Book 13 Chapter 16

9화

Every summer is the season for the Baldorhan (1-star) ranking exam.

This exam, which can be taken in any major city with a Magic League branch, is said to be the gateway to a beginning for some, and the final destination for others.

The age range of the street crowd is truly diverse, from youth to old age… These are people gathered here for only one purpose.

“This time, I must pass…”

“If I become a mage, the family will revive…”

“Please, Light of Creation, please, this time…”

To be honest, I didn't want to come to a place like this. Rather than a place like this, I didn't want to come to *this city*.

This is <Winter Horizon>.

A major city famous as the gateway between the North and South… it's where I grew up as an orphan.

“Damn it, why me too…”

As I let out a frustrated grumble, Gizela shouted, with both hands on her hips.

“Why! You can at least come to cheer us on, can't you?”

Anyway…

“What's wrong, Rin?”

As I suddenly stopped walking and stared blankly at one spot, the First Senior Disciple asked.

“It's just, that… that's the alley where I used to beg.”

How many years has it been already…

Is it four years now? I could assert that those four years were more precious, beautiful, and dazzling than my entire life spent in the slums.

The larger a city's scale, the proportionally larger the number of its poor.

Orphans abandoned in churches or monasteries can only walk the path of the priesthood, but they are still considered lucky.

Pain… the pain of hunger is nothing…

Solitude (孤獨).

Compared to the loneliness of being utterly alone in this world, with nowhere to lean on…

What freed me from that solitude was the light of magic that came into my life that day.

My Dean, who freely taught me all about magic, called the 'Queen of Academia' in this world where knowledge is the root of wealth and prosperity.

All I could do was hope to become an adult as soon as possible, wondering how I could repay that grace.

But to come back here again…

My breath, my breath is catching, as if my lungs might burst.

Suddenly, what if I close my eyes and open them, and everything disappears like a dream? Or what if the Dean disappears somewhere, and I become alone again?

In the face of that vague despair, perhaps it was then, in a nightmare stemming from the pains of my childhood, that my entire body froze coldly.

“Rin.”

A light that melted all those chills at once, or warmth… or magic.

“It's okay. I'm not going anywhere.”

The Dean held my hand tightly.

As if to say, even if you try to let go of this hand, I will never let go.

Then the First Senior Disciple tightly held my other hand, the one that had been holding a book. His hand was large and reassuring. I thought, 'This is an adult's hand.'

“What's wrong with everyone?”

When Gizela tilted her head and asked, the First Senior Disciple smiled faintly.

“It seems Rin was thinking about old times for a moment.”

“Not anymore, right? I can't be late for registration. Let's go.”

Gizela pulled on my sleeve from the front, while the Dean and the First Senior Disciple guided me from both sides.

2+2=4.

Two plus two is four.

Adding two to two makes four.

I repeatedly recited that simple equation. Because of the pressure that felt like the world would crumble into a hazy mess at any moment if I lost consciousness for even a second.

Could I even call it pressure…?

The feeling of simply being cozy and warm, of being able to walk somewhere together because someone is on both sides, and someone is in front…