Chapter 69 - Chapter 68: Surprisingly Close
Mika left the West Gate of Sarbengeal to return to Rish Village.
Outside the West Gate was a stop for shared horse-drawn carriages, heading toward the Royal Capital and the Viscountcy of Myureaol north of the Marquis Leventein domain, among others.
There were no direct shared carriages to the Baron Limpēre domain where Rish Village was located, so they would have to go via Yaunasun in the Viscountcy of Orcosa.
However, the carriages bound for Yaunasun were at the South Gate, not the West Gate.
Mika walked north along the city walls of Sarbengeal.
Ahead lay a large lake, and a forest a little distance away.
That forest where he usually practiced shooting at targets with Sou-Labi as his opponent.
Mika reached the lakeshore and headed straight for the forest.
But today, he wasn't going into the forest; he was merely approaching it closely.
He hadn't come to fight a magic beast; he had come this far to return to Rish Village.
"Is it safe around here?"
Mika looked around.
There were no human figures around the lake, and the opposite side was too far to see if anyone was there.
Since it was near the forest, the view was sufficiently blocked.
He wouldn't be seen by anyone like this.
The most reliable option would be to go to the Red Lizard Stone mining site, but it was a bit too far, and he didn't want to go that far just to avoid being seen.
"Well then, I wonder if it will go well. ...Or rather, I'd be in trouble if it doesn't."
The carriages bound for Yaunasun today had already departed.
Even so, it was about seven to eight kilometers from here to the carriage stop at the South Gate.
If it failed, he thought he could just spend the night somewhere, but he wanted to succeed if possible.
Going to the South Gate was such a hassle.
Mika confirmed that the various souvenirs piled on his backpack were tied securely. There was no looseness in the ropes.
If the load collapsed halfway, there would be no way to deal with it, so he had to check thoroughly.
He put the backpack back on and slung the haversack over his shoulder.
"Should I have tied the haversack too?"
If this attempt failed, he would need to change clothes.
Tying the haversack to the backpack might be a bit troublesome.
So, he had deliberately kept the haversack separate.
"Well, it's natural to fail at first. Even if it's inconvenient, I can improve it from now on."
With his innate spirit of "If it hits and breaks, just try again," he decided to try anything for now.
"So, 'Limiter Off', 'Absorb'."
He activated [Physical Enhancement] as well, setting the enhancement ratio to five times for now.
Well, this was just a placebo.
In the worst-case scenario, the difference between unenhanced and five-times enhanced would be negligible.
And this was just preparation. The real event of the day started now.
"Low Gravity."
Mika reduced the gravity acting on himself.
For now, down to about one-tenth.
"W-w-wait..."
With his weight reduced, he nearly fell backward due to the weight of the backpack.
He bent forward slightly and managed to bring his center of gravity directly above his waist.
Not having weight means there are surprisingly many things to be careful about.
I learned that for the first time.
"Well, this should probably work. ...Probably."
He had thought this through well for this day.
He had practiced to some extent.
Well, he had only practiced flying for one day.
Mika looked up at the sky and barked.
"Blast!!!"
He blew away not just the sand around him, but even the pebbles, and took off into the sky.
Mika concluded that flying was possible with his current self.
He had developed Low Gravity because he originally wanted to fly.
But while flying with just his body was one thing, flying while carrying luggage raised the difficulty significantly.
He could make himself light with Low Gravity, but he couldn't make the luggage light.
Mika's current weight was unknown, but it was probably around thirty kilograms.
It was thought to be less than forty kilograms.
If he reduced his own weight to one-tenth, he would need to generate thrust to lift four kilograms with Blast.
Strictly speaking, the weight of clothes and equipment also applied, but he could solve that by increasing the output a bit.
However, the weight of the backpack, regardless of the haversack, became the bottleneck.
The various souvenirs.
The total easily exceeded ten kilograms.
With this, he needed thrust sufficient to lift the weight of Mika's four kilograms plus the ten kilograms of the backpack.
Even in a simple comparison, it was more than three times the thrust.
Previously, when he blew Murt away, combined with Mika's strength, he had blown him away several meters.
Considering that, launching him up probably wasn't that difficult.
However, he had to maintain the state of flight.
Mika didn't just want to jump up; he wanted to fly.
Flying while carrying a weight far exceeding his own body weight, other than himself, seemed to be quite difficult.
However, he had no time.
He could only practice Low Gravity during the day.
In the end, he had only been able to practice flying for one day.
Moreover, that was without any extra luggage.
To try to fly back to Rish Village in that condition was reckless to a fault.
If this weren't about himself, Mika would surely have stopped him.
"Do you want to die? No matter how you look at it, it's too dangerous. Stop it."
But Mika, who possessed a double standard where standards became loose the moment it concerned himself, naturally had no such common sense applicable to him.
"Well, it'll work out somehow."
He resolved to force it and arrived at the day of his return home.
"Gaaah, coooold!"
He shot up instantly to several hundred meters above Sarbengeal, his body shivering from the low temperature.
He expanded magic with a radius of about two meters around himself and immediately generated air with Blast, creating warm air through thermal energy manipulation.
It was still a season that could be called mid-winter.
Since the temperature on the ground was only about two to three degrees, it would surely be below freezing even a few hundred meters above ground.
Moreover, there was quite a bit of wind.
If he couldn't create warm air with Blast, he would surely freeze to death.
"Um, Rish Village is... Probably that way, right?"
Mika determined the general direction from the scenery on the ground and the position of the sun.
From the direction of Sarbengeal, Rish Village was located to the southeast.
Without a map or a compass, he could only know the rough positional relationship, but it was a small problem.
For Mika, arriving at Rish Village within three days would be considered a sufficient success.
Normally, it would be a hellish three-day course by shared carriage.
Thinking of the journey rubbing his sore bottom, flying there in the same three days would be a great success.
He could say that he avoided both the pain and the carriage fare.
Just in case, he glanced around in all directions.
"...Mountain range. Is that the border with the Empire?"
To the northeast, a mountain range stretching northward was visible.
Probably, that was the mountain range dividing the Kingdom of Ektrem and the Gronoir Empire.
And another mountain range was visible.
A mountain range continuing from east to south-southeast.
This was the mountain range that served as the border with the Am-Tast Trade Alliance.
Rish Village was a village at the foot of this mountain range.
The protective wall they had visited on a field trip was likely built to connect these mountain ranges.
"I can keep looking at this forever."
The scenery was excellent.
Even though nothing particularly caught the eye, he found himself mesmerized.
He had never experienced enjoying the scenery from such a viewpoint before.
People who enjoy skydiving probably find enjoying the scenery like this one of the charms.
He understood a little bit of their feelings.
He had wondered why anyone would willingly jump from such heights, but this was definitely something he would want to do again and again.
"Well, there's no point in looking forever. It's about time to go."
Mika faced the direction of Rish Village and adjusted the direction of Blast.
The direction of Blast would be angled downward to fly.
Since he couldn't gain lift with wings like an airplane, he couldn't use Blast solely for propulsion.
Previous Mika had emitted Blast from his palms.
But he had suffered greatly when he first tried flying that way.
After all, since thrust was generated in the direction he pointed his hands, he couldn't even scratch his nose.
His body's orientation and angle changed in response to even the slightest movement.
Since he was getting thrust from both hands, even a slight imbalance put him into a spin.
If he panicked and moved his hands to recover, it would only worsen the situation.
He quickly lost control and ended up rolling on the ground.
Fortunately, he was at low altitude, could fly without much momentum because he had lightened his weight, and had [Physical Enhancement], so he managed to escape with only minor injuries.
He had only gotten dozens of scrapes all over his body.
Compared to full-body fractures, it wasn't a big deal.
...He still hadn't learned unless he failed badly once.
Due to this failure, he concluded that for stable flight, getting thrust from a single source was easier to control than dual engines.
He also realized it was dangerous to emit Blast from easily moving parts like hands.
So, he decided to try emitting Blast from any part he wished with his will.
Since the magic was merely converted into air, it should be able to be emitted from anywhere where Mika had magic.
So, he experimented to see if he could emit Blast from anywhere around his 360 degrees.
As expected, there was no problem.
But would this method give Mika thrust?
If it sprays from his hands, he understood that the recoil would come to Mika.
But if it sprayed from magic located away from Mika, would that really become Mika's thrust?
When he tried it, he surprisingly got the thrust properly.
Why?
It didn't make sense logically.
However, he didn't want to think too deeply and lose the ability to do what he could do now, so he decided not to think about it for now.
If it works, it works.
Isn't that good enough?
If he had to make a hypothesis, he concluded that since Mika and the Blast emission port were connected by magic, "some kind of action was transmitted to Mika."
With this, he could now emit Blast in all directions, including up and down, making flight significantly more stable.
As long as he was careful with the balance with the luggage, a comfortable air journey would be realized.
After all, there was no footing.
Balancing with luggage heavier than his own weight was truly difficult.
Or rather, why am I balanced?
(................................................)
Let's stop thinking deeply.
He shouldn't bring an unrefined reality into a comfortable air journey, yeah.
Thus, in about three hours, Mika arrived above Kotontesse, the capital of the Baron Limpēre domain.
It wasn't the shortest route, but he had advanced on a route close to a straight line.
Moving at more than ten times the speed of a shared carriage, he arrived much faster than he had imagined.
"............Kotontesse and Sarbengeal were this close?"
He hung his head, wondering what his past struggles had been for.
Along the way, he had crossed a large forest, which was probably the forest said to be impassable due to magic beasts.
Mika flew past Kotontesse and landed on the road about two to three kilometers before Rish Village.
He pointed Blast straight down like a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, slightly reduced the output, and descended slowly.
He landed carefully while kicking up sand around him.
"Landing! ...Cough, cough-hack!?"
He coughed from the kicked-up dust and tears in his eyes, leaving the spot.
"Cough-hack...! This, there's really nothing I can do about it. Cough..."
It would be nice if there were a place paved with concrete, but unfortunately, there wasn't.
From now on, right after landing, he would decide not to speak unnecessarily and quietly hold his breath to leave quickly.
"Well, just a little more."
Mika released Low Gravity and put the backpack back on.
Then, he lowered [Physical Enhancement] to four times and ran vigorously toward Rish Village.
■■■■■■
【Rimliche's Perspective】
Cecilia came to Rimliche's front with an apologetic expression.
"Well then, I'm sorry. Rimliche..."
"Don't worry about it so much, Cecilia. Have fun."
Cecilia left the dormitory room with a lonely look on her face.
With this, all the second-year students this year had left the dormitory.
Except for Rimliche.
Rimliche looked out the window.
She saw Cecilia running to the main gate carrying large luggage.
Probably, one or both of her parents were waiting for Cecilia at the main gate.
Everyone had safely graduated from the Marquis Leventein Magic Academy Junior Department, and they had a four-week long vacation until their departure to the Royal Capital next month.
On the first day of the vacation, Mika-kun left the dormitory; on the second day, Charl-kun and Murt-kun left; and the seven classmates of Rimliche left the dormitory day by day.
"What should I do today...?"
Cecilia had stayed until the end to worry about Rimliche not returning home, but Cecilia couldn't go home either.
No, actually, she wanted to meet her family early, but she stayed until the end to consider Rimliche's feelings.
Until yesterday, she had spent time tidying up the room and chatting with Cecilia, but from today on, she was completely alone.
Alone, she looked around the room, which somehow felt wider, and felt a little lonely.
Even though the amount of things hadn't decreased that much, it felt wide for some reason.
"I've been taken care of in this room too."
By the end of next month, new academy students would come and use this room.
Since Rimliche and the others would depart for the Royal Capital a week before entering the dormitory, they were allowed to use the room as usual until then, with permission from the dorm manager, Trilens.
She had already left the necessary minimum luggage, and the rest had been sent to the Royal Capital.
The dormitory would send everyone's belongings together to the Royal Capital.
Therefore, nothing remained except the absolute minimum.
She felt a little lonely, but also felt refreshed.
She could proudly say that she had done everything she could do at the Magic Academy.
She never thought she could finish the academy with such feelings when she first entered the dormitory.
Rimliche had come to the Magic Academy with the resolve never to return home again.
She had lost her beloved Mother, but she tried her best to support her life with her beloved Father.
However, once a woman who claimed to be a new Mother appeared, Rimliche's life changed completely.
"You're the bad one, it's for your own good," she would say, and the new Mother would beat her often.
She was locked in the storage room for discipline and punishment, and often missed meals.
Eventually, it became normal that no meals were prepared.
Even her beloved Father changed after the new Mother came.
He stopped looking at Rimliche.
Rimliche began to stay still in the corner of the room so that the new Mother wouldn't pay attention to her as much as possible.
She buried her face in her knees in the corner of the room so she wouldn't see her Father and the new Mother eating.
On lucky days, she could secretly eat the leftover rice.
But on unlucky days, she had to find even a single crumb of bread without being noticed.
If she was caught, she would be punished again with "What a bad habit you have, you!"
Clothes torn from being beaten were secretly mended by herself so they wouldn't be found.
She couldn't possibly be bought new clothes.
So, she had to cherish the clothes she had now.
One day, she was told she had "magic talent."
She was taken to the town mayor's house without understanding why, where many adults were present, and told, "You will go to the Magic Academy next year."
And from that day on, she strangely stopped being beaten.
Meals were also strangely prepared.
Of course, not delicious meals like what her Father or new Mother ate.
After a while, she understood a little why she stopped being beaten and why meals were prepared.
It was because a person from the Marquis Leventein domain, an official, had taught her various things.
It seemed that if they didn't safely send Rimliche to the Magic Academy next year, it would be inconvenient for her Father and new Mother.
She was told this at the mayor's house, and that was why she stopped being beaten.
Rimliche couldn't wait for the day she would go to the Magic Academy.
So, the Magic Academy arrived, but she was very anxious.
The new Mother always told her, "You are a useless child."
She thought, "Maybe my Father stopped looking at me because I am a useless child."
She was so anxious that she felt crushed, wondering if a useless child like her could really make it at the Magic Academy.
She met Mika-kun for the first time when the dorm manager, Trilens, showed her around the dormitory.
He wore clothes patched together just like hers.
He was smaller than her, and at first, she thought he was a girl.
She remembered being surprised to learn he was a boy despite such a cute face.
But what really surprised her was the following week.
It seemed Murt-kun and Polnard-kun had fought.
Murt-kun was very large and scary.
Cecilia, who was in the same room in the dormitory, had been told not to get close to kids like that.
Even if she wasn't told, she wouldn't get close.
Because Murt-kun had the same eyes as the new Mother.
When I was too scared to move, only Mika-kun lent a hand to Polnard-kun.
But anyone could tell what would happen if he did that.
Mika-kun was punched by Murt-kun.
I thought he looked painful and pitiful, but I was too scared to move.
But that Mika-kun retaliated against Murt-kun.
Moreover, he blew Murt-kun away several meters.
I was surprised, but more than that, I vowed to stay away from Mika-kun as much as possible.
Are boys all scary kids?
But I found out that Mika-kun was actually a kind child after some time had passed.
While everyone in the class could sense magic, I alone could not.
I thought about pretending to sense it, but I was scared to see what would happen.
So, I didn't know what to do anymore.
Every day was anxious, and I was terrified that I would be kicked out of the academy with words like "We don't need someone like you," so I couldn't sleep at night.
Sometimes I couldn't hold back and hid in the academy forest to cry.
Mika-kun saw me doing that.
If everyone found out I was crying like this.
If the academy found out, I would really be kicked out.
Thinking that, I became confused and tried to hide it somehow, but in the end, I could only cry.
But Mika-kun just silently stayed by my side.
When I calmed down a little and asked why he said nothing.
"I don't know what to say."
Seeing Mika-kun say that bluntly, I thought maybe he wasn't such a scary kid.
Somehow, I talked to Mika-kun about the anxieties I was carrying.
And then—
"With this method, even you might be able to sense magic."
Mika-kun stood before me with a serious face and said that.
Indeed, Mika-kun was the best at manipulating magic in the class.
But even Mr. Dagny and Mr. Naporo had given up, so there was no way a boy of the same age could do that.
I knew that perfectly well.
"Try it!"
Before I knew it, I had asked Mika-kun to do that.
I didn't want to be kicked out of the academy!
I absolutely didn't want to return to that house!
If I were the me from back then, even if Mika-kun belonged to something of the "Demon," I would have happily offered my body and soul.
If I could sense magic that way, I would happily do it.
The shock of sensing magic for the first time was something words could not express.
That sensation I can still vividly remember.
Euphoria? Intoxication? Ecstasy? Omnipotence?
But I can't express it well.
It was such a shock.
From then on, every Saturday, I started special training with Mika-kun.
Mika-kun could make me sense magic, but I still couldn't sense it with the academy's magic tools.
However, my magic seemed to be becoming unstable bit by bit, and Mika-kun told me that eventually, I would be able to sense it even with the magic tools.
Mika-kun often praised me.
"You did well," "It's okay," "You can do it, Rimliche."
Mika-kun gave me plenty of words to make me feel at ease.
And when I did as Mika-kun said, I finally could sense magic even with the academy's magic tools.
Mika-kun was right.
I just had to do as Mika-kun said!
Just as I thought that—
"We don't have to do special training on Saturdays anymore."
Yes, he told me with a smile.
My vision went black, and I was shocked as if my feet were collapsing.
And before I knew it, I was sobbing.
Cecilia persuaded me, and the Saturday special training continued, but I became anxious, "Could it be a nuisance?"
When Cecilia said, "It's not a nuisance at all; there's a good way for Mika to come to you," and cut my hair short, I was mortally embarrassed.
Mika-kun said, "It suits you. You're cute," but I was truly embarrassed for a while!
...But, I am a little grateful.
I was still bad at manipulating magic, and only with Mika-kun's advice could I barely keep up with everyone.
Even when everyone could use [God's Miracle], I couldn't manage it for a long time, and I was told I couldn't participate in the field trip unless I could use [God's Miracle].
He seemed to have thought of various things to cheer me up when I was down, but when he asked, "What do you like?", I was truly embarrassed.
I couldn't tell anyone that talking about Mika-kun with Charl was the most fun.
In Charl's case, she said it was fun to imagine various "cappuccinos" and "strawberries," but what was a cappuccino?
Sometimes Charl used words I didn't understand well.
I will never forget spending the whole day playing at the Central Plaza with Mika-kun on sunny days.
It was the first time in my life I had felt so happy.
Only, I was truly surprised when he suggested, "Let's eat all the sweets in the plaza."
On the way back, he looked quite sick, but of course he did.
Girls might be fine, but for boys, right?
And I was able to use [God's Miracle] too.
Because of that, I was seen sleeping by Mika-kun and felt very embarrassed, but I was able to go on the field trip with everyone.
Mika-kun had previously said, "Rimliche will grow all at once with some kind of trigger. You'll leave everyone behind."
Even if it was Mika-kun's words, I couldn't believe it.
But even such unbelievable things happened exactly as Mika-kun said.
During exercise time using [Physical Enhancement].
I started chasing only Mika-kun, even surpassing Murt-kun.
On the field trip, only Mika-kun and I walked the full distance according to regulations.
Mika-kun is a strange boy.
He must be seeing a world only he can see, invisible to anyone else.
I don't think I can ever see the same world as Mika-kun, even in a lifetime.
But—
"...Is it okay to just watch Mika-kun?"
Rimliche muttered that, and with expectations and anxieties for the Royal Capital in her heart, she looked up at the clear sky beyond the window.
Thank you for reading this far.
Chapter 2: Magic Academy Junior Department Arc is now complete.
From next time, Chapter 3: Magic Academy Elementary Department Arc will begin.
I am tormented daily by my lack of vocabulary and writing ability, but I am managing to continue updating every day.
I don't know how long this pace will last, but I hope you all enjoy it even a little.
Well then, please continue to support Chapter 3 as well.