Chapter 118
Chapter 118
Academy’s Gumiho is a Magic Genius – Chapter 118
Then Ill take first watch?
Hey, honestly, shouldnt the guy handle the middle shift? Everyone else here is a girl.
What about the teacher? Hes prettier than a girl... but anyway, the teachers still a guy.
The teachers the supervisor. This is our midterm exam.
The students were making a racket over the watch rotation.
Theyd originally planned for the five of them to split it individually, but with Termi staring blankly at them from right next door, they quickly switched to pairs.
Her skills were exceptional.
If their guide turned on them and overpowered a tired student on watch, the sleeping kids would be as good as dead.
Of course, thanks to the magic circle safety devices embedded in their uniforms, they wouldnt actually diejust fail the exam.
But that was something that absolutely could not be allowed to happen.
Five people in pairs means someones pulling extra shifts. I miss Isabel.
She was missed, but not enough to worry.
She could conjure simple items with her light magic, after all.
In magic, light was the ultimate element.
Assuming sufficient mana and talent, pretty much anything was possible. And she wasnt just any mageshe was building her own domain.
Worrying about Isabel was a luxury.
Right now, sorting info comes first.
With a flutter, I pulled a book from my ring and opened it.
A notebook like a diary, scribbled with every vaguely remembered opportunity and anecdote from the novel.
I began jotting down the intel from Temil Village in order.
The top line read:
[This world is called The Ruins of Eternal Winter, Temil, but the key to conquering it isnt in Temil Village.]
A simple conclusion.
I now understood what Eternal Winter meant in the descriptor for this sub-world.
This land had turned into permafrost where snow never melted, becoming ruins. That made sense.
But why head to a city called Frontier when Temil was right there in the name?
I need to... mull this over.
The info from the torturer and kids.
This was like piecing together shattered glass shards scattered everywhere.
To put it bluntly, it was a pain in the ass.
How to make this one coherent intel report?
If its giving you such a headache, why not take a break? Sleep it off, clear your head, and tackle it fresh.
No, Id miss the deadline. We only have a week in this world.
Sleep was a luxury for me.
Theres a famous battlefield saying:
Sleep when youre dead.
You can only struggle while alive.
But once dead, you sleep forever.
Whoever said that clearly knew jack about death. Think you just sleep eternally after?
Then what? Youve been dead a whileyou should know.
An intriguing question from Tamamo.
She grinned.
She wouldnt brush it off. Our contract wasnt some lightweight thingit bound soul to soul, beyond heart and ring finger.
So she answered without a shred of deceit.
Well, I cant say for sure. My spirits bound to this ring after death. But one things certain... the afterlife exists.
The afterlife?
The afterlifea Buddhist concept.
One of the three realms, rooted in reincarnation.
And it was real?
Not like those monks preach.
Then what is it?
I could tell you, hehe... You know your face looks different from usual?
Her words made me realize I was touching my face.
My muscles were tense.
Yet my expression stayed neutral.
A doll unmoved by emotion.
Id gotten excited and hadnt noticed my mask slip.
Im glad we made this deep contract. Already so entertaining.
She wiped tears from her eyes, chuckling elegantly, genuinely amused.
I stayed expressionless despite her reaction.
Once the mask slipped, putting it back was tough.
You act so detached from death, yet youre this obsessed with what comes after.
......
Care to tell me why?
She raised her left ring finger.
The red thread coiled around it.
Not a symbol of love, but something sinister, like a vein linked to the heartconnecting to my own ring finger.
Proof of the contract.
......
If you dont want to say, Ill give you that option.
I could dodge her question, but not lie.
That was the vow.
Its... nothing much.
But I could keep it concise.
I swept my hair back and continued.
I want to see my teacher and master again. Save them if I can.
Your master... the one called the [Demon King]?
No, shes not my mastershes my teacher.
As if it were trivial, I opened the notebook and recorded past intel, organizing bit by bit.
The first came from the girl.
Didnt you say your friends vanished?
Huh? They didnt vanish. They left for the city.
Right, lots left for the city. Just kids? Or with parents too?
Both! Some went alone, some with mom and dad.
Progress stalled again.
If only kids vanished, child trafficking was likely.
But parents vanishing too lowered those odds.
No choice.
Needed another source.
Amy, any kid here especially close to those who left?
Yeah, there is.
Who?
Yuri.
Amy pointed to a girl listlessly poking at her food.
Her golden blonde hair stood out in this small village, but she looked wilted, like a faded flower.
Can you tell me who Yuri was close to?
Uh... Dad said not to sell friends...
Here, two more chocolates.
Yuri was really close to Charles.
Amy added:
Later, Charles promised to marry her on a white horse when he became a knight.
Childhood marriage promise.
Suddenly, someone absent came to mind.
Isabelher absence felt huge now.
Especially her knack for leading.
In combat, without her heading things up, the students coordination was messy.
Her absence threw off their well-oiled teamwork.
Ah, I miss her.
I desperately needed a leader for these kids right now.
A betrothal... Pure and age-appropriate. Cute.
Betrothal...? Age-appropriate...? Dont know big words.
Age-appropriate means people around the same age.
Aha! Whats betrothal?
Promise to marry. Grow up and live together like your mom and dad.
So Charles drinks and scratches his legs, and Yuri smacks his head?
......
Mom. Dad.
What the hell goes on in your house?
Well, medieval world.
Whatever.
But this felt off.
After that, I heard more from the kids about the missing ones.
They didnt call me captain or anythingprobably hadnt heard much from the adults.
Oddly, no adult echoed the kids words.
Not in those two days, nor when we left.
Id memorized dozens of pages of kids chatter, now transcribing every word verbatim.
Suddenly, Charles and Yuris bond stood out.
Betrothal... I had one too.
My former fiance.
...Isabel.
What was she doing right now?
As her ex, I didnt care.
But as her teacher, I realized I was worried.
* * *
The heart of the North.
The only land in this frozen continent teeming with life and greenery: Frontier.
There thronged citizens and knights.
And one magic tower.
A mage emerged leisurely from the tower.
Late nightfew passersby, but even they wouldnt peg the gender.
Feminine curves peeked through the robe, but its bulk made them indistinguishable from folds.
The mage wandered the empty city streets, shrouded head to toe.
Click-clack.
Heeled shoes echoed in the silence.
Footsteps drifting aimlessly toward somewhere.
They halted before a vast flowerbed.
Two familiar plants caught the mages eye.
Not magic reagents.
One: crimson roses.
The other:
...What is this? Everything you told me was useless.
Dragon Herb.
The plant Seung-woo said aided detoxification and fullness.
After a grueling week of lessons, shed ended up the mage anywaymaking it trivial knowledge.
With a sigh at the ground, Isabel pulled a handkerchief from her pocket.
Not for the dirty bench, nor to wipe tears of self-pity.
Most items shed brought fit her role as guard mage for the viscounts family.
Uniform to robe, dagger and hidden weapons to stodgy medieval mage gear.
But this bloodstained handkerchief remained unchanged.
Seung-woo, you like roses, right? I wove you a crown!
Wait, what...? Hey, your hands are bleeding from all those thorns!
Huh? This is fine!
Its not! Idiot, give me your hand. Ill disinfect and stop the bleeding quick.
In old memories, a boy of maybe ten snatched the rose crown from the girls bloody hands.
As if he were Christ himself.
What was with the crown of thorns?
Recalling it brought a small laugh at her own childish absurdity.
The flow of waters force. Hows this?
Whoa, Seung-woo, you can already use magic? Elemental?
No... Just a water stream based on druidic holy arts. Wounds cleannow disinfecting. Itll sting; dont pull away. Cry if you have to.
Wound...? Whats that? And druids are those animal-changing uncles, ri...? O-oww!!
Told you not to pick roses for a crown. Wildflowers work fine.
Right then, the girl tried to yank her hand free.
The boy gripped tighter.
Kid strength shouldnt hurt, yet her chest ached oddly.
B-but... you like roses. White ones especially.
Just ask the gardener grandpa to de-thorn some.
Hehe... You like crowns, Seung-woo. Wanted to make one myself.
......
Mad? S-sorry... Wont do it again.
Yeah, dont.
After disinfecting, he pressed a clean handkerchief hard on her hand.
Good.
Petting her head for enduring, he hugged her and sat by the garden.
Similar heights.
Or maybe she was taller, being older.
Head peeking by hers, he gazed at the garden.
Flowers are prettiest left unpicked. They wither eventually, but if untouched, theyll bud anew next year even after petals fall.
...Seung-woo, you sounded just like Grandma.
Yeah, Im an old soul.
Old soul? Whats that?
Old soul. Old person.
Whats old person?
Dunno. Me.
Pfft, weird.
Trivial chit-chat.
Yet the happiest moment of young Isabels life.
In her 17 years, nothing matched it. Short life, but twists rivaling anyones.
For next year.
The little rose gardenwed view flowers without picking.
Baek Seung-woos flames razed it before buds formed.
Despite pinky promise.
That years flower-viewing: Isabel alone.
The next.
And the one after.
...I miss you.
I want to see you.
View flowers with you.
Anythingone or the other.
But the coward loner couldnt.
Lonely streets blooming with flowers.
Isabel wandered them.
Then and now.
Alone.