It has been a month since we started teaching and taking care of students. Today, as usual, I watched Miguel practicing swings after school, and unexpectedly, there was peace and quiet around me. This was because those three male teachers, who I thought would definitely take revenge on me, did nothing.
I doubt those kinds of people would back down quietly after being humiliated … once in public, or rather, because they have been humiliated. So I got suspicious and checked it out on my end, and it appeared that their spirit magic power had dropped to about half.
How in the world did that happen? I wondered if Tia had done something by any chance, so I asked her about it. ….
“Me? I didn’t do anything?”
Tia answered in a very straightforward manner to my question as she watched over Miguel and Nash as they went about their independent training.
“Well, then why has their spirit magic power dropped?”
“Because they didn’t want to be enemies with me.”
“……? Sorry, I’m not quite seeing the connection?”
I tilted my head, and Tia made a slight gesture as if she were thinking before answering.
“Hmm, You do know that there’s a huge difference between me and them as spirit users, don’t you?”
“Well, yeah.”
The teachers were probably in their 30s to 40s, so if they made their first contract with a spirit at the age of 12 like the current students, they would have at most 30 years of experience as spirit users.
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Tia was born an elf who was said to be able to communicate with spirits from birth, and she was even more gifted than the others. Since she has been practicing as a spirit user for more than 100 years, there must be a difference in ability between a child wielding a stick and a knight of the Imperial Guard.
“If there is that much difference in power, you can even forcibly take the other person’s spirit and force them to make a contract with you. Of course, I don’t intend to do that, but even their spirits are with them all the time for some reason, aren’t they? I don’t want that to happen, so I’m suppressing their power to keep them from having strange thoughts.”
“Ah, you mean like intentionally limiting the contractor’s power so that he can’t even compete out of desperation?”
“Yes, yes. Since only the power of spirit magic is declining, they can harass us in other ways, but this world has a kind of supremacy of spirit magic, doesn’t it? In a world like that, where their pride and joy, spirit magic, has been weakened, they really shouldn’t be messing with us anymore, right?”
“I mean, I didn’t know that was going to happen.”
In this world, just by being a strong spirit user, one received considerable preferential treatment. It was certainly no wonder that once the power that served as the foundation of the country was weakened, all one could do was to protect one’s own position before dealing with others.
Even so, they may be able to use their authority to harass us, but our position in this world was that of “spirits”. Spirits had no honor or authority, and if we caused any problems, the responsibility would fall upon our contractors, Miguel and Nash.
However, no one would be foolish enough to seriously hold a 12-year-old child, who made a contract with a spirit for the first time this year, accountable. In fact, the teachers and academy who managed that child would be held accountable. … In other words, we have a joke of a relationship where if you undermine us, those teachers who orchestrated it would be held accountable for it because of their position. Yeah, no wonder they won’t be able to touch us.
“So, we’re just going to enjoy school life as usual after this?”
“Who knows? It’s you who knows that, isn’t it?”
“No, well, I do, but …”
Since the course of events has changed so drastically from the beginning, I honestly have no idea how much of the first round experience will be useful in the later stages. In the first place, The scope of activity itself was different between the Miguel of that time, who spent his time without getting involved with anyone, and the Miguel of today, who was surrounded by many friends and actively enjoyed his school life.
(There were field exercises, mock battles between schools, and other things, but Miguel wasn’t involved in any of them.)
Miguel, who could not use proper spirit magic, could not participate in dangerous field exercises, and a mock battle between representative students was out of the question. He could have watched the game, but there was no way the abject Miguel would have gone through the torture of going all the way into the crowd to watch his classmates in all their brilliance.
(If I had to guess, there’s an exam next month. …)
“Huff……Huff……Huff…………”
Looking at Miguel wielding the sword with a serious expression on his face, I felt no anxiety over a mere test. The accumulated effort never lies, and given Miguel’s current attitude and relationships, even if he were to make a terrible mistake, he would be depressed, but he would not break.
“Hmm, I don’t have anything in particular to say. Well, as long as you’re on your guard, you should be fine living a normal life.”
“I see. Then I’ll take it a little easier. It’s a shame we can’t explore freely, but it’s so much more comfortable than being crammed into a ship.”
“Hahaha, true.”
Tia said jokingly, to which I responded with a laugh. In fact, we’ve had a few small problems since then, but nothing that threatened our peace and quiet. Miguel bravely saved a female student from being attacked by a wild beast in an extracurricular class, and she was smitten with him; Nash’s demonstration of the four attributes of spirit magic in the inter-school competition attracted attention; We enjoyed a really fun school life, with everyone being baffled by Thomas’ contracted spirit who suddenly turned into a beautiful human-shaped girl. …… And then, eight months after I came to this world.
“Huff…… huff….. huff!”
“Yes, perfect, my Lord.”
“Really!? Woohoo!”
At last, Miguel completed all 100 swings, and my expression softened at the sight of him jumping up and down with joy.
“I never thought you could do it in such a short period of time. As I thought, my Lord is very talented.”
“Heheheh, is that so?”
“But what is most wonderful is your spirit. Every day the same thing was repeated, and yet My Lord never took a day off, but faced each and every one of them seriously. The fruit of your tireless efforts and unbreakable will is your sword. Be very proud, My Lord.”
“W-What the heck, Eidos! It’s a little embarrassing to get a compliment so suddenly.”
“Oh, Miguel! What, have you finally graduated from swinging?”
Nash approached Miguel, who was twitching with happiness and embarrassment, with the same attitude as ever. Miguel’s expression immediately turned grim, but it was business as usual, so Tia and I could only watch on with a wry smile.
“…… What’s with you, Nash? What about you?”
“Me? I’ve finally mastered all six spirit magic attributes completely and perfectly! I am the first in the world to master all the attributes!”
“Damn it …”
Nash bragged about it, while Miguel looked frustrated. While they were standing there, I gently touched my fingertip to Tia and spoke to her.
(Hey Tia, how great is Nash really?)
(Well, if the other kids hadn’t signed up with the other spirits, I’d say about 30% of them could have been just as good. If the system of first signing a contract with a spirit is revised, next year it won’t be anything special anymore.)
(I see. Well, let’s leave him feeling good for a little while longer.)
(I agree. It’s true he did his best. How’s Miguel, by the way?)
(He is awesome. The easiest way to describe it to you is that if he continues to grow, he’s going to be as awesome as Alexis.)
(Wow, that’s really great!)
Tia’s eyes widened in surprise, her fingers separated, and the effect of the [Missing Talk] wore off. Because Tia had traveled with Alexis, she understood that Miguel’s growth was tremendous.
“… it’s a shame we won’t get to see it through to the end.”
“That’s just the way it is.”
Tia smiled a little sadly, and I chuckled and shrugged my shoulders. Miguel, who had been exchanging insults with Nash, spoke to me about our situation.
“Hey, Eidos, teach me some tricks! Something that would scare the crap out of Nash!”
“Hahaha, True. You still have a lot to learn, but if my Lord has mastered the basic swordsmanship――!?”
At that moment, a chill crept up my spine and set off alarm bells in my brain. Next to me, Tia, who was also looking at me sharply and alert of her surroundings, was holding Nash close to her and looking around.
“Tia, you got anything?”
“Nothing specific …but the spirits are buzzing tremendously. Towards …… north?”
“North?”
When I looked in that direction, I saw the usual scene of a deep forest surrounding the school grounds and a blue sky that had begun to turn slightly reddish… No, Something’s different?
“… Burning?”
The red that colored the sky was by no means only the sunset. Flickering in the distance were the burning embers of the trees, and above the black smoke that rose to wound the sky, tiny black spots were gradually increasing in number.
“Oi! Miguel, Nash!”
And then, just as he had done sometime before, Thomas came toward us. But his frantic look made me feel a sense of danger that was incomparable to that day.
“Thomas!? What’s wrong?”
“It’s terrible …… It’s Terrible! The Nordes! The Nordes! Sensei says hordes of Norde are headed this way!”
“What? What are you talking about, you stupid Thomas. There’s no way the Nordes will come this far into the middle of the continent, is there?”
“I don’t know anything about that! Anyway, you two, come with me, quickly!”
Without taking Nash’s words to heart, Thomas pulled away Miguel and the others vigorously. Naturally, me and Tia followed suit. …
“This is going to be a very, very messy day.”
I looked back once at the red-burning sky and muttered to myself.