Chapter 8

As Calroph opened the textbook with an indifferent expression, Sophia, sitting next to Emily, hurriedly took out her book and opened it, pushing it towards Emily. As the book almost completely crossed over to Emily’s desk, a startled Emily looked at Sophia.

Sophia, meeting her eyes, smiled brightly. Emily decided to just quietly look at the textbook without making any comment.

Since Calroph sometimes deducted points if he heard students chattering during class, depending on his mood, the classroom was very quiet with only his voice audible.

“Life Magic is about finding very delicate proportions. Let’s look at lighting, for example? Lighting involves electrical magic, magic to maintain it appropriately, and air magic to evenly reflect light, all in a certain ratio. This ratio differs for each manufacturer, which is why the maker is essentially a brand. Naturally, products from better magicians sell better. That’s why magicians usually never share the ratios they’ve discovered with others.”

Calroph placed the textbook on the podium, pushed up his glasses, and approached the blackboard, continuing his explanation while writing.

“So in this magic, finding the right ratio and controlling mana according to that ratio is very important. That’s why the amount of magical power you possess isn’t of great significance. In the next class, we’ll practice fine-tuning mana control.”

Life Magic was more interesting than Emily had expected. She was completely focused on the class content, frantically taking notes of Calroph’s words. When the class ended in the blink of an eye, Emily turned to Sophia while organizing her notebook and writing tools.

“Thank you for showing me the book, Miss Sophia.”

“Huh? What? Oh, class is over.”

Was she dozing off just now? Sophia, who had opened her eyes wide at Emily’s words, quickly covered her mouth with her hand to check if she had been drooling. Seeing this, Emily seemed to understand why Sophia had practically handed over the entire book to her.

“Um… Emily.”

As Emily was looking at Sophia with an ambiguous expression, Sophia hesitated for a while before carefully speaking up.

“Yes?”

“Can we… sit together in the next class too?”

Emily blinked at Sophia, who was speaking while looking down and glancing at Emily’s reaction. Sophia, who had barely mustered up the courage, seemed to think Emily would reject her, as her face was slightly flushed. After silently looking at her for a moment, Emily turned her gaze back to the desk and answered.

“…Sure, that’s fine.”

“What? I mean, um… thank you, Emily.”

Surprised by Emily’s unexpected answer, Sophia soon mumbled her gratitude with an expression that was hard to tell if she was smiling or crying.

“Alright. Then I’ll see you next time.”

“Yes, yes! Emily. See you next time!”

Emily looked at Sophia for a moment before getting up from her seat, saying goodbye, and leaving the classroom.

Sophia watched Emily’s retreating figure with sparkling eyes. Seeing Emily always respond calmly even in difficult situations, Sophia thought she was amazing.

With a slight blush on her cheeks, Sophia put her palms to her cheeks and smiled broadly.

Meanwhile, Emily, who had left the classroom, was wondering how to kill time since she had a free period for the second hour.

Passing through the now quiet corridor after the class bell had rung, she looked out the window and saw quite a few students enjoying the bright weather, gathered on benches scattered throughout the outdoor garden.

“Wow, there are so many people.”

The garden created in front of the snow-white main building was quite large and was a place where students often took walks during free periods or lunch breaks. The scenery was excellent, with well-trimmed flowerbeds and trees, benches placed here and there, and small fountains that were almost dazzling under the strong sunlight.

As the end of spring approached, the flowers that had bloomed profusely were gradually disappearing, and the greenery had deepened.

“It would be a shame to go straight back to the dormitory on such a nice day.”

Emily, who had initially planned to return to the dormitory and sleep for an hour because fatigue had hit her after her first first-period class, decided to cancel her original plan and go outside.

As she stepped out of the main entrance, Emily slightly furrowed her brow and raised her hand over her head to shield her eyes from the bright sunlight. After being inside the building, the afterimage of the bright sunlight lingered in her eyes for a moment before disappearing.

“It’s already like midsummer weather, even though it’s just early June…”

As she walked, fanning her face with the notebook she was holding, she found that every bench she passed was already occupied, so she decided to go to a spot a little away from the garden. The weather had become much hotter, and even a short walk made beads of sweat form on her forehead.

As she left the garden, the stone path disappeared and was replaced by soft grass reaching up to her ankles, making it difficult to walk, but Emily actually preferred and was more familiar with this kind of path. There were no benches there, but there was a large shade created by a few old trees gathered in a wide open area.

Arriving at the tree shade, there were several large trees that looked easily a hundred years old, and one of the thickest branches of the largest tree was stretched downward. The branch that came down to Emily’s waist height looked thick and sturdy enough for a person to sit on. As Emily looked around, she saw no one else. After a moment’s hesitation, she took off her shoes, threw her writing materials and book on the grass, and climbed onto the tree branch barefoot, holding only one notebook and a pen under her arm.

“Ah, this feels nice.”

Stretching her arms out and leaning back, she looked up to see sunlight twinkling finely through the thick branches and leaves stretching high into the sky. Emily enjoyed the dazzling sight for a while before opening the notebook tucked under her arm to review the content she had written during the Life Magic class earlier.

Certainly, the fact that even a small amount of mana was sufficient was a great advantage for Emily. She knew how to use two basic types of magic, but her innately low mana quantity had always been a concern.

“Even if it’s hard to increase mana quantity, operational ability can be improved with training as much as you want.”

Life Magic might suit her aptitude well.

“Then what could I create with wind, light, especially sound and illusion? Video recording magic devices are already on the market, so what else might be needed in daily life?”

Trying to think of magic that could sell well made the scope quite broad and rather vague. Emily decided to write down words that came to mind and then write more about what she was good at or liked.

“I’m strongest in sound magic, but I don’t know much about music. Then maybe recording existing sounds would be better than the creative field…”

She crossed out ‘music’ and circled ‘recording’. Then, putting the pen to her lips, she fell into thought again.

“If I could invent something like the recently emerged voice recording magic, I could make a ton of money too. Voice, voice…”

As Emily drew several circles around the word ‘voice’ she had written, she thought she needed to research voice recording magic a bit more. Not just voice magic, but looking at the trends of recently popular magic stones might help her concretize her thoughts.

Having decided to look into these two things, Emily decided to catch a quick nap until her next class. As she laid down on the branch with the notebook on her stomach, her long brown hair cascaded down, swaying gently in the breeze.

Before long, Emily succumbed to the overwhelming drowsiness and closed her eyes.

* * *

Valenti, though not consciously aware of it himself, had been repeating the behavior of turning his head whenever brown hair entered his sight since this morning, only to realize it wasn’t Emily and feel slightly disappointed. Ever since he had accidentally met Emily while washing his face near the training ground during the 4th period yesterday, her green eyes had been constantly circling in his mind. After morning training, he unconsciously went to that spot, but seeing the empty corridor made his mood plummet instantly.

After repeating unconscious sighs, Valenti, who had been forcibly pushed out of the classroom by William for a walk, was now walking in the main building’s garden. Due to the nice weather, there were more students out in the garden than expected.

Thinking it would be a bit cumbersome to walk among the people, Valenti was strolling in an area a bit away from the garden when he suddenly stopped.

“…”

A short distance away, there was a group of large trees, and a branch larger than a person was bending downwards, unable to bear its own weight. And thin brown hair was cascading down from it, swaying slightly in the wind. The moment he saw her two hands resting on her stomach and her bare white feet dangling, Valenti felt a tingling in his chest. And that tingling sensation rushed through his entire body in an instant, down to his thighs.

Like a broken clock, he stood motionless for a while, silently gazing at that dazzling sight.

Swoosh

The sound of leaves rustling gently could be heard as the wind blew under the tree shade. As the flickering sunlight through the swaying leaves tickled Emily’s eyes, she frowned and turned her head to the side in her sleep.

Flinch

At that moment, Valenti unconsciously took a step forward.

He wanted to approach her, defenseless in her sleep, and create shade for her. He wanted to sit right next to her and gaze at her face endlessly until she opened her eyes, and he wanted to run his fingers through her flowing long hair to feel its softness.

With each step closer to her, Valenti was enveloped in a strange sense of elation. He could hear the sound of his feet brushing against the grass.

He wished she would open her eyes soon and look at him, but he also hoped this moment would last just a little longer.

Thud

When he was about a dozen steps away, the notebook that had been precariously hanging under Emily’s arm fell to the ground, unable to withstand its own weight. At that moment, Emily suddenly opened her eyes. As her beautiful green eyes slowly appeared, Valenti stopped approaching and swallowed hard.

Emily blinked a few times, her long eyelashes fluttering, and seeming to need a moment to gather her wits, she remained dazed for a while before opening her mouth slightly to yawn.

As she stretched her arms and legs up and down after waking, her uniform shirt pulled tight, accentuating the gentle curves of her upper body. After stretching, she raised her legs onto the branch, causing her skirt to ride up to her thighs, revealing a glimpse of white skin before it fell back down to below her knees as she sat up.

Although he knew he should look away, Valenti was staring at her, holding his breath. There was clearly a part of his reason in the corner of his mind saying this wasn’t right. However, even as his throat burned dry with a sense of transgression, he simply couldn’t turn his head away.

Unaware of his presence, Emily lightly jumped down from the branch on the opposite side, naturally walking barefoot on the grass to find and put on her shoes, then gathering her books and writing materials before walking towards the garden. Watching her cross the grassy path on the right side opposite to him, Valenti exhaled the breath he had been holding. He was caught in complex, subtle emotions, feeling relieved that she hadn’t noticed him, yet also feeling a bit disappointed that she hadn’t acknowledged him, as he watched her walk away.

A gentle breeze blew behind Valenti, who was standing there blankly. The wind that brushed his head and rustled the leaves soon disappeared into the sky.

It was the wind signaling the end of spring.