“Your seniors are like that. Your seniors. They all said the same thing as you guys, and every year there was always at least one injured kid.”

As soon as Roneh finished speaking, the professors simultaneously sighed with a knowing look on their faces.

“Seriously, is this also an academy tradition? Why are the reactions the same every year? Anyway, listen carefully if you don’t want to train with me until 5 o’clock. Of course, if there are any students who really want to, I’ll accept volunteers too.”

“……”

Chirp. Chirp chirp.

It was so quiet that the sound of birds could be heard from deep within the forest.

“Yes, it’s nice and quiet. Now quickly disappear from my sight. I need to play with Cledian.”

Roneh abruptly reached out his arm towards Cledian. However, Cledian naturally stepped aside like flowing water, causing Roneh’s arm to lose its destination.

“Professor, are you sober?”

A male student with a lion emblem on his shirt quipped sarcastically. Roneh’s arm, having found its target, drew out the scabbard of his sword without unsheathing it and chased after that student.

The impromptu chase made the students burst out laughing.

“Ah, Magic Department students. Could you stay for a moment?”

Just then, Heres’ voice stopped the students who were about to disperse.

“Could everyone stand in front of the signboard? My friend sent me a newly developed magic tool. It’s called a Recording Stone, and it’s said to record a fleeting moment like a picture. Shall we try using it?”

Heres was holding a square-shaped magic tool.

It’s some kind of camera, Nigel Ars thought.

The students, all wearing the same owl pendant on their shirt pockets, naturally lined up in three rows according to their height.

Nigel Ars stood at the far right end of the second row, following Charlotte Ucha Liuside.

“Okay, good. Now let’s record… Allen Evans? Your face isn’t very visible, so if it’s alright, could you please move one spot forward?”

At Heres’ words, Allen Evans, his face flushed red, stepped forward one spot amidst the giggling laughter of the underclassmen.

And that spot happened to be right next to Nigel Ars.

Nigel Ars and Allen Evans, their bodies stiff, hunched their shoulders for fear their shoulders might bump into each other.

“Alright, everyone look here!”

Along with Heres’ command, the square-shaped magic tool flashed brightly.

Startled by the sudden light, the students flinched and tightly shut their eyes. Allen Evans unknowingly grasped Nigel Ars’ arm tightly.

“Aha ha… I was just surprised.”

As Nigel Ars looked at Allen Evans and blinked without a word, Allen Evans slowly let go. There was a hint of reluctance in that touch.

After that, the magic tool flashed about five or six more times before Heres said, “Good work, everyone.”

“The pictures recorded with the Recording Stone can also be printed on paper, so I’ll print them out later and distribute them according to the number of people. Now, everyone have fun!”

No sooner had he finished speaking than the students broke formation and rushed towards the shopping district. At the end of that procession were Nigel Ars and Charlotte Ucha Liuside’s group.

“Nig…!”

Allen Evans, who tried to talk to Nigel Ars, lost sight of him in an instant without being able to properly call his name even once.

Allen Evans slowly withdrew his hand reaching out into the air and blankly stared at Nigel Ars’ receding back.

“Nigel Ars! That’s not the way!!”

Charlotte Ucha Liuside hurriedly stopped Nigel Ars, who was recklessly moving forward.

As this kept happening repeatedly, Charlotte Ucha Liuside and another female student firmly grasped Nigel Ars’ arms from both sides.

“I understand how you feel, but no matter what, we need to go the right way. You said you’d definitely buy gifts for Allen Evans and Noah Beselion.”

Charlotte Ucha Liuside’s blonde hair fluttered in the wind, sparkling under the sunlight.

“Yeah…”

As if he had turned from a charging bull into a gentle lamb, Nigel Ars stared blankly at Charlotte Ucha Liuside and nodded.

The place where Nigel Ars’ feet stopped was none other than the souvenir shop.

The souvenir shop was already bustling with young teenagers wearing black robes and white shirts, just like Nigel Ars.

Passing by the tapestries and handkerchiefs with magnificent illustrations from the heroic tales of Barlein, and the stands decorated with various shapes and sizes of sculptures, Nigel Ars went straight to the counter.

“Please give me the limited edition Barlein postcard. The one with the mana stone embedded.”

“You’re lucky. I just happened to have the last one left!”

A middle-aged man with a kind face smiled warmly and took out a postcard made of quite thick paper from behind the counter and handed it to Nigel Ars.

The postcard depicted a scene of Barlein standing in a forest, sealing a demon into a large tree.

“To test it out, do you want to take a look before deciding?”

When Nigel Ars quickly nodded, the man smiled and pressed a small button attached to the back of the postcard.

Amazingly, a bright light illuminated only the area where Barlein and the huge tree stood.

Then, Barlein’s hand, which had been still, moved, and a blue light burst out from that hand. The demon, helplessly hit by the light, was swallowed up into the hole in the tree that spread out like wings on both sides.

Click.

When the button was pressed again, the dazzling blue light faded, and Barlein, the tree, and the demon returned to their original positions.

“How is it? Do you like it?”

As Nigel Ars stared blankly at the postcard without answering, the man took out a silver wrapping paper specifically for the postcard with a grin.

“Here you go, lucky child.”

“…Ah, thank you.”

“Don’t you need anything else?”

As Nigel Ars preciously held the well-wrapped postcard in his hand, a glittering accessory caught his eye from the shelf behind the counter.

The accessory was quite a stylish piece, with a blue gem the size of a thumbnail engraved with an antique pattern on a short silver metal chain.

“What’s that accessory over there?”

The man took out the accessory from the shelf and showed it.

“It’s an amulet. Although not as well-known as the tree in the Elipherum Forest where a demon is sealed, there is a legend that Barlein narrowly avoided a crisis thanks to keeping this amulet.”

“Then… please give me an amulet too.”

“Sure, that’ll be a total of 30 silvers.”

If it were any other time, Nigel Ars would have pondered for at least 10 minutes over that price range, but he quickly paid, afraid someone might snatch it away.

Nigel Ars, holding the well-wrapped souvenirs in his arms, left the store with a satisfied smile spread across his face.

He had just thought of a good way to utilize the amulet.

“…What? It’s already sold out?”

Allen Evans, who arrived late at the souvenir shop, widened his eyes.

“Yeah, the last postcard was sold just before you came.”

“I see…”

Allen Evans’ eyebrows drooped.

His plan to enjoy a picnic with Nigel Ars and Noah Beselion had not only fallen apart but had been ground to dust. He had really wanted to get the limited edition postcard made here.

“You seem to have really wanted it. It’s too bad.”

“Ah. Then, by any chance, do you remember who bought the last postcard?”

“A polite and pretty-looking girl bought it.”

“I… see. Thank you for telling me.”

Allen Evans bowed his head and left the store.

“Did you find the postcard you wanted?”

Noah Beselion, who had been waiting for Allen Evans in front of the store, greeted him cheerfully.

“No, it was sold out by a narrow margin. I had expected this could happen, but it’s still disappointing.”

Allen Evans smiled bitterly.

Just then, Charlotte Primrose caught Allen Evans’ eye. To be precise, it was the limited edition postcard’s special wrapping paper she was holding.

“…Could it be that she deliberately bought the last one to spite me? Even though she clearly knows I like postcards?”

Allen Evans’ slender arms and fists trembled.

“No way, Allen Evans. Charlotte Primrose probably just wanted the postcard for herself. Or… maybe Nigel Ars bought the postcard to give to you and entrusted it to Charlotte Primrose?”

Thud.

Allen Evans placed his hand on Noah Beselion’s shoulder.

“There’s no way that’s possible, Noah Beselion. I mean… Nigel Ars doesn’t even want to face me or exchange a single word with me. Ah! He might have bought it to mock me… Mmph!!”

Unable to listen any longer, Noah Beselion covered Allen Evans’ mouth.

“Allen Evans~ We have something we must do here. Let’s go find it quickly. The original Elipherum pancake place that Nigel Ars wanted to eat at.”

Noah Beselion lightly restrained Allen Evans, who was struggling to unblock his mouth, with one hand and moved his feet as if dragging him along.

“Noah Beselion, I think we’ve discovered it.”

“…It seems so.”

Allen Evans and Noah Beselion spoke secretively like people who had discovered the world’s secret in front of an old-looking coffee house.

There were two main specialty products in the Elipherum Forest.

The first was the limited edition postcard that Allen Evans missed out on due to Nigel Ars’ purchase, and the second was the pancake that depicted the Elipherum Forest with various flowers, fruits, and cream.

However, the problem was that it was very difficult to identify the original store of this pancake.

In the case of the former, it required advanced techniques such as mana stone crafting, so even if imitated, there would be a significant difference in the end result. On the other hand, the latter was too easy to copy.

As the pancake began to gain fame through word of mouth, as if on cue, all the coffee houses and dessert shops in the Elipherum Forest area developed their own Elipherum pancakes and promoted that only their pancake was the true original.

Moreover, at the time when the pancake craze originated, printing technology was not as widespread as it is now, making it difficult to find records of the original pancake store.

In other words, the great pancake era had begun to find out which of the numerous coffee houses in Elipherum was the true original.