EDM 7

When would this rain stop? As he stood there blankly with such thoughts, he heard the sound of metal from behind. Someone seemed to have opened the door leading to the emergency stairs.

“…”

Within Rigel Academy, where portals were open everywhere, there weren’t many people who would necessarily seek out the emergency stairs. Building maintenance staff, strict professors trying to catch any possible conspiracies, Kafka…

“Hello.”

And Soren.

Though he was an annoying guy, he was his sister’s friend, so Kafka thought he should greet him and offered a bland greeting. Naturally, no greeting came back.

“Are you going to use the emergency stairs?”

“…”

“Then I’ll get out of your way. I’m done with my business.”

Go ahead and use it. Kafka stood by the door to leave the emergency stairs with a faint smile. He desperately wanted to get out of there immediately, but for some reason, Soren stood blocking the door without moving aside.

“…Do you have something to say?”

Kafka’s pale blue eyes looked at Soren. Because they were the same height, their gazes met head-on. An unnecessary tension flowed due to the hostility in those red eyes. An unwelcome and unnecessary confrontation.

‘This guy is kind of annoying…’

Kafka thought while maintaining his good-natured smiling expression.

Soren glared at Kafka with narrowed eyes, then shook his head and gave way. Fortunately, he didn’t seem to have any intention of picking a fight.

Kafka carefully crossed through the door into the corridor, being careful not to bump into Soren. Soren didn’t go straight into the stairs but turned his head to stare at Kafka again. The hostility in his eyes remained.

Soren at this time was very prickly. He was at least gentle with Aisha, who had opened her heart to him, but he was sharp with all other academy students, busy making enemies in all directions.

The reason was simple. He was naturally somewhat sensitive, and the emotional wounds and trauma from family matters were constantly tormenting him. On top of that, he was subtly being ostracized for being an illegitimate child, so the stress from inside and out was considerable.

That must be all it is. Kafka tried to think as lightly as possible. Though he had the feeling that for some reason Soren particularly disliked him, it was probably just his imagination…

“Do you have set times for coming here?”

Just as he was quietly trying to leave, Soren threw out an unexpected question. Kafka stopped walking and turned around to face Soren.

If he was asking whether there were set times, there weren’t. There was no concept of prevention for the pain and seizures caused by Eleanor Syndrome. So when he honestly shook his head, Soren frowned and looked down for a moment.

“Do you want to set times and use it?”

“…”

“Then I’ll only come during the breaks after 3rd and 5th periods every day.”

If he smoked millenka herb at roughly this interval, he wouldn’t suffer greatly from pain or seizures. The medicinal effect would be less than smoking as needed, but if he could reduce unnecessary contact, he could endure some inconvenience.

“You can use it all the other times.”

“…”

“I’ll be going now. Goodbye.”

Kafka smiled so brightly it was almost artificial and left as if fleeing. Because Soren’s gaze followed him persistently, he almost turned around several times, but he deliberately stiffened his neck and endured it.

When he turned the corner and was freed from Soren’s gaze, his tension suddenly released and his body went limp. Kafka stopped in the corridor as if he had sprinted at full speed, briefly rested his hands on his knees, and caught his breath. His resolution to avoid encountering Soren as much as possible deepened even further. At this rate, he felt like he might die of arrhythmia before dying of Eleanor Syndrome.

* * *

‘I could have just used teleport to leave.’

Why didn’t he think of that then?

It was 6th period, Practical Magic class. Today’s lesson content was magic theory for summoning distant objects by applying teleport. Therefore, explanations about teleport were continuing, and as he listened quietly, the question suddenly popped into his head: ‘Why did I bother to escape on foot?’

Even if he was a mana-deficient, wasn’t that too unmagician-like? When he thought that far, a bitter smile emerged. If it had been Professor Daconeer, she would have immediately noticed that Kafka was thinking about other things and pointed it out, but fortunately, practical magic was taught by a different professor, not Daconeer.

Should he teleport away immediately whenever he encountered Soren from now on? It seemed like a good method, but somehow it didn’t sit right with him. It was because Kafka himself would probably feel bad if someone else teleported away as soon as they saw him.

Wouldn’t that just earn him more unnecessary hatred? For now, keeping in mind that teleport was an option if the situation wasn’t favorable, Kafka focused on the class again.

Actually, this class was also completely useless to attend. Due to his chronic mana deficiency, Kafka could only use basic teleport for short distances. But summoning distant objects? It was absurd.

However, as long as he was attending school, he had to pretend to learn. As a son, considering his mother’s dignity, he also wanted to get somewhat high scores on theory exams at least.

‘And I need theoretical knowledge at least to get a job as an assistant somewhere.’

Since a mana-deficient could not become the next head of the Sonder family, the successor to his mother would come from a collateral line. Therefore, Kafka planned to get a job and leave House Sonder immediately upon graduating from the academy and becoming an adult. It would definitely be uncomfortable for everyone if he stayed at home just because he was of direct lineage.

“That’s it for today’s class. See you next week.”

The practical magic professor was someone who hated working more than death. Therefore, as soon as the day’s curriculum was finished, he would immediately close his book and leave the lecture hall faster than anyone else. Today was the same.

Class ended 30 minutes earlier than scheduled. Normally he would have gone to the emergency stairs to smoke millenka herb, but he had just declared that he would only use the emergency stairs after 3rd and 5th periods. He couldn’t retract his statement after just one day, so even if it was troublesome, he had to return to the dormitory or find another suitable place.

Should I go to the cafeteria and have some coffee? As he was organizing his books while pondering, he felt a presence and a shadow fell beside his face. Kafka instinctively looked up at the figure who had approached and stood beside him.

“Hello, Sonder. Do you have a moment?”

The figure who approached with hands clasped behind her back was Maria. At this unexpected choice of person, Kafka couldn’t help but widen his eyes.

Maria and Kafka knew each other well. House Sonder and House Termina, as prestigious magical families, had deep exchanges, so they often saw each other at family events and various social gatherings even before entering Rigel. In terms of frequency of meetings, they could be considered closer than most relatives.

But if asked whether they were close, that wasn’t the case. Perhaps just slightly better than complete strangers meeting for the first time. Even when they met at parties and such, they only exchanged formal greetings and pleasantries, and at school they didn’t even greet each other. If his memory was correct, his last conversation with Maria went like this,

<Termina, you dropped this.>

<Oh my. Thank you, Sonder.>

It was about three months ago when Maria had dropped her handkerchief. To borrow the kids’ expression, they were practically “living while ignoring each other.”

It was understandable, really. Maria was one of the top students in the magic department and a talent who was already designated to become the chief mage of the magic tower upon graduation. No matter how much House Sonder was the most prestigious family in the magical world and the family of the current tower master, for Maria there was nothing to gain from associating with a mana-deficient like Kafka.

If she had that time, it would be better to associate with ‘other’ Sonders instead.

In fact, Maria did have quite good relationships with other Sonders, such as Kafka’s cousins. He had even heard that she had a brief puppy love with one of his cousins, Allen. Maria and Allen grew distant when their academic paths diverged—Maria to Rigel and Allen to Deus Academy.

The story has gotten long, but anyway, it was quite unusual for Maria to initiate a conversation first. As the surprised Kafka just blinked, Maria smiled brightly.

“Would it be inconvenient?”

A brief and decisive tone. Kafka intuited that Maria hadn’t approached him for the sake of friendship. There was no reason for her to suddenly feel favorably toward him in the first place.

“Sorry. I was just a bit surprised.”

Kafka revealed his honest feelings. He thought he should at least apologize for being silent in front of someone.

“It’s the first time Termina has spoken to me.”

“Is that so? I thought we often greeted each other outside school.”

Maria tilted her head. Kafka finished gathering his things and stood up. With the eye level reversed, it naturally became a situation where Maria was looking up at Kafka.

“Anyway, I do have time. Is it a long story?”

“I won’t take up too much of your time. But it’s awkward to talk standing up.”

Should we have a cup of coffee? Maria asked. Since he had just been considering going to the cafeteria, Kafka readily nodded.

“Then, excuse me for a moment.”

As soon as she got Kafka’s consent, Maria reached out and touched Kafka’s forearm. At the same time, the characteristic rippling of teleport enveloped his entire body, and the surrounding scenery changed instantly.

Spatial movement. Since teleport could only move inanimate objects other than oneself, to move together with a ‘living being,’ one had to use spatial movement like this. Unlike teleport, which required warp points, this had many advantages, such as having no restrictions on movement distance.

If only one could perform it.

Spatial movement looked simple at first glance but belonged to high-level magic. Kafka glanced down to observe Maria’s condition. Since she showed no signs of strain and seemed perfectly fine, it appeared her magical skills had grown even further.

‘It won’t be long now.’

If his memory was correct, Maria was the second person to awaken in Soren’s party. Perhaps news of the birth of a great mage would be heard within this year at the latest. Kafka placed his bag on an empty chair to claim a seat with a somewhat indifferent expression. Thinking of Daconeer’s face, which would be grinning from ear to ear, didn’t make him feel very good.