Almark – Northern Sword, Southern Wand

The second garden was darker at night. Nelson lights the magic of the lamp in his left hand.

The four walked silently for a while. Soon we will arrive at the entrance to the maze.

After entering the maze and walking a long way, Norish finally opened his mouth.

"... when I was a freshman, I was often bullied because I was a crybaby."

Norish named two men Almark had never heard of.

"Now we both have three pairs. They're pretty mean kids."

And Wendy tells me.

"I'm going to cry as soon as I say something cheeky, so it's interesting. I get all kinds of mean every day."

Nelson leads the three silently while raising the magic of the lamp.

"When I got back from school, I cried hard and regretful every day. But I don't want to be seen crying in front of my roommate Lilty."

Almark and the others listen to Norish in silence. Nelson's flames burst into flames from time to time.

"One day, I went into this maze at random. Maybe I can cry here without anyone seeing me."

After all, it didn't happen because boys often use it for play, Norish adds. Nelson and the others.

"But there was one amazing discovery."

Nelson turns left at the implant slit silently, followed by three.

"That's... this guy"

Soon we arrived at the central square. Norish looks up at Lord Boluk's statue.

"I hadn't seen it carefully before, but it was the first time I noticed it.... just like my beloved dead grandfather."

Norish, the daughter of a relatively wealthy large farmer, had his favorite grandfather. Originally a scholar, my grandfather retired from farming, wearing robes and reading old books every day, and enjoying his old life.

"That's why I decided to join this college, and it was my grandfather who was most pleased."

Norrish's beloved grandfather, who taught me many things in a calm tone, died without waiting for Norrish to enter school. It is said that this statue of Lord Boluk resembles his grandfather.

"Of course, the details are different. But I thought about it then. Grandpa's here! What?"

After that, Norish came to see "Grandpa" every time she had a bad thing. Eventually, I went up to second grade, changed classes, left the bullies, and the habit continued even after I stopped crying.

Norish, who is good at wind magic and was recently challenging wind messaging, came up with "grandfather" as a place to send wind messages.

"The contents are really good at everything. After dinner every day, I wanted my grandfather to ask me what happened that day, what I thought of myself, and what came up with it on the spot. I was sending it in the wind through the window of the room."

That was probably what Norish wanted to do if his grandfather was alive. However, the incomplete wind communication technique that was being practiced turned into fragments of random words along the way, and instead of bringing the wind to fruition at Lord Boluk's, it sprayed away the moment it arrived there.

"That's the identity of the mysterious voice....."

Wendy mutters.

"But Almark knew that. The wind."

"Yes. This maze is surrounded by implants, so the wind will only pass at the feet of the ground. I felt a very slight wind blowing on one side all the time. Besides, I thought the terrain of this garden would make it easier for the wind to gather in the central square. So I thought, maybe.... it's not magical at all."

"Yeah, that's amazing. I think it's important from that perspective."

Nelson and I didn't notice that breeze, Wendy adds.

"But I can't believe it was such a monstrous rumor. I have to think a little bit about practice."

When Norish said shy, Nelson suddenly said,

Ahhh!

And he raised his voice.

"What, the romance of a man. If you know what I mean, it's just magic practice."

"Hey, Nelson, that's how you say it."

Wendy says Nelson starts walking straight towards the exit.

"Norish, you can practice magic and talk to 'Grandpa'!

Nelson says as he walks his back.

"We can listen to you, too!

Huh?

"Eston and Polois, right? The two of them. I'm looking forward to the martial arts tournament!

Nelson walks without looking back at the three of them.

"Let's go home! What a waste of time!

When Almark saw Wendy, Wendy smiled and said in a small voice.

"When you came here earlier, the magic of the lights was shaking, right? I heard Norish was being bullied and Nelson's pretty serious about it."

Speaking of which, from time to time, the flames were squeaking. Was that a shake in Nelson's heart?

"It's an expression of his friendship, isn't it? It's hard to understand."

Norish smiled at Wendy's words.

"When I was a freshman, Nelson called me when I was crying in this maze. At that time, my class was different and I didn't know about it. Let's play hide and seek!" I was told with an unfaithful smile. I was surprised to say no, but I'm glad. "

Looking at Nelson's back, which was getting farther and farther away, Almark thought that Nelson was a big deal after all.