“Ow.”

“Why are you doing that all of a sudden?”

Khalid grabbed my wrist, frowning as hard as he could.

The thin black strands of hair drooped limply between my fingers.

“Just watch first.”

Holding the hair, I moved my magic. The air around us trembled once.

Would this work?

“Hup.”

A blue magic circle rose into the air, and I felt the magic inside my body and the magic around us flow into its complicated formula.

The limp strands of hair sprang taut.

And then...

The magic engraved on this stele stops time.

Then what about a variation of it?

In other words...

Turning time back.

The moment I thought that, I felt a solid mass of power rush out of me.

Huh? This is a little...

The instant I realized something had gone wrong—

“Ruby!”

The black hair clutched in my hand slowly began to turn silver.

“...Wh-what...”

“Hah—ugh—”

The magic circle abruptly flickered out.

My vision spun. Sour bile surged up from my stomach.

Classic magic depletion.

“Ruby! Are you okay?”

Khalid immediately grabbed my hand and poured magic into me.

It must have been a spell too much for even the surrounding magic to help bear.

“But it... works...” 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

I flopped flat onto the floor and lifted the hair still clenched tightly in my hand.

A slightly shortened length.

Hair that had turned half silver.

As if...

it had gone back to how it looked before I dyed it.

“It works.”

But apparently moving time really was something enormous.

All I had done was alter two strands of hair, and it had drained every bit of magic from my whole body. I had not even changed them completely.

If not for the sealing tree’s highly concentrated magic, I might have seriously damaged my magic core.

This is a dangerous magic circle.

That was what I thought.

But I had reached another conclusion too.

I can use this time magic.

I was certain of it now.

My hand rose to my lower back on its own.

If I can use this... to stop the time of my mark as it grows...

Even if I could not free myself from this mark completely right now, wouldn’t this at least buy me time?

Time to grow strong enough to stand against the Mage King.

My eyes filled with red light.

Wigeria.

With my eyes closed, I desperately called out to the sea inside my mind.

Please. Help me stop the time of this mark with my own magic.

The sea of wisdom that held every magic circuit in the world.

At that moment, its waves surged violently.

Of course.

Ripples spread like a gentle voice.

A great wave swelled, and the knowledge buried within it rose all at once.

Everything I have is for you.

*****

“Wow, I’m so sleepy.”

That was what I said as we came out along the back path from the library.

“That’s what happens when you overdo it.”

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Khalid caught hold of me. Apparently he had decided this was hopeless, because despite my protests, he took off one of his bracelets.

“Still, I did get something out of it.”

“What exactly did you get out of it? Your hair didn’t even turn completely silver again.”

“Oh, there was definitely something.”

Khalid did not know my mark was growing.

So he seemed to think I had simply been trying to use time magic to restore my hair color.

Wigeria made the magic circle for me.

Now, as soon as my magic fully recovered, I would be able to stop the time of the mark.

If I borrowed Wigeria’s knowledge, then unlike before, I would be able to activate the magic circle with peak efficiency instead of having my magic sucked out all at once.

But unlike my hopeful thoughts, the steps I was taking wobbled like those of a newborn fawn.

Maybe it was because I had lost too much magic too suddenly.

I just would not recover.

“Oof.”

In the end, I staggered to one side of the path and collapsed with a plop.

I felt like a drunk who could not even manage her own body.

“This is honestly painful to watch.”

A broad black back appeared right in front of me.

“Get on.”

“What is this? Are you my big brother now?”

“Why would you say something that horrifying?”

Horrifying?

Okay, sure, my brothers were a little embarrassing to show off in public, but they were still pretty decent!

“I’m saying it because at this rate, I don’t think you’ll even make it back to the dormitory. Looks like I’m going to have to keep giving you magic the whole way.”

Khalid muttered calmly.

Hurry up.

His voice suddenly sounded a little lower than usual.

“...Th-then couldn’t we just hold hands...”

“That won’t be enough.”

“...”

“The more contact, the better.”

The dwarves living inside my heart instantly started jumping up and down.

“You...!”

The tips of my ears flared hot, and I snapped back without thinking.

“You say the weirdest things sometimes!”

“What exactly was weird about that?”

“...Ugh. I’m heavy.”

“All right. I’ll be the judge of that, so hurry up. At this rate, the night patrol’s going to show up.”

In the end, I clung to Khalid’s back like a cicada.

The moment his strong arms hooked under my legs and held me tight, cool magic flooded through my whole body as if it had been waiting for this. It felt like being wrapped up in a soft force.

I’ve seriously gotten heavier.

Autumn was the season of getting plump.

That meant I was even heavier than usual.

“...”

“...”

In the middle of my soundless internal screaming, the sound of footsteps echoed around us.

There were two of us, but only one set of footsteps.

The moonlit path glimmered blue, and for some reason it felt as though I were walking through a dream.

“Khalid... aren’t you the one wobbling more?”

“Could you maybe stop playing with my hair? It’s making it hard to focus on walking.”

I let out a small laugh.

The nape of his exposed neck was a little warm.

“Your hair feels really nice. What does it feel like to be born with everything?”

“...Please.”

Khalid muttered something like a groan, then let out a long sigh.

“Born with everything, my ass. I don’t even have my memories.”

“Ugh... no putting yourself down.”

I answered drowsily and rested my cheek against his back.

The pleasant thump of his heart somehow felt like a lullaby.

“You really are an amazing kid...”

You were the hero of the novel, after all.

“The coolest hero in the whole world...”

You just did not know it yet.

Khalid fell silent for a long time.

Fighting back a yawn, I added whatever came to mind.

“Of course, I still think my dad is just a tiny bit cooler.”

“...Did you really have to add that last part?”

“Hehe.”

I laughed softly, then slowly closed and opened my eyes.

“Yaaawn. What do I do? I’m sleepy.”

“Go ahead. I’ll keep you awake.”

No, that was not right.

You were not supposed to fall asleep while someone was driving...

or riding a horse...

no, wait, that was not it either.

You were definitely not supposed to fall asleep while someone was carrying you piggyback.

But I was so tired.

Refreshing magic kept pouring into me without pause, and maybe because of that, my exhausted body felt like it was gently melting loose.

“Sorry. We were supposed to go on a night walk...”

“It’s fine.”

Khalid smiled faintly.

“This is enough for me.”

That low voice was the last thing I heard.

*****

Late that night,

Balrok could not sleep.

He had tried knocking back drink after drink, but it only made his thoughts heavier.

“...A battlefield?”

A hollow laugh escaped him.

How did that make any sense?

“What? You’re saying our little runt said something like that in the Rare Books Archive?”

“Yes. ...Hadn’t you heard anything either, Grandfa—I mean, Balrok?”

“Of course not. Is that what’s had you looking like death warmed over?”

“Well...”

“Come on, what was it! The village she lived in got attacked by dark creatures, didn’t it? Maybe she was talking about that.”

“Is that all it was...”

Liam still looked unconvinced, but he nodded soon enough.

For all how mature he was, he was still a boy.

With Balrok speaking so firmly, he seemed willing to dismiss it as his own overthinking.

“...”

Of course, that only meant the weight Liam had set down landed squarely on Balrok’s shoulders instead.

“Damn it, this is driving me crazy. I can’t take it anymore.”

In the end, he slammed his glass down.

Then, without a shred of hesitation, he left the townhouse and headed for the Academy.

If Morris found out, he would probably clutch the back of his neck and collapse, but Balrok had the sort of temperament that had to do whatever he set his mind on.

Especially when his thoughts were in an uproar like this.

The Academy’s rear gate was under strict access control.

The people on night watch spotted Balrok and their eyes nearly bulged out of their heads.

“G-g-g-g—!”

“I’m not here to leave, so shut it. Got it?”

He flashed proof of his identity and strode grandly toward the dormitory.

He got past the dormitory guards just as easily.

It had been a {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} little annoying, but thanks to the personnel House of Zebbert had recently assigned as special support, the security situation was satisfying enough.

That was more like it.

This was where his jewel of a youngest child was staying.

“Oh dear. Oh dear. How long has it been?”

Balrok carefully opened the door and stepped inside.

The room was quiet and peaceful.

He could hear the soft breathing of the two sleeping children.

“They look like a pair of bean bugs.”

It made him smile, but for some reason it also made his chest ache.

Unlike Sortie, who had kicked her blanket halfway across the room and was sprawled out asleep, Rubian was sleeping curled tightly into herself with the blanket wrapped all around her.

Balrok covered Sortie properly, then went over to Rubian’s bed and crouched down beside it.