The small, adorable lips opened and closed repeatedly.
Swallowing dry saliva, wetting my drying tongue with spit.
Senior Elsi’s hesitation continued for quite some time. Instead of urging her to respond, I looked around the inside of the workshop.
It was a place where traces of blood, sweat, and effort could be seen everywhere.
A book filled with numerous notes, drawing paper filled with geometric shapes, and papers written in unknown characters began to come into view one by one. Each time, I could only bite back a bitter smile.
It meant that there had been no laziness in studying, researching, or training.
Senior Elsi was not completely lost in despair. Rather, she was struggling to break free from the depths of despair. To be able to stand up once more.
I felt both sorry for her and grateful.
Then, it happened. Senior Elsi squeezed out a tiny voice.
“…I couldn’t do anything.”
Following her unexpected confession, my gaze slowly shifted. At the end of it stood a girl wearing a hooded hat pulled low.
The brim of the hat she tightly clenched covered half of her face. It was hard to read her complexion, but one could guess her feelings from the tightly clenched teeth.
Was she resentful?
Proving that, the girl’s lips repeatedly trembled lightly.
“Isn’t it? In the last battle, I wasn’t much help… I was just a burden.”
“Senior Elsi…”
A sigh naturally escaped my lips as I called her name.
I wanted to explain on behalf of Senior Elsi that it was a misunderstanding.
The closed space was not a favorable environment for mages. Unless one adopted a unique fighting style like Mr. Raymond, the firepower a mage could project in a restricted space was limited.
Moreover, if it was easy to be surrounded and there was hardly any room to create distance…
In any case, there was little room for Senior Elsi to shine in the previous battle. In other words, it meant there was no need for self-blame like this.
However, Senior Elsi’s resolve seemed already firm.
“I was too complacent.”
That was an assertion that showed no signs of any small gap.
Sometimes, a solid determination allows for no persuasion at all. I tried to argue against it, but I soon shut my mouth tightly.
The hand of Senior Elsi, grasping the brim of her hat, was shaking slightly.
“Seeing you get stabbed by a traitor’s knife… watching you suffer while tied up, do you know how much I trembled? If my uncle hadn’t arrived, I would have lost you.”
“Senior…”
“And in the end, I lost my uncle.”
Her voice was already soaked with moisture.
At this point, I gave up on any further persuasion. I simply took a step forward, closing the distance with Senior Elsi.
“I don’t want to… lose you again…”
Finally, the sobbing girl sank into my embrace.
I tightened my arms around Senior Elsi as she clung to me, gently patting her back in silence. Kneeling slightly due to the height difference, it became a posture where my body slightly supported her.
In that moment, a strange sense of fulfillment filled my chest. It was a feeling that only Senior Elsi could give.
“Not you, never… absolutely….”
“I won’t leave.”
As I soothed Senior Elsi, who clung to me like a child, I spoke with strong conviction.
“Didn’t I promise my third uncle? With such a tearful fiancée, where would I go?”
Hearing my comfort, Senior Elsi sobbed even more sorrowfully.
She must have wanted to cry many times until now.
Locked in the workshop, she must have spent a lot of time wiping her own tears.
So I decided to silently accept the torrent of emotions exploding from Senior Elsi. Hoping that she wouldn’t feel lonely anymore, and even more, that I could provide her with at least a small strength.
For a long while after that, Senior Elsi couldn’t stop crying.
How long had I been holding the girl in my arms like that?
“…I will become strong.”
The declaration, dampened by moisture, continued. My hand stroked Senior Elsi’s back wordlessly.
“To ensure that I never lose you again… so for just a moment, I will yield.”
It was a polite rejection.
I never thought I would be turned down by Senior Elsi, and I couldn’t help but swallow a small laugh. However, now that I had heard Senior Elsi’s resolve, I had no choice.
I was left with no option but to gladly support Senior Elsi.
My decided hand searched within my pocket. After a short while, I was able to find the item that I needed to return to Senior Elsi.
A black rod.
It was Mr. Raymond’s legacy. I had received help from it in the Mountain Court, but now it was time for it to return to its rightful owner.
I handed the rod over while expressing my gratitude.
“Thank you, Senior Elsi.”
“…?”
Senior Elsi looked at me with a confused expression. As I finally met her blue eyes, I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.
“You believed in me. I gained a lot of courage thanks to that rod. And it helped when I looked ‘beyond the boundary’.”
Looking back again, it was an astounding experience.
Beyond the boundary.
There lay the other side of the world. Waves of meaning that swept everything away, where even the self became nothing more than speck dust.
At that time, the black rod had aided me.
I didn’t know what the principle was. I only remembered that the black rod had been endlessly crying. Instinctively, I sensed that I had received help from this rod.
Therefore, the black rod had to return to Senior Elsi even more.
To become an ‘Archmage’, I had to confront that ‘truth’.
“Let’s keep in touch more often from now on. Don’t suffer alone too much… we’re fiancées after all.”
With that, I slowly got up.
Senior Elsi briefly showed a disappointed expression, but soon as if regaining her composure, she smiled brightly.
Her tear-streaked face was quite charming.
“…Okay!”
Thus, I finished my brief reunion with Senior Elsi.
It wasn’t sad. I had no doubt that Senior Elsi would show results soon.
The girl would once again push herself off the ground.
As she had always done.
“Um, I-an? So who do you plan to pair up with…?”
A clear voice resonated in the mild sunlight.
In the upper floor of the News Department, atop a chair only the department head could sit in, a familiar owner was seated.
It was me.
Originally, the owner of this office was Senior Neoris, but she wasn’t the type to let me, who had come after a long time, sit quietly.
She had insisted that I sit in this chair, claiming she couldn’t sit above me.
Of course, once I sat down, it felt comfortable. Being from the wealthy Empire Intelligence Department, it seemed that even the chair was of high quality.
In the end, I leaned back against the plush chair and became languidly relaxed. It was enough to make my past refusal of the superior position feel laughable.
My lukewarm gaze turned lazily toward Senior Neoris.
With her brown hair and deep green eyes, she was an impressive beauty. The hairpin accentuating her bangs stood out remarkably.
In the past, she had a much colder and prickly atmosphere.
Now, only a cute senior who anxiously glanced at me remained. While she was less fearful of me now, given we had become a bit closer.
At this point, I cleared my throat and slightly averted my gaze.
It was a signal that I had nothing particular to say.
“Well, I’m not quite sure yet.”
“Um, if you don’t mind me saying…”
Senior Neoris carefully opened her mouth at my indifferent attitude.
I could hear the sound of her swallowing dry saliva. The cold sweat beginning to bead on her forehead clearly revealed her feelings.
Even though we had gotten a bit closer, she still couldn’t act completely at ease. After all, one cannot treat someone as casually as that.
“Like in battle, the partner you practice martial arts with is important. Especially, there’s a strong awareness that in martial arts festivals, the male should lead the female…”
“What about you, Senior Neoris?”
At my playful counter, Senior Neoris’s eyes widened.
Her expression looked as if she didn’t understand what I meant. So I had to follow up with an explanation.
“You haven’t decided on a partner for the festival yet, have you? Then how about me?”
“Ah, um, um…!”
Only then did Senior Neoris comprehend the meaning of my words, and her face flushed brightly.
Stammering and unable to meet my gaze, her arms flailed about.
It was the most flustered I had ever seen her.
Was I being too mischievous?
Eventually, I couldn’t help but let out a slight laugh and shake my head.
“Just kidding, a joke! But really, isn’t it a bit much? There’s no need to dislike it that strongly…”
“I-I don’t dislike it!”
The words shot out reflexively at a higher volume.
Now it was my turn to give a puzzled expression. As her golden eyes flickered about, Senior Neoris stammered as she spoke.
“Absolutely, absolutely not! Rather, it’s a bit…!”
At that moment.
From a distance, a sound echoed like a bell.
Both Senior Neoris and I froze simultaneously. The sound that brushed past our ears was far too familiar.
A scream?
“…Did you hear that?”
At my subtle question, Senior Neoris’s face turned pale.
An answer was unnecessary.
The frequency of the screams was becoming shorter and shorter. Moreover, the source of the noise was gradually getting closer to the office.
It was a clear enemy attack. And it also meant a ‘boundary failure’.
Senior Neoris’s expression crumbled horrifically. It wouldn’t be unusual for her to feel like dying, especially breaching such a scene in front of her direct superior.
However, my interest lay elsewhere.
Who on earth is it?
Based on the sounds coming through, there seemed to be only one opponent.
To break through the News Department alone required considerable skill. I was already familiar with that experience.
At the very least, an expert.
And they had to be among the strong ones. I watched the door with intrigued eyes.
Just then, the news department member on guard was stopping them.
“I’m sorry, but this area is off-limits… Ahh!”
One blow.
No, there wasn’t even a collision. It meant that they had fallen in an instant.
Ultimately, Senior Neoris couldn’t hold it together and let out a loud exclamation.
“How dare you, do you know where this is…!”
Bang!
In response to that question, the door of the office burst open. Bloodstains were visible among the shattered remnants of the door.
At that moment.
Senior Neoris, who had looked ready to rush out at any moment, halted abruptly. Whether she moved or not, the opponent simply stepped lightly and silently forward.
Her blue eyes blazed like wildfire through the dust clouds.
Once gray hair was revealed, I found myself wearing a dumbfounded expression.
Ceria Yuridina.
The junior who should have been in the northern region had suddenly appeared here.
Moreover, she bore a few drops of blood on her cheek.
A strangely ominous atmosphere filled the air. The cold and sharp aura she exuded was impressive compared to when I had seen her before.
My gaze met with the girl’s chilling face in the void.
For a moment.
Suddenly, the girl’s figure scattered. Senior Neoris attempted to respond, but the girl was quicker to dive into my embrace.
I, who had already been leaning against my chair, had no way to respond to the girl soaring over the desk toward me. I fell back in my chair, staring down at the junior who buried her face in my chest and began to rub her cheeks against my clothing.
“Senior! I-I missed you… Huh, sob… That witch tormented me so much…!”
Thus, Ceria burst into sorrowful tears, starting to breathe heavily with her nose buried in my clothes.
My gaze met with Senior Neoris as we both shared a blank stare.
Her deep green eyes demanded an explanation from me. But I had only one answer I could give.
‘I don’t know either.’
I could only respond with the shape of my lips.
It was indeed a completely unexpected reunion.
