“Wait, so we can’t use the practice room at all…?”
“Yes. It can’t be helped, so I need you to understand this time.”
The reason they couldn’t use the practice room during magic practice was as follows.
Firstly, since it was exam season, many students wanted to study on their own to prepare for the tests. Additionally, all the scores for practice had already been assigned, so there was no reason to have a practical session, and the teachers also needed time to review the exam questions they had created.
“I can do it by myself, so can I at least be allowed to use it…?”
“No matter how much you want to practice magic, that won’t work. Mana dust is extremely dangerous.”
Moreover, even without the danger of mana dust, any magical practice could lead to risky situations and had to be conducted under the supervision of a practical instructor.
Thus, since they couldn’t separate the self-study students from those practicing, Luke couldn’t use the practice room by himself.
After hearing the explanation, Luke indeed felt it was a reasonable argument from the teacher’s perspective.
He had come to accept this explanation himself.
Asking again to open the practice room would only leave Luke with the standpoint of, “I want to practice magic,” and he couldn’t push back any further.
With no choice left, he walked back to his seat with a dejected expression and slumped into his chair.
Seeing this, Shirud spoke up.
“You really love practicing magic, don’t you?”
Since Luke was usually so obsessed with magic, it wasn’t hard to understand.
He hadn’t expected him to be this attached, though.
Was not having practice such a shocking thing?
In a way, it was both a very “Luke” reaction and not very “Luke” at all.
“Well, either way, it’s still Luke.”
Thinking this made Shirud chuckle softly.
“Hey, are you listening?”
“……”
However, to Shirud’s words, Luke still remained silent, wearing a blank expression.
It was because Luke thought this method and plan were truly his last resort.
After countless failures, he had finally found this one method at the end.
The plan had already retreated significantly.
With insufficient circles, insufficient authority, and insufficient calculations, he found the one means: mana dust.
Thinking of what other methods were available, he realized he had no place left to retreat.
Luke’s mind was already filled with thoughts about how to approach the mana dust.
When Shirud noticed Luke’s blank expression, which seemed out of focus, he waved his hand in front of Luke.
“Hey?? Luke? Hello?”
Yet, Luke showed no reaction.
As if he were broken.
——-
After the self-study period for the fourth class ended, it was time for lunch.
Mary quickly approached Luke and said.
“Luke! Let’s go eat!”
But Luke shook his head at Mary.
“Mary, I’m sorry, but I want to eat alone. Why don’t you have lunch with the other kids?”
“Why? Is something wrong?”
“It’s not that. I have something I want to do separately before eating.”
“Okay… then!”
“Thanks.”
Then Mary immediately attached herself to another student, had a quick chat, and happily left.
Mary was naturally lively and had many close friends, so it seemed unlikely she’d eat alone.
On the other hand, Shirud, with no elven friends, always went to eat alone, which looked a bit lonely.
Seeing this, Luke soon stood up and headed straight for the practice storage.
——
Luke quickly arrived at the back of the practice storage, where there was a small window.
The window was quite high, so he couldn’t see inside at all, but that wasn’t much of a problem.
Luke looked around briefly, and fortunately, there was no one in sight.
There weren’t many reasons for someone to come around to this back area during lunch.
“Alright, shall we begin.”
After confirming that, Luke rolled up his sleeves and quickly climbed the tree.
It was a behavior he had never done before, but it wasn’t particularly difficult.
Climbing the tree was easier than he expected with his current body.
Luke easily climbed onto a branch without needing any magic assistance and was able to see inside the storage with his elevated viewpoint.
“I need to find the container with mana dust.”
He quickly spotted the tightly sealed mana dust container.
“Alright, there it is!”
Once he confirmed that the mana dust was inside the storage, it became easy.
There was no need for a spell that left a magical trace.
After landing lightly from the tree, Luke ran toward the wall of the storage.
-Thud.
He kicked off the wall and grabbed the window frame.
The window was obviously locked, but unlocking it was far too easy for Luke.
‘Using magic that doesn’t leave traces if possible…’
With careful and precise control, he applied the basic magic of the 1st circle, grease, to the window’s locking mechanism to reduce friction.
As a result, the latch blocking the window suddenly fell away.
“Nice, that was simple.”
In fact, if past mages were to see it, they would scoff at the way Luke utilized grease based on its coordinate designation and principles, saying it couldn’t be used that way.
However, Luke always ignored the opinions of such mages.
The world they perceived without magic sight was different from the world Luke saw, so naturally, there would be differences in the way magic was handled.
Easily entering the storage, Luke took out the moonlight stone and fragments of space that he had stored in the pockets of his tunic.
He also found a practice cane used by teachers during demonstrations.
It was a perfectly arranged environment.
Everything was going smoothly so far.
It didn’t seem like any problems would arise at all.
However, for some reason, he felt a bit uneasy.
Luke had always acted in accordance with his thoughts in the past, but this was one of the first times he felt a disconnect between thought and action.
Despite thinking he shouldn’t do it, he was doing it anyway…
“I guess knowing and doing is a sin, so today I will become a sinner…”
Wasn’t this his first time stealing?
It was certainly not a scene he wanted to show anyone.
Looking up to the sky, he felt very embarrassed.
“Oh goddess, please forgive my sins…”
Luke prayed to the god he wasn’t sure was still listening.
That goddess had always been kind to him.
——–
During lunch, after finishing her meal, Shirud noticed that Mary wasn’t with Luke, as she usually was, and asked.
“Mary, did Luke not eat with you?”
“Uh? He didn’t. Luke said he wanted to eat alone later.”
“Then where is Luke now?”
“Dunno, I didn’t ask. I didn’t think it was that important.”
“Really…?”
Then where could Luke have gone?
Shirud decided to go look for Luke.
Well, finding Luke wasn’t particularly difficult.
He just had to close his eyes and focus, walking in the direction where he sensed Luke’s mana.
As he walked, Shirud quickly realized where his steps were leading him.
‘This direction is toward the practice storage.’
The practice storage, huh.
So he still had lingering feelings about practicing…
But what could Luke possibly be doing in the practice storage?
The door was locked, so there wouldn’t be much he could do anyway.
‘Well, I’ll find out once I get there,’ Shirud thought as he continued walking.
Then he saw Luke, who was tightly pressing against the storage window and shaking it.
Following that movement, the hem of Luke’s tunic and his tail swayed lightly.
It was quite an embarrassing and awkward sight, leading Shirud to jerk his head away and shout.
“Luke, what are you doing?!”
“Ah! Sh-Shirud? How did you find me…!”
‘That… that was close!’
—————-
Luke, sweating profusely, shifted his gaze away from Shirud.
“Uh… did you see everything?”
He knew he had done something wrong.
Committing a sin was an embarrassing sight.
The image of himself reflected in Shirud’s eyes must have looked just like that of a thief.
He was aware of how ugly his actions were.
Yet, he couldn’t help but find comfort in that reality.
Upon further reflection, it was a bit delayed, but there certainly was a proper way to handle this.
Stealing mana dust required a bit more thought.
Besides, getting caught in the act by a disciple who always preached about honesty was just too much.
Even screaming in shock like a girl.
His dignity as a teacher shattered into pieces.
He would have wanted to hide away if there were a mouse hole nearby.
On the flip side, Shirud thought this about Luke’s question.
‘That question must be about whether I saw his underwear…’
To conclude, no, he didn’t see.
He hadn’t intentionally looked, and he quickly turned away just in case something might show.
But, facing Luke, who was struggling to maintain his composure amidst such embarrassment, Shirud found it unbearable.
Luke asking if he had seen was just too feminine.
How much attachment to practice could lead him to stick to the window like that and try to look inside?
Thinking this made Luke appear surprisingly cute.
“……No, I didn’t see.”
“Really…?”
“Really. So there’s no need to feel embarrassed.”
Looking at Shirud’s expression and feelings, he could see that there was no trace of contempt towards him, so thankfully, his words seemed to be true.
Luke sighed in relief, brushing his chest.
It seemed Shirud only saw him closing and locking the window properly.
Luke even silently prayed.
As if the goddess had forgiven his sins.
‘From now on, I will never commit such a sin again.’
Luke learned what it felt like to be a sinner.
Was it truly such a relief that his underwear was not seen?
Shirud found Luke’s demeanor quite unfamiliar.
Considering everything Luke had done in the past, this incident seemed rather trivial.
‘So even Luke finds it embarrassing to expose his underwear to others.’
What an unexpected sight.
After sitting there for a moment, Luke soon composed himself and stood up, saying.
“Shirud. Actually, there’s something I want to tell you.”
“Yeah? What is it?”
Shirud looked up at Luke, curious about what he could possibly say.
Luke met Shirud’s gaze directly and began to speak.
“Don’t misunderstand what I’m about to say, Shirud. You’re really a great kid. You’re good-looking, smart, and considerate.”
“W-What a sudden compliment…”
Seeing Shirud shyly avert his gaze, Luke continued.
“But I still can’t love you as a romantic interest.”
“……Huh?”
