The sea breeze blew.
Ruger stretched as he welcomed an honored guest.
The little round table and tea set were ready, and the homemade fruit tea bubbled away, giving off its fragrance.
In front of the Little Cabin on the Isolated Island, Ruger and Wizard Zorn sat side by side, a small tea table between them, gazing out at the distant sea.
Zorn looked the same as ever. Both wore strange Wizard Robes open at the front. One had been torn by accident and kept that way because it was comfortable; the other was deliberately left open to show off his chest hair.
"You'll be leaving soon, won't you?" Zorn said admiringly. "I had to sit here for quite a while before I sensed that you were already a true Three-Ring Wizard. You're getting stranger and stranger..."
The sound of slurping tea followed.
Ruger smiled faintly.
"Surely you aren't leaving too, Lord Zorn, newly advanced Four-Ring Wizard and High-Rank Wizard?" Ruger asked with a smile.
When he returned and found Wizard Zorn absent, he had had a premonition. Going out to handle Demon-Hunting Cases or busying himself with experiments was perfectly normal, but the feeling had lingered. Perhaps it had something to do with what Zorn had said the last time they met. Back then, Zorn had seemed both resolute and carefree, as though he had finally decided on something he had agonized over for years.
That was when Ruger had handed over his spell notes on the Inverted Cup to Zorn under a contract, and Zorn had given him two complementary Flight Spells.
"Not in the near future. At least, not before you leave. But a long journey is inevitable," Zorn said, looking out over the Endless Sea. "Jillian and the others may leave before long, too. I'm making