"Lynn, escort that young lady to the Magic Corps Post nearby. Just mention my name, and they should offer you a room."
At Louis's instruction, Lynn, who had restrained Casey, nodded curtly.
"Certainly… Then, what about you, Master Louis?"
"I need to deal with this barely intact barrier," said Louis as he pointed the destroyed fountain with his chin.
The barrier that Monica ‘borrowed' has been rewritten for use against the [Conch Flame], which was unable to protect the entire school anymore. He can't leave it as is, after all.
Monica shrank back apologetically, and Casey, who was looking at her behavior, opening her mouth.
"Monica."
That word made Monica's shoulders jerked. She understood that this was going to be her last meeting with Casey.
Casey would never be able to attend a ball or come back to this school again.
But Monica was stumped, looking at Casey with a lost look on her face not knowing whether to say sorry or goodbye.
Casey was smiling with her eyebrows lowered as usual. As if the ‘Jeez' word could be heard from that smile.
"Monica, I'm not going to say ‘sorry' or ‘thank you'. I was your enemy who had attempted to assassinate the Second Prince."
"…………"
"I'm not your friend, after all, so… please don't look at me like that."
For the first time, Monica felt like her heart had been gripped so hard.
Her nose tingled. Her eyes were welled up.
Eventually, a sniff escaped from her lips, and a drop fell from the corner of her eye.
"You shouldn't cry over your enemies."
"B-But… *sniff*"
"What a soft-hearted Seven Sages you are. If you keep on like that, someone will take advantage of you someday."
The exasperated tone was that of the usual Casey, caring and attentive.
"You should have to hate me properly. If you can't do that, please forget about me."
"N-No…"
Monica shook her head in frustration.
"…I have a good memory… So I will never… ever… forget you."
"What a troublesome Seven Sages you are…"
Casey was laughing, felt perplexed at her words.
As Monica was weeping and snotting bitterly, Casey turned her eyes to Lynn and said, ‘You can take me now.'
Lynn gave a small nod, and as soon as she did, a wind barrier wrapped Lynn's and Casey's bodies. It was some kind of flight spell that probably cast continuedly until reaching the destination.
Afterward, their bodies softly float up.
Monica was looking up at Casey with tears streaming down her face. But Casey didn't turn her face back. Instead, she kept looking at her front, before leaving a few words.
"Goodbye, Monica."
It was not the words addressed to Monica as the Seven Sages, but to the ordinary Monica.
Eventually, Casey's figure was becoming more and more distant.
While Monica kept gazing up at the sky even until their figure was out of sight, Louis muttered to himself as he cleared the debris from the fountain.
"You should learn how to control your emotions in moderation."
"……I'm not good at that kind of thing."
"Then, just treat it as another people's problem."
Louis was the only one who could do it without hesitation.
As Monica was sniffling snottily, Louis got up, pushed a clean handkerchief into Monica's face roughly, and went back to the fountain.
"Because of a certain magician, I am busy repairing the now broken barrier. If you don't want to help me, just go somewhere else. You can leave that young lady to us, we'll take care of it somehow."
"…what about this handkerchief."
"It's a precious gift from my wife. Don't forget to wash and iron it before you return it."
"…Okay."
In response to typical Louis behavior, Monica blew her nose before laughing bitterly.
＊ ＊ ＊
After staying for a while so to let her reddened eyes become a little less swollen, Monica headed back for the student council room. Although her eyes were still a little red, Monica always kept her face downcast, so unless one looked closely, it would be hard to notice.
Due to her empty mana, she was unable to walk straight, but she dragged her heavy body to the student council room and opened its door.
She saw all the members beside herself were already there. It's probably because all the duties to oversee the delivery were done.
As Monica was struggling to decide what kind of words to say, Felix turned his gaze to Monica in concern.
"Cyril told me the logs were collapsed. Are you and your friend alright?"
"Y-Yes, we don't get any wound."
"All right. In that case, since there are no further duties today, we should end our activities today. Well then, I'll excuse myself first, I have some personal matters to deal with."
Monica patted her chest in relief.
Since her mana was almost empty, standing was all that she could.
Ugh… My head is all fuzzy…
While Monica was struggling to keep her consciousness together, Neil looked at her with concern.
"Um, are you okay, Miss Norton?"
"…….yeesh."
"Y-Your reply says the otherwise, though!"
All the other student council members were starting to get ready to leave. Felix had left after said he had something to do, and Bridget was heading back to her dormitory after him.
As for Cyril, he needed to stay behind since he had to make sure the door was locked, while Elliot was glancing at Monica, but quickly turned away and left the room.
…It's been so long since I ran out of mana, my sense was almost…
‘Anyway, I have to get out of the room so as not to interfere with the locking of the door…,' so thought Monica absentmindedly as she moved her heavy feet.
Then, suddenly, she bumped into something. It was too soft for a wall.
"…..Hey."
Somehow she heard a voice above her head.
But more than that, Monica exhaled in comfort. The wall she leaned against made her regained her mana a little bit.
"M-Miss Norton. Miss Norton."
Neil was shaking Monica's shoulders in a panic.
When Monica muddleheadedly raised her gaze up, her eyes met Cyril's. In fact, it was Cyril Ashley's back that Monica was leaning against.
"I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I'm sorry! I-I'm a little spaced out."
And then, Monica remembered.
Cyril Ashley has a constitution that allowed him to accumulate mana easily. That's why he used a brooch-shaped magic tool to release excess mana from his body.
In other words, Cyril's surroundings had a slightly higher concentration of mana than most.
Apparently, Monica's body, which was out of mana, was approaching Cyril, who had a lot of mana, on its own, in search of mana.
I will be scolded for this, I will definitely be yelled at.
Monica squeezed her eyes shut in preparation for the angry voice, but she didn't hear Cyril's shouting for any length of time.
As she peered up at him fearfully, Cyril's brow wrinkled, his mouth curved into ‘へ' line, and he had a complicated look on his face.
"……….Lord Cyril?"
"……………………………………………"
Cyril was hesitant to say anything, but eventually, he bowed his head vigorously with an expression of anguish.
Both Monica and Neil, who were standing beside him, were shocked by his behavior.
"I'm sorry."
Cyril apologized to Monica.
Monica was baffled.
Perhaps, she thought, his apology was not intended to me but to Neil, but Cyril's body was definitely facing Monica. Cyril was apologizing to Monica.
"Um, Lord Cyril, please raise your head. Wh-Why are you apologizing to me?"
"…I was so preoccupied with checking the number of items brought in and did not check how well the rope was tied up. That accident was my mistake."
"B-But…"
Cyril has done nothing wrong. It was Casey who had cut the rope in the first place.
However, since Monica covered up for Casey, that accident ended up being Cyril's carelessness.
Was it because of me all of this became Lord Cyril's fault?
As soon as she realized this, the blood drained from Monica's body.
Her mind was jumbled with so many emotions that she couldn't think clearly.
"…But…Lord Cyril……. You have done…nothing wrong…"
The moment she said it out loud, the tears that were supposed to have receded began to overflow. she couldn't stop crying, as if her tear glands had burst. Along with that came weeping and sniffling.
"…uwaaaah *sniff*…. uwaaaaaah…."
Cyril and Neil were flustered when Monica suddenly started crying.
"H-Hey, Treasurer Norton."
"Miss Norton, um, p-p-p-p-please calm yourself."
Even when Cyril and Neil tried to calm her, Monica's tears wouldn't stop.
"…Sowwy… uwaaaah… *sniff* I'm… soooowwwyyy…"
Monica slumped down on the spot and sniffed gaggingly.
They were not tears of sorrow, but tears of guilt.
…I'm sorry for deceiving all of you. I'm sorry for telling you so many lies.
While crouching down, she kept crying and crying… and eventually, Monica's consciousness fell into darkness.
＊ ＊ ＊
"…D-Did she falls asleep?"
"I-I guess she was tired after all that crying…"
Monica was snoozing in her sleep with a terrible face full of tears.
Cyril and Neil looked at each other, completely at a loss.
"…So, what did you call me here for?"
The face of Claudia Ashley, who had been called into the student council room, was gloomier than usual, and now she was staring at her brother who was laying Monica down on the sofa. After that, Cyril said in an awkward manner.
"Please bring Treasurer Monica to her dormitory when she wakes up. We can't just bring her to the girls' dormitory, can we?"
"…I'm not your servant."
His sister's harsh words made Cyril choke up, while Neil looked up at Claudia with a troubled face.
"Um, can I ask you… Miss Claudia?"
"Please, that's nothing, Monica and I are best friends, after all. It's only natural to help your best friend get to her dorm."
Cyril's cheeks twitched at the sudden change of heart, but he swallowed his anger when he saw Monica sleeping peacefully on the couch before dropping his own jacket over her.
