Chapter 55: The legacy of a Hero.
It was Lunchtime, Emma suddenly stopped in her tracks at the slow but steady rhythm echoing from somewhere.
The sound of strings resonating from friction of the bow, without needing to look, she knew it must be Luke’s cello.
Since the club activities hadn’t officially started yet, there were no members in the music club other than Luke.
“Oh, if only Luke had been here a little sooner.”
Today, there were music classes scheduled for periods 1 through 4, and during break time, Emma had been busy with guitar chores, so she couldn’t even wander around the club room.
Even now, it’s only lunchtime, so there’s barely any time left.
But why did the kid who hated coming to school so much come to school with the intention of playing an instrument?
As expected, choosing music was the right answer, Emma thought, clenching her fist slightly.
“Grown a lot overnight.”
However, the unpleasant noise that bothered her yesterday had now transformed into a soft and lyrical resonance of strings.
Did she practice diligently at home as she was taught?
To attain this level of skill, effort is undoubtedly necessary in addition to talent.
Dealing with instruments is like that.
Even if you’re a genius, without effort, you can’t produce the right sound.
The human body can never move perfectly at once.
Even so, to develop this much in just one day, it can definitely be called talent.
“Hmm, jealous of the learning speed.”
For a 10-year-old who just started learning cello yesterday, the sound was remarkably good.
Of course, objectively speaking, she’s still a beginner… But isn’t Luke also actually a beginner who just started music yesterday?
There’s no need to be strict.
Emma opened the door to the music club room.
“Luke, how long have you been here?”
When Luke saw Emma coming in, she stopped playing, and the pleasant resonance of the strings ceased.
A silent room.
Luke looked up slightly and smiled at Emma.
“Oh, it’s Emma. I’ve been practicing since early in the morning. How’s it going? Does it sound right?”
“Very impressive, I never thought you’d improve this much in just one day.”
“Haha, I don’t know how to handle all this praise.”
Luke wiped the sweat from her hand, which had accumulated from playing non-stop for half a day, and let out a sigh.
That thin breath appeared and disappeared.
Luke’s expression was quite satisfied.
Was it the satisfaction of practicing so hard that she sweated?
…Wait, breath?
Suddenly, Emma had a foreboding thought.
“Come to think of it, it’s a bit chilly here…”
It was raining today, and the temperature was quite low.
Was it because of the warm weather of the past few days? Today was unusually cold.
However, all the rooms at the Tig Academy were equipped with heaters.
So, it shouldn’t be this cold.
Emma hastily glanced at the wall with a panel where the heater could be operated.
“Of course, it’s off.”
Did she not know how to turn it on, or did it turn off in the middle, and she didn’t notice because she was practicing?
The important thing is that Luke was sweating even after being left in this cold room for hours.
Emma immediately touched Luke’s forehead.
Luke was slightly flustered by her actions.
“W-what’s happening all of a sudden?”
Emma was startled by the excessive warmth she felt from her hand.
“Luke, your forehead is like a burning coal!”
“Oh, that’s…”
It’s probably because of the ‘Fire’ spell modified.
Since she directly wrapped warm heat around her body, it’s natural for her body temperature to be higher than usual.
“It’s because of the magic wrapped around my body.”
“Oh, is that so? And here I thought… I had a hand warmer on.”
If there’s a magical tool or a hand warmer wrapped around the body, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for the body temperature to be this high.
Emma breathed a sigh of relief.
After a while, if it weren’t for Luke’s words, I would have stayed in my deep thoughts… … .
“A hand warmer? Interesting. How does that look… Ah.”
There wasn’t anything like a hand warmer.
***
Nurse’s room.-
Luke, still in her sweaty uniform, lay on the bed.
The school nurse, who measured Luke’s forehead temperature, frowned as she looked at the thermometer.
“Wow, the temperature is quite high.”
“No, I’m not really… sick…”
Although the Fire spell had been dismissed long ago, the residual heat still maintained a high body temperature.
Moreover, she felt embarrassed to be treated as a patient when she wasn’t actually sick, which made her face slightly flushed.
“With such a high temperature? Stop talking nonsense and rest well. I’ll inform your guardian separately.”
Luke shouted in surprise.
“Yerina is busy, so don’t worry about it!”
She was undoubtedly busy with the hunting week, and since she wasn’t actually sick, it was definitely unnecessary to worry.
So, contacting her would only lead to nothing good.
Rather, it might just distract Yerina from her work.
However, in the eyes of the school nurse, Luke’s reaction seemed nothing more than an attempt to hide her illness.
Why would she go to such lengths to hide her pain?
“Phew… Alright, I won’t ask. Instead, just rest well. If you feel worse, be sure to tell me.”
“Yeah…”
Luke sighed deeply as she watched the nurse draw the curtain and leave.
“It’s uncomfortable…”
Luke sighed again as she looked around at Pie moving around the room.
“You seem excited, though.”
“I’ve really been pushed into pestering involuntarily.
Luke suddenly looked up at the ceiling and thought to herself.
‘An illness… Come to think of it, it’s been a long time since I’ve been sick.’
Just reaching the third circle of magic grants immunity to most diseases.
But what about Luke? She hardly ever fell ill in her life.
Unless it was poison or magic.
Luke sighed and closed her eyes.
“In times like these, old memories come back to me.”
Back when she was still young. Around seven years old, was it?
Due to the strain of carving two circles into her heart, she once fell ill with fever.
It was quite serious, as she remembers.
She could have died.
Back then, it was Kale who stood by her side.
“Ah…”
Luke’s sigh was filled with longing.
Kale and Luke had been close friends for a long time.
Since they were very, very young.
Although Luke was noble and Kale was commoner.
Despite their difference in status, Luke and Kale sincerely respected and trusted each other.
“I miss you. There weren’t many people like you.”
He was quite a sturdy lad.
Thanks to him, Luke sometimes used him as a subject for magical experiments, but Kale also used him as a sparring partner in swordsmanship, so it was fine.
“Ah… If only I could go back to those days.”
Luke recalled the moment Kale sacrificed himself.
The figure of the man who drove the holy spear into the heart of the demon king.
The understudy who took on the task the ‘hero’ abandoned.
The legacy of a ‘hero’.
“If I had been more perfect back then, you wouldn’t have had to die like that…”
With unbearable regret, Luke muttered those words as if lamenting.
The pact that three ‘heroes’ would defeat the demon king…
But except for Renye, the other two heroes abandoned their duty.
Don’t want to be pawns of the gods, do they?
Isn’t that a laughable thought?
If the heroes themselves abandon their duty, all that remains for them is a mere death.
“Sigh, as much as I’d like to just get up…”
But since I’d just collapse on the road anyway, it’s better to just sigh and get up after resting.
Luke closed her eyes.
***
“Hey, Luke. What are you thinking about?”
The marks on the wrists. Tough calluses. Thin, long braided hair.
Sharp eyes and a sturdy physique, scars etched all over the body, including the face.
A very familiar face. An annoyingly familiar one.
“Oh, Kale. Why are you calling me?”
Kale shrugged and said,
“What are you doing, besides brewing potions all day? Can’t you make them without being so absent-minded?”
As expected, this guy doesn’t worry about me, Luke thought, and answered nonchalantly,
“Sorry… I’m a bit tired these days.”
“Well, that’s just because of a lack of exercise, sir.”
Then, Renye, who had been watching him, spoke up.
“Hehe, don’t tease him too much, Lord Renye. Sir Luke must be the most tired among us.”
“Well, that’s true, but…”
“It can’t be helped. Renye, you’re immortal so you don’t even need sleep… Kale, you’re already halfway to being a hero, so you must be resilient to fatigue. But I’m just an ordinary human. I just have eight circles carved into my heart.”
“Hey, is that ordinary?”
To Kale’s teasing, Luke casually retorted without even batting an eyelash.
“Among these, it’s the most ordinary.”
“Well, that’s true. However, there’s only one Eighth Circle wizard in this world.”
“That’s true, but…”
Kael scratched his head, making a sound of frustration.
Then, suddenly, smoke billowed from the pot simmering with herbs. It was the signal of completion.
Luke gestured to lift the liquid and mixed it well.
The liquids floating in the air swirled a few times, gradually changing from blue to green.
And when he flicked his finger, the green liquid bounced back into the pot, simmering as if boiling. Renye plucked a strand of her hair and dipped it into the liquid, while Luke gestured to Kael.
As Kael offered the cup as if accustomed to it, Luke had already filled it with the liquid, now reddish.
Once all the liquid was in the cup, Kael drank it in one go, grimacing. “Ugh… horribly bitter. Can’t it taste better?”
“This is the best I can do, you know?”
“Damn, it’s really disgustingly bitter. You try it.”
“I’ll pass. It’s better to refrain from unnecessary consumption.”
“Whatever.”
Luke packed away all the items used for alchemy into the void with a single gesture.
Renye, watching Luke tidy up, murmured with a voice tinged with sadness,
“I’m sorry, Kael.”
“It’s fine. We didn’t embark on this journey to hear such things.”
“Right, but more importantly, let’s move on quickly. If we don’t find another resting place within three days, this expedition will fail.”
“Yes… Kael, are you really okay?”
“I’m Kael Propson, have nothing left except my body. Of course, I’m fine.”
Kael stood up from the rectangular chest she was sitting on and hoisted it onto his back.
Of course, inside the chest was the ‘Holy Spear’ a weapon created directly by the gods that could defeat the Demon King.
But, aside from the ‘Holy Spear’ Hero,” it was a weapon imbued with immense sanctity that no one else could ever wield.
It was supposed to be a holy sight, but…
It looked more like a coffin.
Was the death he was carrying his own, or the Demon King’s?
At that moment, he didn’t know, but what he carried was both of them.
***
The school nurse approached the bed where the tossing and turning had ceased and gently drew the curtains.
She needed to check on the condition.
“…”
Fortunately, the child was peacefully asleep.
It had been a fairly calm expression, but the words she had been murmuring until just now seemed to linger slightly.
Did she think they wouldn’t be heard?
But the school nurse was the mother of a bat beast with extremely sensitive hearing.
Thanks to that, she had acquired a good hearing ability to hear heartbeats without a stethoscope, but…
The problem was that she also hear unnecessary sounds easily.
Usually, she filtered them out with earplugs, but now they were removed in case of emergency.
‘They say that daytime talk is for the birds and nighttime talk is for the mice…’
A bat hears both, aren’t they?
Even if it’s an exaggeration to say it’s optimal for eavesdropping.
Anyway, she returned to her seat after drawing the curtains again.
Recalling Luke’s murmuring.
She wondered what the experiment she talking about.
It wasn’t something a 10-year-old should say, that someone’s death was their fault, right?
It was too unsettling to just brush off.
‘…I should contact the guardian after all.’
Well, the child said not to, but…
It’s better to call the guardian than, right after hearing the child’s words.