A Changed Landscape
After finishing their meal, the Saintess and Dorothy headed off first, each claiming to have some business to attend to. To be precise, Dorothy vanished after leaving behind nothing but a thanks-for-the-meal—despite having mooched the entire breakfast off the Saintess—and the Saintess watched her retreating back with an odd expression before rising from her seat, saying she ought to be going as well. And so I, who had freeloaded since morning, bid the Saintess a proper farewell and wandered slowly through the Academy, wondering what to do with myself.
There were no classes today. With nothing pressing to do, time was the only thing I had in abundance—and I was already too awake to go back to my quarters and sprawl out for another round of sleep.
Maybe I'll just grab a drink somewhere.
I was walking along with that thought in mind when—
"So, how's the Academy treating you?"
"Gah, you startled me."
I turned toward the voice that had suddenly materialized beside me, and there was the Headmaster, strolling along at my side as if he'd been there the whole time. Who knew how long he'd been following me.
"Old man, you really love popping out of nowhere, don't you?"
"Hmph. Like I noticed when we first met, you've got a nasty way with words."
The Headmaster clicked his tongue in disapproval.
"Try spending half your life rolling around battlefields with mercenaries. This is me at my most refined."
"Whatever. Just answer the question I asked you in the first place."
"..."
He'd been the one to spring out of nowhere, and now he couldn't even be bothered to hear me out—the sheer shamelessness of it reminded me of someone I'd seen somewhere before. I'd wondered where that runt Dorothy got her audacity, but apparently she'd studied under a true master.
"Well... it's only my fourth day, but it's not bad."
"Good to hear."
Only then did the Headmaster let out a hearty chuckle, as if he'd finally heard an answer to his liking.
And honestly, there wasn't much to complain about. All I had to do was show up three mornings a week and keep the students suitably entertained, and in return they gave me lodging and pay. Compared to the money I'd risked my neck for on the battlefield, this was about as close to highway robbery as a job could get.
That business with knocking one student's jaw back into place was bound to cause some headaches down the line, but I'd cross that bridge when I came to it.
So I walked alongside the Headmaster for a while, until a certain someone I'd met yesterday came to mind.
"Oh, that reminds me."
"Hmm?"
"Did you know your prize pupil gambled away her entire fortune?"
The Headmaster's footsteps stopped dead.
"Hm...?"
The eyebrows of the man who'd been smiling a kindly old man's smile just moments ago began to twitch.
"Ah, shit. What are you talking about?"
I found myself staring at him. So the old man can swear too.
Come to think of it, he'd raised Dorothy. No reason he couldn't.
"Ran into her yesterday. She was broke, so I asked why, and she says she lost it all gambling."
"That crazy woman, again—"
The Headmaster let out a long, deep sigh and pressed a hand to his forehead.
Again? Apparently this wasn't the first time.
"She even cadged drinks off me yesterday. You really ought to discipline your student properly."
"She's beyond teaching now, I tell you."
"A teacher for a day is a teacher for life, isn't he?"
"If she were the type to listen to words, I'd have fixed her ages ago. And these days, if I try to knock some sense into her, I'm the one who ends up on the ground."
"Aren't you the Headmaster, though?"
"What's being Headmaster supposed to do about it?"
He gave me an exasperated look.
"If I could use magic better than Dorothy, I'd have gone for the Demon King's throat myself. Why would I be playing school principal out here?"
"..."
Fair point, that. Come to think of it, that runty little woman had been the mage of the Hero Party—the one that marched off to slay the Demon King. Granted, her personality had flaws large enough to sail a warship through; she'd greeted someone she'd met for the first time yesterday by immediately dropping into rude speech, mooched drinks off him, and passed out cold.
Thinking about it, I started to feel a bit sorry for the old man in front of me.
"...You've got it rough."
"Ah, so you do understand."
The Headmaster nodded with the world-weary gravity of a man who had seen it all. Privately, I figured he'd raised her into exactly that kind of person, so it served him right—but I kept that thought to myself.
Then, after a stretch of quiet walking, the Headmaster suddenly glanced sideways at me.
"How about this—I'll raise your pay, and you take over her training?"
"Why would I do that?"
The answer came without a moment's thought. Sharing a few more drinks with Dorothy was one thing; getting paid to tutor that woman was another thing entirely. I wanted no part of it.
"You could probably beat her, at your level."
I stopped walking and turned to face him.
"How's a common mercenary like me supposed to handle a Hero Party member?"
"Says the man who killed a Legion Commander."
"Then you do it."
"I'm telling you, I can't beat her."
"Neither can I."
"Even if I doubled your pay?"
"..."
I hesitated for a moment. And the instant I did, the corner of the Headmaster's mouth crept upward.
"Well?"
"Still no."
"You wavered just now. I saw it."
"I did not waver."
"From where I'm standing, you wavered quite clearly."
"Your eyes must be going in your old age."
"You insolent little—"
Another curse slipped out of the Headmaster's mouth. I snorted at the sight of him and started walking again. I'd only been here three days, but this place seemed more livable than I'd expected. Few classes, good pay, and familiar faces slowly accumulating. At the very least, I had no reason to leave right now.
"Well then, I'll be off."
"Leaving already?"
"All that walking's got to be rough on your old knees. You should head in too."
"..."
The Headmaster just stared at me in silence.
"What?"
"Must you send people off in exactly the worst way possible?"
"I'm showing concern, aren't I?"
"Anyone listening would think I was knocking on death's door."
"Aren't you?"
The Headmaster's staff came flying straight at my head. I tilted my neck just slightly, and it whistled past.
"You grow old and all you grow is mean, huh?"
"Piss off."
"Yes, yes."
I could hear him cursing me out behind my back, but I didn't bother to listen—just gave a lazy wave over my shoulder and went on my way.
With the Headmaster gone, I was alone again. With nowhere in particular to be, I let my feet carry me wherever they pleased, and before I knew it I'd climbed all the way up to the top of the fortress wall. The Academy itself sat on high ground, so from up here the whole surrounding area spread out below in plain view.
And there, at the end of the wall, someone was perched. That small frame and brown hair, familiar by now—it had to be Dorothy.
"What are you doing?"
At my voice, Dorothy only turned her head slightly.
"Looking."
"At what?"
I followed her gaze and looked down inside the walls.
"..."
It was quite the sight, honestly. Beneath the blue sky, the densely packed buildings each lent their own shade of color, blending together into a single living landscape.
"...It is something, isn't it."
"Yeah."
Dorothy turned her gaze forward again.
"Watched it from here lots. Since way back."
"Really?"
"Mm."
I studied Dorothy for a moment, then moved over beside her and perched on the wall the same way. There wasn't anything that needed saying. Apparently Dorothy felt the same, because she said nothing either—just kept watching the scenery, and I did the same, feeling the cool breeze against my face as I gazed down in silence.
How long did we sit like that? At some point, my conversation with the Headmaster drifted back to me.
"Oh, right."
"Mm?"
"Told the old man you blew all your money. Looked like his neck nearly snapped."
Dorothy turned to look at me, slow and deliberate.
"Why'd you tell him that?"
"Wanted to see you get wrecked."
"..."
"Anyway, now he's offering me more money if I can beat you—wants me to train you in her place."
"Gonna do it?"
"Me?"
"Yeah."
I let out a hollow laugh. The audacity was almost impressive.
"How's a mere mercenary supposed to go toe-to-toe with the legendary Hero Party? Turned him down."
"Hmmm."
Dorothy made an odd little sound and looked at me.
"What."
"Nothing."
"Bland as water, you."
Dorothy turned her eyes back to the view. Then, after a moment, she asked—casually, as if it were a topic of absolutely no consequence:
"Staying here long?"
"Here?"
"Mm."
I wondered where that came from, but it wasn't exactly a question that required deliberation.
"Well..."
I scratched my jaw and thought it over. Classes only ran three times a week. The pay was generous. They'd even given me a house. There was the Saintess, and that old subordinate of mine, and—though I'd known her all of one day—bickering with the runty little woman beside me wasn't half bad either.
And above all, the me of right now had nowhere else to be.
"It's not bad here, so I don't imagine I'll leave anytime soon."
"Then?"
"Yeah."
The corner of Dorothy's mouth crept upward. I couldn't tell what pleased her about that, but judging by the grin, she was probably just happy to have one more meal ticket to mooch off of.
With that thought, I rose to my feet and turned my gaze the opposite way.
Beyond the wall, an enormous lake spread out below, its still surface catching the afternoon sun and glittering here and there. The forest ringing its shores stood thick and lush, in the full flush of green.
Just then, a bell tolled somewhere. I turned my head and looked back down inside the walls—apparently classes had let out, because students were spilling from the buildings one after another. Some strolled along chattering with friends; others chased each other around, shrieking over some drama or other.
I watched them quietly for a while, and then a thought came to me.
Peaceful, huh.
On the battlefield, kids that age were usually carrying swords or spears. The man you'd shared a meal with yesterday rolling around on the ground as a corpse the next morning—there, that was nothing worth remarking on.
Maybe I'd lived in places like that too long. Watching them roam about without a care in the world felt strangely alien, if anything.
"What looking at?"
Dorothy, still perched on the wall, asked.
"The students."
She turned her gaze to where I'd been looking.
"Peaceful."
"Yeah."
After that, the conversation died. There wasn't anything more to say, and no real need to say anything at all. We let the cool wind wash over us, watching the grounds below, until my eyes drifted back toward the lake.
I couldn't speak for anything else.
But it was beautiful.