Chapter 21

“Quil!”

The moment he opened the door and entered, Drich approached with both arms raised.

“I heard the news. You were selected by the Ascetic? Congratulations, really.”

“It’s nothing special.”

“Like hell it isn’t! Students who stick with an Ascetic are one of two things. Either they fail or they become special children.”

Quilbion sat on the bed with a smile.

“So I could fail?”

“That’ll never happen. Besides me, there’s no one better than you in Friendship House, right? An excellent student like that couldn’t possibly fail.”

Drich sat beside him.

“So, what did you do?”

“Really nothing much. I just followed the Ascetic around and listened to what he said.”

“What kind of talk?”

“Sorry. Even if I wanted to tell you, I can’t. You know what I mean, right?”

“If it’s the rules, there’s nothing we can do.”

Drich lay down on the bed. His face was full of smiles.

“Something good must have happened?”

“No, nothing.”

“You’re smiling way too much for that. Enough to be slightly annoying.”

“Hey, think about it carefully.”

Drich clenched his fist tight.

“You being selected by the Ascetic means I’ll be selected too.”

A laugh burst out.

“Huh? It’s not funny. It’s a very objective assessment. The fact that there’s no difference between you and me—every student in Friendship House and beyond knows it, right? So I’ll be chosen soon too.”

“Do you want the black robes that badly?”

“Obviously. Then you don’t want them?”

“…I want them too.”

If he caught the Pioneer’s eye and was assigned to the special class, he’d be able to see Twella again.

There was so much he wanted to say. He wanted to share memories from outside, consult about what would happen going forward.

Most of all, he wanted to face her and share a meal.

Clang, clang, clang.

The bell rang three times in succession.

“What is it?”

Drich stood up and looked outside.

“An assembly at this hour? Don’t tell me they caught more strange ones?”

“That won’t be it.”

If what Al Terua said was true, there shouldn’t be any children discovered by the goblins.

“Let’s go out first.”

He left the dormitory with Drich.

Students gathered one by one in the clearing.

“Over there.”

One child said. The students’ heads began turning toward Love House one by one.

It was Twella. An Ascetic stood beside her.

A dizzying imagination struck him for a moment.

“That kid, isn’t that her?”

“The one who said bad things about the Sun?”

“She still hasn’t failed? I thought she’d failed since I hadn’t seen her in a while.”

The students’ whispers reached him. Quilbion desperately held back from telling them to shut up.

It’ll be fine, Al Terua said there wouldn’t be problems.

Twella, who stood before the students with the Ascetic, lowered her head as if shy.

Quilbion could tell at a glance it was an act. The other kids would never notice, though.

“Silence.”

The chatter cut off at the Ascetic’s word.

“Please wait a moment. The Pioneer will be here soon.”

The children grew excited at the mention of Pioneer. Most of the students began looking around searching for the Pioneer.

“Seeing all of you in good health makes me feel good from the morning.”

A sweet voice came from behind. Quilbion felt a dizzying sensation like falling from a high place as he turned his body.

That thing.

The Pioneer he’d once respected without reservation.

His eyes met the Pioneer’s. The goblin with a beautiful face smiled benevolently as if understanding everything.

“Quil, Quil. It’s that person. That person came again.”

Drich couldn’t contain his excitement.

The Pioneer passed between the students. The students looked at the Pioneer with yearning faces, then soon sniffled. As if they’d smell the fragrance longer since they couldn’t touch.

It was a disgusting sight.

The Pioneer stood beside Twella. Questions burst out among the students. By the students’ standards, she was someone who should fail, someone who should be punished and disappear.

“Evil thoughts can find any of you at any time.”

The Pioneer said.

“Controlling those evil thoughts isn’t easy. Even if your practice deepens, if you don’t guard against evil thoughts, you’ll make misguided decisions.”

The Pioneer raised a hand and stroked Twella’s head. It was an extremely gentle touch.

“Why that kid…”

Drich didn’t hide his displeased expression. The other students were the same. Faces that couldn’t stand their envy.

Would they still be envious after facing the truth?

Quilbion worried about Twella.

She would soon receive black robes with silver embroidery. She’d live alone in a place full of terrible goblins.

Twella is different, we don’t need to worry. Al Terua had emphasized it dozens, hundreds of times, but Quilbion couldn’t feel at ease.

She was a precarious child.

Even if she’d learned sorcery, would her core self change?

It was when he was thinking such thoughts.

His eyes met Twella’s again.

Cold.

It resembled the cold gaze Al Terua occasionally showed.

Eyes where the word ‘delicate’ fit perfectly.

She seemed like a completely different person from when he’d seen her two days ago.

Something fundamental had changed.

Before meeting Al Terua, Twella’s eyes had held anxiety yet also contained determination.

Even when she’d struggled from repeated beatings, even when she’d spoken of wanting to disappear, at least her eyes had held something hot.

Was the child standing over there really Twella?

Passion, warmth. Eyes from which such things had been perfectly removed. Even with the Pioneer right beside her, she seemed slightly bored rather than tense.

As if this entire situation held no meaning, her eyes weren’t looking at ‘now.’

Even in this situation where their gazes met, Twella seemed to be looking at something else.

His chest ached.

He became certain he couldn’t leave Twella alone.

He moved forward through the densely packed students. The students whose shoulders he bumped looked at him with irritated eyes.

The distance to Twella.

Only about 4 meters.

“What are you doing?”

Drich, who’d followed, grabbed his arm.

“Just a moment.”

“What ‘just a moment’? No matter how much you want to see the Pioneer up close, when they’re speaking, moving like this isn’t polite.”

“That’s not it…”

He looked ahead while answering.

Twella was looking straight at him.

It was a strange thing. Clearly until just moments ago they’d been merely cold eyes, but now it was the Twella ‘he knew.’

That Twella who’d smiled while sharing apples.

She shook her head gently.

It was a firm refusal conveyed in gentle motion.

Quilbion slowly stepped back.

“Therefore, students who’ve overcome evil thoughts truly shine.”

The Pioneer’s voice revived.

People and scenery began to form in his vision that had only seen Twella.

“Now, Twella. Come forward.”

Twella carefully stood before the Pioneer. The Pioneer placed both hands on Twella’s shoulders.

“Twella was certainly swayed by evil thoughts. But she didn’t succumb to wicked thinking and overcame it through repeated practice. I was moved. What a beautiful thing, isn’t it?”

At the Pioneer’s words of being moved, students began sniffling. As if they’d become one body with the Pioneer, no—greed showed to share even the tiniest speck of emotion the Pioneer held.

A scene of madness.

Was all of this sorcery’s influence?

Quilbion ruminated on sorcery’s wickedness, its evil nature.

“Though it’s unusual, I’ve decided to grant Twella black robes. The reason I’m announcing this fact before all of you is to show you that you too can achieve this if you practice diligently.”

An Ascetic brought black robes. Twella received the clothes with deep emotion.

The students sent vigorous applause.

With hands that had slandered Twella, they clapped, and with feet that had trampled her, they kicked the ground and shouted cheers.

The moment Twella received the Pioneer’s recognition, ‘evil Twella’ that had settled in their awareness disappeared.

What remained would only be ‘Twella to emulate.’

“You know, I knew that kid would turn out like this! When she endured stubbornly even after being punished, I felt it, you know? I’m so touched that the punishment I gave helped like this, aren’t you? Huh? Quil, what do you think?”

Drich’s eyes were moist. His nose tip was also red, looking ready to spill tears at a single touch.

Disgusting.

But it wasn’t something to get angry about. It wouldn’t be Drich’s true feelings. His friend’s reason was trapped inside the bars called sorcery right now.

“Yeah, it’s touching.”

He responded appropriately and cast his gaze at Twella.

What will you do now?

As if receiving the question thrown from his heart, Twella looked this way.

She gave a barely visible smile, then moved her lips.

A soundless cry.

Quilbion chewed over the words she’d conveyed in silence.

– Quil, smile. That’s enough.

*

“Twella. Can’t you tell us what you talked about with the Pioneer?”

“Hey hey, obviously she can’t say that. We don’t even have the right to know what that sacred person said.”

“Still! I’m curious.”

“Hehe, actually I’m curious too. Could you possibly tell us?”

Twella looked at the students gathered in the room.

From age 8 to 18.

They were truly young children.

Twella pulled three nearby ones into an embrace.

“Why, why are you doing this?”

“What? Ah? Are you going to tell us up close?”

All desires directed toward the Pioneer—at that wretchedness, Twella felt like crying.

“It’s okay. It’ll be resolved soon.”

Beating, spitting, ignoring. All the past cruelty was already forgotten.

The waves of memory were too vast to remember such trivial things.

Though it had hurt enough to die, even that felt like children’s games.

Young, so young children.

Twella suddenly wondered about her own age. Her physical age would be similar to theirs, but what about her mental age?

The overflowing waves of memory.

The total amount of accumulated time had reached a point where measuring it had become meaningless.

Life was too long—enough to think such thoughts.

“What’s being resolved?”

“Don’t do that, just tell us quickly, okay?”

Twella brought out the word magic to close the students’ mouths.

“That won’t do. It’s a rule. A promise I made with the Pioneer.”

“Really? Then you can’t say it. Hey everyone, let’s leave quickly. Twella needs to pack, so she’s busy.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

The students withdrew cleanly as if they’d never been clingy.

Twella packed her few personal belongings into a bag, then changed into the black robes.

She traced the silver embroidery sewn near the chest with her fingers. It contained intent mediated through nark.

Monitor all you want.

Because it’s all meaningless work.

Twella took her luggage and went outside.

“You came.”

Hyodan was waiting.

The greed filling both eyes was embarrassingly transparent.

“From now on, I’ll be taking care of you.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I’ll take responsibility for everything from one to ten, so work hard.”

“Thank you, truly thank you.”

Hyodan embraced her shoulders while speaking.

“Now, let’s move. From now on you’ll be living in the Eternal Life Hall.”

She watched Hyodan leading the way for a moment, then turned her gaze toward Friendship House.

It wouldn’t be the last time.

Twice, maybe even three more times she’d meet him.

“Farewell.”

Twella left parting words that wouldn’t reach and followed Hyodan.