Hoo.
How dull.
Not a single bench in this vast, sprawling garden.
“Couldn’t we have slept a little longer before coming?”
“What? Are you some kind of beast? By eight o’clock, you’ve slept enough. And who knows when my lady will be finished? We have to wait in advance.”
“I feel like I just heard some bullshit.”
Yurika pouted and lightly smacked my shoulder.
Honestly, she never lost a single argument.
“Yustia said she had morning classes. It’s ten right now.”
“Exactly, so it’s worth waiting. We only have to hold out for two more hours.”
She said it as if it were nothing and began humming.
I clicked my tongue and looked around.
The academy garden was vast.
An endless stretch of lawn spread out as far as the eye could see, and the giant trees planted here and there cast cool shade.
But that was all.
No fountain, no statues, not even a bench to rest on.
It was so empty it felt desolate.
“Why is there nothing here? If it’s a garden, they could at least decorate it a little.”
“I think it’s probably a space designed so battles can happen anytime, anywhere. Obstacles would just get in the way.”
Yurika answered, kicking at the grass with the toe of her shoe.
“I suppose so. If summoned beasts run wild, nothing would survive.”
The ones here were all walking lumps of disaster, after all.
“Anyway, when is my lady coming out? I’m hungry.”
“You just ate breakfast.”
“There’s a separate stomach for snacks! As expected, you have no sense, Taesan.”
Grumbling, Yurika pulled a piece of jerky from her pocket and began chewing.
“Hey, wasn’t that something you bought for me?”
“Shh. You won’t know even if I eat it anyway.”
“Isn’t it strange to say that right in front of me?”
She shamelessly winked.
It was then.
From the main building in the distance, the sound of a bell rang out.
“Oh! It’s over!”
Yurika sprang to her feet and shouted.
“Let’s go, Taesan! We have to meet my lady!”
“Ugh, fine, fine.”
I got up, brushing the dirt off my backside.
As the enormous clock tower of the main building announced the time, a flood of students poured out like a tide.
Amid that commotion, I spotted a familiar silhouette pushing a wheelchair.
“My lady!”
Yurika bounced up and down, waving her hand.
When Yustia spotted us, she raised a hand with a faint smile.
Evan, seated in the wheelchair, also gave a light nod.
“Did you wait long?”
“No! Taesan kept grumbling, but I was fine.”
“Hey, who was grumbling? Who was the one saying she was hungry?”
I protested as if wronged, but Yustia let out a small laugh and lightly brushed off my words.
“Now, now, don’t fight. Let’s move right away. To perform the summoning, we have to go to the ritual hall in the basement of the Second Annex. The mana sensitivity there is the best.”
“The Second Annex? I’ll guide you.”
Yurika unfolded a map, but Yustia had already started walking ahead as if she knew the way.
I naturally took over Evan’s wheelchair.
As we moved, the gazes around us pricked sharply.
“Hey, look at that. That’s her, isn’t it? Rosenheart.”
“Then that big guy beside her is that human summoned beast?”
“Probably. I saw him standing at the very back during the entrance ceremony.”
“Is he really human? He’s as big as an ogre.”
Whispers circled around my ears.
Gazes mixed with curiosity, contempt, and vague fear.
The label of human summoned beast followed us everywhere like a shadow.
“Don’t mind them, Mr. Taesan.”
Perhaps bothered by the whispers around us, Evan lightly tapped my arm and spoke.
“They’re gazes we’ll have to get used to anyway. We’re special, after all.”
He put a strange emphasis on the word special.
A smile hovered on his lips, one that could have been self-mockery or pride.
Yustia walked on as if nothing was wrong and shrugged.
“That’s right. It’s actually a good thing. If they’re that interested, it means we have that much to show them.”
Her eyes gleamed playfully.
“The day will come soon when we turn those whispers into screams. Look forward to it, Evan. You’re no exception.”
“Haha, what a terrifying declaration.”
“Now then, shall we go meet the truly special one?”
Yustia stopped in front of the old iron door of the Second Annex.
When the heavy door opened, a chill and the dense aura of mana spread out.
“Ugh, I feel dizzy…. Is this really the right place? It feels like a ghost might pop out.”
Yurika grimaced, clutching her forehead.
“It’s because the mana concentration is high. It’s the perfect place for a summoning ritual.”
Unbothered, Yustia stepped into the darkness.
She stood alone at the center of the summoning stone.
From her fingertips, blue mana streamed out like threads.
Her gestures as they cut through the air were elegant yet bold.
The patterns engraved into the floor wriggled as if alive, drawing complex geometric figures.
“Is that… a summoning circle?”
I murmured, my eyes widening.
The sight of glowing lines tangling with one another to form a massive circle was almost awe-inspiring.
“She’s drawing an intermediate summoning circle without the slightest hesitation?”
Beside me, Evan gripped the armrest of his wheelchair tightly and exclaimed in admiration.
His eyes moved busily, following the tips of Yustia’s fingers.
“What’s so amazing about it? Isn’t she just drawing it?”
“Just drawing it? Look at those complex formulas. The flow of mana, the arrangement of elements, even the attributes of the summoned beast—all of it has to be calculated as she draws.”
Evan continued explaining with a flushed face, like a critic admiring a work of art.
“On top of that, even the way she’s inserting variations here and there is textbook-perfect.”
“Variations?”
“Yes. She’s planting guide lines throughout the summoning circle to draw it as close as possible to the summoned beast she wants. Normally, you can’t deviate from the fixed framework, but Yustia is subtly twisting that framework and creating her own path.”
“So it’s impressive?”
“Of course. If even a little of it fails to fit the framework, the mana could flow backward and the summoning itself might fail. That kind of boldness is… truly insane.”
Evan’s voice held reverence tinged with jealousy.
“Hoo…… It’s done.”
At last, Yustia lowered her hand and let out a long breath.
On the floor, the perfectly completed summoning circle glowed blue and hummed.
A bead of sweat on her forehead ran down to the tip of her chin.
“The preparations are complete. Now it’s time to call forth the real thing.”
“Please be quiet now!”
Yurika spoke in a low voice, keeping everyone in check.
Her fist was clenched tightly, as if her palm had grown sweaty.
She was ready to spread a barrier at any moment in preparation for a mana backlash or some unforeseen accident.
In that taut tension, even the other students who had been studying summoning circles nearby held their breath and fixed their gazes on Yustia.
Woom—
A low, heavy vibration shook the entire underground space.
The geometric lines engraved into the floor began blinking red, like a beating heart.
“Please, the most graceful aquatic beast to guide Mr. Taesan…!”
Woom—
The vibration grew even stronger.
The mana flowing along the summoning circle surged like rough waves, twining up around her ankles.
“Answer my call.”
The moment her voice rang out clearly.
The center of the summoning circle split wide open, and a dazzling pillar of light shot upward.
The light soared as if it would pierce the ceiling, swallowing the darkness of the basement in an instant, and within it, something enormous writhed as it began to reveal itself.
Rumble, rumble, rumble—
As the pillar of light that had shaken the underground space subsided, thick dust and dense mist billowed up.
Within it, a vague silhouette appeared.
Everyone held their breath and stared at that overwhelming form.
Yurika lowered her stance as if ready to leap out at any moment, and Evan narrowed his eyes while gripping the wheelchair handles tightly.
A predator of the deep sea, a colossal shadow, a monster worthy of such magnificent epithets—it was time for it to appear.
“…Huh?”
But what emerged as the mist cleared was an existence completely different from what we had expected.
“Quack?”
The sound that broke the silence was neither a thunderous roar nor a horrific scream.
It was a very lively yet somehow vacant cry.
There, standing blankly, was a bright yellow ball of fluff that barely reached my knees.
A round body, short legs, and an orange beak.
No matter how you looked at it, it was unmistakably a duck.
“…A duck?”
The creature tilted its head, then flapped its short wings and waddled over to Yustia.
Then it leaned its head against the top of her foot and cried once more.
“Quack.”
Yustia’s expression twisted subtly.
Trying to hide her bewilderment, she cleared her throat.
“Ahem. You shouldn’t judge by appearances. This child is, um, a ‘Water Duck’ specialized for aquatic combat. It may look like this, but underwater, it boasts incredible speed.”
“Right. Since it’s an intermediate summoned beast, after all. A pretty little friend befitting that should…”
Yurika opened her mouth in disbelief.
Even Evan seemed to have lost his words, only blinking.
It was then.
The duck suddenly opened its beak wide and shot a stream of water into the air.
Pwooooo—!
The water pressure was stronger than expected, and dust rained down from the ceiling.
As if satisfied, the duck puffed out its chest proudly and flapped its wings.
“S-see? That power!”
Yustia shouted urgently.
But to my eyes, it looked like nothing more than an arrogant duck playing with water.
“……Well, it is cute, at least.”
I muttered with a bitter smile.
Where had the monster of the deep sea gone, and why had a bathhouse duck appeared instead?
To think this was Yustia’s hidden trump card.
For some reason, I felt as though the road ahead had gone dark.