Shared Memories

Perhaps because it was lunchtime, the dining hall was crowded. Surprisingly, the students didn’t seem particularly uncomfortable despite the Headmaster’s presence. I felt a few glancing eyes, but they weren’t intrusive.

The dining hall was buffet-style and incredibly vast. It was well-ventilated, so the smell of food wasn’t overpowering, and it was clean. Not bad. I followed Headmaster Herenso while scanning the interior. He led me to a private room on the right. This was also not bad. Had I eaten among the students, I would have been turned into a zoo monkey. Most of the students’ gazes were fixed on me.

I understood their curiosity. I was royalty with red hair and red eyes—features that had been the stuff of legends for over 500 years. Moreover, I had a tragic backstory. The one who received the Dragon God’s love but had to live confined in a spire due to a weak body… While those ten years were quite comfortable and cozy for me, it likely didn’t look that way from the outside. However, understanding the reason for the attention didn’t make it any less uncomfortable.

Inside the room, about ten students were already seated. The food prepared on the table wasn’t much different from what the students were eating, but it was served on proper plates rather than cafeteria trays. I slowly checked the faces of those sitting there before taking the seat the Headmaster pulled out for me. It was the seat of honor.

Lamierre, meeting my eyes, gave a light bow. His complexion wasn’t bad. Did he finally get some proper sleep? I’d find out later. Since the students looked like they had been waiting before the food for a while, I unfolded my napkin and draped it over my lap first.

“There are quite many people.”

“Meals taste better when shared with others, after all.”

I looked at his nonchalantly smiling face and picked up my utensils.

“You must be hungry. Go ahead and eat.”

Whatever the task, one must eat well first. I said nothing more and started with the soup and a piece of bread. While the other students hesitated out of nervousness, only Lamierre moved his hands immediately. Good boy. A child who eats well is the prettiest. Is that all? One must eat well to work well.

I focused solely on my own meal so the students wouldn’t feel watched. Headmaster Herenso laughed and began talking about food—specifically his favorite raspberry pie. I didn’t even touch the pie in the center of the table. It looked dreadfully sweet just by sight. I wasn’t even curious about the mindset of someone who eats that as a meal rather than a snack.

After the meal, the students stood up and began clearing the dishes. Despite ten people moving at once, their paths didn’t cross, and they moved in perfect unison. They gathered and moved the plates in an instant, and then cleaned the table with magic. I accepted a drink a student brought and offered praise.

“Impressive. Did you practice this?”

“Yes!”

I glanced at Headmaster Herenso, who was biting a straw in his teacup. Wearing his Santa smile, he was patting the waists of the passing students in a congratulatory manner. It didn’t seem like something he ordered. If it were him, he would have packaged it more elegantly. This was likely prepared by the professors or students themselves once they heard they’d be dining with me. Well, I could feel that these top talents were eager for this opportunity, even to the point of clearing dishes themselves.

The slight bustle subsided. Once the students sat down with their teacups, Headmaster Herenso stood up. He introduced them one by one, placing a hand on their shoulders.

The introductions followed the Academy’s way strictly. Names only, no surnames. Their departments were their origins, not their regions, and their specs were limited only to what they achieved at the Academy. I nodded at his introductions. He met my eyes and smiled broadly.

“But they all seem quite young?”

I remarked while scanning the faces of the students, who were in their mid-twenties at most.

“Are you telling me to just give them some pocket money and leave…”

The terrace where I spoke with Cigarette was an open space. Rumors that I had recruited Cigarette on the spot and would soon head to the Grand Duchy must have already circulated through the Academy.

Investing in promising students is important, of course, but for me, who was leaving soon, immediate manpower was more urgent. A man who clearly knew that had put students before me who would need at least two to three years of field experience.

Headmaster Herenso set down his cup and leaned back. His aged eyes looked at me. He was a man who had spent 25 years as the head of the massive institution that is the Academy. His experience and political prowess would be far superior to mine. But that was no reason for him to test me.

I will take as many as I want, and the Headmaster cannot stop me. Selecting them through rumors, reputation, and recommendations via Isaac as I had been doing was enough.

I wanted his help because this wasn’t going to be a one-time recruitment; once my base moved to the Grand Duchy, quick responses would be difficult due to the distance. But if the selection presented as a ‘gift’ was like this, I didn’t need to reach out. I set down my teacup.

“Make an investment.”

Headmaster Herenso made a sudden proposal. I frowned and then smoothed my expression.

“Suddenly?”

“A mana stone mine should be sufficient.”

There were two mana stone mines in the Grand Duchy. One belonged to the House of Potain, who had surrendered quickly, so I couldn’t touch it. Thus, what he wanted was the other one.

The Bennett Mana Stone Mine in the southern part of the Duchy, which became mine through this conquest, was large enough for the people of the Duchy to live off of for 100 years. And now this old man was smiling while asking for it.

The old man took a sip of tea and spoke.

“I will establish a Magic Tower in the Bennett territory of the Grand Duchy.”

“Hah?”

“The Bennett Magic Tower will be a tower belonging to the Grand Duchy, and it will be linked to the Academy as a sister institution.”

I scanned the faces of the seated students. Five were from the Magic Department, three from Administration, and two from Geology. I finally understood why he brought children with this specific composition.

Headmaster Herenso stood up, saying he would explain the detailed plan. I had intended to pick up a few students, but I ended up picking up something much bigger. I willingly followed him out.

The Headmaster’s plan was bold. I burst into a refreshing laugh when he said he intended to make the Magic Faculty independent. I didn’t ask if that was allowed.

Initially, it was an ideal space where various people gathered to share opinions, but over 500 years, the academic atmosphere had changed significantly. In this case, ‘degenerated’ would be a more appropriate term than ‘changed,’ as there weren’t many positive shifts. Especially the Magic Department, which required a lot of money and was forced to be swayed by donations, was in a bad state. The Headmaster wanted to protect the Academy’s mages by establishing a ‘wealthy Magic Tower’ that owned a mana stone mine.

As for me and the Grand Duchy, it was a proposal we had no choice but to welcome. The former Aphelion, now the Kaian Grand Duchy, had military power so weak that Kallios conquered it in a single season. Invasions from other countries… wouldn’t happen now that it was Caprejena territory, but the fact that self-rescue was difficult during natural disasters like monster waves was a painful reality. However, constructing a Magic Tower would solve that perfectly. Especially in the case of monster waves, mages were far more efficient than knights.

Except for the fact that the Headmaster’s recommended tea and dessert were hideously sweet, it was a very satisfying tea time. I bid him farewell and left the private room of the cafe.

Outside the room, the students sitting at two separate tables approached me to say goodbye. They were the students who had eaten with us, and they said their supervising professors would lead the establishment of the Magic Tower. Since the professors couldn’t come out personally, they sent their disciples to greet me instead.

You look clever, and your eyes are very clear. You look like you’d work very well; why don’t you come under me after graduation? I gave them some appropriate words of encouragement and sent them on their way. Only Lamierre remained.

“It seems you’re sleeping well.”

“Aww…”

Were you waiting for your turn for encouragement too? I laughed seeing Lamierre looking openly disappointed.

“Let’s see. Now, you… will grow up to be a great Archmage.”

I told him only the truth without any personal bias, and he beamed as if he were dying of joy. Cute kid. I stroked his hair and we walked side by side. We didn’t set a specific destination. Thanks to moving busily since early morning, the sun was still high. I planned to walk through the Academy, see the sights I missed last time, and talk.

“The dream? Is it the same?”

“No.”

“You don’t dream at all?”

Lamierre didn’t answer immediately. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk. Rather, he seemed to find it difficult to express.

Instead of rushing for an answer, I watched the street. There were quite a few stalls set up by youths who appeared to be Academy students. I stopped in front of a stall displaying stacks of paper… rather than books. I picked up one bundle. I saw a scribbled title: The Adventures of Knight Walter. Is it a novel? When I opened the cover, a single sheet of paper fell out. It was a doodle drawn just well enough to recognize it as a knight.

“It was a place where there were many people… boys, wearing the same clothes.”

Holding the doodle Isaac picked up between my fingers, I flipped the pages. The Adventures of Knight Walter was a handmade children’s book with neatly written letters and illustrations.

“They were chasing a ball. Swarming around in groups.”

I listened to Lamierre while looking at the illustration of a knight on horseback.

In the first dream, Lamierre just ‘watched’ my death, but now he was ‘experiencing’ something in the dream.

It was the past I had already lived.

I recalled the familiar things Lamierre was explaining with awkward words. It was from my high school days, now a distant memory. Running out to play basketball every lunchtime, getting scolded for hiding fantasy novels under textbooks, and occasionally studying as a hobby… those times.

The memories that only remained in patches became vivid. I bought one children’s book and walked on. Lamierre walked at my pace and continued telling me about the dream.

“Oh right. In the hallway… there were pictures and writings hanging. I looked at them for a long time.”

I looked at his face. Our eyes met immediately as he had been looking at me.

“Do you remember what the writing said?”

What Lamierre saw was likely the poetry and paintings I had personally written and drawn. Since club activities were mandatory at my school, I had joined the department that seemed to have the least work… which was the poetry club.

The poetry club I joined without much thought was quite fun, but I hated the project presentation held in autumn. Because I had to hang my personal work in the school hallway for a month.

In the first year, fearing I’d be teased for writing sentimental things, I submitted a prose piece like an elementary student’s diary, but I was called by the nickname ‘Lee Poet’ until I moved up a grade. In the second year, I decided to write something ‘cool,’ and became ‘Lee Fallen Leaf.’ Because I was a sentimental guy who shed tears just because a leaf fell… Thinking back, it’s a funny nickname, but I was honestly embarrassed back then.

Anyway, it was such a long time ago that I couldn’t even remember what I wrote. Lamierre shook his head. He knew it was writing, but he said he couldn’t read it. It was natural since it would be strange for Lamierre, a person of this world, to read Hangul.

Lamierre’s story soon ended. I swallowed the question that surfaced.

Why are you dreaming my dreams?

There was no way Lamierre would know what even I didn’t. Instead of asking, I stopped at a stall selling instant sandwiches and pulled Lamierre and Isaac toward it. The smell of meat grilling on the iron plate was so good that my appetite returned despite having just eaten lunch.