Lily, was it? The moment I turn Abel down, that girl’s going to start wailing about it on his behalf, making a tiresome scene in this cafeteria. In that case…
“…Do as you please.”
“Ah! Thanks!”
Abel sat opposite me, smiling like he was truly happy to be there.
Gross. Why do I feel like this guy’s taken a weird liking to me? I’ve really got no idea why that might be.
“Um…sorry about yesterday. I misunderstood…” he started.
“I don’t care.”
“…What?! Listen, you—” Lily protested.
“C-calm down, Lily. I’m sorry, Luke.”
“Why are you apologizing to him, Abel?!”
“You ought to keep that thing on a leash. Could you quiet her down for a moment?”
“What did you just say?!”
“…Shut up.”
When did this start…? When did everything around me get so damn loud?
“I knew it.” Abel was talking to me, but he was looking at Mia. “She’s smiling again.”
“You’re massively misunderstanding something important about this situation.”
“Y-you think?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“But she’s smiling, isn’t she?” he countered, his eyes still filled with an odd satisfaction. “You can’t deny that.”
“…”
Sounds like he seriously thinks I went to see Mia last night just to cheer her up.
“Sometimes…I see you training with the sword, y’know?”
“What of it?”
“The way you swing is so beautiful, it’s hard to even put into words. I don’t know much about magic yet, but I know a bit about swordsmanship, and…I-I felt this way during our duel, too.”
I said nothing.
“See, my master told me that when it comes to the sword, what’s important is heart. A bad person can’t be a good swordsman…so that’s how I know you’re not really a bad person, Luke.”
I raised my brows slightly at that, but remained silent.
I see… I thought to myself, watching the carefree smile spread across Abel’s face. This master of his has fed him that stupid nonsense. He thinks I’m pure of heart just because I can handle a sword? The world’s not that damn simple.
Later that afternoon, I arrived at Magic Training Area One to teach Mia some spells.
“When I came to reserve this place, I talked with Instructor Freya,” Mia rambled at me in greeting. “She said I looked quite energetic for someone who had been so thoroughly disgraced by one of my peers in such a public fashion…and that it was a relief to see I was okay…”
“I don’t care. Quickly now. Let’s get started.”
“Ah, th-thank you for teaching me!”
“I’ll be taking some mana first.”
Mia gasped as part of her mana flowed into me, thanks to my Dark magic’s draining abilities.
Oh yeah, this is good stuff.
“Watch. Armor of Healing Thunder.”
In the next instant, bolts of purple electricity streaked across my body.
I just thought this spell up on the spot; I’ve never actually done it before. I knew I’d be able to pull it off though—and look at that, I was right. It does need a bit of fine-tuning, though.
“…Huh?”
A thunderous boom resounded as I kicked off from the ground.
This spell contains a mix of the elements of Electricity and Healing. The Electricity aspect gives the user lightning-fast speed, but the human body can’t withstand that immense physical stress. That’s where Healing comes in—to instantly heal whatever parts of me get broken in the process.
It really is fast…so fast that my reflexes are kicking in just a little too late. Maybe I should pair it with a spell that boosts my senses. It’s going to take a while to get used to this, and it consumes a massive amount of mana too. Can’t use it for too long at a time…but it more than makes up for that with its sheer, incredible power.
After some more testing, I disabled the spell.
“You like it?” I asked.
“Th-that was incredible…”
“It’s a compound spell, using both Electricity and Healing. You’ll be learning that yourself and making it your own,” I told her. “Also, you’re far too slow to acti-vate your spells, so you really ought to work on that as well. Anyway, I’m leaving.”
“Huh?”
Back to the dorms…or maybe the library, actually? There’s more I want to research.
“W-wait!”
“What?” I paused and glanced back.
“Are you really leaving already? I don’t know if I can do this on my own,” Mia fretted. “If you wouldn’t mind…I-I’d like you to stay here with me…m-maybe…”
I stared at her.
What’s she saying?
“What more do you want from me? I just showed you the spell.”
“I saw it. It’s just…”
I could see that Mia was about to dig her heels in and complain even more.
“Mia. I’m disappointed in you.”
I looked her dead in the eyes and was kind enough to be straight with her.
“It’s so much easier to walk a path that’s been set out for you, but there’s value in forging your own through the desolate wasteland. If you can’t even see that, if you require me to hold your hand the entire way…I have to wonder, was I wrong about you?”
“A-ah…”
I have no interest in hand-feeding her these things. She’s being too soft. Much of magic acquisition is instinctual—a conversation with yourself that takes place over many hours. If she’s truly this incapable of thinking for herself, then I have no need for her. No matter how much talent she might have, it’s all worthless if she’s overly reliant on others. She’s no different from the rabble. If I spoil her now, she’ll continue to rely on me for every little thing that comes up. That’s why I need to light a fire under her, I reckon. I’ve already told her everything she needs to know.
I made to walk toward the exit once more.
“I-I’m sorry…”
A hand grabbed at my sleeve—it was, of course, Mia.
“What the heck do you w—”
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry,” she repeated desperately. “Sorry, sorry, sorry…don’t abandon me, please don’t abandon me…”
“…Huh?”
Mia’s eyes were so full of tears that they looked black and hollow, as if not a single beam of light could reach past the watery surface.
I just tried to encourage her a little… How did this happen? What did I do? I didn’t think she was the type to respond like this. Could it be…this is all happening because I put in a bit of effort?