Under the dazzling morning sun, a boy in his teens, perhaps on the verge of becoming a man, was walking through Greer, the Academic City-State. His name was Connie, and he was a student at the Magic Academy, with red eyes, blond hair, and a youthful face befitting his age. His parents had temporarily gone away on some business, but his great-grandfather and great-grandmother were still living in the city. However, he had been told to participate in campus life at the academy and now lived at the dormitory. He was currently taking advantage of a morning class’s cancellation to visit his great-grandparents’ house, because he’d received a message that his great-great-grandparents were visiting, so he should come see them.
Hmm, when was the last time I saw them? Connie walked through the city with leisurely thoughts in his mind. He appeared gentle at a glance, or to put it bluntly, he lacked vigor and looked clumsy. But in an academy with many geniuses and prodigies among its student body, he had many peculiar friends...and Connie was one such peculiar person himself.
“Good morning, great-grandma.”
“Good morning, Connie.” His great-grandmother welcomed him warmly. She had been waiting for him, thinking he would arrive any minute now.
Connie loved his kind great-grandmother, who was always smiling. He had no idea that she was putting on an act.
“Now come this way.”
“Okay.”
Connie’s great-grandmother Agnes showed him to the living room where his great-great-grandparents were. Moreover, it was where the Hero’s party was currently gathered.
“It has been a while, great-great-grandma, great-great-grandpa,” Connie greeted them.
“There you are.” Lara simply grinned as usual even though her great-great-grandson had just come to see her. It was pointless to expect her to shed tears of joy over how big he’d gotten.
“Oh, look how big you’ve grown! Bwa ha ha!” Sazaki, on the other hand, looked overjoyed as he grabbed the surprised Connie and lifted him up.
“Wha?!”
Who the hell is this guy and what did he do with Sazaki? Max, who hadn’t met up with Sazaki and the others after the end of the war, felt confused by Sazaki’s behavior.
“Was he like this with his grandchild and great-grandchild too?” Max reflexively asked Stein next to him in a whisper.
“As far as I know, he was like that with his own son, even,” Stein replied affirmatively.
“For real...?”
Sazaki’s attitude toward Falke had definitely been the same one that Max was familiar with, but the Blademaster currently looked like just an old man happy to see his great-great-grandson. If Falke—who was currently sleeping, exhausted—were here, he’d complain and ask Sazaki to share some of that kindness, but in fact his father had been just like this with him as a boy.
“Wanna go have fun somewhere?” Sazaki asked.
“Umm, I have classes in the afternoon...” Connie replied.
“I see...” Sazaki looked disappointed that his great-great-grandson had refused his invitation.
I guess people have hidden sides to them. When Max saw Sazaki acting like this, he was sort of impressed to learn about this new aspect of his friend, even though his own entire life was nothing but a lie.
He also has quite a few apprentices. On the other hand, unlike Max, Stein knew that Sazaki had trained many apprentices, so he thought that this was probably closer to Sazaki’s true nature. Right after the war, many of Sazaki’s apprentices had been war orphans, so he’d been something like a foster parent to them in many ways. The sarcastic and drunkard Blademaster had many sides to him.
“It has been a while, Mr. Ferd, Mrs. Elrica.” Connie had only met the two of them a few times.
“I’m really happy to see you again. I’m glad to see you’re doing well.”
“Yes, yes. You’ve really grown.”
The old couple seemed much more moved to see Connie than Lara had been; they were on the verge of tears.
“It’s nice to meet you, I’m Connie.” Next, Connie greeted Stein and Max.
“I’m Stein. It’s a pleasure.”
“I’m Max. Nice to meet you.”
“The pleasure is all mine.”
Wow, the entire Hero’s party is gathered. Connie had been told that Ferd and the rest were the members of the Hero’s party, but he was less impressed than someone like Aldrick would have been.
Connie was already unusually composed for his age, but for the current young generation, people who’d been active over seventy years ago practically lived in a different world. The same applied to the academy’s students. The sky being red, the memorial monument at the academy, or the reason the city’s walls shined golden—all of those were things of the distant past they’d only studied in history class.
“Are you having fun at the academy?” asked Ferd, one of those timeworn legends.
“Yes,” Connie replied honestly. The strangest people tended to gather at this school, but he could say with certainty that it was fun.
“That’s good to hear.” Seeing a young person living happily at school left Ferd squinting like he was looking at something dazzling. That notion was something that hadn’t existed in the past. “Incidentally, we heard that people are always allowed to tour the Magic Academy, so we’ve decided to go as well. We might even get a glimpse of your class, Connie.”
This might turn into a big deal...or it might not. Connie thought leisurely about the plans Ferd and the rest had made, and he decided to just go with the flow. He must have already had the serenity of mind of a martial arts genius. Probably.