On a certain autumn morning, when even the birds that always used to wake Luke cheerfully had stopped singing.
The sound of the wind hitting the window frame was fierce, and when he opened the window to ventilate, a cold breeze rushed in, making it feel chillier than usual.
Winter was beginning to show its signs.
At that moment, in Luke’s room, the sound of the wind filling the space could be heard.
“Hmm…”
Naturally, the source of that sound was Luke.
The reason for this was that, thanks to Yerna peeling an apple, Luke recalled the ‘International Magic Competition’ and realized late that he needed to go to the Academy, but unfortunately, his uniform had become too small to wear comfortably.
No, to be precise, it wasn’t that the clothes had shrunk, but that Luke had grown.
Click.
“Phew…”
Finally succeeding in buttoning up the jacket of his uniform, Luke let out the breath he had been holding.
In fact, it had only been recently that he had had to alter his uniform due to a sudden growth spurt.
Thanks to that, his shirt, vest, and skirt were no problem at all.
However, the issue was the jacket.
Since it had not been altered at all, it felt tight around his chest and waist, making it uncomfortable to breathe.
In any case, enduring the cold wasn’t terribly difficult, so he could have simply chosen to take it off if it became uncomfortable, but Luke didn’t do that.
At the time, wearing spring and autumn clothes to school wasn’t against the rules, so it hadn’t been a big issue. However, as the weather began to get colder, the uniform regulations changed.
Luke thought to himself.
“I should have had the jacket altered in advance…”
It wasn’t hard to imagine that the jacket would be small for his current size, but Luke hadn’t pushed for alterations.
The reason was quite simple: Luke had never intended to wear this uniform for a long time from the start.
Since learning about early graduation, he had planned to “graduate from the Academy within a year, and if so, there was no need to waste money altering a uniform he wouldn’t wear afterward.”
However, what Luke overlooked was his rate of growth.
Being a ‘Circle’ meant that as his Circle level increased, he grew as well.
Having already experienced a boost in his Circle five times, he could confidently say that it was certain.
Moreover, a growth spurt of 3 to 4 cm was substantial enough to notice.
Originally calculating his growth spurt, he figured it was about 1 year of growth per Circle.
Perhaps the reason people assumed he was 10 years old when he first opened his eyes was that he had previously been a 10th Circle being.
Therefore, at his current 5th Circle, his physical body should have combined his previous 10th Circle and amounted to 15 years of age, but there wasn’t a noticeable difference in height compared to before.
Currently, the imbalance in his body was suppressing his growth, making it appear that way.
If the balance of the materials constituting his physical body were to normalize, he would likely appear as a 15-year-old immediately in terms of height.
However, the current issue was his growth outside of height.
He was experiencing what a typical girl in her growth phase would go through.
Recently, his chest had noticeably started to develop, necessitating the purchase of new underwear.
In fact, most of the pressure Luke felt was coming from his chest…
“Indeed… it seems small.”
At Luke’s mutter, Liv, who was carrying his bag, nodded.
“……”
And finally, the almost formed entity known as ‘Kate’ also nodded.
“Agreement with the Master’s opinion. This object also observes such tendencies.”
Unlike Liv, Kate was capable of expressing her opinions verbally.
Since Liv had been designed as a special purpose battle golem from the beginning, the limitations of the magical technology of the time had prevented her from being capable of voice interaction, and now, due to her personality being formed, she couldn’t be easily modified. However, Kate had not been designed in that manner from the start.
At that moment, Kate spoke.
“Proposal regarding the current issue.”
“Hmm?”
“If the clothes have become smaller due to an increase in mass, there are two solutions. First, reducing your body size. Second, enlarging your clothes.”
“…What?”
Luke knew that Kate didn’t have a fully developed personality regarding language yet, so her mechanical response to his dilemma was to be expected.
However, Luke couldn’t help but feel somewhat annoyed and glared at Kate for a moment.
Then, Kate tilted her head and asked.
“…? Does this object have a suggestion?”
Did Kate truly not understand the reason?
Luke answered.
“Kate, you just mentioned an increase in mass, but I haven’t gained weight. I have grown. Let’s be clear on that.”
He was not simply unable to wear his clothes because he had gained weight.
Maintaining one’s figure was a part of self-care, and Luke felt genuinely offended by such remarks implying he had “gained weight.”
Moreover, suggesting he reduce his body size or enlarge his clothes?
That was quite a disrespectful suggestion.
He wasn’t foolish enough to be incapable of thinking of such solutions himself.
Apparently, Kate still seemed incomplete, as her choice of words was inappropriate.
This was something that needed to be fixed later.
But Kate still seemed puzzled, tilting her head and responding.
“…? This object cannot comprehend the difference. In both cases, the increase in mass is the same. Therefore, this object does not understand the necessity to clarify the difference between the two.”
“…Ah.”
At Kate’s response, Luke placed a hand on his forehead.
Yes, this was indeed the nature of a mage.
Unlike Liv, who was designed as a perfect warrior from the beginning, Kate had reflected the personality of a perfect mage in her consciousness, making her emotional range significantly less than Liv’s.
So, it turned out that most mages originally felt this way.
Conversations aimed solely at transmitting information without considering the subtle emotional nuances inherent in words.
If he had still retained the personality of an ancient mage, he wouldn’t have gotten so hung up on a single word.
“……”
But at that moment, he distinctly felt ‘displeasure.’
Why was that?
The reason was quite clear.
Because he had changed.
From a mage’s Circle that didn’t understand emotions during a lifespan of a century, into a being with an ordinary emotional persona…
He suddenly realized his inner transformation and withdrew his gaze from Kate, looking down at himself.
“I’m sorry, Renie, Kail, and everyone else…”
He felt a strong desire to apologize to all those who were not mages, on behalf of the Luke back then.
They must have had it tough.
——
After thinking for a moment, Luke decided to compromise by not buttoning his jacket.
The only problematic item was the jacket that he had postponed altering, and once he got past the school gate where the dress code was enforced, he could take it off immediately.
“Sigh, I shouldn’t have procrastinated on the small tasks even when I had more pressing matters to attend to…”
Luke lamented with a sigh.
He had hardly ever encountered problems this serious from having postponed small, trivial matters up until now.
Frankly, taking the jacket out from the depths of his closet to have it altered as the seasons changed felt trivial and annoying compared to other matters, like magic research or analyzing the lich’s artifacts, exploring Kate’s personality, or repairing Liv’s living armor.
Perhaps the reason no problems had arisen until now was that others had resolved the issues he had pushed to the back of his mind without even realizing it.
Thinking like that once again made Luke feel sorry for the entities from his past.
‘Now that I think about it, I think I understand why Renie banned the Circle.’
It was Renie’s struggle to make magic accessible to all, and perhaps it was also because the mages of the time seemed to be causing unnecessary trouble for many people for the sake of their research.
For example, they would fix the night sky for a long period in an attempt to uncover the continuity of constellations, ruining nearby farmers’ crops, or secretly burning forests—the source of mana—under the pretext of researching mana circulation and recording the time it took for nature to recover…
Luke was certain that if he hadn’t met Renie or Kail, and if he hadn’t even caught a glimpse of those delicate, trivial hints of ‘emotion,’ he would have caused even more trouble than they had.
Of course, the research done by those predecessors was essential for the existence of today’s magical technology, but given that mages with Circles were the ones who could carelessly commit such acts in the current society, Renie, as a new god grasping over material planes beyond a single nation, would have felt the necessity for a more secure, fair, and interesting advanced magical system than the Circle system, where all power and strength was concentrated on a few exceptional individuals.
Mages with Circles were generally unpredictable beings devoid of empathy towards others.
At present, with Circle magic almost nonexistent, there likely weren’t any grand mages suddenly acting crazily for the simple reason that they “came up with an incredible idea” while taking a nap.
Of course, that wasn’t his story.
Back then, he had merely lent his authority, without harboring any intentions of his own.
“……”
Well, anyway, that’s a story for another time; the present is the present.
After all, people should look back while moving forward.
Now was the time to move ahead.
