Chapter 49
Long ago, there was a wizard.
A wizard whose family had fallen from grace after an unsavory incident, and who had cast aside both his surname and given name.
A wizard who had secured dazzling renown through absolute loyalty to the imperial family, courteous deference to the nobility, and exceptional magical skill.
People called him.
“Commander.”
At the voice calling to him, the middle-aged wizard stopped packing his things and gave a kindly smile.
“You’re here, Albert.”
Albert was now the deputy commander of the Imperial Mage Corps, and was widely expected to rise to the post of commander by the end of the year.
Even he had once been nothing more than an ordinary member.
There had been a time when he was an awkward youngster who had to learn from someone else.
“Are you really leaving?”
Albert surveyed the empty room.
The room that had once been full of papers, spellbooks, and research equipment he used was now rather bare.
Feeling a pang of emptiness, he called after his master in a regretful voice.
“Ho ho. If anything, I think I should have stepped down earlier. I’ve been at it far too long.”
The wizard raised a hand and brushed the dust from the window.
A crimson sunset streamed through the gap in the window.
Beneath that light, he tidied away even the last handful of shadows left at the tail end of his long years.
“It’s about time to leave things to the younger generation.”
“Come to think of it, there were plenty of poor souls whose road to success got completely blocked by you, Commander.”
Though he said that, inwardly he hoped the man would stay a few more years.
He was the kindhearted commander who always used honorifics even with juniors far beneath him.
The fact that Albert now spoke politely to Lunaris and the others was also his way of trying to resemble the person he considered ideal.
“I don’t mean to stop you, but... are you really planning to leave everything here and go with nothing at all?”
“I’ve received so much from the Empire.”
The wizard placed his hand on a neatly wrapped box.
“So wouldn’t it be only right to leave it all behind when I go?”
At his cheerful joke that even if he were cast naked into the world, he wouldn’t starve, Albert gave a bitter smile.
“Still, I didn’t expect you to refuse even the gift His Majesty bestowed on you.”
“That’s not it. Rather, I was the one who was rude to His Majesty. As a mere subject, I presumptuously asked him to put it to good use.”
Albert’s eyes narrowed.
He remained silent for a moment before speaking cautiously.
“As I thought... you’re planning to give it to Her Highness the Consort.”
“Let’s not talk about that.”
The wizard smiled awkwardly, stroking the scruffy beard on his chin.
“It’s not as if it’s someone else. Why hide it between us?”
Albert shrugged slyly.
“My peers all know that the reason you never married was all because of her.”
“How many times do I have to say that I have nothing to do with Her Highness the Consort...?”
The wizard let out a deep sigh and went on.
“We were nothing more than teacher and student who happened to cross paths for a brief moment.”
“Hard to argue that one of you was the teacher and the other the student when the way you looked at each other was anything but ordinary.”
“Let’s stop there. In the first place, wasn’t the age gap between you two enormous?”
A brief silence fell at the wizard’s words.
Albert still added one last line.
“If you put it that way, doesn’t she have quite an age gap with His Majesty the Emperor as well?”
“Still, it’s a more reasonable age gap than with me, isn’t it?”
In the end, the wizard seemed to surrender and added, with a faint smile,
“Well, I can’t deny that I do care, honestly.”
His wistful gaze turned toward the window.
The light of dusk dyed the room gold.
Such a nostalgic light.
I thought I had left it all behind.
Yet a warm haze still lingered in his eyes.
Within the imperial court, the wizard’s last lingering attachment remained.
There was a woman as radiant as the sunlight etched into his own eyes.
And there was a young daughter who resembled her, one who had only just learned to walk.
There was a dazzling child whose eyes sparkled whenever they saw his magic.
He had wanted to keep watching over them for a few more years, but...
Perhaps because he had pushed his body too hard, he could feel that he didn't have much time left.
Like the light outside the window, his life too was turning to dusk.
Albert quietly watched the melancholy wizard, then asked in a low voice.
“So then, why did you call only me here in the end?”
“I don't know about the others, but somehow I feel like you’ll still be in the Imperial Mage Corps ten or twenty years from now.”
Indeed, many years later, while all his peers and seniors had left, Albert alone remained in the Imperial Mage Corps, so his judgment could be said to be remarkably accurate.
“Trusting in that, I have a favor to ask of you.”
The wizard said, patting Albert on the shoulder.
“A favor? Give me an order, sir.”
“An order, no...”
The wizard's gaze drifted off into the distance for a moment.
“When I go into seclusion this time, I plan to hole up somewhere quiet in the forest and teach a child with talent for magic. Ideally, I'd like the child to be the same age as Her Highness the Princess.”
“Have you got a child in mind already?”
“Well, I’ll have to start looking now. Time is all I have to spare.”
“It’ll be quite a task finding one who meets your standards.”
“Anyway... if that child later joins the Imperial Mage Corps, I’d like you to look after the child a bit.”
Just as the wizard had looked after Albert so carefully.
“Of course. But... how will I recognize the child? I’d appreciate it if you left some sort of token.”
“I’ll prepare a recommendation letter separately. As for the name... I can’t tell you yet, since I’ll have to meet the child first before deciding on it, but I’ve already thought of a surname.”
Looking at the moon faintly rising beside the setting sun, the wizard spoke in an incomparably gentle voice.
“Evermoon.”
He filled it with the hope that the child, who would shine like the sun, would be protected in his stead.
“Then I suppose I should call the commander who'll be that child’s father Commander Evermoon.”
“Wouldn't grandfather be more fitting than father?”
And so the wizard quietly left the imperial palace, seen off by only his sole disciple, and faded from the memories of many.
Since he had not even left a name behind, it was only natural, in a way.
Even so.
To a few, though, he would remain in their memories for a long time, true to the name Evermoon, a moon that endures forever.
*
“Hwaaahm-”
Lunchtime.
At the table where I was eating with Her Highness and Claire, I dozed off while chewing my meat.
“Luna, are you still sleepy? You slept through class all period.”
I answered by lazily blinking at Princess Celestina’s amused voice.
The question of whether I was still sleepy was wrong to begin with.
I’m always sleepy.
No matter how much you sleep, it’s never enough.
Saying goodbye to my bed every morning is just too heartbreaking.
“Your Highness, it’s not just today.”
Claire added in a slumped voice from beside me.
“She’s like that in every class. There’s almost no one who’s seen her actually pay attention.”
“Oh, really? This is actually the first time I’ve seen Luna pay attention in class from right beside her.”
Saying that, Her Highness chuckled softly, smiling as if she'd crossed one item off her bucket list after ages.
“Now that I think about it, it’s been a really long time since Luna showed up to a theory class, hasn’t it?”
“If things had gone well today, I could’ve skipped the lecture too... if only it weren’t for Your Highness...”
I grumbled petulantly toward Her Highness, who was laughing beside me.
In the end, my undefeated streak against the head maids was tragically broken today.
The mana barrier suppressing my magic was a little annoying, but in the end I couldn't withstand the combined assault of the maids and the imperial knights.
This... this is cheating. This is a violation of the WWE agreement.
Keep this up and I'll fight back under UFC rules too, you know?
“And of all days, this has to happen when I had a weird dream and didn’t sleep well... Haaahm-”
At my muttered words, spoken without thinking, Her Highness tilted her head and asked,
“What kind of dream was it?”
“Hmm... well, it was like two people who seemed familiar and unfamiliar at the same time were standing face to face and exchanging all kinds of words...”
Strange.
I was sure it had still been lingering in my head until I opened my eyes.
And yet, for some reason, my eyes had felt damp with a strange sense of longing.
But after the morning chaos, the memory flew away with it.
“...I forgot.”
“If it’s been bothering you that much, it must have been a pretty important dream?”
“Well... if I can’t remember it, maybe it wasn’t that important after all?”
“That’s not what matters right now, Luna!”
Then Claire suddenly put down her fork and started tearing at her hair.
And Her Highness is right here. You’ve finally lost it, Claire.
“Final exams are getting closer, you know!”
Ah, has it already gotten to that point? Time really does fly.
I could understand a little why Claire had gone crazy.
Of course, that only meant I understood it; I still didn't really empathize.
“But Claire, didn’t you say your midterm grades were pretty good?”
“I did do well... but now that it really seems like I might move into Linnea Hall, I want it even more!”
Claire slammed her forehead onto the table and squeezed out tears.
“Her Highness is in Linnea Hall, and you’re in Linnea Hall too, Luna, so why am I the only one... why am I the only one who can’t live comfortably! Whyyyy!”
Claire was shrieking impertinently before royalty.
She had clearly been the type who couldn't even get a single word out in front of Her Highness at first, but now that she seemed to think things had gotten easier, she had closed the distance without restraint.
Naturally, the escorts were scowling hard.
Instead, perhaps because she found it more comfortable when someone like Claire approached her so casually, Her Highness only laughed pleasantly.
“It’s all right, Claire. You did well on the midterms too, so you’ll do even better on the finals.”
“Uuugh, uuuugh... Your Highnessss...!”
Her Highness’s benevolence soothed the ill-mannered Claire.
At this rate Claire would end up getting spoiled, so I decided to take up the whip in place of Her Highness.
“Your problem isn’t skill; it’s that you’re clumsy.”
This is what you call the courage to be disliked, even if it’s a hassle.
I'll be honest.
It’s just fun to tease Claire.
There’s no more carefree pleasure than sitting on the sidelines and saying, ‘Ah, that’s not how you do it.’
And not having to go through the trouble of actually doing anything is a bonus.
“You said you lost points again this time because of mistakes, right?”
“Luna, you’re way too ruthless...! At times like this, you should just baby me! Give me nothing but endless support and encouragement!”
“I don't care. Just don’t make mistakes this time. From what I can tell, the finals don’t look like they’ll be all that hard either.”
At my words, Her Highness tilted her head as if something were odd.
“Huh? I heard from the magic department assistant that this final exam is going to be incredibly difficult?”
“R-Right! Now that you mention it, I heard that too. Apparently, the professor started making the final exam questions right after the midterms ended. I heard he’s putting a huge amount of effort into it?”
Well... even so, there are only so many questions they can ask.
“In the end, the questions will come from the material in the textbook, so how outrageous could they really be?”
I stretched out and muttered sleepily.
For an academy first-year level, it probably won’t amount to much.