There was a heavy mood inside the magic wagon carrying the students of the first class of the first year of the Nastassja magic school. Most of them spent their days with their parents up until that point, and never once left the capital.
It goes without saying that they had zero experience with anything related to monsters.
They were picturing themselves standing in front of vicious dragons, or large beasts, with zero chance of survival. From that point of view, the sorrowful mood was natural.
Although there was nothing more than small jumping slime.
“Uu… Mom…”
“M-monsters are those… You know…!”
“I’m scared…”
“Bouncy~ bouncy~.”
In the middle of all the sobbing, there was one carefree singing voice. Ririi sat in the front of the wagon, and could not wait to get there.
The other students started murmuring at how Ririi felt like she was going out for a picnic, but that was exactly how she saw it.
“Isn’t Ririi scared of monsters…?”
“Maybe she’s really great…?”
“She’s the only one wearing a hat…”
“Funfun fu~n.”
Ririi was too excited to notice what people around her were saying. She could only think about Beary playing with a bouncy.
She was thinking about how she wanted to take a bouncy home somehow, completely unaware that angel bears like Beary preyed on slime.
(How are we going to fight monsters…)
Lain looked on at Ririi next to her, as she tried to push aside the fear growing inside her. No matter how ridiculous a lesson was, she was determined to do well. She had no choice, because she was obligated to be brilliant.
(She’s not going to suddenly throw us in front of monsters…)
Lain’s line of thinking made perfect sense, if we were talking within the borders of common sense.
◆
“All right, you’re free to play around as you want.”
Said Esmeralda, as she sat on a tree stump. The students then ran to her in confusion, as it felt as though she was completely unconcerned with them.
“Miss Esmeralda! What about magic!?”
“I can’t fight monsters!”
Esmeralda looked completely unbothered by the kids who looked as though they were about to cry.
“I never said anything about fighting. Just go play, like her.”
“Her?”
Esmeralda was pointing at Ririi, as her tiny body disappeared deeper into the forest.
As soon as they got there, she went on her own adventure to find slime.
“Wait, Ririi!? It’s dangerous!”
“Seriously…”
“There aren’t any dangerous monsters in this forest. You can play without worrying about that. That’s why it feels like a picnic.”
Esmeralda never intended this to be about magic training. She just wanted the students to have an opportunity to come in contact with monsters.
It was her general personality that led to the misunderstanding.
The students all looked at each other after hearing the word picnic, and wondered what to do. Would they be all right? Should they go have a look? Go together?
They had this discussion with their eyes, but it was their first time stepping outside the tall walls of the capital, so they were having trouble doing anything.
But while that was happening, a fun sounding voice echoed from deeper in the forest.
“Bouncies! Let’s play!”
That served as the signal. The other students all started moving slowly, and eventually followed Ririi deeper into the forest.
…It wouldn’t be long until their excited voices could also be heard. The children found slime of various colors, chased them, and were chased with smiles on their faces. They completely forgot about anything related to magic.
(It’s nice for kids to be pure-hearted like this.)
Esmeralda squinted, as she faintly looked on.
Esmeralda saw monsters not as outside threats, but as fellow living beings. She wanted the children to feel the beings known as monsters up close before they learned magic. And after that, she would teach that it was also necessary to kill monsters to survive.
She wanted to teach them that seeing all monsters as enemies and attacking them without any sense of guilt was not the right attitude.
(…I wonder if they got that.)
She thought about the man that recently and unexpectedly became a parent.
What Esmeralda was not aware of, was that despite him claiming to be a tough parent, and despite his appearance, he showered his daughter with love, and was raising her in such a way that it would be absurd for Ririi to attack monsters.
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