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My mother, who left Zen’s house after urging me to wake up, grabbed my hand and led me to the inn located at the most outskirts of the village.
The room, where the chilly winds invaded the gap between the window frames, was so cold.
Cold enough that even I, who was good at enduring, had curled into myself.
There was enough wood to light a fire, but Mother, who was very sensitive and on her guard, did not allow the fireplace to be lit.
I could hear someone running with hurried steps toward me. Me, who was trembling from the cold on top of the hard bed.
And soon, a desperate knocking sounded on the door.
A familiar voice called me.
“Marianne–!”
The one who stopped me from reaching out my hand to open the door was Mom.
With a cold face, she glared at the door as though she were estimating something.
I became uneasy hearing the teary call.
Looking at me stamping my feet with anxiety, she heaved a sigh.
“Alright. If you really want to let that child in, promise me you’ll listen to me.”
There was a hint of a troubled and annoyed expression upon Mom’s face as she caressed my head.
She didn’t want to open the door, but eventually surrendered at my persistence.
After nodding hard, I quickly opened the door.
Zen’s fists, which were knocking the door, were scraped raw and bloody.
With a wrecked appearance, he grasped my arms.
“Marianne, my family—”
The voice asking for help was tremendously earnest and desperate.
* * *
I fiddled with my fingers because of the uneasiness as if I returned back to the memory that I forcefully pulled up.
Back then, I was only a little kid who could do nothing.
“I couldn’t help him.”
Before I opened the door, Mom entreated me to ‘listen to her well’.
I couldn’t help Zen only to put her in danger.
Zen, who managed to escape from the place where his family was killed, was exhausted. We hid him and quickly left the village.
“The best we could do was escape together.”
It wasn’t only Zen’s family.
All of that area, the entire village where the dispatched people stayed in, disappeared without leaving a trace.
The only people who survived were Mom and me, who quickly left the village, as well as Zen.
“After losing all of his family, Zen suffered from mana shock for a while . . . And as you’ve seen, unlike other people, he can return to normal after experiencing such a shock.”
In addition, there was no phenomenon in which his mana was depleted.
It was a very unordinary thing that could have him dissected by those with power.
I didn’t know why he had such a special physical constitution.
Whether it was always Zen’s ability, or whether something made Zen become so strange.
Even he didn’t know.
“Because there were people who even erased the trace of that village, I thought it would be dangerous if the fact that Zen hailed from that village were to be exposed.”
On top of that, Mom, who took a risk to bring him out of the village, also entreated me.
While we were looking for a place to entrust him, there was a mage who recognized his value.
“Fortunately, we were lucky to meet someone who wanted to hide Zen.”
Although it was under the condition that he would examine Zen’s condition in detail and record it, he promised to take responsibility for Zen’s safety through the ‘Mana’s oath’.
Thankfully, as the magic tower was an institution that stood alone in this empire, he couldn’t be reached by others.
In addition, even the mages inside the magic tower couldn’t touch Zen.
Because there was no one who was foolish enough to touch the one under the protection of the Master of the Magic Tower.
He lived in hiding for a long time in such a way.
Jeremy, who had been listening to me, asked carefully.
“But, why is that person suicidally visiting the academy?”
“Perhaps because I’m too slow and he’s worried that I can’t keep our promise.”
“Promise?”
It wasn’t Zen’s choice to leave the village.
Because it was me who pressed Mom to leave as if escaping while that kid lost his consciousness for a moment.
Zen didn’t say anything regarding my unilateral decision, but it hurted me that I even preferred if he loathed me.
“I asked him to find out why their traces must be erased even though his family couldn’t return alive. At least to find out the reason, and the one responsible for their deaths.”
It was a baseless thought.
If the force behind it couldn’t even be controlled by the academy’s dean, then what could we do?
However, that promise was the goal that supported Zen.
Also, the reason why the factor that threatened Zen must disappear . . .
“Only then Zen can be exposed to the world.”
I kicked the innocent floor with my feet as I said that.
“But today . . .”
Perhaps Zen was already tired.
Of living in hiding for such a long time.
Of hiding his name and living as someone who didn’t exist.
Even though he was clearly alive, there were only five people in this world who could call Zen’s real name.
Today made me realize that Zen was a different person from me, and that I couldn’t know everything about him.
I unconsciously grumbled.
“It’d be good if I could read his mind.”
“You look upset.”
“I’m very upset.”
At the same time, I also understood him.
However, it would have been better if he had told me if it was difficult for him.
That’s what I felt sad about.