How Many Kids Would Be Nice?
I set the bracelet back onto the priest’s hand.
“You never mentioned a size, so I just made it large.”
Sssss—
The dust that had filled the monastery began to settle. Thanks to that, the cracked tile floor came into sharp focus, and the hidden space beneath it finally revealed itself.
Whoosh—
A breeze carrying dust swept down through the broken tiles. A basement. A basement packed floor to ceiling with bookshelves.
“There’s an underground library.”
“…What?”
The priest was still reeling; every reaction came a beat late.
“The basement. It looks like books are stacked down there.”
“Uh… yes… that’s right.”
He never turned his head toward me. He only stared at the cross-shaped pillar I had created, then tentatively reached out to touch it—
Crack!
The instant his fingers drew near, the glowing cross spat a flash of light as if in warning.
“Holy power this pure… just what in the world are you…?”
“I’ll take that as a pass on the test.”
I ignored him and dropped through the gap in the floor. While I walked through the dim underground stacks, the priest awkwardly squeezed after me through the same crack.
“Are you perhaps from the Central Headquarters of the Order?”
What is he on about? He’s inventing his own story.
“Even if I were a Central Headquarters inspector, I wouldn’t be able to admit it.”
“Ah… right. Of course.”
I let my gaze leave him and began scanning the shelves. Decoded editions of the scriptures arranged by era caught my eye first, but that was not the useless clutter I had come for.
A magic tome given only to priests who passed the trial. A beginner’s text that even a novice could use to learn recovery magic with ease.
I found one volume, yet—
“This won’t do.”
It was more than twenty years out of date, so I closed it and set it aside. Revised editions seemed to appear regularly; if I was going to take one, I wanted the newest.
I kept searching. The freer I rummaged, the more hurried the priest’s footsteps became behind me.
“Shall I simply… find it for you?”
“Earlier you said you couldn’t give me anything.”
“Because it looks like you intend to turn the entire library upside down until I do… You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”
I hadn’t realized I came across as that much of a thug, but if he was offering cooperation there was no reason to refuse.
“In that case, I’d be grateful.”
As though he had been waiting for the words, the priest nodded and snapped his fingers.
Snap!
Light magic. The orb he created darted between the desks, then halted before the topmost shelf where roughly twenty identical volumes stood in a neat row.
Basic Recovery Magic Spellbook 1.0.
It sounded like some academy workbook.
“This is the text issued to apprentice priests who pass the examination. It’s this year’s revised edition—written to be easy to understand.”
“You sound like a bookseller.”
“…In any case, this is the spellbook we use.”
I accepted the volume he held out with one hand.
Flutter—
I leafed through the pages. Just as he said, the magic circles and terminology had been simplified. For a foundational text, Ester—who already possessed magical knowledge—would master it in no time.
I closed the book and allowed myself a small grin.
Academy class time.
Ester propped her chin on her hand and stared blankly out the window. Lately she could not concentrate on lessons at all.
You don’t need to control it. You’re already perfect.
It had started then. Even if she never mastered mana control, learning only healing magic would make her an excellent mage—superior, even, to the rest. Having heard those words only recently, it was only natural that ordinary lectures no longer reached her ears.
Haa…
Her rock-bottom grades were not the result of lacking talent. Born into a mage family, she had trained since childhood. She grasped Academy theory with ease; in pure knowledge she often outstripped her peers.
The problem was practical work. The Academy’s magic department wanted excellent mages, not diligent students. Because examinations were replaced by practical assessments, she simply could never earn high marks. Just as in the entrance exam, she never used her full strength.
The trauma of the day she had burned her hometown still imprisoned her. If she lost control of her mana again, she might hurt someone. Ester always kept one hand on the brakes.
She had entered the Academy seeking a cure for her constitution, yet she still had found no breakthrough. First semester of first year—nothing but confidence eroding day by day. A bleak stretch of time in which the boy she liked did not even treat her as a person.
To that girl, Daywin had become hope.
Recovery magic has no side effects even when mana overflows.
Abandon every other school and learn only recovery magic. Different solution, same answer.
I do want to try learning recovery magic…
Ester knew the truth well enough. Holy magic was the Order’s exclusive domain, absent from the Academy curriculum. Joining the Order and completing the priestly course would grant her access, but the price was two years of her life—and a final examination at the end. Alternatives like buying a tome on the black market or taking lessons from a fallen priest crossed her mind, yet—
No matter how desperate I am, I can’t break the law…
It was still too reckless, little different from the path of a black mage. She tried to picture herself saving people with recovery magic, but the image of that future self remained hazy.
I’ll have to wait until after graduation. It would be a waste to quit when I barely got in… and if I leave the Academy, Laward also… hm?
Laward. That single name redirected her thoughts.
Come to think of it, Laward has been trying to become a Holy Knight…
Holy Knight—the reason he trained every day, and also the reason he despised her.
Wouldn’t he know something about holy magic?
Ester still resented the Order and the goddess who had stolen Laward’s heart, but looking at the situation from another angle, a brilliant plan bloomed.
1. Laward either knows holy magic or is studying it.
2. Approach him under the pretext of wanting to study together.
3. How many kids would be nice?
After the lunchbox operation had failed and she had been forced into a temporary retreat, success now seemed within reach. Ester covered her face with her slender hands and let out a soft laugh. She had a good feeling.
If ten attempts failed, she would try an eleventh. Was there anything more attractive than a member of the opposite sex who shared the same interests?
“…What? What did you just say?”
Break time. First-year corridor. Ester’s eyes flew wide as she asked again.
“I said I brought the magic book you’ll be using.”
Daywin held the volume so the title was plain to see.
Basic Recovery Magic Spellbook 1.0.
“This is…”
Ester’s trembling pupils scanned every inch of the cover.
“Isn’t this… a textbook used by the Order?”
She dropped her voice. Daywin nodded.
“Yes. I obtained it myself, so there’s no mistake. And I believe I already said that a moment ago.”
“Something this precious… is it really all right for someone like me to receive it?”
Daywin’s brow twitched.
She’s still like this.
He had thought time would restore her, yet the Ester he remembered from the game had not returned. The confident, bold girl who was secretly delicate and easily embarrassed had vanished without a trace, leaving only a fragile young woman behind.
“On the contrary, if you refuse it things will not be all right. Well, since you recognize its value, my efforts weren’t wasted.”
“If you went to so much trouble to obtain it…”
The thought she had entertained earlier suddenly resurfaced. The only ways to acquire such a tome without becoming a priest were the black market or bribing a corrupt cleric.
“Could it be…”
Ester looked up at him with open suspicion.
“May I ask… how you obtained it?”
“Hmm.”
Daywin paused.
Telling her I wrecked a monastery… might not be ideal.
He could not afford to throw away the image he had carefully built. After weighing several answers he simply chose silence. Speech is silver, silence is gold.
Inventing a story would be a bother anyway.
After a brief moment he spoke.
“I can’t tell you that.”
Ester’s face went blank as if she had been struck.
As I thought—he obtained it by improper means…!
Suspicion hardened into certainty. The idea that she was now complicit in a crime set her heart hammering wildly.
Can I really use a spellbook acquired through dark channels…? I-is that even allowed?
She pictured herself dragged away by Order inquisitors and locked behind iron bars. That image was crystal clear. What frightened her most, however, was Daywin’s completely unbothered expression. Even after breaking the Order’s laws, his face, tone, and complexion had not changed in the slightest. He looked as calm as if nothing had happened—as if this sort of thing were routine.
…A terrifying person.
She had thought him frightening from the first impression, probably because of those red eyes, or the sharp gaze and fox-like curl of his lips. At their first meeting she had held her breath without realizing it until he spoke. Yet unlike other nobles he had approached her with a gentle manner, smiled easily, and known how to speak kindly. She had decided he was kinder than he appeared.
As expected… he really is terrifying.
“Ester? Why so quiet?”
“Huh? Ah—I’m sorry.”
She flinched and lifted her head.
“Um… you did this for my sake, didn’t you, Sponsor…? You’re not… that kind of person normally, right?”
“I don’t know what you mean, but there are times when one cannot be choosy about means. I simply want you to grow quickly.”
“Means and methods…”
Leaving the dazed girl murmuring behind him, Daywin took her wrist.
“H-hieek!”
Already thinking how frightening he was, the sudden brush of skin made her jump. Only for a moment, though.
Thud—
“Don’t be afraid. You’ll do well.”
When her senses returned, the thick spellbook was already in her hand. The texture of the cover stopped her thoughts cold. Ester froze in place, expression emptied of soul.
I-it touched me. As of this moment I’m an accomplice and eventually prison…
She tried to thrust the book back at once, but he had already turned away—as if he had no intention of hearing another word—and walked off.
“I accepted it…”
Once Daywin had vanished from sight, Ester stood alone in the corridor staring down at the volume.
“……”
She still did not know what sort of man Daywin truly was. If anything, this incident had made him more unknowable. Yet had anyone else ever said they would stop at nothing for her sake? How long had it been since someone told her they believed in her? Would anyone like that appear again?
Daywin remained a mystery—and still frightening—but his determination to help her seemed unchanged. Even if it turned out not to be true, he was someone she wanted to believe that of.
“Ah.”
And she realized something else.
……There was no longer any reason to speak to Laward.