Chapter 61

The room was furnished in a European style.

Julien placed his belongings on the shelf one by one, humming a tune in a light, bright key.

"Hm-hmm. Hmm."

The thoughts clawing at the inside of his skull blurred and faded—pushed back by busy hands and an idle melody.

…Over and over. Again and again.

Clatter.

It didn't take long to finish unpacking.

Julien checked the items he'd arranged without a single thing out of place, smiled to himself, and walked over to the window at the back.

He pushed it open. Night air poured in.

"Ah, that's refreshing."

Julien stared up at the night sky. Then he let his gaze drift downward to the narrow path winding through the brush below.

The place Mikhail had told him to come after settling in.

That had to be it. He'd mentioned a fountain at the end of the path.

Julien propped his chin on his hand, picturing the scenery that awaited him, and let out a quiet laugh.

He really is so similar to Lord Joseph…. Not just the looks or the personality—even the places he seeks out in an unfamiliar town are exactly the same.

Julien lingered on the tranquil view a moment longer, then shut the window.

What surfaced was the thing Mikhail had said earlier.

[After you drop off your things, come to the fountain at the end of the back path. I have something important to tell you.]

"Hmm."

Julien tilted his head, but didn't dwell on it for long. He could guess what Mikhail was after.

He said he had something important to say.

It was probably about the next phase of their mission.

Mikhail had barely set foot in the village before solving the first request at lightning speed. He seemed genuinely invested in getting results. His grades had shot up noticeably this semester, too.

So of course he'd want to push forward again.

…If that's the case, I might need to quietly remove my name from the final report before it's submitted. Getting a generous score wouldn't be a good thing for me.

Julien tied off the trailing thought and moved.

He rubbed the back of his neck as he walked to the desk, picked up the key, and headed for the door.

Clink.

Julien stepped into the corridor. The long hallway stretched toward the open night beyond.

---

Meanwhile, one floor above Julien's room.

Mikhail sat down in the chair at the desk with his bag in hand. He unclasped the opening and pulled out what was inside.

"……."

What landed on the desk was a pair of gloves shaped like baseball mitts and a single aged amber necklace.

Items he'd prepared for the successful completion of their first mission—the last ones in the sequence.

A pair of magic training tools purchased from the magic tool shop.

And a relic boasting some of the highest magic resistance of anything obtainable at this point.

Clink.

Mikhail hung the necklace around his neck and tugged his robe over it.

Then he slowly raised his left hand and looked down at it.

Fzzt.

Mana condensed above his palm. But the blue sphere that formed scattered apart almost immediately.

Mikhail let out a low sigh and lowered his hand.

The preparations for what came next were in place. But his nerves were far from settled.

Mana quality, mana capacity—by stats alone, Julien right now is on a level that far exceeds mine. A clash with him is going to put serious pressure on me.

Mikhail pressed his eyelids shut, but soon swallowed a breath, opened his eyes, and rose from his seat.

He picked up the training tool beside him.

Making Julien stop lying. Turning this encounter into a turning point for growth.

If collision was what the goal demanded, he had no intention of hesitating.

"Krrng?"

That was when it happened. Han and Ul, who'd been pacing by the window, padded over and peered up at him.

Mikhail looked between them and spoke.

"Watch the room for me. I'll be back soon."

"Snff."

Han and Ul puffed a breath at him but glanced out the window and nodded.

They seemed to assume he was heading out for a nighttime stroll.

Mikhail didn't correct them. He scratched their fluffy foreheads, then stepped out of the room.

Click.

Mikhail crossed the corridor and headed down the stairs. On the way, he turned his head toward the room beside his.

From just next door, an unusually bright lamplight spilled out alongside the sound of humming.

Nothing like the complicated minor-key melodies Julien usually favored—just flat, numb syllables popping up one after another.

"……."

Mikhail stared at the firmly shut door.

Then he turned his eyes forward and followed the path that led outside.

He'd followed the narrow trail behind the barracks to its end. Mikhail approached the fountain that came into view.

Tucked into one corner of a wide clearing, it traced a gentle arc with the stream of water it sent skyward.

Shaaaaaaa—.

A moment passed. Mikhail pulled his gaze from the scene and turned to look behind him.

Five minutes or so. That was all it would take before Julien arrived at the promised spot.

Mikhail walked over to a nearby bench and sat down.

Before long, just as he'd expected, the sound of approaching footsteps grew steadily closer.

"……."

Mikhail turned his head toward the arriving figure.

Julien stood watching him on the bench in silence. Then a sheepish smile slipped through and he spoke.

"You're already here. Sorry I'm late."

"I barely waited."

Mikhail stood and walked toward Julien.

Julien watched him close the distance, then rubbed the back of his neck and grinned in that loose, easy way of his.

"Something to say this late at night. I'm dying of curiosity over here. Come on, tell me."

Mikhail didn't open his mouth. Julien filled the gap with even more bluster.

"Is it hard to say right off the bat? Aw, come on, I can handle it…. Hmm, let me take a guess. We need to scour the hills nearby for herbs to treat the sleeping sickness. Or we have to brew hundreds of doses of medicine. Or maybe I need to catch the sleeping sickness myse—"

Thud.

The stream of words cut dead. An abrupt movement from Mikhail stopped Julien mid-sentence.

Julien looked at what had appeared in front of him.

A single glove sat in Mikhail's outstretched hand.

"……."

Julien closed his mouth and stared at the glove.

Then, with unmistakable confusion swimming in his violet eyes, he looked back at Mikhail.

Mikhail spoke evenly.

"Mind helping me with some magic training? I think I'll need it for the mission going forward."

Julien didn't move from where he stood. But soon his eyes drifted downward and an awkward smile settled into place.

His lips moved in hesitant fits, letting a vague answer slip through.

"Oh, yeah… mm, wait. Sure, let's do that."

Mikhail didn't press for a quicker answer.

He already knew the shortcut Julien's thoughts had taken—and the conclusion they'd arrive at.

The offer would be accepted.

Julien would bury every last suspicion and show nothing but the same cooperative front as always.

Play along just enough, then quietly slip away.

"……."

A moment later. Julien spread a guileless smile across his face, rubbed the back of his neck, and answered.

"Yeah. Let's do it! I'll help! I'm pretty hopeless, so I might not be much use, but…."

Mikhail spoke without hesitation.

"It's our first time, so let's keep it light. Like a game of catch. Just getting a feel for each other's rhythm should be decent basic training on its own."

He turned his back on the nodding Julien and walked away.

Pulling the training glove onto his left hand, he covered roughly ten long strides.

Then he turned and faced Julien. The other boy had put on his own glove, mirroring him.

Mikhail gave his left hand a light squeeze and release, then conjured an egg-sized mana sphere above his palm.

Tsst.

He threw it.

The blue sphere traced an arc through the air. The moment it touched Julien's hand, it warped violently out of shape.

Tsszzzzz….

But only half the sphere dissipated on contact.

The remaining mana didn't vanish until Julien released an additional burst to snuff it out.

"……."

Julien shot Mikhail a glance, then rubbed the back of his neck as though embarrassed by his own poor showing.

"Ahaha. Sorry. Normally you're supposed to cancel it in one go, but it's a little tricky for me."

Mikhail said nothing. He simply waved his hand to signal it was Julien's turn.

Julien gulped and put on a convincingly nervous look.

Then he formed a mana sphere and tossed it over.

Fsshh.

Julien's sphere vanished the instant it touched Mikhail's glove.

Gone without leaving so much as a speck of dust.

Fwip— fsshh—.

Three or four more exchanges passed in the same pattern.

Mikhail pulled his eyes from the mana spheres sailing back and forth and looked at Julien standing across from him.

Julien was sneaking furtive glances, reading the mood—and the instant their eyes met, he eased into a sly smile.

"Wow. You're amazing! The gap between us is insane. See, this is why there's no point having someone like me as your partner. I'm absolutely no hel—"

FZZT!

The sentence never finished. Mikhail hurled the mana sphere he'd formed.

The force behind it, the speed—both sharply fiercer than before.

"…Ngh!"

Julien threw his hand out just in time to barely shatter the sphere.

After the mana dissolved, he stared across the gap with wide, startled eyes.

His breath cracked apart like dry kindling.

Violet irises trembled in fine, rippling waves.

"Oh… th-that was an accident, right?"

Julien managed to wrestle his expression back under control and stammered out the question.

But Mikhail only watched him in silence.

In the stillness, Mikhail quietly clenched the hand hanging at his side and thought.

"……."

…One step remained.

Every variable, every piece, had been set in place.

All that was left was to strip away every reason Julien had to keep up the act in front of him.

Mikhail drew a short breath and spoke.

"—You're hiding your power."

Every trace of color drained from Julien's face.