Lazily walking down the comfortable, sunny afternoon street, I called out to the person next to me.
[Hey, Bell. Be careful of hitting stuff like carriages, okay?]
[Gaoo!]
I am currently walking Bell through the streets of the royal capital.
Bell, who was allowed to be kept at Lilia-san's mansion, is mainly being taken care of by Sieg-san.
It's not like Lilia-san appointed her or that I asked her to do so but... Sieg-san seems to really like animals, and she often visits Bell to take care of him.
Bell has become completely attached to Sieg-san, and I've seen him happily playing with her from time to time.
However, I was the one who said I would keep Bell, and even though Sieg-san is taking care of him because she likes him, I can't just keep on relying on her.
So, I'm taking a stroll with him, at least on a daily basis.
I don't know if Bell is happy walking outside together with me or not, but he is always in a good mood when we go out for a walk, and he frequently rubs his face against mine.
Smiling at his adorable actions, I continued walking with him while patting his head.
At first, there were some curious gazes sent to us, but people are creatures that adapt to situations, and after a few days, I didn't see that kind of reaction anymore.
[Hmmm. Shall we go in a different direction today?]
[Gao!]
Telling Bell that, I turn into a different street than usual.
Well, even though I say we're going on a different street, with Bell's size, we can only pass through the main streets to begin with, and with Kuro's necklace, there's no need to worry about getting lost.
However, when I walk on a different path than usual, we would be more likely to be exposed to curious gazes.
[....It's a Behemoth.]
[Amazing... It's the first time I've seen one.]
[...Miyama-san?]
They were remarks I used to hear when I first went for a walk with Bell, so I didn't really pay attention to it but... Unnn?
Arehh? I think I just heard a different line of dialogue earlier...
Curious, I turned around and saw a familiar figure standing there.
[...Arehh? Kusunoki-san?]
[How unexpected. For us to meet here... You're taking a stroll with Bell-chan?]
[Unnn. We came down a different path than usual but... Kusunoki-san, you came from the magic school?]
[Yes. The lectures have just ended and I was on the way home.]
Apparently, this place seems to be the street from Lilia-san's mansion leading towards the magic school, and that's why I bumped into Kusunoki-san on her way home from school.
I'm not sure if it's their school uniform or not, but Kusunoki-san is wearing a brown robe, and coupled with her glossy black hair, she looked like a true magician.
She looked at Bell and me for a while, and after a moment of silence, as if she thought about something, she spoke.
[Ummm... Miyama-san.]
[Yeah?]
[If you don't mind, can I follow along Bell-chan's stroll?]
[Yeah. I don't mind.]
I don't have any particular reason to refuse, so I nodded, and thus, Kusunoki-san followed Bell and I with a faint smile on her face.
[Come to think of it, I've never heard about it before but... What kind of things do you study at the magic school, Kusunoki-san?]
[Errr... The only lectures I'm receiving are about Earth Magic and Magic Tool Creation. Today, we're being taught about "Basic Construction Theory of a Semi-Independent Golem Creation Technique Using Earth Magic".]
[O- Ohh... Just hearing what it's called is somehow making me sleepy...]
[...Miyama-san, you're already a College student, right?]
[...Embarrassing it may be, yes, I am.]
[Fufufu.]
Kusunoki-san is a girl who has already pulled herself together even at the age of 17, and just as I imagined her to be, she's a smart girl.
At least, she looks far smarter than when I was just feeling giddy about my College Entrance Examination.
[However, why did you suddenly decide to go study at the magic school?]
[...Errr, that is... You're not going to laugh, are you?]
[Eh? Yeah, I'm not going to laugh.]
[...You may think it's childish of me, but I, ummm, even back when I was little, I wanted to be a magician. And then... When I heard that there is magic in this world, I was, ummm, I was so happy...]
Hearing Kusunoki-san's words as she muttered with her face down in embarrassment, I somehow felt like smiling.
She's usually very mature in many ways, but looking at her like that, how should I say this... Things like her dreams she used to have when she was a kid, getting excited about magic, it seems that there are still parts of her that are appropriate for her age.
[No, I can understand what you feel. I was also quite excited when I heard about us being able to use magic too.]
[...A- As I thought, you also think so huh?]
[Unnn... Well, my magic is quite lackluster compared to Kusunoki-san and Yuzuki-san's magic though.]
[...Miyama-san, your magic power is less than ours, right?]
[Ughhh...]
[Ahh, I- I'm sorry!?]
The words that told me the frank truth without malice on it stabbed straight to my heart.
In fact, Kusunoki-san is right, my magic power level is lower than the two of them and aside from my Sympathy Magic, I can't use any great magic.
[Muuu… I envy you two.]
[H- However, Miyama-san, don't you have your Sympathy Magic!? It's an amazing magic... Being able to convey your emotion means that you can strike them with the "emotion of fear" to intimidate them, or we can even pile up "mental burden" to them. If you could distract them even for a second, you should be able to make use of that opening and use a knife...]
[...Kusunoki-san, you have some surprisingly nasty ideas over there.]
[Eeehhhh!?]
[...You're surprisingly quite the aggressive one huh?]
[W- Wait a moment there!?]
Kusunoki-san, telling me about the offensive uses of my Sympathy Magic that I hadn't even considered… Yep, she's a girl with some pretty merciless ideas.
Kuro said before that my Sympathy Magic is a Mental Interference Type... I guess that means it excels not in physically attacking others, but through mental attacks.
Well, I don't really plan to use it that way though...
[Well, yes, yes, that was really happy. Thank you.]
[...Miyama-san, you bully.]
[Sorry, sorry... Ahh, speaking of which, I'm changing the subject but, if you've always wanted to be a magician, do you pick the Magician class in MMOs?]
[...Yes. However, I didn't know it well at first, and I ended up just allocating all my points to Earth Magic, so I went through quite the troubles.]
[Ahh~~ I see, it's true that Earth-Attribute Magic was a bit of a disappointment.]
It's fair to say that Earth-Attribute Magic is exactly popular on the MMO we were playing before, and it was recommended not to take it because of the skill points involved in it.
That's because many of the enemies whose weakness were Earth-Attribute Magic had high Magic Resist, and they were all disadvantageous opponents to fight with the Magician class in the first place... However, that's not to say that they couldn't be used at all, and there are even some high-ranking dungeons where it would be terribly easy to hunt with Earth-Attribute Magic.
However, just as I said before, due to the skill points, the beginning of the game would be really tough for them, so it's not suitable for solo play.
[Come to think of it, the "boy" I was friends with was also a Magician with an Earth-Attribute Magic as his main.]
[Is that so? Even if it's not my place to say it, that's quite unusual, isn't it?]
[Yeah. He was a beginner, but he was a hard worker and he easily understood the essentials to how to play as one... And by the time I retired, he had soloed the boss monster, Tempest Dragon.]
[Unnn. I told him it wasn't a monster that could be fought with magic, but if he plays his cards right, he should be able to handle it... And I was quite surprised when he actually defeated it...]
When I was playing a certain MMO, I made friends with one boy who was a beginner, and I taught him lots of things.
He was a male Magician with a character name "Hibis", and he was a light player who only connected for about an hour a day but, he's really working hard and getting stronger one progress at a time...
(T/N: ハイビス / Haibisu)
I'm pretty sure he was 14 when I retired, so I wonder if he's as old as Kusunoki-san now? Unnn, thinking about those times makes me feel nostalgic...
[M- Miyama-san!?]
[Unnn?]
[U- Ummm, that Magician... you said he was a male character!? W- What does he look like!?]
[Eh? Errr, it doesn't look like he changed anything from the default appearance, but he always wore that black pointy hat I gave him in the beginning.]
[!?]
For some reason, Kusunoki-san drew closer to me with frightening vigor, and while I was surprised, I told her about the Hibis-kun's characteristics that I remembered.
Thereupon, Kusunoki-san's eyes widened and she stiffened, stopping in her tracks.
Then she looks at me with trembling eyes, and whispers in a voice as if she is weeping.
[Kusunoki-san?]
[...As I thought.... Miyama-san is... "Ciel"-san...]
[...Eh?]
The name Kusunoki-san told me was a character name I used to use in an MMO.
That name, which was just a twist on my real name, is a slightly embarrassing memory of mine, and I'm sure I never told anyone about it... so why?
Dear Mom, Dad—— I ran into Kusunoki-san and we decided to take a walk together. We had a great conversation about an MMO I used to play, but for some reason, the character name I used back then—— Kusunoki-san knew it.
**********
{Author's Notes}
It was a flag that had been gathered after over 135 chapters.
By the way, Aoi's character name is...
Hibis ⇒ Hibiscus ⇒ Mallow Flower, which means "The Self that Isn't Me".