It was late dawn.
Knock knock—
Along with the sound of knocking on the door, Saten's voice could be heard.
"Are you awake, Ajeossi?"
Precise and clear.
Saten's voice had a distinct and blunt pronunciation.
Since my body wasn't tired, I couldn't sleep and had been lying awake with my eyes open.
What on earth could she want from me at this hour of dawn?
I answered simply toward Saten beyond the door.
"The hallway is cold, so come in quickly."
You'll catch a cold.
As if she had been waiting for an answer, Saten opened the door.
Creak—
In her hands, she was carrying something in abundance.
"...Why did you bring a blanket and pillow, Saten?"
"I thought I'd need them."
Need them...
Saten came with a pillow and blanket in both hands.
It couldn't be that she wanted to have a pillow fight with me.
So there was only one choice Saten would make.
"Saten."
"Yes."
I spoke to stop Saten, who was walking toward me...
No, walking toward my bed.
"Are you planning to sleep here?"
"Yes, is there a problem?"
A problem.
If we're talking about problems, there are so many I could talk until my mouth falls off.
Even though she's still young, unless it's a specific situation like with Luna, sleeping together is impossible unless you're quite close.
Moreover, if the parties involved are bound by the labels of man and woman?
It's even more dangerous.
Even if I have no such intentions, there are the eyes of others.
In the eyes of Luna, Hare, and Estia, it would be interpreted differently.
I answered gently to Saten, who was gradually approaching the bed.
"Sleeping together is too much."
"Why? I even brought a pillow and blanket. Are you saying you'll kick me out?"
Flap—
Saten spread out the blanket like a flying squirrel as a sign of protest.
Seeing her expression slightly twisted, she seemed quite dissatisfied.
"Still, it's not allowed."
"I was alone for three weeks without Ajeossi. Can't you do at least this much for me?"
"...I'll make up for that part in another way. Go sleep in your room."
"I won't do anything. I'll just sleep."
Why is she so firm in her thinking?
Saten acted as if she would never back down.
*Suddenly coming at dawn wanting to sleep together... What on earth is she thinking...?*
During the time I was gone.
She wants to be compensated for that time at dawn.
Is that what this means?
"The pillow and blanket are heavy, Ajeossi. May I put them down?"
"No, let me think for a moment."
But if I indulge Saten's whining like this,
I'll have to deal with the aftermath from Luna and Hare, who wake up earlier than anyone, with this body tied in rope.
Can I really do that with this body?
*It wasn't that I had nothing to do so I was taking naps...*
My alcohol was confiscated, so I was awake until dawn.
Who knew it would flow into something like this.
Saten asked me once more.
"I'm going to sleep here today. That's okay, right?"
"..."
"If it's really not okay, I'll go back to my room. I wanted to talk when it's just the two of us without interruption since I haven't seen Ajeossi in a while. But if that's not allowed, it can't be helped."
"Haah..."
...I have no choice.
Though Saten made an unreasonable request by suddenly coming in the late dawn,
Saten seemed to have had a very hard time during my absence, so I couldn't coldly refuse her unreasonable request.
I faced Saten's expressionless face that contained 1% gloom.
"Alright, if conversation is the purpose... sleep in my room tonight."
"Thank you for allowing it, Ajeossi."
Saten bowed her stiff head lightly.
"However."
"Yes?"
"I'll sleep on the floor. You sleep on the bed."
"...What?"
Luna and I, who slept together in the tent.
And Hare, who witnessed it.
To prevent that situation from repeating, I had no choice but to present a compromise.
Saten seemed displeased with such a compromise, as she pressed her lips together and hesitated to answer.
"...The floor will be cold."
"It'll be warm if I cover myself with a blanket. It's fine."
"...The floor will be hard."
"I like sleeping in hard places."
"...Then let's do that."
Very rarely,
Saten pouted her lips as she headed to the bed.
Rather than a duck's bill, should I say it was more like a platypus's bill?
Though the expression wasn't large, I could clearly feel the emotion Saten was experiencing.
*That emotion needs to grow beautifully without rotting and turning black...*
Will she be able to move forward well even without me?
I was a bit worried about that part.
After laying Saten on the bed like that, I lay down on the floor.
The silent air of dawn flowed through the room.
Saten, who seemed particularly emotional today, spoke to me first.
"Ajeossi."
"Speak."
"Why were you awake, Ajeossi?"
"...I had nothing to do at lunch so I took a nap, and the chicks took my alcohol so I couldn't sleep."
I'm also tied up in rope.
When I showed Saten the rope, she looked down at me from the bed with interested eyes.
"It's an unusual magic tool. To restrict the physical abilities of the bound person. It has good versatility."
"It's good for completing adventurer requests and getting information from opponents."
"Right now. You're bound by such a useful magic tool."
"..."
She's poking a sore spot.
Saten rested her arm on the edge of the bed and looked down at me as she spoke.
"Is this the first time Ajeossi has been bound by that magic tool?"
"...Why do you ask that?"
"Because you seem so relaxed. If Hare stabbed Ajeossi with a dagger right now, you'd die."
"...Hare doesn't stab people at random times."
What kind of evaluation does Saten have of Hare in her heart?
As far as I know, the two of them are fairly close.
Anyway.
I decided to answer what Saten asked me.
"You just asked if this was my first time being bound by a magic tool?"
"Yes."
"It's not the first time. I've been bound before."
The day I was used as experimental material by Aina.
I was tied up with rope then too.
Though it wasn't dangerous enough to die, I felt the fear that I might actually die for the first time then.
"I was bound by rope while taking non-elemental magic directly with my body."
"Did you consent..."
"Of course not."
A forcibly conducted experiment.
As a result of that experiment, there was development in non-elemental magic.
Getting hit was easier to understand than trying it once.
When I asked later why she made such a choice, Aina deflected by saying, 'Just hurry up and get stronger.'
"It's amazing that being bound by rope and getting hit led to the development of non-elemental magic."
"It was an amazing and painful thing."
"Then, Ajeossi. Will you do it for me too? If my magic develops, it's good for me and good for Ajeossi too."
"Wh-what?"
Has Saten finally gone crazy?
I was so startled by what Saten said that I sat up from the floor.
That sound just now was hard to believe came from Saten.
*That prideful Saten is saying she'll get hit by my magic?*
It's nonsense.
However, everything Saten says is sincere.
Saten, who would rather injure her own body than let others get hurt, and who never allows attacks on opponents.
It felt a bit strange that she would show passion for magic to the point of getting hit.
Along with coming to find me at this late dawn.
Could it be.
"Saten."
"Yes, Ajeossi."
"I'm asking just in case..."
Can you see a wall?
A thick and high wall of magical talent.
Saten, who has high magical power and an excellent mind.
Looking at the current situation, it seems...
"When Ajeossi wasn't here. I tried to spend time studying magic alone..."
The book of non-elemental magic that Ajeossi gave me.
I can't understand the last page at all.
Saten bit her lips tightly as if frustrated and muttered.
"Estia is sticking to her teacher and moving forward... Luna and Hare are training too... Thinking that only I'm standing still... it wasn't easy..."
It was hard without me.
Moreover, even the magic that had been with her throughout her life hit a wall.
And her emotions were turbulent too.
In the end, did that solid Saten crumble?
Though lying on the bed expressionless, Saten somehow looked gloomy as if she had fallen into a deep swamp.
*I've also been blocked by walls quite a bit.*
This might be Saten's first time reaching the last page,
But I had been blocked by walls about four times before that.
The talent for non-elemental magic is a talent that can see the end of magic.
Finding someone with that talent is like finding a diamond on a sandy beach.
However, since the path Saten was walking was one I had already walked,
I decided to show Saten, who was blocked by a wall, a new path.
"Saten, you said you hit a wall?"
"...Yes, I can't understand that last page at all."
"If I tell you how to interpret it, I'll have to explain everything that comes after it too."
The last page must be interpreted by Saten herself.
The importance of the last page that connects the end and the beginning is considerable.
So.
I headed to the wardrobe and wiggled my hands to take out an outer garment.
"Ajeossi? What are you doing right now?"
At my sudden action, Saten expressed puzzlement.
If I headed to the wardrobe, the answer is naturally decided.
"Shall we take a little walk?"
"At this late hour... a walk?"
Rather, the late hour makes it better.
For this hikikomori mage, dawn when the world isn't clearly visible is better.
"When you hit a wall, finding another path is also a good method."
To cool the brain.
Saten and I secretly set out for a night walk in the late dawn.
"It's cold, so hold my hand, Saten."
"...Yes."
It's colder because it's dawn.
Perhaps because of that?
On Saten's expressionless cheeks, a faint blush had risen.