There’s No Hope Now

A crisis in which the world might be destroyed, unexpectedly conveyed by none other than the Academy president.

In addition, the appearance of a child who blocked a dragon’s breath without a single scratch, and who shot tremendous flames comparable to that breath into the sky without batting an eye.

Moreover, Rea herself was said to be one of the three who would defeat the Tower’s boss monster along with this extraordinary child.

It was truly a series of extraordinary events.

However, just because unusual events happened one after another, there wasn’t actually any dramatic change in her own life.

If she had to find something that had changed from before the child’s appearance… perhaps it was that unlike before, she could now openly skip classes?

During the so-called “preparation period for Tower deployment,” she was guaranteed complete freedom, so there would be no disadvantages even if she skipped classes.

To be fair, if asked whether she had ever cared about the disadvantages incurred by skipping classes, the answer would be no.

Anyway, since no one could say anything about what Rea did or where she went, she continued her days of experimenting with self-modified magic in the forest near the Academy dormitory, as she had been doing for quite some time.

Although the child had started watching her use various interesting magic—interesting only by Rea’s standards—in the middle of the vast forest a few days ago, well, it wasn’t a big deal.

In fact, on the first day the child came to find her, she thought the child would suggest or ask for something like in Adrian’s case, but the child was truly just watching without any intervention, which was rather puzzling.

However, unlike the past days when she went to the forest alone, perhaps because there was someone watching? Consciously or unconsciously, she became aware of the child’s gaze while using magic.

On top of that, she found herself choosing relatively powerful and showy magic.

Occasionally, when the magic was used more easily and perfectly than she had thought, she would always ask for the child’s impression.

Crackle!

“How about it, Lua? No matter how strong that monster is, if it gets hit directly by something like this, it would hurt quite a bit, right?”

“It does seem like it would be really electrifying.”

Or she would ask if there was any magic the child wanted to see, and then try using it in front of the child.

“Magic is the manifestation of will, as an ancient archmage once said. In other words, anything is possible as long as you can imagine it!”

“Then can you cause something like an earthquake? Like where the ground cracks open?”

“I-I could certainly do that…!”

Although she was concerned that the magic the child asked to see was all impressive in scale from beginning to end, the damaged terrain could always be restored to its original state later.

If all else failed, she could always claim it was an unavoidable accident that occurred during training to defeat the Tower’s monster.

Perhaps because she continued to use only impressive magic in various ways, whether by choice or not, she definitely felt that her mana operation was becoming relatively more free.

By using dangerous magic without hesitation in a “do first, think later” manner, the activation time for magic was definitely decreasing.

Not many days later, she finally challenged higher-level magic through magic circles.

Unlike the magic she had used until now, the difficulty increased exponentially as much as a separate preparation process called a magic circle was added.

Nevertheless, the reason she finally picked up her staff and began operating mana was because the child was watching again today.

Of course, she knew the child wouldn’t nag or criticize her if she failed, but…

‘I don’t want to create embarrassing memories in front of such a young child.’

If possible, she wanted to show only cool and perfect appearances to the child.

The moment when the child, who was blankly staring at Rea’s magic, unconsciously uttered an exclamation was when she felt the most thrilling.

“So, watch carefully, Lua. This one is a truly amazing magic!”

Soon, small lights gradually floated up toward the sky.

Those things that flew weakly like feathers fluttering in the strong wind suddenly gathered together to form a large circle.

After that, tiny pentagrams and inverted triangles were drawn one by one inside the giant diagram.

At this point, all the theoretically proven parts were perfectly arranged within the magic circle.

However, if she was just going to follow someone else’s completed magic, she wouldn’t have started in the first place.

Just before the huge magic circle floating in the air was completed, she paused for a moment to exhale slowly. Then she finally engraved one of her own variations inside the white circle.

Right after that, a tremendous flash of light bloomed in the sky that had been dyed red with the sunset glow.

When she unconsciously closed and opened her eyes, her eyes were filled with the sight of blue light ice pouring down from the huge magic circle spread in the air.

Within a few seconds, every time the ice touched the ground, huge ice flowers bloomed on the surface, freezing everything around.

If an ice age were to suddenly come to the world, would it look like this?

“Wow… Since when could you do something like this?”

“Umm, actually… I hadn’t even tried it until today.”

For a magician, mana is like another light.

Creating shadows that change their appearance each time depending on where, how, and how much they shine, such a versatile…

“But, now that it actually works… I only feel strange.”

Light.

“…I should have tried it earlier. I just wasted time tinkering with intermediate magic in little bits.”

Rea didn’t know exactly what the emotions that were beginning to fill her heart were called.

However, feeling that she would surely regret it someday if she let them flow away meaninglessly.

She began to take interest in things she hadn’t paid much attention to due to the high possibility of failure.

Either way, now that she knew there was a possibility of success, it was worth trying.

Whether the end was failure or success, at least she would get the small comfort of having made an effort in her own way.

On the day she finally succeeded in using high-level magic through a magic circle—and one whose nature she had personally altered—she stayed up all night designing all kinds of new magic circles.

Most of them were magic circles with radical and extreme variations that seemed too reckless even to Rea herself. But at least she could try them.

Once she gained momentum, her sleeping time decreased day by day after that. Skipping meals also became more frequent.

If a bit of exaggeration is added, it would not be wrong to say that she devoted every moment her eyes were open to these new attempts.

In both good and bad ways, she had no time to be distracted by anything else.

Still, it didn’t matter.

“…That’s too fast.”

“Huh? What is?”

“The speed at which Rea is developing new magic. It definitely wasn’t this fast before…”

“Should I take that as a compliment? Thanks~!”

Meaningful results continued to follow, enough to surprise even the child who knew the future.

She felt she somewhat understood how people called geniuses by others feel.

Magic is thrilling.

Always new.

Although I’ve known for quite a long time, magic is still the best—

Crack

“…Crack?”

Her gaze, which had always been directed at the magic circle in the air, slowly turned downward.

It was right after that when she realized the identity of the dull sound she had just heard.

“Ah… no…”

For some reason, the thin staff she had been holding as always was gradually splitting.

The reliable pillar that had been continuously assisting in the activation of magic since she decided to make magic her life companion in her childhood, which she couldn’t precisely remember when.

That precious staff that couldn’t be exchanged for anything else.

It was falling apart helplessly like a rotten tree…

Thud

“…Ugh…”

“H-Hey, snap out of it! You can’t faint here!”

The world, including the child who was shouting something in front of her, began to spin.

Sure enough, the gears of reason that were creaking and slowing down.

The half-completed magic circle, as expected, couldn’t maintain its form for long and gradually scattered, flying off into the distance.

But at the point where the staff was no longer a staff, the magic circle was no longer of concern.

The reason being that most of the magic she had developed or modified until now relied on the unique mana formula engraved inside the staff.

If magic is likened to a car, her staff was the one and only key in the world that could start the car called magic.

In other words, without the staff, she couldn’t even activate the magic she had developed or modified all this time.

“…There’s no hope now… The world and everything else is going to be ruined…”

“D-Don’t say such terrible things!”

Something in her heart began to crumble.

However, perhaps because the child’s small, soft hands grabbed both her shoulders and kept shaking them.

Or perhaps due to a small amount of hope that if the child knew the future, there might be some solution.

“L-Lua. What, what should I… do…?”

Barely escaping from a complete state of panic, she asked the child for help in a sobbing voice.

What eventually came back from the child, who had been looking with a troubled gaze, was the sound of a light sigh.

And then, a clear yet youthful voice as usual.

“If it’s broken, you fix it, and if it can’t be fixed, you just buy a new one. It’s simple, isn’t it?”

“B-But—”

“Don’t worry. I already know what staff can replace this one.”

It didn’t seem to be just a feeling that a halo suddenly burst forth from behind the child.

Why did the child seem similar to a blue robot cat that somehow provides solutions no matter what concerns are shared?

…Wait.

Come to think of it, the child is also a cat, right?

When you consider it, the fact that they came from the future is also the same.

Then perhaps, could the child’s true identity possibly be Dorae—

“Huh? What did you say?”

“Ah, nothing at all.”