Chapter 20
MARIANA WAS an efficient cook, and the kitchen was already prepared. Magnificently marbled cuts of meat, colorful vegetables, and white rice lined the counter. One could tell at a glance that tonight’s meal would be a feast.
Mira peeked into the kitchen and murmured, “I can hardly wait.”
Luna gazed at the sliced veggies on the side and added, “Squeak!”
“Anyway, bath first,” Mira said. Even if they were just playing, her matches with Luna were intense. Mira was sheened in sweat, and she wanted to refresh herself. But just as she headed toward the bath, she heard the sound of something falling to the floor. “Ah… Right.”
She turned and saw an empty bowl at Mariana’s feet. The fairy was staring at Mira in astonishment.
Mira suddenly remembered: whenever she bathed, Mariana would always come with her. She’d half-force Mira to let her come along.
But right now, Mariana was in the middle of cooking to satisfy Mira’s hunger. If she prioritized cooking, she couldn’t serve Mira in the bath. If she prioritized the bath, it would delay dinner and make the hungry summoner wait. It was a real conundrum.
“Don’t worry about the bath—” Mariana didn’t have to do both. Or so Mira tried to say, but Mariana instantly looked down. Mira sighed in resignation. “Ah, well… I’m sure you’re sweaty from that workout too. Shall we bathe first?”
There was no change to Mariana’s demeanor, but the instant Mira said this, her face lit up. Still, conflict clouded her mind; preparing food for Mira was just as important. “But you’re hungry…”
“Worry not. Hunger is just added spice, right? A bath first won’t hurt anything,” Mira said in a carefree tone, hoping to ease Mariana’s worries.
“I will prepare at once.” Seemingly persuaded, Mariana bowed, cleaned up the kitchen, and ran into the changing room.
“I hope this was a good idea…”
Mira was a little surprised at herself for being bold enough to invite Mariana to a bath, but the clear joy that was on the fairy’s face brought satisfaction to her heart.
In the bath, Mariana waited on Mira as usual. She scrubbed her hair and body from top to bottom before giving her a lovely massage. From there, Mira relaxed in the big bathtub and watched as Mariana washed Luna. Like last time, she didn’t offer to wash Mariana’s hair in return; instead, she retreated to the other side of the tub.
Mariana had mentioned an efficient way to wash Luna’s fur without agitating it, so she was teaching Mira how to do that now.
“Don’t go against the grain of her fur. Go like this…” Mariana explained earnestly.
“Squeeeak…” Luna looked blissful as bubbles covered her.
But Mira was a little uneasy—looking at Luna meant also looking at Mariana. “Hrmm, I see…”
Mira had been in many women’s baths in all the inns she’d stayed in, and had by now built up a tolerance. But when it came to someone she liked, she couldn’t help but be nervous seeing them naked. On top of that, she felt some guilt ogling someone who was so kind to her. Thus, Mira was careful not to stare.
Eventually, Mariana finished washing Luna. She put the rabbit in a special little tub, where she floated comfortably.
“Now, Miss Mira, please take your time.” After waiting on Mira in the bath, Mariana quickly washed herself and tried to return to preparing dinner.
Watching this from behind, Mira made up her mind and spoke. “Listen, erm… Mariana, why don’t we relax together once in a while? Like right now, for example.” She patted the surface of the water, urging Mariana to come.
“But…” Mariana was conflicted. Even if Mira said it was fine, her hunger was a problem that couldn’t be ignored. Still, relaxing in the bath with Mira did sound lovely. Hesitation was clear on her face.
“I still haven’t told you about my adventure, have I? Come and keep me company, if you don’t mind.” Mira was leaving for her next mission tomorrow. She decided to be proactive for once. Despite her embarrassment, she wanted to spend as much time as possible with Mariana.
Perhaps sensing Mira’s desperation, Mariana answered gently, “If you’d have me, I would love to.” She stepped into the bathtub and sat next to Mira.
“First, you see, I met these enemies known as Chimera Clausen in the middle of a mission…”
The unprecedented closeness shook Mira somewhat, but she talked on and on excitedly like a chatty old man. Before she knew it, any thoughts of sexual desire were long gone, replaced by long stories about the past month and a half.
Mariana listened, quietly but happily.
Meanwhile, whenever the floating Luna started to drift too far from Mira, the bunny would slap the water in order to steer her little boat closer again—an incredible act for a small lagomorph. However, Mira was too focused on the conversation to notice.
Once she’d told Mariana everything from the beginning of her journey to the end of her battle against Chimera, Mira described her next mission and looked down apologetically. “I leave tomorrow. That means leaving everything to you again, I’m afraid…” She’d only just come home, and she had to get ready to leave again. Mira felt terrible leaving all the work to her fairy.
Mariana, however, responded with a soft smile, “Your missions affect the future of this country, Miss Mira. Don’t look so sad; be proud, please.” The loneliness still remained, but Mariana’s greatest wish was for Mira to carry on without worry. Her words warmed Mira’s heart.
“I see… Then I’ll trust you, Mariana.”
“Yes, please leave it to me.”
This was a normal exchange between them, but Mira found herself feeling closer than ever to Mariana. She had total faith in the girl. Is this how it feels to be a married couple? Mira wondered to herself.
Suddenly, she noticed how physically close they were and jumped out of the tub. “S-so, shall we?”
Mariana followed right after, and the distance between them didn’t change much at all. Mira soon found herself receiving after-bath service while still fully naked. As Mariana handed her a fresh pair of undies from the newly built shelf, Mira thought to herself, Maybe she’s more of a mother to me than a wife…
Similar, yet very different relationships. Mira began to seriously wonder where she’d gone wrong.
***
After they changed clothes and dried each other’s hair with Ethereal Arts, the romantic scene ended.
As they left the changing room, there was a knock on the door. Mariana answered it to find the acting elder of the Tower of Evocation, Cleos.
“So that unfamiliar wagon out front was yours after all, Miss Mira?” It seemed he’d noticed Mira had returned and visited her for a report. “My Cat Sith has especially good hearing… We suspected you two were in the bath, so I took the liberty of waiting here for you.”
His summon had heard Mira’s voice and the sounds of water, allowing him to surmise that they were in the bath together. He had waited half an hour to try knocking.
“If I knew you were here, I’d have come out sooner,” Mira protested. “You could have summoned a spirit of sound to let me know…”
As an acting elder, Cleos was an extremely skilled summoner. He’d have many means of announcing his presence politely. There was surely no need to wait outside for so long.
“Well, I could have… But you’ve only just returned from your long journey.” He didn’t wish to disturb Mira as she washed off her fatigue, he claimed, though his eyes came to rest on Mariana. He didn’t mention that he would feel terrible if he interrupted Mariana’s happiest moments.
“Hrmm… Very well. Anyway, come in. You have reports, no? And I happen to have some questions about the academy.”
“Of course. Forgive the intrusion.” Cleos bowed deeply to Mira, even deeper to Mariana, and cheerfully entered the room.
While Mariana prepared dinner, Mira sat lazily on her couch and asked Cleos about the current situation of the summoning academy.
“Thanks to you, Miss Mira, we’ve gained enough students to stand with the other departments,” he answered.
According to Cleos, the equipment and blasting stones Mira had provided made learning elementary summoning magic much easier, which brought in an influx of new students. Those who’d previously given up due to the difficulty returned in droves, making things very lively in their department.
“Oh ho ho. Now that is good news.”
If summoning continued to gain popularity and produce excellent students, they’d soon overcome the stigma against it. It would take time, but Mira was happy to take this firm step forward.
“However, with more students come more problems…” Cleos sighed and revealed the main subject of this conversation: the current challenges of the summoning department.
Alcait Academy’s classes could be generally split into two types. There were classes that offered general education, and there were those that delved into specific magic. They were independent of each other, and students were placed in them based on their proficiency in either. A student could, for example, end up as a second-year student in general education and a first-year student in upper-level magic at the same time.
And in this case, the onrush of new students had resulted in a situation where both children and adults could end up in their first year of elementary summoning at the same time.
Magical skill was distinct from academic performance and age, which meant that adults often ended up losing to children in this combined class. Differences in natural talent stood out like a sore thumb. This resulted in many conflicts between students, which led to the formation of factions.
The situation troubled not just Cleos but summoning department teacher Hinata and the middle- and upper-level students as well.
Factions existed in other departments—but through many years, they’d established rules between them and had more or less settled their differences. This was the first time the summoning department even had enough people for factions to form. It was easy for the students to get carried away.
“And there’s a bit of a troublemaker among them…”
After quickly sketching the situation, Cleos brought up a particular student. She was a new student and the daughter of a noble from Ozstein, who’d come to lead the biggest faction in the summoning department.
“A noble’s daughter… Hrmm,” Mira mused. The word noble reminded her of a certain sorcerer who’d recently ambushed her.
However, Cleos chuckled and assured her that this case was different. “It is troublesome, but warring factions among the students aren’t necessarily something I can’t handle. They’re ultimately just internal disputes, so Hinata and I can smooth things over as long as we’re attentive.”
The girl’s family was quite powerful, but Cleos claimed that this problem had nothing to do with her family’s authority. The real problem, he revealed, was that she had been constantly picking fights with factions from other departments.
“So others are being annoyed by this,” Mira replied. “That is an issue… Still, a first-year student of the elementary classes can only be so reckless, no?”
“Yes, that’s true. Nobody has taken her bait yet because they don’t take her seriously. They’re mature factions, so they know better and have avoided violence. However, we don’t know what may happen once she’s gotten strong enough to pose a real problem.” Cleos sighed and added that, at the rate she was going, it wouldn’t be long. This troublemaker had talent that stood out among the departments.
He explained proudly that, a week after learning her first summoning magic, she could already perfectly designate a summoning point, and her spell construction and summoning speed were hardly different from those of the upper-level students.
“Oho! That’s impressive.” Mira could summon as easily as she breathed now, but she still remembered the pains it took to get there. From her perspective, that girl was worth calling a real prodigy. She had such talent that she might even be able to shoulder the future of summoning… But that also meant that acting out could turn into real violence before long.
Cleos continued, “The girl picks fights with students from other classes almost daily, even unrelated to faction disputes. Poor Hinata has to intervene constantly.”
Hinata, a teacher in the summoning department, was doing her best to be a role model to all the new students. This constant distraction had her at her wit’s end.
“That sounds tough for her… Still, do you think the girl causes so much trouble because she has a prodigy’s pride?” Mira found it common for geniuses to exhibit this kind of self-destructive behavior.
However, Cleos shook his head and answered, “If that were the case, my job would be a lot easier. There is an overly self-conscious side to her, but she’s the sort of hardworking student who takes classes seriously. She also takes the initiative to help other students, which we do appreciate, but…”
“Oh. Not what I expected. Now you make her sound like a model student.”
A noble’s daughter and a prodigy—two features of a person that might lead to a twisted personality. Yet she seemed to be an exemplary student. Why, then, was she getting into so many fights with other departments’ students and factions?
Mira cocked her head at the apparent contradiction.
Hesitant, Cleos said, “The thing is, erm, she’s a fanatical devotee of Master Danblf. The faction she leads is, likewise, a collection of his fans… They’re a club of sorts. And as for why they pick fights, it’s always because people are making fun of summoning or of Master Danblf himself. And, well, there is a part of me that feels like I should stop them, given my position…but another part is cheering for them. I find myself hesitating…”
He sounded troubled, but the look on his face showed that Cleos was none too upset by it. Once he’d finished explaining, he asked Mira what she thought he should do.
“I think there’s no other choice. They must be taught, not us—taught not to speak ill of me or my summoning. That will resolve the problem. I see no fault in our students!” Mira, clearly excited at the prospect of her own fan club, displayed her obvious bias. It was as if her preconceived notion of noble prodigies had been swept clean away; she was now fully on the girl’s side.
And she was more eager than ever to show off the greatest summoning magic she had at the next Spell Symposium. She would display the power of summoning once and for all!
When Eizenfald proceeded to destroy the ceiling—no, blow it away entirely!—she planned to brush it off, saying, Please, it’ll only bother you on rainy days.
“I appreciate your enthusiasm, but we have plenty of students now. Please let them look forward to the opportunity to show off their own skills.” Cleos gently brought her back down to earth, sensing that she might only create more problems.
If Wise Man Mira were to use all of her might, she wouldn’t just impress the crowd—she would make them terrified of summoning. So terrified, in fact, that they’d never speak ill of it again.
But that would defeat the purpose. Instead, Cleos believed that letting the students right these misconceptions themselves would be for the best in the long-term.
Fortunately, there were signs of change coming for the Symposium. Thanks to Mira’s recent appearance, they were reconsidering the judging standards and rules. As a result, the competition had begun to turn its focus away from flashy magic and toward the growth of the students.
A stage where new students could show their stuff was gradually forming.
“Hrmm. Then I suppose I should leave things to my followers. I can’t wait to see how they do.” Quickly convinced, Mira fantasized about the sight of a revitalized Tower of Evocation and smiled.
“Yes. I expect these difficult times to continue for a while, but thinking about our bright future gives me the power to go on.”
If the students showed off the power of summoning themselves, people would naturally speak less ill of the discipline, and there would be fewer conflicts as a result. It would take time, though, and meanwhile this noble girl would continue to run into trouble. Still, Cleos smiled; perhaps this was all part of the process.
***
At a conference days later, it was decided that the teachers of the academy would keep a closer eye on the students. They knew other students’ rude remarks were part of what led to the fighting, so they couldn’t only monitor the girl.
A certain teacher at the top of the sorcery department was especially eager to see interdepartmental relations improve. As a result, the noble girl’s scuffles never evolved into major issues, and sorcery instructor Siegfried found himself quite grateful to Hinata indeed.
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