Determination
Yerna, summoned to the school, felt a touch of unease.
It was not that she disliked coming to the school itself.
She simply fretted that the moment she arrived, the children might ostracize Luke for belonging to a different race—something plain to see at a glance.
Beastman traits such as horns or ears normally manifested across only one or two generations. For a form like Luke’s—horns and ears both—to appear, both parents had to be specific beastmen at the very least.
That was why she had hoped to avoid the school if at all possible. A guardian summons, however, left her no choice.
But what on earth could it be about?
Luke himself seemed none the wiser.
Just then a teacher spotted the elf hovering awkwardly outside the faculty office and approached with a smile.
“Hello there. You’re Luke’s guardian, aren’t you?”
“Y-yes! That’s right.”
“Come in and have a seat for now.”
Nerves must have gotten the better of her; Yerna answered with a distinctly forest-ranger stiffness.
“Yes, ma’am!”
“Haha, very crisp and proper of you.”
There was no avoiding the subject of the magic that had been born while Luke stabilized Shirud’s circle.
When Yerna heard the account, her eyes flew wide in astonishment.
Breaking an incantation down into individual syllables and reassembling them was an act on an entirely different plane—like solving advanced mathematics with nothing but addition and subtraction.
“Is that something people can normally do?”
The homeroom teacher shook her head.
“Not a chance. Trying something like that with a Class 1 wand… even with a calculator you couldn’t match that timing.”
Just writing out the formula by hand would take a full hour. It was nowhere near the level of composing it instantly inside one’s head and making it actually work.
“Is her mind simply that sharp…?”
The teacher spoke with a note of concern.
“How does Luke usually spend her time at home?”
“Nothing special… She works through study sheets, reads books… that sort of thing.”
“Hmm…”
From that description alone she sounded like an ordinary child.
Her abilities, however, were anything but ordinary.
“So you’re saying she had never touched a wand before at all?”
“Not in front of me, no.”
How could a child who had never handled a wand perform such high-level spell modification?
No—even if she had handled one before, it still made no sense.
Unable to grasp it, the teacher wondered whether the answer might lie in Luke’s everyday studies and asked,
“Then what kind of studying does the child usually do?”
“The workbooks she does at home are Class 4 materials. She says she wants to become a mage, so…”
The teacher’s hand shot up as if something felt off.
“Class 4?”
“Yes.”
Yerna gave a little shrug. The teacher double-checked.
“Class 4 is already Magic Academy level. Are you certain?”
“Pardon?”
Oh…? She hadn’t realized it was that advanced.
She had simply assumed that was the baseline for children these days.
Luke had always solved everything on her own, after all.
Seeing Yerna’s innocent expression, the teacher finally understood and sighed.
“Perhaps that’s why Luke is having trouble adjusting to school right now.”
No wonder she always seemed to be thinking about something else.
Would a child already studying Class 4 material find Class 1 magic lessons the least bit engaging?
Of course they would look boring and childish.
“The gap with her peers is probably so large that she feels a bit of disconnect as well. But it’s only the first day, so I can’t say anything definitive. Just take it as the impression I’ve gotten, if you would.”
“Ah, I see……”
“It would be better to ask her about it directly. From a teacher’s position she might not give a straight answer, so how about you, as her guardian, ask the child yourself?”
Yerna nodded at the teacher’s words.
“Yes, I’ll do that.”
She had been flustered by the incident that erupted on the very first day of school… yet she had always suspected Luke would not adapt easily.
That was why she had fretted so much.
Perhaps it was fortunate the matter had come up so quickly.
At least she had not realized it far too late. Even so, a guardian summons on day one felt a bit excessive.
The fact that it had not been something bad was the smallest of consolations.
Yerna had been concentrating on driving for a while when she suddenly asked Luke,
“Lu. Is school less fun than you expected?”
Luke’s face flickered with the look of someone whose weak point had been struck dead-center, but she quickly composed herself and answered,
“Nay, I am fine. There is no need for you to concern yourself……”
“You don’t have to force yourself to go. If you hate it, quitting is fine. There must be other ways to get your education recognized. I’ll talk to Serena about it.”
“……”
The offer was a little tempting.
Honestly, he no longer wished to experience the busy, hectic, rigidly boxed-in life of an academy.
Luke had always longed for a leisurely, stable, self-directed existence.
An academy was the exact opposite of that hope.
“I shall think on it for now. I am grateful that you always look after me so, Yerna.”
Luke gave a soft chuckle.
Pai made a deflated little sound of genuine disappointment, but it would be better to attend a few more days before deciding.
It was still only the first day, after all.
If he quit immediately after something like this, those children would only worry for no reason.
And he felt a little sorry toward Serena, who had so readily covered the tuition.
If possible, graduating would be the proper course. Yes.
There was plenty of time left.
A few days later, as usual, Luke was on his way to the bus stop to head for the academy.
His steps were heavy and listless.
The academy truly is exhausting.
A place of learning though it was, to Luke the academy had become little more than a venue for confirming the most elementary facts.
In the past everything had been new, and the hunger for advancement had let him throw himself into lessons with passion.
Now? Well.
He had no desire for status or promotion.
Yet he knew that in this era a child not attending school left a rather poor impression.
Not sending a child to an academy counted as abuse, of all things.
Once, attending an academy had been a blessing; the world had changed a great deal indeed.
What carried Luke toward the academy now was sheer inertia.
It was not entirely unpleasant, so he simply had not quit.
The library, in particular, was excellent. The atmosphere was fine and the collection quite respectable.
The baffling gaps in history were a complaint, but the rest of the materials were solid.
The literature section especially was worthwhile.
Thanks to it Luke had absorbed a fair amount of social common sense.
Even better, students could use it completely free of charge.
He could read as much as he liked without placing any burden on Yerna.
The cafeteria meals… honestly, those were good too.
Every day a delicious, nutritionally balanced meal was provided until he was full—how could he dislike that? Every dish so far had suited Luke’s tastes perfectly.
He was beginning to feel a touch of dissatisfaction with the meals at home, if he was honest.
Of course he never let it show in front of her.
Class time and the children’s chatter, however, were quite the ordeal.
During lessons he killed time with other workbooks brought from home, and the teachers did not go out of their way to bother him, so that much was bearable.
Dealing with the children was not easy.
In the end Luke had no choice but to keep a moderate distance from the other kids. At most he spoke with Shirud or Mery.
No matter how fond one was of children, liking to look after them as an adult was a different matter from living cheek-by-jowl with them.
Moreover, Luke was unskilled at handling peers.
His abilities had always been so outstanding that he had dealt only with those of higher station than himself, and past a certain point he had dealt only with those of lower station.
At present the only people Luke could call “equals” numbered just two.
Cale Propson and Renie Arinseia.
Aside from those two among the Three Heroes, there had been no one of equal standing.
“Cale Propson, if you could see me now you would laugh yourself sick.”
The man who had died first of them all came to mind especially today.
He would surely point a finger and crow something like, ‘Pwahaha! What’s with that look! Is that some kind of hobby of yours?’
Thinking that such finger-pointing felt oddly missed today, Luke waited for the bus—and someone’s figure caught his eye.
How long had the young man been watching? He raised a hand in greeting with an awkward smile.
“Uh, hey. Do you remember me?”
“Marco, was it? Well met, Marco Alby.”
It was the academy student he had met once before—Marco Alby.
Looking closer, the clothes Marco Alby wore appeared to be a school uniform.
Previously Luke had taken it for some fashion popular among young men.
Perhaps he had not even been a young man.
In this era anyone under nineteen was considered a minor, it seemed.
“You said you were a student at Tenegan Academy.”
Marco nodded.
“You remember? Good. Would’ve been awkward if you hadn’t recognized me.”
He scratched the back of his head.
A moment later he continued,
“That uniform’s Teag Academy, right? Figured you’d be a good student—so it’s a prestigious academy, huh? I heard the entrance exam there is crazy hard.”
“It was not particularly so. Merely an easy test of writing down answers one already knows.”
“Well yeah, if you know the answers you write them!”
Marco burst out laughing. Luke found the reaction a little odd.
Was it possible not to know those answers?
The workbooks spelled everything out; there was no reason to get them wrong.
“If you simply avoid careless mistakes, a perfect score should be well within your reach. Do not be so modest.”
“Me? Nah, I’m not that good at studying. Just hanging on to the mid-upper ranks is already a struggle.”
“Is that so?”
Mid-upper ranks sounded rather decent, did it not?
Perhaps the fellow was merely being humble.
“Anyway. The uniform looks good on you. Ah—this isn’t me hitting on you, okay? Don’t go reporting me anywhere.”
“Pfft—why on earth would I do such a thing to you?”
The joke was so absurd that Luke could not help laughing.
At that laugh Marco gave a little snort of his own and said,
“There, your face finally loosened up.”
“Hm?”
“You looked pretty down earlier.”
Marco’s words made Luke suddenly conscious of his own expression.
Had he looked that serious?
He turned his head toward Pai and asked,
“Did I truly appear so?”
-Luke, ………
Pai nodded with a worried look that seemed to say yes.
He had received the impression that she had been restless of late, but so that was the worry.
In front of Yerna he had deliberately acted as though nothing were wrong so as not to cause concern, yet during these commute times he had not bothered managing his expression at all.
“Last time I saw you, you were smiling all bright and innocent, but now you look pretty gloomy. Something happen at school?”
“Something, you say……”
There was, of course.
But was it something he could speak of?
He felt a little reluctant, yet a thought struck him.
Was Marco not, in a way, the ideal person with whom to share worries?
He knew nothing about anyone connected to Luke.
That meant there was no need to fear the worry spreading to anyone else.
Figuring he had nothing to lose, Luke nodded and said,
“Marco, do you ever find yourself reluctant to attend the academy?”
“Me? Every single day. Who doesn’t?”
“Is that so?”
“What, so you just hate school too.”
Marco laughed heartily at Luke’s thoroughly childlike manner.
A little girl saying she hated going to school with such a serious face!
Somehow it was both cute and funny.
He was glad he had spoken up.
“Why don’t you want to go?”
“It feels rather like a waste of time. Does it not seem strange that attending school is treated as an obligation?”
“Strange?”
Come to think of it, he had never once questioned compulsory education itself.
Everyone else went, so not going felt odd, and that was that.
“Well, if you’re thinking of dropping out, better to just quit, kiddo.”
“Address me as ‘Luke Irushi.’”
“Right, Luke.”
Yikes. Really hates being called ‘kiddo,’ huh.
Come to think of it, it had been the same last time.
Marco scratched his head and continued,
“But if you drop out, the social view of you gets pretty bad.”
He shrugged.
Luke’s expression remained unimpressed.
Did “social view” simply not hit home for him?
He needed to explain it in a way Luke could understand…
“Oh, right. You said you want to become a mage, yeah?”
“I do.”
“Mages absolutely need an academy graduation certificate. Drop out and you can’t get one.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. They only give it after you take the graduation exam. A Teag Academy diploma would be a huge help toward becoming a mage… wouldn’t dropping out be a waste?”
A Teag Academy diploma.
It carried the value of an entry ticket onto the elite track.
Dropping out would indeed be a waste.
Luke nodded at the explanation.
“……I see. Graduating would indeed be better.”
The graduation exam.
So there was a way to graduate quickly after all.
Could one take it early? He ought to consult a teacher.
If that were possible, he could become a mage far sooner than originally expected, could he not?
The thought lifted his spirits.
Magic texts of Class 5 and above were not generally circulated, it seemed.
Once he became a mage, obtaining such things would become easier!
Watching Luke’s expression brighten with those thoughts, Marco felt a swell of satisfaction.
I successfully talked a girl who hated school into staying, he thought to himself.