire to experience more diverse things, and it’s nice that she said exactly what I was thinking.
As expected, Master Avana is a true master.
But wait.
Two levels higher?
Can levels be counted?
Just as I was about to open my mouth, Psyche tapped me from behind.
When I turned around, she held out something small and round.
“Take it.”
“What is it?”
“A gift.”
It was a ring.
The stem of a flower was intricately woven into a circle, with a purple flower in full bloom in the middle.
However, it was overall semi-transparent.
“A ring?”
Psyche nodded.
“It has my magic power in it. If you wear this, you’ll think of me even when you can’t see me. It will protect your heart and mind because of that. Depending on the level, we might even be able to communicate over long distances.”
“……”
“If you don’t like it, you don’t have to wear it.”
Her voice was steady.
But I clearly felt a strange tremor in her last words.
I took the ring.
Examining it from various angles, I said,
“Don’t tell me this is from that flower I gave you?”
“Yes. It’s something I could only make with what you gave me.”
I wonder what that means?
“Alright. I’ll wear it.”
I opened my left hand and was about to put the ring on.
But which finger should I put it on?
When I glanced at Psyche, her eyes trembled for a moment.
Is there some meaning to this?
Psyche seemed anxious, but she didn’t open her mouth until the end.
Elves don’t have men.
But partners?
There’s probably a difference from the typical married couple I’m thinking of.
I turned my gaze to look at Psyche’s left hand.
At that moment, she covered her left hand with her right. But I didn’t miss it.
The fact that she had the same ring on the ring finger of her left hand.
Now that I look closely, I guess she split it in two with magic, making them semi-transparent.
Hmm.
The same rings on each other’s ring fingers.
“Is this something like an engagement?”
At my question, Psyche hesitated several times. But when I maintained silence and kept looking at her, she finally opened her mouth and spoke.
“It’s not an engagement. It’s marriage.”
She says such an extraordinary thing so casually.
“I’m guessing it’s not just the regular marriage I know? We’re both mages, and you said you put your magic power in it.”
A flicker of anxiety passed through Psyche’s eyes.
“That’s right.”
“Then what kind of magical meaning does it have?”
Psyche avoided my gaze and lowered her eyes.
Then, in a slightly smaller voice, she said,
“If I tell you that, the marriage won’t happen.”
“……”
“You have to do it without knowing.”
I understand what she means.
This marriage.
No, for this marriage magic to work, I need to trust her completely and wear the ring.
Such unconditional trust is the condition for the marriage magic.
Why now?
It must be because I’m leaving for the Yura continent.
Psyche raised her eyes to look at me.
Her two eyes looked even more anxious than before.
Then Master Avana whispered from behind.
“You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to. If you’re unsure about deciding now, you can think about it more when you come back and decide then. We think you’re the prophesied partner, but you might not be. Even if you’re not the prophesied partner, you’re still my disciple, Ran.”
Right.
That prophecy.
That’s what started my connection with Master Avana and Psyche.
Didn’t they say the whole clan gathered to perform foresight magic? That must be very important to the elves.
But.
I’m human.
Different from elves.
“It’s not because of the prophecy.”
“……”
“……”
“It’s to keep my promise. It’s what I decided on my own. You understand, Psyche?”
I put the ring on my ring finger.
Psyche’s double eyelids completely rolled up, her eyes widening.
The anxiety in her deep, deep eyes evaporated in an instant, replaced by pure joy.
Master Avana stood up and said,
“Count Furst said it would take about three days to arrange a ship, so it would be good to study death magic at the company building during that time, Ran. It’s a rare opportunity.”
At Master Avana’s words, Psyche also stood up.
“What? Now? But am I coming too?”
“Yes. We need to conceal the building. Do you think the people at Marshal Harbor would leave that building alone?”
With that, the two of them went outside.
Left alone, I looked at the ring on my left ring finger. It tightened on its own, completely embedding itself into my left ring finger.
It probably will never come off.
TL : This sht is giving me diabetes
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