Training with Raphael continued almost every single day.
She relentlessly broke me down.
Then she would forcibly heal me with holy magic.
And without fail, she beat me up again the next day.
Today, I officially withdrew my assumption that nobles were at least intellectuals.
Nobles were just as uncivilized as everyone else in this world!
But annoyingly enough, Raphael’s training produced results.
Three weeks later, the moment I learned the theory behind holy magic, I immediately succeeded in using a low-level holy spell.
It was just a basic healing spell to treat minor wounds, but as soon as I heard the theory, my body instinctively understood how to use it.
“Hmm, looks like the Seed of Light has taken root properly.”
“A seed?”
“Mastering magic is a process of growing a great tree inside your body.”
Raphael pulled out a magic textbook and showed me an illustrated example.
It depicted the process of a seed growing into a tree in five stages:
1. Germination Stage
2. Rooting Stage
3. Blooming Stage
4. Hardening Stage
5. Seeding Stage
I hadn’t even entered Stage 1 yet.
“No matter how badly you want to use magic, you can’t unless the seed takes root. That part is purely talent.”
No wonder I’d felt drawn to holy magic from the start.
I must’ve had some talent after all.
“A mage’s quality depends on how they nurture this seed. Street mages are often looked down on because their seeds start to sprout, then rot away before fully growing.”
So there was a reason formal magic was categorized separately from the rest.
“And there are natural differences between seeds, too. Size, for one. And sometimes, people are born with seeds that go beyond the seven elemental attributes.”
“What about my seed?”
Raphael raised the corners of her mouth in a smirk.
“It’s incredibly big and solid. You should be proud.”
I was on a whole other level compared to the average.
No uncivilized person from this world could possibly compare.
“But because it’s so solid, it’ll be hard to crack.”
“Crack it? That sounds horrible! Shouldn’t we be taking care of it?”
“If it’s going to grow into a tree, obviously it has to crack open. What are you even saying?”
“I’ll do my best to become a baobab tree.”
I need to nurture it and grow into the biggest tree in the world.
“How you grow it is up to you. It’s such a pure Seed of Light, so do your best to cultivate it.”
“So… does that mean no more getting beaten up?”
“No, that part continues too.”
I cried.
The training went on relentlessly.
As I rolled across the ground again today, just like always, I sensed someone’s presence at the entrance to the training grounds.
It was Shishiroka.
She peeked her head around the entrance and quietly watched me.
Shishiroka didn’t train with me.
Instead, she only attended theory lessons.
Once, I asked why she didn’t go through the same training as I did.
– Shishiroka was born with a weak body. If she did the same training as you, she probably wouldn’t survive in this world.
The reason for Shishiroka’s frail body was her unique talent.
She was the one Raphael had mentioned as having a special kind of seed.
Shishiroka had been born with a seed.
The Seed of Banna.
A seed that was eating away at her body.
The Seed of Banna doesn’t sprout from magical power but from the physical body.
So it constantly gnawed away at her flesh.
She was 18 years old this year.
The reason I thought she was a middle schooler was because her body hadn’t been able to grow properly as she was being eaten away by the seed.
Right now, her growth was still ahead of the damage.
But once the rate at which the seed devoured her body surpassed her rate of growth,
Her remaining days would be numbered.
There was only one way she could survive:
She had to reach the level where holy magic was active in her body at all times.
Holy magic would then neutralize the Seed of Banna and prolong her life.
Of course, a level like Raphael’s wasn’t common.
Even Raphael belonged to a rare subspecies. An angel race innately aligned with the light element.
Could an ordinary human realistically reach such heights while still in their twenties?
It was a tragic story.
But reality was merciless.
Shishiroka was struggling to escape death,
But death was tightening its grip around her neck.
My eyes met Shishiroka’s.
Maybe the reason she was watching me train was because she was studying ways to train in holy magic….anything that might help her survive, even a little.
Some people live because they can’t die.
Others live because they don’t want to die.
What a damn rotten world.
“Senior Shishiroka.”
I stood up, covered in dust.
Shishiroka flinched.
“If you’re here to observe, I would be honored to let you join me.”
Her hair stood on end, and she ran away on the spot.
Maybe I messed with her a little too much on the first day.
Every time she saw me, she ran.
“You and Shishiroka seem to have gotten pretty close.”
“Of course. She and I are fellow disciples, after all. It’s only natural to be close with my fellow disciple.”
“You really are shameless.”
Raphael gave me a baffled look.
“Still, the way Shishiroka acts around you doesn’t mean she dislikes you. Try to be good to her.”
She gazed with a hint of sadness toward the entrance where Shishiroka had disappeared.
“I… can’t really be her friend myself.”
Even Raphael couldn’t heal Shishiroka.
Maybe that’s why she always showed a soft side when it came to her.
But befriending an 18-year-old girl? That’s a tall order, even for me.
Still, a teacher’s command is absolute.
“In that case, if I become friends with Senior Shishiroka, teach me that.”
I pointed to the whip she’d been using to beat me lately.
It wasn’t an ordinary whip.
It was made of light.
“You really are desperate to get your hands on an offensive spell, aren’t you?”
“Offense is the best defense, right?”
“I don’t know what’s made you so obsessed with attacking, but…”
Raphael smirked.
“Fine. If you become friends with Shishiroka, I’ll teach you.”
From today onward, any attack from Shishiroka will be considered an attack on me.
* * *
Starting that day, I followed Shishiroka wherever she went.
“Senior, are you eating? Let’s eat together.”
“Eek!”
“Senior, you must be hungry. Have a snack.”
“Kyaaah!”
“Senior, you sneezed. Here’s a blanket.”
“Hyah!”
Maybe it was because I kept popping up out of nowhere.
Shishiroka screamed and ran away every time.
But she was slow, so I always caught up and brought her back.
And honestly, she looked like she was having fun.
“Shishiroka did something wrong. You don’t have to call me ‘senior’ anymore, so please stop bothering me.”
“Bothering? It’s just my way of showing respect.”
“R-Respect? This is?”
Shishiroka looked at me with a frightened expression.
“This is how it normally is between seniors and juniors, or between friends.”
“O-Oh, is it really?”
Shishiroka didn’t have any friends.
So she seriously considered the idea that this might be what friendship looks like.
“So, what do you think? Senior Shishiroka and I are friends now, right?”
“…Shishiroka isn’t stupid.”
“Of course not. Senior Shishiroka is a genius.”
Shishiroka looked at me like I was something she couldn’t begin to understand.
“Why are you trying so hard to do things for Shishiroka?”
Well, to learn how to create light-type weapons, obviously.
But I figured I shouldn’t say that out loud.
“I’m a Transporter, so I don’t know anyone in this world.”
My social circle consisted of old man bulldog, at best.
Everyone else was either thieves constantly eyeing my wallet or Pioneer staff who always looked annoyed to see me.
So it wouldn’t be wrong to say my social life was utterly wrecked.
“I was dropped into a world where I knew no one and survived for months alone. Now I have a fellow disciple under the same master. It’s only natural that I’d want to get close.”
I still didn’t have the strength to survive on my own.
So if I had to, I’d cling to whatever connections I could just to keep going.
“When you called me your junior, I was happier than I expected. It meant you accepted me, senior Shishiroka.”
“……”
Shishiroka remained silent.
She wasn’t a Transporter.
So she probably couldn’t fully relate to what I said.
Honestly, I didn’t say it so she would relate.
I’m clinging to these uncivilized people just to survive.
It was a miserable life, but if I wanted to keep living in this messed-up world, I have to give it everything I’ve got.
Raphael cared about Shishiroka.
If I get closer to her, I can get closer to Raphael too.
Shishiroka’s blue eyes lingered on me for a moment.
“…I’m not a Transporter, so I can’t completely understand how you feel, Haru.”
She had thought the same thing I did.
Then, Shishiroka raised her hand.
She stretched up on her toes, trying to make up for her short height.
Her small hand gently patted my head.
“You’ve done well.”
The praise came out of nowhere.
“Done well?”
“You’ve lived in a world where no one knows you. Even I, with people around me who care, still found life hard.”
Shishiroka’s life was far tougher than mine.
With each passing day, her time was running out.
That may be true for everyone, but for her, death was far too close.
And me?
Even when a cult tore off my limbs, I came back to life.
Even when thieves stabbed me to death, I survived.
Even when a murderer cut off my head, I revived.
Compared to Shishiroka, my life was practically immune to death.
And yet it was she who told me I had done well.
For some reason, a small laugh slipped out.
“So you can laugh like that, junior Haru.”
“I’m always smiling, though.”
“This one felt different.”
Is that so?
Well, if that’s how it looked, maybe it was.
“Senior Shishiroka, what do you think? Do you think we can become friends?”
“That’s not easy.”
Shishiroka gave it serious thought.
“But if I did become friends with you, junior Haru, I’d have one more precious friend.”
One thing became clear to me.
Why Raphael cared about Shishiroka so much.
She was someone who knew how to speak beautifully.
“I’ve found something else to learn from you, senior.”
“There’s something to learn from me?”
“Plenty. And I don’t say that to just anyone. Only to people I acknowledge.”
Out of all the uncivilized people in this world, only a select few earn my respect.
Shishiroka straightened her back and puffed herself up just a little.
Her tiny, proud pose made me smile again.
“By the way, do you actually have any friends?”
“Sh-Shishiroka does have friends! Someone Lady Raphael introduced to me!”
I’d honestly expected her to have none.
Though, now that I think about it, that probably wasn’t a real friend. Just an acquaintance.
Shishiroka cleared her throat and changed the subject.
“If I became friends with you, junior Haru, I feel like it’d be total chaos all day long.”
“If you’d like, I’m confident I could carry you around the noble district right now.”
“Then we can’t be friends. Don’t ever do that.”
“If I don’t, can we?”
Shishiroka covered her mouth with one hand and smiled.
“Yes, maybe.”
Maybe, just maybe…
I was about to make my first friend in this other world.
Shishiroka and I laughed as we chatted about silly, trivial things.
It had been so long since I felt something warm like this.
And then, one month later—
Shishiroka collapsed and was confined to a sickbed.
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