The red light paints the night sky faintly red, ominously illuminating the promenade I’m walking on.
I’ve never seen something like this before, so I’m frozen in place, looking at the sky.
When I suddenly snap out of it, I start running to the lighthouse, where I can get a wider view and see further away.
No one’s at the lighthouse.
The red streak of light stretching from the sky to the surface is still shining on the water, and the whole thing feels otherworldly.
It’s pretty far from here, so there’s no real effect here, but I can feel the magic energy rumbling on the sea.
The waves crashing on the beach are also getting progressively further away, like a tsunami is coming.
(Oh? Who is on the beach…?)
I see a small shadow, and when I look more closely, I see it’s Noir.
There’s no one around her, and she has her back to me while she stares at the red light. The red light is reflecting on her beautiful black hair, making it shine with a purplish red color.
I don’t feel like going down the stairs, so I use Air Ride to go down from the lighthouse, and land near Noir.
“Noir!”
She turns around to look at me, but she doesn’t have her usual cool expression. She looks like a confused girl.
“Good timing, Loyd. Do you know what that red light might be?”
She asks while pointing at the sea, and I shake my head.
“I have no idea. I’ve never seen something like this.”
“I see… Me neither.”
She doesn’t know either.
If we were in a forest, I would assume it might be related to the Area Zero curse, but that affects land, it hasn’t advanced to the sea.
Also, I’ve never seen this red light in Area Zero anyway. It’s completely new to me.
“There’s no point in staring at it. Noir, how about we go back to the hotel and sort out this situation?”
“Agreed. I have a bad feeling about this, so let’s get out of here.”
Noir agrees, so we turn back. I also take the opportunity to ask her why she’s here.
“I was looking at the beautiful starry sky and thinking about you being under the very same stars.”
“That’s really romantic… Wait, me!?”
“Fufu, I’m joking. Of course not.”
Noir has a mean smile on her face.
Geez, this girl… My heart raced there for a second.
“Any time I need to take my time and think, I come to a quiet place like this. Conception Magic goes better when I’m surrounded by nature.”
“I see.”
“How about you stare at the night sky with me sometime? All your worries and anxiety will be blown away.”
She says with a smile.
“If you’re okay with it, sure.”
“That settles it then. I’ll show you a good place to watch the starry sky.”
This little chat leads to us deciding to hang out.
Noir is an alchemist, so Ruby crosses my mind for a moment, but I shake it off and accept.
If I can get it in my mind that alchemist = Noir, I can shake off my problems with alchemy a little.
When we have the time, I should ask her more about her alchemy and her atelier.
I really feel like making more friends like this is healing my trauma.
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