Ep 52. This Is Growing Pleasantly Out Of Hand. (1)
Patrick gripped his neck, trying to rub the soreness of sleep. When he forced his eyes open, the familiar living room’s ceiling greeted him as sunlight beamed through the windows.
“…What in hell’s name…”
As soon as he turned his head, the mage could see his little sibling on the other couch, staring at him with evident worry in their eyes.
Which was, honestly, pretty freaky.
“…Z…Serenis? You okay?”
After seeing weeks on end of their rather callous, unforgiving attitude, the worry in Serenis’ eyes almost seemed doubtful.
But when she realized her brother was awake, Serenis hurriedly rose from her seat, crouching down on the floor before him as she examined Patrick’s state.
“Such questions are better suited for yourself.”
The dragonlord’s hand lightly hovered over Patrick’s chest, confirming the heartbeat beneath. It was alive, that much she could tell – though besides that, the dragon barely knew anything about human biology.
“Does it hurt anywhere? Should I bring you to those human healers?”
“…You mean doctors?...Uh…”
Patrick pushed himself upright. His body had felt somewhat heavy when he was lying down, but strangely, it didn’t take much effort to rise. Even the soreness in his muscles quickly dissipated as he fixed his posture.
“It’s fine, think I just slept badly. What happened? Why am I asleep on the cou…”
The mage slowly trailed off his sentence as memories came flooding back. Specifically, his peculiar coworker who’d eerily beamed at him before the surrounding pressure knocked him unconscious.
“…Iris!”
When Patrick belatedly remembered the culprit and darted his gaze around the room, his coworker was nowhere to be found. Only Serenis was present, sighing in relief as she tapped his arm a few times.
“It’s fine. She’s gone.”
“Do you even know what happened?! She used some sort of weird magic, I almost died! And-“
“I’m aware.”
The mage’s frowned deepened as he heard his sibling’s answer.
“…You are?”
“I am. Once you were risen, she’s asked me to apologize to you in her stead. I would tell you the details, but…”
“But? But what?”
“…But I swore not to tell you the details.”
…?
‘Wait, so what really happened then? That wasn’t a dream, was it? Where did she get all that mana from?’
Evident confusion muddled Patrick’s expression. He’d expected his little sibling would provide him with an explanation as to how Iris had been able to use wield such overwhelming amounts of mana, but clearly, she had no intention of giving him the answer – which only made him complain more.
“…What the hell. If that’s the case, shouldn’t you not be telling me anything in the first place then?”
“I never swore to keep silent about the swearing.”
Patrick squinted his eyes at the audacity of his sibling’s reply. He didn’t know whether he should be thankful or not that the dragonlord was telling him this.
On the other hand, Serenis’ concerns quickly disappeared as she confirmed Patrick to be perfectly himself as usual. She’d worried that the deity would’ve left lasting ailments on her brother, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
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‘…I suppose that’s one more evidence of honesty.’
Iris had mentioned having no intention of harming Patrick. Indeed, she’d selected a rather shrewd way of holding her coworker hostage, even though the deity should’ve had dozens of simpler options.
In fact, Serenis could even feel a noticeable growth of Patrick’s mana reserve – likely from his prolonged exposure to crunching levels of the deity’s mana.
“Feel free to ask Iris on your own time. But as far as I can tell, she truly had no intention of doing you any harm.”
“After knocking me out with mana that totally could’ve killed me?”
“But it didn’t, did it?”
“…“
“It’s the most inconvenient, tiring method possible in snuffing someone of their conscious. Perhaps she really did want you to grow, and nothing more.”
“…You know, I thought you were going to take my side for once. With that worried look and all.”
“I am on your side. I am currently congratulating your growth as a mage.”
Patrick raised his hands in a surrendering gesture. His arguments never seemed to get anywhere ever since his sibling had turned into a dragon.
“You know what, fine, I give up. I’ll go talk to Iris myself. That aside, shouldn’t you be at school right now?”
“While you’re unconscious? That’s the least of my concerns.”
“…I feel like I should be moved, but somehow I’m not.”
“Speaking of which…”
Serenis rubbed her chin, ignoring her brother’s response as she thought her own statement over.
Her entire reason for attending the institute’s classes had been to learn of the divine and meet them herself. However, both of them had accomplished themselves last night. And if meeting the deity of life required her to leave the city, she simply wouldn’t be able to attend in the first place.
“…It seems like an opportune time to leave the facility.”
“Wait, leave the facility? What facility?”
“The institute. What else?”
“…LEAVE? You mean like, taking a break?”
“No, I plan to drop the practice altogether.”
If the earlier news was confusing for Patrick, this news was outright shocking. And he really couldn’t hide it, expression or words or otherwise.
“… Why???”
“I’ve learned all I wished to learn. To attend further would be nothing more than a waste of precious time.”
“But…but-”
“But?”
“…”
‘It hasn’t even been a year and my sibling wants to quit school.’
Even worse, Patrick didn’t have a sound counter to the dragonlord’s argument.
✧ ✧ ✧
Knock. Knock.
Karas quizzically glanced over from his cup of coffee towards the door. It hadn’t been long since he’d arrived at the office himself.
“Hm? Come in.”
The professor’s eyes widened slightly as the familiar dragonlord walked into his office. She hadn’t been present in the class that had ended a short while ago.
“…Serenis? I was wondering where you’d gone today.”
“Another matter required my attention.”
“I see…have you come to ask what today’s lecture was about?”
The professor’s hopes began to surge at the thought of a dragon so diligently attending his class. Most students who skipped classes never bothered to learn the materials they’d missed.
Unfortunately, said hopes were crushed underfoot in mere seconds.
“No. I’ve actually come to ask the required procedures to leave this facility.”
A small amount of beverage trickled out of the professor’s beak at the unexpected reply. It was plain she wasn’t talking about simply leaving the physical building.
“…Leave? So suddenly? Why…?”
“I’ve gained the knowledge I wished to learn.”
Karas blinked twice, unaware of where this sudden change was coming from. Unlike Serenis, he was nowhere near gaining all the knowledge he wished to learn from his research with the dragonlord.
“The procedure…well actually, before that, must you leave the institute completely?”
“Since I’ll be leaving the city in a short while, continuing the practices here simply won’t be an option.”
“Leaving the city? May I ask where to?”
“To the central forests.”
“Central forests…Aldrid Forest? Why-”
“To find the deity of life.”
The professor fortunately wasn’t holding any coffee in his beak this time to spill out in shock. He quickly inquired back, questioning the statement.
“…How? The forest may be named after the deity, but it’s only a name. Whether Aldrid is truly there is…”
“I’ve recently heard otherwise. From a rather dependable source.”
Surely, one of the Twelve was a dependable source for the rest’s whereabouts.
“Hm…”
Karas closed his eyes, rubbing his beak in contemplation.
Despite being in the name, Aldrid Forest was just a large forest located at the centre of the continent – or so it had been known as. It was said that it was only named after a deity due to its sheer size.
“Hmm…”
‘But if Aldrid was truly there, then…a deity of life…would surely hold the secrets of reincarnation.’
“Hmmm……”
The professor looked towards Serenis once more. She was as indifferent as ever, but he’d come to realize that her indifference was only a sign of confidence and certainty.
Simply put, she wasn’t joking – that much, he could plainly see.
“Instead of leaving the institute…there is an alternative.”
“An alternative?”
“Yes. One that will allow an extended leave without penalty.”
“Interesting. I didn’t realize such a thing was possible.”
“It is. We only need to file your leave as an educational workshop. However…”
Karas dramatically extended his sentence with a pause as he raised his finger into the air.
“There’s a small caveat.”
“…And that is?”
“A staff member must be accompanying the student.”
“…Then wouldn’t leaving be more…”
“I!!!”
Karas slammed one hand on the table, effectively preventing the dragonlord from asserting that leaving would be far simpler. A quizzical frown instead crossed Serenis’ expression as she stared at the professor.
“…’I’?”
After a brief pause, Karas met the dragonlord’s gaze to finish his statement.
“…I will accompany you to the central forests.”