The news of Kyrie's identity as Vita's paladin floods into the streets of the kingdom of Aria, and soon, his name also arrives at the ears from other kingdoms. As the first paladin named by the goddess Vita, his identity shoots up in value on a par with the status of the saints.
As a result, avalanches of gifts and letters pour into the house of Rowan. All of them seem to have been almost cases of copy and paste messages; everyone congratulates Kyrie with his new role while extending invitations to their high society parties.
However, Kyrie lifts his head to look at the pillars of tightly compacted letters put into boxes. Trying to read all of them might require him to work full time for the rest of his life. Thus, Kyrie asks the servants to help him sort out a list of names from the letters and send an invitation to each one. He thinks hosting a banquet could help him calm not only the gossip and excitement but also avoid offending anyone who might have sent a letter but never got a reply.
Once busy, all his time left before the academy gets spent organizing the banquet and greeting people. Before he catches a breath, he has to already move to his dorm.
As he unpacks his luggage within the academic dorm room, he thinks about his parents. He remembers their figures busily trying to receive the guests on the day of the banquet as they stand next to the door. He recognizes the fatigue that his parents are trying to ignore. However, whenever the guests start to talk about Kyrie with his parents, his parents' mood would beam up with pride.
Before leaving, Marquis and Marchioness Rowan assure him many times that they are okay and that he should be concentrating on his studies. He feels apologetic to his new parents, who barely had time to spend with him. After all, they waited for a year to speak to their son again.
[This is a significant change of events that deviates from the actual storyline. I wonder how much this can change the future.]
Yue, on top of the bed, says, "Till now, I don't think much. After all, nothing has happened yet. Imogen has yet to come to this world. By the way, Kyrie... Didn't you get space magic from Vita? How are you going to use it?"
"That is a good question. She did not even give me anything to learn how to use it. It seems like I am on my own unless she decides otherwise. It would be good if I can use teleportation. Then, I can use it to see Ian." Kyrie complains.
Yue teases him, "Is your head only filled with Ian?"
"Can't deny that it is not, though. My entire reason to cross to another world is because of him," says Kyrie.
Yue giggles at Kyrie's straightforwardness and replies, "Right..."
Kyrie senses his heart tightening. He has come to this world, yet he is still so far from the actual person he came for.
"The only way for you to help him when he needs most is if you are strong enough to do it," says Yue.
"Yeah," Kyrie lets out a sad smile and continues, "I think I can only work hard to be worthy of staying by his side."
---
With that mentality, two years have passed.
Kyrie is so outstanding with all the subjects that the academic director lets him jump a year and gives him private tutors on martial arts and magic. Of course, a lot of credit is due to the studies from his previous world. However, the rumors make him a protege, and people are convinced that his genius is the reason why Vita has chosen him. Despite that, behind it all, Kyrie is utterly frustrated. No matter how much effort he puts in or how outstanding his results are, he never feels content.
After the brutal private training sessions, Kyrie returns to his dorm room. Now, he looks much different than when he woke up from his "coma." His face has already shed off the baby fat, and his build is much more muscular. Before, his entire image looks more like a flower boy, but now, with fewer baby features, he looks like a handsome young man. His bright eyes and hair give him a sense of warmth and gentleness.
Walking out of the shower while drying his hair, he looks at the lazy porcupine asleep, surrounded by the empty snack packages. All the snacks are given to him by his classmates. For some unknown reason to him, the female population likes to feed him as if he would die of starvation. Every day, he would receive piles of snacks that end up in the endless stomach of this lazy god. No wonder there are still so many problems in all these worlds!
"... Kyrie, you came back already? Where are you going?" asks Yue, who wakes up from her pleasant nap. She looks at Kyrie, putting on his breasted coat.
"I am going to the director's library. I finally got authorization to access it!" replies Kyrie.
"Uhhh!!! Let me go with you as well!" says Yue, now wide awake.
The reason why Kyrie wants authorization to the director's library is the rumors that there are ancient scrolls there. However, after looking at the majority of the scrolls, Kyrie lets out a disappointing sigh as he puts down another scroll. He walks back to the shelf and then places back the scroll to where he found it.
[There is one last section left...]
This last section of the library barely has anything. The shelves are covered with a thick layer of dust as if this section is untouched. Kyrie takes the scrolls one by one, shaking off the dusk, and opens them to look at the content.
[Not this one. This one looks funny; although some features of the magic circle are written by standard principle, the rest just goes entirely against those same features. It's like the magic written is completely counter-intuitive]
"Kyrie!!!" exclaims Yue.
"What?" asks Kyrie without diverting his eyes away from the current scroll.
"Look at this one! I can't get it out!" says Yue.
"Just look at the ones that you can," says Kyrie.
[Why would this magician draw this magic circle anyways? Wouldn't those clashing features just annul the entire effect that it emits itself?]
"Aaaahhhhh!!!" Kyrie lets out a scream of pain, "What are you doing? Can't you see that I am busy figuring this one out? Stop biting my ankle!"
"You are wasting your time looking at a prank! That scroll has no effect whatsoever!" says Yue, "More importantly, look at this one!"
Kyrie sighs and puts back the scroll a bit annoyed. He spends so much time looking at it to be told that it was a magician's practical joke. He walks towards Yue and looks at the bottom shelf in the corner.
There is a wooden box that seems to be hidden. If it is not for Yue, the wooden box would have just camouflaged to the shelf. He kneels and pulls out a long wooden box, the length of his arm. He slides open the lid to find an ancient-looking scroll. The paper is already golden yellow, and the edges are starting to turn brown. He unrolls the scroll on the floor and finds himself unable to understand the language written on it.
Yue gasps and says, "Kyrie! This is an ancient scroll from back in the days before Vita took away the access of humans to time and space magic!"
Kyrie smiles and kneels in front of the unrolled scroll; he put both of his hands on top of the paper.
*Woooosssssshhhhh
His surroundings suddenly become consumed by darkness, and the scroll's magic circle starts to shine off a red and purple light. Then, the scroll lights up on fire. Kyrie stands up to back away from the fire, but the fire, in an instant, burns the scroll to crisps. That fire jumps and wraps around Kyrie's left wrist like a bangle. Kyrie gnashes his teeth as the fire burns a pattern on his wrist. Then, the fire turns blue and no longer burns his skin; instead, it feels cooling like it is healing the area it burned. After the fire burns out, his surroundings return to the library.
[What the hell just happened?]
Kyrie looks at his left wrist that has symbols wrapped around it.
"That's... Space magic..." says Yue, who jumps on top of Kyrie's shoulder.
"How do I use it?" asks Kyrie.
"No idea..."
[Right... That is so useful... Didn't you use space and time magic to get me here?]
"Well... That was different. I got help from a scroll that I stole from Vita."
Surprised, Kyrie exclaims, "You stole something from Vita?!?"
"It's alright... She is used to it..."
"Wait. What? Do you guys know each other? But didn't she act as if you were a total stranger when I met her?" Kyrie says, flabbergasted.
"Right... gods have a thing always to do that..." answers Yue.
After trying to somehow make sense of the patterns on his wrist, Kyrie finally gives up and returns to his dorm room. The sun is going down, and he feels utterly exhausted. He lets his body fall to the bed with his eyes closed, but at the same time, his patterns on his wrist start to shine. When he lands, he hits something, and his body starts to sense warmth. He opens his eyes rapidly, lifts his body, and sees a person underneath him.
*ba-dum ba-dum*
His heart beats extremely fast as he takes a look at this person. His dark blue eyes are deep and wide open, staggered. His raven black hair is wet and dripping.
*gulp*
Kyrie nervously backs up with a shocked silly expression. His mind is a mess despite having recited the words that he wanted to say all this time.
He clenches his hands and nervously says, "Hi, my name is Kyrie!"