Facing Forward (1)
The old training ground for the knights lay empty and quiet, a place where few souls ever tread.
When Ian had carried her on her back and said, “Lend me that spot for a bit,” Sugar had been given a place all her own. Her connections were truly the best. After all, the spot was unused anyway.
Sugar lay there gazing at the sky, gripping the staff Ryly had gifted her in one hand while she turned something over in her mind.
Beside her rested a beginner’s magic tome, its pages filled with basic incantations she had taken from the children’s classroom.
Why was she doing this?
Was it because self-study felt too difficult?
“I can’t come up with a name…”
It wasn’t exactly that.
It was the fantasy of men.
Something she had daydreamed about one by one during her childhood.
An essential element that could never be omitted from the magic world.
Deciding on the name of the ultimate skill!
On the day she had fled the cult with Ryly, they had used a joint magic together. She had wanted to give it a name, which was why she had been thinking so deeply.
*No matter how hard I try, it’s still too close to “One O”… But if I really call it “One O,” it won’t fit this world at all. Of course, if I treat it as “Ogiok” and come up with a cool English pronunciation…*
Magic came in many varieties, yet the most common form was built from the incantation itself—the process of refining magic power—and the trigger word that set it off.
The trigger could be a hand gesture, or one might simply chant the word without any incantation. Though varied, when it came to the universal style, that was it.
Yet this joint magic had no incantation or trigger at all. The only trigger was pointing the staff. It was a simple spell, as simple spells usually were.
And that was the problem. Despite its magnificent power, it felt static. That flaw had left Sugar regretting it enough to decide she would name it.
Sugar Beam… Super Sugar Beam…
Special Beam Cannon…
“Umm…”
A despairing naming sense.
Fortunately, Sugar herself knew the truth too well to rush into it.
Perhaps not having a name at all would be even cooler.
She would have to ask Ryly’s opinion first…
“Ah…”
It had been a month. That child had been gone for a full month now.
The empty space still felt enormous, leaving Sugar slightly lonely. She rolled across the dirt ground before rising to her feet.
She had to live energetically. She brushed the dust from her clothes, opened the magic book, and began practicing page by page from the first.
At some point her magic power would run dry and she would pant.
Magic power had a habit of leaking into the air, and too much of it escaped.
Originally it had recovered quickly, but here it felt especially sealed.
So she would rest, then practice, rest, then practice, until the sun set.
When the sun went down, it was time for theory.
Stille’s entrance exam was notoriously difficult for a school of its prestige. In this world one had to be an adult to enter, yet preparing for it was not too early even at Sugar’s age.
*Today I want to finish my magic practice before the sun sets.*
Because if she used magic until she was exhausted and then went inside, the words in the theory book would never sink in.
Very well. She would concentrate properly.
Quick chanting speed, tireless spirit, abundant magic power. Today she would work hard to master those three.
.
.
.
“Ueehe…”
It spread again.
Her magic power was spent.
*Rest for an hour or two…*
Pushing herself further would only bring on symptoms of magic power deficiency. Proper rest was the most important thing.
Chanting consumed so much mental energy that her head often ached. Sugar sat down with a thud, drank some water, and caught her breath.
*Still, magic power is the biggest problem…*
It kept slipping away. If she could only secure it, she could keep practicing.
Like the time she had escaped the cult, when pulling in the air’s magic power had somehow worked.
But no matter how hard she concentrated now, it refused to answer. Back then, the voice that had said *Imagine you can do it* had made the air magic gather to her.
Now she felt nothing. No voice. No sense that she could command it at will.
The hallucination she had seen then remained only a faint memory.
If things stayed like this, even after she came up with a name for the joint magic, she might never use it again.
“…”
Staring blankly at the sky, she heard footsteps and the sound of panting and gasping from beside her.
“Sugar… I… I ran all the way here…”
Ian had circled the tower several times.
Since Ryly had left, Ian had occasionally trained with her, showing her determination by saying *I want to become strong too!* No matter what had driven the girl, since good was good, Sugar accepted it with joy.
“Thank you for your hard work. Now, magic training, right?”
“Yeah… huh…”
The priestesses wiped her face, offered her water, and handed her the staff.
“Why don’t you take a rest?”
“I’m fine… Running is like a warm-up…”
Ian immediately took her stance and aimed the staff at the distant target, then chanted the incantation word.
No wasted movements. The spell struck cleanly.
She was older than Sugar and had received some training as the Saint’s descendant, so she looked every inch the mage in the making.
“Ian-nim looks like a proper magician as long as you put on a cloak…”
“What? Me?”
“Yeah. I haven’t seen many magicians, but it feels stable in many ways.”
“Ahaha… Thank you for the compliment. You’re doing well too. You have talent.”
“I’m still far from that. How do I stop my magic power from leaking out…”
“That’s more of a body issue than a skill problem.”
“Isn’t overcoming that body issue the real skill?”
“You sound like an adult…”
In the middle of this, Sugar suddenly shot to her feet. Perhaps the sight of Ian had stirred her, because she gripped the staff tightly.
“You should rest while you practice.”
“I rested earlier. This is fine… Ugh… it’s hot…”
Even in winter the academy stayed warm. As she moved her body and focused, sweat came quickly.
Sugar used the hem of her shirt to wipe her face. In the process her belly was naturally revealed.
Ian jumped in surprise and stepped in front of Sugar.
“Ya…! A girl!”
“Eh? Ah… She’s young, whatever. No one around.”
“I am here!”
“Hmm…”
Looking at Ian, the sweaty silhouette was slender. A slightly tucked waist. Hips that curved outward in comparison. Breasts… maybe she was wearing a compression bandage. At fourteen it should have shown a bit.
To strangers it could be fudged as a thin boy, but anyone who knew better would see an unmistakably female form. Saying such things was absurd.
“H, anyway. Pay more attention to your posture! You can’t do that in front of anyone, especially not in front of men!”
Ian, who did not know that Sugar had noticed her gender, felt frustrated.
Why was she acting like this? So defenseless in front of men. It was fortunate that she was not a real man.
As a woman two years older than Sugar, she sighed in many ways.
“Don’t worry. I don’t do that to anyone either.”
Of course, Sugar would not have acted that way if she had known Ian was a real fourteen-year-old boy. Even in front of children, from that age it was nonsense. It was impossible.
Even if she carried memories of living as a man in her previous life, her current body was female. It was a girl’s body. Because she understood the power it held, she knew she had to be careful.
This Sugar, the only man who allowed her to touch her body—
“…”
…What?
What?
The only man who allowed her body?
The nuance was wrong. The words were wrong. It was really wrong.
Something… um… what was that…
But if she thought about it carefully, it wasn’t entirely incorrect…?
While Sugar frowned and questioned herself, Ian clicked her tongue. She thought the girl was just tired of being nagged, so she did it.
“W, anyway! Ian-nim. Let’s postpone this talk.”
“What to postpone!”
“There’s something I want to ask. I want to ask about magic.”
“Sigh… What. Go ahead.”
When Ian asked with sparkling eyes, the kind-hearted girl gave in.
Successful topic change.
Sugar made a V in her heart.
Of course, it was not only the topic change; there was genuinely something she wanted to ask.
“Ian-nim, do you sometimes hear voices like that?”
“Voices?”
“Yeah. When you’re using magic and concentrating extremely hard. Like that. Chattering voices… or strange hallucinations…”
“What are you talking about…”
“It’s because of the Saint’s bloodline.”
“Is there a rumor that people outside who inherit the Saint’s bloodline experience such hallucinations?”
“No, that’s not it. Somehow, since you seem to know a lot about magic or mysteries… I once experienced something like that. If I can understand what it is, even if my magic power leaks, I might be able to reinforce it somehow.”
“Really? Hmm… If that’s the case, it would be better to ask my sister than me.”
“The Saintess?”
“Yeah. I saw my sister using magic? If you only look at skill, even a decent magician in the Floating Island can’t hold a candle to her face?”
“Even without skill, you wouldn’t be able to hold a candle to her face…”
“That’s true.”
Um, um. Ian nodded and took the lead.
“Let’s go.”
“Is it okay to suddenly go meet like this?”
“I’ll prepare a spot. We’re friends. I can do this much.”
And then she walked toward the tower.
Watching her back, Sugar’s mouth fell open.
The taste of power. The taste of someone attached to a person in power. It was truly sweet.