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“Come on, one more set! No dinner if you don’t finish it!”
“Funngigigigi…!”

In the barren land where all vegetation had withered away and the soil lay exposed, I realized I was dreaming—hearing a voice that couldn’t possibly be there.

A lucid dream, perhaps. Maybe reminiscing about old times had brought this nostalgic memory to the surface.

“You’re such a sissy. When I was a kid, I could breeze through a hundred or even a thousand push-ups.”
“Don’t lump me in with a freak like you…!!”

There I was, drenched in sweat like pearls, continuing my push-ups while a suspicious woman—who called herself my master—sat cross-legged on my back.

Maybe I’d forgotten her face, because in the dream, it was hidden beneath a woven hat.

And yet, in one hand she still firmly held a sake bottle—her awful drinking habits apparently hadn’t faded from my memory even after a thousand years.

“On top of that, you’ve got no manners. Honestly, you’re a hopeless disciple. I wish you’d learn a bit of your master’s refined elegance.”
“What’s so refined about a woman who gets drunk in the middle of the day and strips bandits of their clothes instead of the other way around—guhh!!”
“Whoops, my hand slipped. My bad, ahahaha!”

An elbow drop, weighted with her full body mass, slammed into my back. It must’ve packed a real punch, but she didn’t spill a single drop of sake.

Yes, that’s right. That was what Yuuri Rin had been like. In the end, she passed on before I could ever settle the score with her.

“D-Do wizards really need this kind of training…?”
“Of course. With arms and legs like bean sprouts, how else are you going to escape an angry dragon? How will you buy time for a chant? Or deal with a swordsman who closes the distance?”
“If you can’t avoid getting cornered in the first place, you’re already done for! And you were the one who pissed off the dragon in the first place!!”
“Oh, was that me? Hmmm, I dunno. I’m a drunkard, so I can’t remember.”
“You damn—!”
“Jokes aside, excuses like that won’t fly in an age of war. Anyone could die at any time, anywhere. The only one who can protect your life… is you.”
“……”

One moment she was fooling around with a drink in hand, and the next, she’d put on a serious face and start speaking pure logic.

Her personality was as elusive as a cloud and as free as the wind. That air of carefree detachment carried with it a strange charm that drew people in. Even in an era darkened by the ugliness of war, when people’s hearts had grown cold.

“I’ll be sad if you die, you know. If you’re not around, then who’s going to carry me back to the inn when I’m dead drunk? Who’ll clean up after I puke in my sleep? Do the laundry? Cooking… well, we both suck at that. Oh, and if you’re not keeping an eye on me, I’ll lose my wallet in no time.”
“Handle it your damn self.”
“What a heartless disciple! With that attitude, you’ll never get a girlfriend! Like, say, a spunky, lively, slightly airheaded tomboy with pink hair!”
“What the hell kind of overly specific character is that…?”

This must’ve been my imagination filling in the gaps—after all, it was a dream.

I didn’t remember the actual exchange from back then, but if she really had predicted something that accurately, it’d be downright terrifying.

“Hmm… My disciple, take five steps to your right.”
“Huh? What’re you on about now?”

Just as my past self obeyed and stepped to the right, the spot where I’d been standing suddenly exploded.

A blast of dirt and debris rained down over me, and had I ignored her warning, I definitely wouldn’t have walked away unscathed.

“Artillery shell. And lucky us—it was a dud. Looks like a skirmish might be breaking out nearby.”
“…If you noticed it, say something sooner. If that had gone off, I’d be dead!”
“Don’t worry. Something like that couldn’t kill me. And I would have protected you, no matter what. It’s my duty as your master.”

While I brushed the dirt from my clothes, the monster in the woven hat who called herself my master walked on ahead with a light, casual step.

She seemed like she was just going her own way, but now I realized—she’d been paying close attention to me the whole time as I followed behind her.

“Laika, what kind of magecraft do you want to use?”
“Anything’s fine. I just want to become a strong wizard.”
“And what is strength, I wonder? Is it being able to lift that mountain with one hand? Solving complex formulas in an instant? Or maybe, having the will to stand tall no matter the hardship?”
“…I don’t really know, but any of those sound pretty amazing.”
“Exactly. Each one is its own kind of ‘strength.’ So let me ask again—what kind of strength do you want?”
“……”

Back then, I couldn’t say a word in response to those eyes of hers, as if they saw right through me.

I hadn’t grown up enough to give shape to the reasons I held deep inside.

“Hmm. Not answering right away is fine too. Life is full of trials and tribulations. If the answer you reach comes after struggle and pain, then it’ll be worth that much more.”
“…What about you? What kind of strength did you want?”
“The kind that doesn’t need fists like these. But the gods didn’t grant that one—be it the other side or here.”

This was a dream. And dreams, eventually, must come to an end.

The figure walking ahead of me gradually faded, the war-scorched landscape around her beginning to crumble into haze.

“Hey, Laika. If someday you find a strength that’s truly your own… then, at that time——”

✦✧✦✧✦

“Master? Maaasteeer! It’s morning—you need to get up!!”
“……Momo, huh? So this isn’t a dream.”
“It’s reality! Geez, you sleeping in? That’s rare!”

Momo’s cheerful voice echoed in my head first thing in the morning—apparently, I’d fallen into a deep sleep for once.

Pathetic. If this had been the battlefield, I’d have been killed in my sleep.

“Ugh, your bedhead is awful! Come on, sit up, Master! If the students see you like this, they’ll laugh!”
“Don’t worry about it, I can fix it myse—GUHAA?!”

The moment I tried to sit up, a jolt of indescribable pain shot through my entire body.

Right—now I remembered. I’d started training again yesterday to build up my stamina, just like in the old days.

“Gah… gahh… guhuehh…! M-my arms… legs… stomach… back… neck…!”
“So basically, everything hurts. You’re way too weak.”
“Y-yeah, I was starting to realize that myself… I don’t even have the stamina to build stamina…!”

In the end, I couldn’t even manage a single push-up or sit-up last night and passed out from sheer exhaustion.

That “plank” thing Momo taught me didn’t last more than ten seconds, either. I was hopelessly weak.

“M-Momo, this isn’t happening… Momo… Class is cancelled today…!”
“You can’t just skip out over something like this, Master. And it was self-study all afternoon yesterday, remember?”
“That’s because I was looking for you!”
“I’m really sorry about that—but as your disciple, I have to be strict! Light exercise is exactly what you need when you’re sore. Come on, up and at ’em!”
“GYAAAH!! What kind of monster are you?!”

So much for the lingering warmth of a nostalgic dream—today, like always, was shaping up to be another noisy day.

That smug old master of mine… If she was going to come back to haunt me, couldn’t she have picked a better time?

Why today of all days?

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