“Ai’er, did I keep you waiting?”
Soon, Elena’s voice broke into Ai’er’s world.
She turned her head, looking at the girl who was jogging toward her with a smile. The doubts tangled around her heart temporarily vanished.
Seeing Elena’s smile, Ai’er couldn’t help but curl her lips.
Now that she had faced her own feelings, nothing made her happier than seeing the smile of the person she loved.
[System changes beginning…]
[Previous point deduction algorithm has been removed. Current deduction method: 0.5 System Points deducted automatically per day.]
[Supplementary note: Current Capture Progress: 20.5%]
[Current remaining points: 8]
Alright… from now on, it’s a brand new start.
Ai’er opened her mouth and caught the spoonful of cake Elena fed her.
“Mm-mm~”
…
‘You went through a lot of trouble to push Ai’er to this stage. What kind of result will come of it?’
Black God looked toward a certain direction in the void. There should have been a Luminous Girl extremely similar to Ai’er.
But at this moment, the Luminous Girl was sleeping soundly in this pitch-black darkness.
‘Let me see…’
‘This time, can you change the Witch’s fate…’
‘Ai’er?’
After this muttered sentence, Black God vanished into the darkness of the Independent Space-Time.
…
Thinking about it now, Ai’er regretted it.
When she met Black God yesterday, there were several very important questions she hadn’t had time to ask.
If the true identity of the System was Black God… was it also this Black God who had been complaining to her earlier? It didn’t feel like it…
And then there was the Déjà Vu.
The Déjà Vu at Sea Cliff, the Déjà Vu after waking Elena up in the Blizzard, the Déjà Vu when Elena bit her shoulder…
And finally, the perfectly timed arrangements of the System.
The Disposable Magic each time, the suddenly acquired Time Flow Adjustment Function… and most recently, the scenes related to Lady Serina that had been suddenly displayed before her.
“Time…”
A somewhat unspeakable guess quietly sprouted in the silver-haired girl’s heart.
“And also, there’s another thing—
How exactly am I supposed absorb Elena’s Magic? It’s not like I can just hug Elena and kiss her whenever I’m free, right?”
But now didn’t seem to be the time to think about that.
“Ai’er, ready? Then… I’ll put it in?”
As if waiting for Ai’er’s permission, Elena looked into the silver-haired girl’s pale golden eyes.
“Mm… put it in.”
Into this warm, moist, slightly sticky hole—yet the place where life is born—
Elena’s seed…
Into the mud hole in this flowerpot.
Ai’er put down the small trowel and nodded.
Come to think of it… isn’t this line a bit inappropriate?
But it was true that Elena had put her seed into this vertical hole. Maybe describing it like that wasn’t wrong?
But whatever~ It’s just something I’m thinking in my head~
After Elena had buried the seed of the Rebirth Flower, Ai’er helped fill in the mud with the trowel.
“The Rebirth Flower blooms very quickly. Maybe we’ll see it tomorrow. Anna, Fina, when you clean up, be careful with this potted plant.”
“Understood, Miss.”
Fina, holding a broom, smiled at the two. Anna, who was packing up the tableware, turned around and nodded.
The assessment would take place before noon today, and in the afternoon, everyone would return to the White Principality.
“I didn’t expect there to be so much luggage. We’ve been packing since yesterday and still haven’t finished.”
Hearing Elena’s sigh, Ai’er remembered a time from before she became a girl—a moving experience—
She remembered the mountain of thirty or forty huge boxes, the old neighborhood without an elevator, the moving worker who, after finally finishing, sat on the stairs with a look of utter despair and lit a cigarette…
Moving was really tough. Anyone who had experienced it once probably wouldn’t want to go through it again.
“Miss, it’s almost time?”
After checking the clock, Fina took out a red ribbon and tied it around Elena’s arm.
This was a custom of the Academy. Every student about to undergo their Graduation Assessment had to tie such a red ribbon on their arm.
“This is really similar to Earth. When cheering someone on, they like to tie a ribbon on their arm or something.”
It was said to be a very old tradition. Elena had heard rumors that this habit of tying ribbons was actually brought by the First Student Council President.
“Ai’er, let’s go.”
Yesterday, when they returned to the Academy, Ai’er had agreed to witness Elena’s assessment from the audience.
So Ai’er picked up the lunch basket Anna handed her and took the hand Elena offered.
They pushed open the door and walked toward the Assessment Venue.
…
The news that the Academy’s youngest Student Council President in history would be taking the Graduation Assessment early had spread since the afternoon before Mother’s Day.
So at this moment—
Almost all students who had no classes during the assessment time had gathered at the venue.
With this scale, anyone unaware might think a major competition was being held.
“Quite a commotion, isn’t it? Just one student’s Graduation Assessment, yet it draws this much attention.”
On the teachers’ viewing platform, the young Imperial Doctor smiled as he looked at the White-bearded Great Mage beside him.
But the white-bearded old man did not respond.
“The Empire cares about a person’s ability, not their reputation. That seems to be much better than the White Principality.”
“…Are you trying to mock me?”
Meeting the old man’s stern sideways glance, the doctor merely shrugged helplessly.
“No, no, how could that be? But the assessment is about to start. Allow me to remind you—
Please try to stall for time during the assessment.
Obtaining blood from that silver-haired girl won’t be an easy task.”
After the doctor said this, the old man withdrew his sideways gaze and didn’t respond further.
He stared at the venue below, yet only stared, even though it was empty now.
From what the old man had heard, the Imperial Family seemed to be secretly watching this assessment.
Were they trying to see whether the Duchy’s Witch or what Marquis Sirius proposed would bring a greater contribution to the Empire?
And himself, a Great Mage, one of the twelve at the pinnacle of all Magic Users in the Empire—had been reduced to a test piece by the Imperial Family he served.
If it were just that weird thing Sirius had created…
But it seemed in the Empire’s eyes, the value of this Great Mage could no longer compare to the Duchy’s Witch.
“Is there anything else?”
“It seems I’m disturbing you. I’ll take my leave then. But allow me to offer you, my esteemed partner, a word—
Wishing you success, Great Mage.”
After the doctor left, a Magic Pulse instantly erupted from the old man, destroying all the furnishings in the room.
But he still stared at the venue below without moving.
In his gaze fixed on the venue, anger burned in silence.
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