“I heard about Lady Faust. That she hurt her back. Are you going to be okay on your own?”
“Heh-heh, get this. We have a special super-powerful friend here to help.”
“A friend?”
“Spberry. Where did you put the bronze?”
With a nicely timed question, Sophie drew Fine’s attention, making her eyes go wide with surprise.
“A-are you Sophie? Like, one of the Seven Sages?”
“Indeed I am.”
Fine let out a whimper of “Oh…,” and I put my hand on her shoulder.
“I can feel butterflies in my stomach.”
“Here, I’ll smoosh them for you.”
“Please stop that.”
A few more days of this passed. With the first and second formulas completed, it was crunch time for the portal.
After spending a few days with Sophie, I realized two things about her. First, that her knowledge when it came to both magic and academics was the real deal. And second, that there was someone who knew even more than she did, and that was the Eternal Witch, Faust.
Sophie’s position as a Sage was not misguided; she had the technical skills and mind for it. But even so, there were many areas where it felt like my teacher was a much better mage. It was a good reminder of how incredible the person I learned under truly was.
Though we were both filled with energy at the beginning of the portal’s construction, by the time we made it to the seventh formula, the process was starting to take its toll on us. Even Sophie, who always had the same expression on her face, couldn’t hide her fatigue.
“We will be constructing the seventh formula today.”
“Uh-huh.”
Sophie used her pointer finger to draw out a magic circle in the air in front of her, simulating the effect of its magical reaction. Thinking back on it, I saw Inori do something similar. They both managed to whip up very complex formulas in a matter of seconds.
If Sophie was using the same methodology as Inori, there must’ve been a rhyme and reason to it.
“How do you draw out formulas with your hand like that?”
“It takes two steps. First, you bring your magic to your fingertip to give it the same effect as chanting. Then you release that magic to create a flow that makes up the formula. Executing these two steps in as little time as possible also serves to shorten the casting process.”
“Yeah, that sounds pretty impossible.”
I tried it a few times, but nothing happened. I wasn’t even sure what it was supposed to feel like accumulating my magic into my fingertip.
“This is tough.”
“Practice makes perfect.”
“Right.”
I decided to practice more when I got home. With that in mind, I noticed the formula Sophie was in the process of constructing, and something felt off about it.
“Did you change the formula?”
This question seemed to confuse Sophie, who cocked her head to the side and asked:
“What makes you think that?”
“I just thought it looked a bit different from how we usually do it. I mean, this part is very different, and look over here. Here, it’s supposed to stabilize this world’s connection with the others, right? I don’t think you’re supposed to mix these two types of formulas with each other; they clash.”
Hearing my point made Sophie go quiet for a few moments. Perhaps due to always helping my teacher with these formulas every year, a part of me was confident in my understanding of the formulas that made connecting multiple worlds possible. Which was why even though I didn’t completely understand the physics behind it, I could tell something was off.
“What made you want to change the formula?”
“I wanted to make the portal bigger.”
“Bigger? What was wrong with its normal size?”
“I researched the data from previous years, and it was clear to me that the number of visitors coming through the portal every year is rising. While using the same formula to make the portal this year would be stable, it wouldn’t be large enough to allow everyone through.”
“I see. You have a point there.”
During the Celebration of Worlds, a wide variety of citizens from many other worlds came here. She must’ve thought it would be more convenient to make a larger portal. It might have been her own way of trying to make this festival even better.
The problem was that the larger the portal, the less firm the magic would be as it took hold, making it difficult to control the amount of power. This would require adding yet another formula to ensure the portal’s stability, which was apt to create another scenario where two formulas clashed. It would be like using a water formula to control a fire spell; it may result in certain parts of the formula disappearing entirely.
“It will work this way. Don’t worry.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’ve used much larger formulas than this before. I’m capable of creating the portal at the size we need it.”
I doubted her. At the very least, my teacher had never created a portal this large before. She always placed more emphasis on safety, after all.
“You may be right about the portal being too small in terms of the scale of the event, but one thing is for sure: It’s stable. We can’t afford for the portal we create to be unstable, so if we’re going to change it, I think it would be best to ask my teacher first.”
Sophie shook her head upon hearing this.
“It will be all right. I’d rather not depend on Faust. This formula will work. I’m sure of it. I guarantee it. I’ll bet my life on it.”
“You should value your life more.”
It almost looked like Sophie was hesitating about something. I didn’t know what kind of person she was, or anything much about her at all, but I knew she wasn’t an idiot. Sure, she believed in her own ability, but there was more to it than just that.
It felt like she didn’t want to ask someone for help.
“But…I guess it’s fine…”
It was better to ask my teacher for help, but I also didn’t want to get on Sophie’s bad side by pestering her too much about it. She was a world-renowned witch, so I figured it would be all right. She was certainly more well-versed both academically and magically than I was.
So I decided to shut away the strange feelings I had.
With that, on the night before the festival, we finished the seventh and final formula that went into creating the portal. All that was left was waiting for the ceremony to start at nine o’clock the next day.
At this point, it was already major news that Sophie would oversee that year’s festival, and she was well received by the entire town for it. She didn’t need to dye her hair to hide her identity anymore.
“Heh, here, Sophie. I bought you a croquette.”
“I’ll eat it.”
We both ate croquettes as we walked through the town under the setting sun. The road was dyed a crimson orange, which was the same color it turned every night, but it felt different that day. The decorations for the festival were all up, and there was a celebratory mood already spreading throughout the town.
I turned to find Sophie looking like a squirrel as she munched on her croquette.
“Shere ahre a loht of peehple ouht tohnig.”
“Please swallow your food before you speak.”
“There are a lot of people out tonight.”
“Yeah, it’s the night before the festival.”
This event, which happened once every year, not only helped develop Lapis but also provided much grace for the other worlds. It was the biggest event that happened all year in Lapis and drew in many travelers from around the world.
“So what do you think of the town the night before the big day?”
“I don’t hate it.”
“That’s nice to hear.”
There was something warm and kind about the way Sophie watched as people went by. She looked completely different than she had on the first day, when she mentioned wanting to remove magic from the world.
“You like people, don’t you?”
“What makes you say that?”
“I just thought you hated them.”
“I never said that.”
“But you want to get rid of magic, right?”
“I hate magic. But it is the only thing that makes me feel needed.”
“Then wouldn’t it be scary to lose that? You would lose your place.”
Sophie turned and looked me straight in the eyes after I said this.
“Did Faust tell you?”
“Yeah, kind of.”
“She’s a blabbermouth, then.”
“So you aren’t denying it… I bet you actually like magic. I love it. I like being a part of this festival, getting to meet you, and when people around town talk to me. I think it’s all thanks to magic, and I think the same goes for you, too. That you owe a lot of what you have to magic.”
“I don’t know.”