Henry slept that night.
He dreamt of a peak. It was a piece of a mountain range that stretched over the horizon. The top was laden with snow, and strong winds shook the area.
Henry was standing in the middle of all that.
"Henry, do you understand wind?" a soft and gentle voice whispered behind him.
"No… Master, it's so erratic. Can I have a clue?" Henry asked, not looking at the woman behind him.
"Telling you what I know will make you a feeble magus. You need to sense the flow of the wind and understand its soul; My cute disciple can do it."
The voice enchanted Henry. He smelled her faint flowery fragrance, enticing him to look behind.
"Cute… Call me that again, and I will find another master!" Henry protested with anger.
"Joking! I was joking…"
"Master Queen, why have you been teasing me?? I can't even look, or you will punish me!"
"Heh. If you look now, I'll… "
"W-what?"
"Look first."
Henry couldn't resist the temptation, and in the end, he looked behind.
He saw his beautiful Master Queen holding a closed fan. She wore a cute orange dress. When he looked back, the fan hit his head.
"Failed!"
"You told me to look!"
"If I told you to jump down the mountain and die, would you do it?" Queen retorted, giving her a cute and pouty appearance.
"Of course not…"
"Precisely! You need to have a strong Will. If you don't, how would you survive the Death Temptation?"
Smack.
Queen hit him on the head again.
Henry rubbed the spot she hit and turned back again.
"I won't look at your face then!" Henry had enough of her crazy teaching methods.
The dream slowly faded into nothingness. Henry awakened and opened his eyes.
By the time he did, tears welled up within them. He sobbed a little and wiped the tears away. The memories of his master returned to him.
Her name was Queen Heavenfall. She had quirky teaching methods, but they were super effective. Henry became who he was in the past because of her.
Her contribution to his magus path could be said to be 50%. She basically held his hand along the way.
Only when he reached her class did he stop and tread on his own. At that point, he didn't need any teaching anymore, so it didn't affect his growth.
Along with that dream above the snowy mountain peak, Henry remembered many of their other memories. She was a talent of the continent, and she only showed her cute and playful personality to him.
Those memories were so warm they melted Henry's heart. He couldn't help but cry.
The people he knew were gone, but the memories were still there. It was a torture Henry's heart struggled to bear.
He couldn't meet them or even say goodbye to them…
Just why… why did he have to reincarnate himself to the future? For what reason? To suffer?
Henry could not remember the reason. He only knew he hated whoever killed him.
"Master…"
Felicia noticed him crying and woke up. She inched closer to him on the bed and hugged him. She rubbed his head with care.
Instead of calming Henry, her words stabbed at his heart further. He hugged her tightly and calmed down after a while.
He sealed his heart and organized the valuable information he regained from his memories.
He remembered a lot of his magus knowledge. He could control mana finer now. His familiarity with the other elements similarly returned.
Henry felt that this knowledge was not worth it if he had to remember that he lost everyone he knew. The present couldn't remember him anymore.
He was a lonely man… But… Felicia was there.
Henry pushed her away until he could see her. He etched her face into his mind and stood up. He grabbed his towel and wiped his face dry.
His eyes were a little red, but it was as if he never cried.
Felicia was curious and wondered why he cried. She wanted to ask, but she felt that it was not the time yet. She would wait for Henry to open up and reveal everything to her on his own.
The duo left the first thing in the morning. They left the academy's gates and stepped on the fresh grass outside.
They walked to the nearby city.
It was called Virtue.
Many merchants crossed the intersections with their goods on carts. Some nobles could be seen from time to time. And rarely, some students of the academy.
It was a lively city with a bustling economy.
It didn't take long for them to find the City Guild. Once there, Henry passed the paperwork for their escort mission.
"Here is your reward."
Henry took it and gave it to Felicia.
"What do you want to buy?" Henry asked with a smile.
They had a lot of money now. They could purchase whatever they wanted to. Although, of course, there were still things they couldn't afford.
They passed by a weapons store. There were lots of staff, wands, tomes, and a few swords.
There were two other people inside. They hid their identity with the hooded cloaks they wore.
"Do you want a wand?" Henry asked Felicia.
Henry didn't fancy any of the weapons here. Instead, he wanted to spoil Felicia and give her the chance to choose her own weapon.
"What do you think I should get?" Felicia asked instead.
She was unsure herself. She was fine with anything. She thought that she should ask Henry for a better decision.
"You need to decide because this will decide your future. You can hold them and channel a bit of mana in them if you want."
"I'll do that then."
Felicia spent a bit of time and tested out each wand. They were of various shapes and made with a variety of materials.
When she tried out the staffs, she immediately felt a connection. She could feel her mana gathering in them and her spell being amplified through a mechanism she couldn't understand.
"I choose this!"