Please Wait a Moment

"Roxy... Teacher."

Cui Ciyou almost instinctively murmured her name in a low voice, as though afraid of disturbing a dream.

His voice was soft, but enough for the mage across from him to hear.

Roxy was startled when she heard it. She raised her head and looked at the tall, black-haired man.

"Excuse me, is the student I am supposed to teach your child? You look so young, yet you already have a child?"

When Cui Ciyou recovered from his brief daze, he heard Roxy asking him with some confusion.

Perhaps his unconscious use of "Teacher" just now had made her mistake him for the master of this estate.

"Unfortunately, I am not the employer you are looking for."

Cui Ciyou steadied himself and forcibly suppressed the surging emotions in his heart as he explained.

"Actually, I am also Miss Alice's tutor. However, I am responsible for arithmetic, reading, and writing."

As Cui Ciyou explained, his gaze could not help secretly studying Roxy.

In his mind, those fragmented images from before his transmigration, already somewhat blurred, began flashing uncontrollably once more:

That out-of-control truck, the phone screen shattered to pieces in the violent collision...

And the anime screen frozen on its final image, playing Jobless Reincarnation.

It's real... Not a drawing, nor data on a screen. A storm raged within Cui Ciyou's heart.

She's alive—flesh and blood, breathing, warm... Roxy...

The texture of her robe, the color of her hair, the faint scent about her, mingling magic with the dust of long travels... It was all incomparably real.

At the same time, Roxy was secretly observing Cui Ciyou as well.

Black hair... black eyes... That is quite a rare combination, she mused.

He is very tall and straight-backed... His demeanor... feels a little cold...

But his features are extraordinarily refined, as though he had stepped out of a painting.

There was curiosity and scrutiny in Roxy's gaze.

Are there humans like this in this world?

Or perhaps, like me, is he from the demon race?

And I cannot sense even the slightest fluctuation of mana from him... What a strange person.

"Miss Migurdia, I presume? Good day."

A gentle male voice arrived at just the right moment.

Cui Ciyou did not need to turn around. From that distinctive voice alone, he knew Philip had arrived.

Roxy immediately tensed again, like a startled bird in the forest.

The posture she had only just begun to relax vanished without a trace.

She swiftly turned to face Philip, who was approaching at an unhurried pace. Bowing deeply with the utmost respect, her voice tightened slightly.

"Y-Yes, hello! I am Roxy Migurdia!"

"Migurdia... That surname. Are you of the demon race?" Philip's tone was calm and flat, revealing neither pleasure nor displeasure.

"...Y-Yes. I am of the demon race."

Roxy's voice involuntarily lowered.

Her small hands also unconsciously clenched the edge of her mage's robe, her knuckles turning faintly white from the force.

Upon the Central Continent, land of the human race.

The identity of "demon race" was often accompanied by discrimination and prejudice.

"I already know why you have come."

Philip nodded and said evenly, "However, I am sorry, Miss Migurdia."

"At present, House Boreas has no plans to hire another tutor."

Philip paused, then continued in that aristocratic, polite tone that allowed no objection.

"Nor do we intend for Alice to devote too much effort to magic."

"As for arithmetic, reading, and writing..."

At last, Philip gave Cui Ciyou beside him an emphatic glance.

"We already have a very suitable tutor."

The meaning of Philip's words could not have been clearer. That so-called "suitable" tutor naturally referred to Cui Ciyou.

"So, I am afraid this trip has been in vain."

"I imagine the Adventurers' Guild staff failed to withdraw the previous recruitment request in time, resulting in this regrettable misunderstanding."

"For that, I personally offer my deepest apologies."

Although Philip's words carried a measure of courteous regret, the meaning of his rejection was unmistakable.

After that tactful refusal fell.

Cui Ciyou saw Roxy's shoulders slump slightly.

Roxy lowered her head in disappointment. Her long bangs covered her eyes, making it impossible to see her expression clearly.

Silently, she gripped the mage's hat on her head. That hat, symbolizing her pride as a mage, was slightly misshapen beneath her fingers.

Then, she slowly turned around, preparing to leave.

Looking at Roxy's small, lonely back, as though she had been abandoned by the whole world.

Cui Ciyou's heart felt as if an invisible hand had fiercely clenched it.

No.

I absolutely cannot let Roxy leave like this.

An incomparably powerful thought erupted in Cui Ciyou's mind like a volcano.

The plot of the original story suddenly surfaced in Cui Ciyou's mind.

After failing this interview in the original story, Roxy would travel to Buena Village and become the tutor of the young Rudeus.

She would teach Rudeus magic, lead him out of the house, and help him overcome the scars of being bullied in his previous life.

I only watched the anime. She is only a familiar stranger.

Yet Cui Ciyou's emotions fiercely refuted that thought.

But... why? Why do I not want her to leave like this at all?

Is it because she was a character I was so familiar with and loved in my previous life?

Does she carry the vague traces of my long-lost previous life?

Is it because I cannot bear to see her so disappointed and helpless right now?

I don't know... My mind has become a complete mess at this moment...

Scenes from the anime kept appearing in Cui Ciyou's mind. Images of Roxy and Rudeus intertwined endlessly in his thoughts...

So, I do not know why, either...

But at this moment, I truly do not want her to leave like this.

I do not want the connection between us to end in haste before it has even begun.

This thought was so clear, so resolute, that it overwhelmed all of Cui Ciyou's reason.

So, almost at the instant Roxy lifted her foot, ready to step out of the reception room.

Cui Ciyou involuntarily called out.

"Um... Miss Roxy."

"P-Please wait!"

Cui Ciyou's voice was not loud, but in the silent reception room, it sounded exceptionally clear.

The small figure about to leave abruptly stopped in her tracks.