A Sense of Unease
Just as Professor Han Seohwa had said, I really did end up eating snacks and calling it a day.
It definitely felt like a chance to get closer to mana by actually handling my power and learning more about it.
But...
"What? No, you can’t. There’s a lot more I want to teach you, but not today."
I didn’t want the class to end so easily, so emptily.
But Professor Han Seohwa kept repeating that it absolutely wasn’t allowed and refused me flatly.
"You only moved mana for the first time today. What kind of class would that even be? The part you moved is tingling, right?"
She was right.
Just like the numb, prickling feeling you get in an arm when the blood isn’t flowing properly, the part where mana had moved kept tingling.
"If you keep moving mana often and gradually adjust, there won’t be any problem. But if you try to keep doing things on the very first day you move mana, like Student Lim Paran, your circuits can break down and leave aftereffects."
"Then could we at least do theory lessons..."
"Hah, you still won’t give up?"
I understood it in my head, but my heart wouldn’t back down.
Because I was the one falling behind the most, I had to learn something, anything, and take it with me.
The other students, unlike me, had already been moving mana for a long time. The pain of doing so was long gone for them, and they were diligently studying the spells Professor Han Seohwa had shown us earlier.
As a special-admissions student, it bothered me terribly that I had only just taken my first step.
I looked at Professor Han Seohwa with shining eyes.
I was still afraid of people, still frightened of them, but I steadied myself by thinking that this person was kind and wouldn’t hurt me. That made it a little easier.
"You really don’t look like you’re going to back down. Fine, then let’s do theory class. I’m only doing it because I think your attitude is commendable, all right?"
Han Seohwa stared at me for a moment, then let out a long sigh and spoke.
"Here, take this. Let’s learn a little about magic circles."
"Yes!"
It was material we had already covered in the morning lecture, so it was at least something I could get into my head.
It was the process of drawing patterns onto the magic circle and writing down what effects those patterns had...
"Student Lim Paran! These patterns are crooked!"
"....."
Even the slightest misalignment changed the nature of the magic, so it was miserable...
* * *
- Good moooorning! Pappa pa
Beep.
"Huh... When did I set an alarm?"
It was Monday, after the weekend of my one-on-one private lessons with Professor Han Seohwa had ended.
As usual, I woke up around six and headed early to the Sielm Academy lecture hall.
Up until now I had taken the bus, but for some reason, setting out this early reminded me of weekend jogging.
"Mm... Should I run?"
I slipped one of the chocolates Han Riae had given me into my mouth and kicked off the ground.
It wasn’t that far, so I arrived at the lecture hall without much trouble.
After getting there, I unpacked my things, bit into another chocolate, and was reading a mana-related book when...
Vmm, vmm, vmm
"?"
The sound I had heard when Professor Han Seohwa manifested her magi brushed past my ears.
It wasn’t as precise or as repetitive as Professor Han Seohwa’s, but it still felt like something well-trained.
And the intensely felt magic was enough to make my body tremble.
Sharp, refined magic.
For some reason, a familiar power was brushing against my body.
When I carefully looked over, there she was...
"Huu... Huu..."
Miel Norison, moving mana and wrapping his blade in magic.
Miel Norison.
The one who had dueled Han Riae in a friendly match at the entrance ceremony and smashed the safety mechanism together with one of Riae’s strikes.
The one who, during his one-on-one duel with Professor Seres, had been the person Han Riae had most often taken inspiration from in swordsmanship alone.
When it came to using space freely, I had done my best to study Han Riae’s movements. But when it came to exploiting an opponent’s opening or taking a defensive stance, Miel was the person I had most often replayed in my head and used as a reference for learning the basic shape of a duel.
He switched from sword to spear the very next day after learning the sword, but even so, his swordsmanship had been so precise that the change in weapon hardly seemed to matter.
If they fought again, weapon to weapon, wouldn’t Miel probably win?
His unique ability is wrapping the sword in magic...
During the self-introductions, he had said that his ability was to wrap his weapon in a distinctive kind of power.
His major was also combat, just like Han Riae’s.
Most of the rounded, ordinary-looking magic wrapped around weapons was invisible, while the power coiling around his blade had the shape of a sharp edge, almost like the blade itself.
It was a razor-sharp edge I hadn’t seen at all during the friendly spar.
"Huu... hm?"
While I quietly watched Miel’s sword from behind, he released the magic wrapped around it.
Maybe because he felt someone watching him from behind, he turned around.
"Huh? You?"
Since I had come so early, the lecture hall only held Miel Norison and me.
"Hey!"
So naturally, the target of his greeting had to be me.
"Hi. You’re that... ah! The special-admissions student, right?"
"Y-yes."
"You’ve got blue hair too... and you’re short."
A young man with short yellow hair mixed with a subtle touch of pale gray walked up to me.
"Oh... you’re shorter than I expected? I couldn’t tell from far away..."
Ah.
Wasn’t that a little too much?
I was already putting up with that complaint in my everyday life, so hearing it said so bluntly here made me feel irritated.
"Ah, sorry. Was that too harsh? Sorry, sorry, forgive me."
When I stiffened, Miel watched my face and hurriedly apologized in a fluster.
"I’m sorry about breaking the safety device last time. If I’d just let it flow a little better, it would’ve been fine."
And then he blamed himself for the incident that had sent me flying into the chandelier last time, apologizing all the while.
Honestly, at first he hadn’t exactly made a good impression, but I could feel him gradually improving.
The way he scratched the back of his head and laughed awkwardly was, for some reason, kind of endearing.
"Your name was Lim Paran, right? Nice to meet you. I’m Miel Norison! A combat-major first-year who mainly uses a rapier!"
----------------------------------------
Name: Miel Norison
Age: 20
Sex: Male
Height: 181 cm
Weight: 86 kg
Position: Sielm Academy first-year student, combat major
Unique Ability: Protecting Blade
...
"I-I see..."
He had gotten my name slightly wrong, but the mood seemed good, so I didn’t bother correcting him.
Even though I was responding rather awkwardly, he took it all in with a bright smile. Somehow, he looked like a person, yet even while speaking the common continental language, there was still a lingering sense of golden retriever about him.
I’d heard there was something called MBTI, and that the letter I meant an introvert like me, so maybe the first letter of Miel’s type was E?
"Let’s get along well from now on! And if you ever want a spar, call me anytime. I’m always ready!"
Miel laughed playfully and held out a hand to me.
He probably meant to shake hands, but...
"A-ah, okay..."
The trembling in my body was growing stronger and stronger, and I couldn’t properly look at Miel anymore.
The fear I hadn’t even noticed when I was near Han Riae was once again covering my whole body.
"P-p-please, c-could you s-step a little f-farther away...?"
I could no longer hold back the panic, and my body shook as I forced the words out through my throat.
"W-what? Why are you acting like that?"
I broke out in a cold sweat and sank down onto the floor.
My heart pounded like mad, and my breathing turned irregular.
My whole body trembled, and a ringing in my ears circled through my head, tormenting me without end.
Breathing was difficult too, and I wheezed helplessly.
"Huh? What do I do? Huh?"
"P-please... d-don’t t-touch me..."
Miel looked panicked and reached out toward me, and I violently rejected his hand.
R-Riae...
Tears spilling down my face, Han Riae kept flashing through my mind.
I missed that warm embrace.
I hadn’t seen him all weekend, and now that it was a weekday, I couldn’t have missed him more.
As pain flooded through my body, I could no longer think normally.
And while I was having a fit and making broken little sounds...
Clunk.
"Paran... Paran?"
The back door of the lecture hall opened, and a familiar voice reached me.
"Hey, move! Is Paran okay?"
Han Riae shoved past Miel, who stood there awkwardly and at a loss, and pulled me tightly into his arms.
"Hey! Miel! What did you do to Paran!"
"I just wanted to shake hands..."
Han Riae held me in his arms and glared at Miel fiercely, practically shooting fire from his eyes, while Miel defended himself with genuine grievance.
It was the look of someone saying he’d tear him apart right this second...
"Riae... he really didn’t do anything..."
"R-really? I see..."
I didn’t know why it felt so calming and soft when he gently stroked my hair.
It was such a warm, comforting embrace.
"I’m sorry..."
"Hey, keep feeling more remorseful than that."
Maybe it was because Han Riae had ordered him to, but Miel Norison was kneeling off to the side with both arms raised high above his head.
He really didn’t do anything...
It felt like he was being forced to take the punishment because of me, and that made my heart heavy.
Today was spectacular too...
.
.
.
"So here, we use this combination to map out the pattern..."
After what had just happened, we were now in the morning theory class.
It was Professor Han Seohwa’s class on mana control.
Dong, dong, dong
"Huh? Is it already this late? Then let’s meet again next class!"
Professor Han Seohwa ended the lecture with a lively, teasing smile.
"Paran... you have your afternoon major class today too, right?"
"Huh? Y-yes, I do."
The sudden question caught me off guard, and I turned to look at Han Riae with a puzzled expression before answering.
"Really? Got it... Then let’s go eat."
...Huh?
The brief pause Han Riae took somehow felt so unnatural that it was impossible to ignore.