Chapter 10

‘In the Magic Tower, think of Cheyan as me.’

‘Pardon?’

…It was an absurd thing to say. How could anyone possibly regard someone else as Lady Ceres? And not just anyone, but the rather peculiar Lord Cheyan?

‘Think of whatever Cheyan says as if I were the one saying it, and listen to him.’

‘…Yes.’

Even so, because it was Lady Ceres’s request, Jien nodded.

‘Of course, never go along with any of his nonsense.’

Nod.

‘Inside the Magic Tower, that person is Lady Ceres. Lady Ceres.’

Recalling Ceres’s earlier warning, Jien said nothing more.

For a moment, he wondered if being forced to slack off might count as nonsense, too, but decided to let it go.

“……”

After finishing his conversation with Cheyan, Jien resumed walking to finish delivering the documents.

He stopped short.

But soon, the child’s gaze turned back again.

Another Magic Tower.

The child found himself unable to tear his eyes away from the snow-white building. Even now, he had no idea why he was acting this way, nor could he understand the reason himself……

“Sister, where’s Jien?”

“He said he was going to stay at the Magic Tower and study a little longer today.”

“Hmmm. I think Jien studies way too hard.”

“Why don’t you try studying a little harder, too?”

“I do study hard.”

“You work very hard at drawing pictures all over your worksheets.”

“Yeah! I like drawing! And I’m good at it.”

“…That wasn’t a compliment.”

Ceres gave a faint smile as she watched Yulia and Antonion sitting across from each other at the table, patting away at each other.

For the first time in a while, she was enjoying a leisurely cup of tea with her younger siblings in the greenhouse.

It would have been nice if Jien could have joined them, too, but he still had not returned, saying he had a lot to do at the Magic Tower today.

[Peep, peep!]

“Sister, Iirien wants that.”

“……”

As Ceres drank tea with her younger siblings, she looked toward Iirien at Yulia’s words.

The baby rabbit was hopping beneath the table, letting out little cries.

[Peep!]

Just as Yulia had said, Iirien was crying out as though demanding something.

It was the basket containing the Divine Realm peach seeds.

She had been planning to give them all to him once they had finished eating.

Swoosh.

Ceres handed the small basket to Iirien.

[Peep~]

With a pleased little sound, Iirien took the basket and immediately headed toward one particular spot.

For some time now, he had seemed to be diligently tending the soil in one corner of the greenhouse.

Apparently, that was where he intended to plant the Divine Realm peaches.

“You’re really going to plant those?”

[Peep!]

When Ceres asked one last time to make sure, Iirien raised one paw high and nodded vigorously.

According to Elliet, the peaches were considered quite precious even in the Divine Realm.

Could something like that really grow in ordinary soil like this?

‘The soil and even the air must be completely different from the Divine Realm, right?’

Those things should be important for a plant to grow.

‘Well, he’ll figure it out himself.’

Her concern lasted only a moment before she decided to trust Iirien.

When it came to growing plants, he knew more about it than she did, after all.

And what if he failed?

It didn’t matter if the seeds disappeared because of a failed attempt. Ceres decided not to worry about the seeds anymore.

“I hope we get lots of peaches.”

“The peaches you gave us were really delicious, Sister.”

“They were delicious.”

Meanwhile, Yulia and Antonion could not take their eyes off Iirien as he prepared to plant the seeds in the soil.

They simply could not forget the taste of the peaches they had eaten last time.

“Do you want to eat them again?”

“Yes!”

At Ceres’s question, the child nodded vigorously.

She had already given one peach each to Yulia, Antonion, and Jien.

‘They say they’re good for the body.’

She had thought they would be especially beneficial for Yulia, who had been physically weak since childhood and had always lived on medicine.

So the moment she learned about the peaches’ effects, she had immediately returned home and given one to the child.

Could that be why?

Yulia’s cheeks, which had always looked so gaunt, seemed to have filled out a little, too.

‘How many peaches do I have left in my subspace?’

It seemed like they had almost eaten them all.

Should she just give all the remaining ones to the children?

“Huh?”

“Sister, look over there!”

“……?”

Ceres had been briefly wondering whether she should meet the High God Gibrio and obtain more peaches when she turned at the children’s small cries.

Her eyes widened slightly.

“…A sprout?”

Something had poked up with a tiny pop from the spot where Iirien had planted the seeds.

That was unmistakably a sprout.

“It hasn’t even been that long since you planted it.”

He had literally just planted it.

Of course, Iirien possessed the Tamer Relic, which could suddenly make flowers bloom or trees grow in a completely empty space.

But this was a plant from the Divine Realm, wasn’t it?

Was it already responding?

“Iirien, is that really a peach sprout?”

[Peep!]

At Ceres’s question, Iirien, who had been inspecting the sprout, nodded vigorously.

“Huh.”

It really grows here, too?

[Peep~]

At Ceres’s quiet exclamation, Iirien looked immensely proud and began hopping around the area where the sprout had appeared even more energetically.

[Booh.]

Kkamang, who had been playing by himself in one corner of the greenhouse with a ball this whole time, also approached as though fascinated by the sight of the peach sprout.

Then he suddenly opened his mouth wide!

[Peep!]

Wham!

The moment Iirien saw that, he dashed over as if flying and delivered a kick, sending Kkamang as far away from the peach sprout as possible.

[Booh!]

[Peep, peep!]

And so the two little ones ran around the greenhouse, fighting for quite some time.

It was only after Ceres, unable to watch their fight grow any bigger, stepped in herself that the two finally settled down.

After giving Kkamang one last light kick, Iirien toddled back toward the patch where the peach had been planted.

Whoosh!

A moment later, a small light flowing from Iirien began to circle around the sprout.

Swoosh—

“…It’s a tree.”

The tiny sprout rapidly grew into a small sapling in an instant.

“Wow!”

“It gets that big just like that?”

Yulia and Antonion also cried out in amazement.

At that, Iirien hopped around the greenhouse even more enthusiastically.

‘At that rate, it’ll bear fruit before long.’

Would its effects be the same, too?

If it had the same effects as the peaches of the Divine Realm, Ceres thought it would be extremely useful.

For now, the children liked them, and that alone was enough to make her look forward to the peach tree bearing fruit.

‘Gibrio, was it?’

There probably wouldn’t be any need to seek him out again.

Ceres, too, looked at the peach tree that had grown into a small sapling with a quiet sense of pride.

“Is this the entrance?”

After all his classes had ended, Jien did not head straight home as he normally did.

He still had something else to do today.

Another Magic Tower.

He had been unable to get the place he had seen a few days ago out of his mind, so today, Jien decided to go inside.

‘I probably won’t be able to solve even a single question…….’

If what Cheyan, the Magic Tower Master, had said was true, he would surely fail to pass even the first trial.

After all, he knew absolutely nothing about Artia.

He had considered studying at least a little about the Archmage Artia.

‘Why?’

‘There are hardly any questions you can answer just by studying. There are so many that differ from the commonly known facts. You’ll be lucky if you manage to get one or two right. Even looking through books won’t be much help, so don’t waste your time.’

Cheyan had discouraged him.

He had said that hastily studying for a short period of time would not be much help.

His advice had been to simply go inside and treat it as an experience at first.

“……”

So he had simply come here, but was it really okay to do this?

Standing at the entrance of the snow-white building, Jien stared silently at it for a long while.

Another strange feeling rippled through him.

The same feeling he had experienced last time…

A feeling of being far too familiar.

Strangely, this place did not feel unfamiliar at all.

The snow-white building he was facing up close gave him an even stronger sense of familiarity than it had last time.

Wooooong—

“……?”

Jien, who had been engulfed in the strange sensation in front of the building, suddenly looked down at his hand when an unfamiliar vibration reached him.

“The ring……”

It was the ring of the Archmage Artia, the one he wore on his hand.

The ring was emitting a faint light and giving off a soft, quiet vibration.

“Why all of a sudden?”

It had been quite some time since he had acquired the ring, but this was the first time it had ever reacted like this.

“……”

Jien quietly stared at the ring, which continued to glow and tremble as though urging him to hurry inside.

Then, as if drawn by something, he slowly began to walk forward.

Srrk—

The first door opened.

Flash!

Someone appeared before Jien.

[Hello.]