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“The debt keeps growing…”
“We really need to earn some money…”

The night we managed to obtain our guild cards and barely slipped into an inn, our mood was melancholic.

While we could borrow a certain amount from the guild, what remained in our pockets was just a handful of coins.

“It’s good that we can borrow according to our rank from the guild, but as two-stars, this seems to be the limit.”
“But we still have to pay back that money, right? We need to work hard starting tomorrow.”
“At this rate, we won’t even have enough for food. We’ve already run out of canned goods.”
“S-Sorry…”

The food from the village, traded for my hair, was mostly devoured by Momo. At this rate, without earning some daily wages even from cheap tasks, Momo might starve.

“Sigh… I’ll leave the physical labor to you then. Be prepared for that.”
“Yes, leave it to me! …But Master, why are you spreading out blankets on the floor?”
“I’ll sleep on the floor, you can use the bed.”
“Huh!? Let’s sleep together!!”
“It’ll be too cramped for two people, and with your sleeping habits, I might end up bear hugged to death.”

Ignoring Momo’s grumbling, I proceeded to prepare our sleeping arrangements. Despite the cheap blankets, they were a luxury compared to the stone floor of the prison.

“In that case, I’ll sleep on the floor, and Master, you use the bed!”
“Tomorrow’s physical labor is all on you, so make sure you’re well-rested.”
“But you’re likely to catch cold if you sleep on the floor!”
“Stop treating my body like its so frail! Besides, it was you who caught the cold, right!?”
“That doesn’t count! It doesn’t count at all! It was just a little shock to the body, as Miss Roche also said!!”

In the end, our argument continued until late into the night, and ultimately, it was resolved with a game of rock-paper-scissors proposed by her.

――――――――…………
――――……
――…

“Sob… You promised you’d absolutely play scissors… That was cruel, Masterrr…”

My resolute rock was shattered by the paper my treacherous master presented.

Wrapped in blankets and lying on the straw bed, I couldn’t shake off this uncomfortable feeling. If I were going to feel like this, I should have just camped out with my master.

“Hey, Master, are you listening? Maybe we should… Master?”

There was no response. When I turned around, the blanket on the floor was empty. The door to the room was half-open. Did my master slip out quietly to avoid being noticed by me?

“Huh, did she head for the restroom?”

Did my master go out somewhere at this late hour? If so, it’s dangerous. Venturing out at night with my master’s appearance…

Hurriedly leaving the room to search for my master, I spotted the distinctive silver hair swaying outside the window.

“There you are! What are you doing, Master…!”

I climbed out through the open window and followed my master as she turned the corner of the inn towards the backyard.

But just as I turned the corner to follow her, I collided with something invisible, thwarting my stalking.

“Ouch! What is this!?”
“Oh, it’s you, Momo? Why are you tailing me?”

It seems she had noticed my pursuit, wearing a bewildered expression on the other side of the invisible barrier.

“Master! I can’t go any further, what’s going on!?”
“If you’re going to claim to be my disciple, you should sharpen your awareness a bit… Sigh… «Water Fog».”

As my master chanted the spell, a misty spray of water jetted from her fingertips. And the mist, evenly spread, clearly revealed the invisible barrier blocking my path.

“Whoa… Is this an air wall?”
“That’s right. It’s a practice of magecraft control, for freely manipulating the four elements controlled by wizards: water, wind, fire, and earth.”

As she spoke while walking, fireballs danced around my master, the ground beneath her feet bulged, and the mist sprayed around her fingers gathered to form water spheres.

“In a prison with nothing else to do, it’s become a habit. I can’t settle down without doing it before bed.”
“Wow, that’s amazing! It’s so beautiful and impressive!”
“You lack vocabulary. But just so you know, I expect you to be able to do this much as well.”
“Huh? Me, do this!?”
“Of course. If you’re going to claim to be my disciple.”

She was doing all this as easily as breathing, but I could tell that master’s skill was the result of long training.

How many years would it take for me to reach the same level? No, before that, will I even be able to use magecraft?

“…By the way, Momo, you mentioned wanting to learn the magecraft to return to your original world.”
“Huh? Oh, I think I might have said something like that…”

I vaguely remember mentioning it to my master when refusing Miss Roche’s invitation. But I doubled a spell to cross the worlds would be something so easy to use. It was a ridiculously reckless request if I say so myself.

“Unfortunately, such a spell didn’t exist a thousand years ago. I’ve never heard of anyone from another world returning.”
“So, does that mean I can’t…”
“Don’t jump to conclusions. That was a thousand years ago. I don’t know what’s happened in the past thousand years. And besides, worst case scenario――you could create it yourself.”
“C-Create it? Me?”

As my master turned around, the barrier blocking me disappeared. And once she confirmed its disappearance, she stepped closer to me and pointed her slender index finger at me.

“I have no obligation to help you, so go ahead and steal it on your own. My skills, the wisdom of our predecessors, the thousand-year gap, take everything. And then, pull forth the possibility that’s almost equal to zero, waiting beyond.”
“…The possibility of magecraft to return to my original world?”
“That’s right. That’s your goal. Remember it well.”

…Ah, my master is indeed kind.

Her words may be sharp, and she often adopts a cold attitude, but there’s a faint warmth somewhere.

Because she doesn’t abandon someone like me.

“Hey, what about your answer? If you don’t want that, I don’t really care if you run away right now.”
“No, on the contrary, I’m feeling more and more motivated! I love you, Master. I’ll follow you for life!!”
“Ugh!? Hey, wait! Don’t hug me! You’ll break me, you’ll break me, you’ll break–aaaahh!!”
“M-Master!?”

That night, I ended up putting my fainted master to bed and spending the night on the floor myself.