Graduation

"The graduation exam will be held outside the village."

When I heard "graduation," I froze for a moment.

Graduation?

I'd thought Roxy would stay until I was seven or eight before leaving.

It would definitely be a lie to say I wasn't sad. Roxy was a very good teacher.

When it came to magic, her mastery was clearly far above mine.

"Rudy, climb on."

"Okay."

Roxy and I rode the horse Paul kept, heading toward an open area.

We weren't going fast, leaving me enough time to think about what I should say when we parted.

Only now did I realize that I had never once thought about Roxy leaving me.

Even though we had only lived together for two years, I had already come to see her as family.

When had I become this sensitive?

Along the way, quite a few villagers looked at us. It was probably because of Roxy's hair.

No... there was nothing strange in their eyes. Roxy must have helped them often, so they were simply greeting her out of kindness.

Before us stretched endless farmland, with a few houses scattered here and there.

It was a very standard rural scene.

I leaned against Roxy's chest, feeling a pure sense of peace.

We stayed silent. The silence didn't make the mood awkward, but I still decided to speak.

"Teacher, why is your hair blue?"

I had originally thought this world was just like that, with hair in all sorts of colors, but in truth, blue hair and green hair were very rare.

Teacher had once told me that green hair was cursed hair. Then what about blue hair?

I had never asked before, but now that things had come to this, I wanted to learn even a little more about Roxy.

"Because I'm from the Demon Race."

"The Demon Race?"

"Paul and Zenith never told you?"

"No. I only just found out that you're from the Demon Race, Teacher."

I still calmly leaned against Roxy's chest. Was this what you called a five-year-old's privilege?

But there were no stray thoughts in my mind. I was only feeling the breeze.

"Rudy, are you disappointed?"

"Hm? Disappointed about what?"

"About your teacher being from the Demon Race..." Roxy's voice grew a little quieter.

"How could I be? No matter what, you're my teacher. That won't change, no matter what."

"I see... Then I'm relieved."

The Demon Race, huh...

Huh?

I felt like I had overlooked a very important question.

Could it be that Roxy wasn't actually a teenage girl??

Better not think about it. Casually speculating about a woman's age was very impolite, even if she was this petite.

From our feet to the end of the horizon, everything was grassland.

No, I could faintly see mountains in the distance.

At the very least, this was probably scenery I could never have seen in my previous life.

"Coming this far should be enough, right?"

Roxy stopped beside a lone tree, dismounted, and tied the reins to the tree.

Then she lifted me down.

After that, she faced me head-on and said, "Next, I will use the Water Saint-Rank spell Cumulonimbus. It is a spell that creates a wide-ranging downpour accompanied by thunder and lightning."

"Yes."

"Please imitate me and try using this spell."

Water Saint-Rank magic—was this the graduation exam?

The next spell Roxy used would be the greatest magic she was capable of, so if I could use it too, that meant she had nothing left to teach me.

"Since I'm only demonstrating, I'll have the spell disperse after one minute. For you, Rudy... if you can make it disperse after three minutes, you pass."

"Okay."

"Then."

Roxy raised both hands toward the sky.

"O mighty spirit of water, prince of the thunder emperor who ascends to the heavens!

Grant my wish, bring forth your ferocious blessing, and show your power to those small and lowly!

Strike the anvil with the hammer of god, reveal your terror, and let the flood drown the entire earth.

Ah, rain! Wash away all things and drive everything out!

Cumulonimbus!"

She clearly and slowly recited every word of the incantation.

It lasted more than a minute.

The instant the chant ended, the surroundings darkened all at once.

After a delay of several seconds, rain began to fall, a downpour so heavy it was like an entire basin of water being dumped from above.

A terrifying storm swept through the area, lightning flashing within the black clouds.

Amid the torrential rain that fell like a waterfall, purple light flickered through the clouds with a rumble.

Then it swelled larger and larger, as if even the light had weight.

At last, it struck down.

Boom!

My eardrums rang, and my eyes stung from the light.

So this was... Water Saint-Rank.

After continuing for one minute, the magic stopped.

But when I turned my head, the horse that had been under that tree had already collapsed.

It seemed to have been struck by lightning...

"Ah, wah, wah..."

She rushed over in a panic and cast healing magic on the horse.

It looked like the horse hadn't died outright...

"Honestly... whew... that was close."

Having lived with us for two years, Roxy naturally knew this was Paul's most important horse.

It wasn't some famous steed, but Paul truly treated it well.

He even publicly declared that his love for this horse was second only to Zenith.

"Y-you'll help keep this a secret, right...?"

Roxy said, tears in her eyes.

She was a little clumsy.

She often made mistakes by accident.

Even so, she was someone who worked very hard—both a genius and a hard worker.

I respected this girl deeply, and I also knew she worried people would look down on her for being too young, so she always tried her best to present herself with dignity.

"Please don't worry. I won't say anything."

"Uuu... please."

She was truly adorable, enough that even with my memories from my previous life, I couldn't help but sigh in admiration.

In my previous life, I had never been in love, but if I had met someone like Teacher Roxy back then, I was sure I would have fallen for her.

"Mm..."

Roxy tugged down the brim of her hat, then pulled herself together and spoke to me.

"All right, you give it a try. I'll help protect Caravaggio."

"Okay. Please watch how much I've grown."

"Mm!"

I walked toward the middle of the grassland.

All right, let's do this.

Roxy was going to leave. In my heart, she already counted as true family.

Since that was the case, I would show her everything I had and put the person about to leave home at ease.

I slowly opened my mouth.

"O majestic spirit of water, prince of the thunder emperor who ascends to the sky...

Grant my wish, bring forth your savage blessing, and let lesser beings witness your power!

Strike the anvil with the hammer of God, reveal your terror, and let the flood drown the whole earth.

Ah, rain! Wash away everything and drive all things out!

Cumulonimbus!"

I had to picture it properly, using everything I had.

I poured in even more mana.

I had never felt my mana was more abundant than it was in that moment.

Sustain it...

So Roxy would understand I could stand on my own.

Focus...

So Roxy would know I respected her.

With all my strength...

So Roxy would be clear that she was a good teacher!

The magic in the sky was even more terrifying than when Roxy used it.

The sky was no longer dark—it had become complete night.

Come on, try to control the lightning. Make it strike wherever I wanted it to strike.

Boom!!

The lightning struck the very center, right beside me, but it did not hurt me in the slightest.

After it continued for five minutes, I stopped.

My whole body was soaked, and so was Roxy.

At the same time, I used my remaining mana to completely disperse the dark clouds in the sky.

Then Roxy walked toward me.

"Congratulations. You've graduated, and you've also become a Water Saint-Rank mage."

"Thank you, Teacher."

"You're even more outstanding than I imagined. You truly managed to control magic—perfectly, precisely, without error."

"That's all thanks to your excellent teaching, Teacher."

"Rudy, you're already stronger than me."

I froze, not knowing what she meant by that.

"Teacher, no matter what..."

"I know. No matter what, I'm still your teacher, right?" Roxy reached out and tapped my forehead.

I shook my head.

Roxy looked stunned, and then her expression turned sad.

"I see... After all, you're already stronger than me. You must feel awful calling someone weaker than yourself your teacher all the time..."

Her expression was painfully endearing.

I really couldn't bear to watch it.

"Teacher, no matter what... you're my family. You're both my teacher and my family."

"Huh?!"

"That's how it is."

Roxy blushed, lowered her head, and murmured.

"Uh... mm, fine, then. So I'm Rudy's big sister and teacher, huh?"

I shook my head.

"Not big sister. Family and teacher."

"Uh? Which one? I... I mean... uh..."

"I don't know either."

"All right... In any case, congratulations on successfully graduating."