Chapter 30 - Coming of Age Ceremony (2)

"..."

"..."

An awkward atmosphere filled the room. The cool and composed Ena she usually showed was nowhere to be seen; she seemed constantly aware of Acel's gaze, covering her exposed cleavage and glancing at him sideways. Acel tried his best not to stare at her, repeatedly creating and extinguishing magical power for no reason.

Magical power shot out in the form of threads, drawing a skein in the air. Threads of magical power moving without any property change. Acel flexibly manipulated them, trying to erase his thoughts. Fortunately, as he did so, the destructive scene he had seen earlier somewhat faded.

...There was a mole there.

It came back to mind. Acel grimaced and began to operate the magical threads more actively. What kind of imagination was he having about his heaven-sent master who had saved him? He felt like he would drown in self-loathing and guilt.

Although he had memories of a past life, Acel's physical and mental age was no different from someone who had just become an adult. Until now, he had been so immersed in magic that he hadn't noticed, but he clearly had sexual desires, too. Due to his thirst for knowledge about magic, the level was slightly lower than others, however, it was ready to explode explosively at any time if given the opportunity.

He wondered if it was appropriate for that object to be Ena. It was a breach of etiquette that went beyond disrespect to rudeness. Acel quickly controlled his emotions and desires, and turned to look at Ena with a calm mind. Ena flinched at his gaze.

"You're beautiful, Master. You should dress like that usually."

"...You want me to dress like this usually?"

"I'm sorry..."

He unnecessarily spoke up and only made the atmosphere strange. Acel cleared his throat and extinguished all the magical threads he had been wrapping around.

"But I sincerely mean it when I say you're beautiful."

"...Thank you. I wasn't sure if it suited me since I haven't worn a dress since I was young, except this time, but if you like it, I'm glad too. Although the exposure is a bit bothersome," Ena said this while subtly removing the hand that had been covering her chest. 

Acel's gaze almost moved there for a moment, but for him who had already shaken off his troubles, it wasn't difficult to overcome desire. He leaned back and let out a small laugh.

A faint disappointment mixed into Ena's expression at this reaction. A tiny emotion that even she herself hadn't noticed, let alone Acel. She didn't notice the emotion that had just settled and hadn't even sprouted yet.

"Do you know how the coming of age ceremony is conducted?" Ena asked, tilting her head. 

Acel recalled the contents written in the letter and nodded.

"Yes. We just enjoy ourselves, then the elders come and bring out magic tools, and it ends when I choose one of them, right?"

"That's right. The items coming out today are all in good condition. I checked separately yesterday."

He thought that shouldn't be allowed, but Ena was strictly speaking one of the elders of the Witch Association. She just hadn't directly taken that position. Her seat was still vacant. It was a point that showed how special and cherished she was by the Witch Association. It wouldn't have been too difficult for them to reveal the list of magic tools for the coming of age ceremony, which was supposed to be top secret, to someone like her.

I heard the elders have a great interest in me.

Although 8 years had passed since Acel joined the Witch Association, he had never directly met the elders yet. Since he couldn't attend last year's coming of age ceremony due to personal circumstances, today would be the first day he saw their faces. Irina had said they were all eccentric old people. He couldn't guess how they would react.

Still, it would work out somehow. They wouldn't cause a disturbance at a gathering meant for celebration, so there was no need to worry too much. Acel thought this and waited until the event started. Not long after, one of the maids knocked on the door of the waiting room.

"Mr. Acel, you need to prepare now."

Following her words, Acel left the waiting room with Ena and moved towards the banquet hall.

"The others have all arrived already. When you're ready, you can open that door and enter," the maid said, pointing to an elaborate door that was tightly closed.

Acel told her he understood, then turned to Ena and held out his hand.

"Shall we go?"

"Yes."

Ena smiled faintly and took Acel's hand. Acel pushed open the door with magic, then walked on the red carpet laid on the floor. At the same time, he stepped into the banquet hall covered in gold and marble. The mages of the Witch Association who had gathered in advance to await their appearance welcomed them, and Acel saw Bell mischievously whistling once, then stopped at the end of the carpet.

Then he turned towards Ena and knelt on one knee.

A ritual to show respect to the master who had taught him until he became an adult. Acel lightly kissed the back of Ena's hand and brought it to his forehead. 

Feeling the warmth of her skin, he murmured, "Thank you for everything you've given me until this moment."

Ena didn't answer. Instead, she smiled and gently embraced Acel's head. Originally, the formal procedure of the ritual was to praise the disciple with all kinds of flowery words, but Ena lightly ignored this. But no one frowned at this. Ena's love for her disciple was already famous in the Witch Association. They giggled and congratulated the two.

"Thank you for coming to me."

That was enough. Ena stroked Acel's nape once, then gently released him. Acel smiled bitterly and stood up.

With that, the entrance procedure for the coming of age ceremony was completed. Then the mages who had been just laughing and silent until now all opened their mouths at once.

"Get married!"

"No, marry me! Think about the age difference with Ena!"

"He's mine, you bitches! Acel! Now that you're an adult, you don't have to hold back, right? Right?"

"Come here! I'll love you!"

Acel smiled bitterly at their half-joking, half-serious comments. On the other hand, Ena glared at them with fierce eyes. A gaze that suggested someone might die at any moment. That gaze was directed straight at the mage who had mentioned the age difference.

"Gasp."

She hid her body behind the wall with a pale face. Ena created lightning at her fingertips, but canceled the magic when she saw Acel's face.

There was no need to act up unnecessarily at a good occasion. Punishment could come later, for now it was important to enjoy time with Acel. Thinking this, she led Acel by the hand and casually said as they passed by, "Age isn't important."

"...That's true, I guess?"

Although he wondered what she was suddenly talking about, Acel agreed with her words for now. Fortunately, Ena seemed pleased with that answer and downed a cocktail she usually didn't drink. Acel also caught and drank a glass of whiskey flying through the air.

"Play the music!"

In the distance, Bell could be seen shouting while standing on a table holding a bottle of alcohol. She seemed to secretly enjoy this kind of atmosphere. Fortunately, she didn't seem to be walking around in cat form even at the banquet. Instead, perhaps she had changed her vocal cords to those of another creature, as her voice resonated loudly throughout the banquet hall.

In sync with her shout, lively music filled the hall. A mage handling musical scale formulas had directly implemented the score to play music remotely. Acel smiled, thinking that the music spreading without instruments was like the speakers he had seen in his past life memories.

Come to think of it, after seeing memories of his past life when he was young, no new memories had surfaced yet. Even the memories he saw then were incomplete, so he couldn't know what his name was in his past life or what kind of background he had. He had only received a few scenes and memories.

Like how I recalled memories by taking drugs, do I need a specific trigger to recall new memories?

He couldn't know. And it wasn’t like he could take drugs either. In the end, he had no choice but to try various other methods.

Should I look for a few more books related to past lives first?

He had already searched all the libraries in Wyheim. But there were still no notable results. It seemed he would have to look into ancient texts, interpreting them directly. Since there were a few ancient books in their original language at the academy, it seemed best to start with those.

I'll probably live in the library at the academy, too.

Somehow seeing his future clearly, Acel smiled bitterly and took a sip of whiskey.

At that moment, Irina approached Acel with a pipe in her mouth. She exhaled smoke into the air and casually put her arm around Acel's shoulder.

"Congratulations on becoming an adult. I feel like I've known you since you were a baby, and here you are having your coming of age ceremony without dying."

"Didn't we see each other at the adult celebration party last time?"

"That's different. A mage of the Witch Association only officially becomes an adult after going through this coming of age ceremony like this. That party was nothing."

"So the party that Master personally held for me was nothing. I didn't know this."

"...When you put it that way, it makes me sound like trash," Irina chewed her lips as she said this, then opened her mouth towards Ena who was sticking close to Acel's side. "Are you a leech? Because of you, other sexually active mages can't even approach Acel."

"Be quiet."

"You're only cold to me. Show me that female expression you show Acel. Aren't we close?"

"..."

"Alright, I'll shut up."

Irina immediately turned her head when she saw Ena's face growing colder.

Bell running around like a dog was reflected in Irina's green eyes. Her voice became slightly serious.

"By the way Ena, there will be a meeting of the Alliance soon. All archmages must attend."

"I know."

"If you know, that's fine."

The conversation ended with that. Irina completely withdrew her serious voice and grinned as she roughly messed up Acel's hair.

"I'm going. Congratulations on becoming an adult, and call me if you need any help."

"Oh, I actually have something right now."

"Huh?"

Acel immediately responded to what she had said out of courtesy. Irina tilted her head with a skeptical expression, then soon smiled and wiggled her pipe.

"What is it? Something I can help with right away?"

"Um... I think it would be better to show you directly rather than explain verbally. Could I borrow your pipe?"

"This? It's not such a good item for non-smokers."

"I just need to use it a little."

When he said this with a serious expression, it was hard to refuse. Irina shrugged her shoulders and handed the pipe she was holding to Acel. Acel carefully observed the pipe he received.

"There's no special magic engraved on it."

"Of course not. It's just a simple tobacco pipe. Thanks to careful management, there's not a single stain on it."

"Did you only use smoke formulas with tobacco smoke?"

"That's right. But why?"

"I needed to know."

Acel answered like that, then slightly bit the pipe and inhaled the tobacco smoke. Ena, who had been standing beside him with a disbelieving expression, was startled and grabbed Acel's hand.

"No smoking. You'll end up like Irina."

"What am I, you bitch."

Irina looked at Ena with an incredulous expression, then turned to Acel who was frowning from the tobacco smoke and opened her mouth.

"It's strong, right? It's a bit much for me too. I've been smoking for so long that I'm not satisfied unless it's that strong."

"Cough, cough!"

Instead of answering, Acel kept coughing while exhaling the tobacco smoke. Irina giggled and took back the pipe from Acel.

"See, why did you suddenly smoke?"

"I needed to, cough, get some advice, ahem."

"Advice?"

Just as Irina expressed doubt and tilted her head. Acel snapped his fingers while looking at the smoke he had exhaled. Then the smoke that was disappearing into the air stopped in place and changed shape. The smoke gathered to form a round sphere, then stretched out to create a spear-like shape.

Seeing this, the smile disappeared from Irina's face. She looked at Acel with an astonished expression and moved her lips.

"Hey, you..."

"I imitated the formula you use after seeing it. However, there are still many lacking parts, so I'd like to hear advice about my magic. After all, you handle smoke formulas well."

"...You imitated the formula after seeing it?"

Irina, seeing Acel's genius directly with her own eyes for the first time, couldn't believe it at first.

Smoke magic. Unique magic that allowed free manipulation of smoke as a specific medium. A high-level technique that took even Irina 3 years from grasping the concept to using the magic for the first time.

That magic was imitated exactly by a mage who didn't even know the concept, just by seeing the formula.

"Oh my fucking god."

Irina cursed, feeling as if her husband had been taken away.