Chapter 46 - Chapter 45: Change of Boss?
1st Month of Wind, Week 2, Day of the Moon.
The autumn's first event, the Harvest Festival, had ended, and it was the time to gradually begin preparations for winter.
Mika was writing a letter to his family in his own room.
"Phew... is this okay?"
He shook his right hand, which had been holding the pen for so long, and loosened his stiff fingers.
Coming from a world where email was prevalent to a world of handwritten letters, letters were truly painful.
Writing them was difficult, but more than that, you couldn't correct mistakes once made.
Moreover, you had to organize the content in your head from the start and consider the structure of the sentences.
Well, you could ignore all that and just write whatever meaningless content came to mind, but as a former corporate worker, the structure of the writing just wouldn't leave him alone.
Thinking about such things made the troublesome letter even more troublesome, making the act of writing it a burden.
Still, he tried to write at least once every two months.
Closing the ink bottle, Mika pushed the letter aside to let the ink dry, and prepared the money.
Five silver coins.
Whenever Mika sent a letter, he always included a remittance.
That wasn't a huge amount of money, though.
When he first started, he could barely manage to include two silver coins, but recently he had a little more leeway, so he increased the amount to five silver coins.
Of course, he had more on hand, but since he also needed to buy equipment, he was keeping it somewhat restrained.
If he forced himself and became unable to act as an adventurer, he wouldn't be able to send remittances at all.
In the worst case, he might lose his life.
So, preparing his own equipment was the top priority.
With that done, if he could continue sending remittances within his capabilities, in the end, that would allow him to send the most.
He shouldn't be too short-sighted.
Even if he sent all his assets now, if something went wrong there, he wouldn't be able to continue sending remittances.
Sending a little bit over a long period would yield a better total result than that.
After all, Mika's total assets were limited anyway.
Mika wrapped each silver coin in a small piece of cloth, then bundled those wrapped coins together with a slightly larger cloth.
Messerite had taught him that it was better to prevent the money from clinking against each other.
Since there were no laws regarding mail in this world yet, it seemed normal to put cash inside letters.
Honestly, he was afraid of having the contents stolen, but since there was no other way, he had no choice.
If he brought this to the Adventurer's Guild, they would deliver it to Kotontesse.
For five silver coins.
To be honest, he thought it was incredibly expensive, but since there was no other option, he really had no choice.
It seemed the Adventurer's Guild had established something like a postal network using adventurers.
The guild frequently transported mail between towns, and they hired adventurers to handle the transport and escort.
The five silver coins were used to pay the adventurers' rewards and the guild staff's wages.
Regarding Mika's letter, it would be sent from Sarbengeal to Yaunasun, and further transported to Kotontesse.
In Kotontesse, it would be held by the guild, and it seemed the shop in Rish Village would receive it when they visited Kotontesse for supplies.
This shop person would bring it back to Rish Village and distribute it to the villagers.
If you wanted to send a letter cheaply, folding a single sheet of paper, sealing it with wax, and sending it was the cheapest method, but Mika wanted to send remittances as well.
So, while Mika called it a letter, it was actually more like a small package.
He put the letter inside the cloth wrapping the money, wrapped that in a larger sheet of paper, tied it with a string, and sealed it with wax.
The weight itself wasn't much, so even this was still on the cheaper side.
Once Mika finished preparing the letter, he stretched widely and thought of Amalia and Loretta.
He wrote on every letter that no reply was needed, so no letters came from home.
Since sending a reply would use up the entire amount of this remittance, he had written many times in previous letters, "Please, I beg you, use the money for living expenses."
Knowing those two, Mika predicted they would say something like, "It's a waste to use the remittance from Mika."
As for Mika, he didn't want them to die of starvation or freezing while clutching the silver coins from him, so he made sure to write every time, "It's fine to save it, but I'd be happiest if you used it when needed."
Especially now, with winter preparations, there should be various expenses.
He hoped it would be used for food and firewood during the winter.
"Mika, are you done writing the letter?"
Messerite called out to him.
"Yeah. Just finished."
"That was surprisingly fast. What do you want to do? Shall we go to the bath first?"
He finished writing sooner than expected, so it didn't seem like dinner time yet.
Rather than waiting for the dining hall to open, going to the bath first and then heading to the dining hall seemed like the smoothest flow.
"Yeah. Let's do that."
Mika decided to go to the bath with Messerite.
Holding his change of clothes and a cloth bag for laundry, he headed to the first floor.
Just as he descended the stairs, he met three girls from his class, Rimliche and others, who seemed to have just come out of the bath.
"Mika-kun, going to the bath now?"
"Yes. Did you just come out, Rimliche?"
"Yeah."
Rimliche's cheeks were slightly flushed and warm.
In this world, there was no custom of filling a bathtub with hot water and soaking, but the dormitory bath usually had several people inside.
Steam rose, creating a state almost like a sauna.
Rimliche used to have messy hair, but it was gradually improving as she lived in the dormitory.
It seemed Cecilia was very caring, and she was gradually fixing those things for her.
As usual, her bangs still didn't reveal much of her eyes.
The other girl, whose eyes were hidden by bangs, Charl, was fidgeting behind Cecilia.
This girl was always like this, but she wasn't shy like the old Rimliche.
She stared at Mika with a fixed gaze and often muttered to herself.
Curious about what she was saying before, he had tried listening using "Hell Ears," but...
"............Mika x Mesa... too ironclad...? Mesa x Mika?... If so... Murt x Mika would be better...."
A chill ran down his spine.
(What? What is this kid saying? Something about the sound... I recognize it...)
Could it be... she's a fujoshi?
Since then, Mika has tried not to pay attention to Charl's existence as much as possible.
(...No danger if you don't touch it. Leaving it alone is best.)
Don't touch 801.
Just stay away from 801.
Those were words of truth passed down like legends among veteran netizens like Mika, known to all.
Perhaps they could be called aphorisms.
There is no harm if you do not touch that darkness.
Mika told himself that to maintain his mental balance.
■■■■■■
The next day, morning mana manipulation training.
Mika hung his head, dejected.
"............I guess I really don't have talent...."
"Here you go again."
Messerite shrugged at Mika's mutter, looking exasperated.
Mika was concentrating on training to hold mana.
While other children were training to sense mana, move mana, and hold mana, he was dedicating himself solely to this one aspect.
(...Why can't I hold it at all while in "Limiter Off"?)
He had been focusing on this training for about half a year already.
Yet, he felt no progress at all.
He could move mana as he pleased, but holding it was abnormally difficult.
He could hold it without trouble while in "Limiter On," so it wasn't a huge problem, but he felt like crying at his own lack of growth.
(...The fact that I can hold it while in "Limiter" means the "conditioning" is functioning correctly, though.)
Messerite smiled wryly at Mika, who let out a huge sigh.
"...Ah."
A small mutter reached his ears.
Wondering what it was, he looked up, and saw Rimliche using her usual magic tool to train her power to sense mana.
Rimliche removed her hand from the magic tool and looked at her own hand.
Then she placed her hand back on the tool and closed her eyes, staring intently.
"...Can you tell, Rimliche-san?"
Dagny asked in a hesitant manner.
She probably thought she shouldn't disturb Rimliche, who was concentrating.
"...I can."
Keeping her eyes closed, Rimliche answered Dagny.
It seemed she was concentrating on sensing the mana while keeping her hand on the magic tool.
"............I can... I can! I can tell! Mika-kun!"
Rimliche suddenly turned around and looked at Mika.
(...Eh? Could it be... she can now sense the mana in the magic tool?)
Stunned, Mika was approached by Rimliche, who ran over and hugged him.
"Mika-kun! Mika-kun! Mika-kun! I understood! The magic tool's mana! I understood, Mika-kun!"
Saying that, Rimliche burst into tears, letting out a "Fue~...n."
Everyone gave Rimliche a standing ovation, showering her with endless applause.
(No, stop the applause! Do something about Rimliche! This is too embarrassing!?)
But well, if it was tears of joy, maybe it was fine, so Mika patted Rimliche's head and said, "That's good. You worked hard," until she stopped crying.
And that afternoon, after school, Rimliche was crying again.
But this time, everyone's gaze was cold, and strangely, that gaze was directed at Mika.
(...How did it come to this?)
After afternoon exercise, Mika was made to sit seiza on the hard ground, surrounded by all his classmates.
Even that Murt was part of this Mika encirclement net.
He couldn't help but think, "You're always alone, but you join in only at times like this!" but the atmosphere wasn't right to say it out loud.
Well, despite everything, he hadn't been alone that much lately.
"Mika... no matter how you look at it, that's not right, is it? Right?"
Cecilia, standing tall, looked down at Mika with a cold gaze.
Rimliche hid behind Cecilia's back, sobbing.
"Well, even if you say so..."
"Don't talk back."
"Yes..."
It seemed the concept of freedom of speech didn't exist in this world.
Amidst the heavy air, Cecilia's cold words were thrown at Mika.
"Anyway, tell us why you started saying such things. We'll hear the reason."
Mika was granted partial speaking rights.
Or rather, what was this guy?
A judge?
"Even if you ask for a reason, there was clear progress in the power to sense mana, and I thought special training on Sunday was no longer necessary."
That's right.
Today, Rimliche had finally been able to sense mana through training using the magic tool.
Rimliche's efforts over several months had been rewarded.
So, he had just said, "You don't need to do special training on Sundays anymore."
Mika felt nothing more than "Congratulations," but Rimliche suddenly started crying.
Cecilia, who heard this from the side, got angry, incited the children around her, and this lynching began.
It was terrible.
After hearing Mika's side of the story, Cecilia sighed.
Messerite covered his face with one hand, shaking his head as if to say "Oh well."
...You're an enemy too, Messerite.
"Do you hate it that much? The Sunday special training."
Cecilia asked Mika.
"It's not about hating or not hating. It's just that it's no longer necessary."
"If it's needed, it exists."
Cecilia cut off Mika's words.
Cecilia turned around and whispered something to Rimliche.
He wouldn't stoop to such bad taste as eavesdropping on that.
Rimliche shook her head vigorously at Cecilia's words and nodded occasionally.
Cecilia turned back to face Mika.
"Do you hate the Sunday special training? Or don't you?"
"I told you, it's not about that."
"Which one?"
It seemed free speech was still not granted to Mika.
"I don't hate it."
"Then, can you continue?"
"That's fine, but what exactly?"
Mika didn't mind continuing if he could lend a hand.
But if he didn't know what was needed, he couldn't offer help.
"Rimliche has only just reached our state from half a year ago, right? Isn't there something you can think of to close that gap even a little?"
That was quite a stretch.
But, indeed, if Mika, who could now use magic on his own, was more likely to come up with some method than everyone else who was just training at the academy.
"I can't think of anything right away... but yes, there might be something."
"Then, can't we ask you to do that?"
"Understood."
Hearing Mika's reply, everyone exhaled in unison, "Hoo..."
What are you guys?
Thus, leaving Mika with numb legs behind, everyone returned to the dormitory.
Only Rimliche kept looking back, watching Mika with concern, but Cecilia pulled her along, saying, "This is good medicine."
From that day on, perhaps it was a misunderstanding on Mika's part, but there was an atmosphere that Cecilia was leading the class.
Was that a rebellion against the boss struggle?
Could it be... I was overthrown?
■■■■■■
And the following Sunday.
He was asked to delay a bit from the usual time, so he headed to the academy forest one hour late.
Mika arrived at the base of the tree where he usually trained, but it seemed Rimliche hadn't arrived yet.
(...?)
He felt a strange presence.
It felt like someone was near a tree a little distance away.
As Mika carefully watched that tree, Rimliche appeared from behind it, fidgeting.
"...Eh? Rimliche?"
Mika was surprised by her appearance.
Rimliche looked down slightly as usual, but the bangs that hid her eyes were gone.
Her hair was neat, with not a trace of messiness.
It was about the length called a "very short cut."
No matter how you looked at it, cutting it all at once was too much.
Rimliche seemed embarrassed too, constantly touching her hair and trying to hide her eyes.
Even doing that, her large, bright eyes were fully visible.
"I was surprised. You cut your hair? That's why you were late?"
When Mika asked, Rimliche nodded shyly.
Just about two hours ago, her hair was still its usual length.
It meant she had someone cut it after the morning classes ended.
"Um... please don't look at me too much... It's embarrassing..."
Because Mika was staring too much, Rimliche hung her head even lower.
"Oh, sorry. It's embarrassing, right? But it suits you. You're super cute."
When Mika praised her, Rimliche covered her blushing face with both hands and crouched down.
Then, a small voice saying "Yatta" (I did it) was heard from behind the tree where Rimliche had emerged.
That voice was likely Cecilia.
A voice saying "Moe..." (It's moe/cute) was also heard, which was probably Charl.
It seemed the three girls from his class were all together.
(This isn't a training session today at all.)
Mika smiled wryly.
Well, Mika himself was still undecided about the new training content for Rimliche.
For now, he had planned to train her power to sense mana as before, and then try various methods for training mana manipulation.
However, it wasn't relaxing to keep hiding forever.
"...How long are you going to hide?"
When Mika called out, a "Ugh" sound was stifled.
After that, there was no movement, remaining silent.
"Don't try to fool me, fool me. You're busted. Just come out."
When Mika continued, Cecilia and Charl came out, seemingly resigned.
"...Hey, Mika. Don't worry about us, praise Rimliche more. You're clueless."
Cecilia complained with a sharp look.
"If you think so, don't stay there. I'm curious."
"Tch."
He was clicked at?!
Eh, am I the bad one?
At such unreasonable treatment, he couldn't help but clench his fist, thinking, "Y-you brat..."
"Well, never mind. I'll concede for today. It would be bad to interfere with the training."
Saying that, Cecilia whispered something in Rimliche's ear.
With her face still covered by her hands, Rimliche shook her head vigorously.
Seeing that, Cecilia shrugged.
"Then we're going. Let's go, Charl. Mika, praise Rimliche to your heart's content, praise her to death!"
Pointing sharply at Mika, Cecilia walked out of the forest.
(...You don't even know the meaning of "praise to death," do you?)
Finally, the noisy ones were gone, and Mika let out a sigh of relief.
Rimliche was still crouching, hiding her face as usual.
Mika called out to Rimliche and moved to the base of the usual tree for now.
Then, he had Rimliche sit in her usual spot, and he sat next to her as usual.
From then on, he decided to wait for Rimliche to calm down.