The Promise
From the moment Levia first spoke to Cael, the two of them grew close with surprising speed.
Well—by Cael's standards, at least.
Whenever she had a free moment, Levia would talk with him, and those conversations became the only light he clung to. The girl was driven by pity, or by a sense of duty that said she ought to show kindness to a friend left out in the cold. None of that mattered to Cael.
"H-hey... do you have a minute today? There's something I wanted to get your advice on..."
On every flimsy excuse he could invent, Cael found ways to speak with Levia alone. Most of those excuses were worthless.
"Sorry, Cael. Today's really packed. Let's talk tomorrow!"
"Okay! Then tomorrow it is, Levia."
The signals had been there. Whenever Cael edged too close, Levia would sometimes pull away. She knew. She understood that his feelings for her were slowly taking root.
The reason she could never quite push him off was the simple fact that he was being tormented.
"Cael... how did you get hurt this time? Don't tell me it was Tecas and his friends again?"
"Heh heh... no, nothing like that."
Strangely enough, the concern in Levia's voice always struck him harder than the bruises themselves. On the days he was beaten, grief would crush him until he felt ready to shatter—yet every time, Levia was there with comfort.
"It hurts a lot, doesn't it...?"
"No... it doesn't hurt at a—agh!"
"Cael, are you okay? I told you to say something if it hurts...!"
She always used healing magic on him. Of course, mending serious wounds in an instant demanded enormous mana, so she limited herself to first-aid level spells. Still, Levia's worry mended his spirit, and the recovery magic she cast mended his body.
Cael had no choice but to admit it. Levia had sunk deep into the fabric of his life. Because of her, he could endure this hellish existence at all.
"Cael, you pathetic little maggot. Didn't I tell you to show up every morning, bare your belly, and bark like a dog? When I give an order, you follow it, slave."
"W-woof! Woof!"
"Idiot. You actually do it when I tell you to."
Tecas—high in the class hierarchy, son of a known noble—poured out every humiliation he could invent, yet Cael held on. After every beating, Levia would be there to soothe him. But that day was different.
"Hey. Word is you're interested in Levia. Want me to give you a hand?"
With those words Tecas began forcing the two of them together without either one's consent.
"Holy shit, look at Cael and Levia stuck together. They're practically dating. Cael, get over here."
Whenever Levia and Cael stood side by side, Tecas would appear and slap him across the face. And every time he delivered the same line:
"The only reason you get any pity from Levia is because I keep bullying you. You get that, right? Without me, a worthless freak like you would never even be in the same universe as her. Be grateful, you idiot. I'm doing you the favor of playing the villain."
Levia's beauty made her famous throughout the academy, yet she had never once accepted a confession from any boy. Romantic interest simply never sparked for her, or so she claimed. Tecas himself had confessed in the past and been turned down cold.
Perhaps that was why he grew steadily more vicious toward Cael—especially whenever Levia was present.
"Hey. Take your pants off. Gotta show her you're a real man, right? Isn't that right?"
He stripped Cael in front of her, forced his head into the wall to "prove he was tough," or shoved spoiled food down his throat.
Each time, Levia raised her voice.
"That's enough. Can't you see Cael hates this?"
The contempt in her expression and tone made her hostility toward Tecas unmistakable. Cael felt happiness. She was taking his side.
Even if she never acted directly, she still managed to stand up for him in small, indirect ways.
"What are you gonna do if he hates it? Shut your mouth before I start on you too."
Whenever Tecas looked ready to turn violence on Levia, Cael would shout.
"Y-you said you'd only mess with me. Le-Levia has nothing to do with this, so why—"
"You little son of a bitch."
That single sentence earned him half a day of being beaten with a wooden practice sword.
The next day he received Levia's pity all over again.
Being struck by Tecas and then healed by Levia should have tempered Cael, made him stronger. It did nothing of the sort.
The young man was growing numb—to the bullying itself, and to the pity Levia offered without ever receiving anything in return.
Cael never listened to her worries, never gave her anything of value, never managed to stand as an equal who could truly call himself her friend.
Pity...
He understood. The only reason their relationship survived was her compassion. The same feeling that might move someone to walk a lost child to the police station or rescue an animal in danger.
Still, Cael wanted to believe it was affection for him.
He was neither handsome nor popular. He could not use magic. He was an orphan with no family influence to offer. Yet he simply wished that Levia would like him.
That wish made him push the relationship further—and finally he crossed the line.
"Levia... I think I really like you... Even when the others bully me, just having you nearby gives me strength. Would you go out with me? I'll... I'll treat you so well."
His confession was cowardly. He was trying to use her pity to bind her to him. Yet Levia proved unexpectedly firm on this point.
"Cael. Let's pretend I never heard what you said today... I don't feel ready to date anyone yet."
But the boy who called himself Trying Man would not stop. Whenever free time appeared he sought to be alone with her, and the moment the conversation grew a little deeper he confessed again without fail.
That must have been when Levia stopped coming to his side.
When she began looking at him with open discomfort.
After the confessions piled up, Levia no longer approached him, and Cael accepted it as the harvest of his own deeds. He endured the same days as before.
Only now, every beating from Tecas left fatigue and wounds that stacked higher and higher. Cael, too poor even to buy potions, found that enduring Tecas's magic-enhanced violence for long stretches was nothing short of hell.
In a single stroke he lost the place he had leaned on, body and soul. They say a cornered rat will bite the cat. On a day when the beatings grew especially savage, Cael finally fought back.
"Th-that's enough! I... I don't want to get hit anymore, and I just want to go to the academy like a normal person. Just because you can use a little magic doesn't mean you get to torment and look down on people. That attitude is wrong."
"What a load of shit. Even Levia doesn't help you anymore, does she? Because you're a freak. A maggot who isn't even worth pitying."
"You got dumped by Levia too, Tecas."
"What the fuck did you just say?"
Cael had struck Tecas's rawest nerve, and the price was catastrophic. For hours the merciless beating continued without pause.
"Te-Tecas, stop! This bastard's going to die for real!"
"Let go! I'm trying to kill the fucker, so get your hands off me!"
When Cael opened his eyes, every limb was twisted at grotesque angles. Was it the aftermath of magic? Blood that refused to clot poured out in a mad flood.
"Useless piece of shit. Just lie there limp and die like the bug you are."
Tecas spat on him and turned away. Strength refused to return to Cael's body. The thought that he might truly die settled over him.
Coincidence, or actual fate—at that exact moment Levia happened to pass nearby and saw him.
"Cael!"
She cried out and ran to him, pouring every last drop of her mana into healing magic. Even so the wounds were far too deep; they showed no sign of closing. With the bleeding only barely stopped, Cael spoke quietly.
"Levia... thank you... Even though I made you uncomfortable... you still helped me..."
"No! Is that really what you should be thinking about right now? Look at yourself! If I hadn't come you might actually have died! How did this even happen? We should report this—at this level reporting is the right thing to do..."
"No... reporting won't change anything. You know that... Tecas's father is a noble... An orphan like me filing a report won't get proper handling, and I don't even have the money for the procedures."
"Then what are you going to do...?"
As she looked at him with pitying eyes, Cael answered.
"I... I want to try overcoming this myself. With my own hands. I'll win on my own."
Even lying broken he clenched his fist tight. Levia was silent for a moment, then spoke.
"Cael... honestly, you make me uncomfortable. The constant confessions are hard for me. I told you I don't feel that way about you, yet you keep going... But separate from that, if you've decided to find courage, I'll help you. I don't know yet how I can help. If there's a direction you want, tell me... If there's any way to free you from Tecas, I want to set you free."
Looking straight at Cael, who would not meet her eyes, she added one more thing.
"I promise. If you find the courage, I'll help you too."