I headed to the terrace of the academy with Mardol. The afternoon sun was setting, just after the awards ceremony.
“It’s dangerous for you to come to our dorm, Mardol.”
I scolded the glass knight for carelessly entering the male dormitory. No matter how much he pretended to be the Crown Prince, it wasn’t safe. What if someone saw him?
Even so, I was worried about unexpected events. Plus, you shouldn’t be getting involved with me.
“If it’s Licht, it’s not dangerous.”
“…”
His speech had become longer than before. Why was he acting so scary? I sighed and bowed my head.
“So, why are you here?”
“I came to deliver this.”
Tap tap. Mardol knocked on the box with his small hands. Could it be what I thought it was? I pushed the latch and checked the contents inside.
“…Dragon Heart.”
“Right. Licht, you take it.”
His golden eyes sparkled as he looked at me, eager to see what I would do.
Damn, has my favorability increased? If I accept this, the ‘Mardol Route’ could really be fixed. I shook my head.
“I refuse.”
“…Huh?”
Then the shining helmet made a clink sound, and the glass knight seemed confused by my refusal.
“Why, Licht? I lost. I’m weaker than you…”
“Stop.”
Here we go again. Whether weak or strong, what does that matter here? We’re still pathetic in front of the Demon King. I covered my face with my palm, feeling embarrassed.
In fact, the complex of being weak could be a common point between Mardol and me. I had to stop this.
“…Let’s make a promise, us.”
“A promise?”
With this, he wouldn’t cling to me anymore under the excuse of being weak. Kainel, the protagonist from the sequel, was good at keeping promises.
“Starting today, let’s not say weak anymore. How about that?”
“…No.”
That was immediately rejected. How could I get him to accept this proposal?
I had already made a promise regarding the saintess, and if I tried to say anything more, it would probably backfire.
“Then I’ll take the Dragon Heart later.”
“…If you keep the promise? Until when?”
Oh, he seemed intrigued by that. She leaned toward me. I needed to catch him like a fish at the bait.
“How about until I’m satisfied?”
“…Okay. I’ll try, you weirdo.”
First, I pushed with a ridiculous condition… but wait.
Mardol, with both hands clenched into fists, didn’t hesitate to accept right away. I had expected her to bounce back at least once.
She was straightforward, catching me off guard.
She had intended to transfer the Dragon Heart to me from the beginning, didn’t she?
My ridiculous attempt to refuse by setting an odd condition had been thwarted. Here I was, a fool making a boundless promise.
“I won’t say weak, so you keep your promise too, Licht.”
Not only was I not receiving the Dragon Heart, but my plan to set new conditions for a promise had failed.
“This looks like…”
A flag. An undeniable flag of affection, even a romance newbie like me could see it clearly.
Things were getting tangled. Ever since I exchanged pleasantries through shadow fangs, this has been the case. How could I make Mardol distance herself from me?
“Why are you being so nice to me?”
“…Self-satisfaction.”
It’s tougher than dealing with Nex Aureus. I felt dizzy. This person really doesn’t care about others’ opinions.
“Honestly, it’s burdensome. I feel like I need to do something for you.”
Even though I returned Bellin Grancia to her, this was getting troublesome. I hadn’t aimed for any of this; it just happened by pure luck.
I had no excuse to receive blind kindness. Family is precious. I was just putting things back in their rightful place.
“You don’t have to. Licht.”
“…Huh?”
“I just want to do something for you.”
So I felt I had no reason to deserve such a reward. Could it really be because of Mana Rose? I waved my hands in shock.
“No matter what, I can’t give you the Mana Rose….”
A flag should be met with a flag. I mentioned the blue rose I wanted to give to our saintess, trying to stop any further relationship developments.
“It’s okay.”
But, as if she had anticipated that, she spoke to me in a calm, soothing tone.
“…That’s all for the Nameless Saintess.”
Golden wolf-like eyes shining from the helmet were staring at me. Did she find that out too? I hadn’t told anyone. How could she…?
“I want to know you more, Licht.”
“…”
I instinctively realized. If this continued, we would grow closer.
As soon as I heard that, I stood up. I couldn’t get any more involved; the feeling surged through my body.
Just as I was about to leave the terrace,
“Oh! Licht, Mardol. I’ve been looking for you.”
“…Professor Dennis?”
I had no choice but to sit back down again due to the stumbling blue-haired man. What on earth brought him here?
*
Another person had joined the terrace of the academy. Dennis was drinking again there. Once more, the shining white aura radiated, showcasing his presence.
“The year-end exam was great. Although Licht lost, magic does have its weaknesses.”
Dennis was spinning rings of 3D magic circles. He truly was the protagonist of Night Heart. I was a bit envious.
“…I was weak in unexpected situations.”
“Yep, Mardol. While twisting steel into glass was nice…”
“I forgot.”
“As Drake said, if you rely only on mana, you can’t move in unexpected situations.”
He and the glass knight were recalling the last exam. To be honest, considering just the results, Mardol had won, but was there some understanding between those who use magic?
“I shouldn’t have depended on mana…”
“And that’s why our Licht was faster in the end.”
Was that when the shadow fangs had cast darkness?
“That moment, Drake was boasting so much.”
“Really? The Master?”
I thought he would say something about where he learned new swordsmanship. After all, the Master would probably have laughed, saying, “Finally, swordsmanship has defeated magic! Haha!!”
“Well, ultimately you lost, but you fought well, Licht. The mage students were really surprised, and the swordsmen saw hope.”
“Entering the darkness was a blunder.”
“That’s true. You can’t even use light magic.”
The blue-haired man drew a line across his mouth and offered me encouragement.
“No, I was weak… Ah.”
I saw the glass knight trying to tell Dennis the truth, then covering her mouth with both hands. Luckily, she was keeping her promise. Mardol.
If she said she was weak while actually losing, she was silent, fearing I might refuse the Dragon Heart.
‘But really, why did this guy pop up now?’
He approached me suddenly when I was trying to escape from the princess. I thought hard, resting my chin on my hand. What reason would he have to look for me and Mardol?
‘Is it because he saw the God Demon’s swordsmanship?’
Could it be that my swordsmanship had twisted the Demon King’s powers, causing my slender hope to bloom?
“Professor, did my swordsmanship remind you of something?”
“Hm? Not really.”
Damn, the power of ignorance was this strong? Could I even mention names? It felt like I could be followed by the Head.
‘It might have been okay at the training ground with the White Lily, but.’
Talking about the God Demon’s name within the academy was too dangerous. It was like jumping into a bomb; a ticking one at that.
Not to mention the ‘All-Knowing’ itself. This wasn’t just any guy; all information related to the Demon King. I couldn’t afford to make a blunder in this information war.
“…It’s nothing.”
There was no way for me to stop the power. If I got caught in ignorance too, it would be a big deal. Didn’t I struggle just against the Magic Hat?
‘Not having perfectly released the masterpiece yet, it’s still too early.’
Even if a fake holy sword could cut off powers, it couldn’t kill a person. If that were true, I would have removed all the bullets from the God Demon by now.
“…So, why did you look for me and Mardol?”
“Right.”
“Oh, that’s because, my friends.”
Dennis had always used polite language as expected. Was it a sign of respect for the original protagonist? I kind of liked him.
“Because our magic club has to participate in the ‘Summer Festival!'”
And then, grinning, Dennis expressed his drunken joy. The Summer Festival? I realized I’d skipped a month, so of course, summer would be coming soon.
“…Summer Festival?”
“Festival. Oh, that reminds me, right, Licht.”
I felt a sense of despair. I had tried to avoid the flag, but now he’d caught me tightly. In the end, it meant I would have to move together with Mardol.
If Kainel hadn’t mentioned the club when Mardol was present, she probably wouldn’t have even joined. At that moment, I hated that clueless blonde.
“Honestly, I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t been able to have proper club activities.”
“Yeah, that’s true…”
“Right.”
“And so, this time for the festival, let’s achieve some real success.”
He wrote in the air with the water in his cup. [Grand Hertz Academy's Summer Festival! Magic Club Booth!] was the phrase he wrote.
In fact, summer vacations or winter Christmas were mostly important themes in games.
Event characters or limited characters, often just having their clothes changed meant their performance was different, saying “They’re totally different characters!”
‘But here, they at least match the seasons, which is a relief.’
Thank goodness there wasn’t a situation where people wore swimsuits in the middle of winter or Santa suits in summer. I nodded slightly and asked Dennis.
“Then, shouldn’t we inform Kainel and Ariel?”
“They already met them, yes, Licht.”
Had they gone to the Empire’s smithy? With teleportation magic, they could get there quickly. They found me and Mardol just for a moment on the terrace.
“What exactly do you plan to do, Professor Dennis?”
“That’s something you all need to decide, which is why I found you.”
What? Sure, the year-end exam had just ended, so there was plenty of time to prepare. But wasn’t that a bit irresponsible?
I thought he was a good professor. At the very least, he should show us an example from last year’s festival before saying this.
“…Are you saying you haven’t decided what to do yet?”
“Right. My assistant.”
Dennis, looking at me, patted my shoulder. He hadn’t forgotten about my plans to go to graduate school. I was in such a hurry to save lives that I didn’t have much choice.
“Um….”
I leaned back in my chair and began to ponder. In the end, I would have to do something. If we achieved good results at the festival, perhaps something like during the year-end exam would follow.
‘Magic Club… Magic…’
It seemed best to use magic fitting the name of the club. Kainel knew a bit of magic, and I was the only one who couldn’t use it.
‘Mardol could use glass, Ariel could do fireworks….’
Kainel was light. Was there something we could create by combining these three? I started to think.
“Professor Dennis. Is it possible to create a maze using mirrors with magic?”
Something like what you’d often see in amusement parks. A memory I had with my father.
“…Of course, it’s possible. Are you planning to do that?”
I thought for a moment that this idea might be a fresh one.
“No. Let’s twist it a bit more.”
But in a world overflowing with magic, spirits, divine power, and swordsmanship, it might not be all that special. We needed something more novel.
“How about mixing something scary, Licht?”
“Ah, Mardol, that’s a great idea.”
There really are haunted houses in reality. I echoed the glass knight’s words. I shouldn’t be doing this repeatedly. It was a response that came out instinctively, so it couldn’t be helped.
“What about creating a ‘mini hell’? By combining glass magic and light magic….”
“Are you trying to distort space? Licht.”
“And Ariel’s flames.”
How about a booth where people dress up like ghosts and experience the netherworld? I suggested we should try to scare them using optical illusions through mirrors.
“Yes, that’s right. We’d combine all three of your magics.”
Naturally, they were people who used magic. They knew this kind of knowledge better than I did. I nodded vigorously in positive agreement.
“…Then, what about Licht?”
“I’ll do something else.”
I figured I could make some dad jokes, like the king of the underworld asking questions. I bet not many people would be able to answer.
Since it was a story that our saintess liked, it would be even better if it spread beyond that.
‘The Nameless Saintess might come to the summer festival.’
So, caught off guard, I ended up helping prepare for the summer festival. It was usually advantageous in games to do any events.
“Mardol, could you look away for a moment?”
“Why? Licht.”
“…It’s nothing.”
The princess had been staring at me this whole time. If I talked anymore, I’d just end up with my flags flying higher.
While I was bothered by the thought that I had to be with her, surely nothing too problematic would happen.
