"Contestant 87, step forward."
It was finally Karina's turn at the Magic Festival. I knew I had to cheer her on.
"Karina, you've got this!" I called out.
She smiled brightly, giving me a small wave.
"Fireball!"
The flames gathered into the shape of a graceful doe. At first, the flames were a deep red, but as the spell progressed, they turned orange, then yellow, and finally to a bright, almost blinding white. The white doe galloped forward, crashing into the target with tremendous force. The wooden target was instantly charred black, and even the iron pillar holding it up melted like soft wax.
"Nice! That was amazing!" I shouted in excitement.
The judges began scoring:
"Eight points."
"Nine points."
"Eight points."
"Ten points."
"Nine points."
A high score! She'd done it. The lessons on flame manipulation had paid off.
I rushed over to congratulate her but was promptly blocked by the royal guards surrounding her.
"She's allowed to speak with me," I protested.
"Our orders are strict. For security reasons, no one can approach Lady Karina," the guard replied, his tone firm.
"Then I'll say it from here—congratulations on taking the top spot so far!" I called over.
"Thank you," Karina responded with a grateful smile.
"Please, refrain from further conversation," the guard insisted.
I couldn't help but glare. "I'm not even allowed to talk? Come on, give me a break."
When I glanced at the other guards, they all threw up their hands as if to say, This isn't our call. It was almost comical, like they were surrendering to my frustration.
Then it clicked. The lead guard in front of me wasn't just being overprotective—he was jealous.
"You've got a thing for Karina, don't you?" I asked, smirking.
"Wh-what? No!" His face turned red.
"That reaction says it all. Let me remind you, Karina is my fiancée. Got that? What's your name?"
"Uzall," he muttered, looking away.
"Uzall, huh? I'll remember that. If you pull anything inappropriate, I'll make sure the King hears about it."
"As if the King would listen to someone like you," Uzall scoffed.
"Idiot. I'll go through Karina. Think it through."
Uzall paled. "If you went through her…"
"Exactly. Now, I'll keep talking to Karina."
I turned back to Karina, satisfied that I'd made my point. "Glad the exchange diary helped. That flame transformation was impressive."
"Yes, it was very useful, thank you. Also, I've noticed that wearing the Kokko pendant you gave me increases my spell power," Karina added.
"Then I guess we should gift one to the King and Queen too," I said with a grin.
"Good idea," she agreed.
I hadn't realized Kokko had such an effect, but it made sense. It was a dense mass of mana, after all. The pendant likely leaked small amounts of mana, which then got absorbed by whoever wore it. As the pendant adapted to the wearer's magic, it became attuned to their mana flow. Karina must have been unconsciously channeling that extra mana into her spells.
"See you later," I said as I waved goodbye.
"Until then," she replied, her smile warm.
As I left, I caught a glimpse of Uzall glaring at me with eyes full of resentment. It was only a matter of time before he tried something. I'd have to be prepared.
I needed to create something to protect Karina—something more reliable than relying on guards. A magical tool? I could order one from a skilled craftsman, but I wasn't thinking of something that simple. No, it had to be more… personal.
Perhaps a means of staying in constant communication with her would work. Something like a familiar, maybe? I mulled over the idea, then settled on using the Kokko pendant as the base. After all, I'd already imbued it with a link to my mana.
I extended the mana circulation between me and the pendant, then started to move away from it, testing the connection. The link held firm. Good.
I remembered something Samantha-sensei once said: magical connections are stronger when there's a physical medium, or "vessel," involved. That meant as long as Karina wore the pendant, we could stay linked through the mana flow.
I channeled a Listening spell through the Kokko pendant, directing the mana frequency toward Karina's pendant. Success! I could now listen to her from a distance. While I could've also included a visual component, I decided to respect her privacy and stick with sound only.
Satisfied, I sent the pendant and a brief explanation through Phantom, along with our exchange diary. When Phantom took hold of the Kokko pendant, I felt his mana briefly mingle with mine, but the connection remained intact. My mana circulation overpowered any interference. Perfect.
In the exchange diary, I made sure to write that if Karina ever needed privacy, she could simply place the pendant inside a storage spell to block the connection.
A few days later, Karina wrote back, asking if she could hear my voice through the pendant. That posed a challenge. If she wanted to connect to the Kokko pendant I held, she would need to avoid imprinting it with her own mana.
I mulled it over and realized the solution was simple—she just needed to place the pendant somewhere without touching it directly.
I'd also need to craft a magical tool that would maintain the spell without my constant attention. Maintaining a listening spell over long periods would be exhausting, even for me.
Fortunately, Kokko made the perfect mana battery. If I used it as the core for the magical tool, it could keep the spell active for at least a month. Maybe even longer.
The tricky part was getting Karina into my room to set everything up. Coming alone would raise eyebrows, and if the royal guards accompanied her, they'd see the magical device—defeating the entire purpose of keeping it secret.
But then inspiration struck. Karina didn't have to meet me in person. She could just visit my room under the pretense of cleaning. The guards could check the room first to make sure no one was there, then she could set up the Kokko pendant without any suspicion.
Letting the girl I love clean my room? I chuckled to myself. A dream come true. My ex-girlfriend in my previous life would have been furious at the thought.
Soon after, the listening device was installed, and to no one's surprise, my room was spotless. The cleaning had been an excuse, but Karina had gone ahead and tidied everything anyway. Her diligence only made me admire her more.
Even though we could now hear each other's voices whenever we wanted, Karina wrote in the diary that she had no plans to stop our exchange.
Fair enough, I thought. The diary served its purpose well. Sometimes, there are things you can't explain properly with words alone.