The Sacred Bird You Must Never Touch

The soft embrace of a mattress.

Woo-hoo.

I opened my eyes.

"Master, you're awake."

A sparrow's morning began with locking eyes with a silver-haired girl.

"…Yes. I peeked in to see if you were still asleep, and you happened to wake up."

Her reaction was a touch slow, but I didn't think much of it and moved on.

What a nice feeling.

The exam had ended on Friday, and the golden Saturday had returned once more.

I'd come straight back to the dormitory after the test and submitted every last piece of homework. Today, I had absolutely nothing to do.

Surely even a single day of rest was allowed by now.

"Actually, I think I'll go to the training grounds by myself today."

I said let's rest. What is she talking about?

"I'm at the stage of building spell proficiency now, so there's nothing you can really help with at the moment, Master."

Did the concept of resting simply not exist in Lucia's head?

"Yes, Master."

I decided not to talk her out of it. There were no weekend incidents until the third week of enrollment, after all—I only needed to be glued to her side on weekdays.

And so, after breakfast was done.

"Master. I'm heading out."

Creeeak.

Day nine of my sparrow possession.

For the first time, Lucia and I were separated.

This can't be happening.

I'd been away from her side briefly plenty of times before.

But ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠today was something else entirely. A minimum of several hours. At worst, more than ten hours without being able to see her.

"CHEEEEP—!"

The reality was so hard to accept that I nearly screamed.

…Damn it.

I'd planned to use this opportunity to sharpen my own abilities, but who knew being apart from Lucia would be this painful. Truly lamentable.

"Cheep, cheep…"

As I lay collapsed on the floor making sad little deflating noises—

…Fine. Let's just get some work done.

I decided to run some experiments on my abilities.

The first thing that came to mind was teleportation. I had a cheat ability that turned imagination into magic—why on earth hadn't I tested it sooner?

Time to become a real mage.

I stared at the table right in front of me, and imagined teleporting onto it.

"…Cheep!"

Unfortunately, it ended as nothing but imagination.

Hmm.

Got my hopes up for nothing, only to be disappointed.

…Then what about transformation magic?

Second idea: turning into a human. I recalled my pre-possession body and wished for it with all my heart.

"Cheep!"

Failed.

But wait, that's weird.

If literally nothing had happened, I could let it go. But it felt like something had tried to enter my head—only to be blocked by something absolute.

Hmm.

Probably just my imagination. I had plenty of other spells anyway, so it didn't matter.

Next, let's try telekinesis.

The moment I tried to lift a plate remotely—

Knock knock.

Someone rapped on the door and slipped a letter underneath it.

Gasp.

Don't tell me—a love confession for Lucia? If it was, I'd track down the sender and te—

Nothing like a confession at all. It was a letter from the Basic Magic Theory professor.

Shall I go collect something, then?

The woman's neck.

I made straight for her office.

Found her.

It was almost pitiful that she had to work on a Saturday—except the woman was in the middle of a chat with someone.

If she'd been working, I'd have let it slide. But slacking off and stealing a paycheck?

You deserve a scolding.

"Instructor Lihel, look at this. It's the assignment that cadet I mentioned before submitted…"

The professor was holding the assignment in her hands.

"What was the cadet's name again?"

"Lucia."

"…Lucia?"

"Yes. You know, the second daughter of the Cecilib Count family. Famous for that rotten personality."

I wanted to blast the professor with magic, but I held back.

Of all people, Instructor Lihel had to be here.

A woman with blue hair. Despite being only in her late twenties, Lihel possessed overwhelming insight.

If I fired off mana here, she'd track it in seconds.

"…Is the content a bit disappointing to you? I'd say it's fine."

Lihel gave a lukewarm response—deliberately dismissive, it seemed.

Not close with the professor, I guess?

I decided to watch for a moment.

"No, the entire core of the elemental reaction theory is missing."

The professor spoke with a hint of severity.

"And the handwriting is strange too. It looks like my slave… no, my TA wrote it half-asleep."

"The workload is brutal, so that's understandable."

Lihel answered with nothing but a flat "understandable."

"She skipped a whole lecture, so she'd have plenty of free time. If she can't do even this, she's simply lazy."

"…Understandable."

The same tepid back-and-forth repeated a few times.

Something's off.

Setting Lihel's reactions aside, the professor herself was the strange one. Why was she showing her nitpicky complaints about the assignment to someone else? Couldn't that backfire on her?

Is there something to this?

The instant my suspicion stirred, I peered into the assignment—and realized something crucial.

This is different paper, isn't it?

It had been swapped out.

Lihel visited the research office of the professor she knew.

Will there even be time to talk?

The professor had helped Lihel adjust to life at the Academy, and with a decent personality to boot, Lihel held a fair amount of goodwill toward her. Granted, she could be cold toward cadets without talent, but Lihel hadn't much cared.

No—more precisely—

—until that name came up, she hadn't cared at all.

In that instant, Lihel froze solid.

One had to be careful when mentioning the Outer God's contractor. Transcendent beings could exist anywhere, and from anywhere, they watched.

Let me check for a presence first.

Merely speaking the name was enough to be watched? Absurd as it sounded, she read the surrounding air just in case—

…!

Beyond the window at her back.

A familiar presence.

It can watch me just from being mentioned?

The presence was faint, so faint she would have missed it entirely without deep concentration.

That was close.

Steadying her pounding heart, Lihel answered the professor.

"…Is the content a bit disappointing to you? I'd say it's fine."

That thing was gazing at her. No matter what happened, she must never, ever criticize the contractor.

"No, when it comes to the reaction of mana attributes, the crucial parts are—"

Lihel wanted to seal the professor's mouth shut. All she could actually do, however, was feign indifference with her flat "understandable."

…This was a good connection while it lasted.

Protecting someone from the Outer God? One careless move and it would cost her own life. Lihel quietly abandoned the professor in a corner of her heart.

Shame it turned out this way.

And so, as the two women's conversation wound down, Lihel realized something was wrong.

"…That paper doesn't carry Lucia's mana."

"Pardon? Are you certain?"

An ordinary person couldn't sense the mana clinging to an object—that ability belonged solely to the realm of genius.

"Yes. I know Lucia's mana, and this is different. Although… this mana does feel familiar from somewhere…"

Lihel took the assignment from the professor.

If the culprit isn't found, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠someone will be murdered.

And it wouldn't be her who died here. It would be the culprit—killed without a trace. Just as Lihel moved to analyze the mana and avert the carnage—

Whoooosh!

A sudden gust carried the papers out through the window. It was so fast that neither of them had a moment to react.

"Ah, someone cast a spell—"

"—I'll retrieve it right away."

Lihel leaped out the window and chased the flow of mana. They had been on the sixth floor.

I am the Great Mage Bird. Snatching a few sheets of paper was easy as breathing.

Finding the culprit will be even easier.

My detection was weaker than Lihel's, but I could manage this much.

So there are what, four mana traces?

Let's rule out Lihel and the professor. That left two: the unidentified mana, and…

Velli.

The red-haired brat who'd gotten herself wrecked in the dungeon.

The unidentified mana had to be the TA's—she was the one delivering the assignments, after all. But Velli had no reason for her mana to be on those papers at all.

You're caught, girl.

I knew her mana well. Only yesterday we'd entered the same dungeon together. Whatever method she'd used, Velli had laid hands on that assignment.

BOOOM!

I raced along, my magic muffling both sound and light to the bare minimum. Like a reconnaissance drone, I swept across the entire academy grounds—the Central Plaza, the training grounds, the walking paths, and on and on—circling every place I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could sense her mana.

"—Ah, there she is."

I found her behind a shuttered dormitory building.

"Yes, Lady Velli…"

"Did you handle the task properly? Let's see whether you actually got it out."

She was talking with a certain girl. Silver hair, similar to Lucia's. The Basic Magic Theory professor's TA.

No way.

An accomplice. I was about to demonstrate the full might of the Great Mage Bird on the spot, when—

"Then with this, you won't make my sister do any more work, right?"

…I paused.

"Yes. I'll consider it."

"Thank you, Lady Velli… I'd love to see how my family is doing at the estate, so if it's possible—"

FWOOSH!

Velli's fire magic exploded against the TA's stomach.

"Ugh, aaagh…!"

Choking down her scream, the girl struggled to rise.

"Hmm. Weaker reaction than usual. Did I go too easy on you?"

I had, in fact. The instant I saw the fireball, I'd quietly woven a barrier around her.

"Well, whatever. A few more hits and you'll feel them properly."

Velli hauled the TA upright.

"Here. Take this."

She pulled gold coins from her pocket and handed them over—an amount worth roughly 1.5 million won back on Earth.

"Th-thank you… So, may I go now…?"

Then.

SMACK!

Velli slapped the TA across the cheek.

"You've still got… what was it, about two thousand gold coins left in debt? Your family works themselves to the bone paying it off, so why don't you put in any effort?"

"…"

No answer.

SMACK!

"I-I'm sorry! I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fell behind on my chores, so if we could stop for today…"

After that, Velli slapped her cheek again and again.

"Get up."

"I-I'm sorry…!"

When she collapsed, Velli simply waited until she stood again. If the girl didn't respond, she stepped on her head. Sometimes she pressed a fireball right in front of her face—and each time, the TA apologized as if screaming, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

…

I did not use my magic.

I simply couldn't look away—and yet could do nothing but watch. Because I didn't know the full circumstances? Because my identity might be exposed?

No.

It was simply that if I let this feeling burst out now, I feared nothing could ever be undone.

Not like this.

If I used magic in this state of mind, Velli would die. Her sins could never be atoned for with something as simple as death. She needed a greater punishment.

And so, I waited.

"Lucia, Lucia…! That bitch…!"

Her face overflowed with euphoria. Was she projecting Lucia onto that silver hair as she beat her?

…

I watched every moment of it. I felt so, so guilty. But the time had not yet come.

Time simply flowed on. The wind blew. It only spread farther, and farther still.

How long did it go on?

"Lucia, Lucia…!"

As the violence continued—

Haaaaah.

The wind stirred once more. And the wind carried mana.

"…Huh?"

The wind was the evidence of the girl's atrocity. The wind was the trail that someone out there was desperately pursuing.

I'm not the only one skilled at tracking mana.

Velli had cast spell after spell. Mana had swirled across the whole area and scattered on the breeze. And so—

"…Well, well. Caught in the middle of committing another crime, were we?"

Lihel had arrived.

"In-Instructor?"

"Velli. You know exactly what you've done here, don't you?"

Her voice was already brimming with fury.

"W-wait, please! I can explain everything, so just hear me—"

Lihel seized her by the hair.

"There are two things in this world that must never, under any circumstances, be done."

She stared down at the girl with murder in her eyes.

"The first is striking another person."

…Huh?

"The second is touching a being that must never be touched."

That order seems backwards. Weren't you angry because she was beating someone?

"Velli. You have touched the one being that must never be touched."

Lihel's face was filled with an anger beyond description.