"Look over here. See how the end of the magic circle here is open? And the juncture over here is made with a black magic circle method instead of a normal magic circle layout."
"Uh, huh."
"So my though is this. I think that Shunivalen's next work is going to be something that combines black magic or white magic with normal magic. You know how mind-related magic is on the rise, the ones that use monsters' magic. This kind of hidden circle isn't just in their last work, but all of their other creations. If they begin to create mind-related items from now on, I feel like they put in work to be able to connect that particular ability in their previous works."
Everyone was in awe at the deep analysis. That was one way to look at it. The tentative, untrusting gazes that had been thrown her way faded into trusting looks. It was all thanks to her releasing some previous unknown information.
"Oooh. I never realized. How did you know, newbie?"
"You're pretty good, huh? Your analyzing skills are top notch. You said that you're some unknown magician, but are you secretly a famous magician? We're usually the ones providing information about Shunivalen. It's kind of hurting our pride."
Everyone else was cheering and excited about the new information while one person stood there, calm. Cory had his arms crossed as he looked sharply at Michol. His face was stiff.
The mood became calm and easygoing again as everyone continued to debate about magic. Shuraina felt extremely uncomfortable at the amount of praises during the whole thing, but she forced herself to smile and compliment herself. There were a lot of snacks, though, so it made the whole ordeal worth it. She munched on finger foods as she smiled awkwardly at her fans.
Everyone continued chatting until sunset. They started talking about their personal lives after a while, and they also played magical board games.
"Wow. There was such a magician. For them to be the creator of long-distance contact magic. They aren't well-known, so I didn't know until now."
And then when people poured into the booth and showed interest, all of the members put down their game and began to market the importance of Shunivalen. Shuraina was also a member, so she was forced to take the stand and put her self-love on display.
"….so the great magician Shunivalen was the first to take apart equations and put them back…."
Sob, sob. Death would be kinder.
The festival was a three-day long event, and the first day was already coming to a close. When the day ended, fireworks bloomed in the night sky to signal the end of the day. Boom, boom. Yellow, blue, green, red. Colors exploded in the dark of the night.
Everyone stared at the colorful fireworks in the sky as they began to pack their belongings for the day. Even the Shuval Stan Group began to simmer down to leave for the day.
Shuraina was exhausted from laughing and chatting with all of the members. It was so fun to be able to talk with people who had similar interests. People usually thought of magicians as people with dark circles under their eyes and a generally exhausted looking person–so like Cory or Shuraina, but everyone here was energetic and bright. They were filled with love for magic and excitement.
"See you tomorrow Thomas! Good work today!"
"Michol."
"Haha, sorry. It's such a common name. You're not planning on changing your name to something cooler, are you?"
"I'll be leaving now."
Shuraina greeted everyone warmly and was planning on leaving soon. She packed up her belongings and stood up. For an outing that was just supposed to make her feel better, this was quite a success. The compliments were a bit embarrassing, but it had been a pretty fun day. For her to compliment herself like this. Nobody really knew what the day would hold. If anyone else found out, she'd be a laughingstock. Shuraina began to pack her belongings even faster to get home as soon as she could.
She had bought quite a lot of stuff, so her bag was pretty heavy. The Shuval Stan Group had given her entry gifts–their own circles and items–so she had even more to put in.
Shuraina carried out a bag that was almost half her size on her back and left the festival area. She turned to a corner.
She was just about to head to the pavement when someone familiar was leaning on a wall. They had their bag on the ground and seemed like they were hesitating to sit on their bag for a bit or not.
"Cory….?"
Cory DuBois, who had been leaning on the wall and staring at the night sky, turned his head at the sound of someone calling his name. He looked at Shuraina in disguise and flicked his fingers towards himself.
"Oh, you're out. I was waiting for you."
When Shuraina began to walk towards him, he smiled and placed an arm around her shoulders. Shuraina had never really had interactions like this with Cory before, so she was taken aback by his familiar gestures.
"Michol, can you make some time?"
"..."
Cory smiled gently as he spoke.
"I just have something that I'm curious about."
"What is it."
Shuraina nervously wondered if Cory had figured out her identity. If Cory figured out who she really was, then Shuraina would definitely be embarrassed, but she felt like Cory would be even more embarrassed. Sorry Cory. Sorry. She apologized to him over and over again as she felt guilt strike her heart like arrows. Aaaaagh! Sorry.
"...you're not, are you?"
Cory asked, putting his face close to Shuraina's disguised one. His tone was slightly sharp. It almost felt like she was being bullied.
"What?"
Cory glared down at Shuraina's disguised form and roughly tousled his hair. Then, he looked back up and straight into Shuraina's eyes.
"You..."
Cory's face drew even closer than before. His expression was incredibly angry. Shuraina was sure that this was how she was going to be discovered. It was time to confess her sins.
"Are you close with Shunivalen?"
Hup. Shuraina was just about to open her mouth to speak before she clamped her mouth shut. Cough, cough. She even fake coughed a few times. The question he had asked her wasn't the one she had been fearing.
"N, no."
Shuraina accidentally lied. No. I mean, it was kind of true. You couldn't be close to yourself. No, is it possible? It was confusing. Anyway, why was Cory asking such a question?
"There are groups who want to monopolize black and white magic, so using mind-related spells is kind of a sensitive topic. Of course, Shunivalen probably got permission to do it, but do you want to tell the entire world about something that Shunivalen hid on purpose?"
Oh, what? This was touching. Shuraina's eyes shined at his words. There was a reason behind his anger. To be honest, she did get permission for everything. It was easy to get permission to use black magic through Hylli. Thanks to that, she was freely able to write out mind-related magic circles, but it was something that could've caused a huge problem.
They couldn't use it any longer because their family heirloom had been stolen, but the royal family was still known to monopolize black magic. White magic was basically monopolized by the Blanche family, too. The newest item and the new unreleased item were both going to be able to connect with each other, so she had used a tiny bit of black magic to get them to connect. It was something that could've caused an issue if the royal family wanted to make a fuss out of it.
I mean, it didn't matter anymore, but she blinked a few times.
"And the password, the one that lets you look past the protective layer of the circles. You can't know it unless Shunivalen tells you about it themselves. But the fact that you know that secret circle and the information behind it means that you personally know Shunivalen. Why are you lying?"
Oh, shoot. That was true. The protective magic that Shuraina used was all under a single password, and only Cory knew of it. The password was, 'Every Tuesday night, make-up literature classes. 5 o'clock.' She had chosen that as the password for Cory, who had been miserable about failing literature classes, to remind him to attend those classes. It had been a while since they had graduated, so she had forgotten. Oh, no.
Shuraina didn't even think of the possibility of Cory being jealous. She just continued to roll her eyes as she tried to think of an excuse, scared that she had been caught. What could she do?
"To be honest, we are acquainted."
"You are?"
Shuraina, who was acquainted with Shuraina, nodded as she changed her explanation. If Shuraina had been less surprised, she could've just lied and said that she didn't know but there was a way for her to bypass the password. And she would've stuck with that excuse and let the scene. But she had been too surprised at how incredibly aggressive Cory was right now compared to how kind he was to her to act rationally.
When she confessed that they were close, Cory's brows furrowed even further. His face grew even more angry.
"How close are you?"
Cory bit his lips slightly at his own childishness.
When he demanded to know how close they were, Shuraina became even more confused. What did he mean, how close. Who knows? She talked to herself a lot. Did that count? Wait, is Cory jealous that she had a friend that was closer to her than he was? That was kind of stupid and childish. But also kind of cute.
When Shuraina was too busy to answer as she tried to think of a response, Cory squatted on the ground as he leaned on the wall. Then, he looked up as he spoke, tired.
"Password aside, most of the information that you've spread throughout the day aren't things that you can just figure out by yourself. I've heard that there are organizations that specialize in breaking down Shunivalen's devices and sell the information. Are you?"
Thankfully, Cory still hadn't figured out who she was. He was still working under the premise of Shunivalen's profits. Jealousy aside, Cory became quite sensitive when it came to Shunivalen's losses.
"No. I just heard from the source."
"…..What's your relationship?"