Chapter 51 - Nothing Is Certain in Magic

SNAP

Suddenly coming to her senses, Veronica hurriedly pulled her hand away.

"..."

She rubbed her hand and shot me a glare.

A brief silence followed. The owner was the one to break it.

"Ah!"

It was the loudest sound she had made yet.

"My shop!"

She clutched her head as though about to tear her hair out and wailed.

"It's a complete wreck..."

She whipped her head from side to side in disbelief.

Not that I had any right to say so after wrecking it, but hadn't it already been giving a pigsty a run for its money...?

I walked past Veronica, who was still standing there looking dazed, and approached the counter.

"... I'll pay for the repairs."

As I spoke and reached into my pocket, the owner raised a hand as though something had occurred to her.

"Never mind the repairs. Just do me one favor instead."

For some reason, she sounded as though she had been waiting for this.

"A favor?"

"Yeees. I have a delivery to make. The military academy ordered some magic tools for some sort of... festival? Go with Veronica, please."

Then she moved right up to me and whispered in my ear.

"I think she'll cause trouble if I send her alone. I was going to go with her, but if you take my place, I won't have to close the shop. Isn't that nice?"

"Why should I be the one making deliveries?"

At my question, she stepped back and grinned.

"You just showed me you could handle it, didn't you?"

So she needed someone who could control Veronica, not someone who could make a delivery.

I hadn't meant to demonstrate that to the owner, but the timing seemed to have worked out.

Hmm. The military academy...

I'd been wondering about this year's Peach Garden Festival prize anyway. It wouldn't hurt to go and dig around.

"... Very well."

Quest accepted.

"I'll get the goods ready right away. I already have the train tickets, too."

She took two tickets from a drawer beneath the counter. As I accepted them, I rested a hand on the countertop and leaned forward.

This time, I was the one whispering to her.

"Quite apart from that, consider this a warning. If you go blabbing my name again..."

"Don't worry. I won't. I had no choice but to tell Veronica. You'll thank me later, you know?"

"What do you mean, you had no choice?"

"You can trust me. If I hadn't, things would have been even more of a nuisance for you."

After that cryptic remark, she wished us a good trip and unilaterally brought the conversation to a close.

051

"Tch. How did I end up like this?"

Veronica grumbled in the seat beside me on the train. Her attitude was the polar opposite of Esther's, who had been excited throughout her train ride.

Veronica had taken off her work uniform and changed into casual clothes, which looked rather shabby.

Seeing a heroine out of her school uniform felt surprisingly refreshing.

"It's still not too late. I can go by myself, you know?"

She glanced at me and muttered,

"That'd be better for both of us. Making deliveries is bad enough without having to go with a thug..."

"Let's have some quiet."

"..."

She was still speaking casually and hadn't called me "Lord Karma," but seeing her shut her mouth immediately, I figured we'd made at least one step of progress.

About an hour after the train departed, I spotted someone flying past the window astride a staff.

It was a woman dressed like a mage, but she flew faster than the train, so that was all the description I could give.

"... She's a courier."

When I turned at those words, Veronica's expression stiffened.

"... You looked curious. Fine. I'll keep quiet."

Oho. She was even watching my reactions.

On second thought, we'd made two steps of progress, not one. She might have less back-alley grit in her than Laward.

"I know what a courier is. I was looking because I wondered why we couldn't simply hire one if we needed something delivered."

"To fly that fast, letters are about the most you can carry. Too much weight, and you can't build up speed."

Veronica gazed for a while in the direction the courier had gone.

"Hits a little close to home..."

"Naturally. We're making a delivery ourselves."

"That's not what I mean. Couriers are magic university dropouts. Most of them, anyway."

"Dropouts?"

"They graduate from the academy and even make it into magic university, only to hit the limits of their talent and drop out halfway through."

She let out a faint sigh.

"Magic university students take a first-year course called 'Understanding Swiftness.' Apparently, they sign up even if they're not interested. It's full every year. If things go wrong, they need to have learned at least that much so they can make deliveries. I hear couriers earn pretty good money."

"..."

"After all that effort graduating from the academy and getting into magic university... Well, not that a guy like you—"

"A guy like me?"

"Not that you'd understand, sir..."

Sir.

Apparently she simply couldn't bring herself to say "Lord," so that was her compromise.

Perhaps bothered by my prolonged silence, Veronica turned her gaze away from the window.

"Why did you say it hit close to home?" I asked then.

"Huh?"

"That's what you said earlier, wasn't it?"

"Well..."

Veronica didn't continue for a while. She looked as though she was debating whether to tell me.

"Going to magic university is my goal, for now. But honestly, seeing those couriers leaves me feeling conflicted. Before they enrolled, they all probably thought they'd get a job at a mage tower or somewhere, didn't they? Yet they ended up as couriers."

Wow. The lore surrounding magic universities was bleaker than I'd expected.

Was the job market tough everywhere?

"Do you think you might end up that way, too?"

"Anything's possible. Nothing is certain in magic. Even less so for mages."

She sounded more ordinary than I'd expected. Maybe she wasn't just a delinquent after all.

If she was worried about her future, though, she shouldn't have gotten herself suspended.

"Just so we're clear, it's not that I doubt my talent. It's the money. Scraping together four years' worth of tuition is a problem in itself."

"I take it working at the magic-tool shop isn't enough."

"Not really. I've already saved up all the money."

"Then surely you have nothing to worry about."

Veronica drew a breath, then spoke as she let it out.

"The magic I use costs a lot of money."

051

We arrived at the military academy about five hours later.

Unlike the academy, which looked like a small castle, this place consisted entirely of rectangular buildings. Drab buildings stood interspersed with nicer ones that might have been recent additions.

This was the venue for this year's Peach Garden Festival.

Fortunately, we arrived just before the military academy's gates closed, so we were able to put the delivery unloaded from the train into its warehouse.

Apparently, the goods were fireworks. The ones used for the winner's performance.

Nothing terribly special, as it turned out.

"That was surprisingly quick."

Veronica placed both hands against her lower back and stretched.

"That's the boss's errand done. If you're heading straight back, go ahead. Not that you'll find a return ticket for today. I'll make my own way back. I've got a little business here."

"Do you? As it happens, so do I."

"What business?"

"What about yours?"

"..."

"..."

Naturally, neither of us told the other.

"When will you be done?"

"Hard to say."

"I'll finish up tomorrow morning and head back. Can you work around that?"

"I couldn't say that, either."

"Tch. Is there anything you do kno—"

When I met Veronica's eyes at that point, she casually averted her gaze.

Seeing her socialization coming along so smoothly put me in a good mood for no particular reason.

"Go on ahead if you're heading back."

I handed her the delivery receipt.

"I was going to anyway."

SNATCH

Veronica stuffed the receipt into her pocket and turned her back.

* * *

"Oh, Miss Veronica. You really came."

An instructor at the military academy greeted her warmly.

"Have you finished thinking it over? Our proposal, I mean."

The instructor and Veronica stood side by side in the middle of the training grounds.

"I'll tell you later. You'll want to verify it first anyway, won't you?"

As Veronica spoke, looking out over the training grounds, the instructor slowly nodded.

"There's no need to rush... But yes, verifying the facts comes first. You understand well. Are you ready?"

The instructor fumbled some money out of his pocket.

"Please put that away. I'm grateful enough that you invited me. I couldn't impose on you."

"Are you sure you don't need it?"

"Yes. I've worked hard to earn my money."

She split open the belly of her frog-shaped coin purse and selected a silver coin. She even lifted it into the air without touching it.

Then she held the coin between her thumb and index finger in front of her eyes and concentrated, as though taking aim.

And then, the silver coin slipped out of existence in her hand.

"Hmm."

The moment the instructor let out that low murmur—

BOOOOM!

A red explosion erupted in the middle of the training grounds. A blast the size of a house swept across them.

"... Good."

The instructor nodded, looking thoroughly satisfied.

"Magnificent!"

His voice rose as he whipped around to face Veronica.

"All that power from a single silver coin...!"

He even clapped his hands in admiration.

"If it were a gold coin, or a more valuable jewel..."

"Yes."

Veronica immediately affirmed his guess.

"The Spirit of Abundance produces power equal to the value offered."

"You're nothing short of... a human cannon."

"An expensive one to maintain, though."

"If it's money you're concerned about, didn't I tell you in my letter?"

The instructor, who had been watching dust spread across the training grounds, turned his head slightly.

"Transfer to the military academy and enlist, and we'll provide as much as you need."

"Can you really keep that promise?"

"Of course. Especially now."

"Has something changed?"

"Have you heard the news about undead appearing all over the country?"

"Yes, more or less."

"It means the war from a hundred years ago could repeat itself. The military has to prepare for that. The surest way to stop undead regeneration is an explosion. Better to reduce them to dust in the first place."

Seeing Veronica deep in thought, the instructor affirmed her conclusion this time with a "Yes."

"It means your value has risen even further, Miss Veronica."

"My value... I see."

"What do you say? Your abilities will attract interest from the higher-ups, too. Gold, diamonds—whatever you need, they'll supply it when the time comes. Your magic delivers more reliable results than spending the same amount on weapons and training soldiers."

"Yes, I suppose it would. If I became a soldier."

"Starting afresh here would be far better than graduating from the academy with the disgrace of a suspension hanging over you. And you know very well..."

The instructor raised his head and gazed at the mage tower faintly visible in the distance.

"Making a name for yourself as a mage is truly difficult."

At those words, Veronica recalled her conversation with Daywin on the train.

Nothing was certain in magic.

Even less so for mages.

"Above all, even if you join the mage tower, in the unlikely event of war, the tower will have no choice but to join the fighting. It's a remote possibility, of course, but if it happens, you'll end up on the battlefield either way, Miss Veronica."

"So if that's how it's going to be, I'd be better off becoming a soldier early. And a military academy graduate, at that."

"You seem to understand. You won't have to start as a first-year. Just say the word, and I'll arrange for you to transfer directly into the third year."

"Why are you going so far for me?"

"For the nation. No other reason. So, what do you think?"

Veronica thought for a moment, then put the frog-shaped coin purse back into her pocket.

"Actually, I decided on my answer right away. I came to tell you."

"Oh... Is that so?"

"I'm going to graduate from the academy."

"..."

"To be honest, I'm not the most easygoing person. I don't get along well with people, either. But if there's one kind of person I'm especially careful not to treat badly, it's someone who recognizes my worth. That's why I came in person to show my respect."

"Then surely you have no reason to refuse."

"Someone recognized my worth before you did, Instructor. Someone who must know I'm suspended and that my grades are low, yet still sponsored me with a large sum without a word."

Veronica smiled shyly.

"Thanks to him, I have enough for my magic university tuition. He would want me to graduate from the academy rather than become a soldier. And he'd want me to do well at magic university. I'm not confident yet, but I have to succeed."

"... I see."

"Yes. I can't betray him... Lord Daywin."