Chapter 69
Days at the
Magic Tower
Translator : PolterGlast
Lotus, being called
"Instructor," honestly looked a bit unaccustomed to the title
himself. He furrowed his brow with all his might, making his gaze even more
intense than usual, which even startled me, who was used to it, but it was only
for a fleeting moment. He was originally a caring person, and if someone
admired him, he'd reluctantly take their hand.
He was probably a
little embarrassed.
The boy student who
had called him "Instructor" fortunately didn't notice the change in
Lotus's expression and was waving his hand with a smile. Lotus sighed and
casually waved back with one hand. Then, he smiled a little. I couldn't help
but grin along with him. I really liked Lotus's smiling face, it made me happy
just looking at it. But when he turned his face towards me, I quickly looked
away, pretending to whistle.
--Anyway, what exactly
was this "Instructor" thing?
Amazingly, Lotus had
literally gotten a job as an instructor at this Magic Tower.
Since it felt a bit
much to use the rooms for free, Lotus had initially intended to help me and
Ichi and the others with our work, but Veda had put a stop to that.
After all, they had
had a... misunderstanding, shall we say, a battle. Veda knew about Lotus's
extraordinary physical abilities, and the Magic Tower, while I had thought of
it as mostly academic, actually had a lot of athletic elements. Well, of
course, managing and handling the magic tool that covered the entire main
city—apparently called the water sphere membrane—was an important job and
something the students needed to learn.
The adjustment work,
which involved climbing to places higher than the tower while attached to a
lifeline and doing it all day, was something you couldn't do without physical
strength. And so, the instructor for physical fitness improvement was born.
Lotus, having originally belonged to the knights, had no resistance to such
settings and was surprisingly readily doing running and squats with the
students as an instructor.
"What a thrill it
is to see the person you like in a different light than usual..."
I liked Lotus when he
was with me, but I also liked Lotus when he was with others. As I reminisced,
putting both hands on my cheeks with a uhihi, I was asked, "Your muttering
is pretty loud..." Well, he was right next to me. Of course, I was
embarrassed.
"Well, well,
well... ah, it's Socius."
I saw him just then,
passing by outside the window, chatting lively with everyone. While cleaning
inside the tower like this, I occasionally saw Socius. He was always carrying
something that looked heavy, and today there were other guys around his age
with him. Socius had completely become a member of the black-robed group I
often saw in the city, which was another side of him I didn't know.
"Ugh, in the village,
he used to get nose-hooked by me, but now he's all grown up..."
"...What on earth
were you doing?"
There weren't many
children in the village in the first place, and our playmates were pretty much
just each other. So, our fighting partners were also just ourselves.
Without me realizing
it, everyone was walking their own path. And while I was feeling sentimental
like this, Ichi was doing a fierce acceleration jump with a whirling sound, and
Nii and San were whistling to him with, "Hyuu! As expected of Ichi-san,
doing things we can't do!" "That's so cool!" Stop it, you guys.
I had already come to
be treated by the students of the Magic Tower as some kind of mysterious being
whose radiance increased just by standing there, making me feel like I was in
the middle of the creation of the universe, living each day in a Buddha pose.
What was I doing?
Anyway, the only place
we were allowed to clean freely was the corridor. Apparently, the outer walls
of the tower were also okay, but we hadn't gotten around to that yet. However,
the day Ichi and the others reached that probably won't be far away.
Kon-kon, a single
knock.
It was a signal to ask
if it was okay to clean the room. Since I was told I could do whatever I wanted
if there was no reply, I took out my permission slip and inserted it into the
slot. The door slowly opened. It was my first time entering this place during
the day. I heard the chirping of a small bird, and then with a flap, it spread
its wings and flew up right in front of me.
"Whoa..."
Surprised, I took a
step back. Ichi and the others poked their heads out from behind me, observing
the scene with nods of understanding. There was no ceiling. A single large tree
stood there. Its leaves rustled in the warm light. It was a leaf of the World Tree.
"El, is that
you?"
At the same time as I
turned around, Veda's long hair, tied up in a single bunch, swayed. His staff
made a single, shan sound.
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