You Are Free

Gloomy, damp.

Water droplets struck the glass window, forming a slanted line of moisture.

The lines of water multiplied, accompanied by a "pitter-patter" sound, which soon swelled into a torrential "whoosh."

The sound grew louder and more intense.

It was raining.

Haywood lifted his head from the desk, staring blankly at the overcast sky outside and the strings of black raindrops falling beneath it.

The fountain pen hovering in his hand was saturated with ink; due to gravity, a droplet was rapidly forming, about to fall onto the turmeric-colored parchment.

"It's raining again. There's so much rain this year."

The ink finally succumbed to gravity and dripped from the nib.

"Swish!"

A thin, black tongue suddenly shot out, snatched the ink droplet, and retracted into a pitch-black face that lacked any discernible features.

"You're spacing out again."

The Shadow Monster plopped down onto the parchment she had just protected, not caring in the slightest whether she wrinkled it.

"So what if it rains a lot? What does that have to do with us? That's something for the high-ranking wizards on the Wall of Sighs to worry about."

With the parchment blocked by his sister Heidi, Haywood simply tossed his fountain pen back into the holder.

He leaned back and said helplessly, "True, no matter how much it rains, it's not something two Wizard Apprentices like us can solve."

He had been at the Wall of Sighs for a few years now, yet Haywood still hadn't managed to cross the boundary between an apprentice and an Official Wizard.

The only change that had occurred to him over these years was that his sister Heidi had been separated from him, transformed into a black silhouette that mimicked the appearance Lady Ula once had.

Although she was still not entirely like a normal