It was the night of the final day of the Festival of Gratitude.
Two shadowy figures were sneaking through the forest surrounding the academy’s yard, where the decisive battle was to take place. Eventually, when they were a fair distance from where the Witch of Yore was expected to appear, the lankier one of the two stopped. The smaller figure—Elizabeth—stopped as well and tilted her head in confusion.
“The gods or whatever called on me, right?” the lanky figure—Leon—said flatly. “So I’m going on my own, master. You stay here and secure my escape route.”
Elizabeth had already been planning on heading to the battlefield with Leon when she initially requested him to go. She couldn’t hide her dismay at being blocked at the last second.
“Wh-Why? I know I wasn’t called on, but Fiene—my daughter—is there. I want to fight too.”
“I’m capable of doing everything you are, so don’t worry. I’ll protect your daughter...and my other students too. I’m more concerned about being able to guarantee my exit from the yard. I’d appreciate it if you would help me with that. Please stay here and conserve enough strength for it.” Leon’s words were dignified and resolute.
Elizabeth hung her head. “I know you surpassed me a long time ago. I’m just a worse version of you now. But still...”
“I want to show off to the Fae Princess, my first love,” Leon muttered with a sad expression, seemingly unintentionally.
“First...love?”
With a beautiful smile he had learned from Elizabeth, Leon leaned closer to her and whispered, “Yes. You were my first love, Fae Princess. The crackers you gave me that day were the most delicious food I’d ever eaten in my life. You also taught me hope and a way to live. How could I not fall in love?”
“Wait, but that isn’t relevant right now, is it?”
Elizabeth took a cautious step back, but Leon took a step forward, closing the distance. He had the longer stride, so they were now close enough to feel each other’s breaths.
“It is relevant,” he said. “I’m only joining this battle because it was a request from my first love. And since you’re my first love, I want to do this on my own so you can see what I can do. Since you’re my first love...I want you to wait somewhere safe.”
“I-I think you’re saying ‘first love’ too much! For the record, I’ll never love anyone in a romantic sense besides August!”
Leon quickly pulled away. He chuckled and nodded. “Yes, I’m well aware. Don’t be a narcissist, master. I only said you were my first love. This was like fifteen years ago.”
Since he didn’t say he was still in love with her now, she couldn’t reject him. He wasn’t seeking a relationship, so there was no way to deny him. Realizing this was indeed the case, Elizabeth heaved a sigh.
“I guess, but... Ugh, fine. I’ll wait here and let you do the fighting. I surrender, so will you quit it with the crass teasing?”
“Oh, already? What a shame. I’ll be off, then.” Leon chuckled and turned around.
Watching her disciple head to battle alone, the master shouted, “I’m not just worried about Fiene. I’m worried about you too, Leon! Don’t just protect Fiene and her friends—make sure you don’t get hurt either! I only backed down because I have faith you can do that! Don’t disappoint your master!”
“I can’t win against you,” Leon muttered very, very softly. His words hardly left his mouth, let alone reached Elizabeth. He waved his hand lightly in acknowledgment, keeping his back to her so she wouldn’t notice his cheeks were much redder than hers had been a minute ago. He wanted to hide that fact so badly, he succeeded in using teleportation magic for the first time.
In the end, the battle began and ended with the Witch of Yore—rather, Lirenna the Goddess of Creation—on her knees, begging for mercy. Leon was so mortified he made Fiene report back to Elizabeth in his stead and fled the scene. His new spell came in very handy for that.
A few days after the Festival of Gratitude, the Goddess Lirenna reported that the evil god Kuon had been sealed away.
Another month passed. Leon was heading to the secret room in the academy he had inherited from his master. He made his way through the numerous traps as usual, avoiding them, suppressing them, and at times disabling them temporarily...or at least, he tried to.
“The traps are gone? How could this be?!”
The realization made him uncharacteristically flustered. He ran towards the room, fearing for the collection he had inherited from Elizabeth. It would be extremely bad if anyone were to see the materials relating to forbidden curses, hence why they were hidden behind layers upon layers of security.
The location was undetectable unless you already knew it was there. The path would only open if you followed the correct steps. The traps could only be removed by him or someone equally versed in black magic. The barrier could only be crossed by authorized persons, namely him and his master. Thus, no one besides him should have been able to enter this hidden room!
“Heya, Leon!” Elizabeth was lounging on the sofa without a care in the world. “I was waiting for you.”
Leon sank to his knees, partly out of relief that the intruder was none other than his master, and partly out of frustration that he had rushed at full speed for no reason.
“What are you doing?!” His voice trembled with anger as he pounded the floor with his clenched fist. “Seriously, why are you here, master?!”
“Hmm? Like I said, I was waiting for you. I wanted to talk to you about the Festival of Gratitude, so I snuck in here and was reading until you showed up. Oh, are you wondering about the traps? I got caught last time, but I wasn’t about to keep losing to my own disciple. I tried pretty hard this time!”
“It bothers me a lot that you were able to disable everything just by trying hard...”
“Really? I’m familiar with black magic, though. Plus, they were the same traps I got caught in last time. An ordinary person coming across them for the first time would probably just die.”
Leon heaved a long, long sigh, as if expelling all of the anger and exhaustion that had built up in his gut. Finally calming down, he slowly stood up and stared straight at his master. “Next time, I’ll set up a trap that will kill even you. Something that will make the room erupt in flames, taking the intruder down with it. I’ve realized it would be better to burn everything down than to let anyone else know what’s inside. So whenever you need to come to this room, let me know in advance.”