Chapter 006: How Many Children Would Be Nice?
I set the bracelet back down on the priest's palm.
"You didn't say anything about the size. So I made it large for now."
Sseu—
The dust filling the monastery began to clear.
Thanks to that, the cracked tile floor beca clearly visible.
The hidden space beneath the floor revealed itself as well.
Hwiiing—
The wind carried the dust down through the tile floor below.
A basent.
A basent packed full of bookshelves.
"There's an underground archive."
"...Pardon?"
The priest still seed to be in shock—his responses were a beat behind.
"The basent. It looked like books were stacked in there."
"Ah... yes... that's correct."
He didn't turn his head toward .
He only peered up close at the cross pillar I had made.
Then he stretched his hand out a little to try touching it—
Pajik!
The mont his hand drew near, the radiant cross pillar discharged a flash of light as if in warning.
"Such high-purity divine energy... just what are you...."
"I'll take that as a pass on the examination."
I ignored the priest's words and dropped down through the gap that had opened in the floor.
Walking through the dim underground archive, the priest followed awkwardly, squeezing himself through the gap behind .
"Might you perhaps be soone from the Order's Central Authority?"
What is he on about.
He's jumping to his own conclusions.
"Even if I were a Central Authority Inspector, I wouldn't be able to confirm it for you."
"Ah, that... is true."
I withdrew the gaze I had briefly rested on the priest and surveyed the books on the shelves.
Annotated editions of scriptures arranged by era caught my eye first—but that wasn't the kind of useless thing I was looking for.
The spell to given to clergy who pass the examination.
A spell to from which even a beginner can easily learn healing magic.
I looked around the shelves and did find a spell to—but.
"This one won't do."
It was a textbook from over 20 years ago, so I gave up and set it back. Since revised editions seed to co out steadily, a newer textbook would be better.
I continued scanning the underground archive.
However, the more freely I rummaged around, the more hurried the footsteps of the priest trailing behind beca.
"Shall I just... find it for you?"
"A mont ago you said you couldn't give it to ."
"It seed like you were going to make a ss of the archive until I found one for you anyway... I an. You're doing this on purpose, aren't you."
I hadn't expected to co across as that much of a reckless troublemaker... but if he was offering to cooperate, there was no need to refuse.
"In that case, I'll leave it to you."
The priest nodded as if he had been waiting for that, then snapped his fingers.
Ttaak!
A magic that creates light.
The light the priest made flew around between the shelves this way and that.
Soon, the light stopped in front of the books lined up on the highest shelf.
About 20 books with identical covers.
It was a textbook titled .
What a na—sounds like a tutoring center textbook.
"This is the textbook given to apprentice clergy who pass the examination. It's this year's revised edition, so a characteristic of it is that it's written to be easy to understand."
"You sound like a book peddler."
"...In any case, this is the spell to we use."
I received the book the priest held out with 1 hand.
Palang—
I lightly flipped through the pages.
Just as the priest said, simplified magic diagrams and terminology caught my eye.
Being a basic spell to, it seed like Esther—who already had magical knowledge—would pick it up in no ti.
I closed the book and gave a small smile.
***
006
Academy class ti.
Esther sat blankly, chin in hand, staring out the window.
Lately, Esther had been unable to focus in class.
You don't need to control it. You're already perfect.
It had started from that mont.
Even if she couldn't control her magical energy—if she only learned healing magic, she could beco a fine mage.
She could even beco more superior than other mages.
Having heard those words not long ago, it was perhaps only natural that the regular classes weren't reaching her ears.
Hyaa....
The reason her grades were at the bottom was not a lack of talent.
Born into a mage family, she had been honing magic since childhood.
She grasped the academy's lessons with ease, and when it ca to theory, she even surpassed the other students.
The problem was practical application.
The academy's Magic Division didn't want a student who studied well—it wanted a superior mage.
Under the academy's principle of replacing examinations with practical tests, she simply could not earn favorable evaluations.
Just as at the entrance exam, she did not give her full effort.
In the past, the trauma of having set her hotown village on fire had imprisoned her.
If she failed to control her magical energy again, she might injure soone.
Esther always kept her hand on the brake.
She had enrolled in the academy to find an answer to fix her condition—but had still not found a breakthrough.
The 1st sester of 1st year, with her confidence only eroding.
A bleak period of consecutive days in which the man she liked refused to even treat her as a person.
To a girl like her, Daywin had beco a source of hope.
Healing magic has no side effects even if magical energy overflows.
Give up on all other magic and learn healing magic.
The approach was different, but it was an answer.
I'd like to try learning healing magic myself, but....
Esther knew as well.
Sacred magic was original to the Order—a subject not in the academy's curriculum.
If she enrolled in the Order and followed the clergy path, she could learn healing magic—but the price was 2 years of her ti.
And even after those 2 years ended, a final examination awaited.
As an alternative, she considered obtaining a spell to on the black market or receiving lessons from a corrupt clergyman—but.
No matter how desperate I am, I can't break the law....
It was too reckless after all.
It was no different from the acts of a dark mage.
Esther imagined herself saving people with healing magic.
The image of herself in that vision still felt hazy.
I suppose I'll have no choice but to try after graduating from the academy. It would be a waste to give up when I've only just enrolled... and if I leave the academy, Raword would also... hm?
Raword.
That na shifted her train of thought.
Co to think of it, Raword was trying to beco a holy knight....
A holy knight.
The reason Raword strove every day.
And at the sa ti, the reason Raword despised Esther.
He might know sothing about sacred magic.
Esther resented the Order and the goddess that had stolen Raword's heart—but looking at it from a different angle, a brilliant sche ca to her.
She had been in a semi-forced period of rest after the lunch box operation's failure—but this ti, success was clearly within reach.
Esther covered her delicate face with her hands and laughed lightly.
She had a good feeling.
If 10 strikes don't bring it down, she'd strike 11 tis.
Was there anyone more attractive than soone of the opposite sex who shared the sa interests?
***
"...What? What did you say?"
Break ti.
The 1st-year building corridor.
Esther asked back with wide eyes.
"I said I obtained a spell to for you to use."
Daywin held up the spell to so the title was clearly visible.
.
"This is...."
Esther's trembling pupils scanned the book cover from top to bottom.
"Isn't this... the textbook the Order uses?"
When Esther asked, lowering her volu, Daywin nodded.
"That's right—I obtained it myself, so there's no mistake. And I think I said this a mont ago as well."
"Sothing this precious... is it really all right for soone like to receive it?"
At Esther's question, Daywin's eyebrow twitched.
She's still like this.
He had thought she would be fine with ti—but the Esther he had seen in the ga had still not returned.
Esther, overflowing with confidence and bold—yet in truth, delicate and easily embarrassed.
That Esther had disappeared without a trace, leaving behind only a fragile girl.
"On the contrary—if you don't accept it, things won't be all right. Well, at least it's reassuring that you know sothing is precious."
"When you say you worked hard to obtain it...."
She suddenly recalled the thought she'd had a mont ago.
The only ways to obtain a spell to without becoming a clergyman were to visit the black market or hand a bribe to a corrupt clergyman.
"Perhaps."
Esther looked up at Daywin with a suspicious gaze.
"Might I ask... how you obtained it?"
"Mm."
Daywin paused for a mont.
Telling her about causing a ruckus at the monastery... might be a bit much.
He couldn't afford to throw away the image he'd built.
Daywin mulled over his answer in various ways—and ultimately decided to simply stay silent.
Speech is silver, silence is golden.
Besides, it's troubleso to make sothing up.
After brief deliberation, Daywin opened his mouth.
"I can't tell you that."
In an instant, Esther's expression went blank, as if she had been struck.
As I suspected—he obtained it through... inappropriate ans...!
Suspicion beca certainty.
At the thought of being implicated in a cri, her heart began to pound in a wild rhythm.
A spell to obtained through underground channels... is it all right for to use? Is there n-no problem?
Esther imagined herself being dragged before the Order's inquisitors and locked behind iron bars.
That image alone was vividly clear.
What frightened her most of all was Daywin's completely unbothered face.
Daywin had broken the Order's law, and yet—his expression, his manner of speaking, his complexion—none of it had changed in the slightest.
He was calm, as if nothing had happened.
As if things like this were familiar to him.
...He's a frightening person.
She had thought so from first impressions.
Probably because of his red eyes.
And probably because of his sharp gaze and the corner of his mouth curved like a fox's.
Their first eting. She had found herself unconsciously holding her breath until Daywin opened his mouth.
And yet Daywin, unlike other nobles, had approached with a gentle tone of voice—smiled easily—and knew how to say considerate things.
She had thought he was a kinder person than he appeared—but.
He really was... a frightening person.
"Esther? Why aren't you saying anything?"
"What? Ah, I'm sorry."
Esther gave a startled lift of her head.
"Is it... you did this for my sake, didn't you, Patron...? That's not normally... like you, is it?"
"I'm not sure what you an—but this isn't the ti to be fastidious about thods. I want you to grow quickly."
"thods...."
Daywin gripped Esther's wrist, leaving her to mumble blankly.
"Hi—hieek!"
She had been thinking he was frightening in the first place, so the sudden contact of skin startled her badly.
That lasted only a mont.
Tuk—
"Don't be scared. You'll do fine."
When she ca to her senses, the spell to had been pressed into her hand.
The feel of the thick book cover brought her thoughts to a stop.
Esther froze on the spot with an expression devoid of soul.
T—touched. From this mont forward I'm an accomplice and will end up in prison after all....
She tried to hurriedly return the spell to—but he had already turned and walked away.
As if to say he wouldn't hear another word, he left of his own accord.
"I accepted it...."
After Daywin disappeared from sight.
Esther, left standing alone in the corridor, looked down at the spell to.
"......."
She still didn't know what kind of person Daywin was.
If anything, this had made him even more unknowable.
Even so—had there ever been soone who said they would stop at nothing for her sake?
How long had it been since she had last heard the word I believe in you?
Would soone like that appear again?
Daywin was still full of mysteries and frightening—but his intent to help Esther seed unchanged.
Even if it turned out not to be true, he was soone she wanted to believe it of.
"Ah."
She also realized sothing.
......She no longer had a reason to talk to Raword.
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