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——Olivia’s Perspective

Somehow I managed to survive the first half of my first year in the Magic Academy.
Thanks to Chris’ help I also managed to keep my grades high enough to stay in Classroom A. Though Natalia still grimaced after seeing my report card¹.

Still, I don’t have to worry about anything during break.

We packed our things and came back the same way we came, in a caravan of merchants, which took us back to the house where my mother and father are resting.

“Natalia, I’ll sort my own luggage.”
“Alright, but please do call me if you need help.”

I take my own luggage to my room and lock the door, leaving Natalia to sort the rest and butcher the Clamp Boar I killed. In my room, I leave my luggage on the ground and go open the curtains and windows. The stale air gets blown out as new refreshing air replaces it.

“Alright, time to unpack.”

I open my bag and take out its contents. My clothes and other accessories can stay packed, but I’m running out of space for the books I bought in Ingralowe, so I have to leave some here.

All the books were picked by Amy and Chris, and I’m really bad at reading so it takes me a lot of time to go through them, but they’re really good references.

This book is about a female knight and a princess that had feelings for each other, but struggled to get anywhere in their relationship which kept me at the edge of my seat. This is about a female adventurer that pretended to be male, but was so cool that the protagonist magician girl fell in love with her. Then there’s this one which isn’t about two girls, but a noble and a maid that fell in love. My heart was literally thumping seeing them overcome the barrier of their ranks.

All the books have happy endings where their love works out, so I really hope I can be like that with Natalia too.

“Ah, this book.”

Amy had said, “You’ll eventually need this as well,” when she gave it to me. I would never talk about its contents openly while the sun is out, but she was right, that’s something else I hope to do with Natalia one day.

“Me and…Natalia…No, stop me! Not yet!”

I almost open the book without thinking, but I forcefully stop myself. I also shake my head, trying to stop this feeling. But I can’t really get rid of those fantasies I pictured. When I returned a year ago I pretty much forced her into a situation like that too though.

“We bathed together…”

I can still remember Natalia’s naked body. She was standing there amidst the steam, with her perfect curves and smooth clear skin. Even if she was constructed that way, she was beautiful.

My second chance to see her like that came suddenly one day in Ingralowe. After school, I returned to my room in the dorm, and walked in on Natalia while she was changing.

Natalia always wakes up earlier than me and takes baths while I’m sleeping, so I never had a chance to peek at her changing before. When it finally happened, it seemed like she hadn’t expected it herself, as she stared at me in a daze.

I walked out and closed the door out of respect, but to be honest I wanted to stay and watch².

Natalia is always strong, kind, beautiful, and sometimes strict. Some days later I saw yet another side of her though.

I was in the room reading a book when Natalia came back. I tried to greet her like always, but I couldn’t finish. Natalia looked like she was about to cry. At first I thought I was just seeing things, but when I got closer I knew for sure.

I wanted to do something. I didn’t like seeing her like that. Before I realized, I had made Natalia sit on the bed and I was hugging her. I had resisted hugs for a long time, so she would stop seeing and treating me like a child, but just this one time I had to do it.

Natalia slowly leaned into my body, and I just continued hugging her.

The next day I went shopping with her and we ran into a male adventurer. I think he might be the reason why Natalia looked like that, but she just walked past him and acted like nothing was wrong, so I never found out anything.

Now that I think about it, I’ve seen many sides of Natalia this half year.

The kind Natalia that combs and washes my hair. The Natalia who seems to enjoy cooking a lot. The angry Natalia that got mad hearing my mother being insulted. The baffled Natalia seeing my magic. The strict Natalia who taught me magic theory. The grimacing Natalia seeing me struggle to understand. The laughing Natalia who out-negotiated Amy. The happy Natalia that picked matching scent pouches with me. And the sad Natalia, whose suffering I never understood.

I like each Natalia. I love all sides of her.

Before I realized, I was leafing through the book, watching a depiction of adults in their secret life. I start to picture myself and Natalia as the leads of the story. Natalia with her well-kept long and smooth silver hair, a bountiful chest that isn’t too large either, and her waist curves that are usually hidden by a skirt.

And once I touch her there-

My sweet fantasies get shattered by a knock on the door.

Oh no! If Natalia sees me like this she’ll be grossed out forever!

“Young Lady, I’ll be going to visit Aria…”

I take the book and stuff it inside the bag, which I then throw to a corner of my room.

Ahhh, what do I do?! I don’t want her to think I’m weird!

“I-I’ll go too.”

I can hardly breathe properly as I open the door slightly.

“Umm…it’s alright if you’re busy, I can go alone.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll be ready soon.”
“…Okay.”

I think I managed to play it off.

I quickly adjust my clothes (I saw Natalia wearing some light armor on top of her maid outfit), and we head to the cave where Aria lives.

Natalia’s magic light illuminates the cave as we go inside. I’m really bad at small spells like that, so I’m glad Natalia is here to cover for me. After some time we find a brown spider in front of us. It looks a lot like Aria’s Steel Spider children, but the color is different. Is it an evolved species?

“Hello, do you live here with Aria?”

Natalia spoke to the spider like it was the most normal thing to do. The spider can’t talk, but it communicates with Natalia through gestures.

“Let’s go then, Young Lady.”
“Okay…you seem used to this.”
“?”

I knew Natalia would come here from time to time while I was away at school, but I never imagined she spoke with the monsters of the cave like this.

1. Silva: Typical Asian parent? xD
2. Robinxen: Whew this child.