Lucien stood at the front of the ship’s deck with his hands tucked into his pockets. He was currently wearing a black suit that fit him perfectly, showing his thin, muscular build.
The sun rose in the east, painting the sky with hues of orange and red, spreading gentle warmth. He watched as the clouds crumbled and drifted aside, pushed away as the airship glided forward. No wind or air came crashing into him. The ship was shielded by a barrier that kept both wind and rain away, no matter the weather, and they would split and slide aside before ever touching the airship’s surface.
The two wings of the ship flapped much like a whale flipping its fins, and at the end of the ship, there was a tail he had seen many times when boarding the ship. The tail part of the ship allowed the vessel to change direction.
Lucien did not know exactly how the ship worked, since this was not his area of expertise, and he had no desire to learn more than this, but ever since his memories of a past life had returned, he felt a curiosity about the person behind creating a ship that could fly in the air. He could at least tell that whoever designed this ship must have been inspired by a fish, at the very least. And the person behind the design must be a great genius to even think of creating a ship that could fly using mana as a source. No one had ever thought of this before him. Or, even if someone had thought about it, no one had managed to make a successful ship that could fly long distances.
Lucien turned toward Melissa, who stood beside him with reddened eyes, looking at the ship and the sky with a kind of quiet amusement. She had started crying just as the ship took off. He told her she would be able to visit her family more often than she might have thought, though, in truth, he was not being entirely honest, since the academy was meant for training future talent, not for leisure activities. So, Holidays would not be very frequent, though not extremely rare either. Melissa seemed like the kind of girl for whom family meant everything, and she would probably want to visit them every week if she could.
Lucien could tell that Melissa loved her family above all else, remembering how lifeless she had become in the original story after she lost her parents. Now that he thought about it, the story had already changed so much, and his actions had already begun to create a butterfly effect.
He had learned something from the troops who had been sent to bring Melissa’s parents that confirmed the butterfly effect. They told him that some beasts had crossed into human territory and had come very near Melissa's village. The troops saw the beasts when they reached near Melissa’s Village, and fortunately, they managed to kill them. According to their report, only a couple of the beasts had escaped from the demonic forest.
Lucien sighed inwardly because, in the story, the number of beasts had never been specified, and the attack should have happened in about two weeks’ time, but now it had come almost two weeks earlier.
Was it because I returned from the stronghold too soon? Lucien could not help but wonder if his decision to come back a day earlier than he did in the original story had somehow led to this change. In the story, he was supposed to stay at the stronghold until the very last moment, only leaving when he received the news of his mother’s death and rushing to Norwind to see her lifeless body. But now, having returned a day ahead of that timeline, he questioned whether his absence from the stronghold might have caused events to move faster, bringing the attack two weeks earlier than expected.
Lucien did not know what had caused what, but he did not want Melissa’s village to be destroyed, even if some beasts had already been dealt with yesterday when her parents were brought to the palace. He had ordered his troops to return to the area around her village to search for any beasts that might have escaped, and he specifically instructed them to stay there for at least three weeks.
Lucien’s father questioned him about these actions, so Lucien explained that perhaps some beasts were still hiding in the woods, or maybe the beasts had created new pathways from the demonic forest to their territory, and these needed to be investigated. He told the troops to search for the route the beasts had used and to kill any beasts still lurking in the forests. Lucien’s father was satisfied with his command and even praised him, saying he was proud that Lucien had found Melissa and saved his mother. He also said he was content to see Lucien thinking of their people and taking action to eliminate any threats.
Lucien smiled a little as he remembered how his father’s eyes had been so full of life after Lucien’s mother recovered, and how his father would thank him almost every time he saw him.
His father did not pry into how Lucien had found out about Melissa, but his mother eventually asked him about it.
Haah, I just barely managed to escape my mother’s questions about how I found Melissa.
While they were eating dinner, his mother asked him about how he had found out about Melissa. He had to invent a story on the spot. He told her that he met an old man passing by the stronghold who was spreading tales in the tavern where he was eating food about a girl who could heal any wound. His mother seemed suspicious of his story, but his father accepted it, being more focused on cutting the meat and making Lucien’s mother eat, since she had not eaten real food in years and had mostly survived on potions.
But Lucien knew Melissa had realized he was lying. But she was wise enough to know when to speak up and when to stay silent. She and her parents had joined them for dinner, and he could still remember how clumsy her parents were and how uncomfortable they were eating beside the duke and duchess.
"..U-Umm, Lord Lucien, you have been star..staring at me for a while. Is something wrong?" Melissa asked, her voice stumbling a little before she steadied herself. He had turned toward her and had been watching her while he wondered why she had not revealed his lie to his family.
"You should stop calling me Lord from now on. We will reach the academy in a few hours, so you should start practicing calling me Professor Lucien," Lucien replied, trying to deflect her question.
"Um, okay. But, I wanted to know how you found out abou—" Melissa began, but her words were cut off as Lucien turned and walked back inside the ship. He heard her voice rise in a high-pitched shout that rattled his ears. "I know you lied yesterday. How did you find out about me?" she called after him.
"I heard about you somewhere that you could heal any wound," Lucien answered. It was technically true but much too vague. He had learned about her from the book, and by saying he heard it somewhere, Melissa would know he was at least telling a piece of the truth, but anyone could tell it was a vague answer since it could have come from anywhere.
"But that doesn’t answer my question," Melissa shouted again. Lucien ignored her and went inside the ship. He decided to rest in a room for now, since looking at the sky filled only with clouds did not feel entertaining to him anymore.
It was only half correct, and for the most part, he went inside the ship because he did not want Melissa prying and questioning him too much about how he had learned about her.
If she finds out I learned about her from a novel I read in my past life, she’ll bombard me with questions I won’t be able to answer. He thought to himself.
Even though Melissa was shy and did not speak much with him, he had noticed that whenever she had a question or something she wanted to know, she always managed to ask, even if her voice shook and she stumbled over the words.
***
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