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Since concealing the Pure Eye in her right eye with the contact lens, overt harassment towards Alfe has diminished. The effect of Teacher Anais’ lecture was evident, and above all, they seemed to have lost to the pressure of responsibility of making Alfe start to hide her Pure Eye. Even the group led by the Gutenberg boy had become apprehensive of me and stopped approaching. I decided to attribute the decrease in matters involving other people to the Black Dragon God’s protection. Alfe was also keeping quiet about it.

In any case, having an environment where we could focus on ourselves was quite beneficial. As intended by teacher Anais, Alfe and I continued to grow without being influenced by other classmates. With the worry of teaming up with classmates other than me eliminated, Alfe had been able to fully showcase her talents, and her grades were leading by a wide margin.

Even as we moved up a grade, Alfe and I continued to be grouped together, and this method had been applied to other classes as well. Among Alfe’s talents, her exceptional proficiency in magic stood out.

In magical studies, there was no need for me to deliberately hold back; Alfe excelled remarkably. Her rich imagination knew no bounds, and recently, she swiftly mastered levitation magic. As for me, I could hover a little above the ground for a short period, but adjusting the height as freely as Alfe was something I found impossible.

Receiving passing grades would have been more than enough, or so I thought. However, it seemed that achieving that at that age was still considered impressive. I couldn’t help but wryly smile at Alfe’s unfathomable talent, effortlessly pulling off such feats. If this continued into the advanced courses, I might have ended up receiving an absurdly high evaluation thanks to Alfe’s abilities. I couldn’t afford to be complacent just because it was a subject I wasn’t good at.

Starting from the third year, we could take advanced courses in subjects of interest, and we were required to submit our preferences by the following week. Avoiding magical studies seemed like a wise choice at least.

Alfe would probably choose magical studies, and everyone around her likely expected that. While it would have been convenient for me to stick with Alfe, hindering her talent by trying to adjust things might be counterproductive. Moreover, I wasn’t confident that I could keep up with the advanced magical studies anticipated in the future.

“Leafa, you should try imagining more diverse things.”
“Well, I enjoy thinking in a more theoretical way, so I don’t have the kind of freedom you have, Alfe. Even that sorbet is the same.”

Alfe’s imagination truly was astounding. In the recent practical session, Alfe applied Create Water, combining real water magic with ice magic to create sorbet. And it actually had the taste of fruit, which even surprised teacher Anais. The idea that you could add flavor to it was something I hadn’t even considered. I managed to make something similar when I tried, but it wasn’t quite the same.

“Leafa, you made strawberry-flavored ice for me.”
“It wasn’t really strawberry-flavored; I just added sweetness and color. It might have looked like it, though.”
“Eh? It tasted like strawberries to me!”

Even in my clumsy attempts at magic, Alfe could enhance the flavor with her imagination alone. It was very much like her. However, it was truly gratifying that she could express her talent without having it suppressed.

As for the elective courses in the third year, even if I gave up, I needed to make sure I didn’t fall too far behind in the basics. Worrying about the future might not be productive, but I had to stay focused.

“Leafa, you’re making a difficult face again. There’s a wrinkle between your eyebrows. It’s ruining your cute face!”

As Alfe said that, she gently smoothed out the area between my eyebrows with her thumb. Even without her doing that, I think at this age, wrinkles like that would naturally disappear.

“Leafa, you’re cute, so you should smile more.”
“I’ll try to do that in front of Alfe.”
“Hehe. Leafa, I love you.”

With a bright smile, Alfe playfully hugged me. Perhaps due to getting used to school in the second year or gaining confidence thanks to the school’s educational policy, her smiles had increased compared to when she first enrolled. It seemed like my gift was indeed helping.

“What’s wrong, Leafa? You’ve been staring at me.”
“Ah, well… I was just thinking that you’ve been letting your hair down lately…”

Feeling embarrassed about overlaying my achievements with Alfe, I hastily came up with something to say. Come to think of it, Alfe started tying or letting her hair down more often. Maybe it’s because her hair has grown longer.

I usually left my care to my mother and had it adjusted to a length that made it easy to care for, but maybe it was ‘normal’ to try various hairstyles like Alfe.

“Leafa, which hairstyle do you like?”
“I think they all look cute.”

I always responded like that, knowing that Alfe would be pleased. However, today Alfe’s reaction was different.

“…Yeah, I hope so.”
“What’s wrong, Alfe? Is something worrying you?”
“Ah, no, it’s nothing. I just hope we’re in the same class again next year.”

Next week was the second promotion test. It’s surprising how quickly three years have passed since we enrolled.

“If we go by grades, there shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Not that… um, it’s about the elective courses… Leafa, are you still planning to do alchemy?”
“That’s the plan… Did we talk about this?”

Thanks to Alfe, I wasn’t opposed to doing alchemy once again, but this should be the first time we’ve touched this topic.

“No, but you did make this contact for me, after all. I think you have a great talent, so that would be for the better.”

Since then, Alfe has been wearing the contact lens almost every day, except on holidays.

“Thank you. But if you ever feel any discomfort in your eye, let me know. I’ll remake it.”

While I anticipate long-term use, it might be a good idea to give her a replacement soon.

“You won’t throw this one away?”
“No, I won’t do that. Since I gave it to you, Alfe.”

Satisfied with my answer, Alfe smiled and nodded. Then, she looked at my face and returned to the previous topic.

“…So, Leafa, are you going to go with alchemy?”

Given the opportunity to redo my life, I had intentionally avoided alchemy to avoid repeating the mistakes of my past. However, it turned out that I still like alchemy. While I struggled with magic, which required imagination, I found myself suited for creating things through actual thinking and design. I didn’t have grand ambitions like inheriting my mother’s legacy, but revisiting alchemy didn’t sound like a bad idea.

“…Yeah. I plan to do that.”

By voicing out my affirmation towards alchemy, I put an end to the indecisiveness in my heart.

“I’m glad.”
“…You’re glad…? Aren’t you going for magic courses?”
“Nope. I’m going with alchemy, just like you, Leafa. I consulted with teacher Anais about choosing alchemy¹.”

Alfe confessed, fidgeting a bit. Ah, I see. That explained why she’d been coming to the old library later than usual recently.

“And so… there’s going to be an alchemy-themed bazaar soon. How about going together?”
“It would be great if we could find something we can buy.”

A bazaar focused on alchemy might have some antique-level alchemical tools. With that expectation, I agreed to Alfe’s invitation, thinking that even with our allowances, we might be able to make some interesting purchases.

1. Robinxen: Hmmmmm… interesting…