4. Troublemaker
Shihoru took Grandfather, AKA Wizard Sarai, by the hand. Together they walked down the corridor, Shihoru carefully supporting him so he wouldn’t fall over, and she opened the door.
Grandfather’s room was in the back of the second floor of the mages’ guild. It was quite roomy, and though the furniture wasn’t too gaudy, it did look quite luxurious. Everything but the bed and the couch saw hardly any use.
Shihoru sat Grandfather down on the couch, made the bed, and then went to get a pot with a herbal decoction in it which had been left outside the room.
She gave Grandfather his medicine, then took off his robe and wizard hat. He was already wearing pajamas underneath, so he was ready to go to sleep.
She took him to the bed, helping him to lie down, and stayed by his side to talk to him until he could get to sleep.
“Girlie,” the man said.
“...Yes, Grandfather?”
“Listen. It’s elementals. For us mages, the first thing, and the second thing, is elementals. What are elementals?”
“Magical creatures, right?”
“Indeed. And yet, even we mages do not know their true nature. In their normal state, elementals are invisible to us. We cannot hear their voices.”
“Yes. But... we can feel them.”
“Mysteriously, the elementals will not let themselves be sensed by those who do not believe they can feel them,” Grandfather said. “But elementals most certainly do exist. That is why we can use magic.”
“Elementals... they hide in the soft wind... breathe in the raging storm...”
“Elementals: they abide in standing pools of water, and are carried in the flowing current...”
“Elementals... they dance in the flickering flames... and in the rising inferno...”
“Elementals: they—”
Suddenly, Grandfather stopped.
Flustered, Shihoru brought her ear close to his mouth.
He was breathing. Softly. He was snoring a little. It seemed he’d fallen asleep.
She breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness.”
Relieved, Shihoru moved away from the bed. Turning out the lights, she left the room. Feeling the exhaustion hit her all at once, she wanted to crouch down.
“It’s like... I’m nursing him...”
Technically, Grandfather had been teaching her all day long. He’d taught her everything there was to know about elementals. Today, on her third day of basic training, she had started to be able to sense elementals, though only vaguely. Him praising her aptitude had made her happy.
But still, Grandfather was extremely old. He might have been exceptionally sharp, and he apparently didn’t forget things that often, but his body was still in decline.
First of all, he couldn’t walk alone. He needed help to eat, too.
No, he might have been able to manage that without assistance, if necessary, but it would probably take him a long time.
He seemed likely to spill things, too, so cleaning up after him would be a lot of work. It was better if someone helped him eat.
As might have been expected, changing his clothes was another thing Grandfather struggled to do alone. Wizard Yoruka gave him a sponge bath every morning, then changed all his clothes, so Shihoru only had to take off his robe at night. That did help.
Regardless, she was practically nursing him.
That was fine, but if she was going to be learning from an old man so infirm that he needed nursing, Shihoru needed to be considerate in a lot of ways.
Frankly, she was worried for his health. It concerned her that the seven days of basic training which were assigned to everyone who joined the mages’ guild might actually be harder on Grandfather than Shihoru.
He was the oldest mage, after all, and like a living encyclopedia. What would she do if his health took a turn for the worse?
Shihoru was beside herself with worry, and putting it that way was no exaggeration.
Shihoru was sleeping in a small room on the first floor of the guild. Her room only had a bed, so sleeping was all she could do there. The only other places she could enter freely were the bath, the washroom, and the library.
The library was the largest room in the guild. There were desks and chairs surrounded by shelves of books.
Shihoru made a point of spending time in the library every night until she got sleepy.
The library had a manager called a bookwatcher on duty, and there were always people reading books there, but the rules forbade talking. So if Shihoru sat there with an open book no one bothered her. No one even looked at Shihoru.
The books in the library were made of parchment or paper, and all of the writing was done by hand.
When she’d first seen them, she’d been impressed that they were all handwritten, but when she thought about that, she wasn’t sure why.
When she was sitting in a chair, by lamplight, reading a text that someone had written out character by character, it helped her relax.
Shihoru liked the sound of flipping pages.
As she was staring down at a book, someone else turned a page. The slightly heavy sound of sheepskin parchment. The light sound of paper. As she listened, gradually, drowsiness set in.
She was almost at her limit. No, she might already have been half-asleep.
Shihoru closed her book and stood up. Returning her book and leaving the library behind, she came across Wizard Yoruka in the hall.
“Ah!” Shihoru hurriedly bowed her head. “G-G-Good evening...”
“Reading?” the woman asked. “So late? I can see you’re very passionate.”
“N-N... No, I’m not, not at all...”
“Continue to exert yourself.”
“Y-Yes, ma’am!”
Raising her face, Shihoru glanced at Yoruka. Or that was what she’d intended to do, but she ended up staring.
“Yes?” Yoruka asked.
“N-No...”
“If you have something to say, then say it.”
“N-No... N-Nothing, really...”
“You must. That was the look in your eyes just now. You mean to lie to me? That takes some courage.”
“I... I-I-I’m not lying...”
Shihoru’s head spun. Her face—no, her entire body—was burning. She started to sweat profusely.
Yoruka made no attempt to move.
Shihoru did not move, either.
“I... I just... um... I just...”
“Just what?” Yoruka asked.
“I... I was just thinking... you’re p-pretty... that’s all...”
“Is your sight poor? Or is it your aesthetic sense that’s impaired?”
“Huh...? No, um, my, uh, a-aesthetic... sense? It’s... w-well, I don’t know, but... m-my eyes are fine... I think...”
“Flattery, then, is it?”
“F-Flattery...? No, not at all...”
“Is it spite?”
“Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-Why would you say that?”
“My looks are average,” Yoruka said. “Not pretty. They’re completely ordinary.”
That was plainly untrue. The fact was, while Yoruka might not have been some otherworldly beauty, she was quite pretty. She was tall, and she wore clothes that hid the outline of her body, so it was hard to tell about her figure, but she wasn’t fat, and was probably on the thin side.
If she was average, what did that make Shihoru?
Wasn’t Yoruka the one being spiteful here?
Shihoru had a lot of thoughts about it, but if she came out and spoke her mind, she would be criticizing a wizard. She couldn’t do that. She mustn’t.
That said, could she really say nothing? It might not be good to stay silent, right? Should she make an excuse? Or explain, rather?
“U-Um...” Shihoru attempted, “th-the truth is, I’m not, uh... f-flattering you, or sucking up. That’s not it... it’s just... y-y-you don’t look anywhere near as old as I—”
As she stammered, she realized this was a mistake.
No one even looked at Shihoru.
They might both be women, but Shihoru should never bring up the topic of age. That was obvious. Normally, Shihoru wouldn’t have. It was because she’d panicked. But that was no excuse. She had to apologize.
“I-I-I-I-I-I’m sorry! Excuse me! I apologize!”
“I turned 27 the other day,” Yoruka said.
“...Come again?”
The blood drained from her face so fast that Shihoru could feel it. She had to be pale as a sheet right now.
“T-Twenty... seven...”
“It was Wizard Sarai, wasn’t it?”
“Ah...! Y-Yes, ma’am...”
“How old did Wizard Sarai claim I am?”
“Th-That’s...”
“Tell me honestly.”
“O-Over... forty... he said...”
“That geezer,” Yoruka muttered.
“Huh? Gee...zer...?”
“Pardon me,” Yoruka smiled.
It was the first smile Shihoru had seen from her. When she smiled, she had to be at least ten times prettier.
But she was ten times scarier.
“I will have a talk with Wizard Sarai about this,” Yoruka announced. “You continue to be diligent in your training.”
“Y-Yes, ma’am. U-Under...stood.”
“Now, go to bed.” Yoruka walked off.
Shihoru let out a great sigh, then stumbled back to her room.
There were four rooms that seemed to be for those in basic training. They were all individual rooms, but in terms of size, it was like someone had just put a door on a bed. The ceiling was low, too.
When she went to open the door of the room assigned to her, the door next to hers opened, and a boy who wore thick-rimmed glasses came out.
“Oh!” Shihoru gasped. “Um... H-Hello...”
She reflexively bowed her head.
Adachi looked at her and scowled. “Still awake, are you?”
“Oh... b-but I was about to lie down...”
“What do I care? Whether you’re awake or asleep, it makes no difference to me.”
“S-Sorry...”
Shihoru hurried into her room and collapsed on her bed. Then she let out another sigh.
Even though she was exhausted, she was wide awake.
She wouldn’t be getting to sleep for awhile.
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