“How far are you planning to take me?”
“To your room.”
“…Anyone who sees this would think I’m terminally ill.”
At least the hallway was empty, which was fortunate. Nigel moved his long legs with his usual nonchalant expression.
Thud, thud.
Rowen stopped walking first in front of the turning hallway. Suddenly, why? When Nigel turned his head, someone was walking from the end of the corridor.
It was Veil Khalid.
But his appearance was somewhat different. His usual arrogant and flamboyant demeanor was nowhere to be found.
The cloak of someone who had never worn a disheveled shirt even when carelessly buttoning up was torn at the edges as if scraped against something, and mud was caked all over the hem of his pants. The dark circles under his eyes made him look like someone who hadn’t slept for several nights.
“…Ha.”
He let out a long sigh as if deflated and swept his disheveled hair back with his fingers. His red hair rippled as it caught the sunlight. The bracelet from the Brion Kingdom that was an artifact they’d touched in class still remained on his wrist.
“You really were alive.”
Though his words were rough, his voice carried unmistakable relief. Nigel stood beside Rowen and tilted his head slightly.
Honestly, there was still a bit of bad feelings remaining since he’d treated frog-Nigel like a toy and tied ribbons on him, but he had no intention of saying that outright. Setting that aside, Nigel had, to put it nicely, neither favorable feelings nor interest in Veil Khalid.
So he couldn’t understand why the guy was approaching him with that expression saying “You really were alive.”
“I heard you went all the way to the northern forest. Good work.”
Unexpectedly, Rowen beside him spoke plainly. Normally they barely conversed, but perhaps because they’d shared the common goal of searching for Nigel together, a camaraderie like that of comrades-in-arms had formed.
“Don’t even mention it. I even ran into an ogre.”
So that’s why he looks like that. The northern forest was an area where monsters were introduced for the Academy’s classes. Veil Khalid’s appearance looked even more terrible up close.
“You went there alone? Why?”
Nigel became genuinely curious. No matter how deeply versed Veil Khalid was in magic, he hadn’t expected him to be this reckless. It seemed best to know just how big a trouble he was planning to cause.
“……”
“……”
At Nigel’s question, both Rowen and Veil fell silent. Rowen opened his mouth on behalf of the silent Veil.
“You were—”
“Stop. Don’t say it, Rowen Ashfield.”
Veil Khalid extended his arm to stop Rowen’s words.
“What? Why… you too.”
“I said stop. It’s enough that you came back. I don’t have a hobby of showing off.”
Veil irritably cut off Rowen’s words. The tips of his slightly reddened ears were glimpsed between his disheveled hair.
Suspicious.
Nigel narrowed his eyes. Veil Khalid was the type who extremely hated losing. Seeing him deflect like that, he was definitely hiding something.
“You’re not planning to capture and raise a monster from the northern forest, are you?”
Judging from how he’d looked at frog-Nigel with amusement, it was a plausible guess. But Veil immediately bristled.
“Ha! Me? Why would I keep something that stinks like that?”
But soon he seemed deflated, drooping his shoulders and letting out an empty laugh.
“Fine, think whatever you want.”
“Then why did you go to the northern forest?”
Veil Khalid’s amber eyes scanned Nigel’s complexion. Though he didn’t know where Nigel had been for the past few days, his condition didn’t look very good.
“I just went to inspect the magical beasts to be used for the festival.”
A plausible lie. Inspecting magical beasts was the beastkeepers’ job, and it wasn’t something the top student of the Academic Department should do while getting covered in muddy water. Moreover, Veil Khalid wasn’t the type to obediently do such things just because someone told him to.
Not completely convinced, Nigel felt his shoulder tapped once by Veil, who then turned around without lingering attachment.
“See for yourself at the festival whether what I’m saying is true. This time, the Academic Department is going to take the victory.”
“…Wake up from your dream.”
Nigel muttered with a slight smile. Hearing that tone of voice, he was no different from the usual Veil Khalid. Veil waved his hand without looking back and disappeared to the other end of the corridor. His mud-covered blue cloak fluttered with each step.
“He’s so self-centered, honestly.”
Nigel shook his head and said to Rowen.
“Let’s go, I’m tired.”
And he was about to move his feet when—
“Veil Khalid was very worried about you.”
Rowen said quietly. Huh? Nigel turned his head as if he’d heard something strange. Rowen was staring at the end of the corridor where Veil Khalid had disappeared.
“From the day you disappeared, he skipped classes with me and searched every area of the Academy.”
“…What?”
While that might be expected of Rowen, Nigel raised one eyebrow, completely not having expected that from Veil Khalid.
“Really? For me?”
“I was surprised too. I had no idea he’d worry about you to that extent.”
Nigel stared blankly at where Veil had disappeared. That shameless and arrogant Veil Khalid, for me?
If he had to define their relationship, it was closer to the opposite of friends. For someone like that to search for him, skipping classes—well, Veil Khalid skipping classes wasn’t surprising.
But the fact that the reason was Nigel himself was quite shocking.
“…Me?”
He could only repeat the same words stupidly.
“I thought he disliked me….”
To have worried that much. Then going to the northern forest alone was also to find me? The mud-covered cloak and haggard eyes I saw earlier were because of me?
A corner of his chest felt ticklish. For Nigel, who hated being indebted to anyone more than anything, it was an unbearable sense of obligation.
“…Why are you telling me this?”
Nigel asked. Looking at Veil’s reaction earlier, it seemed he wanted to hide that fact. Rowen could have just let it slide appropriately as Veil wanted.
“You should at least know that there are many people worried about you.”
Rowen said in a calm voice.
“And, I was curious about your reaction.”
“…What?”
“I was curious what kind of reaction you’d show if you knew how much he worried about you.”
“Why would you be curious about that?”
Then Rowen turned his gaze to look directly at Nigel. His blue eyes had sunk deeply.
“……”
“……”
Rowen stepped closer. When his body heat touched Nigel’s arm, Nigel flinched without realizing it. He was momentarily speechless at Rowen’s resolute gaze. What was contained in Rowen Ashfield’s face was not the usual gentle expression.
“Why, why are you being like this?”
Nigel made an awkward expression as if flustered.
Immediately, Rowen’s serious face smoothly relaxed. He lightly tapped Nigel’s shoulder and then smiled gently.
“Don’t worry about it. I was just purely curious. You just….”
But Rowen’s eyes were still fixed persistently as if binding Nigel.
“You just need to stay like this.”
Those words sounded oddly like a command.
“……”
Nigel slightly averted his eyes, burdened by Rowen’s gaze. For a friend’s concern, it felt excessively heavy and sticky. But right now, Nigel didn’t have the energy to dig into it deeply.
“Alright. I get it, so let’s hurry back to the dormitory.”
Nigel gestured ahead with his chin. Due to his large build, Rowen was blocking the center of the hallway. Only then did Rowen return to his usual expression and obediently move aside.
These past few days had felt terribly long. Returning to the front of his room in a human body, Nigel thought a lot had happened during those few days.
Click.
“Rest well, and see you tomorrow.”
“…Yeah.”
Nigel answered weakly. As soon as he returned to the cozy room, it felt like the fatigue of three days was washing over his entire body. Here, where there were no watching eyes, he could rest comfortably.
Thud. He heard the sound of the door closing gently behind him, as if the force had been controlled.
“Haah….”
Immediately, Nigel let out a deep sigh and pressed his forehead.
What hellish days. Becoming a frog, almost getting stepped on by maids, meeting the Headmaster, and turning back into a human. Thanks to Professor Vera’s medicine, the headache had disappeared, but mental fatigue was weighing him down.
Come to think of it, I forgot about the glass bottle Silvanus gave me with magic. It would be good to retrieve it from Rowen’s room where he’d left it early this morning.
He’d been too out of it to take it with him, but he was planning to visit the Headmaster’s office later to return it and give his thanks. It would have been really nice if he’d helped from the beginning, but since he helped in the end anyway, it was polite to at least say thanks.
‘…First, I need to sleep.’
Nigel closed his eyes, trying hard to organize his complicated thoughts.
At least I’m back to being human, which is fortunate.
‘I must find the culprit and punish whoever dared to turn me into a frog.’
That’s what he thought.
***
The next morning.
Nigel got up with a lighter body than usual. His reflection in the mirror was fortunately human.
His condition was better than it had been in a long time. Everything had returned to normal.
But he couldn’t relax. In yesterday’s frantic escape, there was something he’d left behind in Rowen’s room.
