7. Lyle McClain

7. Lyle McClain

One fine afternoon, Lucinda was letting her mind wander during the carriage ride to the Trevor residence for magic lessons, when suddenly she remembered something important.

‘Oh no! The class time today is different from usual!’

Last week in class she had been told that magic lessons would begin an hour later than usual because Flora had a visitor today, but she had forgotten about it.

‘It’s too much trouble to go back home again. I think I’ll just kill some time outside!’

It was over halfway to Trevor’s house, and she felt too lazy to turn back around, so she decided to get out of the carriage and take a stroll around the city.

Fortunately, Lucinda had dressed modestly for magic lessons so that she wouldn’t get any dirt on her nice clothes from practicing magic. She wouldn’t stand out even if she was walking alone.

After getting the coachman to bring them to a stop in a side street, Lucinda exited the carriage and asked him to wait for her there after explaining the situation. Then she started to walk towards the busier streets to kill some time in the city.

‘Come to think of it, this is the first time I’ve ever walked through the city like this.’

The main street she was walking along for the first time was filled with sophisticated boutiques, well-established and stylish stationery stores, and other stores that looked very luxurious.

As she walked down the street, Lucinda felt as though she was a vagrant—which she actually had been not too long ago—and continued to make her way further down the street cheerfully, thinking about how her circumstances had changed for the better. 

There seemed to be a lot of restaurants and food stalls here, too. The aroma of freshly baked bread and the appetizing smell of skewers roasting on an open fire wafted down the street, making her stomach rumble.

‘It looks delicious. ……Should I buy something to eat?’

Her old habit of always having some change in her pocket to buy snacks at the food stalls was still there.

As she stopped to fish some coins out from her pockets, Lucinda suddenly heard a shout from behind.

“Stop!!! Thief!”

As she turned around hurriedly, wondering if a robbery had occurred somewhere, she saw a boy, probably running after the fleeing criminal, approaching her at high speed.

“Get out of the way!” screamed the boy.

‘Oh no! At this rate he’ll crash into me!’

The next thing she knew, she was frozen in place with her arms scrunched protectively in front of her body. However, the impact she was expecting never came, and instead she felt something wrapped around her body.

“……Hey, are you okay? That was a close one.”

When Lucinda opened her eyes, she found herself being hugged by a boy around her age.

“Oh, did you by any chance save me?”

“Yeah, I thought I was going to run into you. Are you hurt?” the boy said, pulling himself away from Lucinda.

He was a very good-looking boy, but from the way he was dressed, he was probably just a commoner’s kid from around the neighborhood.

“Thank you for saving me! I’m not hurt at all.”

“I’m glad to hear that. I’ll leave you to it then.”

Lucinda stopped the boy as he tried to leave.

“Oh, wait. I was just thinking of buying something to eat. Would you like to join me? I want to thank you properly.”

“No need to thank me! ……Although, I was just thinking about getting something to eat, too.”

“Then let’s eat together!”

Lucinda bought grilled skewers from a stall that the boy said was good, and they sat down together on a bench in the square to eat them. After she took a bite, she exclaimed,

“You were right! It’s so tender and delicious!”

“The sauce is yummy, but it tastes good with plain salt, too.”

As Lucinda was savoring the new flavor, she asked the boy, “So what’s your name?”

“I’m……Lyle.”

“Nice to meet you, Lyle. I’m Lucinda.”

She thought that revealing she belonged to a noble family might make him act more reserved, so Lucinda only told him her first name.

　

After that, the two children both sat and ate their skewers in silence for a while, but when Lucinda glanced sideways at Lyle’s face, she thought that he looked somewhat gloomy. After finishing the last bite, she called out to him.

“Are you worried about something?”

Lyle seemed to hesitate for a moment at the direct question, but then he muttered,

“I want to be a knight…”

When Lucinda was about to reply, “That’s a wonderful dream,” Lyle added,

“….But my parents are against it.”

“Oh. Are they worried that it’s too dangerous?”

“No, they want me to follow in my father’s footsteps rather than pursue something like that. Father said that becoming a knight is worthless.”

“That’s not true.”

“I already know that my strong point is magic, not fighting. But I just can’t give up on being a knight.”

When Lucinda was unable to say anything, Lyle laughed dryly.

“Sorry. I can’t believe I’m saying this to a person I just met. You must be feeling troubled. I’ll get going now.”

　

Lyle stood up to leave without looking at Lucinda, but then stopped and turned around in bewilderment.

For some reason, Lucinda’s hand had moved to grab his hand, preventing him from leaving.

‘Oops, I thought I shouldn’t let Lyle go just like that, so I grabbed his hand unconsciously.’

“Um…I’m sorry! It’s just that, I don’t think of your situation as someone else’s problem.”

“What?”

“Actually, I have a dream, too. I want to become a magician and go on a journey in the future.”

“A journey?”

“Yeah, my parents aren’t too happy about it, but I can’t give up on it, either. So I know how you feel and I want to support you.”

“I see, you have a difficult dream, too.”

After listening to her words, Lyle’s expression seemed to soften a little, but he still looked like he was in pain.

‘He’s a nice person who helped me when I was about to get hurt—I can’t just leave him alone. Besides, it’s really hard to level up in a job you don’t enjoy.’

“Lyle, I think that becoming a knight is a wonderful goal. True, it might be difficult to master things that you’re not good at now, the requirements are strict, and you might have a hard time… But I believe that no matter how steep the path you take, there will be plenty of joy along the way.”

Then her hand squeezed Lyle’s even more tightly for a moment.

“And you shouldn’t get it wrong. It’s not that a specific job is worthless or valuable, it’s what you do with a job that’s valuable. What job would you really want to spend your life creating value in?”

“The job I want to spend my life creating value in…”

“That’s right. Lyle’s life is Lyle’s, not some other player’s, and you should live it the way you want to live it.”

“…..”

As Lucinda was looking at Lyle, who was thinking with a serious expression on his face, she suddenly thought of something and exclaimed, “Ah!” 

A smile showed on her face, and she squeezed Lyle’s hand tightly again and spoke in a cheerful tone.

“Hey, Lyle! If you’re confident in magic, why don’t you aim to become a magic knight? If you combine swordsmanship with magic, you’ll definitely be strong, and I think it would be really cool⁉︎”

Lyle froze with a shocked expression.

“I’ve never heard of a magic knight, but combining magic with swordsmanship might be a good fit for me.”

“Yeah! Lyle would definitely make a great magic knight! You were so cool when you helped me out earlier …….Oh! Is that the time?! Sorry, I have to go now! I have something to do. It was fun talking to you, Lyle! See you later!”

◇◇◇

As he looked at the clock in the square and watched the figure of Lucinda run off as if in a panic, Lyle McClain felt his mind, which had been murky for some time, clear up.

　

His amber eyes glittered.

“Sorry, father, but I think I’ll follow my own will. First, I need to propose the advantages of magic knights and how they will be beneficial for magic development.”

His father held the position of Prime Minister. If it was something beneficial for the national defense, he was sure that his father would listen to him.

“Come to think of it, is that girl’s house around here? I want to see her again…”

The girl who said she wanted to support his dream and encouraged him. He would never forget the warmth of her hands and her radiant smile.

“Lucinda, huh.”

Lyle whispered the name of the kind-hearted girl while bashfully ruffling his fiery red hair with one hand.

Notes:

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