Claire's Secret

"How is she?"

Rainer asked softly.

"Mana exhaustion. Backlash from forcibly casting a spell beyond her circle. Her soul has suffered some slight damage, but fortunately Claire is still young. After taking the medicine, she should return to normal after a few days' rest. As for any aftereffects, we'll have to observe her before drawing a conclusion."

The old woman beside him replied. She was Mrs. Susan Mitchell, one of the only four teachers left at Crescent Academy. She taught Alchemy and necromancy, while also serving as the school doctor, which sounded a little odd.

The two of them looked at Claire lying on the bed. The blond woman's eyes were tightly shut, her sleeping face peaceful. She had just taken the potion Mrs. Michelle had prepared and was now in a deep sleep.

This was Claire's room. Compared with what one would expect of a young woman's room, it was far too plain: brown curtains, wooden furniture, bookshelves packed with magical texts, even the bedding a simple gray. When Mrs. Michelle had been looking for a change of clothes for Claire, Rainer had accidentally glanced at her wardrobe. Aside from mage robes and a few shirts in dull colors, there was not even a single dress inside.

Clearly, this teacher had never had the girlhood she should have. Her childhood must have been spent among books.

The only thing that showed any of the owner's personality was probably the roast-meat-shaped bolster, which could not help making Rainer wonder just how much this teacher liked eating meat.

"As long as there's no major problem."

Rainer nodded. Dressed in sleepwear, Claire no longer had her usual presence. At first glance, she was simply an ordinary young woman. Rainer's gaze swept over Claire's face and turned toward the silver pendant on the bedside cabinet.

Though he very much wanted to analyze the spell on it, a Third-Circle Spell was still somewhat dangerous after all, so Rainer could only give up for the moment and refrain from courting death.

"Claire treats that thing like a treasure."

Mrs. Michelle said, seeming rather nostalgic.

"Does the bird on it have some meaning?"

Seeing that Mrs. Michelle seemed to know something, Rainer pressed her.

"That is the Thorn Bird. Legend says it possesses a song that can shake the soul, but it sings only once in its life, and that is when it is about to die."

Mrs. Michelle's voice was low. She looked out the window and spoke slowly.

"Before the Thorn Bird dies, it keeps flying without rest, in order to find a thornbush that belongs to it. Once it finds one, the poor bird plunges headfirst into the thorns, then sings at the top of its voice. That song reaches straight into the soul and stuns the heart. When the song ends, the Thorn Bird's life also reaches its end, and it finally falls."

Of course, this was only a legend, Mrs. Michelle added at the end.

It felt rather inauspicious, Rainer thought. Remembering that Claire had said this was an apology gift from some noble who had bullied her, it seemed the noble who had given someone this sort of pendant was no good either.

"Let her rest properly."

Mrs. Michelle said, then left Claire's room.

Rainer sat for a while longer, then stood up. His gaze swept over the bookshelf inadvertently, only for him to discover that several of the books inside seemed a little different.

He walked up to the bookshelf and pulled out a thick book labeled Ancient Potions, but when that book left the shelf, it suddenly fell apart, and several thinner books dropped out from inside.

"Uh?"

Rainer hurriedly looked back at Claire. Fortunately, she was sleeping very deeply and did not wake because of the commotion.

Looking at the book in his hands, Rainer only then realized that this Ancient Potions was nothing more than an empty shell, and the books scattered on the floor were the real body.

"What is this?"

He bent down and picked up a few of them.

The Poor Noble Mage, Stained by Your Mana, The Overbearing Mage's Green Apprentice.

???

Why did they feel a little strange?

Rainer opened one of them out of curiosity, only then realizing that this was.

And it was even so-called girls'.

The contents of these books were very clichéd. Basically, an ordinary heroine was all alone and helpless, yet happened to be favored by a mage of extraordinary power. They included classic plot devices such as amnesia caused by a magical accident, various misunderstandings making the two sides part ways, and a vicious female supporting character trying to steal the male lead.

In Rainer's opinion, compared with all kinds of popular literature on Earth, the contents of these were truly rather crude. But then, thinking about how a subject like The Solitary Gourmet could become popular in every city, this sort was not too bad either.

It was just that Rainer probably needed to revise his view. Claire's girlhood had indeed passed normally after all.

Carefully putting these books back, Rainer finally left Claire's room. He had not eaten lunch yet and was a little hungry, so he wanted to go to the kitchen and find something to eat.

Slipping downstairs, Rainer arrived at the kitchen. Most of the cooking work had been handed over to alchemical creatures, and at this time those alchemical creatures were all resting, so at this hour, there was no one in the kitchen.

He went to the storeroom, cut off a sausage, quietly took two slices of bacon, and grabbed an egg.

Lighting the stove, Rainer placed a piece of butter in the frying pan, put in the bacon and sausage to fry them until fragrant, then cracked in the egg, sprinkled on a little sea salt and pepper, and it was ready to come out of the pan.

Rainer turned around, went to get a piece of bread, poured half a glass of cheap red wine, and when he turned back to carry the plate, he discovered that the familiar tiger-striped cat had climbed onto the stove at some point and was licking its paws beside the fragrant food.

"Don't you go telling anyone."

Rainer thought for a moment, then cut half a slice of bacon with a knife and gave it to the cat. Yet it actually sniffed the meat and did not bite down immediately, instead continuing to stare straight at the meat on the plate.

"What else do you want?"

His fork roamed over the food on the plate. Rainer saw the cat's gaze stop on the sausage, so he could only cut off another third of the sausage and put it together with the half slice of bacon.

Only then did the cat seem to meow in satisfaction, lowering its head to gnaw on the bacon.

Rainer also picked up the bread, spread it with butter, and quickly finished that piece of bread along with the meat and vegetables on the plate.

"Where on earth did you come from?"

Full and satisfied, Rainer asked while petting the cat.

But the cat seemed not to understand Rainer's words at all. It merely narrowed its eyes, fully enjoying Rainer's service, and even turned its head from time to time to have him scratch the other side.

Once it had enjoyed enough, the cat yowled again, jumped off the stove, and slipped out through the window.

Rainer also stood up, put the plate into the sink, and left the kitchen.

He had originally wanted to stroll around the courtyard to help digest his food, but the alchemical statue informed Rainer that there was a letter addressed to him.

"Could the review result for the thesis be out?"

Rainer wondered. It had been several days since he sent out the thesis, and according to the normal pace, it was about time for the review comments to come back.

But after he opened the letter from the Tower of Rainbow, what he saw was not the review comments for his thesis, nor was it a solicitation letter from an academic journal.

It was an invitation.