Using the remaining ingredients, I quickly prepared breakfast.
Perhaps knowing that I had spent the night talking with Laura, the students decided to take a break for me today, even though it was our last day here.
I was grateful. After finishing my meal, I watched with a warm heart as the students volunteered to take the dishes, saying they’d do the washing up.
“Head Priest, what should we do about this?”
Sofia Sub-priest asked, pointing to the opposite side of the table. There was a plate with half-cold food sitting alone. It looked lonely as no one had touched it yet.
“…Please put it in the refrigerator.”
The food in Sofia Sub-priest’s hands would grow cold as it headed to the chilly fridge. Still, I couldn’t just leave it on the table for the owner, who was uncertain about when they would return.
It would be fine to reheat it, but the warm taste and aroma from the moment it was first made would never return.
…It would never come back.
I looked up at the clock.
Three hours had already passed since Laura left the lodge.
Laura had not returned.
Where could she have gone? Did she return to her place briefly? Or to Nerwen’s grave? Was her mention of having breakfast just a facade?
I’m not sure. I don’t know, but…
“Hmm….”
Suddenly, my vision swayed. I held my throbbing head and slowly rose from my chair.
“Head Priest, are you okay? Do you need help?”
“Ahh… No, I’m fine.”
“…Please don’t push yourself too hard.”
Leaving behind Sofia Sub-priest’s concerns, I slowly made my way to the stairs. Of course, I didn’t forget to thank her.
“Sofia Sub-priest.”
“Yes?”
“Thank you. Always.”
“…Hehe. It’s no big deal!”
“…I’ll just take a quick nap.”
“Yes! Please rest quickly!”
Leaving behind the seemingly cheerful Sofia Sub-priest, I ascended the stairs.
The walk back to my room felt unusually long. As I barely settled my dizzy vision upon entering my room, I quickly took a bath, changed my clothes, and lay down on my bed.
My exhausted eyes closed slowly, and I felt the pleasant weight enveloping me, sinking into a surprisingly comfortable sleep for the first time in a long while.
It felt as though day and night had reversed, but that didn’t matter.
Today, I thought, I would be able to sleep without having a nightmare.
In the late morning slumber, Helena’s smiling face appeared. As expected, I did not have any nightmares. Naturally, I was able to fall into a deep sleep.
It had been such a long time since I saw her smiling face.
*
When I opened my eyes, it was already dim outside. I lifted my body from the bed.
“…Hmm.”
My mind felt hazy. Was it because Helena had appeared in my dream?
It was a good dream. Would it be believable if I said it was the best dream among the nightmares that had filled the last few years?
I stared blankly at the dusk outside the window. The cawing of crows echoed loudly.
Insect pests were gradually gathering on the windowpane, drawn by the light of the lamp. I was relieved I hadn’t opened the window and fallen asleep.
“…It’s hot.”
Perhaps because I dreamt of Helena, my entire body was drenched in cold sweat, sticky with perspiration. It was a different kind from the cold sweat of nightmares. This time, it felt more refreshing, like after stepping out of a sauna.
In any case, as I had fallen into a deep sleep carelessly, it seemed I had slept too long.
I had planned to take a short nap and wake up around lunchtime to go on the occult investigation with the students…
“…Six-thirty.”
The time on my wristwatch indicated that it was too late to head into the forest like yesterday. Slowly, I stood up from bed, quickly finished my bath, and exited the room.
‘How many times do I bathe in a day?’
Pushing aside various thoughts, I went down the stairs and observed the darkened living room.
There was nobody in the living room. Had they already gone to bed? I decided to go back upstairs and knock on the doors of the rooms where the students were staying.
– Knock, knock.
“Laura?”
There was no response. I scratched the back of my neck, lost in thought. My head still felt hazy.
– Bang.
I heard a door open down below. Following the sound, I went back to the living room, where Sofia Sub-priest was looking for something in the kitchen after entering through the front door.
“Was it here? No, where could it have gone…?”
“Sofia Sub-priest?”
As I called her name while she was rummaging through the cupboard with her back to me, she stopped and turned to look at me. The expression on Sofia Sub-priest’s face brightened.
“Ah…! Head Priest, you’re awake!”
“Yes… I’m sorry for sleeping so much.”
“It’s okay. The students weren’t troubled because they followed my instructions well.”
“Where are the students?”
Upon hearing my question, Sofia Sub-priest stood up. The items she pulled from the cupboard were filled in her arms.
“They’re outside! They were just about to start some fireworks!”
“…Fireworks?”
“Yes! Head Priest, you should come out quickly!”
Despite her arms being full, Sofia Sub-priest was tugging at my sleeve, trying to pull me outside.
I complied and walked alongside Sofia Sub-priest, seizing the fireworks that were cradled in her arms.
“I’ll carry them.”
“Ah… Is it okay for me to…?”
“No. I’ll carry them.”
“…Thank you. Hehe…”
Leaving behind Sofia Sub-priest’s shy smile, we opened the front door and stepped outside. The students of the Occult Research Club and Laura were gathered on the lawn in front of the lodge, busily fiddling with something.
And beside those students was a familiar reddish-brown furball fiddling with something as well.
“Laura…”
“I met Laura around sunset. She came looking for the lodge.”
Seeing Laura return, the first feeling I experienced was relief. What a strange situation. Throughout my life, I had never felt relief when seeing a dwarf.
As I gathered my uneasy feelings and tried to motion forward, Daniel, who spotted me exiting the lodge, raised his head and waved at me.
“Professor Antorelli! You’re out!”
“Oh, Professor!”
“What, did you just wake up?”
The faces of the students brightened. Laura wore a grumpy expression, yet a hint of joy shone through.
Receiving such a warm welcome, I raised my hand in response, confused, and Sofia Sub-priest quietly spoke beside me.
“The students were really worried. They thought you must be very tired…”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Since you have had a tough time, Daniel and Vivian suggested that you should put the occult research aside and take a full day to rest.”
“Those two…”
Though I had heard something like that in the morning, I felt considerably anxious before falling asleep. I worried that Daniel and Vivian might head into the forest without getting anything on our final day.
Yet, contrary to my worries, it seemed Daniel and Vivian had set aside their own desires regarding the occult for a while and decided to create memories for me, Sofia Sub-priest, and the juniors who had followed us here enduring hardships.
Seeing the more mature versions of the two, contrasting with the previous unfocused eagerness they had shown in their obsession with the occult, I gently smiled.
While important lessons and realizations must be garnered at the academy, the most crucial ‘growth of the self’ was something I found hard to achieve myself.
‘They’ve grown.’
I was glad I came here. Before arriving, I had been indecisive about my decision, but now I felt it was indeed the right choice.
Feeling a contrast to my emphasis on theological growth, academic achievement, and inner fulfillment throughout the first semester, I looked up to see Daniel waving continuously at me from the front.
For some reason, he lowered his head and began whispering with the other students.
I watched him with uneasy eyes, holding the fireworks in my arms as I slowly approached. Eventually, I caught the attention of every student, their gazes converging on me. Laura’s gaze was similar.
For some reason, there was an expectation shared among all of them. I didn’t know what they were expecting.
Laura looked at me with slightly disgusted eyes, which honestly bothered me a bit. It hurt to be looked at in that manner, even if only slightly.
I approached the students closely and set down the box of fireworks right in front of me. Laura, who had shaken off her fatigue, raised her hand toward me like a pot lid.
“Professor. You’re surprisingly a heavy sleeper.”
“That’s because of you, Laura.”
“True, I just woke up too.”
– Snap!
A strange sound came from Laura’s waist. As I glanced at her with eyes that wondered if she had broken something, she waved her hand in a reassuring gesture not to worry.
“Anyway, you brought the fireworks well. I wanted to show you something interesting with them.”
“Something interesting, you say?”
“Yeah. This is gonna be pretty touching. Just watch.”
Saying that, Laura took out an old leather pouch from her clothes.
The usage of the old leather pouch was unclear. It made a strange sound as if metal was clattering against metal. Laura poured the contents onto a wide stone plate that seemed prepared a moment ago.
“Whoa…! Here, look.”
“What is this…?”
I picked one of them up.
“Is this a bullet?”
It was an old bullet. With several rust spots and some bullets that had gunpowder leaking from inside, it was clear that they could no longer be used. Laura nodded.
“Yeah. I’ll show you something fun using these worn-out bullets and the gunpowder inside.”
Laura quickly snatched the bullet from my hands and started to disassemble the bullets laid out on the stone.
She took out the tip with an old hammer attached to her waist and poured out the gunpowder inside. Unlike the gunpowder I knew, it gleamed in a crimson hue in the darkness.
“We dwarves put the firestone powder inside these bullets. That way, they fly off ignited and act like incendiary rounds.”
I vaguely understood this. I silently watched as she worked.
“After collecting only the shining firestone powder from this gunpowder… like this.”
– Crack! Ka-tink!
When Laura struck the empty cartridge with the hammer, it instantly changed to a greenish hue. As the brass color transformed into an enigmatic blue, the students gasped in amazement.
“When you hit the cartridge, it glows faintly like this. I used orichalcum to make it. This way, it acts like a flare, while also making it easier to collect the cartridges.”
“Chloe. The color looks similar to the magic you used, right? Look.”
“Ooh…!”
“Watch closely. This is just the start. After putting it like this and sprinkling it on top…”
Laura laid down the flattened blue cartridge and gently sprinkled firestone powder on top. The firestone powder sank into the cartridge like snow landing on bare ground, independently illuminating alongside the blue-glowing casing without mixing in.
It resembled the sight of stars embedded in the night sky. Holding a tiny galaxy in her hands, Laura began to attach them one by one to the fireworks.
“Now, let’s shoot them up.”
Laura said confidently. We quickly prepared to launch the fireworks.
“I wonder what will happen?”
“I’m curious.”
With a fluttering heart, I lit the fuse and slowly backed away.
Then, just as the flame rising from the fuse vanished…
– Whoosh….
The fireworks that shot up from the lawn swam through the vast, deep sea of the sky before touching its surface. And then….
– Boom—!!
It was… an explosion that shone intensely in green.
“When the discolored orichalcum meets the firestone, the orichalcum becomes strongly oxidized and softens. In that case, it’ll turn green and explode in all directions, emitting light.”
Laura’s explanation reached my ears, but my eyes were already following the countless green luminaires slowly descending to the ground.
Trailing in the air, they fell on a diagonal trajectory like a meteor shower.
– Boom! Boom—!
The fireworks that were shot up repeatedly burst two, three times, and soon the sky unfolded a spectacular scene resembling a plethora of green shooting stars falling gently to the earth.
“…I used to show this to Nerwen often. It wasn’t quite like this, though.”
“……”
“With her green eyes and green hair, just like any ordinary elf.”
The reflected green light from the sky shimmered in Laura’s eyes.
“Wow…! That’s so beautiful!”
“Wow…!”
Stepping back slightly behind the amazed students, Laura and I kept our mouths shut, gazing at the waves of green light adorning the night sky.
Clear and intensely shining green. That emerald-like color was…
“…I miss it.”
“I miss it too.”
It was a color that evoked nostalgia. I became entranced by the dreamlike spectacle as I silently looked up at the night sky.
It truly felt like a starry world.
