“Ha~ … morning …?”
Rubbing my sleep-deprived eyes, I stretched out on the grass in the sun. I took a deep breath of the clean morning air, and the coolness of the air woke me up.
Hmm, it felt nice to be able to stretch my arms and legs as much as possible. The beds on the pirate ship were too small.
“Yosh, let’s go back to the room first.”
I walked a mere 10 steps to the window, put my hand on the unlocked window and pushed it open. Then Miguel, there getting dressed, saw me and greeted me with a smile.
“Good morning, Eidos!”
“Good morning, My Lord.”
“Did you have a good sleep in these fields? If it seems too hard, I’ll think of something, just take it easy and let me know.”
“I appreciate your concern, my Lord. But for the time being, I am fine. If I need anything else, I will let you know.”
“Yes! Oh, you’re going to eat, right? Do you want to go to the cafeteria with me? Or should I bring it here?”
“Hm? That’s, … if it’s okay with my Lord, Please let me accompany you to the cafeteria.”
“Of course it is! Then let’s go together.”
At Miguel’s invitation, we walked side by side to the cafeteria. The main cafeteria was on the other side of the main entrance, so it was a short walk from this room.
“Hey, Miguel!”
“Hey, Thomas!”
As we walked into the cafeteria, a student approached Miguel. Based on his friendliness, he must be a friend of Miguel’s, but … I honestly didn’t remember him. It was not due to my memory, but rather because my experience was that bad in the first round.
“Good morning Thomas, you’re up early this morning.”
“I know right! … The hell. Why did I even worry about him.”
“Eh? What?”
“What …Yesterday, you were so depressed because you got the short end of the stick, weren’t you? You went back to your dorm by yourself, and you took your dinner to your room. So I thought today would be a good day to cheer you up. …”
“Ah, I see. I’m sorry Thomas. But as you see, I’m fine.”
“I guess so. Then let’s have dinner together!”
“Yeah! Let’s get in line, Eidos!”
“Mm.”
The three of us stood in line waiting for our turn. Since everyone around me was a 12-year-old child, only my huge figure stood out, but for better or worse, people knew that I was a “human spirit” summoned by Miguel, so they did not look at me suspiciously.
“The food here is very good,… and you probably know that because you had it yesterday. Oh, but in the morning it’s the same for everyone, but in the evening we have three choices. Why don’t we come here and eat tonight too?”
“Ooo, that sounds fun.”
“The heck, Miguel, you have gotten along with your spirit pretty well.”
Thomas interrupted us as he saw me and Miguel having a friendly conversation. His tone sounded a little bit bitter, but in reality, Thomas had a smile on his face.
“Wellll, I talked to him and he seemed like a nice guy, and we had a really interesting conversation. … I brought dinner to my room last night because I really wanted to hear the rest of his story.”
“What? Damn it, I worried about you for nothing! I mean, is it really that interesting?”
“Yes, it is! What I heard is――”
(Fufu, looks like I don’t have to worry about it this time.)
Seeing Miguel happily retelling the story I told him last night as if it were his own, and Thomas listening to it with sparkling eyes, I felt relieved seeing this.
First time… When I first came to this world for the first time, I naturally had no way of knowing that I had been summoned as a spirit. The place was in turmoil when I showed up at a ceremony where only spirits could be summoned and I appeared as a human being, …. Now that I think about it, the school probably had some reasons for not wanting to set a precedent for “forcibly summoning a human being”. In the end, I was defined as “An unsuccessful spirit close to humans”.
Miguel, who could not summon a proper spirit, was also called the first outcast since the beginning of the prestigious Rowan Royal Academy of Magic, and the first person to fail, His friends, who were concerned about him at first, gradually drifted away from him as he became distant and refused any contact with them due to his inferiority complex. After all, he was only a 12-year-old kid. By the time two months had passed, Miguel had no friends left.
I wanted to do something about it, but of course, I was not a spirit, so I could not use the magic that Miguel wanted. Still, I wanted to somehow give him confidence and told Miguel that I had a talent for swords, but my words, which were the cause of his despair, never reached Miguel. On top of that, this world valued spirit magic over anything, and he discarded me like garbage at the end of our contract.
Ah, I feel like my heart is being ripped out of my chest with guilt now that I remember. This environment, where everyone was both victim and perpetrator and where no one could take out their anger or resentment on anyone, was one of the worst worlds out of the 100 worlds I’ve experienced.
But not this time. Miguel’s confidence had been restored, and he was no longer left alone in a corner of the cafeteria with a despondent look on his face. I have never been a parent before, but even so, the sight of Miguel smiling and talking with his friends was more endearing than anything else, and I was proud of him.
“…Eidos! Hey, Eidos!”
“Oops. What is it, my Lord?”
“Not what! Come on, quick!”
Miguel’s voice brought me back to reality. I hurriedly checked the situation, and it seemed that it was my turn to receive my meal.
“Oops, sorry about that.”
I picked up one of the trays on the table and followed Miguel and the others. The three of us then arrived at the same table and immediately began to eat.
“Mmm…..As I thought, the food here is delicious.”
“I know! Our maid makes only these weirdly sweet dishes, this one is definitely yummy! I’m sure she’s thinking, ‘Let the kids eat something sweet!” Of course there are sweet and tasty foods, but if everything is sweet, of course they will get bored!” Miguel said,
“Haha … that may indeed be true. Do you have a sweet tooth, Eidos?” Thomas asked,
“Me? Well, I don’t particularly like it, but I don’t really dislike it either…. Uh, no, I don’t like too much of anything.”
“Too much, for example?”
“Yeah. I was once offered a huge pastry decorated in the shape of a royal castle, but it was made almost entirely of sugar. It was sweet on its own, but on top of that, honey and other ingredients were smeared on the surface to give it an extra sheen. …”
“Wow, that’s …”
“I’m getting a toothache just listening to you, ….”
Miguel and Thomas frowned when they heard my story. Yeah, that was really bad … no, it was torture. No matter how good it looked, sugar on honey was not human food. Ugh, just thinking about it makes my stomach ache … Urghh.
“Oops. We have an outcast here, huh?”
Thomas, who was sitting in front of me, was the first to realize who it was and frowned. When Miguel and I turned around and looked in that direction, we saw the face of the boy who was sleeping peacefully last night. A small fat boy with chili-red hair trimmed on both sides stood next to Tia, who, for some reason, had no expression on her face.
“Nash…, what do you want?”
“What do I want? We’re classmates, aren’t we? Well, from the perspective of Miguel-san, a “former” child prodigy, an ordinary guy like me may not be worth talking about, right?”
“…………………..”
“Hey, Nash! You …”
“Thomas shut the fuck up! I’m talking to Miguel right now. … Hey Miguel? I’m having trouble using my spirit magic. Maybe you can tell me how to use it better? You know, don’t you? Prodigy Miguel-san?”
“…………………….”
At Nash’s mocking words, Miguel hung his head and clenched his fists. I talked to him yesterday and he was positive, but we haven’t done any training yet, so of course nothing will come of it. Then――
“My Lord, since he is requesting so much from you, why don’t you teach him?”
“Eidos! What are you talking about?”
Miguel stared at me, surprised by my words, but I put my hand on his shoulder and smiled at him.
“What? It’s simple. Spirit magic is a phenomenon caused by using the power of spirits, isn’t it? Then it can be said that everything that My Lord commands me to do is spirit magic… no?”
“Eh? Is that … not different?”
“Yes, it makes no difference. Now command, my Lord! If it is in the power of man, I will surely accomplish it!”
Yesterday I felt a little sorry for him, but if he was getting so cocky, there was no need for that. I stood proudly in front of Nash with a fearless smile on my face, ready to punish the little rascal for getting carried away.