As time flowed, the day of the magic competition that Luke had been waiting for approached.
Luke arrived at the academy to finalize his participation.
“Have you studied enough during this time?”
“Of course.”
“I understand; I trust you, Luke.”
“Ha ha. Please, don’t worry about me.”
Seeing Luke’s confident expression and tone, Emma had no further advice to offer and simply nodded.
The explanation was already sufficient, and he met all the qualifications to participate. Now, it was up to Luke to decide, and as a teacher, she should not obstruct the child’s path.
Emma printed the recommendation letter from the computer and handed it to Luke.
“This is…”
Luke’s voice was notably excited.
His eyes sparkled as he looked at the scroll that Emma handed him.
‘So Luke can make such an expression.’
She had been quite worried as the boy had been very reserved, but it seemed her worries were unfounded.
Feeling an inexplicable sense of pride, Emma spoke as she handed Luke the freshly printed scroll.
“Here, make sure to keep this recommendation letter safe. You’ll need to submit it when you enter. Oh, and don’t forget your student ID.”
“I will keep that in mind.”
Luke respectfully accepted the recommendation letter with both hands as if he had received something monumental.
Watching him, Emma thought, ‘Is the recommendation letter really that great?’
To be so dazzled by what was essentially a confirmation of his participation in the competition, it seemed he was quite looking forward to the magic competition.
Luke was always interested in magic and studies.
Contrary to Emma’s thoughts, Luke was genuinely fascinated by the letter and, utilizing his magic sight, was intently examining it.
‘Oh my, it finished printing in an instant. I can finally understand how there were so many diverse printed materials in this era. Moreover, this isn’t just paper… there are subtle enchantments to prevent forgery. It’s quite an intricate spell for something like this. To create a scroll of this quality in an instant…’
However, Emma had no way of knowing what was going on in Luke’s mind.
“Is there any chance you could print one more copy?”
“That’s not possible.”
“Why not?”
“Recommendations are always a one-time thing per person for each occasion. So make sure you don’t lose it, okay?”
“That’s too bad.”
Luke’s strange question elicited a response from Emma, and he left the teacher’s office still with his eyes sparkling as he examined the recommendation letter.
Emma watched Luke’s back and his swaying tail for a moment and felt laughter bubbling up inside her.
How excited must he have been to forget the usual greetings he always remembered to say?
Indeed, when a child is focused on something, they tend to forget other things.
Luke was just an ordinary child, after all.
Turning her chair to gaze out the window, Emma’s focus fell on the children who were happily playing in the playground, not missing their break time.
Watching them, she thought, ‘Participating in competitions from the age of ten…’
While children of the same age were playing over there, Luke was always special.
In both good and bad ways.
‘If only he could get along well with the other children.’
——
Luke, who had just seen the scroll and the sight of it being printed, was surprisingly excited.
– Is it amazing? –
“Of course it is! Didn’t you just see it? The scroll being printed in just a matter of seconds from that rectangular magic device!”
– Really? Sorry, I don’t know much about magic. –
“Even if it’s not magic, it’s revolutionary. If things like that exist, I definitely understand how the volume of books in this era makes sense. You wouldn’t have to write everything by hand! Moreover, to enchant such intricate magic circles at such a fast pace, Py, you just witnessed the essence of this civilization.”
– Luke, you’re speaking Spirit Language, right? –
Py shook her head in exasperation.
‘This is why I dislike mages.’
Mages always spoke in ways that spirits couldn’t understand, and they were so arrogant, their magic made spirits extremely annoyed.
Perhaps because Luke was mixed with mages, even if she called her ‘Ere’, he had those annoying traits.
‘Just how much mana does Luke need to gather in his heart before he is satisfied?’
Py found that hard to comprehend.
At first, she thought he would be satisfied with a certain amount of mana, but even after stacking two circles and three circles, Luke still showed no sign of satisfaction.
Mana could be borrowed from anywhere when needed, and people used it that way in modern times, right?
Did he really need to store so much mana in a living being’s heart?
That didn’t seem natural.
– ….
Well, while she was dissatisfied, it wouldn’t make her dislike Ere.
Spirits ultimately couldn’t hate Ere.
And finally, Luke’s long explanation came to an end.
“… So, what do you think? Is this enough explanation of how great it is?”
Although Py hadn’t been listening midway, Luke’s excitement in explaining it conveyed how much he liked it.
Py decided to just empathize without fully understanding it.
– If Luke likes it, then I like it, too. –
However, it wasn’t as if Luke couldn’t read the emotions hidden in Py’s Spirit Language.
“Is that so…? Oh dear, it seems I got carried away all alone. I’m sorry.”
At that moment when Luke apologized to Py, someone spoke up.
It was Mary Idel.
“Hey! You’re here at school again!”
“Yeah. Good to see you, Mary.”
Luke’s face held a fresher smile than usual.
Seeing that infectious smile, Mary slightly lifted the corners of her mouth and said.
“But what were you looking at so intently?”
“Oh, I received a recommendation letter from Emma. With this, I can finally participate in the magic competition.”
As Luke showed the scroll he was holding, Mary covered her mouth slightly with her hand to hide her rising smile.
‘So that’s why he was humming happily, Luke has a cute side too!’
Not knowing Spirit Language, Mary only heard Luke passionately explaining to Py as a joyful humming sound.
“Oh, that works out well. Mary, do you know where Shirud is right now?”
“Um, he’s probably in the classroom!”
“Thanks for letting me know, Mary.”
“But why do you need Shirud?”
“I have something to confess.”
“… Huh? Co, confession…?”
“Mary, does Shirud like candy? Kids usually love it.”
“Well… maybe…? ”
Mary trembled.
Finally, the time had come.
————
Shirud, called out by Luke, looked a bit nervous.
The sight of Luke blushing and asking for a moment of time to confess to him was quite shocking.
‘A confession…? Luke…?’
He was baffled, and his heart raced.
Although it wasn’t as unstable as the first circle before, two circles previously unexplained were definitely revolving wildly in sync with Shirud’s heartbeat.
Luke was holding Shirud’s hand to control the flow of mana, but to others, that sight might bring about different interpretations.
In fact, Mary had shot him an intense look, so it was evident how it looked to others.
Thinking about such things only made Shirud even more anxious.
Earlier, he had taken an emotion-suppressing pill before coming, yet his heart showed no signs of calming down.
Shirud closed his eyes tightly and repeated to himself.
‘Get a grip, Luke might just be acting like Luke again.’
Yes, Shirud had fallen into such patterns far too often.
But what was this atmosphere?
Luke, blushing and avoiding eye contact, was far too different from his usual self.
‘Could it be real?’
Whether his heart would stop or time would stop, at that moment, something would surely pause.
The moment Luke had been hesitating finally came.
“Don’t be too surprised, just listen, Shirud.”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Um… the account for the Super Magic League you lent me got suspended.”
“… huh?”
An utterly unforeseen nonsensical line came out in an atmosphere filled with tension.
Shirud felt the blood draining from his head.
He wasn’t sure if it was due to the effect of the emotion-suppressor or if it was simply because he was dumbfounded.
When Shirud shot Luke a cold gaze, feeling utterly frozen, Luke continued.
“So, it seems I committed a violation. It was your account, and I made a mistake and caused you trouble…”
“… what?”
Wait, is that all?
“… You called me here just to say that…?”
Shirud was feeling a sense of emptiness beyond disappointment.
No way would shouting ‘give me back my racing heart!’ accomplish anything with Luke.
That was just how he was.
An astonishingly insensitive girl.
Seeing Shirud’s despondent expression, Luke absently scratched his jawline.
He had done that habitually whenever he felt extremely troubled or embarrassed in the past.
He usually suppressed that habit, but now he couldn’t help but feel sorry for Shirud.
“Um… Although I didn’t know, it was a violation, wasn’t it? It didn’t seem like a topic to be talked about publicly.”
Luke carefully spoke to Shirud in an even lower voice, scanning the surroundings.
“Is it something that happened because of your account, so it will affect you? If so, how should I handle it? Can I tell them it was my fault and not yours?”
Goodness.
Shirud covered his face with his hands, letting out a sound of exasperation.
Luke must have thought there was something terribly wrong when he saw the notice about the account suspension and dragged him to a secluded place to discuss it secretly.
It was truly a typical strange idea from Luke.
‘Is it that serious…?’
Is this a situation where someone could get sued due to curses or something?
Feeling a slight tension, Shirud asked Luke.
“What exactly did you do that was against the law?”
“Um, I tweaked some core arrays to optimize the game on my computer. After playing a few games… suddenly, signs of having committed a violation appeared, and they revoked my account privileges.”
“…”
Of course, the Super Magic League was an online network game, so if you tampered with the program’s core arrays, you would get suspended.
Utilizing illegal programs or data tampering would be grounds for suspension.
If Luke had signed up with his own account and thoroughly read and understood the document regarding ‘User Agreement’ in the process, this situation would not have occurred.
‘But, did he alter that too…?’
There are times when Shirud found it hard to tell if Luke was smart or just foolish, and now felt like one of those moments.
Shirud sighed deeply, waving his hand.
“Forget it, it’s nothing to worry about. It was just a secondary account anyway.”
“Phew… that’s such a relief. I feel like a weight has been lifted from my heart.”
After hearing Shirud’s response, Luke let out a sigh of relief and lowered his hand into his pocket.
“Then, take this candy. I originally thought of giving it to you to apologize, but since it’s unnecessary, here.”
Luke handed Shirud a bundle of wrapped candy he had taken from his pocket.
“Were you keeping it in your pocket…?”
“Don’t worry, I magically regulated the temperature, so it hasn’t melted.”
“… no, that’s not the problem….”
Surprised, Shirud accepted the candy and looked at it, thinking he had at least received something, and popped one into his mouth, only to spit it out immediately.
It had an extremely strange and intense taste.
“… Luke, what on earth is this candy?”
“Red ginseng, cinnamon, and mint… Do you not like it, by any chance?”
“Who would like something like this! Not even my grandfather. Just take this back. I’ll accept the sentiment, but I’ve already forgiven you, so you don’t have to worry about it.”
“… ha ha… alright.”
It used to be a flavor everyone liked…
Luke awkwardly laughed and scratched his jawline.
——–
Mary, seeing Luke return with a refreshed expression, couldn’t help but ask.
If she didn’t inquire about the outcome here, she wouldn’t be Mary Idel.
She immediately rushed over, linked her arm with Luke’s, and asked.
“Luke, how was it? Did the confession go well?”
“Ah, I said everything I needed to say. Thanks, Mary.”
“What did I do~! So, how was it? What did Shirud say?”
“He said not to worry about it.”
Upon hearing Luke’s response, Mary’s expression froze.
The strength drained out of her body, and her arm that was linked with Luke’s fell away.
‘No way, did he get rejected…?’
Luke, getting rejected?
‘That can’t be true…’
As she thought this, Luke handed her something as if to drive the nail home.
“Ah, Mary. Do you like candy by any chance?”
“…”
Seeing the beautifully wrapped bundle of candy that Luke was offering, Mary felt the outcome was unmistakable.
That candy was undoubtedly something he had wrapped with care to give to Shirud, and now it was in Luke’s hands…
Luke had definitely been rejected.
“Um… I can’t eat that…”
“…”
Luke returned the candy to his pocket, thinking.
‘Kids in this era must dislike red ginseng, cinnamon, and mint tastes.’
This taste would be delicious once you got used to it.
