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For the first holiday of the new semester, we decided to go out at Alfe’s request.

Ur Auntie had said she wanted to eat the cookies we made before again, so it would be a good chance to pick up ingredients as well. With the rather unusual group of Alfe, Hom, myself, and Farah—who was eager to sample the Arcadia Empire’s cuisine—we headed out into the lively streets that still carried the lingering mood of the New Year.

Passing through the district filled with shops and entertainment venues, we made our way toward the resort area. In winter, the number of tourists who come for camping or swimming in Lake Venea drops sharply, so aside from a few lodging facilities the area is usually quiet. Today, however, a massive canopy—apparently inspired by the blue of the lake—stretched across the entire street, and countless stalls lined the road beneath it.

“Even though it’s already been a while since the New Year, there are so many people!”

Alfe’s white breath danced in the cold winter air.

“Yeah—”
“During the year-end and New Year holidays, all the academy students go home, so there’s basically nobody around. That’s why they shift the market dates a bit, y’know.”

Melua’s voice overlapped with my reply from somewhere nearby.

“Melua?”

But when I looked around in the direction the voice had come from, I couldn’t see her anywhere. Well, with my height, once someone blends into a crowd, it’s almost impossible for me to find them.

“Ah! Senior Melua!”

Alfe spotted her first—but oddly enough, there was no sign of Melua where she was pointing.

“Nyahaha. Guess if you’ve got the Pure Eye, you can see through it.”
“Exactly. Senior, even if you hide, I can still tell.”

As Farah laughed and walked closer, Melua suddenly appeared out of what had seemed like empty space.

“Ahh, man! I thought I hid pretty well, but if Alfe’s here, I guess that’s how it goes~”

As her voice sounded, something like a thin curtain fluttered in the air before us, revealing Melua’s figure.

“Oh, so you were wearing an invisibility robe.”
“Yup! Master’s aether-blocking robe gave me a ton of inspiration, and I just happened to get some material that can manipulate light refraction, so I thought—why not give it a try? So? What do you think?”
“I think it turned out pretty well.”

Looking closer, the robe’s threads were woven with l’arc-en-ciel fibers that shimmered in rainbow colors, created by melting several magic stones together. The l’arc-en-ciel embroidery refracted the light that struck the robe, projecting the surrounding scenery onto its surface and creating the visual illusion that the wearer had become transparent.

It was a classic alchemical technique, but I had to admit I was impressed that Melua—who had always insisted she wasn’t good at delicate work, even for simplified formulas—had sewn something like this entirely by hand.

“Yay! Sooo—Master, since I’m such a capable disciple, how about a New Year’s gift for me?”
“…A New Year’s gift? What’s that?”

It was a term I’d never heard before, though the name sounded somehow auspicious. As I asked Melua about it, I noticed Estea approaching from behind her.

“Estea!”
“Melua, you suddenly disappeared, so I went looking for you.”
“Sooorry! I was actually planning to surprise you, Estea, but when I spotted Master and the others my feet just kind of moved on their own…”

As she spoke, Melua used the invisibility robe to make her hand turn transparent.

When only a single part was made transparent like that, the boundary became clearly visible—it was oddly fascinating.

“So you were with Estea.”
“Yep, yep! Oh right—Estea. If you had to explain what a New Year’s gift is, how would you put it?”

Nodding along, Melua casually tossed the explanation to Estea. With a wry smile, Estea looked at me and explained politely.

“A New Year’s gift is a custom from my homeland. To celebrate the New Year, those of higher standing give money or goods to those younger or beneath them.”
“And! Since I’m Master’s number-one disciple, I figured maybe I’d get one too~”

Melua beamed at me expectantly. It wasn’t like she was short on money, and since she was asking me, it was obviously something related to alchemy.

“Well, it doesn’t have to be a New Year’s gift. If there’s something you want, I can just make it for you.”

Melua had helped me out a lot, and honestly, I’d be happy to get some time to immerse myself in alchemy however I liked, outside of assignments.

“As expected of Master! You totally get it! So generous! The best~!”

Apparently delighted with my answer, Melua threw her arms around me.

“Flattering me won’t make anything appear, you know.”
“Huh!? Wait, are you the type who takes it back!?”

Melua hurriedly pulled away and nervously studied my expression.

“I’m not taking it back. So what do you want?”
“Right, right! Can’t start without saying that! A Blood Grail, please!!”

Melua looked at me with serious eyes and clasped her hands together in front of her face as if praying.

Ah, right. Come to think of it, I had promised to synthesize a Blood Grail for Melua. Now that the Zersteller—Canalford Cup—was over, it should be fine to hand it over.

“Yay!!”
“Geez!”

Melua’s shout of delight was drowned out by Marie’s irritated voice.

“Oh, welcome back, Marie.”
“I went out of my way to get the tickets myself, and here you all are just chatting?”

Snorting at Estea’s words of appreciation, Marie placed her hands on her hips with an annoyed look.

“Chatting, huh…? More like New Year’s greetings! Oh! Let me introduce you, Marie! This is the person I respect more than anyone—an unbelievably skilled alchemist—Master Leafa!!”
“If she’s a student from Class F in the first year, then I already know who she is.”

Melua had introduced me with grand gestures, but Marie’s reaction was rather cool.

“Huh? Why’s that?”
“I told you I was invited as a special instructor for magic cannons, didn’t I? It turned out to be a joint class between Class A and Class F.”
“Hmmm?”

This time Melua looked at Marie suspiciously.

“W-What’s that supposed to mean!? I did give a proper lecture, you know!”
“Yes! It was really easy to understand and very helpful!”

As if to defend Marie, Alfe raised her hand and spoke up. Hearing that, Melua nodded in apparent satisfaction.

“Well, if Alfe says so, then I guess it must be true~ Oh, by the way, Alfe is my disciple. She’s got insane potential—an incredibly talented kid.”
“So her performance in the Canalford Cup was genuine, then. She’s not someone I’d want as an enemy.”

Marie nodded as if something had finally clicked, then observed us closely.

“That’s unusual. I didn’t expect you to say something like that, Marie,” Estea asked.
“Well, Estea and Melua are already close to you. There is no point in me treating you as enemies. If anything, would it not be better to have you on my side?”

I wasn’t sure why Marie directed that question at me, but I nodded in agreement anyway.

“By the way, Leafa, what brings you out today? The new term just started—are you out shopping for something?”
“…Yeah. We came out partly for sightseeing and partly to pick up ingredients for sweets.”
“But there are way more people than we expected, so we were worried we might get lost…”

As I answered Estea’s question, Alfe added that explanation. Hearing it, Estea cast a glance toward Melua, who seemed fidgety, as if she had something she wanted to say.

“That’s how it is. In that case, I’ll show you around.”
“Yeah, yeah! If you stick with us, you can’t go wrong.”
“I’m afraid that would be too much to ask. Lady Marie is with you, after all.”

Hom politely declined Estea’s offer. She was probably being considerate toward Estea. They must have had their own plans, so it felt a bit rude to drag them along just because we happened to run into them.

“I truly don’t mind at all,” Marie said.
“But didn’t you mention something about tickets earlier?” I asked, just to confirm what we’d heard before, since Marie seemed surprisingly willing.
“That’s true, but there’s still some time before then.”

With that, Estea offered to guide us around the city.

　　　＊　＊　＊

With Estea and the others leading the way, we made a full circuit of the New Year’s street stalls. Along the way, we stopped for a light meal—one of the resort area’s specialties called a wrap sandwich, a rolled sandwich made with thin flatbread that could be eaten with one hand.

Before entering the resort area, the sheer number of people had surprised me. But once inside, it wasn’t actually unpleasantly crowded. Every shop had clearly prepared for the rush with plenty of staff, so shopping went smoothly everywhere we went.

“Looks like we finished sooner than expected.”

We had bought all the planned ingredients for the sweets—along with creeper powder—and grabbed a quick bite, yet the sun was still up and the sky was bright outside. Alfe murmured with a hint of regret, since we had finished our errands much earlier than we originally planned.

“Want to head back to the market again?”
“No, it’s not like there’s anything else I want.”

Perhaps she thought I was tired from the crowds and was holding back for my sake, because Alfe turned me down with a smile.

“Nyaha! I’m stuffed too, so there’s nothing much to do even if we go back,” Farah said.
“Shall we return then, Master? Though it is a bit of a shame,” Hom added.

It was a little surprising to hear Hom say she regretted leaving. Maybe she wanted to spend a little more time with Estea. The two of them seemed to have grown closer over the New Year’s break, so if it wasn’t a bother, spending more time together to deepen their friendship wouldn’t be a bad idea. Besides, I still wanted to talk a bit more about the student council general election.

“Then—”
“Wait, wait, Master! Breaking up here would be way too much of a waste!”

Perhaps she sensed I was about to suggest calling it a day, because Melua quickly cut me off.

“But you’ve got something to do, right, Melua?”
“Yeah, but it’s just going to a live show. If we all go together, there’s no problem! Right, Marie?”
“I expected you’d say that, so I already arranged tickets,” Marie replied.

At Melua’s question, Marie pulled out a set of tickets from her pocket and showed them to us.

“Though I merely prepared them on my own initiative. If you don’t need them, that’s fine as well.”

Honestly, I wasn’t completely satisfied with just heading home like this, so Melua’s suggestion piqued my interest.

“…By ‘live,’ you mean going to listen to music, right?”
“That’s right. You’ve never been before?”

Sensing my interest from the question, Estea asked with a smile.

“I love singing, but I’ve never gone to anything like that before…” Alfe admitted.
“Then all the more reason to go, Alfe! If you go, Master will definitely come too!”
“Nyahaha! You’re talking about her like she’s bait,” Farah laughed.

Melua’s blunt phrasing made Farah laugh, but Alfe nodded earnestly and looked at me.

“If you mean it’ll make you interested, Leafa, then I’m all for it! I want to go together.”
“If that’s what you want, Alfe, then I’ll go. Is that alright, Hom?”
“Of course, Master.”

Hom nodded with a smile, and Farah gave an enthusiastic nod as well.

“Nyaha. Then it’s settled—everyone’s coming!”
“You’re most welcome. The tickets are my treat, so please don’t worry about the cost,” Marie said with a smile as she handed each of us a ticket to the live show.