Mage Marygold (4)
“……!”
The moment a soft, squishy sensation flooded into his mouth, Lancel was swept up in a bizarre feeling. Right in front of his eyes, Marygold's slender emerald gaze fixed on him intently. A fog settled over his mind. His thoughts ground to a halt, and the sensations of his body grew increasingly hazy. It wasn't an illusion. His vision was actually clouding over, bit by bit.
-Lancel.
A voice transmitted directly into his head. His body felt paralyzed, refusing to obey.
-Lancel.
Marygold wasn't content with just shoving him against the wall—she wrapped her entire body around him tightly. For some reason, he couldn't resist. His mind grew more and more muddled. He felt like he was on the verge of losing consciousness.
-My Lancel.
……
“Sir Lancel!”
“Ah……!”
Lancel bolted upright, his upper body jerking upright. Before him stood a petite sixteen-year-old Marygold holding a broom. Barely over 150cm tall, with a flat figure, her long hair tied back tightly, wearing her usual apron—it was the everyday Marygold. In the mage route he'd chosen, her body maintained the shortest stature across nearly all the loops.
“You need to eat. How long are you planning to sleep?”
“Mary.”
Marygold tilted her head slightly, giving him a puzzled look.
“Why are you sweating so much? Hold on.”
Only then did Lancel become aware of the cold sweat soaking his entire body. He let her dab at it with a handkerchief, too drained to even snatch it away himself.
“Mary.”
“Yes?”
“You didn't come into my room last night, right?”
“You told me not to.”
“Did I?”
“You did.”
“Don't come in from now on either.”
“……I only came in because you told me to wake you…… Why would I even think of entering a knight's room in the first place……”
She grumbled under her breath, clearly miffed. One thing was certain: she hadn't entered his room last night. He'd rarely seen Marygold lie to him, so her words were probably true.
But it was Marygold.
Yeah. The aura emanating from her body, her presence, her mana, the atmosphere, her voice, her appearance—everything was different, but it had been Marygold.
A dream?
No way. A dream? That? It was hard to accept. There was no way a dream could feel that real. The sensations left by the “unicorn Marygold” were still etched into his skin everywhere. The two arms that had wrapped around him so firmly, the soft touch covering his lips, every inch of her body pressed against him without a single gap. Closing his eyes brought it all back vividly.
I'm exhausted.
It felt like a demon had drained his essence in one go. What the hell had that been?
“…….”
“What're you doing?”
“Huh?!”
Lancel flicked his eyes open. Marygold, who had been staring fixedly at his face from close up, startled and pulled back.
He'd wondered what she was up to since it had gotten so quiet.
“B-breakfast is ready, so hurry up and come! Y-you're sweating a lot, so I'll prepare bathwater too! A-anyway, I'll go now……!”
She fired off her words like a machine gun and bolted out the door.
“Ugh.”
Lancel dragged his limp body upright with effort.
-My Lancel.
He flinched. He turned his head toward the windowsill. The wide-open window showed nothing amiss. Just a few sparrows fluttering in, chirping hungrily.
I'm going crazy.
His emotions were a total mess.
8.
Regardless of the unicorn Marygold who had left Lancel's emotions in shambles overnight.
The sixteen-year-old Marygold's day had been devoted entirely to magic training.
“Breathe out steadily.”
Jenis had set aside her own research to stick by her side.
“Gather your mana. Then slowly guide it along the path you want. Keep drawing it in until it follows your hand.”
Marygold's eyes were closed as her hands sensed the incoming mana, gradually forming seals. The tangled threads of mana shifted direction bit by bit with her hand movements. The process repeated until a round shape formed in her palm.
“Good. Now compress the mana orb firmly.”
“Yes.”
The spherical mana gradually shrank. Soon, it became visible to the naked eye.
1st Rank magic. Mana Orb.
Lancel let out a silent exclamation. It might look simple, but it was an impressive sight. For average mages, it took weeks to months. Yet Marygold was pulling it off in one go.
How could he not be amazed?
“Excellent.”
Jenis's eyes lit up with excitement, convinced her disciple was a genius.
The protagonist, as expected.
Knight and mage both handled mana, but in vastly different ways. Knights specialized in channeling internal mana into blades and armor to boost offense and defense. Mages specialized in delicately shaping it. Naturally, magic was the harder path. It required converting immense power into physical energy, demanding far more sensitive senses and complex calculations.
But Marygold was doing it instinctively. In one try.
Whiiirrr—!
The mana orb in Marygold's hand began spinning at high speed, glowing brightly. The air in the lab swirled into a vortex, making equipment rattle. Candles flickered out, bookshelves tipped, shelves creaked as if about to spill their contents.
“Mary, stop. That's enough.”
“Ughhhh……”
“Mary?”
Jenis hurriedly intervened, but Marygold's face had gone pale.
“G-g-g-grrr!”
Oh no, something was wrong.
“Damn it! Mary!”
“What's happening to her?”
“Her mana output's overwhelming her. She gathered more than her capacity can handle. She's lost control!”
In short, her talent had outpaced her skill. The mana clump in her palm was trembling, on the verge of exploding—that was why.
Too late for Jenis to intervene.
“Mary.”
Lancel rushed to the window and flung it wide open, pointing at the garden.
“Throw it!”
“What? No, that's my garden……!”
Jenis panicked, but Marygold acted first. She thrust both hands gripping the mana orb out the window.
“Hah!”
Boom—!
The mana orb rocketed out with a roar, tracing a parabolic arc like a cannonball. It slammed into the garden lawn.
Ruuuuumble—!
Explosion. The ground erupted in a fan shape, showering dirt and gravel like rain. If anyone had been there, they'd have been reduced to mincemeat.
“Haa……”
Exhausted, Marygold collapsed to the floor. Her face flushed hot, as if she'd expended all her strength at once.
“Talk about a bomb.”
“M-my garden! What happened to it?”
Lancel and Jenis crowded the window, ignoring her condition. A massive crater scarred the garden's center.
“What do you think? Does Lady Jenis believe that's the power of a proper 1st Rank spell?”
“No way. That's at least 2nd Rank to 3rd Rank level. No novice apprentice should wield that—and she couldn't control it, as we saw.”
“Roughly a step or two above…… Must feel good to have such a talented disciple.”
“Is it that obvious? Seeing my garden wrecked and still feeling thrilled—it's a first for me, Sir Lancel. I suspected she was special from the moment she started handling mana, but not this much.”
“At this rate, won't Miss Mary graduate top of the academy?”
“Doubt it. This class is packed with real prodigies, from what I hear. Mary's just taking her first steps…… Top spot would be tough.”
Fair point.
Just as Jenis said. This was the timing for the academy's “golden generation.” It included the still-young 7th prince, foreign princes, ducal heirs, knight family siblings, magic prodigies…… Plenty of famous romanceable characters from the game.
Some even sparked romances right there and went straight to marriage endings.
The academy's the easiest backdrop for snagging noble kids, after all……
Of course, Lancel had no intention of pushing her like before. If some guy there caught her eye—and she felt the same—he wouldn't stand in the way.
That was it. There were good guys at the academy. She might even find a decent ending.
“…….”
Anyway.
“Mary.”
Lancel approached the drained Marygold. He ruffled her hair casually before slipping out of the mansion.
“Sir Lancel?”
“See you at the academy.”
“Huh? What do you……”?
Her baffled, blinking face stared after his retreating back.
From there, Lancel headed straight for his hometown, the Dante Territory.
9.
“You want to teach at the Knight Department?”
“Just for about three years.”
“You? As a professor? Suddenly?”
“Yeah. So, could you write me a recommendation letter?”
“…….”
Lancel's father, Viscount Dante, looked baffled for a moment before bursting into laughter.
“Puhahaha! You madman—at your age, academy professor? Does that even make sense?!”
“What's so impossible about it?”
He'd originally aimed for instructor. But seeing “academy graduate” as a requirement, he switched to the higher-status professor role.
“You fool. You can't just waltz in and say, 'I'll be a professor now.' Slots are limited. No opening for you right now.”
“Don't worry about that.”
“……Why not?”
“One'll open up.”
“What?”
Viscount Dante blinked.
“Baron Onis, the current professor, badly injured his leg recently. He'll need time to recover, so the position will be vacant for years. I'm filling in temporarily.”
“How do you know that?”
“Rumors. Just rumors.”
Lancel shrugged innocently.
“Heard some bad guy broke into Baron Onis's mansion and smashed his ankle bone……”
“Suspicious.”
Viscount Dante eyed him dubiously.
“Fine, if you're that set on it, I'll write the letter. But if you flunk the review or tarnish the Dante name, no mercy. Got it?”
“Wouldn't dream of it.”
……
By the time Lancel returned to the capital with recommendation letters from his father and other nobles.
The academy's entrance exams had already ended.
Marygold has passed the Academy's Department of Magic!
Until the day she becomes a great mage, it's nothing but diligent practice!
※ I hope she makes lots of good friends!
“Good friends, huh.”
Lancel broke into a cold sweat at the sight that greeted him upon entering the academy grounds. He'd come to submit his application for temporary professor, and through the building's window, a familiar face caught his eye.
Marygold.
No doubt about it. That blonde girl carefully gathering scattered items from the garden pond was definitely her. Books, pillows, outer clothes, underwear, shoes, handkerchiefs, writing tools, hair ties, lunchbox, and more. Items no one would throw in the water willingly—she was picking them up one by one. With pond water up to her knees. Her skirt hem soaked through.
Good……friends……?
The semester hadn't even started. They'd just been assigned dorms, and already she was like this.
Achoo. Watching Marygold sneeze, Lancel sighed.