CH 6

“That was dangerous. I couldn’t see well because I was holding this.”

Then he squinted his eyes. Hazard put the wooden box he was holding down on the floor and knelt down in front of Nathan. In an instant, the two of them were at the same eye level. As he met his blue eyes, Nathan had a hard time taking his eyes off him. There was something about this boy that caught the attention of others.

“…but your face is really pale. How long have you been like this? Are you hurt? Shall I call Professor Matilda? No, I think it’d be faster if I take you directly to the Professor…”

His voice sounded like it had just changed—a somewhat childish and awkward voice. He was still short. Hazard had the form of a young boy at exactly that age.

Nathan stiffened, unable to answer Hazard’s question, and couldn’t even blink. Nathan had no idea that he would meet Hazard so soon. To be honest, within this wide academy, he wasn’t confident he would even come across him. So he thought that if he didn’t work hard, he wouldn’t even be able to see his face. But he hadn’t even prepared his heart yet, so he was facing him like this… Nathan closed his eyes tightly, wondering if this was a dream, and then opened it. Still, Hazard was in front of him.

To him, Hazard was the first person he had just met, but ironically, Nathan was the only person in the world he could be friendly with from the start. No one in the world knew him better than Nathan.

But the embarrassing thing was that Nathan hardly had any idea how to deal with him. Hazard was a kind person. So, he guessed Hazard just couldn’t walk past someone he met for the first time simply because he looked like he was his classmate. Hazard, considering Nathan, who only stared at him and didn’t answer him, held out his hand.

“Come on, get up. You’ll freeze your ass otherwise.”

He must have been thinking of Nathan for saying it in such a joking manner. But still, Nathan seemed unwilling to grab hold of the hand in front of him.

Hazard frowned slightly at the awkward mood and smiled. From his point of view, the boy sitting in front of him didn’t seem suspicious when he collapsed. Hazard was afraid that something big would happen if he left him here, so he was talking to him on purpose.

From afar, Hazard knew that there were people here. But it was strange that he (Nathan) didn’t move. He could not hide his presence as an assassin who was targeting him, and the power he felt was too weak. So, even though his destination was in a different direction, it was for that reason that he came this way.

Slowly raising his head to Hazard’s words, the boy’s face was as pale as a sheet of paper, but the cold had reddened it. His lips were blue. Even under his eyes, seen through his round glasses, it looked as if he hadn’t slept for several days, and his dull red hair couldn’t catch Hazard’s attention. Red hair was common in the Shekira Kingdom. Even within this academy, it may be an exaggeration to say that half of them had red hair, but this child could have been one of the many students who walked around on their own.

“How many times have we met face to face? You seem familiar…”

“… No, we’re meeting for the first time.”

I guess not, Hazard just smiled in embarrassment. And to escape his embarrassment, he grabbed Nathan’s hand and pulled him up to his feet. Again, it didn’t seem strange that he fell down really soon. He was sitting on the floor of this cold hallway, so he could’ve frozen into a statue like this. His hands were already frozen.

But pulling hard to get Nathan up was a mistake. The boy was lighter than Hazard had thought, and the excessive force made the two of them stumble.

“…sorry.”

Hazard quickly regained his focus and grabbed Nathan as he was about to fall. He thought he was fat because of his clothes, but when he got close, he could feel the boy’s skinny body, much to Hazard’s embarrassment—so he slowly apologized. The deep jade that he met through his glasses was like an endless swamp.

“…thanks.”

The voice that came out like a muffled voice was suffocating. As the boy stood with his feet on the ground, the boy in front of him was taller than he thought. He seemed bigger than Hazard himself, who was still growing. Hazard was bigger, though. The boy who was tidying up the crumpled hem of his clothes stopped for a moment as if he was choosing what to say and looked at Hazard.

“…you don’t have to call Professor Matilda. I’m fine, just a little dizzy. So, that… No. I’ll be going.”

“Really? That’s good…”

Hazard, bewildered, moved aside.

“It was nice to meet you.”

A smile appeared on Nathan’s lips as he spoke those words and then disappeared. Nathan hurried out of the room.

After the boy had disappeared, Hazard picked up the luggage he had left on the floor and walked to his secret hideout. Then he suddenly stopped.

“Did he say ‘it was nice to meet you’?”

Don’t you usually say goodbye…?

* * *

Nathan walked recklessly as if to avoid Hazard, and then got lost. Thanks to this, he found his dormitory room only after the sun went down.

“Tired to death…”

As soon as Nathan entered the room, he took up one bed and lay down. He didn’t even have the strength to lift a single hand. However, the soft blanket made him feel a little better. Nathan took off his glasses and tossed them aside and buried his face in the duvet. Today has been such a long day. His eyes have been twitching.

He thought it would be good to sleep like this. Then he seemed to fall asleep without even dreaming. He knew he should go change and wash up, but once he lay down, he didn’t want to get up again. Let’s just lie down like this for five minutes. Then I’ll get up. And…

Chirp, chirp—

When Nathan woke up again, there was a bird chirping outside the window.

“I, I’m sorry for being late!”

“It’s okay, Student Nathan. I didn’t wait that long. I only just arrived.”

Melkiel gently comforted Nathan. Nathan, having rushed over, was still panting. His lungs ached from the cold air and his stomach was also rumbling. Last night, Nathan fell asleep on the bed and didn’t get up until morning. When he opened his eyes, the light in his room was brighter than he had expected. Nathan was surprised to see an unfamiliar room and rolled over from the bed.

And he remembered. Oh, this wasn’t where he used to live. On the other hand, he had expected that when he woke up, he would return to reality. But his hopes were mercilessly shattered. Even after waking up, he was still in the novel. Nathan’s tears welled up at that fact. He had no idea what the future would be like for him. He rolled over from the bed and rubbed his eyes with his sleeve.

Then he jumped up from his seat. There was no clock in the room, so he couldn’t even check the time, but intuitively Nathan knew he had overslept. Nathan had a hard time finding his glasses because of his blurred vision. He barely found his glasses and hurried out of the room. It was because he remembered what Melkiel had told him to come in the morning yesterday. Nathan ran down the wide hallway. His hair and clothes were all a mess. Occasionally, the people he encountered stared at Nathan as he ran. That was a little while ago.

“If you have calmed down, shall we go now?”

“…where are we going?”

“You’re asking an obvious question. We’re going to ‘Rupelham’ (루펠함).”

Melkiel said as if it was natural, and put on the hat attached to his robe. His beautiful face disappeared into the robe. Nathan, in the midst of his embarrassment, was busy digging through his head. Where’s Rupelham? Even if he remembered the main character or the person who appeared frequently, it was difficult to remember the place or the name of the place. Only when you go to the place itself would you think, “Oh, it’s that place!”

“It’s a good thing for Student Nathan that I’ll be going with you. Originally, I wouldn’t be able to help, but…”

“I, I understand? Thank you.”

“Well, it’s not that I’m a lazy person, but that I wouldn’t go all the way to Rupelham for one student. I’m just allowing Student Nathan to accompany me to my work. It’s a matter of killing two birds with one stone. (겸사겸사예요 >>> effective, getting several things done at once) I’ll be busy today, so please follow along closely.”

Nathan followed Melkiel out of the Second Magic Room. Melkiel kept a leisurely pace, but he was taller than Nathan, so he walked faster. He looked like an old man when he walked with his trademark cane. Well, that wouldn’t be entirely wrong—because he was a ‘person’ who lived a very long time.