CH 6

Ilestia called Walsh ‘Adam Willie’, and it was in the past, which naturally hadn’t happened yet.

Could it be that the sixth Illestia has memories of the past five years? But what variable did he act on to avoid being embroiled in a scandal with Blossom?

Maybe it was all a coincidence. ‘Willie’ wasn’t completely an out-of-the-blue nickname to come up with for ‘Walsh’. Besides, we were talking about dick at that time.

Maybe even if his memory was intact, it wouldn’t be of any help to me. I couldn’t say anything about the repeating 5th grade due to the ‘fourth wall’, so if Illestia was in the same situation, it would be impossible for us to share our own tragedies unless we learn telepathy, which only dragons know how to do. It was impossible.

Anyway, I’m really curious. The fact that I might not be the only one who fell into this hell also made me feel a little better.

I developed some inner intimacy with the student council president, who was so far away, like a flower blooming on a cliff. I have to tell him the funniest joke I know If I saw him.

***

Today was the day I didn’t have to attend magic science class. That meant I wouldn’t see my evil friend and fantasy prank partner, Kyle Villard.

Instead, I tried composing a song with Kelly Ramirez, the most musically versed of the 5th graders, by narrowly plucking out the mandrakes assigned to each of us.   We let them make a sound that was short enough not to be traumatizing, before inserting them back.

“Did you see it this morning? The Fitzsimmons Times.”

When Professor Stafford, who had almost fainted at what we were doing, gave us a toy mandrake made of synthetic material instead of a pot of real mandrakes, Kelly suddenly grew bored.

“Did Nadon end his playboy life?”

At the end of my question, ‘already?’ was omitted. Based on years of experience, Bryce Rosemary Nadon has made noble sacrifices every year to win Blossom’s heart, but that wasn’t the case now.

Kelly had some acquaintance with Bryce Nadon, as she was from the same kingdom as him. She replied with her voice muffled.

“He started getting slapped everywhere since a few days ago, he looked terrible.”

“Slapped on the face?”

“I’m not sure about that but, he said he can’t play around anymore after realizing what true love is. So he decided to meet everyone he had played with, and let them beat him up before breaking up with them. It’s stupid. He also dated Delaney Wood.”

Wow. I couldn’t contain my admiration for the exciting news I heard for the first time. Delaney Wood is a fourth-grade Griffon cricket player, and she was the girl who had won over our class in arm wrestling at the Harvest Moon banquet last year.

No wonder. Come to think of it, around the time rumors circulated that he was sorting his relationships, Bryce Nadon used to stay at the dorm unless it was absolutely necessary. If he had been hit by Wood, his jaw would have been dislocated by three degrees.

I think she’s really amazing. Rosemary Blossom.

“Blossom is amazing.”

I also said it out loud.

“Amazing. Nadon isn’t the only one who fell for her.”

“Spencer, Bolton, Ramos, Illestia?”

After listing the obvious names, Kelly’s eyes widened.

“Student council president? You mean Kyle Villard? Isn’t he your childhood friend?” 

***

Enemies meet on a single wooden bridge.*  I found a very familiar jaw in the auxiliary magic lab where I arrived with a complicated state of mind.

*(Enemies meet on a single wooden bridge:It is usually used as a metaphor if you encounter an unavoidable situation with a person you don’t want to see.)

“What the hell is that look?”

“Oh, Ariel. As you can see, I can’t see very well right now.”

The reason why I only said ‘jaw’ is because he is wearing a ridiculously shaped wig that covers his vision; all of its finely braided hair was hanging down.

Thanks to that, all that was revealed was the bridge of his nose and his lower crown, but I could recognize at a glance that the nose bridge and the lower crown were Kyle Villard’s. I’ve been seeing it for a long time, after all.

“Noman Casey said he’d exclude me from training every time I stood in for him.”

Norman Casey was the captain of the Griffon Cricket Club. Come to think of it, it seemed that his hairstyle was similar to the wig Kyle is wearing lthough he did not cover half of his face with his hair.

“I think his hair was cooler than this.”

“I can’t help it. My face is so handsome that it’s easy to find out I’m not Norman.”

“I see… .”

Kyle giggled for a while at my unmotivated reply, then said.

“But isn’t it nice? Practicing with your best friend you love the most.”

“Not at all.”

Secrets that a man keeps may be a kind of mysterious charm when he’s your lover, but when you are his friend, they are not at all.

I tried to cast an acceleration spell on the turtle sitting on the practice table, puckering my lips and not even looking at Kyle.

Kelly said that Kyle loves Blossom so much that he skips class several times a day to see Blossom.

As a result, the accumulated penalty points exceeded the threshold, and he had to clean the toilet of the building, which he invested his whole weekend.

Kyle, as I remember, had never dedicated himself to Blossom to the point of ruining himself.

Could this also be the butterfly effect brought about by the sixth Illestia’s change?

“Ari, what’s wrong?”

Kyle whispered in my ear, perhaps because he felt my attitude was unusual.

I pushed his head, which had come too close, towards the turtle with an enhancement spell instead; I failed to cast an acceleration spell. The tortoise struggled and stroked Kyle’s nose with a wet, webbed foot.

“Don’t you have anything to tell me?”

Eventually, I couldn’t stand it and got annoyed. Kyle suddenly became serious as he moved around to avoid the turtle’s sharp nails.

“Where did you hear the rumors from?”

“Just…”

I just want you to be honest. If you consider me a precious friend, please tell me what you are thinking about.

I want to know what your eyes see. I wonder what your real feelings are. I don’t want you to let me know about your feelings from someone else.

I was able to spit out only one word among the things that rose like a tide.

Before I can say anything, a boy I’m not familiar with, came back from the bathroom and said to Kyle, “Are you Villard? Blossom is calling you.”

Blossom is calling you. With just these four words, like a magic spell, Kyle left the practice room without promising to talk about our problem later.

The turtle was abandoned with me in the desolate auxiliary magic lab. It became huge due to the failed  spell. An irritated Ariel Dalton was reflected in its black eyes that were like a witch’s mirror.

***

My childhood friend, who knew me well and I thought I knew well, tried to hide so much from me. My roommate, who was always on my side, ended up hating me again after many semesters.

Moreover, even now, after about 46 months since the first 5th grade, I couldn’t even catch a clue about the recurring time. I was terrible at using my head, but I couldn’t ask anyone for help because of that stupid wall.

Despair as great as the turtle enlarged by an unstable spell overtook me without realizing it. I couldn’t stand it without beating a dummy that resembled Walsh, so I went to the swordsmanship training ground even though I had no class.

At the training ground, students who liked to pretend to be knights were practicing their lethal moves learned with hard work by sparring with dummies as tall as dwarfs.

I scanned the familiar faces I saw in class and found a corner buried in the shade. This is because, after the match with Bolton, some people started bothering me, asking about the paladin’s swordsmanship.

“I see you a lot these days.”

I warmed up lightly and picked up a wooden sword, but someone spoke to me in the shadows.

“Are you my stalker?”

“Haha.”

When I asked playfully, patting my surprised heart, Illestia gave a short laugh. The president of the student council has a good laugh. I had a profound appreciation.

Illestia, who is well known for being a great swordsman, although not as good as Bolton, did not seem to have come to the training ground this time with the purpose of wielding a sword.

He was leaning against the wall to my left where I was facing the dummy. On his hand was the thick old book from before.

“Why are you reading that here and not in the library?”

“The library is a place to read books.”

What do you mean? I clicked my tongue, straightened my wooden sword, and cut through the dummy. Just looking at him, he wasn’t a sane fellow either. It made sense to me to some extent that he was a match made in heaven with Blossom.

“Dalton, you have a great posture. You looked cool.”

“Thanks. Did you fall in love?”

“Yes.”

When I looked at him in bewilderment, Illestia only moved his lips and asked, ‘What?’.

What do you mean what?

I was going to tell him that I could get in big trouble if someone else heard that, but decided not to. Illestia will be Blossom’s lover anyway, and it’s Blossom, not me, who will get upset by this side of him.

Aside from a brief silly conversation, we focused on our own business without exchanging a word. I overworked my body and let go of my thoughts, and Illestia turned the pages of the book slowly.

After some time, the students who were sparring in the middle of the training ground started to get noisy. From what I heard, it seemed that someone got injured.

One of the wandering mobs managed to recognize Ilestea and approached him. Ilestia placed the book he was reading on the practice wooden sword stand and headed towards it with a graceful gait.

A 10% coincidence and a 90% weakening spell broke the wooden sword I was holding. Needless to say, I walked to the wooden sword stand where Illestia’s book was to replace my broken sword.

As I thought, the book wrapped in a tattered leather cover was an old book full of characters that were unfamiliar to me. It wasn’t much of a consolation, but Illestia seemed to have trouble reading it as well as I did. There were a lot of notes inserted here and there, perhaps to find out the contents of the book by analyzing the pattern of letters that filled the paper.

One sheet attached to the cover was relatively crisp. It seemed that he had only recently translated the title.

Patch notes

Illestia wrote it down in a neat handwriting.