Origin

 

When I look back, you were always there.

 

I couldn't say for certain, even to myself, when it had begun.

Was it when the spirit Mel created swallowed my Salamandra whole?

Or was it when Ara devised a technique to materialize the shadow cast by his shadow familiar?

Or perhaps… it was when I learned that Innis had mastered the art of ageless longevity, the very thing I had once so desperately pursued.

I had half-given up on trying to understand every form of sorcery.

Sorcery could be used by anyone, it produced the exact same effect regardless of who did, and it could be handed off to others. This groundbreaking discipline had branched into specialized fields, each growing ever more advanced.

Magic in this world is built on names.

A great magus was, in essence, one who knew more names than others.

But sorcerers were different. They could create and forge entirely new names on their own.

A great sorcerer was one who could break free of preconceptions and create new concepts —

In other words, one who possessed more unknowns. An unknown was not merely something one didn't know. It was what lay beyond one's current knowledge. Knowledge one had not yet reached.

And my knowledge was fundamentally limited to what I had learned in my previous life.

— That knowledge had no connection to this world's future.

Now that the advantage of my past life's knowledge was gone, I was nothing more than a magus from the primitive age.

"You look so bored."

I was brooding over such things when an unexpected voice made me look up.

"Nina… what about work?"

"Today's my day off. I worked myself half to death yesterday."

She answered with a lazy yawn and flopped onto the bed. There had been a fire yesterday, and Nina hadn't come home until after midnight from treating the victims who'd been brought in.

"What about you? Don't you need to go to the school?"

"Well… not really."

Honestly, there was almost nothing left for me to teach at the university. My students were all brilliant, and their sorcery had advanced far beyond my own.

"Are you not happy with the village's growth?"

"Don't be absurd. I couldn't be happier about it."

That was the unvarnished truth. Watching the people of Scarlet grow beyond the need for my guidance did leave a twinge of loneliness, but the joy outweighed it by far.

"It's just… the thought that I can't be of use anymore. That does make me sad."

"Have there really been that many times you were useful?"

I showed a moment of weakness, and a cutting remark came right back at me.

"There were… a fair number… I think…"

Having Nina say it like that was enough to shake my confidence.

"Compared to you, who's saved so many lives as a doctor, I suppose I can't blame you for saying that."

Nina made a strange face at my words. The look of someone who had something to say but couldn't find the right words for it.

"It's not like I… do what I do because I want to be useful. People are going to die eventually anyway… I just think they don't need to die so soon. That's all."

Nina spoke haltingly. Unlike me, she could handle just about anything with effortless grace, but putting her thoughts into words was the one thing she struggled with. And yet she was trying so hard to convey something to me.

"So this thing you're talking about… wanting to be useful… I don't have that. If my work became unnecessary, that would be for the better."

If Nina's work became unnecessary, it would mean an end to all injury and illness. That was certainly one kind of ideal. But as for me… I wasn't so sure. Could I honestly say it would be for the better if the people of Scarlet no longer needed me at all?

"… No. I don't think I could be as clear-cut about it as you."

After a moment's thought, I answered. Scarlet's growth made me happy. That much was certain.

But if asked whether I'd be happier with nothing left for me to do, the answer was just as certainly no.

"I'm not talking about myself right now!"

At that, Nina said, sounding almost angry.

Huh? What did she mean by that? Wasn't she just talking about herself?

"Honestly… how many years do you think we've known each other? You should be able to figure out what I'm trying to say by now."

"Sorry, we've been together roughly nine hundred and fifty-five years, and I still can't figure it out."

I calculated the number as I said it, and it struck me anew just how long that was. Enough to live my previous life more than ten times over. For all that time, Nina had stood by my side, running the magic school with me, building up Scarlet…

Hm?

Something nagged at the edge of my mind. What was it?

"Nearly a thousand years. That can't be a short time even for an elf. Thank you for staying with me all this while."

"Well, it beats being stuck in that forest forever. At the very least, I'm never bored when I'm with you."

Nina smiled as she said it.

"So, what's next?"

The moment I heard those words, it hit me like a bolt of lightning.

"I see… so that's what it is!"

Laughter spilled unbidden from the back of my throat.

"Nina, thank you! I remember now!"

"W-wait, what?!"

I couldn't help myself. I threw my arms around Nina and hugged her tight, and when that wasn't enough, I scooped up her light frame and lifted her into the air.

"I'd forgotten… how could I have forgotten something so simple?!"

"Wh-what, what is it?!"

Still holding her, I spun around and around, shouting.

The strange unease that had hung over my heart like dark clouds vanished completely, replaced by a feeling of pure, radiant clarity.

"Stop already!"

Nina's hand-chop struck me squarely between the brows, and I lost my balance. We tumbled onto the bed together in a heap.

"… So. What exactly had you forgotten?"

"The reason I was born into this world."

I answered, gazing into Nina's eyes right in front of me. Yes. I'd had it all backwards.

"I didn't study magic and build a school in order to develop Scarlet. I built the school in order to study magic."

Mystery.

Wonder.

Riddles beyond unraveling.

Impossible phenomena, heart-racing experiences, the loose threads of an endless world — I had come chasing them all the way to another world entirely!

Sorcery was useful. Anyone could use it, it produced the same result regardless of who did, and it could be handed off to others. This groundbreaking discipline would advance civilization by leaps and bounds, making this world richer and more comfortable. That was wonderful beyond question. Surely there was romance in it, too.

But it was dull.

It wasn't interesting. Because something like that — it was no different from science.

If I had been able to find that interesting, I would never have ended up here in the first place.

"That's it."

With a soft bump, Nina touched her nose and forehead to mine, her smile deepening.

"That face. The one you always make right before you say something reckless… You look like you're having so much fun."

Her blue eyes sparkled, my face reflected within them.

"Keep making that face… always. You hear me? I'll help out where I can."

"Ni… na…"

Overcome with emotion, I tightened my arms around her shoulders.

"I'm home!"

"Whoa!"

At that moment, Chryse's voice rang out, and the two of us sprang off the bed simultaneously.

"Daaad, Miss Ninaaaa, I'm hooome!"

"Oh, ah, welcome back, Chryse."

"You're… rather early today, aren't you."

We answered as casually as we could manage as Chryse poked her head into the bedroom.

"Yes, research just doesn't go very well without you there, Dad. And besides, it seemed rather silly for me to be at school when you weren't even there, so I came home."

Despite looking every bit a child, Chryse was already sixty years old. She had graduated from elementary school ages ago and now worked at the university. In terms of position, she was a colleague of Ara and the others, which was a curious thing.

"By the way."

Chryse bent sideways at the waist, peering into Nina's face as she sat on the bed.

"Miss Nina, your face is all red. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. It just got a little warm in here."

"Umm… it's winter, though…?"

Chryse looked unconvinced, her gaze shifting to me for answers.

"It's nothing. She asked me to raise the temperature because she was cold, and I overdid it."

"Ahh, that makes sense. You're not very good at holding back, Dad, so do be careful."

That's right. It was nothing.

Nina had simply helped me when I'd lost sight of my purpose, and we were just reaffirming our friendship.

That was all it was.

There was no way anything resembling romance could blossom between us at this point.

After all.

She had turned me down a long, long time ago.