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 she 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 Bellchan?]
[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 EarthAttribute 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…
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.