Chapter 1
Monica Everett, Isaac's mentor and the 〈Silent Witch〉, is remarkably indifferent to food, clothing, and shelter.
Food is the worst of it. She will blithely skip meals when absorbed in an experiment, and when she occasionally puts something in her mouth, it's usually nothing more than nibbling a little bread or some nuts while sipping coffee.
The cooking utensils and built-in oven in her kitchen had been gathering dust until Isaac started using them.
Unable to stand by and watch, Isaac brought cooking utensils, seasonings, and the like with him little by little every time he visited Monica's house. Thanks to him, the kitchen was now fully stocked.
Isaac removed the cake he had baked and left to cool from its mold, soaked it with citrus syrup, and covered it generously with icing. While he waited for the icing to set, he prepared the coffee.
The coffee pot Monica used all the time was apparently a keepsake from her father.
Monica's father, Venedict Rain... A scholar who was caught up in a certain conspiracy and met a tragic end. Isaac was deeply involved in his death. It was a name he could never forget—and must never forget—for the rest of his life.
Isaac had Monica's permission to use the coffee pot left behind by her father.
That was why Isaac handled the coffee pot with exceptional care.
He poured the coffee from the pot into a cup, placed slices of cake on small plates, and headed for the living room.
In the living room, Monica was sitting in a chair, moving her fingers with great concentration.
When he strained his ears, he could hear Monica muttering under her breath as she moved her fingers.
"...Hmm... I used to be able to do it properly..."
"What are you doing?"
When Isaac called out to her from behind, Monica stopped abruptly and looked up at him bashfully.
Monica's sallow cheeks suddenly flushed red, and her timid eyebrows drooped in distress.
"W-were you watching?"
"It looked like you were working very hard at moving your fingers."
Had that been something she didn't want him to see? When Isaac set the tray of coffee and cake on the table, Monica looked down and fidgeted with her fingers.
"Well, um... there's something I used to be able to do, but can't anymore."
Something she had once been able to do but no longer could.
To be honest, Isaac—naturally gifted and able to handle anything deftly—found it difficult to relate. Once he learned something—whether schoolwork, swordsmanship, or even cooking—he never forgot it.
But Monica, who was far from dexterous outside magic and mathematical formulas, was different.
To suddenly lose the ability to do something that had once come naturally...
...That must be a truly terrifying thing.
"What is it that you can't do anymore?"
When Isaac asked in a lowered voice, Monica answered with a serious expression.
"Finger snapping."
"...Hm?"
To the bewildered Isaac, Monica repeated herself with the utmost seriousness.
"Finger snapping."
Finger snapping. Isaac didn't know its formal name, but it was that thing where you press your middle finger to your thumb and strike the base of your thumb with your middle finger to make a sound.
Isaac demonstrated by snapping his own fingers.
"This?"
"That's it."
Monica nodded enthusiastically and tried to snap the fingers of her right hand. But all that came out was a feeble smack, nowhere near the crisp snap she was aiming for.
Monica bowed her head sadly. "I really can't do it anymore..."
"A year ago... I practiced a lot for the High Council."
The High Council.
It was an incident Isaac could never forget: that was when he learned Monica's true identity.
Back then, Monica had carried herself with the dignified bearing befitting one of the Seven Sages, overwhelming everyone around her.
(...Now that you mention it, Monica did snap her fingers a few times back then.)
There is, in fact, a reason to snap your fingers or make some other motion, such as waving a staff, when using magic.
When using a completed spell formula, making this sort of motion makes it easier to visualize activating the spell.
Just as pulling a gun's trigger fires it, snapping one's fingers or waving one's hand or staff when activating magic makes it easier to cast the spell.
However, it is also true that people skilled at manipulating magic power have no need for such gestures.
Besides, in actual combat, it is often advantageous not to let the enemy know when you are going to activate a spell.
Since the greatest strength of Monica's wordless magic is that its activation timing cannot be read, this sort of gesture should be all the more unnecessary.
"You can activate magic without making gestures like that, can't you?"
Monica was one of the country's top mages. With her skill at manipulating magic power, she should surely have been able to activate magic without moving even a finger.
So why did she need to go out of her way to snap her fingers?
At Isaac's question, Monica lowered her gaze, her lips twitching nervously.
"Um, I wanted to look cool at the High Council..."
"..."
Apparently, to Monica, snapping her fingers to activate magic looked "cool."
Monica had certainly looked incredibly cool at the High Council. Still, did she really need to practice just for the sake of finger snapping?
Isaac struggled for words, and Monica said, her cheeks turning red,
"C-Cyril-sama often snaps his fingers when he uses magic, so... I thought it looked really cool..."
"Oh?"
Isaac's voice took on a slightly ominous undertone and dropped in pitch, but Monica didn't seem to notice at all.
Isaac leaned in to look at her face and asked,
"So, did Cyril teach you how to snap your fingers?"
"No, Cyril-sama was busy gathering petitions... so I asked Dee-senpai to teach me while I was making Black Grails."
"..."
Hubert Dee.
He was a man who consistently ranked near the top of Isaac's list of people he didn't want getting close to Monica. Come to think of it, he often snapped his fingers when activating magic tools, too.
While Isaac fell silent, grappling with mixed feelings, Monica continued practicing her finger snap.
The force used to strike the base of the thumb with the middle finger should be important, but maybe the angle of my middle finger is wrong... Hmm... Maybe I don't have enough of a windup before bringing it down...?
With the same enthusiasm she brought to researching advanced spell formulas, Monica was trying to relearn how to snap her fingers. She looked utterly serious.
Isaac chuckled, his throat trembling, and Monica looked up at him with round eyes. "What's wrong?"
Isaac lightly swept back his bangs and narrowed his eyes.
"No, I was just thinking how cute you are."
"I-isn't it cool, too?"
It seemed his mentor wanted to be called "cool" rather than "cute."
Isaac fought hard to suppress the urge to burst out laughing as he answered,
"Of course, my master is the cutest and coolest person in the world."
With that, Isaac took Monica's right hand in his.
Her tiny, childlike hand, marked by a callus from holding a pen and stains from ink, belonged to the beloved person who had saved Isaac.
When that small, childlike hand reached out to him, how happy had he been?
"If you want to practice snapping your fingers, I'll teach you. You have a disciple right here, after all, so why not rely on me?"
Isaac wanted Monica to rely on him, even for the most trivial things.
A few minutes later, Nero returned from his walk and apparently tilted his head at Monica and Isaac, who were facing each other and diligently moving their fingers. "What's that supposed to be, some kind of spell?"