The world always has its repetitions.
Just as the sun rises in the day and the moon rises at night, these repetitions are taken for granted.
And to give another example, the various birds sitting on the branches of the World Tree, crying in the morning, can be said to be one of these repetitions.
Another example is Miriam’s sickly complaints, saying she feels like she might die if she hears such sounds.
She murmured as if squeezing herself, stretching her arms vigorously.
“Finally, things are back to normal.”
“Yeah, finally.”
The supply of magic in the city has finally stabilized.
A few days ago, there was an inexplicable phenomenon where the World Tree’s magic production capacity drastically decreased.
Because of that, the staff of the lab toiled for several nights trying to uncover the cause, but… they couldn’t identify the source and could only manage to stabilize the supply of magic from the World Tree.
They did this by having dozens of people alternately unleash spells.
It was quite a primitive method, but there was no other choice.
Since they didn’t know the cause, they had to at least manage the situation.
“I feel like my mouth is drying out after pronouncing spells all day for a week…”
Gerard shrugged at Miriam’s complaints.
“It seems you haven’t pronounced enough spells if you’re still talking that much.”
“Please…”
Ignoring Miriam’s whines, Gerard placed a mug filled with the dried magic herb tea he had bought nearby for her, and he too stood near the window, savoring the taste, warmth, and aroma.
“Thank you, senpai.”
“Nothing.”
He could have just nodded, but the need to speak may have been because he was talking too little.
Finding it a bit bothersome to respond, he gave short answers and closed his mouth, and now all he could hear was the sound of birds and the rustling of leaves in the wind.
After all, the other mages were also too tired to speak, so the silence was almost reminiscent of a sleeping room.
In reality, there were many mages actually sleeping, so calling it a sleeping room seemed fitting.
Maybe it was because he was tired, but Gerard felt he had many useless thoughts, and he brought the mug back to his lips.
Hooroop.
It tasted warm and slightly bitter, feeling quite nice, but it certainly didn’t wipe away his fatigue in one go.
‘If it’s going to be like this, perhaps a cigarette would be better.’
But Gerard couldn’t retract his resolve to quit smoking, a promise he had made barely a month ago.
How many times had he boasted about quitting to those around him?
If he couldn’t hold back and lit a cigarette, his colleagues would undoubtedly tease him.
Moreover, Miriam had given him this magic herb tea bag out of joy for his decision to quit smoking, so he should hold out a little longer.
Gerard let out a big sigh.
At times like this, he remembered the wonderful tea that Luke had brewed.
What on earth did he make that had such effects?
He had heard it didn’t require any special ingredients, after all.
Hooroop.
‘I wonder what Luke is doing right now.’
——
A form of round magic lightly tapped against the window.
Spirits have no physical form and can enter anywhere without opening windows, but they don’t particularly enjoy passing through objects.
Because there is no reason to do that.
To help understand, one could simply give an example: it is not that people do not jump over fences because it is impossible, but rather because it is a difficult and awkward thing to do, so they deliberately avoid it.
In fact, for spirits, passing through something is about that level of sentiment.
Luke opened the window for Py.
As Py entered the room, the morning air came in, messing up Luke’s hair, so he fixed his hair with his hand and said.
“It seems you’ve been going out quite a bit lately. Another trip to the World Tree?”
Py nodded, looking slightly sulky.
In human terms, it was like lifting their chin and looking away from someone.
Thinking about why Py looked like that, it was simple.
Over the past few days, Py had been eating delicious meals made by Dayton, so perhaps there was jealousy about the food.
As if whining, ‘Just wait, I’ll find my body soon too,’ Luke chuckled at Py’s words.
“Yeah, I’m looking forward to it.”
Then Luke thought that Py might be a more powerful spirit than he seemed.
After all, having the mana control to manipulate the mana of the entire forest was a level of ability that ordinary spirits couldn’t show.
However, for a spirit to manifest in the material plane was a rather mythic occurrence even in Luke’s era.
Perhaps Py might be one of the ancient spirits that form the very foundation of the world.
Of course, it could be an overstatement.
‘My heart is racing a bit.’
Luke calmed his slightly excited heart and chuckled.
Information about ancient spirits had hardly been passed down even in the era 5,000 years ago, when spirits were relatively common.
Luke turned his attention back to the computer and manipulated the editing software.
This was a task that Luke had been obsessed with lately.
Reducing the unnecessary calculations of the Super Magic League and optimizing the mana formulas and logical circuits so that they could operate smoothly on his computer.
Since he couldn’t touch the physical magic device itself, the only work Luke could do for now was to modify the logical circuits of the game itself.
If the original device didn’t have enough computational power, reducing the amount of computation would solve the problem!
Luke had been working on this for exactly a week now, and the work was going smoothly, achieving a 15% increase in computational efficiency so far.
The target was 30%, now he was at exactly half.
However, with this pace, he was sure he would reach his goal.
“It’s going smoothly.”
Luke smiled happily and lifted his cup.
What was in the cup was sufficiently diluted potions for fatigue recovery.
This was exactly what Gerard had been looking for at that moment.
It’s a tea that’s fine to drink even when you’re not tired.
As long as you don’t overdo it, it can even clear your mind.
Due to its mild effects, there are no side effects.
“Hm…”
However, perhaps because of the 5,000 years that had passed, it was honestly not easy.
‘It feels like I’m working on translating ancient characters.’
For Luke, deciphering the script of the demon realm or ancient mythological era, or understanding and correcting the newly created magic language of 5,000 years in the future, was equally difficult, but the interest level in this task felt significantly lower.
Because it was a simple improvement work without the thrill of discovering something new.
Even so, the reason Luke still dedicated himself to it was simply as a form of entertainment.
There was also nothing else specifically worth doing.
As he started to immerse himself in work again, Diana came out of the bedroom, rubbing her eyes.
“Sister. Are you working on the computer again…?”
Oh no, it seemed Diana had woken up.
Perhaps it’s time to stop working now.
It wasn’t urgent, and he was just doing it for fun anyway.
“Diana, it seems you woke up earlier than usual today. Is something going on?”
“I just wanted to play with you… Haaah.”
“Oh dear, I need to get that tired face off of you first.”
——
The sound of the front door opening was lighter than usual.
‘That’s because I got off work early.’
He had been given the day off because he was going home to give Luke his meal.
This part was something Yerna had informed him of in advance.
Thanks to that, Diana didn’t have to be left at the facility overnight, which was wonderful.
And more than anything, what was good was,
“I’m back.”
“Did you have a good time?”
“Did you have a good time?”
Perhaps it was the fact that there were two voices asking if he had a good time.
Luke was sitting at the table, holding a storybook, and Diana was right next to him.
Speaking of which, that storybook was one that Luke had borrowed from the school library for Diana.
“Diana. What did you do with Luke today?”
“Um! We drew pictures, I listened to my sister play, and we played Spirit Girl together…”
“Spirit Girl? You did that?”
“……Shh.”
Luke frowned slightly and put his index finger to his lips.
Why was she so embarrassed? What’s so strange about two girls playing Spirit Girl?
In any case, seeing the children getting along well made him feel good.
“Aren’t you hungry? Let’s eat first.”
“Haha. I was looking forward to that.”
Luke gave Dayton his characteristic relaxed smile.
Being with Dayton let him completely set aside worries about the taste of food.
But Dayton didn’t particularly want to cook today.
“I’m just going to order something today. Is chicken okay?”
In his life, he had never seen a child who disliked chicken, except for elves.
Surely Luke would like it too.
But Luke’s reaction was lukewarm.
“Chicken…?”
“……I thought so.”
This was already not surprising.
How could there be a food he didn’t know about?
Diana was wholly excited by Dayton’s words.
“Wow! Let’s eat chicken, chicken!”
——-
“Delivery.”
“It seems the chicken has already arrived.”
“Wow, the world has really improved.”
Luke marveled slightly.
Just ordering by phone brings food right to the front of the house.
Well, in the past, it wasn’t impossible to have servants do it. But such convenient service was not the norm.
Moreover, isn’t it quite fast? It arrived just 40 minutes after the call.
Dayton walked to the front door, handing money to the delivery person when he suddenly made eye contact with him and exclaimed, “Oh!”
“Hey, isn’t that you, Tenna? No wonder I was craving chicken today; it’s been a while!”
“Um, ah. Could it be Dayton? It’s really been a long time!”
“Wow, I’m really glad to see you. It’s been how long since we met at the facility when we were little? Three years? Two years?”
“It’s been three years since you became an adult and left the facility. Have you been well during that time?”
As Dayton’s friendly conversation with Tenna, the delivery person, grew longer unexpectedly, Luke could not resist the aromatic smell and approached to ask.
“Do you know each other?”
“Ah, he’s a kid I grew up with in the same facility when we were younger. Ah, here. Take the chicken. I want to have a little chat with him.”
“Well, alright.”
As Luke took the chicken that Dayton handed him, the delivery person also made eye contact with Luke.
“……Huh?”
The delivery person suddenly froze.
A girl with platinum blonde hair, teal and gold heterochromia, cat ears, and horns was not something you would see every day, but the girl standing right in front of him was… the kid who had broken his leg.
“……? Have we met somewhere? You look familiar.”
With Luke’s questioning expression, the delivery person, Tenna, felt a chill run down his spine.
He nearly answered reflexively.
“……It must be a mistake.”
