“Whew, that’s a relief then. I just so happen to have a dessert specifically for you, Nigel.”

Allen, who let out a sigh of relief, rummaged through his cluttered bag. And from amidst the mess, he managed to take out a macaron that had somehow maintained its shape.

“Here, I was saving this for you. Don’t eat it now, but have it later after class ends.”

Nigel, receiving the macaron, raised the corners of his lips in a tingling smile.

“Thanks, Allen. …… Oh, can I ask you a favor after class?”

Allen’s eyes widened for a moment before narrowing into crescents as he vigorously nodded his head.

“Of course!”

After school.

Nigel waited for Allen in front of the boys’ dormitory.

Despite telling him to wait just a moment, Allen showed no signs of coming out, whatever he was doing.

Poke!

Just then, someone lightly jabbed Nigel’s head with their finger.

Thinking it might be Allen, Nigel smiled as he raised his head.

“Oh, freshman, hello! Did you perhaps come to see me?”

Upon realizing the identity of the finger, Nigel’s face stiffened like stone.

“Senior Oliver. And…… Senior Jayden.”

“What are you doing here?”

“If you’re waiting for someone, shall we call them for you, junior?”

For some reason, Jayden spoke in a welcoming tone.

“Yes, please call Allen Evans from the Magic Department, 1st year. Tell him to come out right now.”

“Got it. I’ll pass on the message.”

“Wow~ Jay, look at Nigel’s face, it doesn’t look good. What to do, when Allen comes down now, there’s gonna be big trouble. The new priest at the infirmary is going to be very busy today.”

“Do you know that Allen is your senior? Looking at seniors makes my head ache, so please just go into the dormitory.”

Nigel waved his hand at Oliver as if shooing away a peddler. At that heartless gesture, Jayden burst into laughter.

“Wellie, it seems you’ve met your natural enemy.”

“So cold, so cold. Just wait one year, and you’ll be hitting the ground in sorrow, realizing you can no longer attend the academy with such a cool senior like me.”

“Ah, yes.”

With this level of provocation, Nigel would have lunged at him like crazy, but Nigel merely responded with a curt reply.

Sensing something suspicious, Oliver was about to open his mouth, but at that moment, Jayden tightly covered Oliver’s mouth.

“Sorry, junior. We’ll pass on the message to Allen, so please wait a bit.”

And with that, they went straight into the dormitory.

Not long after, Allen appeared carrying a large box in his arms. The box was filled to the brim with magical tools.

“Nigel, what’s up with you? Not being able to prepare materials for assignments.”

“That’s…… why I did that.”

Nigel gave a bitter smile.

Yes, it was rather a good thing. Having a locket or whatever would only serve to unsettle his heart, it was truly nothing more than a troublesome object.

“Then feel free to pick one from here.”

Nigel rummaged through Allen’s magical tools, erasing the route he had walked today that he had been tracing in his head.

Single room in the dormitory.

Left alone, Nigel sat on the bed in a daze.

In front of the kids, he tried to act like it was nothing, like he was fine, but only when he was alone did his true feelings show.

To be honest.

“…… It feels empty.”

Yes, empty and hollow. As if there was a huge hole in his heart.

Now, Nigel had nothing left to prove that he was one of them, a member of the ducal family.

The locket he had always kept with him since childhood, having been left behind together, was lost due to a hole in his bag, and the letter written by his father, he had personally burned with his own hands.

There was nothing, absolutely nothing left connecting him to them.

…… He shouldn’t have burned the letter. No, he shouldn’t have paid any attention to the spell inscriptions on the locket in the first place.

If he had done that, even if he lost the locket, he wouldn’t feel as uncomfortable as he did now.

No, this was all his fault for being greedy.

Despite saying he had no intention of meeting his family, he didn’t stop the orphanage family from searching for Nigel’s family even though he could have sufficiently prevented it, and he had somehow managed to find the locket that had been discarded due to the mischievous pranks of the boys when he was young.

These things piled up countless times, leading up to today. Today, paying the price for 17 years of not being able to let go of that impossible possibility – that they might still love him even after knowing the whole truth.

“…… Yes, it’s good to let go of lingering attachments before big things happen. It’s for the best.”

Anyway, a life that would end in a year and a half if Noah couldn’t awaken, by losing the locket today, he had let go of an obstacle that could greatly impact the plan, so it was a good trade-off.

Yes, surely it was.

After rationalizing, Nigel slowly released his hand that was gripping the doorknob, about to rush out to find the locket right away.

“…… Let’s get some fresh air.”

Nigel went out to the balcony attached to the room.

Today, the bright moon illuminated the darkness of Sienia.

As a privilege of being the top student, Nigel’s single room was located on the very top floor of the dormitory.

Thanks to that, from this balcony, the windows of Noah and Allen’s rooms could be clearly seen.

In passing, they had even said that in case something happened, they should communicate with light from each other’s windows.

That’s right, like now, the light blinking four times signaled an emergency.

‘Wait…… a minute.’

Nigel rubbed his eyes furiously and looked at the window again.

One, two, three, four…… Even looking again, it definitely blinked four times!

Worried that something might have happened to Noah and Allen, Nigel immediately rummaged through his desk drawer.

“Found it…….”

Grabbing a pocket watch-shaped magical tool that blocked sound, Nigel immediately ran to the 1st floor of the dormitory. After all, there was a public communication stone installed on the 1st floor of the dormitory.

Nigel quickly entered Allen’s communication stone code and injected mana.

‘This is why people buy personal communication stones.’

It was the moment Allen’s true value of buying a personal communication stone instead of going to the abundant communication bureaus was revealed.

Not long after, the communication stone lit up, informing that the connection with Allen was successful.

“……Allen? You sent a signal from the window earlier. What on earth happened.”

– Nigel…….

Soon, Allen’s weak voice came through the communication stone.

“Why…… What in the world happened.”

Nigel spoke calmly, trying to hide his unease.

– Noah…… Noah suddenly collapsed……!

“What……?”

Nigel froze on the spot, unable to blink even once.

– Anyway…… Hurry, I think you need to come right now. Actually…… I was going to move Noah to the infirmary, but I remembered how Noah always avoided the infirmary, so I didn’t move him, but Noah’s condition is really bad. What should I do now, Nigel……?

Allen sobbed from the other side of the communication stone.

“…… For now, wait there. I’ll be right over.”

Quickly returning to his room, Nigel grabbed another magical tool from the drawer. This was none other than the invisibility tool that was stuffed in Allen’s box of magical tools.

Knock, knock.

At the sound of knocking on the door, Allen immediately opened it. Then, a presence entered the room and Nigel soon revealed himself.

“Nigel, you came quickly……!”

“Yeah, how’s Noah’s condition?”

Nigel quickly passed by Allen and approached Noah’s bed.

Noah’s face was so pale that not a hint of color could be found.

“As, as time passed, his face became paler and paler, and he’s sweating profusely. It’s, it’s already been over an hour.”

Allen had a wet towel in his hand, perhaps from wiping Noah’s sweat.

“…… You’ve worked hard, Allen.”

At those blunt words, Allen, his tension released, tried hard to hold back his tears. Now was not the time to cry.

Since a pale face was a major symptom of mana deficiency, Nigel immediately closed his eyes and focused on Noah’s mana.

But…… something was strange.

“The Beselion mana…… is sufficient?”

“Th, that’s right…… I also checked the mana flow several times, thinking it might be unstable, but the mana flow was so stable that it was still.”

“You said he’s been sick for over an hour…… Allen, did Beselion happen to take any regular medication?”

“Uh, uh…… About that…..”

Allen, who had been tapping his foot and squeezing his eyes shut in frustration, suddenly opened his eyes wide and rummaged through the desk drawer to find a small glass bottle containing white pills.

“Noah took these pills regularly. As far as I know, he never missed a day.”

Click.

Nigel immediately opened the lid of the glass bottle.

And he popped one of the white pills into his mouth.

“N, Nigel, you can’t just take it carelessly……!”

Despite Allen’s worried words, Nigel chewed the pill as is.

…… The moment he chewed, a sickeningly familiar taste was felt on his tongue.

The bittersweet taste like an unripe fruit, with a faint nutty flavor at the end.

Nigel’s face darkened drastically as he immediately identified the true nature of the pill.

“Allen…… do you remember when Beselion started taking this medication?”

“Uh, well…… I’m not exactly sure, but probably mid-March. Uh, I think he started taking it around mid-March.”

At those words, Nigel’s face sank even further into agony.

‘…… What the hell is this nonsense.’

Noah Beselion. You, you shouldn’t have taken this.

Because this isn’t for treating mana deficiency, but a drug created to treat mana addiction by completely blocking mana from entering or leaving the body.