The Eve of the Entrance Ceremony (7)
Waking up to the sight of an utter stranger standing in your room and cooking a meal would bewilder just about anyone. To make matters even more unsettling, every inch of the room had been tidied into spotless perfection. At that point, it would have been stranger not to panic.
Stella stared blankly at the spread laid out before her. There was nothing particularly grand about it. Or perhaps, in a sense, it was extraordinary precisely because it was so unfamiliar; in all her years living within the Red Magic Tower, she had never seen dishes like these set upon a dining table.
Vegetables...? Wild greens...? Is this a soup? It's far too clear and looks completely different from any broth I know...
Even the meat on the table bore no resemblance to the thick steaks she was accustomed to. Yet, novel as it was, compared to the lavish special feasts of the Academy she remembered, it looked undeniably humble. She had assumed it might pique her curiosity for a fleeting moment, but nothing more.
And yet, why was it?
It looks delicious...
It looked agonizingly appetizing. In fact, it looked utterly divine.
As if pulled by a spell, Stella reached out and picked up the spoon. Truth be told, she didn't even know its proper etiquette; she had never used such an implement in her entire life. Even so, merely by observing its shape, she instinctively grasped how it worked. Scooping up a spoonful of the white "rice," Stella scrutinized it for several seconds before gingerly slipping it into her mouth.
She froze.
The gentle warmth of the grains, the delightfully chewy texture, and the faint, subtle sweetness blooming across her tongue seized her senses. Mesmerized, her spoon immediately drifted toward the side dishes. There were two slender wooden sticks resting beside the bowl, but she didn't have the patience to puzzle them out. Using the wide bowl of the spoon, she deftly lifted a portion of a side dish and shoved it straight in.
"...!"
Stella went stiff once more. Staring down with a trembling hand at the empty spoon that had carried the bite, she could only sit in stunned silence.
"Ah..."
Though it was unlike anything she had ever tasted, she found herself loving it more than any culinary masterpiece she had eaten before. Purely in terms of extravagance, it fell far short of the Academy's banquets, yet that disparity was rendered entirely meaningless. She adored every bite resting on the table.
"..."
Before she knew it, Stella had forgotten all about the girl watching her and devoted herself entirely to the meal, her heart leaping with delight at every new burst of flavor.
Clink.
"...?!"
The chime of her spoon striking the bottom of an empty bowl finally shattered the trance. She stared down at the vacant porcelain in disbelief. The mounds of food that had filled the table just moments ago had vanished without a trace. She could have sworn she was savoring every mouthful slowly, yet she had devoured it all in the blink of an eye.
"Ah..."
Only then did Stella remember to look at the petite girl who had been smiling warmly at her the entire time.
"Who are..."
"[Did it suit your palate? I did my best to prepare it well...]"
"Y-Yeah... It was delicious. Really delicious..."
"[Hearing that brings me such relief. Ehehe...]"
Stella had fully intended to demand who the girl was and what she was doing here, but confronted with such an innocent, radiant smile asking for an honest review of the cooking, she couldn't help but answer that first. Even while sensing something was terribly off about this sequence of events, she couldn't bring herself to shatter the warm, tender mood when seeing how genuinely happy the girl looked just from hearing the food was tasty.
"...So, who are you, anyway?" Stella finally managed to ask once the silence settled.
The girl offered a bright, gentle beam in return.
"[Would calling myself your roommate be suitable?]"
"I knew it... I figured as much." Stella let out a heavy sigh.
If she had her way, she would have vastly preferred to live alone. She loathed bothersome entanglements, and having to share a living space with another person was, in itself, a massive source of stress. Even back at the Red Magic Tower, she had always been granted her own private quarters. Without one, she had no refuge to call her own—and everyone needed a space of their own, no matter how small. Very few people truly relished communal living where they were forced to rub shoulders around the clock.
And yet...
"I... I guess I wouldn't mind it so much if it's you."
The girl didn't seem like the type to cause trouble or pester her. Above all, preparing a meal that tasted this wonderful was more than enough to earn Stella's approval. Besides, the Academy had assigned roommates by decree anyway; unless there was an extraordinary, undeniable reason, any request to reassign or remove a roommate would simply be rejected out of hand.
"[Fufu... I am so glad to hear that.]"
Despite Stella's somewhat blunt and haughty attitude, the girl simply kept her serene, smiling demeanor intact.
Stella studied Aria with a puzzled gaze until a nagging question she had harbored from the very beginning slipped past her lips. It was something that had bewildered her throughout the encounter: why did this girl keep her eyes permanently closed, and why did she speak through bizarre telepathic resonance rather than using her voice?
There was no malice behind the inquiry. It was driven purely by the insatiable, instinctual curiosity inherent to all mages. Most mages could hardly stand leaving an enigma unsolved, so she simply asked what was on her mind.
However, the moment the reply came, Stella instantly regretted opening her mouth.
"[It is nothing to worry about. I was simply born without the ability to see or hear.]"
It was an answer she had never, in her wildest dreams, anticipated.
If you asked someone who walked around with their eyes closed why they never opened them, what kind of answer could you realistically expect? For an ordinary person, navigating daily life with closed eyes was practically impossible. Yet if someone did so regardless, it could only mean one thing.
They had no use for their eyes.
Those eyes were incapable of perceiving the world.
Knowing that was common sense, why on earth had she blurted out such a thoughtless question? And what in the world was she supposed to say in response?
Stella's mind plunged into absolute chaos. In all her life, she had never once encountered someone with a physical disability. While growing up immersed in the reclusive, eccentric environment of the Red Magic Tower had left her terribly awkward at social interactions, she still possessed enough decency to understand that asking such a blunt question was an unforgivable breach of manners.
"Ah... I, uh... that is..."
As she stammered, paralyzed by embarrassment and guilt, Stella's eyes instinctively swept the room.
The place had been cleaned spotless. What was more, this girl had prepared an entire meal and served it to her with effortless grace. Could actions like that truly be carried out by someone who could neither see nor hear?
The skepticism was only natural, for if a person were truly blind and deaf from birth, acquiring spoken language in the first place should have been an insurmountable barrier. Of course, it wasn't completely inconceivable if someone had forcefully imprinted linguistic knowledge directly into the brain, but that was hardly a normal or humane method of education. In other words, the girl had to possess an extraordinary medium capable of substituting for her blind eyes and deaf ears.
Stella's razor-sharp intellect deduced that this mysterious perception had to be intrinsically tied to her peculiar method of communication. She immediately began dissecting the lingering thought waves from the telepathy she had received, analyzing the nature of the power behind them. Discerning the essence of the energy was not difficult at all.
Divine power...!
A blind and deaf girl radiating divine power, adorned with ethereal platinum-blonde hair, possessing a delicate, youthful appearance...
Stella might have been aloof and utterly indifferent to worldly affairs, but she was not completely ignorant of the continental legends. She knew of the celebrated figure—a girl hailed as a living saint who, despite being completely blind and deaf, had willingly stepped into the living hell of the Demonic Realm to sacrifice herself and rescue countless lives.
The Demonic Realm was a nightmare where even veteran imperial soldiers and seasoned knights shook their heads in terror, the Empire's final bulwark crawling with grotesque monstrosities. Yet this young maiden had remained there for two grueling years, single-handedly saving thousands of souls. It was said that the people of the Demonic Realm revered her as nothing short of a living deity, a testament to her peerless stature.
Even the Emperor of the Empire had personally journeyed to the Holy Kingdom for a summit purely to express his profound gratitude to her, and statues commemorating her deeds were currently being erected in the capital's Great Cathedral. No matter how detached Stella was from society, it was impossible not to know that name.
Aria Saint Anastasio, the Saintess of Hope.
With trembling eyes, Stella slowly turned her gaze toward the petite girl humming a soft, cheerful tune while clearing away the empty dishes.
Don't tell me...
Such an illustrious, holy figure... someone burdened with severe blindness and deafness...
Had she just made that living saint clean their shared dorm and cook her breakfast simply because they were assigned to the same room?
W-What on earth have I done...?!
Naturally, Aria had done all of this purely out of a personal desire to get close to Stella—and because she genuinely enjoyed the roleplay and labor—but from Stella's perspective, it looked horrifyingly different.
If the Holy Kingdom finds out about this, I'm a dead woman...
As her title implied, the Saintess was practically the highest dignitary of an entire sovereign nation. She was not someone a mere mage from the Red Magic Tower, no matter how accomplished, could casually boss around or receive domestic service from.
Drained by crushing guilt, mortification, and sheer despair, Stella's face went ghastly pale, aging ten years in an instant. A silent, horrified realization echoed through her mind.
I think my life is completely screwed.