A week after the start of the long summer holiday, Leticiel teleported to the front of Lucrezia Academy, where there was a conspicuous lack of students.
Instead of going to the Great Library as usual, she passed straight through the main building and out back. The lake behind the main building, plus the forest and multiple research buildings behind it, reflected in the sun’s light.
But she hadn’t come to do research. Lately, she had been doing most of her research with her new research colleague, Tuvalu. But since he’d returned to his hometown for summer break, he wasn’t in the school’s dormitory.
Nevertheless, Leticiel had a reason for coming to the academy despite not having classes or research to do. After passing the sorcery research lab and going even further into the forest, a number of buildings became visible between the gaps in the trees.
“M-Miss Drossell! I’ve been waiting for you,” Veronica stammered. She was standing in front of one of the most opulent buildings. All of the buildings in the area had originally been research buildings at one point, but now they were dormitories for the students and staff members. They were divided according to the status of the people living there. There was a golden dormitory where the upper echelon lived and a silver dorm for lower-ranking nobles and commoners.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. It seems I’m a little late.”
“N-No! I just came a little too early.” Veronica hurriedly shook her hands in denial. While chatting about what they’d done so far over the break, the two headed toward their destination.
“Um, I’m sorry to ask you to come and help me during your break…”
“Oh, please don’t worry about that,” Leticiel reassured. “I didn’t have plans anyway, and I’m interested in gardening.”
Veronica, who lived in the dormitory, had been given a large flower bed not too deep in the forest next to the golden dormitory where she could devote herself to her hobby of gardening. Lucas had been considerate and purposefully placed it in the forest so she wouldn’t have to deal with other students watching her.
Usually, she worked with the old man who acted as a gardener for the golden dorm, but since he had taken a long vacation and wasn’t there, she had asked Leticiel to help her. She would have asked Zeke since he lived in the silver dormitory, but he had also returned to his hometown for the break.
“We’re here. This is it.” Veronica led Leticiel to a flower bed surrounded by red bricks and walled by trees. The flower bed was large enough to easily fit a king-sized bed. About seventy percent of it was already filled with a variety of plants.
“What are you going to plant today?” Leticiel asked.
“Ah, today is this!” Veronica replied, handing her a strangely-shaped seed. Rather than being circular, its edges were jagged. It looked a bit like the wings of dragons in folk tales.
“What is it?”
“It’s a dragonic flower seed. We’re going to plant it!” Apparently, it was a rare plant that could only be found in the Iris Empire. It was extremely hard to care for, and it wouldn’t bloom beautifully if you didn’t follow the right procedures at various stages.
Veronica quickly rolled up her sleeves and picked up a spade to start digging in the flower bed. Leticiel wanted to help, but since she had no gardening expertise, all she could do was pass over the watering can and other tools.
“Ah, which am I supposed to do first?” While working, Veronica suddenly stopped and tilted her head with a frown.
“What’s wrong?”
“Um… I can’t remember if I’m supposed to water it next or add fertilizer.” Shaking the dirt off of her hands, Veronica stared into space while she thought.
“Perhaps there’s a book on how to care for it in the library. Would you like me to go borrow it?”
“Eh? N-No, I can get it myself!”
“You’re more familiar with gardening than I am, so you should stay here and look after the plants, Miss Veronica. I’ll be right back.”
Leticiel used a teleportation spell to arrive at the Great Library in a single second. She thought about asking David to search for books, but unfortunately, he wasn’t in his seat. Having no other choice, Leticiel started the search herself.
She struggled a bit since she’d never searched for books on plants before, but she managed to find a few books that showed how to grow dragonic flowers. Not knowing which was best, she selected a few and placed them in her subspace for the time being.
The best way to get back from here is to cut through the woods near the museum. She couldn’t use a teleportation spell since she had opened her subspace, so Leticiel decided to walk through the forest to get back. There weren’t many trees on the academy’s grounds, but each individual tree was large enough to protect her from the strong summer sun.
During her walk, she found an area where the trees were even sparser. If she was right, it was the site of her battle with Rocheford and the mysterious monster. Many of the trees had been broken or burned during the battle. Saplings had been planted to replace them.
She planned to pass by without stopping, but when she moved, she caught a glimpse of something sparkling between the trees. It wasn’t the shine of light hitting metal, but rather something that seemed to emit its own light.
Who could possibly have business in a place like this when everyone had left the academy for the break? Leticiel cautiously moved in the direction of the light, careful not to let her footsteps make any sound. Stepping on grass and maneuvering around fallen trees, she came upon a strangely large clearing. It was the site where Leticiel had fought the monster.
There, she saw the backs of a boy and girl who seemed to be five years old. The white-haired girl and silver-haired boy were holding hands and squatting on the ground, doing something. The light Leticiel had seen seemed to be coming from the girl’s hands. Wondering what they were doing, Leticiel used a spell to see from further away and took a look at their hands.
Crack.
Though she’d only shifted her stance slightly, Leticiel’s foot stepped on a twig. The dry sound echoed in the quiet forest, making the boy and girl spin around from their crouched position.
“It’s a human.”
“Yeah, a human.”