“The graduation exam will take place outside the village.”
Graduation.
I froze at the word.
I’d figured Roxy would stay until I was seven or eight before she left.
Saying I wasn’t sad about it would be a lie.
She’s a genuinely good teacher.
In terms of magical mastery, she’s clearly well ahead of me.
“Rudy, come on up.”
“Mm.”
We rode out on one of Paul’s horses, Roxy and I, heading toward open country.
The pace was easy, slow enough that I had time to think about what I’d say when we parted.
It was only now that I realized I’d never actually pictured us separating.
We’d only lived together for 2 years, and yet I’d already come to think of her as family.
When did I get this soft?
Along the road, a few villagers watched us pass, probably because of Roxy’s hair.
But no.
Looking closer, there was nothing strange in their eyes.
Roxy must have helped them often.
They were just saying hello.
Before us stretched farmland as far as I could see, a few houses scattered across it here and there.
A perfectly ordinary rural scene.
I leaned back against Roxy’s chest and let the quiet settle over me.
We rode in silence.
The silence wasn’t uncomfortable, but I decided to break it anyway.
“Teacher, why is your hair blue?”
I’d always assumed this world simply had every kind of hair color.
But actually, blue and green were rare.
Teacher had mentioned once that green hair was cursed.
So what about blue?
I’d never gotten around to asking.
But with things as they were, I wanted to know even just a little more about Roxy before she left.
“Because I’m of the Demon Race.”
“Demon Race?”
“Didn’t Paul and Zenith tell you?”
“No.
I only just found out Teacher was of the Demon Race.”
I stayed where I was, leaning against her chest without any particular thought in my head.
Was this a privilege that came with being five years old?
Probably.
I wasn’t thinking about anything.
Just feeling the breeze.
“Rudy, are you disappointed?”
“Hm?
About what?”
“About your teacher being of the Demon Race…” Her voice dropped a little.
“How could I be?
No matter what, Teacher is my teacher.
That’s never going to change.”
“Is that so…
Then I’m relieved.”
Demon Race, huh.
Wait.
I think I just glossed over something pretty important.
Does that mean Roxy isn’t actually a teenage girl?
Actually, better not go down that road.
Speculating about a woman’s age is rude no matter how you frame it.
Even if she is this small.
…
From my feet all the way to the horizon, nothing but grassland.
Though I could faintly make out a mountain range in the distance.
Either way, this was a view I never could have seen in my past life.
“Around here should be fine.”
Roxy drew up beside a lone tree, dismounted, and tied the reins to the trunk.
Then she lifted me down and turned to face me.
“Next, I’ll use the Water Saint-level Magic, Cumulonimbus.
It’s a spell that generates a wide-scale torrential storm with lightning.”
“Yes.”
“Please imitate me and try to cast it.”
Water Saint-level Magic.
So this was the graduation exam.
The spell Roxy was about to cast would be the most powerful magic she could manage.
If I could cast it too, it would mean she had nothing left to teach me.
“Since I’m only demonstrating, I’ll let the spell dissipate after 1 minute.
For Rudy — if you can sustain it for 3 minutes, that counts as passing.”
“Understood.”
“Then—”
Roxy raised both hands toward the sky.
“O majestic spirit of water, prince of the thunder emperor who ascends the heavens!
Fulfill my wish, bring forth violent blessings, and show this humble existence the breadth of your power!
Strike the anvil with the hammer of the gods, reveal your terrible majesty, and let the floodwaters swallow the land whole.
Oh, rain!
Sweep away everything, drive out all things!
Cumulonimbus!”
Every syllable was clear and unhurried.
The full incantation took over a minute.
The moment she finished, the sky clamped down all at once.
A few seconds passed.
Then the rain hit, not rain so much as a wall of water, as if the sky itself had cracked open.
A gale tore across the open ground.
Lightning threaded through pitch-black clouds.
In the middle of that roaring downpour, a purple flash split the cloud cover.
The crack of it rolled across the plain.
Then the light swelled, and swelled, as if brightness itself had mass.
And came down.
BOOM!
My eardrums rang.
The flash seared my eyes.
So that was Water Saint-level.
After 1 minute, the spell ended.
I turned my head.
The horse that had been standing under the tree had collapsed.
Struck by lightning, apparently.
“Awa-wa…”
Roxy scrambled over and cast healing magic on it.
The horse hadn’t died outright, at least.
“Honestly…
haah…
that was way too close.”
2 years of living with us had made Roxy well aware of the situation.
That was Paul’s most prized horse.
Not a famous breed, but Paul genuinely cared for it.
He’d announced publicly, more than once, that his love for that horse ranked second only to Zenith.
“Y-you have to keep this a secret, okay…”
She said it with tears in her eyes.
She’s a bit clumsy like that.
Makes careless mistakes more often than she probably intends to.
But she works hard, harder than anyone.
A genuine prodigy who puts in the effort to match it.
I have a lot of respect for her.
I also know that she worries about being written off as too young, which is why she always tries to carry herself with a certain authority.
“Don’t worry.
I won’t say a word.”
“Uuu…
thank you.”
So adorable.
Even with a whole previous lifetime in my memory, I couldn’t help but feel it.
I never fell in love in my past life.
But if I’d met someone like Teacher Roxy back then, I think I would have.
“Mm…”
Roxy tugged her hat brim down, then collected herself and looked at me.
“Alright, your turn.
I’ll make sure to protect Caravaggio.”
“Yes.
Please watch me.”
“Mm!”
I walked out to the middle of the grassland.
Okay.
Let’s go.
Roxy was leaving.
She’d already become real family to me, not just in name, but in the way that actually counts.
So I’d show her everything I had.
Give the person about to leave home something solid to carry with her.
I opened my mouth slowly.
“O majestic spirit of water, prince of the thunder emperor who ascends the heavens…
Fulfill my wish, bring forth violent blessings, and show this humble existence the breadth of your power!
Strike the anvil with the hammer of the gods, reveal your terrible majesty, and let the floodwaters swallow the land whole.
Oh, rain!
Sweep away everything, drive out all things!
Cumulonimbus!”
Picture it.
Use everything.
More mana.
Pour it all in.
I had never once felt my mana this deep, this full, this present.
Sustain it.
So Roxy would know I could stand on my own.
Focus.
So Roxy would know how much I respected her.
Everything I had.
So Roxy would know, without any doubt, that she was a good teacher.
The sky went past dark.
It became night, total, absolute night, in the middle of the afternoon.
Come on.
Reach for the lightning.
Make it go where I want it to go.
BOOM!
It struck dead center.
Right beside me.
Not a scratch.
5 minutes.
Then I let it go.
I was soaked through.
So was Roxy.
With what mana I had left, I swept the black clouds clean from the sky.
Roxy walked toward me.
“Congratulations.
You’ve graduated.
You’re now a Water Saint-level Magician.”
“Thank you, Teacher.”
“You’re even better than I imagined.
You didn’t just cast the spell, you controlled it.
Perfectly.
Precisely.
Without a single error.”
“That’s because of how well Teacher taught me.”
“Rudy, you’ve already surpassed me.”
I blinked.
I wasn’t sure what she meant by that.
“Teacher, no matter what…”
“I know, no matter what, I’m still your teacher, right?” Roxy reached out and tapped my forehead with one finger.
I shook my head.
The look on her face went from startled to hurt.
“Is that so…
I suppose you’ve already surpassed me.
It must feel strange, calling someone weaker than you ‘Teacher’ all the time…”
She looked so pitiable I almost couldn’t watch.
“Teacher, no matter what…
you’re my family.
My teacher and my family.”
“Eh?!”
“That’s how it is.”
Roxy went red, dropped her head, and murmured into her chest.
“Uh…
mm.
Okay then.
So I’m Rudy’s big sister and teacher.”
I shook my head.
“Not big sister.
Family and teacher.”
“Huh?
Which — I mean…
I…
uh…”
“I don’t know either.”
“…Alright.
In any case.” She straightened up, and something warm settled into her expression.
“Congratulations.
You’ve successfully graduated.”
➤ Next: Roxy 2 — What Was Lost