"It isn't finished yet?!"
[I apologize but it isn't quite 1 day.]
One day… It might be around dark. The same time as he turned off the connection last night.
[Could you stay alone?]
Hm?
What… was this strange question?
[You won't wait for so long I didn't go far from you. Although, you don't see me, I'm still always with you.]
Again… his enchant voice made I couldn't answer. It couldn't be helped.
"Do your best."
For my research.
[Thank you very much.]
[…I'll go inside.]
He talked with someone at his side.
[Well, see you later High Sage.]
The sound was silent immediately, he might so busy. It wasn't a hard job, I waited for 3 years waited a little more wasn't a problem.
"Let's see. What's he sends?"
Nine left lunch meal for me. It was a white fish without fishbone dish [1], a green soup with a small vegetable[2], and a glass of Pink Milk.
Pink Milk… I remembered it.
"Sadly, you couldn't drink it. Momo."
I named the black dog doll, Momo. I wasn't a person who likes dolls, but I liked the dog. I wanted my dog since I was a kid. My dad had a dog as a partner but when he went out, I didn't meet him too. I wished he didn't forget about me.
The fish was so soft, had no fishy smell, and was tasteless so I tasted the green soup.
"Spicy!! It… it isn't the soup."
I got the poison again but spicy made the dish more delicious. Breakfast was still in my belly, so I ate slowly. Water could heal the poison too, I kept Pink Milk at the last.
…So delicious. My tongue came back to its normal state.
Around the late afternoon, Nine came back. The good thing was he accept to create the work for me.
[I must tell you I have to test.]
"Test?"
[It may have some mistakes.]
I crossed my arm and stared at the air, "The time you used, didn't for the work?"
[I went to get the permission. Your work isn't the thing I can determine by myself. The preparation process has to test. If I test alone, you'll have to wait, so I come to test with you. If it has a thing you don't like, I'll fix it.]
Felt so easy.
[Because I'm an expert~.]
Huh!
[First, it has Water Magic on your work. To protect your precious things, I'll add the Barrier.]
[Barrier activated.]
A large transparent box covered me. It was like Light Wall.
[It's good than Light Wall. This Barrier is so strong.]
[Then I'll clean your dishes and starting the time again.]
13:16:05
Dishes disappeared and the countdown reduced again. I gave his signal.
"Let's do it!"
Magic power created the drop, increased size to the big water ball. Many spells were blending inside. Nine was truly read my report. Until it met one point, the power was sent back.
Boom!!
The water ball exploded. I got wet from head to toe.
"…What is it?"
The process went out of my thought. I didn't do perfectly the first time. I got many failures and tried it many times, but I didn't think the one who made the ideal magic was…
[Shit, Bug[3].]
"…"
[Ah this. I didn't use this revision.]
[Um… Ok. This… I delete it out. Alright, it's done! Wait a minute High Sage. It's now loading.]
…Didn't understand at all.
The water ball exploded again.
[One more time.]
It continually exploded. Sometimes he disappeared before came to explode it again.
"I thought you're an expert." I used a towel to clean my face.
[I'm an expert but others not.]
Huh?
[…Wait a minute.]
Wheels sound dragged out, and footstep went out. Nine walked away until one distant he shouted.
'Tell Fifty-three (53) to write comments[4]! I can't read!'
Strong, so frightening, and filled with the power… Nine might be their boss.
I heard many people sound on that side. Maybe the front organization of NUMBERS was the Magic Tool company. He might use tools to service me.
The water ball still repeated explode. It was weird that he struck on this point for so long.
"Nine, you can't do like that."
I sensed Magic Flow from his work and told the solution via the other magic that was used as an example. When I did that, Nine was silent for a while before responding,
[As expected of High Sage.]
I had to wait again. The countdown stopped at 10:11:56 lefts. It wasn't boring much I knew about his problem, so I thought about the way to fix it.
[I bring our daughter to you.]
A bit while Nine came back. He came with the result I was surprised. The water ball followed my theory.
The shiny water surface and the flow were beautiful. It could make me cry.
[It isn't complete yet. I still have to customize a little thing but just about this result, you can do your job, right?]
"…Yes. Yes!"
I ran to the desk and opened the report to write the thing I pause for 3 years ago.
The result and the conclusion.
"Here I come!"
…
[Please confirm the result.]
Nine presented the water ball in the morning. The last night I slept after finished the report, so I didn't know when he slept.
The countdown was 7 hours 44 minutes 23 seconds left. I ate Chicken Rice Soup with orange juice while checking it. I felt like I was the king who received the offering and listened to the state of the kingdom. I met the king when I was young. The Heros family has an opportunity to get to know the royal.
Nine's work still followed my thought, my theory in the report too. It was truly unbelievable.
Even I was High Sage, I was still a kid.
I got the position because I was the son of Heros.
These words were waiting to attack me every time, so I had to be careful. I wouldn't allow the mistake to open that opportunity. I didn't mind if they looked down on me because I wasn't strong. I was just scared of the word they talked to me, the eyes and body expressions that they use on me.
Maybe I was suited to be alone.
While Nine waited, he didn't talk a bit. Although he liked to annoy me, he knew what he should do or not. I gave the praise from the customer's viewpoint.
[How about it, High Sage. Do you like it?]
"Um…"
"Just as Eccentric I know."
[Thank you very much. We're already ready for tomorrow. Do you have something you want?]
"Nine."
[Yes.]
"This point has something…"
[…]
I pointed my finger to the magic result. It was the thing that could see with eyes.
"The flow is nothing wrong, but I think it has to be more."
It was ok but I just wondered why.
[It can be like this. Everything is correct. Do you know about external factors?]
"Yes. Uncontrol power from the outside."
[Correct. External factor makes it like this.]
"Then… In the day, can you use Barrier before creating the work?"
This cause happened to many works before, but for my sureness, I wanted to control the environment state to be stable maximally.
[It's alright. It'll be like this for sure.]
Aw. What about external factors?
[Your research is done. Other than magic and the report, you have to prepare the Stone Inscription, right? I'll bring it to you.]
He tried to avoid this topic… I was filled with doubt, so I checked my paper.
"Nine, I think it's not right. This thing isn't an isolated magic reaction. It's combined with other magic. Although this state is stable it isn't correct. Could you check this line again?"
I pointed my finger at the paper.
[I already double-check it. This is correct.]
He was so stubborn.
[Sometimes, Theory and Result aren't the same.]
I knew. I made noise with my tongue and pointed to another point on paper.
"This! If it isn't right, it must be this. It's a magic intensity. You control it correctly, right?"
[Yes. I followed your research. The intensity is 2.12 points.]
2.12 point... What?
"I wrote 2.72 points." I pointed to the 2.72 value on paper.
[…]
I heard the sound of switched pages.
[…Your 6th page is 2.12 points.]
I quickly opened it too.
2.12
"Why?! I did many checked before, why didn't see it?!"
I repeated the report over these 3 years. No… Sometimes this case could occur. When the brain remembered, the habit would hide the mistake point.
[Ah….. h….... h….....]
"Wait Nine, I'll check it. What is the correct value!!"
[Ah…]
A sound like bitted his lip and stopped his anger by smashed hand on his hand.
Don't rush me! I'm a mistake. I'm sorry!
"2.72 is the correct value!"
Alright, I just edited mistake points in the report. It didn't have much I could finish in time. And Nine just added magic intensity to this point
[....H…a.]
"Nine?" His voice looked like he going to die.
[High Sage, could we send it like this?]
Er?
[Please.]
[I beg you, High Sage.]
[Please.]
[I'll create pink milk for you.]
Why did he become to begging me?
[Nobody will know it.]
But I knew!
[…]
'Tough like hell.'
The silence stayed between us.
"You can't finish it on time?"
[…]
Was it true? Just a thing like this.
For me, to increase the magic intensity from 2.12 points to 2.72 points was so easy like snapping a finger. It wasn't related that he could follow my theory or not. This was an easy skill.
The countdown was 5:19:10 lefts. I crossed my arm, my legs, and told him.
"I'm still thinking about your score. Just increasing power, you can't do it. I guess you have to study again. Go back to the Mage Rank."
The starting point of Magician.
[…]
[Excuse me for 10 minutes.]
Maybe it was my true test. If he couldn't snap a finger for me, he wasn't suited to be my magic. It had a thing that hard more than this.
Although my life bonded with his's work, I couldn't walk with a person who wasn't good in basic.
…
"Keep quiet. It came outside."
The man at the door told to the man in front of the mirror. He came to the toilet because he heard a roar of angry. Even it had the sound of the water stream, it couldn't cover that unpleasant voice.
The tall and strong body lifted his front hair and use both arms to stand at the sink. His black hair filled with water drops. Under his eyes had the black shade. He kept his emotion and responded with a weighted voice.
"He… told me to go to elementary school…"
"What?! So brave! Why did it become like that?!"
The man at the door laughed. If the other was the mountain that already exploded, he was the cheerful wind. About the size too, he couldn't compare to that mountain.
Could scold no one but himself, the mountain man scrubbed his hair to spread out the water. His appearance didn't suit to meet anyone… More than the disgruntlement, one thing was clear.
"It's suck. I want to sleep."
The wind man that knew every detail couldn't stop laugh.
"Fool! You are the one who started it, remember? Free Trial~. What is going on now? Out of your hand!"
"Wanna get back?" The angry eyes looked back.
"Nope! I can stand with this level."
"I… fucking want to smash Minotaur!!!"
The mountain man lowed his head and screamed at the water stream.
"I know I know. When you finish, I'll hold the party."
At that moment, the alarm's sound came out from the man in front of the mirror's pocket. He stopped that sound and pushed the slim metal to stop the water flow.
"I have to go... Forty-one buy my meal."
"Roger."
He hurries ran out while picked up the square thing around his hand's size. He spoke with it.
"I'm back. I use 10 minutes as I told."
Someone on another side responded.
"Sure! I can do it. To serve the perfect magic is NUMBERS' pride."
"Huh… The event launches tomorrow at 9 o'clock but you have to come at 8 o'clock then you have time around 18 hours left, right? It's no problem."
"Do you know about a one-night miracle?"
That one didn't know it.
"It means everything will be fine with one night."
That one thought he make tease and used luck for the contract condition.
"It's not like that. I'll prove to you that I'm suited to you. Yes, even I have only one night…"
"I'll create the Rome for you."[5]
[1] Dolly fish steak.
[2] Seafood sauce.
[3] Bug = like a software bug.
[4] Comment = like a code comment.
[5] From Idioms, 'Rome wasn't built in a day.'