Yerna was resting at home in the city instead of at the lodging in the forest for Luke’s convenience in attending school.
Being able to relax at home for the first time in a while gave her a sense of stability.
No matter how beneficial the mana from the forest may be, she couldn’t fully relax and sleep there. It was simply impossible for a Forest Keeper to let their guard down in a place where monsters could appear at any moment.
The sound that interrupted her rare moment of relaxation was the creaking of the front door opening.
As Yerna’s consciousness returned from her drowsy state, she groaned softly and opened her eyes to see…
“I’m back, Yerna.”
It was Luke, announcing his arrival.
“Welcome back, Lu.”
It seemed school had already ended.
As Yerna focused her eyes, she saw Luke placing a towering stack of books at the entrance before straightening up.
Slightly surprised by the pile of books, Yerna asked, “Oh my, what’s all that?”
“I found a library at school. It’s quite large, so I borrowed every book that looked interesting.”
“So many? That’s fifteen volumes!”
“They told me I could check out five books with one Student ID. So, using Shirud’s Student ID and the one I just got from a girl named Mary, I managed to borrow a total of fifteen books.”
It looked like he had already made some friends, and Yerna nodded, feeling relieved.
“Is that so? Was it heavy? You should have called your sister. I would have come to pick you up in a cart.”
“It’s fine. This is light.”
“Hmm… Really?”
As Luke moved the stack of books next to the box he usually kept them in, Yerna asked, “So, Luke, how was school today?”
Since it was his first day, she had been quite worried. Although nothing major probably happened, she wanted to hear about his experiences.
“Oh. Now that you mention it, I have something to tell you about school, Yerna.”
“Something to tell? What is it?”
Yerna had a feeling that it would be very interesting to hear about what Luke experienced at school. It felt a bit strange, as if she were in the role of a mother, but nonetheless.
A child’s stories about school are always entertaining and cute.
Yerna leaned in to listen attentively to what Luke was about to say. Luke, however, avoided her gaze and, with an awkward smile, said, “I’m really sorry to say this to you, but… I think you might need to come to school.”
“Really? I have to go to school… why?”
“They called for a Guardian.”
A Guardian call? That wasn’t what she had expected.
“Tell me the details, Luke.”
“Well, here’s what happened…”
———
Luke was sitting with the practical instructor in the faculty room, bowing his head.
“Luke, I told you that under no circumstances should a student aim their cane at another student, right? You heard me, and you remember it, correct?”
“Of course, I do.”
“Right. You’re a smart kid, capable of getting perfect scores on entrance exams. But why did you do that?”
The reason was simple. When Shirud unexpectedly advanced to Circle 2, he panicked due to the fear of his abilities exceeding expectations, which resulted in an incident that Luke had to resolve.
To explain from the beginning, Shirud had reached Circle 2 at that moment thanks to Luke’s assistance, which imbued his magic with ‘Avert’, ultimately giving rise to an abnormal magic that was only named Avert.
Theoretically, it could be predicted that the cane’s circle and Shirud’s circle resonated temporarily, causing a synergistic effect. Given that he achieved this solely using his own senses, Shirud’s mana sensitivity and control would have placed him in the ranks of geniuses 5000 years ago.
However, lacking the knowledge to interpret that phenomenon, Shirud became overwhelmed by his own power, resulting in a situation where magic and mana became uncontrollable.
Luke explained it as having resolved the incident due to unavoidable circumstances. “It was a necessary action for its resolution.”
Luke’s explanation sounded plausible enough, but the faculty looked a bit troubled. Even as teachers, they didn’t know much about circles.
And this was natural, as the general trend was to remove all circles upon their emergence, and the techniques for doing so had become far simpler than in the past.
As such, cases of extraordinary mana sensitivity or circles plunging deep into the heart were rarely seen unless one was a doctor.
For ordinary academy teachers, it was beyond their ability to determine the veracity of Luke’s remark.
“Um…”
Furthermore, if both Shirud and Luke represented cases of dual circles, that made the odds of such an occurrence almost absurd.
The teachers exchanged glances and then spoke up.
“Isn’t a dual circle supposed to be more stable?”
“I thought so too.”
In modern times, the general perception of circles was merely seen as a ‘type of heart disease.’ No matter how much Luke explained the authority and meaning contained in a single circle, there was no way to verify if it was true.
Most related literature or magical texts were not made public due to ‘hazards’ and were only accessible to those doctors or mages dealing with the specific phenomena.
Additionally, there was the question of whether a general teacher could understand such texts or papers discussing the symptoms and phenomena.
Moreover, in this situation, the age of the speaker was also a concern.
How could a mere ten-year-old be so knowledgeable about the phenomenon of ‘circles’ and know how to manage such an incident?
“Then how did you know and respond to it?”
If one were to ask how, the answer was incredibly simple.
How many times do you think a Grand Mage, while mentoring juniors, has seen such instances?
Of course, Class Magic didn’t exist back then, so the exact same situation wouldn’t recur, but if something like that had happened in the past, he would have undoubtedly intervened.
Incidents of mages experiencing circle runaway were relatively common even back then.
Luke shrugged slightly and answered, “I’ve experienced it a lot. It’s something I’m quite familiar with.”
“……”
The teachers were slightly dumbfounded by Luke’s nonchalant reply.
A ten-year-old experiencing a dual circle and being accustomed to circle runaway, along with being a skilled responder at that age?
They had no idea what kind of life he must have lived for all of this to be possible.
The practical magic instructor shook his head in resignation. “This won’t do. We’ll need to have a talk with your parents.”
“What?”
Luke’s expression turned slightly red with embarrassment at the mention of a summons for his parents to the academy.
He didn’t quite understand that directive, especially since he was capable of protecting himself and held enough power.
Such a command was all the more humiliating for a mage who cherished their autonomy.
After all, he had long ago performed the funeral and prayed for the souls of his parents…
“What on earth do you plan to discuss? Didn’t I say it all?”
“It’s not that we don’t believe you. We just want to hear their side of the story.”
At that, Luke stammered, increasingly flustered. He was taken aback by the notion that someone could call his parents, as he had never considered such a possibility and was confused by this unexpected situation.
Embarrassed, he lowered his gaze even further.
“Uh… I don’t really have any parents to call…”
At that moment, Luke’s homeroom teacher, who had been listening next to him, stepped in.
“Teacher, over here.”
“Yes?”
The homeroom teacher pulled the practical instructor aside to whisper so that Luke wouldn’t hear.
“That’s family matters.”
“Excuse me?”
“It’s a family issue. Didn’t you hear anything from Miss Serena beforehand?”
“Serena… Shirud’s mother? I didn’t hear anything.”
“Oh, you weren’t at school then. But no one mentioned it to you?”
“Uh… I heard something vaguely. They said there is a guardian… So is he adopted?”
“Sigh, it’s not just that he has a guardian, but a temporary guardian. Luke doesn’t have parents right now.”
“……Oh.”
It was a quick and quiet conversation.
The practical instructor glanced at Luke, and saw that his expression was incredibly flushed, almost as if he were about to cry.
Such a delicate emotion! Even if he had a guardian, the experience of losing his parents was a wound that wouldn’t easily fade.
And to ask a child for their ‘parents’ in this context…
‘Wait, I thought he was adopted and still had parents…’
The idea that he had no parents but only a temporary guardian, was something one would never have guessed.
“What should I do? Did I make a mistake…?”
“What should you do? Go and apologize to the child right now.”
Following her advice, he hurried over to Luke’s side, kneeling down and bowing his head.
“I’m sorry, Luke. I must have misspoken just now.”
However, Luke, surprised by the sudden change in attitude, was taken aback.
He waved his hands in a panic, grabbing Luke’s arms to pull him up.
“Don’t worry about it!”
“Are you forgiving me?”
“Of course, I forgive you.”
“Truly, thank you…”
Once up, the teacher cleared his throat and attempted to create a warm atmosphere with an exaggeratedly cheerful tone.
“Ah, anyway! Just call the current guardian, alright? Please.”
“Understood. That much should be fine…”
Seeing Luke nod in understanding, the teacher sighed in relief.
It was a relief that his careless comment didn’t leave a deep wound on the child…
“Luke. In the future, never point your cane at another person again. This time, we’ll let it slide… Huh. You can head back now.”
“Understood. Thank you, everyone.”
In response to the teacher’s words, Luke stood up, bowed politely, and left the faculty room.
As he departed, one of the teachers, staring blankly after him, finally spoke.
“Then, it seems Shirud will need to undergo a heart examination once more.”
If Luke’s statement held any truth, then Shirud had indeed become a dual circle.
“I suppose so.”
The teachers turned to Emma with concerned expressions.
They looked at her like she was the homeroom teacher responsible for taking care of such challenging students.
“This must be difficult for you.”
Emma smiled with a subtle expression.
“They’re not that hard to manage…”
In fact, they were just cute most of the time.
