Chapter 2
“…What a shame.”
The toad-like man kept clicking his tongue regretfully as he glanced at me.
“It’s such a shame.”
The man’s name was Roses. He was a senior magic knight who had commanded the Eastern Front during the Seven Years’ War, which had ended three years ago, and my nominal superior.
He was also the one who had granted my master and me temporary titles on the grounds that we might be needed in an emergency, allowing us, though we were nameless ronin, to legally take the field.
He stared at me with eyes dripping regret, but my resolve remained unchanged.
“Could you reconsider one last time?”
“I appreciate the offer, but I’d like to get some rest now.”
Seven years.
For seven years, I had been dragged through battlefields that were never meant to be my lot in life. As a mere ronin, not even a proper soldier.
And even after the war ended, I couldn’t leave the Eastern Front for three years.
The official excuse was that, though the war had ended, the unrest had yet to die down, making every single person’s presence desperately necessary.
The real reason was to complete my master’s three-year mourning rites.
Since I couldn’t leave the Eastern Front anyway—not while I was there to see my master through his final moments—I figured I might as well grant Lord Roses’s request.
But now, that was all over, and the unrest had died down.
There was no longer any reason for me to remain here.
“If you’re afraid the stigma of having come from a ronin background will follow you, I can put in a good word with the higher-ups.”
Lord Roses hinted.
“I guarantee you won’t face any discrimination just because you’re a ronin. Once they know that Carlmonte Roses is backing you, no one would dare….”
“…Captain Roses.”
I spoke calmly.
“I lost too much in this war.”
“….”
“I appreciate your offer, Captain, but… at least for now, I’d like to get some rest.”
Roses, who had been passionately arguing while repeatedly jiggling his folded chins, quietly shut his mouth when he heard me.
“…Yes, you did.”
Roses slowly nodded and said,
“I regret what happened to Gaul as well.”
I nodded instead of answering. Lord Roses let out a low sigh and muttered,
“If that is truly what you wish, I suppose it can’t be helped.”
Then he pulled an envelope from beneath the table and said,
“It’s not much of a substitute, but… would you accept this?”
“What is this?”
“Do you have anything lined up after you return home?”
Something to do.
Come to think of it, I had never thought about that.
All I wanted was to rest now that everything was over.
“I suppose you don’t.”
Roses smiled, flashing his snow-white teeth, and casually held out the envelope to me.
“It’s a letter of recommendation for the Royal Magnus Academy.”
“Magnus Academy?”
Startled by Roses’s words, I asked in surprise.
“That’s right. It’s the only national academy in this magic kingdom of Atlas, and the most prestigious of prestigious institutions, producing countless outstanding magic knights every year.”
Nodding slowly, Roses carefully rubbed his thick palms together.
“I’ll get you a position as an instructor there.”
“An instructor…?”
“What do you think?”
Roses said with his characteristic sly expression.
“Just to put your mind at ease, this recommendation was personally bestowed upon me by Lord Ludwig, the principal of Magnus Academy. I didn’t obtain it through some shady back channel, so rest assured.”
Whether he felt guilty for some reason or was simply joking, Roses held out the snow-white envelope sealed with a red stamp and said,
“Take a look. My name should be written on the back.”
Without a word, I accepted the envelope from him.
Just as he said, small golden letters were lined up on the stiff back of the envelope.
Carlmonte T. Roses.
Magnus Academy.
“Why are you giving this to me?”
“What else could I do? You said you absolutely didn’t want to remain in the military….”
Lord Roses replied, shrugging nonchalantly. I nodded, half-dazed, and stared at the words ‘Magnus Academy’ engraved on the back of the envelope.
‘…Rex.’
I remembered the name of the friend I had parted ways with in the worst possible manner fifteen years ago.
And I remembered the novel I had read before transmigrating, more than seventeen years ago.
Naturally, with so much time having passed, there was no way I could recall the details. Sometimes I was so hazy that I couldn’t even tell whether the information remaining in my head was correct.
But I still remembered the major events. The kind of information impossible to forget no matter how hard one tried.
For instance, the fact that, in the original story, Rex would be appointed as an instructor at Magnus Academy.
“….”
I kept my mouth firmly shut and sank into thought.
Perhaps he had taken my silence in a somewhat negative way. Lord Roses, who had been watching me, gradually grew worried.
“C-could it be that you don’t like even this proposal….”
“……No.”
I shook my head.
“I’ll gratefully accept it.”
Holding Lord Roses’s recommendation letter tightly in my hand, I bowed my head slightly in greeting.
It wasn’t as though I could spend the rest of my life without ever meeting Rex again. We would have to reunite someday, and I’d have to apologize… and explain myself as well.
That Rex from the original had remembered Haru even after seventeen years.
They say it’s better to get a painful injection over with sooner rather than later.
And I owed Lord Roses a great deal from the war. Not only me, but my master as well.
It wouldn’t be right to refuse his offer any longer.
“That’s a relief, truly a relief. I’ve already contacted Lord Ludwig, you see, so it would have been quite troublesome if you went and refused this as well.”
“Phew.”
Roses took a deep breath as if winded, then continued,
“Principal Ludwig is a man who can see through a person’s character. I was chosen by him as well, which is how I received that recommendation. So have confidence in yourself.”
Roses said that, but I wasn’t so sure.
“…I’m not sure.”
Do I really have what it takes?
Rex does.
Even after graduating from the training camp and receiving his knighthood, he had worked as an instructor there and led units as a commander.
And that wasn’t all. His renown as a hero and skill as a knight must both be far superior to anyone else’s.
No matter what anyone said, he was a hero.
And the protagonist of this world.
But what about me?
I was nothing more than a wandering warrior who had received a provisional knighting solely because the circumstances were wartime. I hadn’t even received a formal knighting, the starting point for being recognized as a magic knight. My starting point was entirely different from Rex’s, a senior knight and war hero.
The only thing that could vouch for my status was the single recommendation in my hand. Apart from my late master and Lord Roses, I had practically no connections.
Could someone like me, who knew nothing but how to cut people down with a sword, really be good at teaching others?
I muttered with an awkward expression.
“I don’t know if I’m really qualified for that.”
“…Miss Haru.”
Lord Roses said softly,
“Do you remember? It’s already been eight… no, nine years. I mean when I first met you and your master.”
At Lord Roses’s words, I slowly nodded.
“A bizarre magic that manipulates blood. When I first saw it, I foolishly rejected the two of you, immediately reminded of an ominous old tale….”
He continued with a bitter smile,
“It’s ironic. The very blood magic I had considered ominous was what always saved my life—and the lives of so many soldiers in my order.”
“I see.”
The crimson magic that surged and billowed—magic bearing an ominous curse.
It was an old song lyric passed down alongside the history of the kingdom.
As someone who had transmigrated—and who had no proper friends besides Rex—I hadn’t even known that such a song existed.
Because of that, when Roses branded my master and me as outsiders at our first meeting, I had lost my temper and lunged at him.
Thinking back, it was a distant incident that I still felt a little sorry about.
“To me now, crimson is no longer the color of a curse. Rather, it is a hero’s magic, the magic that helped lead this Eastern Front to victory.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Indeed. I’m glad I realized it, even if belatedly. Truly….”
Lord Roses spoke softly, his smile gone.
“And the one who changed my old prejudices… I owe it all to your master, Lord Gaul.”
He looked into my eyes as he spoke. A pair of bright-red eyes was reflected in his blue irises.
“He was an excellent warrior, and the finest man I’ve ever known. Surely… he was that for you as well.”
Lord Roses let his words trail off as he glanced at me, as if asking a question.
“What was Gaul like as a master to you?”
“Of course, he was the best…!”
“That’s wonderful! Then you already have a teaching example, don’t you?”
His thick finger pointed straight at my head.
“Do exactly what your master did. Pass on to others what you received from your master. That will be more than enough.”
“…Would simply following his example really be enough?”
“Of course it wouldn’t!”
Lord Roses burst into a hearty laugh and shook his head.
“You’ll be inexperienced. You may be far from good enough, or perhaps you’ll discover a late-blooming talent and get through it more skillfully than expected. But at first you’ll make plenty of mistakes, and sometimes things won’t go as planned. That’s only natural! No one gets full from a single bite!”
“…Is it really all right for an instructor to be like that?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
Lord Roses asked me in return.
“Because guiding students is an instructor’s job. If an instructor isn’t perfect, they have no right to take responsibility for their students….”
“An instructor’s job is to lead students, but a master’s is to move forward alongside them.”
Lord Roses said matter-of-factly.
“Those were words Lord Ludwig said to me when I was serving as an instructor at Magnus Academy.”
“You used to be an instructor, Lord Roses?”
“Is that so surprising? I’m hurt.”
Roses casually put on a wounded expression. Then he placed his interlaced hands on the desk, tilted his head toward me, and asked,
“So, what about you? Do you want to become an instructor, or a master?”