Chapter 24
Uh, I knew what Moli really meant was that both our tastes were terribly old-fashioned, but on second thought, she had a point. If I could choose, I would definitely travel back to the legendary era, and I knew Mel felt the same way. So it wasn't wrong to say our tastes were like those of people who had traveled here from the legendary era. Besides, Mel and I were proud of it.
After he finished talking to Moli, he landed back on my hand and got down to business. The metal raven opened its beak and spat out my ring.
"As soon as I heard you'd been released from prison, I wanted to return your ring first. Your robes got a little dusty, so I'll wash them and give them back the next time we meet. And I haven't finished reading your notes, so I took the liberty of keeping them."
I nodded and put my ring back on my finger, but I felt that Mel clearly had something else, something more important, to say.
The raven paused, shifting from claw to claw on my hand twice before saying, "...Also, I hope you'll accept this."
With that, Mel's familiar opened its beak again, and a mithril ring fell into my palm.
Mel nudged the ring with his claw and lowered his head. "Please accept it, Xipei."
"What is this...?" I picked up the ring in surprise. At a glance, it was clearly an elven creation. Mithril had been drawn into slender, supple strands, the thickest no wider than embroidery thread and the finest as thin as hair. They were intricately wound and woven together like a miniature wreath, dotted with crystals like fragments of starlight. It was gorgeous without being overly dazzling, and it felt slightly warm to the touch, unlike the chill of ordinary metal.
"It's beautiful." I couldn't help admiring it, as though I were holding a wisp of starlight from the forest. At my words, Mel seemed especially delighted. His raven hopped twice on my finger, then quickly stood still again.
And it was obviously worth a fortune!
"It's for you, Xipei," Mel said. "It's a spatial ring. I thought it suited you perfectly."
"Well..." I held the ring as it gave off a soft glow. Elven craftsmanship was as elegant and powerful as the race itself, and only Mel could produce a ring of such quality. As a son of the forest acknowledged by the elves, it wasn't surprising that Mel had something like this, but... was he really giving it to me?
"I made it myself," Mel said. "I learned from the elves while I was traveling in the Elven Sanctuary. I'm really so happy you like it!"
"I..." I opened my mouth, feeling as though I had so much to say that all the words were jostling in my throat, but in the end, none of them came out.
Finally, all I could say was, "Thank you... It really is beautiful."
The metal raven flapped its wings twice and cawed a couple of times like a real bird, which sounded rather amusing. Mel flew a circle around me, landed on the table, and nudged the back of my hand with his head, urging me, "Put it on, put it on! I think it'll look lovely on your finger. Put it on and let me see!"
I couldn't help smiling as I nodded. I was used to casting spells with my right hand, so I wore magic tools on that hand. This was a spatial ring, so after a moment's thought, I slipped it onto my left hand.
The ring fit surprisingly well, perfectly snug around my left ring finger, neither loose nor tight. It was also very light to wear. Although it was made of metal, once I put it on, it felt as light as nothing. The skin on my fingers was a little pale, and my fingertips lacked color too, a result of years of handling magical materials. But once I put the ring on, the elves' natural light spread softly over my hand, making my skin look healthier and rosier.
The raven studied it for a moment and said, "Mm, it looks just as lovely as I imagined."
"Thank you, Mel," I said again.
"Consider it a gift in return for lending me your notes," Mel said cheerfully. "Once I get through this summit... Oh, right, I could take the opportunity to look around these next few days and buy a house..."
As he spoke, he flew back and forth around my apartment. My place was so small that when the raven spread its wings, he nearly flew into the wall. Fortunately, Mel's mental power was formidable and his control was first-rate, so he quickly steadied his familiar. Otherwise, a great mage of his generation crashing his familiar into a wall would have been quite a sight.
I held back a laugh and said, "My place isn't useful as a reference at all. This apartment was assigned to me by the research institute, and they did the decorating too. The only thing in the whole place that belongs to me is myself."
"And me!" Moli raised her hand indignantly from the side.
"Right, only Moli and I belong to me," I corrected myself.
"I knew it," Mel said. "How could you possibly like such strange decor?"
Well, that was true. The apartment was decorated in a very "trendy" mechanical style, with all sorts of gaudy-looking electronic lights, metal tables and chairs... I had always wondered why an apartment provided to a mage was decorated to look so high-tech. Anyone who didn't know better would think a mech pilot lived here. Yet the neighbors on the same floor all seemed to like it. They asked, just because they worked with magic, did that mean they couldn't like modern minimalist design?
They called this modern minimalist style? What was minimalist about it? There were at least three electronic lights above my head, all different colors and designs. When I turned them on, they lit up in a riot of colors and cast them all over my notes. It scared me so much that I only ever turned them on that once, when I'd just moved in and didn't know anything about the place. After that, I never used the lights at home and always used an illumination spell instead.
"Ah, those politicians with nothing better to do," the familiar muttered. Mel said helplessly, "Someone's come looking for me. I have to go."
The raven reluctantly hopped onto the windowsill and looked back at me. "Xipei, when I'm done, can we go for a stroll together down the city's magic street?"
"Mm, sure." I nodded, raised my hand, and said, "And I really like this ring."
Mel grew happy again. I could feel it very clearly from the fluctuations of his mental power. His familiar flew nimbly out the window, and before his own mental power departed, he looked back and told me, "Eat your meals on time and get some rest early!"
"You too!" I said with a smile.
The black raven soon disappeared into the night, so I looked away and sat back down. But when I turned around, I saw Moli's phone resting on her lap while she sat there in a daze, her expression blank. I found it strange. Neither Mel nor I had cast a petrification spell on her, so what had happened to her now?
"Moli?"
Her eyes shifted. "Teacher, I was wrong again. You don't need a date at all. You need to go straight to celebrating your anniversary."
Huh? What anniversary? What strange nonsense was this girl talking about now?
Chapter 24
After dinner, I kept Moli's computer but sent her on her way. Before she left, she kept inviting me to stay at her house, but I thought I'd better not for now. Generally speaking, apprentices did live with their teachers, but throughout history, apprentices had always moved into their teachers' towers. Many famous mages' towers had entire floors of rooms for apprentices, while a teacher so poor that they had to live at their apprentice's house always sounded a little strange.
"Teacher, just imagine you're the great demon king, and I'm your loyal lackey. What's mine is yours! Otherwise, I could put your name on the property deed!" Moli said, blinking her big eyes as she described it vividly. She made me think that, besides being a mage, she might also be well suited to becoming a bard—the kind who sang songs forbidden to anyone under eighteen. And, come to think of it, with her "death-style heavy-metal smoky makeup" on, she really did look the part of a great demon king's lackey.
But I turned her down, because I wasn't a "death-style heavy-metal smoky great demon king mage." So I answered her sternly, "Your teacher is still a good, law-abiding mage for now. If you want me to become a great demon king, I can do that too. I've decided to keep you here tonight and have you recite a thousand spells of the third level or higher..."
"Goodbye, Teacher! Good night, Teacher!"
Before I'd even finished speaking, Moli jumped straight out the window.
I leaned out for a look. Her Feather Fall really was quite good, which made me wonder again just how many times she'd jumped out of windows. Had she been sneaking out the window at midnight to read novels at internet cafés when she was in school?