An Unexpected Visitor
The cold, damp towel touched my skin, and my overheated flesh trembled in response.
“Ugh.”
“Don’t make weird noises, seriously.”
Ross grumbled as he soaked the towel in the basin again and laid it across my back once more.
“This is harder than it looks.”
After dinner, Eline had dragged me back to the training grounds. I spent the entire evening rolling around, desperately blocking her magic.
By the time the arena doors finally closed, every muscle in my body was screaming. The moment I returned to the dormitory, I’d staggered straight into Ross’s room for an emergency cold compress.
“Ahh…”
“Get out.”
“Sorry, I’m actually in a lot of pain.”
Ross kept muttering under his breath.
“It’s a precious Saturday night and you just barge in, bragging about your date with your girlfriend or whatever the hell…”
“I can hear you.”
“I wanted you to hear it.”
When I turned my head to look at him, he raised an eyebrow in that signature dramatic expression of his.
“…You’re really just trying to piss me off on purpose, aren’t you?”
“Stop talking nonsense and turn your head. I’m putting it on again.”
“Ahh—”
Thankfully, the cold compress seemed to be working. The throbbing in my muscles gradually began to ease.
“By the way, about Eline teaching you…”
“Yeah?”
“Isn’t blocking magic more of a Defense specialization thing? You’re in Support Magic, right?”
I stared at the headboard of the bed while I thought about it.
“Either way, the important part is reaction speed.”
“Reaction speed?”
“Support Magic focuses more on auxiliary spells rather than direct offensive projection, you know?”
“True.”
“The core of it is improving instantaneous judgment and reaction speed in any situation…”
Support Magic, to put it nicely, was a unique category. To put it bluntly… it was a mess.
Back when magic was first studied as a weapon rather than an academic discipline, there were only two classes: Attack and Defense. But as magic diversified and people began analyzing it more efficiently, roles emerged that were too ambiguous to be called purely offensive or defensive.
The field that lumped all those miscellaneous magics together became known as Support.
Because of that, Support Magic emphasized mutual cooperation—how well it could assist the other two specializations—rather than pure individual power. As a result, quick decision-making and the ability to judge the appropriateness of various spells became crucial.
I suppose that’s why.
Eline must have been trying to help me quickly learn how to observe, understand, and respond to magic.
“…”
I was grateful.
But the more grateful I felt, the more something inside my chest ached.
Sigh.
The more this unintentional guilt piled up, the stronger my determination to climb higher grew.
“Are you going again tomorrow?”
“…No. She’s busy tomorrow.”
I remembered what she’d said right before we parted earlier that evening. She told me she’d be busy and that I should finish reading the book she’d given me.
“Of course she is. It’s Eline, after all.”
He said it casually as he began tidying up the things on his desk. When I turned to look, I saw a collection of childish toys that seemed completely out of character for Ross.
“Gifts?”
“I’m going to give them to my siblings when I see them tomorrow. They really like this stuff.”
“Siblings?”
When I turned my head again, Ross placed the towel back on my back with an indifferent expression.
“It’s visiting day tomorrow.”
“Ah.”
Due to the academy’s strict control over magic, outsiders were heavily restricted from entering. Contact with the outside world was only permitted on specific dates, and those occasions were called visiting days.
Though it has nothing to do with me.
To me, visiting day had always been nothing more than a story from a distant land. The towel touched my back again.
“Ahh—”
“Dude, get lost.”
“…I’m telling you, it really hurts.”
Ross leaned back in his chair and resumed organizing his things.
“But…”
Suddenly, while sorting through the souvenirs, he glanced over at me.
“Your family isn’t coming this time either, right?”
My family’s estate was located at the very edge of the western territories. It took nearly ten days to reach the academy, so it wasn’t a place one could visit easily.
“It’s really far from here… and they’re probably busy.”
It was the season for sowing seeds and preparing for the farming cycle, so it must be difficult.
Of course, that was only the surface reason.
“You really are something. Doesn’t it bother you?”
“If I got upset over every little thing like that, I’d lose my mind.”
Maybe it was because I’d answered so flatly. Even though it wasn’t his business, Ross frowned even deeper and clicked his tongue.
“…Well, if that’s how you feel, I won’t say anything else.”
He gathered up the souvenirs, then removed the towel from my back.
“You should go now. I need to finish cleaning up too.”
“Thanks. Really.”
When I stood up, I felt noticeably more comfortable.
I should go back and read that book.
Oh, right. There was something I didn’t understand. I’d meant to ask Eline about it today but completely forgot.
Well, after getting hit that much, it was no wonder I couldn’t think straight.
Ross stared at me for a moment before speaking.
“Hey, Lutes.”
“Yeah?”
“Your eyes look really different now.”
“…What are you talking about?”
“It’s a good thing.”
He waved his hand dismissively, shooing me out.
“Hurry up and get out. I need to finish cleaning.”
Leaving behind his cryptic words, I returned to my own room in the dormitory.
The dorm warden on duty tonight was Yulian.
The moment I stepped into the first-floor lobby, I saw his massive frame sitting there, wearing an apron with a bear printed on it. Apparently it was in response to one of the student suggestions: “Your face is too scary.”
Honestly, it only made him look even more terrifying.
“Thanks for your hard work.”
Since it was the weekend, the rules weren’t as strict. I simply gave a light bow and headed upstairs.
“Lutes.”
I was caught awkwardly mid-step.
“Yes?”
“Come here.”
“…?”
Suddenly?
Confused, I walked over. Yulian extended his hand toward me as if offering something.
Having experienced his “affectionate” physical training back in first year, my instincts immediately screamed love club.
I didn’t do anything wrong, did I?
I flinched reflexively at his gesture, but what he handed me wasn’t a club—it was a small piece of paper.
“…?”
“Take it. It’s yours.”
It was a relief it wasn’t a club, but what was this paper?
When he shook his hand impatiently for me to take it, I picked up the paper and examined it.
“Don’t be late. Don’t make them wait.”
…
What is this?
As I climbed the stairs, I slowly began to read it. Then I doubted my own eyes.
Lutes Liperto
Visitor Permit Issued Due to Application.
Number of Visitors: One
…Visitor? ‘Suddenly?’
I was stunned. For two whole years, not a single soul had shown up, and now someone was suddenly requesting a visit?
…
I entered my room and sat down quietly. When I lit the lamp, the dark space gradually brightened. I read through it again.
The letters didn’t change or run away. The content remained the same.
Someone was coming to visit me tomorrow.
Why?
I didn’t remember the exact academy regulations, but I knew visits were limited to immediate family or those guaranteed by immediate family. The academy’s security was extremely tight, after all.
Could friends… be allowed too?
A few kids from the neighborhood back in the territory flashed through my mind, but after exchanging a couple of letters during my first and second years, contact had naturally faded.
They were adults now too. They must be busy.
…
My heart didn’t tighten. It didn’t throb either.
I was simply… curious.
Why?
Why were they coming now?
It was completely unexpected.
Since arriving at the academy, the only communication I’d received were single letters from my mother during first and second year. Even those were just simple greetings.
I couldn’t understand why they would come for a visit now, of all times. In just a few months, I’d be returning to the territory anyway.
Maybe they’re worried I’ll get my hopes up.
If it was my father, that was entirely possible. He had shown shockingly little interest in me, but the moment he learned I could use magic, his attitude changed. Though it wasn’t about me, but about the magic.
“…”
I didn’t know.
I didn’t particularly want to think about it.
Whatever the reason, no one had told me anything about family matters since I came to the academy. How could I possibly know?
I set the paper aside indifferently and opened my book.
Then I glanced up. In the distance, lights were shining from the Alpha Class dormitory.
“…”
I wonder if Eline got back safely.
She probably wasn’t sleeping right now… She must be studying again.
I stared out the window for a while, then shook my head to clear my thoughts.
Just focus.
Because focus was what mattered most.
The next morning, after the sun had risen.
I put on my uniform, roughly dried my hair, and headed downstairs. Since I had never been to the visitation room before, I left early in case I got lost. My prediction proved correct.
“This place is ridiculously huge.”
The academy was enormous.
I’d assumed it would be in the main building, but unfortunately, it wasn’t.
So—
“Excuse me.”
“Y-yes?”
I suddenly called out to a junior walking by. The color of the brooch that distinguished year levels was purple—he must be a second-year.
“Do you know where the visitation room is?”
“The… visitation room?”
“Yeah.”
“Um… I think it’s probably…”
A strange situation where a third-year was asking a second-year for directions around the academy.
In the end, the student seemed to recall and pointed toward a building in the south.
“It’s probably… over there.”
“Thanks.”
After listening to the kind junior’s explanation, I headed straight there.
After walking for a few minutes, I found a building that was unusually crowded for a quiet weekend on campus.
Thank you, junior.
“What are you doing here?”
When I turned my head, Ross was standing there.
Right. Of course he’d be here.
I should have just come with him. Why did I wander around alone from the crack of dawn like an idiot? The saying “a bad head makes the body suffer” came to mind.
“Are you here to see Eline? Did you think she’d be at the visitation room?”
He grinned and playfully patted my shoulder.
“I don’t know. They said I have a visitor.”
Ross froze.
The playful expression on his face changed in an instant.
“…For real?”
“Yeah.”
“…Seriously for real?”
This guy’s acting weird again.
I pulled out the official document Yulian had given me yesterday and showed it to him.
Ross read it with his eyes, then looked up at me.
“I want to observe too.”
“You’ve finally lost it.”
“No, I’m just curious.”
I pushed away Ross’s clinging face with my palm.
“Forget it. I’ll tell you about it later.”
I barely managed to shake off the persistent guy and headed up to the visitation area.
The visitation room I entered for the first time was impeccably clean and minimalistic, as expected of one of the few spaces open to outsiders.
‘…’
I took a moment to appreciate the view.
And then—
‘B3’
When I arrived in front of the room number written on the document, I stopped in my tracks.
Who could it be?
Honestly, I couldn’t think of anyone.
I grabbed the doorknob and opened the door. It opened slowly, revealing the inside of the visitation room.
On the table were refreshments and warm tea. Sitting across from me was a man. An elderly man with neatly trimmed white facial hair. His formal attire was immaculate.
‘…’
The gaze that had been looking out the window turned toward me at the sound of the door. When our eyes met, the wrinkles around his eyes folded gently.
“Young Master.”
One of the very few people back at the estate who had ever spoken to me inside the mansion.
“Alfred?”
The butler, Alfred.
"It has been a long time, Young Master. Have you been well?"
Alfred smiled at me warmly, just as he always had.
“…”
Although I hadn’t expected it, the appearance of someone so far beyond my expectations left me momentarily speechless.