The Magic Book Rumi

"Of course there will be. If I keep clinging to Mongma-nim, you'll end up resenting me, Ms. Rebecca."

Kate's voice was grave, every syllable carefully enunciated, heavy with conviction. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠But Rebecca just furrowed her brow like the whole thing was absurd.

"How exactly would you know how I feel? I'm not going to actually hate you. I already gave you permission to date him, so what does it matter? Cling to him all you want. I'll be clinging to him just as hard."

"You may not care right now. But who knows how feelings might change over time? You could end up hating me. It's in a woman's nature to want the man she likes all to herself."

Rebecca and Kate stood facing each other with me stuck between them.

Palpable tension was already crackling between the two.

No matter how long the conversation dragged on, neither woman gave any sign of budging.

"As much as I want to monopolize Luke, I also want to get along with the person who's going to be like a sister to me. I'm a stranger from some desert kingdom nobody's ever heard of. Luke is still the only person I'm close to. Being alone gets lonely, so I want someone I can actually be friends with."

"Saying you and I could be friends sounds lovely. But friendships between women are flimsy things. They shatter the moment a man you like gets involved. There's no way you and I could ever be real friends."

"That's not... haah."

Watching Kate latch onto the end of every sentence and argue it right back, Rebecca looked like she was slowly suffocating. She pressed a hand to her chest.

"Are you just going to keep nitpicking everything I say? I keep telling you it doesn't bother me. Did you suddenly master mind-reading? Or maybe you can see the future? We should spend time together first and then decide. The three of us can go on dates together, and after you and I have a private drink..."

"I can't help it. I'm stubborn about this."

"...Huh?"

"Because I'm not like you, Ms. Rebecca."

Kate placed her hand over her own chest, mirroring Rebecca's gesture, and spoke.

"I'm not as kind as you. If I were in your shoes, I would have been absolutely vicious to the woman who came after me. Instead of trying to be friends, I would have made sure to establish a clear pecking order, even if it meant using intimidation. That's the truth I learned living as a nun in the church. You must never let someone beneath you get away with disrespecting you."

The truth was, Kate had her own reasons for being this rigid.

From what I'd gathered, the nun's organization was practically a military outfit, utterly obsessed with seniority and rank. For a senior nun to treat a junior nun like a friend was simply unthinkable.

Doing so would undermine the discipline of the entire order.

That was exactly why I sometimes jokingly compared Kate to a sergeant in his final year of service.

"So, I'll be satisfied with being second. I'll date Mongma-nim as long as I don't get in your way. There's no rule that says our date has to be today, so I'll head back to the church now."

Kate turned her back on me and Rebecca and started walking.

She was heading straight for the church.

"Hey, Kate!"

Before she could disappear, I tried to chase after her and grab her. But Rebecca suddenly seized my wrist, stopping me in my tracks.

"Re-Rebecca? You're just going to let her go?"

"...Let her go for today. She was so stubborn it was like talking to a brick wall. If we grab her now, it'll probably just turn into a fight. Besides, we're going to be seeing each other constantly from here on out."

We are a fixed party, after all.

We'd be moving together constantly going forward.

Which meant there was no reason to prod Kate right now when she was a lit fuse ready to blow.

Rebecca let out a sigh, all the energy drained out of her, and spoke to me.

"We came to congratulate you guys on your promotion ceremony, and now the mood's just gone completely sour. Makes me wonder if we should've even bothered."

"Of course I'm grateful you came. Don't go blaming yourself."

The original plan had been to go on a date after the promotion ceremony, but now that was clearly ruined.

The two of us, left behind on the street, were in no mood at all to go out and enjoy ourselves.

"Luke. Are we going shopping for clothes? I'm just going to go home."

"Let's just head back."

We walked straight through the city and returned to the inn.

After exchanging brief goodbyes in the hallway, we each went to our own rooms.

Before I knew it, I was lying alone in my inn room, flat on the bed.

'Everything will work itself out.'

I clung firmly to the belief that time would sort out the issues between me and my lovers.

*

A month passed.

Over that month, I poured all kinds of effort into getting my two lovers to get along. Kate's stubbornness meant the three of us never hung out together in private, but at least being a fixed party meant we had to do quests together.

'Hey, I'm going to step out for a bit.'

'Where are you going, Mongma-nim?'

'Just leave him be. Let's stay here together, Kay.'

Deliberately engineering situations where the two of them were left alone together.

'Rebecca. I'm counting on you to guard Kate.'

'Just leave it to me. Kay! Trust your big sis here.'

'How dependable of you, sis.'

Making Rebecca protect Kate, deliberately increasing the time they had to spend in each other's company.

'Ah, I can't make it to the quest today. You two want to go by yourselves?'

'Let's go, Kay! Let's go catch some goblins together, sis!'

'Yes'm...'

Deliberately sending just the two of them on a quest without me.

But every last attempt was futile against Kate, who had built an iron wall around herself. Right to the very end, Kate never crossed the line with Rebecca more than was absolutely necessary. She stayed stiff and formal, like a soldier addressing a superior officer.

'Kay. Now that the quest is over, let's go have a drink together, sis.'

'Revered Ms. Rebecca. Drinking between you and me is strictly forbidden, yes'm. If we got drunk and had a heart-to-heart, it would be an absolute disaster, yes'm.'

'What is this "Revered Ms." nonsense! Are you suddenly tacking formal titles onto my name?!'

'Yes, ma'am.'

Kate truly was one tough woman.

For an entire month, we'd been hanging around together, and she'd kept that iron wall up the whole time. The funny thing was, even Kate herself seemed frustrated by it, because she'd occasionally come whining to me about it.

'Mongma-nim, I feel so stifled. Every time we go on a quest, I feel like I'm suffocating.'

'If you're so stifled, then hurry up and get comfortable with Rebecca.'

'But I can't do that. I'm the second one.'

'Oh, come ooon.'

And so, that was how things went, and here we were a month later.

Today was the day my fixed party was carrying out a goblin subjugation quest.

It was the sort of quest where all you did was mindlessly slaughter goblins that multiplied like cockroaches in Morris Forest. The three of us set out for Morris Forest early in the morning and made it back to the city around dusk.

When we reached downtown, Kate was the first to open her mouth.

"Mongma-nim. Rebecca. I'll be heading back to the church now. See you next time."

"You're not going to stay for a wrap-up party? It's already been a month since our fixed party formed. Let's all have a drink to commemorate it."

"How could I possibly drink in front of you, ma'am? I'm on a strict alcohol ban whenever you're present."

Kate crisply rejected my invitation for drinks and headed back to the church. She was like some new employee clocking out the instant the shift ended, vanishing the moment a quest was over.

Rebecca and I simply stood there, staring blankly at Kate's back as she swiftly scurried off into the distance.

Pitter-patter.

"Luke. She did it again. Don't you think it's about time she started loosening up around me?"

"You'd think so."

"Well, my desire for a drink just evaporated. I'm going to go home and sleep."

"We'll have to cancel the party. I want to have the first commemoration party for our fixed party with Kate actually there. It's only a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠proper commemoration party if all the fixed party members are gathered."

Our appetite for drinking completely gone, we returned to the inn and went into our respective rooms.

I was lying on my bed in my room, lazing about for a long while, when the magic book suddenly popped into my head.

The magic book I'd received from that mysterious old man several months ago.

A book whose pages were all blank, but occasionally, as time passed, new spells would fill in what had once been empty spaces. I still hadn't figured out what conditions triggered the book to introduce new spells.

'Isn't it about time for a new spell to appear?'

Shff.

Full of anticipation, I opened the book.

So far, the book had introduced a total of four spells to me.

Magic Missile, Water, Liquid, Boiling.

After those four spells, it hadn't introduced a single new one. It had been quite a long time since the last spell was revealed, so it felt about time for an update.

"Hmm."

But the moment I scanned the book, disappointment hit.

The parts of the book that had been blank before were still blank. I could scrub my eyes raw searching, and I still wouldn't find a trace of a new spell.

'I give up. Maybe it's done after teaching me those four spells. Maybe the rest of the pages are just meant to be used as a notebook.'

Around this time, my growth as a mage had also hit a dead-end plateau.

It was because, even though I'd bought new spells from the magic shop to learn and diligently kept up my magic training, I just couldn't seem to deepen my understanding of magic any further. It felt like I was only skimming the surface, accumulating shallow knowledge without any real depth.

To put it more concretely, it was like this.

My current rank as a mage was Third-Class.

Just like with martial artists, the general public classified mages into ranks: Third-Class, Second-Class, First-Class, Master, and Mage.

A Mage-class mage was considered equal in skill to a Sword Master when compared to a martial artist. Reaching ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Mage level meant being treated as an Archmage who leaves their name in history.

In the past, I'd simply known these ranks existed, but I'd had absolutely no idea how to actually reach a higher one.

I was a wandering mage, after all, with far fewer opportunities to acquire magical knowledge compared to the students of the Magic Tower.

However, I was able to learn the method for being promoted to a higher rank from Ms. Grace, the owner of the magic shop.

Of course, it wasn't free.

'The condition for being recognized as a Third-Class mage is the ability to wield three elements. You must be able to command three among water, fire, earth, and wind.'

Over the past month, I'd paid the magic shop to learn the Rock spell.

Rock was a basic earth-attribute spell that summoned a small stone.

Since I'd now mastered Water, Fire, and Rock, I could officially command three elements.

They say that normally, people with average magical talent find it extremely difficult to master even a single element. I'd heard that people like me, who become capable of wielding three elements in just a few months, are incredibly rare.

Yeah.

So far, quickly rising to become a Third-Class mage was all well and good.

This world is overflowing with rankless mages who can't even make Third-Class.

You could look down on Third-Class, but even at this level, you're a monster in the eyes of ordinary people.

You could just spam magic from a distance and slaughter ordinary folks with ease.

But advancing to Second-Class mage wasn't something I could achieve through my own will alone.

'The condition for advancing to a Second-Class mage is awakening to your destiny as a mage. The promotion occurs the moment you obtain a compatible magic staff and acquire your own unique class. Your understanding of magic will expand, and you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠will be able to learn higher-tier spells.'

Obtaining a magic staff and realizing what my class was.

Those were the conditions for advancing to Second-Class mage.

Now that I knew the conditions, I understood why so many wandering mages trained their entire lives and could never escape Third-Class.

A magic staff was an incredibly rare item, after all.

'And I don't even have a magic staff right now.'

A month ago, the vice guild master Bella had promised to procure a magic staff compatible with me. But perhaps acquiring one was proving difficult, because she still hadn't contacted me.

I was starting to get suspicious that she might have slowly forgotten all about me.

Without a magic staff, realizing my class was impossible.

Which meant the path to advancing to a Second-Class mage was completely blocked off for the time being.

My growth was stagnant, and I couldn't even have a proper romance with the lovers I'd managed to get, so I was honestly miserable.

I wanted to blow a hole right through this stifling feeling.

But a feeling isn't a clogged toilet; there's no way you can clear it out in one shot.

It was while I was lying on my bed, staring blankly at the magic book.

A sharp yell rang out from outside the window.

"You think you can just peddle your wares wherever you please?!"

"If you want to sell your goods, pay the protection tax. This is our turf."

"A man your age ought to know basic business ethics. If you're that old, you should be quietly holed up in a back room somewhere, not crawling out into the street!"

A commotion had broken out, so I poked my head out the window to look.

On the street near the inn, a gang of thugs had surrounded someone and were shaking them down. They were the same thugs who'd recently appeared in this district, going around extorting merchants with this 'protection tax' nonsense.

I'd been leaving them be since it wasn't my money they were extorting.

Under normal circumstances, I probably would have ignored it and just laid back down on my bed.

But the moment I saw the person surrounded by the thugs, ignoring it was no longer an option.

I spotted a white-haired old man carrying a bundle on his back.

"Huh?"

The words slipped out of my mouth on their own.

Because I'd seen that old man somewhere before.

━Could you use a certain item?

Back in those days when no party would accept me, and I was living the lonely, solitary life of an adventurer.

I'd received a book from the old man and become a mage.

━An item that will flip your miserable life upside down, that is.

In this very moment, the old man had appeared before me once again.