Kays Translations

Chapter 31: We Met Again

After walking for a little more than thirty minutes, Ren began to notice a change in the people around him.

Most were boys and girls in school uniforms. Adults who appeared to teach at one academy or another occasionally passed among them.

It was winter vacation, but many students were evidently attending supplementary lessons.

(…)

Ren felt less unsettled than expected. He simply continued walking as usual.

He knew the route to the Imperial Military Academy and went straight toward it.

More and more students in the academy’s uniform appeared among the crowd, yet Ren remained calm enough to wonder what would be served for dinner that evening.

“Please wait.”

A guard at the front gate of the academy’s enormous grounds stopped him.

“What business do you have at the academy?”

It was a natural question for a boy who had arrived alone and was not wearing a uniform.

“I came to collect the documents required for the entrance examination.”

“Understood. May I see proof of your identity?”

“Yes. I brought it.”

Ren had prepared two items.

The first was his Adventurers’ Guild card. The second was a short letter Lessard had written before Ren left Elendil.

After checking both, the guard asked Ren to follow him.

He led Ren to a building connected to the main school complex.

The academy buildings were magnificent enough to rival the residences of the highest nobility. Ren glanced over the snow-covered campus before entering the visitors’ hall.

Parents, merchants, and other guests were received there.

The walls were white, a thick crimson carpet covered the floor, and every furnishing was of the highest quality. Orange chandelier light filled the hall with warmth.

“Please wait here.”

“Thank you.”

Ren sat on the indicated sofa. The guard told him that a member of staff would arrive shortly and then left.

Only a few minutes passed.

“Thank you for waiting.”

An academy clerk guided Ren to a large counter at the rear of the hall.

A broad window stood beside it, overlooking the grounds and one of the covered corridors connecting the school buildings.

Another clerk waited behind the counter.

“You are here for the entrance-examination documents, correct? Should I prepare the forms for the General Class or the Special Class?”

(I only need the Special Class forms, but…)

Lessard’s letter verified Ren’s identity; it was not a recommendation for the examination.

Ren also knew that Licia had applied without relying on a recommendation from a higher-ranking noble.

Even so, a commoner arriving alone and immediately requesting only the Special Class forms might invite unnecessary suspicion.

“May I have both, as a keepsake?”

“Of course. Many applicants make the same request. I will prepare them immediately, so please wait a moment.”

Ren remained at the counter.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

The Imperial Military Academy possessed an exceptional library.

It could not match the Imperial Library when the latter’s Forbidden Archive was included, but otherwise its collection ranked among the largest in Leomel.

Fiona had just finished studying there.

Her Special Class uniform suited her perfectly. Even during winter vacation, the students who saw her walking through the building could not help glancing in her direction.

“…Snow.”

The library occupied a separate building connected to the main school by a covered corridor.

Fiona looked through one of its windows at the falling snow and remembered the previous winter.

Since the season began, memories of the Baldor Mountains had returned to her repeatedly.

Those days had been painful and dangerous. There had been nothing enjoyable about the ordeal itself.

Yet meeting Ren and receiving a piece of Star Agate from him on the journey home had become precious memories.

Fiona reached for the necklace at her chest.

When she closed her fingers around it, her heart seemed to tighten as well.

“Ren-kun…”

She wanted to see him.

The desire had only grown stronger.

Countless times, Fiona had begun writing him a letter and stopped. She still felt guilty for the danger and trouble she had caused him.

She had wanted to thank him, so when Ulysses sent a letter, she asked him to include a few words from her.

But she could not write that she wanted to see Ren or invite him to Eupheim.

The restraint made her chest ache.

Fiona bit her lip, stared into the winter sky, and then lowered her gaze. Memories of the time she had spent with Ren returned again and again behind her closed eyelids.

(I cannot remain like this forever.)

She gathered her resolve and started toward the girls’ dormitory.

Her steps remained heavy.

Then she abruptly stopped.

This time, when Fiona looked through the window, her gaze did not rise to the sky.

Across the large garden stood the visitors’ hall.

Someone was visible inside.

At first she assumed her longing had created an illusion—a cruel image born because she had been thinking of him.

She expected the resemblance to disappear as soon as she looked carefully.

Instead, a small voice escaped her.

“…Ren-kun?”

She stared toward the orange-lit window.

No matter how many times she blinked or rubbed her eyes, the figure did not disappear.

Fiona began to run.

Without stopping to put on her coat, she raced through the covered corridor toward the distant hall.

When she arrived, she opened the door before catching her breath. Somehow, she managed not to make a loud noise.

Ren was no longer there.

She searched the counter where she had seen him and then the surrounding seats, but found no trace of him.

“…”

Fiona walked through the visitors’ hall, still breathing hard.

An academy employee noticed her urgency and asked whether something was wrong.

“No. I’m sorry. It was nothing.”

She forced a composed smile and left.

(Perhaps I imagined him after all.)

Deeply disappointed, Fiona did not return to the covered corridor.

She went outside instead, wanting to look at the falling snow once more.

Even while mocking herself for seeing a hallucination born from weakness, she wanted to remember the Baldor Mountains for just a little longer.

Her breath turned white as she crossed the grounds.

She stopped in the courtyard.

A single large tree stood there.

Before the New Year, it had been decorated with magic-tool lights. Together with the orange glow from the school windows, they created a striking winter scene.

Fiona happened to pass beneath it while watching the snow and looked up.

No one else was nearby. With the academy on winter vacation and evening approaching, the courtyard was deserted.

“I have to become stronger.”

Since the incident in the Baldor Mountains, Fiona had devoted herself to training and study.

She had caused Ren immense trouble, and she wanted to become capable of protecting herself.

That was also why she had not gone to see him.

The thought of burdening him again had made such a visit impossible.

She had endured that longing until today. Yet after believing she had seen him, even Fiona’s strong resolve began to waver.

“…But I still wanted to see him.”

Today, she could not prevent the truth from escaping.

The final fragment of hope that Ren might truly be nearby collapsed, and tears gathered in her eyes.

She fought to keep them from falling.

Then her shoulders began to tremble.

She had rushed outside without a coat and nearly sneezed from the cold.

Fiona was accustomed to low temperatures because of her ice magic, but even she could not remain outdoors in midwinter without proper clothing.

Or perhaps the trembling came from her shaken emotions.

(I really need to go back.)

She hugged her shoulders and turned away from the illuminated tree.

Warmth suddenly settled over her.

A coat that was not her own wrapped around both her shoulders and the arms she had folded against herself.

“What…?”

Fiona turned in confusion.

He was standing behind her.

The boy she had believed was an illusion wore the same gentle smile she remembered.

“You will catch a cold, Fiona-sama.”

“R-Ren… is it really you?”

“Yes. It has been a long time. It is me—Ren Ashton.”

If this too were an illusion, Fiona feared she would never recover from it.

But it was real.

The warmth of his coat, the sound of his voice, and his presence beside her were neither a dream nor a hallucination.

Fiona lowered the hands that had been clutching her shoulders and gripped the front of Ren’s coat instead.

“I’m so happy… so very happy to see you again.”

Her smile held a radiance she had never shown anyone else.

The tears she had fought to restrain finally streamed down her cheeks, carrying a mixture of relief, longing, and joy.

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