056 – Compensation

Editor: Poor_Hero

――――The evening approached as the light waned, just before the need to turn on the light-producing magic tool.

” His son is the trap. ”

The black hooded guy said, kneeling. The fat man, seated in front of the black hooded man, holding on to the report, glanced at him.

” I see…. As I thought. ”

The black hooded man’s owner then grinned fearlessly.

” You did well, Spinel. ”

With that, the black hooded man fell back and took his seat on a gorgeous chair, gripping his staff.

” ….In any case, what should we do? ”

And that murmur, as seemingly as it got absorbed into the thick gaudy carpet, the fat man opened his mouth.

◆

” Damn it… ”

It was the black hooded man, Spinel, who said that as he stood in the dim room, grinding his teeth.

They had achieved their purpose. As his owner had commanded, he had gotten information on Williams Beryl. But he had paid a huge price to get it.

Abi.
Spinel had lost one of his important chess pieces. To him, Abi could even be said to be his right arm. To Spinel, this incident was like losing an arm yet getting a sword in return.

He can’t afford to be careless. Or rather, as the investigation this time was to determine if Williams was the one defeated the Shadows, he had laid down plenty of precaution. The plan was injuring his close friend, forcing him to fight against a much stronger opponent to see how he did fare. He had expected Abi to win. Of course, he avoided injuring Williams in order to not place Gion’s suspicions on them.

To think a legendary beast was defeated by an 8 years old.

Spinel laughed, self-mockingly. Did his master know about this already?

That was uncommon, to say the least. If Spinel had not seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have believed it. It was a shock that only those who had seen it knew. Or it was possible that Spinel’s owner did not think much about Abi.

Spinel too, started doubting his owner who believed in the information he had brought in that easily. On the other hand, he was relieved about not having to explain the situation. With these complex feelings inside him, he instinctively ground his teeth again.

The minute Spinel caught sight of Williams Beryl on the 3rd floor, he had jumped.

Spinel had doubted his eyes. Did blood rush to Williams’s head or did he have a strong sense of justice stemming from his admiration for his father? No matter the reason, he had never thought he would be thinking of a reason why an 8 year old would jumped out of a window on the 3rd floor.

But then Williams begins splendidly overturning all of Spinel’s expectations. He landed lightly on the ground and was even able to hold his own again Abi’s attack.

Again, Spinel doubted his eyes. He clung to the idea that it was all a coincidence due to the chaos and imagined Will being beaten up the very next moment.

Then, he wondered if his eyes had fallen out of their sockets. It felt like his heart was seized by someone. In front of him was a sight of Will defending and even attacking back at Abi without an ounce of fear or hesitation.

There should be a limit to how un-normal this all was!! Spinel then finally realized the trap Gion had set. He had really just noticed it. He forced himself to accept that it was because Will was Gion’s son and waited for Abi’s next move.

Most likely this will end soon, Spinel thought as he wiped the sweat on his forehead away. No matter how good Will was at the sword, this was not something a human can match.

But his expectations were betrayed. Again. The double combination of his betrayal and shock gave him such mental damage that he was able to fall over. This time, he really wondered if his heart had stopped or not as a dull pain ran across his left chest.

Abi released all of its mana and as everyone started falling, a lone boy stood, with a fearless smile on an innocent face. That overwhelming mana was enough to (…..) even make Spinel faint.

Watching from a distance, Spinel felt terror. Him, who once suspected if he lost all of his feelings, was shocked at how he felt terror so clearly. A chill ran down his back. He was confronting something he can’t even imagine.

” …..What is that monster.. ”

Thinking back to event, Spinel mumbled, astonished.
Why? That was because he had seen with his own eyes how Abi died. But he could not stop it from happening. It was one of the pride Spinel had about his job 一一 to serve his owner with his life.

◆

” Eh.. You did it in your play but I was thinking of teaching you guys about summoning beasts today. ”

May festival ended and it was the first magic lesson of June. To think they would jumped back into lessons despite that incident….. I came to understand how amazing Headmaster was.

After saying that, Zelda-sensei wrapped himself in mana, raised his left hand out at his chest level, horizontal to the floor. As everyone else can’t sense mana as finely as me, they had puzzled expressions on as they looked on.

Father had only taught me that the black smog was because Abi was a summoned beast but muddled through the rest of the explanation. As I was thinking of looking it up myself by using the library or something, this lesson came at just the right time.

Zelda-sensei opened his mouth.

” Come forth, Wollia. ”

Hm? Wollia…? It sounded just like Gorilla! My excitement rose as I stared at Zelda-sensei’s outstretched left hand that was wrapped in mana.

” 《召喚》! ” [TN: Sho Kan, Summon]

Zelda-sensei shouted as a light gathered at the center of his outstretched palm and a magical circle spread out. As the circle disappeared, something was seen being formed by swirling fire.

As my classmate’s eyes grew smaller in amazement, my excitement just went through the roof at once.

……IT’S A GORILLA!

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Afterwards, with a face of regrets, Zelda-sensei erased Woilla, held a chalk in his hand and began explaining, drawing on the blackboard.

As all this time Zelda-sensei had not used chalk once, I thought chalk does not exist. It was a common thing but from the chalk to the long tables, a sense of nostalgia welled up inside of me. I wondered what these coincidences were. Not to mention compulsory education.

Klack klack klack, the sound of the chalk resounded around the classroom. On the blackboard, the magical circle seen just now was drawn on it, with the word 《召喚》. How straightforward. Ah, but if it’s not this straightforward I would be troubled.

” Summoned beasts are as the words implied, summoned magical creatures. Like how the young girl made a contract with Ochyon….ah….yes, a beast called forward to make a contract with! ”

Pon pon, Zelda-sensei knocked on the blackboard. Which means, only beasts that could be summoned are called summoned beasts.

” The magic circle used in summoning is this 《召喚》. The reading for this is Sho Kan. Take great care of the intonation. You would usually summoned a beast that matched your attribute and usually you are not allowed to choose. ”

Like your partner, Sensei said, exaggerating. Though his really matched him.

” And, the way to contract was like the play, either give it a name or something else. Mah, the norm was to give it mana. Which is why summoned beasts have a lower mana usage than you. Yosh! ….There might be failures in your first summoning but I would like you guys, who still possess small mana power to try summoning! ”

Zelda-sensei raised his voice as happy voices raises all over the classroom. And we have a problem.

I had not had my mana measurement test yet….

In Elzmu, Beastman, Elves, races living here apart from humans are small in numbers. In this class, we had 1 Elf. Natually, Selphy and I looked at each other.

” ….What should we do? ”

I looked to my left, which now had totally belonged to Selphy, who just tilted her head.

” I wonder? ”

Then, Selphy’s gaze was directed behind me. That thick chest that was approaching was….

” ……Zelda-sensei. ”
” Yosh. By the way, you two will be having your test today. ”

…..Really? My doubt must have been read by Zelda-sensei who laughed and rubbed my head.
……Ouch. Don’t go overwhelming with emotions! To be rubbed on the head like this, I would rather had Father’s beard…..!

” Don’t worry about missing class. You guys would be taught by him. ”

Zelda-sensei then cock his head towards the blackboard. Ah, I see.

” So it would be Varino-sensei. ”

Wasn’t that the number 2 man from the Academy.
…..Please stop with the death glare you were sending me, Varino-sensei.

Varino-sensei was my Father’s rival-in-love. It was that. Like the yakisoba bread he had been yearning for was brought and eaten by my father.

Ah, food grudges are scary.

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TN: The test all you guys are waiting for is coming soon!