After arriving at the lodging, Solid knocked on Luke’s guest room door to confirm requests and ask for his well-being before entering a brief meeting.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me.”
“Oh, Solid. Just a moment.”
After a short while, the sound of footsteps and the turning of the doorknob could be heard from inside. Soon, the door to the guest room opened.
“It seems you’ve already unpacked your things.”
Having changed into comfortable clothes, Luke was already out of his school uniform and in his usual pajamas.
Quickly confirming that no other politicians were beside Solid, Luke opened his mouth with an adult-like tone as usual.
“I didn’t bring much.”
“Haha, that makes sense.”
Since he planned to return to Beriton right after the exam, and wouldn’t even stay for 24 hours, the amount of luggage Luke brought was very minimal. He would probably finish unpacking soon.
“By the way, are you really okay going alone then?”
Solid asked Luke with a worried expression. This was because Luke had mentioned that he would go alone to the magic tournament being held at the magic tower.
How could anyone not worry about a young child saying they would go to the tower by themselves?
Especially since this was overseas, a place unfamiliar to Luke.
With Yerna, Luke’s guardian, not accompanying him, if Solid didn’t offer help, Luke would really have to find his way alone.
After all, he was just a ten-year-old boy who had just celebrated his birthday.
This was partially because Luke had persuaded Yerna not to follow him.
However, to Luke, it was for the best.
If Yerna accompanied him, there would be no one to take care of Pyris, and he did not know what might happen at home.
Taking Pyris along to Beriton would certainly lead to an even more troublesome situation.
Luke was certain of this because the scale of Beriton’s celebration of the spirit festival was incomparably larger than that of Aires.
It could be understood from the fact that among the items celebrating the spirit festival, there was a decorative tree symbolizing the World Tree, but the culture celebrating the spirit festival originated in Beriton itself.
During even the small event in Aires, there had been a disturbance. He couldn’t even imagine what kind of chaos Pyris would stir in Beriton, the motherland of the spirit festival.
Thus, Luke had told everyone he would go alone, and he had already managed to persuade Yerna.
That judgment was very appropriate.
If Pyris saw the enormous “real” World Tree that was decorated colorfully in preparation for the spirit festival, Luke could only dread what actions Pyris might take.
Luke shook his head in response to Solid’s worries.
“Of course, I can’t be a burden here.”
Luke had already received a lot of consideration from Solid.
From the flight, lodging, meals, and even transportation costs.
Moreover, hadn’t he positively acknowledged his “business” talk?
So, feeling sorry for just receiving more, he thought it was even ruder to ask for concern from someone who was busy.
“But, wouldn’t it still be difficult for a child to find the way alone?”
“Hahaha, don’t see me as too young, Solid.”
This wasn’t his first time in Beriton, nor was he completely lost, and he could communicate without problems.
The only difference he could think of was that in Beriton, they used “bills” as currency instead of “way” as a unit, but other than that, it wasn’t particularly different from Aires.
Luke confidently patted his chest and said.
“As you know, I am a very stable circle user and wise enough to find my way alone, plus I have a means to contact you if any issues arise. Furthermore, isn’t the security in Beriton much better than that of Aires?”
“Hmm, that’s true.”
However, Solid could not help but worry.
No matter how much Luke had grown since he first met him, and even if he pretended to be mature, seeing him with his nose in the air while wearing pink pajamas still made him look like a little girl in the age of his granddaughter.
Solid casually hinted.
“If that’s the case, I could just send my driver with you.”
However, Luke smiled and declined.
“I’d rather take the bus. I wouldn’t want your driver to get upset for giving him unnecessary work.”
“Hahaha, he wouldn’t do that. He’d actually like it.”
“You never know a person’s heart, how could he refuse your request face to face?”
“Hmm, that’s true.”
Since Luke was so adamant in his refusal, Solid had no choice but to accept.
She already had a schedule set and needed to leave the lodging far earlier than Luke. Besides, Luke himself said he had nothing to worry about, and he was declining her offer for help.
Still concerned, Solid shook her head quietly, thinking it might appear too intrusive to express her worries.
‘This child really is very self-reliant. Is it puberty?’
Even though she was a friend of her grandchild, strictly speaking, she was just someone else to Luke.
From a girl’s perspective, her grandfather being overly concerned for her might be uncomfortable.
“Well, if you insist that much, I suppose I have no choice… Then I won’t worry. If you want to do it alone, then do it.”
“Thank you, Solid. Now you should go prepare for your work. I also need to get ready.”
“Yes, do well in the tournament preparation.”
After exchanging greetings, Solid turned her body to leave Luke’s guest room, deep in thought.
‘……I still should at least have a bodyguard with him, right?’
It wouldn’t do for something to happen to Luke later.
—-
After sending Solid off, Luke closed the door and turned to look at the luggage he had roughly organized, nodding to himself.
“Then, I should prepare the things I need for tomorrow in advance.”
The first items were his phone and wallet, which were quite obvious.
Naturally, he needed to carry his wallet to spend money, and although his phone might not be strictly necessary for sending messages, it was still needed for receiving.
Secondly, he had to bring the academy uniform and student ID he was required to wear for the tournament.
The reason for the academy uniform was that this magic tournament was aimed at students from the academy to differentiate between each academy, and the student ID served as proof that he was enrolled in this academy, as well as his identification and pass for participating.
And lastly…
“Dispel, Polymorph.”
-Phatt.
As Luke quietly cast the spell, a faint light shone from the side of his head, and the horns that had been hidden by the polymorph appeared.
Hadn’t they said that no magical enchantments, other than basic life enchantments applied to the uniform, were allowed?
To avoid unnecessary suspicion at the examination site, Luke had to dispel the polymorph.
As he had found out, if it was revealed that he was using magic, he would be immediately disqualified, so Luke had to be particularly cautious.
After all, the amount of biological mana he possessed due to the circle was already thousands, or tens of thousands of times higher than that of an average person, so it was certain that he would be scrutinized by the judges much more closely.
To completely erase the mana traces from the polymorph, he would probably need to live without the polymorph from today onward.
Luke glanced at his reflection in the mirror of the dresser in the hotel room as he muttered.
While the release of the continuously calculating polymorph made his slightly constrained head feel refreshed, that was all.
Seeing his horns made him feel constrained again.
“Indeed, the horns are bothersome.”
Was it because he had been hiding them for so long that they felt unusually large now that he had taken them out again?
He certainly felt that his horns had grown larger compared to before the incident.
Luke felt his horns and sighed.
“Ha. I tried to reduce them as much as possible…”
Restoring the already broken balance perfectly was still a difficult task.
Even so, he had made an effort to make them look somewhat normal.
Recalling how bizarre his body had become before, Luke rubbed his forehead.
How difficult it had been to reduce four strange-shaped horns to two, transforming them as much as possible into horns that a typical hybrid might have!
‘Back then, I probably couldn’t even lie down properly.’
Thinking of that as his grown self was truly dreadful.
His chest was so large that he couldn’t see his feet, making life inconvenient, and the additional horns were angling backward so he couldn’t lie down correctly, not to mention the huge hindrance while washing his hair.
What about the wings that popped out if he wasn’t careful?
Taking that into consideration, he might have to completely give up lying on his back.
However, considering how he had transformed into a dragon due to poorly using the Dragon Heart and raged, it was clear that this shape could change as long as he set his mind to it.
‘If all else fails, living my life in polymorph could be an option.’
Thinking so, Luke pressed the horn cap on the tip of his horns and flopped down onto his bed.
Unlike Solid, who had a meeting, he had no plans, so he thought he would take a little nap.
‘By the way, what time should I wake up tomorrow?’
Luke recalled the travel time from his previous field trip.
‘Did it take around 50 minutes to get there from the lodging then?’
Considering that time, it would probably take about 30 to 40 minutes from this lodging.
So it would be safe to plan for about 50 minutes, right?
Although it was the day before the spirit festival, that shouldn’t be a huge problem.
After all, information Luke had gathered from the computer indicated that the spirit festival was a day spent with family at home, making that the general consensus.
Everyone would probably be at home, so wouldn’t the traffic situation improve significantly?
But little did Luke know.
The impending transportation disaster hitting Beriton during the spirit festival.
And the reason that opinion had been prevalent on the computer was simply that only such people were sitting in front of the computer posting comments.
