Chapter 82

Everyone said in unison that their research was important.

“Why did you take off your glasses?”

“Isn’t your judgment clouded?”

“I think you’ve become selfish.”

“Put your glasses back on and think about it.”

“Where are your glasses?”

Randell was dumbfounded.

Whether he wears his glasses or not, it was his own judgment. His increasingly tough refusal eventually led to a Gathering of the Sages.

“Until there, I thought this problem would be resolved neatly.”

Randell was one of the Seven Grand Sage.

It was ridiculous to use his own taruka to tend to others’ research aside from his own research.

“But it didn’t work the way you expected.”

At Nina’s words, Randell nodded.

“Everyone demands that I use my taruka fairly. It’s like I’m······. A public property.”

“No way!”

Nina shouted with her eyes wide open. At the sight, he felt some relief as if his heart was melting.

Yeah, this is what he wanted to hear.

He agonized several times in the situation where everyone told him he was selfish.

Am I really doing something wrong?

Am I the wrong one since everyone is saying the same thing?

He missed Nina.

He wanted to hear her thoughts.

Do other people just endure this kind of situation?

When he puts on his glasses, all the unpleasant feelings disappear. And he thought that the result of the Gathering of the Sages would do the same.

He has a lot of taruka so he can share it without having to cause a fight. For the balance and development of all.

He could think like that with the glasses. But then······.

His times with Nina would fade.

The intense glow of joy and happiness would fade. When the emotions fade, even memories would be stained.

Did that memory together with Nina really happen?

Or is it just me imagining it alone?

Every day such doubts did not go out of his head.

His teacher cared about him.

Isn’t that why he gave him the glasses?

Deciding to wear the glasses might also be the correct answer.

But.

BUT.

Nina.

The vivid sound of laughter, the intense joy, sadness, anger······.

He grabbed the glasses with both hands and broke them. Everything blew up after that. He was dumbfounded when he was told to wear his spare glasses instead.

As he ranted in anger and protested, the Gathering seized his tarok.

They said it would be better for him to cool his head and sent him to Avesa in the capital.

As Avesa’s research to increase taruka showed results, the island of Blue Stone showed great interest in it.

Randell can’t use magic because he doesn’t have his tarok. However, he can still supply taruka for Avesa.

For such a superficial reason, Devan, one of the Seven Grand Sage, sent him to the capital.

“You’d better get out of the Blue Stone Island.”

He whispered to Randell.

“I find this situation itself ridiculous. It doesn’t even belong to them, but they think you’re taking away something that originally belongs to them.”

Devan spoke with a self-deprecating tone and put him in the party heading to the capital. After losing his tarok, Randell came to the capital and thought again and again.

Do I not have patience?

Do I not know how to give?

Because I’m selfish?

Is it a problem that I let my anger explode like this?

Since everyone is saying the same, am I really the problem?

“So I thought since you were in the capital, perhaps I would run into you.”

I missed you so much, Nina.

Swallowing  those words back, Nina suddenly shouted, “Right!”

“I think I’ve seen Randell, so I’ve been chasing you. Didn’t you go to the square the other day? The day a bellac came out and there was a commotion.”

Randell blinked.

“I think I went······.”

“You were wearing a hood, so I took a look, but it was really Randell. I would have met you then if Benzel hadn’t stopped me.”

“You recognized me?”

“Of course.”

Nina said with her arms crossed. Randell laughed.

“I must have been chasing Avesa back then. When I looked into his research, it seemed like he was experimenting with humans. I was chasing him to get some evidence.”

“That’s why this all happened tonight. You had no tarok and were in a dangerous disposition. What would you have done if you were seriously injured?”

Randell smiled again then he lowered his head and got precariously angry.

“Yes, I almost got in trouble, I know. But that guy said······.”

He swallowed his saliva.

“My teacher brought me to Blue Stone Island just to use my taruka from the beginning. That I was easier to handle with my glasses on······.”

He bit his lips then tried to continue, his hand came up on his chest.

Surprised, Nina spoke quietly when she saw him.

“It’s okay not to tell me everything if it’s hard. I understand what you mean.”

“······Ugh······.”

Randell’s tall height shrunk. His forehead touched her shoulder.

Nina’s hands held on his shaking shoulders, then she reached out and patted him on the head.

“They’re all really bad.”

Her tone was so calm as if she was soothing a child. Randell cried. Nina’s hands were gentle and her shoulders were firm, accepting his pain and sadness.

Hearing those words then, he thought he was going to die on the spot.

In that alley, that guy’s gonna kill him.

He hasn’t lived his life properly yet.

It was Nina that came to mind then.

I wish we could meet one more time.

I want to meet you.

I want to see you.

I miss you.

And so she did appear in front of him. Just as the curtain opens and the main character appears, like the beginning of all the stories.

After crying for a long time, a tired Randell looked up. Nina carefully looked away and handed him a handkerchief, and he quickly wiped his face with it.

If she says he looks like a hamster sweeping his face down with both hands, he’ll get angry.

“I’ve never cried like this before. I don’t have any strength.”

As he whispered weakly, Nina laughed and said, “Excuse me.” Then she leaned over and hugged him.

“?!”

Lifted like a princess, he burst into laughter as Nina began to walk. She put him safely on the bed.

Randell was smiling until then. He had already cried as much as he could, so now, he could laugh properly.

“Come on, come on. Take off your clothes, take off your shoes.”

“Wait, wait, Nina! Oh, my God.”

Randell giggled and restrained her. She forced him to lie down after he was dressed comfortably.

He said it was both ridiculous and hilarious.

“This is the first time I have been treated like this.”

“That’s an honor. You must be tired. Stop thinking now, and go to sleep.”

Nina sat on the edge of the bed and patted him.

“I’ll stay with you until you sleep.”

Until I sleep.

Randell chewed the word which meant she was going to stay there temporarily.

Does he feel this way because she is his first and only friend?

Where will she go when he falls asleep?

That thought melted and disappeared as Nina started stroking his head as if a lump of coarse sugar melted in a warm cup.

He fell asleep.