After the Demon King’s Army’s invasion, the Academy had quite a lot to deal with. Just like the entire city suffered damage, the Academy itself was heavily affected, including the loss of students, teachers, and staff.
Due to the high number of casualties, there were gaps in the students who needed to be taught, the teachers who needed to continue education, and the staff required to keep the Academy running. Even those who weren’t injured left the Academy in significant numbers.
Whether it was returning to their families, hometowns, former knight orders, or trading companies, the immediate crisis before their eyes could not be overlooked, no matter how important education might be.
What’s more, restoring the devastated buildings would require quite some time. Ultimately, the Griffin Academy decided on a suspension of classes, partly by choice, partly out of necessity. However, out of consideration for the civilian students who had nowhere to return to and the staff who wished to remain, the Academy allowed them to stay in the relatively undamaged buildings.
Surprisingly, this consideration turned out to greatly help in the city’s recovery.
Most of the remaining students were those without patrons, and since it wasn’t the academic term, they couldn’t rely on scholarships. Though the Academy provided basic lodging, the essential cost of living still had to be covered.
Thus, the students who stayed behind had no choice but to take up part-time jobs and participate in the city’s restoration efforts as a source of income.
Even though these were students, they were the talents destined to lead the Empire and the continent in the future. They were even some of the brightest who received scholarships at the Academy.
Students from the Department of Swordsmanship and the Department of Magic demonstrated incomprehensible workloads and overwhelming efficiency that ordinary laborers couldn’t dream of, while students from the Department of Theology revitalized the weary by aiding in their recovery.
The proportion of students from the Department of Administration was small, but they were already making contributions in various places beyond the reconstruction.
In contrast, the professors of the Griffin Academy had been faring better due to the qualifications and experiences they had proven even before taking their positions. With very few exceptions, most had left.
Among this small number of remaining professors was one Presia.
That day, three years ago—more so the day Alicia left than the day the demons invaded—Presia had learned the rough details of events through Bear and Tokki. Despite rushing straight to Alicia’s room in disbelief, she only found her friends and the saint Mariel there. There was no sign of Alicia anywhere.
Desperately, she shifted into Meow’s form and checked the magic contract she had made with Alicia. Thankfully, she could sense Alicia’s existence through the magic, but because the contract was only intended for communication when in Meow’s form, Presia couldn’t pinpoint her exact location. It was far too faint, especially since Alicia had already left the city.
Why had Alicia left her? All she’d heard from Bear and Tokki was that Alicia, who had safely brought her into the lab, had bid farewell as if never to return again.
Was it because she had become a bother? Or perhaps because she was no longer needed? All sorts of irrational thoughts swirled in her mind. Although she knew that Alicia’s departure wasn’t for those reasons, she couldn’t help the negative thoughts that arose.
This wasn’t just Presia’s issue. Bear and Tokki, though artificial life forms created by Presia’s hands, were beings capable of thought and emotion. They felt powerless for not stopping Alicia from leaving and were filled with frustration over their inability.
But the three didn’t falter. Even if Alicia had left without a word, they held deep down a firm belief that she didn’t hate them. These negative emotions only stirred the surface and couldn’t shake the core. Because of this, they could rise again despite the setbacks.
Presia could not forget. That promise from Alicia that they would always be together.
She trusted that sweet and gentle voice from then more than the thoughtless and irresponsible action of Alicia leaving quietly. Alicia must have had some circumstance that made her leave Presia’s side, and some reason why she couldn’t bring Presia along.
Yes. Self-blame had gone far enough. Alicia would never approve of her being like this. The joy of daily life that Alicia had taught her couldn’t be written off in self-reproach and listlessness.
She would take a step forward this time. Just as Alicia had approached her first.
One cannot always expect Alicia to come first. She couldn’t stay as a child who only receives forever.
This time, she would be the one taking a step forward.
—
Though her resolve was strong, Presia lacked many resources to find Alicia. First, she needed to know the location where Alicia was.
But due to her normally poor social connections, Presia had no one particularly adept at information who could find out where Alicia was.
At least she knew the emperor, though not well enough to ask for personal favors. Even if she had received much from the emperor, she mistakenly believed that an emperor was not someone simply any mage could request an audience with.
Yet Presia underestimated her own worth. While she had recently started to recognize her own skills and talents amidst the other mages, her understanding of her true value remained limited.
She was not just any mage. With the genius and talent recognized and praised even by the royal head mage Isis, Presia could have an audience with the emperor whenever she wished. The emperor, who possessed penetrating insight, knew Presia’s value better than anyone else on the continent, which was why he ignored any unfavorable reports about her from the academy director. He even instructed that she be left to do as she pleased.
Ultimately, Presia had no choice but to locate Alicia on her own. Fortunately, though weak, the temporary contract with Alicia through Meow was still active, though unfortunately, it was too weak to determine an exact location.
However, Presia was not anxious. She had already felt deep despair when Alicia left. Instead, she was grateful that even this thread of hope remained.
Carefully, she explored the magical contract linking her to Alicia. If she rushed and accidentally severed the connection, this slim hope would vanish altogether. With the patient resolve of restarting magic from the beginning, she methodically retraced her steps. Though years went by without much progress, she didn’t become impatient.
Whenever the faint sense of longing from Alicia reached her, it brought her a small solace. Though irritatingly faint, that emotion gave her strength.
Finally, thanks to merely a temporary contract, Presia was able to pinpoint Alicia’s location. However, because the contract was made in Meow’s form, she had to assume that form as well. Moreover, both sides had to simultaneously think of each other for the connection to work.
Thus, after developing her tracking magic, Presia maintained Meow’s form continuously. She spent her days receiving care from Bear and Tokki in the form of a black cat.
Day by day, it wasn’t hard. Constantly thinking about Alicia was already a habit. There was no urgency. Instead, she was only filled with anticipation of meeting Alicia again.
One day, as she curled up in solitude, a sense of longing from Alicia reached her through their connected magical contract.
Presia seized that moment. With her honed magical skills, she immediately opened a space-transference spell. Normally, even an Archmage wouldn’t be able to teleport to a place they’ve never been, but she had the weak magical connection to Alicia.
Finally, after three long years, through the body of Meow, she crossed the void and arrived at Alicia’s side.
—
“Meoow!”
I was startled by the sudden appearance of Meow’s form and voice. Thinking I had unknowingly dozed off from exhaustion, the wetness of Luna’s saliva on my thigh reminded me I was awake. There was no mistaking the overly realistic sticky sensation as a dream.
Then how could Meow’s sudden appearance be explained?
Before my doubts could settle, Meow had already bounded towards me.
Without any regard for Luna, who was using my thigh as a pillow, Meow sprang over her head nimbly and leaped straight onto my chest, curling against my neck. I quickly embraced Meow, caught between confusion and happiness.
“Oof.”
The sharp pinch at my neck was the feel of a cat’s needle-like teeth, not painful enough to hurt but just a pricking sensation, barely resulting in a couple of drops of blood.
Soon, the prick was followed by a rough, sandpaper-like sensation.
Meow, after biting and creating the wound, was now licking it.
Only then did I feel the emotions through our connected magic.
The longing, the joy, and the slight grudge of not seeing each other for three years.
I in turn embraced Meow tightly, overcome by deep emotions.
—
Wait… something’s… Meow is growing larger?
