"What is all this?"
Evan's eyes widened as he looked at the materials laid out in front of him.
I laughed at his reaction.
"These are the materials I'm going to study."
Specifically, they were related to dark magic.
The materials were piled up like a mountain.
"Then why did you call me here?"
"I told you. It's for training."
I had no intention of getting Evan's help in learning dark magic.
After all, Evan knew nothing about dark magic.
Trying to help would only make him a burden.
What Evan was needed for was practical training.
"I'll learn the magic on my own, so just spar with me."
A sparring partner.
That was Evan's role.
With everyone around me busy with other tasks, I needed someone to spar with, and Evan immediately came to mind.
He was idle at the moment, and considering his skills, he was a fitting choice.
"So, what am I supposed to do while you're learning magic?"
I tapped the contract Evan had signed.
"You should've read the contents carefully before signing."
"What? That was to allow entry to the Magic Tower..."
"Did you think that was all? With the paper being this thick?"
Evan's eyes widened as he looked at the contract.
He had signed it without giving it much thought.
"Even if it's a paper handed to you by someone you know, you should still read it carefully."
"You...!"
I burst into laughter at Evan's surprise.
"Don't worry. I didn't do anything strange."
I handed the contract back to Evan.
He slowly went through the content.
The conditions were fairly good.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"It just states that you're a temporary researcher. You can use the Magic Tower's resources as long as you share your research findings. You retain the ownership of the research itself, so you don't have to worry about sharing."
"Hmm..."
Evan skimmed through the contract before setting it down on the desk.
"…Aren't you going to read more?"
There was still much to discuss.
Like the salary... and benefits...
I had taken great care to include many details.
As a senior researcher, I had exerted all the power I could muster to create these terms.
Instead of backstabbing such a foolish person, I had taken great care of him.
Yet.
To just toss aside my brilliant work like that?
"I'll assume you took care of everything well."
"Hmm..."
Maybe I should've added some strange clauses to the contract.
Hearing that made me somewhat want to smack him on the back of his head.
"So, I just stay here and spar with you, then?"
"Exactly."
I sighed and nodded to Evan's question.
The work discussion had to come first.
"How long?"
"A month."
"A month, huh... What happens after that?"
"Oh, there's something."
After a month, there would be an event.
There was a fittingly sized event at the Academy.
A day when many seniors return to the Academy.
And the day the saint comes to the Academy.
"There's Homecoming Day."
'The Academy is the place where saints meet their end, the 'home' of the saints.'
Homecoming Day wasn't a term created with seniors in mind.
It was the day saints return to their home.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})That was the essence of the Academy's Homecoming Day.
'The rebels will act then.'
I didn't fully understand Aryandor's objective.
I knew they would act then, but I didn't know how.
Yet, I planned to go to the Academy.
It was where Haruna, Aryandor's biggest headache, would be.
And where his sister, Beatrice, lay sleeping.
It was the place Aryandor would come to, according to the future Haruna had seen.
Honestly, I wanted the most capable in the Empire and its soldiers to protect the Academy.
But that wasn't possible.
If we did that, Aryandor would change direction and target the Capital.
There's no need to target the Academy first.
The fall of the Capital would be a greater loss for us.
Therefore, we must prepare.
We had to create a force capable of not losing to Aryandor.
Move the maximum amount of troops we could.
To achieve victory over Aryandor.
"Got it. I'll keep that in mind."
Having heard all I had to say, Evan was about to leave the room.
"Where are you going?"
"You told me to study my magic while you're learning yours."
"Ah, right. But."
I stood up and lifted the corners of my mouth.
"Come to think of it, I had something to entrust to you."
At that, Evan tilted his head in confusion.
"...A task?"
"Yes, there's something urgent..."
Everything I had said today was the truth, but this last statement was a lie.
It was revenge for him casually tossing aside the carefully crafted contract.
Evan was now in the place where Ian, the commander of the Royal forces, was staying.
The task Rudy had given him was to deliver a letter to Ian.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Though it seemed like a minor annoyance and an easy task, it was anything but simple.
It was impossible to enter through the main gate, and entrusting the letter to someone else felt too risky.
Therefore, Evan decided to infiltrate the Royal forces himself.
Reaching the place where the commander of the Royal forces stayed was no easy feat.
The security of the Royal forces was extremely tight, and Evan had to go through a lot of trouble to reach Ian.
After all the trouble to get to Ian...
"Rudy Astria sent you?"
"...Yes."
Evan, out of breath and weary, looked at Ian in front of him.
"Why would someone who can use spatial magic send you?"
"Spatial magic?"
Ian briefly skimmed through the letter before tossing it into the trash can.
"Just tell him I got it."
Evan looked at Ian with an incredulous expression.
"...Is that all?"
"What else...?"
Hearing that response, Evan let out a deep sigh.
"Understood... Then."
Evan turned to leave.
That's when Ian spoke up again.
"Oh, and."
Evan turned back to see Ian smirking mischievously.
"Rudy asked me to ask you if you thought it was a nice, real world experience?"
"Real world experience..."
Big brother and the little brother...
Evan cursed inwardly.
"Then I'll really be going now..."
"Ah, don't bother sneaking out. Just walk out through the main gate. I'll tell the soldiers."
"..."
"There's no need to get the same experience twice, right?"
Thus, Evan was able to leave with the soldiers' kind guidance.
"Ah..."
A rundown neighborhood.
Children were gathered, and there were only a few priests around as adults.
"Hey!!! Be careful!!!"
Thud!
Suddenly, a girl running tumbled to the ground.
A young child standing there looked at her, puzzled.
"...Saint?"
The girl called a saint quickly got up.
"Are you hurt? Let me see!"
"You seem to be the one who's hurt, Saint."
The child looked at the knee of the girl called a saint.
Blood was streaming down her knee.
Yet, the girl paid no mind to her knee.
She was only concerned about the child in front of her.
"I'm fine! But you, are you hurt anywhere?"
"No..."
"Phew... That's a relief."
A girl quietly watching the scene was Haruna.
"...Is this a dream?"
Haruna looked at the girl being called a saint.
That girl was the saint, Beatrice, who had already died.
"How many years ago was this..."
It seemed like more than ten years had passed.
It was only a minor knee scrape...
But now, seeing this scene in a dream, Beatrice's knee was quite badly scraped.
Yet, Beatrice was smiling brightly.
Always thinking of others before herself, that person was Saint Beatrice.
Such a foolish person she was.
As the scene ended, it swiftly changed.
Beatrice was standing in front of Haruna with sad eyes.
"Haruna, a saint is a guide. Watching over the world to ensure it follows the right path, and occasionally guiding it."
"Being a guide is a dangerous position. Sometimes you have to bear responsibility."
"But, when the world is on the right path, when people have reached the correct place. The sense of achievement, the joy at that moment, is truly indescribable."
"Haruna, I hope you too will feel this joy someday."
With those words, the dream ended.
Haruna opened her eyes and got up from the bed.
"A guide..."
To Haruna, Beatrice was as good as a mother.
Haruna was born in a rural village and grew up in a less than favorable family environment.
Her father was always violent, and her mother paid no attention to Haruna.
It was Beatrice who saved her from such circumstances.
Beatrice always took care of young Haruna and taught her how to survive in this Empire.
Haruna learned from Beatrice how to survive as a saint and learned dimensional magic.
The day she learned dimensional magic, the first future Haruna saw was the end of the world.
Aryandor was destroying the Empire, killing everyone, and bringing about the apocalypse.
Shocked, Haruna asked Beatrice about this future.
"You've found out, after all..."
At that moment, Beatrice looked sad.
Her eyes were more sorrowful than ever before.
"You don't need to worry. I will... I will try to change it somehow. Somehow..."
However, Beatrice couldn't resolve it.
Despite sacrificing everything, she couldn't make a change.
"I'm sorry... I've passed the responsibility onto the remaining children..."
She spoke of responsibility, but in reality, she had sacrificed herself to create an opportunity.
In a future where there was no chance, she gave one.
This opportunity could not be missed.
It had to be seized by any means.
Haruna got out of bed.
"A guide."
Today was four days before Homecoming Day.
It was the day Haruna would head to the Academy.
