10. The Only Good Festival Is a Dead Festival
10. The Only Good Festival Is a Dead Festival
The festival came and went.
Even from Chloe's perspective, it had been an event to look forward to. The Magic Tower didn't have anything you could rightly call a festival, and on top of that, there was the chance to mingle with the kingdom's great nobles and the sons and daughters of high-ranking officials.
But Chloe had turned her back on all of it.
BANG!!!
"Nghk...!!"
'Too slow.'
She was holed up in the training ground beneath the exclusive dormitory.
How many days had passed outside? There was no clock in the training ground. It was a principle of hers — set a timer and you'd end up relying on it.
But she'd trained so relentlessly that her internal clock could give her a rough estimate.
Chloe had not set foot outside the training ground in a week.
[Jade Shackles]
'So slow I could yawn. In a real fight, your head would've already left your shoulders.'
[Jade Shackles]
'You know it as well as I do. The woman called Chloe Pisti lacks talent. So stop trying to use magic by the book. Copy the textbook and you'll never beat a genius.'
[Jade Shackles]
'Thirty consecutive casts isn't enough to exhaust you, is it? A mage unconsciously circulates mana through the body besides the heart. Scrape every last drop of that together and you can squeeze out one more spell. It's saved my life more times than I can count.'
[Jade Shackles]
'Don't fear mana exhaustion. It's nothing but a false alarm from a body that's grown used to mana. In reality, wringing out every drop of mana won't kill you. It'll just hurt enough to make you wish it did.'
Sssssshhhhink!!!
Magical chains rose around Chloe — and rose, and rose again.
Her black ribbon came loose, her ponytail scattering wild, but she paid it no mind. Sweat streamed into her eyes until she could barely keep them open, but she ignored it. Her abused heart hammered madly, screaming for rest, but she refused.
And then once more.
[Jade Shackles]
"Hahhg... hahh... ghhk!"
'Good. That last one was passable. Now recover your mana.'
"Huff..."
There was no real rest. Unlike the martial arts path, which relied on ki, mana wasn't particularly concerned with physical fatigue.
Squeeze every drop of mana until exhaustion, then immediately cycle through meditation and elixir consumption to restore it at speed. And then start over from the beginning.
A training method that was not merely crude but outright brutal. An ordinary mage who attempted it would find their heart bursting first.
But Chloe Pisti was different.
'Remember. The one thing a talentless woman named Chloe even has is sheer venomous tenacity.'
"Hoo... hooo..."
'My magic will at least keep you from dying, so repeat it. Right up until the edge of death.'
[Throbbing Heart]
The magic manifested by the mental construct of Adult Chloe was something Chloe had only ever seen in books.
Among 7th Rank spells, it ranked at the pinnacle — a spell so difficult that even an 8th Rank mage struggled to use it.
[Throbbing Heart] did exactly what the name implied. It forced the heart to keep beating. So long as the spell held, the heart would never stop.
That was the only reason Chloe had been able to repeat a training regimen bordering on torture for an entire week.
'Hard?'
'...It's... hard.'
'Painful?'
'Of course it's— nghh!!'
'So, do you want to give up?'
'Hell no!'
Chloe had taken pride in the considerable training she'd put herself through up to now — but only now did she understand just how deep her complacency had run.
The training demanded by Adult Chloe was hell. No time to properly catch her breath, her stamina long since scraped past empty, and more than a few times she'd cast spells while flat on the ground.
But more than that.
Every time she endured this forging process, Chloe felt it in her bones.
She was growing.
[Jade Shackles]
And at last, the moment [Jade Shackles] transformed from the standard spell into an original that produced dozens of chains — hers alone — after a week of relentless work.
Only then did Chloe allow herself to stop.
'Good. Being able to use [Jade Shackles] at this level will make everything much easier going forward.'
'I really... did it...'
'Originally, I'd planned to transition you more gradually. This was unexpected. I never imagined you'd be the one to demand faster, harder training.'
'...'
Adult Chloe was right. In truth, the one who'd pushed for this brutal training regimen wasn't Adult Chloe — it was Chloe herself.
A week ago. The day before the festival.
Inside Professor Kirke's laboratory, where she'd gone alongside the Finance Director.
Chloe had felt her own inadequacy carved into her bones.
'I thought I could be of real help.'
'...'
'Honestly, I never understood why you liked the Finance Director. From where I'm standing, he's a 1st Rank — nothing more than a decent-looking face. I couldn't figure out what you saw in a man like that to go so far for him.'
That was why she'd been able to state it so emphatically to Adult Chloe. That she would never come to like the Finance Director herself.
And when she'd entered Professor Kirke's lab, she'd intended to help the "incompetent 1st Rank" Finance Director and earn his goodwill.
That had definitely been the plan.
'In the end, I didn't do a single thing.'
'Well. That's about right.'
Finding a path forward? The Finance Director handled all of it.
Entering the underground chamber? While Chloe froze in fear, the Finance Director went in first.
Resolving the root of the problem? It hadn't been Chloe — it had been Adult Chloe.
For all her self-confidence, when the moment actually arrived, she'd accomplished nothing.
'Pathetic.'
Pathetic.
She could have brushed it off. Told herself it was just inexperience, that it was her first time, that the Finance Director was simply exceptional. She could have declared victory in her own mind and moved on.
But Chloe didn't.
Because the Finance Director was someone she'd privately dismissed — just a 1st Rank, not even a mage, and why the hell would her future self like him?
So when she'd witnessed his competence with her own eyes and confronted her own uselessness —
Chloe had told Adult Chloe she wanted to learn the [Jade Shackles] that Adult Chloe had used.
'With this, your [Jade Shackles] has left the 5th Rank level behind. But don't get arrogant. Real geniuses are something else entirely.'
'...Amatrius Delphia Beatrice.'
'And that woman already resolved her chronic condition, didn't she? Then she's practically grown wings. The youngest 8th Rank in history might appear within ten years, don't you think?'
Adult Chloe's tone was flat. Probably because she no longer envied Beatrice's talent. Adult Chloe's gaze had long since fixed on something — someone — else entirely.
But the Chloe of now was different. Unlike her clumsy, future-trajectory counterpart, this was a version of "herself" who had reached the pinnacle of 7th Rank. Having that version of her acknowledge Beatrice's talent and uniqueness —
It felt foul.
'Oh-ho, look at that face. You're never going to beat that princess with magic. Give it up.'
'...You don't know that yet.'
'Sure, not yet. Give it about a month and it'll be pretty damn clear, though.'
Ngh.
It didn't sound like Adult Chloe was stating a fact — it sounded like she was deliberately provoking her.
Chloe, who'd been forcing her collapsed body upright to resume casting —
'That's enough. There's somewhere you need to be.'
'What? What are you talking about? If you mean the festival, today's already the last day.'
'I know. Believe me, I know it to an irritating degree.'
'...?'
'Anyway, I gave you the training you wanted, didn't I? Now it's your turn to meet my demand.'
And so, still dazed, Chloe was hustled by Adult Chloe — wash up fast, eat something, replenish even a little stamina — and the place she was sent to was...
Not the academy's festival thoroughfare. Not the magic dueling arena. Not the martial arts tournament grounds. Not the gathering for the children of high nobility.
It was the roof of some building on the outskirts.
"...Finance Director?"
"Chairwoman, you're already he— ...re?"
The Finance Director was there. She had no idea why he'd be on a rooftop, but he looked far more exhausted than usual — his already-rough white hair even more disheveled.
He looked like he might fall asleep at any moment, and yet somehow not.
"Student Chloe?"
"Di-Director."
So why was the Finance Director in such a random place?
Given he'd just mentioned the Chairwoman, the natural assumption was that he'd arranged to meet her here. But Chloe had spent the past week buried in the training ground, and she'd only just washed up and eaten — drowsiness crashing over her, her thoughts refusing to fire properly.
Flustered, she turned to climb back down.
"...I, I'll go."
"Student Chloe?"
"Goodbye!"
"Miss Chloe, what are you saying? I haven't even properly thanked you since the hair-loss inducer incident. Please, come sit."
"...Truly?"
The question that slipped out wasn't really about whether she was allowed to sit.
It carried the weight of something else — had she actually been any help back in Professor Kirke's lab? The Finance Director had practically done everything himself, so why was he thanking her?
Whether the Finance Director understood that subtext or not...
Even through his exhausted face, he smiled.
"You told me then, didn't you, Student Chloe? That from now on, I should rely on you."
Right. That had happened. More precisely, Adult Chloe had said that while possessing her body.
Chloe had been forced to watch from within. Purifying the lab's entire stock of hair-loss inducer with [Purification] was impossible for her.
Adult Chloe's [Jade Shackles] — that was what Chloe had seen and then asked to be taught.
But from the Finance Director's perspective, there was no distinction between Adult Chloe and Chloe. He had no way of knowing about any of that.
So —
He wasn't reaching his hand out to Adult Chloe. He was reaching it out to her.
"Come."
"...Yes."
Adult Chloe was unnervingly quiet. Chloe had expected her to seize control of the body at any moment and sit beside the Finance Director, but there was no sign of her — as though she was occupied with something else.
But drowsiness was already pressing in, and on top of that, she couldn't exactly ignore the Finance Director.
Right. Anyway. That was why.
Without another word, Chloe quietly sat down beside the Finance Director. Maybe it was because the building roof was so high — the academy's central district spread out below them in a single sweeping view.
She'd wondered what kind of place this was, but it turned out to be a surprisingly good spot.
'How does my future self even know about this place?'
Well, the future had already changed, hadn't it — so maybe Adult Chloe had been here before in her own experience.
Her head wasn't working well anyway, so she let the thought slide. Instead, she shifted her position slightly.
...Closer to the Finance Director.
"Student Chloe?"
"It-It's nothing. Just a little cold."
"Ah, is that so?"
The wind was blowing fairly hard up here. Though, of course, there was no world in which a 5th Rank mage like Chloe could actually feel cold from a breeze.
It was just — the Finance Director was all alone here, and that was a little pitiful.
So even though she really didn't want to, she was making a point of sitting closer. All because of her arrangement with Adult Chloe. Nothing more than that. Absolutely nothing.
As she repeated that to herself, the Finance Director looked at her, sitting so close now.
"Student Chloe, is something troubling you?"
"...Pardon?"
"You're making the same expression as someone I know when they're hiding a mistake. I may not look it, but I am a member of the faculty. I'll hear you out."
"B-But."
"I know it can be embarrassing — but sometimes the people closest to you are exactly the ones you can't talk to. If I'll do, then I'm here."
Did that mean she and the Finance Director weren't close? Well, that was true enough, but did he really have to put it that way?
Mildly irked, Chloe let out a sigh and opened her mouth anyway.
She wasn't about to spill everything in detail, of course.
"It's nothing much. Just a bit... worried."
"Worried about what?"
"There's someone... I want to beat. And someone else told me I'll never beat them. So just..."
It was a declaration from a future version of herself who'd grown close to the 8th Rank. No matter how much Chloe got annoyed and denied it, reality wouldn't change.
What if Beatrice reached 6th Rank? What if the Magic Tower invited Beatrice? What if her master took Beatrice as a disciple instead of her?
And —
...And.
"It has nothing to do with you anyway, Director."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because."
Because you've already chosen Beatrice.
Adult Chloe had said so. That Beatrice overcoming her chronic condition was thanks to the Finance Director's help. Honestly, she hadn't believed it at first — but her future self's expression had been so certain that she'd had no choice but to accept it.
And if that was true, then the Finance Director had already chosen between Chloe and Beatrice.
So —
'...An enemy.'
The Chloe who'd never met the Finance Director — that was what Adult Chloe had said about her, not about herself.
That was probably the future where the Finance Director had chosen Chloe, not Beatrice. And that future had already diverged.
In this changed future —
The Finance Director was on Beatrice's side. Nothing more than an enemy.
"...Anyway. That's all."
"Hmm. Is the person who told you this someone trustworthy?"
"You could say so. She called it a future that would never change."
Thinking about it stirred a sudden, irrational resentment toward the Finance Director. If only this man hadn't cured Beatrice's chronic condition to begin with.
Chloe grumbled inwardly for a moment, but she couldn't bring herself to voice it.
Because the Finance Director spoke first.
"Then you just change it, don't you."
"What?"
"What is a 'fixed future' anyway? The future is something that turns on a single trivial action."
"...I don't need empty comfort."
"Watch this."
Plink.
The Finance Director picked up a small pebble from the rooftop.
And tossed it over the edge. It struck a branch, and the branch snapped.
"Was that a fixed future?"
"...What are you—"
"If I hadn't thrown that pebble, the branch would still be fine. A single trivial action — throw the pebble, don't throw it — and the future changed. Just like that."
"...That's a sophism. Even if you hadn't thrown it, the branch was probably fated to break anyway."
"You could certainly see it that way."
The Finance Director accepted the rebuttal without resistance.
And met the bewildered Chloe's eyes.
"I'm just telling you how I see it."
"..."
"What does it matter whether the future is truly fixed or easily changed? All I have to do is believe it. I just have to work to change that future, and believe. In the end, the only thing that matters is my own thoughts and my own perception."
"You make 'effort' sound so simple..."
"How do you think I've held onto the position of Finance Director?"
"Pardon?"
"I'm nothing more than a student with three years of administration coursework. No experience. Not enough knowledge. The reason someone like me has somehow managed the Finance Director's role... is because I've put in my own kind of effort."
"..."
The Finance Director — a mere 1st Rank.
Objectively, an absurdly low Rank. Low enough that you'd never guess he held a senior position at such a vast academy.
What kind of effort had a 1st Rank like that poured in to become the man sitting here now?
Chloe had never once thought about it. The Finance Director was just the Finance Director. That was all she'd ever considered.
'I see.'
Just as Chloe herself was struggling between Beatrice and her own future self —
The Finance Director was the same. He was fighting his own lonely battle for the sake of his position.
A tiny, utterly trivial realization. An elementary piece of common sense that Chloe, arrogant and high-handed as she was, had only now grasped.
She was momentarily at a loss for words, just about to say something —
Fwababababoom!!!
"...Ah."
"Oh, looks like it's begun."
The Finance Director, who'd seemed to be looking for someone a moment before, glanced at Chloe beside him, gave a soft chuckle, and turned his gaze forward.
Fireworks were bursting there.
Embroidering the night sky in beauty.
Countless blossoms of flame.
The light sparkled. The cheers of students rose from below. The night sky brightened.
Chloe, momentarily spellbound by the sight — Grandis Academy's signature spectacle, and something she had never seen in her life —
Turned her head toward the Finance Director beside her.
"...Magnificent."
The profile of the Finance Director murmuring those words was — irritatingly — quite handsome.
This man who listened to the worries of a troublesome woman like her, who'd stolen the heart of her future self, who seemed to draw close and yet drew his boundaries with knifelike precision —
Even if he sat beside her now, the fact that he'd chosen Beatrice in the end was galling.
"Finance Director."
"Yes?"
"From now on, call me—"
—not Student. Just Chloe.
Fwabababoom!!!!
'...Ah.'
Her words were swallowed.
She'd finally worked up the nerve, and of all times, the fireworks had to burst right then and swallow her voice.
The courage that had flared for an instant shrank back down. If the Finance Director asked her to repeat herself, saying he hadn't heard her over the fireworks, she'd probably just shake her head and look away — pretend it was nothing.
Why was her luck so terrible? Was she actually insane?
In the middle of that confusion —
"Understood, Chloe."
"...Director?"
"There is a line between faculty and student, but... you've helped me more than once already. When it's just the two of us — I'll call you that."
"..."
"In exchange, in front of others, I'll still call you Student. That's acceptable, yes?"
"..."
"Chloe?"
I must be —
Actually insane.
That was what Chloe thought.
"Then I'll call you Adam, too."
"Pardon? But that's—"
"Do you dislike it?"
"...Only when it's just the two of us, then. In light of the hair-loss inducer incident — and in light of you, Student Chloe — I'll permit it. As a special exception."
"Chloe."
"Excuse me?"
"Not Student. Chloe."
"Ha ha. Understood, Chloe."
Fwababoom!!
The fireworks burst. The light sparkled. The Finance Director chuckled softly and turned back to the display, enjoying the blossoming flames.
But Chloe didn't turn away.
More than the fireworks —
...Right now, looking at the Finance Director was just a little better.
That was all.
Nothing more.