Rach's Orb (2)
[Wait, hold on! Let's talk for a moment!]
"Why do you dodge so well…!"
Luid was swinging his staff back and forth. Since he wasn't using his own strength but manipulating it with magic, he couldn't possibly miss—
Yet the orb weaved left and right with uncanny agility, as if it could see into the future.
[I surrender! I surrender! Just please, hear me out!]
"…Talk?"
Luid paused his staff mid-swing. The orb hummed anxiously.
[Could you… could you let it slide just this once? I'll hole up somewhere for two hundred years or so.]
Luid shook his head.
"What exactly am I supposed to trust?"
[I-I'll swear a pact…!]
"I didn't even notice you existed until now. You think a pact would hold? And besides."
Even though it hadn't happened yet, Luid knew full well what kind of things Rach was capable of.
"You're a villain, plain and simple."
[A v-villain? How absurd!]
Rach really did sound aggrieved, the orb ringing out with a sharp resonance.
[I'm a good spirit! This is an injustice!]
"A spirit, you say?"
[Yes! I am a spirit! A Great Spirit, no less!]
That's quite the Great Spirit act you've got going there.
Rach, the mage who had yearned for eternal life.
The countless atrocities he committed were still passed down to this very generation.
Killing a million people to harvest the blood of young children, committing unspeakable horrors because he needed the souls of virgins—the tales went on and on.
Luid was the type not to care whether it was a Demon King or a Hero who showed up, but foul-smelling garbage was filthy, and garbage deserved to be taken out.
[It's true! I'm not that Lich Rach, I was a familiar that Rach raised…]
"I see."
[You… you believe me?]
Luid nodded with the picture of guileless innocence.
"Yeah. Of course. But there's one thing I'm curious about…"
He let the staff drop to the ground, as if he no longer had any intention of attacking.
[Yes! Ask me anything!]
Luid gazed off into the distance for a moment.
"You see…"
He gathered his ocean-deep mana at the tip of his fingers, picturing the fallen staff piercing straight through the orb.
"There's no such thing."
Fwoosh—!
The staff moved in an instant and skewered the orb through.
With a long, grinding crack, the orb split apart.
"I mean, you did announce it yourself, didn't you? Out loud, with your own mouth—you're Rach."
[……]
The voice that had been so animated moments ago had fallen utterly silent.
Purple smoke seeped out from the shattered orb.
Luid silently reached out his hand.
Sorting even spirits into recycling.
That's what a model citizen does.
"Foul soul, be purified and pay for your sins."
A brilliant white light burst forth from Luid's fingertips.
A dragon formed from spreading radiance emerged and swallowed Rach's orb whole, smoke and all.
Crunch!
White light poured from the dragon's breath.
Luid lowered his hand.
Unlike before, the orb now shone pure white instead of purple.
Luid nodded with a look of quiet pride on his face.
"Repent."
…For some reason, he'd wanted to play the saint who saved humanity at least once.
"Now then, back to playing with the fox."
Luid lifted the fox with the smile of a man at peace, rubbing his face against it. The white fur tickled, but it felt wonderful.
But then.
Swoosh—!
"…!"
The fox bit down on the orb behind it. The orb, half-split and floating in midair, vanished into the fox's mouth in one gulp.
It happened in the blink of an eye, far too fast for him to do anything.
Luid frantically shook the fox.
"Th-that's not food, you idiot. Spit it out."
"Kyeng, kyeng!"
But there was no way a fox would understand human speech.
Luid hurriedly pried open the fox's mouth to pull it out.
"I-I'm telling you, I'm innocent. You saw it, didn't you? That devastating purification magic didn't hurt me one bit. It means I'm not a bad spirit—"
"……"
Luid froze solid, his hand still inside the fox's mouth.
"—!"
A beat late, he recoiled in shock and dropped the fox.
Just now—the fox had spoken.
The fox lowered itself as far to the ground as it could before Luid, groveling.
Its tail wagged tentatively.
"P-please spare me just this once… I swear my loyalty for a lifetime!"
Shock and horror flooded Luid's eyes.
Hershey attended class with impeccable posture.
She firmly believed that only those with proper conduct and bearing could become first-rate mages.
"That will be all for today's lecture. Miss Hershey Minerva—thank you, as always, for gracing my humble class with your presence."
What Hershey attended was an elective: Practical Everyday Knowledge Through Magic. The course covered all manner of common life skills—simple construction, camping, farming, and the like.
Which was precisely why it was spectacularly unpopular, and it was rare for a high noble like Hershey to sit in on it. The professor being a commoner himself contributed to that reputation as well.
Had she perhaps come to mock him? Was she just killing time?
He'd worried about that, but Hershey's attitude in class was exemplary. It took only a single lecture for anyone to see that she was genuinely interested in the subject.
Hershey rose with a bright smile and gave a courteous bow.
"Not at all—I'm the one who should thank you for teaching me such useful knowledge every week."
"To be of help to the young lady of House Minerva… I hardly know what to do with myself. It's the proudest moment of my teaching career."
Hershey gave an awkward smile. Truthfully, her old self would have called spending time in a place like this pathetic.
So why did she take this class? The answer was one and only one: Luid.
Luid, who spent all his days sprawled out at Delin's Lake. Everything seemed to come naturally to him—sleeping, eating, all of it.
But she had spent her entire life being waited on hand and foot by others, and so even when she wanted to help Luid, she didn't know how. It nagged at her. That was why she had come to this class.
"Thank you for your hard work today."
After class ended, Hershey's steps toward Delin's Lake were light.
Heading to Luid always lifted her mood, but today she felt especially excited.
The adorable arctic fox she'd brought back from the auction house.
It would be lovely company to play with even while Luid napped, and above all it was so unbearably cute that it had won her heart completely.
Has he come up with a name for it yet?
The moment she set foot in the forest—
Hershey felt an enormous surge of mana and her eyes went wide.
It was a magnitude of power so vast it stood out even amid the dense mana of Delin's Lake.
"Snow…?"
Hershey blankly reached her hand into the empty air. A fat snowflake landed on her palm and melted.
"We-weather manipulation magic…"
Gulp. Hershey's throat bobbed.
What tier would weather magic even be?
Probably something like 11th Tier…
Was this really Luid's doing?
An astonishing, almost unbelievable feat of magic.
And yet Hershey found herself nodding before long.
Well, it is Luid.
She set off again with a spring in her step.
The snow had accumulated to about an inch, and at this rate, it wouldn't be long before it piled up a full foot deep.
"Did he make it snow because of the arctic fox? Luid, you sweetheart."
Hershey beamed. Somehow, she felt like she could guess exactly what he'd been thinking. Weren't they getting fairly close now?
"Luid!"
She had finally arrived. Hershey brushed aside a large leaf and waved. She was certain he'd be awake—she could feel that immense mana.
"Get out of there right now!"
"Kyeng, kyeng!"
"Let go of my fox this instant!"
"Lu-Luid…?"
The arctic fox was sprinting frantically across the pristine snow. Behind it, Luid chased with his staff raised high.
Hershey tilted her head.
…Are they playing tag?
Then it clicked.
Oh, he's playing with it.
From everything she'd seen of Luid, using telekinesis was as natural to him as breathing.
It looked like he was deliberately chasing it on foot without magic. Hershey watched the two of them with a happy smile.
The bounding white ball of fluff was adorable enough on its own, but Luid running circles after it in a playful loop gave it a serious run for its money.
Cute really is the greatest thing in the world.
She was gazing at them contentedly when—
"S-save me, human!"
The fox spoke and leapt straight at Hershey.
Catching the white fox by sheer reflex, Hershey blinked.
The fox trembled violently as it spoke.
"If you help me, I-I won't forget this debt!"
Hershey shook her head slowly, refusing reality itself.
"……You can talk."
"I can talk, all right! I'm begging you—take me and run!"
Just then, Luid came panting and leveled his staff at the fox.
"Hold on tight. An evil spirit has possessed my fox…!"
Hershey's eyes spun in circles.
She felt dizzy.
The Emperor, having ended another grueling day, retired to his chamber in comfortable attire.
The duties of an Emperor are exhausting.
A schedule packed far beyond what any single person could reasonably bear.
Without finding some proper way to relieve the stress, no one could possibly endure it.
And so every Emperor in history had cultivated their own pastime.
For some it was women, for others gambling, banquets, or drink.
And Lucius, the 8th Emperor, enjoyed viewings.
Every night he would take his favorite red wine and cheese to bed, lounge back comfortably, and float his crystal orb to observe the lives of ordinary people.
What interested him most was the ordinary—a housewife's daily routine, a farmer's toil. He would watch the lives of various folk until sleep claimed him.
But tonight, there was something a little special: a recording of Luid's lecture series, which he'd been watching over since the boy was an infant.
The Emperor leaned back against his pillows with a contented smile, poured wine into his glass, took a sip, and started the recording.
"That boy, honestly."
The Emperor gazed at Luid within the crystal orb, an indulgent expression on his face.
He'd received the Academy Headmaster's report that Luid had decided to open his lecture theories to the public for the common good.
He wore an expression that suggested everything was a bother, yet his generosity in sharing his theories for the public benefit was truly admirable.
"He works harder than I expected. My, my—now I'll have to start wondering what to get him for his birthday."
With this, the Empire's magical academia would advance by leaps and bounds. The boy was a delight even when he was simply growing up healthy—who knew he'd flourish this splendidly.
Within the orb, Luid stood on tiptoe as he drew a magic circle. The Emperor burst out laughing.
"Haha! I should have invited him as a professor, not a student."
The Emperor watched the recording with a warm smile.
But at some point, his brow began to furrow.
"What exactly is that fellow so worked up about?"
"What? Only nobles can use it?"
"Oh, so hundreds of years of their family's accumulated magical achievements count for nothing, then? That's not effort?"
"Hah. Look at this one, acting like he's the only person in the world who's ever worked hard."
The Emperor grew angry as if it were his own grievance.
He had no patience for a nitpicking commoner like that.
"Get to the end, get to the end already."
The Emperor clicked his tongue.
Luid made a gesture of wrapping up the lecture.
"Hmm, over already? What a short recording."
The Emperor let out a sigh of disappointment.
But then—
—Have you no shame, you worthless commoner!
"……Damon?"
The Emperor's eyes flew wide open, and he snapped his fingers. The screen spun around, revealing what lay behind.
The disgruntled commoner was sprawled on the ground. Judging by the scene, Damon had cast magic on him.
"……So the little brute has his uses after all."
Nobody knew better than the Emperor himself what a savage Damon was.
If anything, he found himself thinking it was remarkably restrained—ended with only that much. By Damon's usual standards, this was positively mild.
—Whose side do you think His Majesty will take?
Damon sneered at the Headmaster. The Emperor nodded along.
"Somewhat useful this time, Damon."
The Emperor turned the orb's light back to Luid. Just then, Luid looked directly into the crystal orb and spoke.
—I will inform His Majesty the Emperor personally. Damon has ruined my lecture.
"……"
The Emperor, who had been watching in silence, roared with fury.
"Is no one in attendance?!"
An attendant on standby hurried into the chamber.
"Y-you called, Your Majesty?"
"Bring Damon to me at once! I shall give him a thorough lesson in manners!"