Chapter 19
Inside a dark storeroom.
Lydia and Morgan sat with their backs to each other, eating dinner. Using a small box as a seat, they leaned back-to-back and listened to each other eat.
“….”
“….”
It was a bizarre sight,
but there was a reason for it.
First of all, the offer to share a meal was a ‘deal’ Lydia had proposed herself.
Lydia had come to Morgan’s storeroom-like workshop. In one hand, she held a basket filled with fresh food.
Morgan was startled when she saw Lydia.
“!”
The food looked colorful and delicious.
The basket Lydia carried was neatly packed with fresh food. For Morgan, who couldn’t eat openly in the dorm cafeteria and had to make do with leftovers, it was a proper meal unlike anything she’d seen in ages.
Morgan realized Lydia had come to invite her to eat. But she asked brusquely anyway. She didn’t want to look like she’d been won over by the food at once.
“What is it?”
Lydia smiled gently. Her smile was a little stiff, but warm all the same. Like a stone that had basked in the sun for a long time…
“Would you keep me company for a meal?”
“….”
“I’d like to dine with someone wise.”
“….”
Morgan fidgeted with her fingers.
What should I do?
If I accept right away,
I might look like some commoner who’s crazy about food…
‘I don’t want that.’
“….”
While her mind hesitated,
her stomach had already given its emphatic approval.
Grrrr—
“—?!”
Morgan’s face turned red.
In the dark storeroom, it was almost indistinguishable from her red hair. A faint squeak escaped her mouth, like the buzz of a mosquito.
‘Damn it…!’
Of course, Lydia didn’t point it out.
Pretending she hadn’t heard,
she quietly offered again.
“Please, would you dine with me?”
“….”
Taking advantage of the pause,
Morgan hurriedly constructed a ‘justification’ in her head.
‘Hmph. I can save on food, and satisfy my curiosity about what makes a meal with a friend such a big deal. Most importantly, she’s the one who asked me.’
1. This is a reasonable request.
2. It satisfies my curiosity, too.
3. I’m the one in control here.
Once she’d laid out the logic in her head, she calmed down.
She answered,
“…Fine. I’ll allow it. I’ll let you experience what it’s like to dine with someone wise.”
“Understood.”
There was one condition, though.
Morgan pulled a fork from the corner of her desk and gave Lydia a stern warning.
“Absolutely, absolutely do not watch me eat. If you do, keep your mouth shut and don’t say a word. If you say anything, I’ll curse you.”
“….”
It was an overly sensitive reaction.
But Lydia had expected it.
‘In the game, she had a complex about her unusual way of eating. Her family had mocked her for ages, calling her a commoner.’
Lydia hadn’t come to teach her table manners. Morgan was free to eat however she wanted. Lydia understood that perfectly well.
“Understood.”
Lydia and Morgan sat with their backs to each other and ate lunch.
As they ate, Lydia casually mentioned what had happened in the Swordsmanship Department. Morgan listened quietly, chewing on a soft piece of fruit.
“…Something happened in class today.”
“Hmph. The Swordsmanship Department is full of idiots. The Kingdom of Gallia is full of idiots, too. They’re so caught up in outdated values, going on about the duties of nobles and all that…. This world already runs on mana engineering and money. Knights are only useful when there are monsters around.”
What an extraordinary thing to say in front of royalty: insulting her kingdom.
But Lydia answered calmly.
“Hehe, call it romanticism.”
“I didn’t expect that from you. From the way you usually talk, you seem like the sort to criticize your kingdom’s idiocy more than anyone.”
“How could I only hate it? The people I love and the people I hate… they’re all in the Kingdom of Gallia.”
“….”
What about me?
Just as she thought that—
Lydia immediately continued.
“Of course, I’ve made friends in the Republic and the Holy Theocracy now, too. Even so, I can’t see everything about the Kingdom of Gallia as entirely bad.”
“….”
Morgan let out a breath, relieved.
“…Tch. You don’t have to think about me.”
“Hehe.”
Still, she was happy.
That Lydia hadn’t forgotten to include her.
So she hid it.
If Lydia found out how she felt, she might use it against her.
Morgan and Lydia had known each other for less than a week.
She couldn’t let her guard down yet.
“….”
Morgan irritably stabbed her fork into the fruit.
Pfft!
Juice dripped from the end of the fork she held in a reverse grip. As she stared at it, a thought suddenly occurred to her.
‘It’s strange. Everything Lydia brought is so mild. I thought people from the Kingdom of Gallia went crazy for hot things like meat stew. And even the fruit isn’t sour…’
Thanks to that, she could eat easily despite the many sores in her mouth. Morgan simply assumed that this was a matter of Lydia’s personal taste. She felt a little relieved.
‘Lydia can’t eat hot and sour food, either.’
For some reason,
that made her happy.
“….”
…What?
Morgan shook her head, trying to dislodge the thought.
How stupid.
The two of them resumed eating in silence. Lydia ate elegantly, with proper table manners, while Morgan tore off small pieces of food with her fork held in a reverse grip.
“….”
“….”
Morgan hesitated.
Judging by the flow of the conversation, it was now Lydia’s turn to ask, ‘What about you?’ But that question would inevitably bring up Morgan’s life in the Magic Department, where she was ostracized.
She didn’t want that.
“….”
And it was stupid, too.
That she was trembling over one simple question.
“….”
Morgan bit down lightly on her lip.
Her stress shot up. She hated that she was mentally rehearsing a conversation with Lydia and imagining how she could make herself sound less pathetic.
‘This is why I hate having friends.’
Just as she thought that,
Lydia spoke.
“Come to think of it.”
“!”
Ah, damn it…
But Lydia’s words weren’t what she’d imagined.
“The joint classes between the three departments will begin soon.”
“Oh? Yeah.”
Morgan felt relieved. Lydia hadn’t asked about her personal life.
“…That’s right.”
“But I’m worried.”
“?”
“I’m not confident when it comes to classes in the Magic Department.”
“…Pfft.”
Morgan shrugged and answered confidently.
“Hmph. I doubt old man Edmond expects much from the Swordsmanship Department’s empty-headed meatheads anyway. Even that fussy old geezer has some sense. You just need to get through a general education book like <Basic Theory of Mana>. You could teach it to a village kid in three days. I memorized the whole thing in an hour.”
“….”
“You learned that much as part of your royal education, didn’t you?”
Morgan pointed toward the mess of blankets in the corner of the storeroom. One book lay there, serving as her pillow.
A particularly worn book.
It was one of the first-year textbooks for the academy’s Magic Department, <Basic Theory of Mana>. The worn-out old edition was covered in notes, right down to the cover. It really seemed as though she’d memorized the book’s contents early on and then used it as a notebook.
Lydia looked at it and thought, ‘Her handwriting is terrible….’ Then she gave a wry smile.
“I studied that book on my own, but I couldn’t understand it for a whole year.”
“….”
“I suppose I just don’t have any talent for magic.”
“….”
Morgan swallowed.
It felt as if someone had doused her with cold water.
Her mind went blank.
She didn’t know why,
but suddenly it felt like she was being pulled down into the floor.
“….”
Uh…
I mean,
I wasn’t trying to make fun of you…
“….”
What should I do?
‘What if she thinks I was making fun of her?’
What should I do…
The tip of the fork in her reverse grip trembled ever so slightly.
Tremble—
“….”
Her vision spun and dizziness washed over her. Her mind reflexively scrambled to come up with an excuse to protect herself.
‘I-it wasn’t my fault. How was I supposed to know you were that hopeless at magic? Damn it. I should’ve waited a moment before answering. But you suddenly brought up magic, so I got excited… No, still, I should’ve thought it through more…’
How stupid.
I messed up again.
‘Now she’s going to leave, too….’
“Hic, h-hic….”
Morgan slowly began to pant.
As she gasped, dust tickled her lungs. She naturally started coughing, and a small piece of fruit in her mouth caught in her throat.
She began to cough.
“Ugh, cough! Hack!”
“!”
Lydia immediately turned around and gently patted the back hidden beneath Morgan’s red hair.
Pat, pat—!
A precisely measured force flowed into her internal organs. It pushed the food out of her airway.
“Hic…!”
Morgan could breathe easily again in an instant. Wiping her nose with her sleeve, she hurriedly spoke. The fork she held in a reverse grip was trembling.
“I-I’m fine. I’m fine now….”
“Understood.”
“N-now turn around. Cough! Don’t look.”
“…Understood.”
Even in this situation, she didn’t want Lydia to see her eating ‘like a commoner.’ It was a desperate act of self-defense.
An awkward silence settled over the room.
“….”
“….”
While Morgan quietly berated herself,
Lydia took a moment to assess the condition she’d glimpsed. Then she let out a low murmur.
‘It’s not that her way of eating is unusual… Her grip is so weak that she can’t hold the fork properly. And she thought people were mocking her for looking commoner-like? Her muscle density is far too low, too. This isn’t just being petite.’
It was probably due to prolonged stress and malnutrition. If someone nearby had told her what condition she was in, clever Morgan would have found some way to take care of herself.
But no one had.
Even with her mouth covered in sores,
even when she held her fork and pen strangely…
No one had told her that something was wrong.
Even now, Morgan thought she was normal.
She didn’t even realize she was slowly falling apart.
“….”
If the people of the Kingdom of Gallia were old-fashioned,
then the people of the Republic were even more vile than she could have imagined.
She couldn’t put this off any longer.
‘…I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner. I thought you’d be doing better than this.’
Lydia spoke quietly.
“Morgan.”
“…What?”
“I want you to stay by my side and advise me on magic.”
“What…?!”
Morgan jumped in surprise.
She even forgot she was hiding the way she ate and turned around without thinking. Lydia was already looking at her, too. Her blue eyes shone with a painfully clear light.
“!”
At last, their eyes met.
Lydia calmly continued.
“I’m an abandoned royal. So when I enrolled at the academy, I couldn’t bring anyone with me except one maid. Even now, only two people live in the spacious royal dormitory suite.”
“….”
It wasn’t that she ‘hadn’t.’ She ‘couldn’t.’
Morgan caught the subtle difference. In that difference, she felt a spark of empathy. That was why she could answer in a slightly softer voice.
“So?”
“And the royal dormitory suite includes a magic laboratory, too. I imagine it was designed as a place for a court mage to stay.”
“R-really…?!”
“But neither my maid nor I know anything about magic. We didn’t know how to use it, so we shut the door and left it untouched.”
“?!”
The moment Morgan heard that, she blurted out a loud cry. Her regret at such a waste burst forth from deep in her chest.
“What a waste—! If it were me…!”
If it were me,
I’d use it better than anyone else.
I’m a genius,
I could help you more than anyone in the world—
Lydia heard that and smiled warmly.
“So.”
“?”
“Why don’t you live there and help me?”
“…!”
‘What…?’
Morgan’s eyes wavered.
Lydia looked calmly into them. Then she began to persuade her in a gentle voice.
“I’ve unintentionally formed a faction within the Swordsmanship Department. It has nothing to do with Gallian politics; it’s simply a social circle…. But it’s started attracting the attention of both the noble and reformist factions.”
“The reformist faction…? You mean those Gallian nobles who usually avoid the noble faction and come to the Magic Department? The ones who can’t study worth a damn?”
“That’s right. And academic ability varies from person to person, so don’t criticize them too much.”
“….”
“In any case, it’s become difficult for me to visit the Magic Department freely. Even today, a few reformist nobles tried to recruit me on my way here, asking if I’d join them.”
“!”
“So it’s become awkward for me to come to the Magic Department where you are.”
Morgan murmured without thinking. Somehow, hearing that it had become difficult for Lydia to visit made her heart ache a little.
“That’s…”
“That’s how things are.”
“You mean that since it’s difficult for you to come here, you want me to stay in the magic laboratory in your dormitory suite?”
“Yes, that’s the ‘deal’ I want. I’d feel much more at ease if you stayed by my side.”
Of course, that was an exaggeration.
When Lydia came to the Magic Department, a few reformist nobles had hesitantly spoken to her. But they hadn’t made an enthusiastic offer like she’d just described. It had only been a small show of interest.
‘Perhaps it’ll come to that in the future. But at least not yet.’
Still,
to persuade proud Morgan, she needed to exaggerate a little.
‘What I need right now is to keep this girl close and help her regain her health.’
That was the responsibility of the one who had altered Morgan’s fate by removing ‘Arti’ from it. At least, that was how Lydia saw it.
Morgan hesitated for a long time.
“….”
“….”
And then,
she turned her head back around.
“….”
“….”
Morgan’s ears turned a little red.
“…When?”
“If you want, even today.”
“….”
Morgan gave a slight nod.
A few hours later.
Mirian, the maid, returned after secretly speaking with Instructor Zach. The instant she arrived at the dormitory suite, her eyes went wide. All sorts of odds and ends had been piled up in front of it.
With her sleeves rolled up, Lydia pointed to a petite girl and introduced her. The girl was hiding in the shadow of the piled-up junk.
“Mirian, starting today, this is the genius mage who’ll advise me on magic. She’ll be staying with us in the magic laboratory I left empty.”
“!”
Mirian remembered something that had happened a while ago.
-Mirian, let’s clean this place up. We might need it someday.
-Will either of us ever use the magic laboratory? We only know swords.
-Who knows? We might have a friend come by soon. A very talented one.
Mirian smiled faintly.
“…Your Highness, may I ask her name?”
It wasn’t Lydia who answered.
The red-haired girl spoke in a tiny voice.
“…Morgan.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Morgan.”
“….”
You’re welcome here.
Morgan’s eyes widened when she heard those words.
“!”
In her whole life,
she had never heard them before.
So she turned away.
She felt embarrassed for some reason.
“….”
“Lady Morgan?”
“…Yeah.”
I hope,
we get along, too.
It was the first time she’d ever said that.
So it felt awkward.
“….”
Everything felt awkward, but she didn’t hate it.