17
Chapter 17
Quixote and Aria arrived before she could start bragging.
"So, why are you guys so late... Wait, why do you look like that?"
"Seo-ha... Quixote is like a walking incident detector."
Aria, sprawled on the floor as if she'd melted, wailed as she spoke.
"On the way here, I caught three pickpockets and subdued one armed robber before handing them over to the police."
"Seriously, what on earth happened?"
I hadn't seen a single pickpocket, let alone an armed robber, in a month, yet Quixote ran into four in a short trip.
"My apologies for being late to the meeting."
"No, you don't really need to apologize. We didn't set a specific time, anyway."
Saying this, Quixote sat on the floor while still wearing his armor.
"You're still wearing that? You're really something. Do you take off your helmet when you eat?"
Whether he had a new set or not, the armor he was wearing looked perfectly intact.
"No. It's a specially made helmet, so I can eat while wearing it."
That's a shame. Hiding it that much only makes me more curious.
"Estella, that tickles..."
"Huh? I'm over here."
"Then who is the person next to me...?"
Luna was poking Aria, who was collapsed on the floor, with her finger.
"Luna is Luna!"
Luna spoke brightly.
"Oh? A child? Um, uh, hello there?"
"Hi!"
"Whose younger sister are you?"
"Luna is—!"
"Oh, she's my daughter. Luna, come here."
I introduced Luna before she could say something that might lead to another misunderstanding.
Hearing my words, Luna trotted over and hugged me.
"What? Daughter? What? You're married? More importantly, you have a daughter that age? Even at her youngest, she looks over eight. So, did you... fast-track? When I saw you before, you were... 22? Was it when you were 14?"
"Seo-ha, Aria has broken down."
"I'm not married."
"Huh? Eh? What?"
"I understand. You must have had an accident before you were 14 and had a child."
I just smiled silently.
"Hey, this conversation is getting out of hand. Explain it properly, or I'm going back to my first theory."
"Sorry, sorry. I adopted her a month ago. Just think of her as the daughter of my heart."
"That's it, right? You didn't have an accident in elementary or middle school, right? And you're not married?"
"Do I really look like that?"
"Yeah, you look like a total thug who probably dated four girls at once."
"What?! Seo-ha, I didn't mean it like that!"
Aria rambled, trying to defend herself against Estella's sly accusations.
Watching this, Estella gave a mischievous smile.
Before I knew it, Luna had left my arms and was playing with Quixote.
When Aria asked what the party was for, Estella just laughed it off, saying it was just something they were doing.
Seeing Aria tilt her head with a look of confusion, I made up a story that it was a celebration for her safe discharge from the hospital.
In the end, everyone laughed, and the party continued.
I watched the scene with satisfaction and took out my phone.
I had successfully stopped the Order of Star Carving's plan, but I didn't believe their actions ended here.
Everything they did was a play.
They structured the story and guided its flow according to their own script.
What I created was a major blooper, but as always, an editor simply cuts those out before the final broadcast.
On my phone, I could easily find the play they had edited.
Videos that had spread too far to be controlled began to play on my screen.
In the play they created, people were being hunted.
Arms were torn off, and many were preyed upon by Magic Beasts.
Scenes of people joining forces to save someone were cut out, leaving only the ugly sight of people fleeing and abandoning their comrades.
The moment Estella used Star Radiance to warp the Barrier was replaced by a modified stage.
Lumiere helped Reika, the Leader of the Order of Star Carving, like a piece of machinery behind the scenes.
He supported Reika without appearing himself; every scene where he intervened had been edited out.
As a result, it was portrayed as if Reika alone could hold his own against all the professors.
They intentionally highlighted only those with severe injuries, exaggerating the scene to make it look like a crushing defeat.
I turned my gaze toward the window.
Countless stars filled the sky.
Among them, I searched for the Malevolent Star I had seen in my dream.
The Malevolent Star was exactly where I had seen it in that dream.
This was a cheap play that fell short of their goals, but it was enough to let me count the stars.
A cheap play where the Academy of the Fifth Continent—which had been gaining the upper hand against the Demonic Realm for years—appeared to struggle against nameless terrorists was sufficient to count the stars from my dream.
However, because it was a cheap play, it couldn't emit the fierce light I had seen in the dream.
To make up for the lacking starlight, they would use methods that even I am unaware of.
Despite this, the party continued, and I shared laughs and conversation with them.
We laughed, chatted, joked around, and played games.
Before I knew it, time had passed, and it was finally time to end the party.
Aria and Quixote left first, and I spoke to Estella as she began preparing to leave.
"Are you free tomorrow?"
"Sure. My family usually assumes I'll handle things on my own, so I don't really have anything to do. I also gave my testimony about the incident while you were unconscious."
"Then let's pay a visit to the Demonic Realm."
"Is it really that easy to get in there?"
"I'm not at a level to enter alone, nor would I get permission, but we have a genius from the Pendragon family right here, don't we?"
"That's true."
She looked at me and asked, "Why are we going to the Demonic Realm?"
"I—no, we—are going to retrieve the stars that Lumiere cast away."
I am going to search for the remnants of the man who willingly cast aside all his stars to lose his immortality.
"Noonim, you'll help me, right?"
"Good grief, look at that sly smile."
She accepted my request and departed.
Once again, the house fell silent...
"Daddy."
Ah, there was one more.
Before I knew it, Luna had approached and was tugging on my clothes.
"What is it?"
I crouched down to look at Luna.
I had ended up raising a child.
My thoughts began to wander.
Can a child who grew up without love ever learn how to give it?
People often fail to distinguish between maturity and resignation.
When a child who used to complain about their food suddenly stops, it could be that they've matured and realized it's for their own good, or it could be that they've simply resigned themselves to the fact that complaining changes nothing.
I am not mature.
I am simply resigned.
I no longer have the heart to crave affection from the people I'm supposed to call my parents.
It isn't because I've grown up; it's the resignation that comes from realizing that no matter how much I pleaded, no one would ever love me.
I didn't want this child to end up resigned like me, but since I had never received love, I didn't know how to give it.
The memories of craving affection were so horrific that I had buried them deep in the recesses of my mind.
As I was lost in these thoughts, Luna opened her arms wide toward me.
Then, she slowly walked over and hugged me.
"I'm sleepy..."
I lifted Luna in my arms and laid her on the bed.
"Alright, let's sleep."
As I turned away, I felt a tug on the hem of my clothes.
"Sleep with me in the bed. The floor is cold and hard."
"Even so..."
'I wonder why I was like that. Even when I gave them my everything, they never once looked at me. Why did I want it so desperately?'
'How pitiful. In a way, it's like the begging of a pauper.'
'Perhaps. But paupers at least get some charity; I had nothing. Maybe the paupers had it better.'
'Can you tell me what it was you were hoping for?'
'I think... I just wanted to feel warm.'
A conversation I had with a friend long ago came back to me.
Always.
A strange friend whose personality and appearance shifted every time we met.
"Alright, let's sleep together."
I said that as I lay down in bed, and Luna snuggled into my arms.
Then, we drifted off to sleep.
***
"Are you okay?!"
Wasn't the mood heartwarming just a moment ago?
The moment I fell asleep, Nive greeted me.
"Long time no seeeee!"
She was shaking me violently.
"You collapsed and were unconscious for a few hours, and then you suddenly grabbed your arms in absolute agony!"
"R-right. I thought something went wrong because Nive touched you."
She gave a small hum of realization.
She was probably referring to what happened at the hospital. Come to think of it, today was the day I always met them in my dreams. Probably.
"I'm fine now. More importantly, did you try writing and submitting the extra admission application for the Academy like I told you?"
"I... I wrote it and sent it. But there's no way I'd get into a place for geniuses, and besides, I only sent the application. I didn't do an interview or a test."
"True. I heard there was a terror attack at the Academy recently—wouldn't it be dangerous if you actually got in? It looked devastating."
"Y-you saw that too, Nive?"
"Now, now, stop the rumors right there. I was there, and there were no casualties."
I cut into the conversation between Eve and Nive, who were leading the talk however they pleased.
"Then, wasn't that intense pain you felt also because of the Academy incident?"
If there was one thing I'd learned from talking to them for a month, it was that I wasn't a being of the dream world, but an entity from the outside.
"I can't exactly say no to that."
"Aaaaah, Eve, cancel it right now! I can't let our Eve go to a place like that!"
"B-but I probably won't even get in, so don't worry too much, Nive. Since your magic skills are superior, aren't you more likely to get accepted?"
Even as she spoke, Eve was trembling with the anxiety that she might actually succeed.
"What? Well, I'm strong, so I'll be fine."
Watching them, I thought to myself: she is a mage of an extraordinary level. She is so gifted that the professors of the Magic Department could recognize her genius just from the faint traces of mana left on her application.
The problem was that Eve's social skills were utterly nonexistent. In fact, once she realized I was from the outside, she couldn't even speak to me properly for three weeks. If Nive hadn't helped, she might still be like that.
Because I needed to drag them out into the world, the method I chose was to have her apply to the Academy. Getting her to even write the application hadn't been easy, but...
"The results should have arrived by now, shouldn't they?"
Today was the entrance ceremony. There was no way the results hadn't come out yet.
"I... I couldn't bring myself to open it. I was too nervous."
"It must have arrived a few days ago."
"I just figured I probably failed anyway."
I pressed my hand to my forehead.
"You still have to check."
"I'll check once I wake up..."
"You're in, without a doubt. Because of the recent incident, things will probably start properly next week, so show up then."
"Eve, your youthful campus life starts now!"
Eve didn't seem happy at all, but she would eventually realize that this was a good thing for her.