“Happy Birthday! Here, take this.”
The gift handed to Luke by a child was a set of snacks wrapped in what seemed like quite expensive packaging.
It was made by a craftsman who insisted on traditional methods of confectionery, giving it a different feel from mass-produced goods.
Just looking at the packaging made one’s mouth water; it looked quite nice.
“Thank you, I’ll enjoy it.”
“Luke, accept my gift too!”
Next was a stuffed bear that was just the right size to cuddle.
Made from quite high-quality material, its texture was rather pleasant.
“Hmm, yes. It’s a cute doll. It should be nice next to Kate.”
“Kate?”
“Oh, it’s the name of the doll. I had received another doll as a gift before.”
Luke had named the large stuffed doll that Yerna had won as a prize at the amusement park.
Because there is surely magic in names.
A doll that bears a name possesses magical effects, so it wouldn’t be a bad thing for Luke.
A doll with a name develops a deep bond and can serve as a ritualistic offering.
Whether he would ever need it or not was uncertain, but having it was much better than not.
“Ah~. I see! That sounds nice!”
The girl who gifted the doll to Luke nodded and smiled as if she understood.
And naming dolls wasn’t all that strange for children in this era.
It was just a reflection of the thought that Luke was also a girl, after all.
“Now, this is my gift.”
“Take this too!”
But the stream of gifts given to Luke continued.
Most of them were candies, toys, and school supplies.
One could say they were typical children’s gifts.
Even if they weren’t expensive items, it was endearing that everyone had gone to the trouble of preparing something for him.
While Luke was expressing gratitude to everyone who gave him gifts and organizing them, someone spoke.
“Wow, kid. You really have some skill. Your stamina is incredible.”
“Yeah, that was a really great performance.”
“Hehe, really?”
Pyris was blushing as she received compliments from the performers on stage.
Certainly, playing an instrument takes more stamina than one might expect.
Without sufficient strength, one cannot produce the right sounds with any instrument, and fully playing a piece requires a lot of concentration.
It’s no easy task for a child to sit for hours and play an instrument in harmony with others.
Yet, even though Pyris had jumped in midway, she had kept in sync with the other performers, almost playing until the very end.
It must be a remarkable talent.
‘If Pyris were just an ordinary child…’
But Pyris was a spirit, wasn’t she?
It made Luke a bit curious about what kind of expression she would have if she realized that those people were praising a spirit that was akin to the origin of music.
Though he had no intention of revealing that fact in a place like this.
The performer gently ruffled Pyris’ head and said, “With skills like that, you might even be able to place in the Tosk Contest.”
“Tosk Contest?”
“Yeah, it’s a competition held in the fall, and it’s quite a big stage. I’m not joking; I think you’d be good enough to participate.”
“Hmm… Will there be a lot of performances there?”
“Of course! It’s probably the biggest stage!”
“Well…”
When Luke saw Pyris starting to show interest in the Tosk Contest, he couldn’t help but feel tense.
He himself was thinking about entering the Tosk Contest as well.
He figured that winning awards would help with early graduation.
Unfortunately, the upcoming Draiks and Ras awards weren’t awards he could receive immediately, so Luke’s focus was now on the Tosk Contest.
Surely, with his high affinity for spirits, winning an award in that contest wouldn’t be too difficult to imagine.
However, if Pyris participated…
He would have to compete against a spirit in music.
No matter how high his affinity for spirits was, could he really compare to an actual spirit?
Moreover, Pyris was practically his music teacher.
After all, the reason he could play the cello exceptionally well was thanks to Py’s help.
“Yes! I want to participate! It sounds fun!”
“Alright, then contact me later. Here’s a business card. This sister will teach you various things.”
“Okay!”
“Ah.”
Luke rubbed his forehead at the sight.
He wanted to stop her, but he didn’t have the confidence to break Pyris’ will.
Now that he had recovered a lot of mana compared to before, it wasn’t a one-sided situation where he was at a disadvantage, but still, her personality was a concern.
Was it because many desires were forbidden when she was in spirit form?
Since acquiring a physical body, Pyris had become quite stubborn and a bit impulsive.
Thus, Luke didn’t have the confidence to persuade her to do what he thought was wrong.
He simply thought that the matter was out of reach.
——–
Before he knew it, the night sky had darkened.
Tonight, the stars looked beautiful in their place.
Looking at them made it impossible not to get lost in thought.
Even in the sky of this era, his birth star still shone brightly.
Five thousand years may seem like an eternity to humans, but from the heavens, it was a very short time.
“Why are you all alone here?”
Luke turned around at the voice calling him.
It was Shirud.
“I was just looking at the stars for a moment. Inside… it was getting a bit stuffy.”
“Just like me.”
Shirud walked over and sat next to Luke, who was leaning against the railing, gazing at the sky.
“Hmm, speaking of which, do you like stargazing?”
“Of course! What kind of mage dislikes watching the stars?”
In reality, even if one disliked it, it was inevitable.
But since he had to look at the stars anyway, wasn’t there no need to dislike it?
Thus, one ends up changing his mindset.
Disliking something also takes energy, after all.
Luke suddenly realized that he had never detailed the constellations to Shirud.
“Yeah, if you’re a mage, you should at least be able to read constellations. So how about studying it now?”
“Ugh, do I really have to study today?”
Shirud waved his hand, looking exasperated.
But Luke was quite firm.
Luke placed an arm on Shirud’s shoulder and led him to look up at the stars with his finger pointing at the night sky.
“Stop with the nonsense and look at the sky. Can you see that star?”
“……Yeah.”
Knowing Shirud’s understanding of Luke’s insistence on studying, he had no choice but to follow Luke’s finger and look at the sky.
Well, it might not be all that bad to talk about the stars just the two of them…
“The stars in the sky symbolize three rules.”
“Three rules?”
“Look, that constellation is called Sether. It symbolizes time. It’s quite an important constellation; everything on this earth is affected by time. So, you can even use that constellation as a calendar if you can calculate its deviations.”
“Hmm, I see.”
Luke raised his hand to point to another direction.
Presumably, it was in the north.
“And that constellation is called Mater. It symbolizes matter, power, and memory. As you can see, it shines the most clearly in the sky. You can easily see it with your eyes, right?”
“Yeah, it’s beautiful.”
“If you accurately know the position of that constellation and incorporate it into a magic formula, you can produce even stronger power. The equations you are learning right now are for calculating the position of that constellation.”
“Oh, really? That’s fascinating.”
As Shirud nodded, Luke pointed to yet another direction.
This time, it was likely in the east.
“Now, that’s Aether. It symbolizes space, mystery, and knowledge. It’s hard to find if the sky is a little cloudy. Fortunately, there aren’t many clouds today, so it’s visible. Can you see it?”
“Yeah, I can see it well.”
“Every coordinate specification formula in magic is derived from that constellation. It never moves from that position.”
“I see…”
Listening to this, it was quite an interesting story.
Seeing Shirud showing interest, Luke smiled lightly and spoke.
“Do you want to know a bit more?”
“Wow! This is a more interesting story than I expected!”
“Good. That’s a wonderful mindset.”
Luke cleared his throat.
It seemed that he had a lot to say ahead.
After all, what he had just mentioned was merely an introduction to grab interest.
————
“…So, starting from the position of Aether, if you specify ten in 23 directions, you will obtain the correct location. This is how to accurately determine coordinates visually.”
“……”
Shirud no longer had the energy to listen to Luke’s explanation.
At first, it seemed worth listening to, but suddenly complex theories about formulas and magical arrangements began to be explained, and now he was just rambling on about things that were incomprehensible.
Yet, it was not entirely incomprehensible, so he couldn’t ignore it; thus, an influx of information felt like it was about to burst his head.
This was no longer a pleasant night sky date; it was a professional astronomy lesson.
“And from that location, if you input the formula you will soon learn, Gilliere’s equation, it becomes like this…”
It was astonishing that such a pretty voice could convey such dreadful words.
Shirud couldn’t even express his dislike.
“Why do you look like that? Are you getting bored? Or do you dislike what I’m teaching right now?”
“Ah, no. It’s not like that.”
‘This is classic Luke behavior…’
Luke was just being himself.
Shirud was instead continuously thinking of something to shut Luke’s mouth.
-Sparkle.
Like a salvation, a shooting star left a long tail in the night sky before disappearing.
Not wanting to miss that moment, Shirud interrupted Luke’s explanation in amazement.
“Wow, wow! A, shooting star! Luke, do you know? They say that if you make a wish when a shooting star falls, it will come true! Do you have a wish you want to come true?”
He was spouting a rumor he seemed to have heard somewhere.
It was quite a romantic story.
It was enough to change the topic.
However, Luke’s response was cold.
“Where did you read that from? Is that in some grimoire?”
No matter what grimoire he searched through, there were no records saying that shooting stars grant wishes.
After all, shooting stars don’t have any ability to grant wishes.
If such a power existed in shooting stars, one could only wonder how the world would be.
Unfortunately, shooting stars have no magical power at all.
Mages worship knowledge and believe in magic, but they abhor groundless superstitions.
“That’s just an old legend. Don’t take it seriously.”
Shirud, taken aback by Luke’s unexpected reaction, averted his gaze.
