Longing for the Stars - Chapter 20

As the two of us moved through the forest, we encountered several monsters.

Working together, I realized for the first time that Yard’s style is surprisingly similar to Sirius’s. He doesn’t rely on brute force as much as that guy, but he can push through most monsters with sheer firepower alone. I was genuinely surprised by this.

“…Yard, why were your practical grades lower than mine?”

The words slipped out of my mouth just as he turned another monster to ash.

I immediately furrowed my brow, realizing it was a rude thing to say.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean anything by that.”

“…No, I get it. I only started fighting like this in real combat after being posted here, so it’s totally different from the academy. Back then, well, there was this monster my age named Louvre. I felt like effort was pointless and got rotten, so I just drifted through classes.”

He pulled his sword from the ground, brushed off the dirt, and sheathed it.

Watching that series of refined movements, I narrowed my eyes, remembering when I had felt the same way. Even now, my chest tightens when I recall that hollow feeling of reaching out and never even grazing his back, and the desperate anxiety of trying to catch up.

“Compared to that, Stark, you’re amazing.”

“? Why is that?”

I tilted my head at the self-deprecating tone in his voice.

“Because you never stop trying. At the academy and even now, I’ve never seen you slack off, not even once.”

Yard kept his gaze lowered.

He furrowed his brow, looking pained for some reason.

“You were always working hard, doing everything with a face that looked like you didn’t even know the word ‘lazy.’ Whether you were struggling with fire magic—your weak point—or during the academy dance parties, or even taking care of Sirius… you did it all with everything you had.”

“…How do you know I’m bad at fire magic…?”

“Wait, that’s what you’re focused on?”

Yard, who had been looking down until then, looked at me with a stunned expression. Seeing my scowl, he burst out laughing and quickly covered his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Aha, mm, mhm…! Sorry, …yeah. …I know because I was watching you.”

“Is that so. …Well, I was always with Sirius. I suppose I stood out whether I wanted to or not. Damn, I let my guard down.”

“……”

I let out a thin breath of frustration at the realization that I had shown weakness all those years ago. Just as I started to walk again after stopping to remember the past, a firm voice called my name. “Stark.” I turned around.

“…Stark, will you stay with Sirius forever?”

“That’s impossible.”

I answered without a moment’s hesitation, and Yard’s kind eyes widened slightly.

“I lack the power.”

I remembered the mana from earlier—the kind that made the very air tremble.

It was a beautiful, sharpened wave of power. It wasn’t messy or coarse; it was stable and overwhelming, the kind that made you think, “Ah, everything will be fine,” without question.

Sirius showed he could use that.

He showed he could use it perfectly even without me by his side.

It’s something I should definitely be happy about. I should be scoffing and saying, “That idiot is finally standing on his own”—and yet, a terrible sense of loss sat heavy in my chest.

“…Anyway, let’s keep going, Yard. We’re close to the border.”

I felt like I shouldn’t go looking for the answer to that sense of loss. To shake off thoughts I shouldn’t be having, I exhaled all the oxygen in my lungs and breathed in the damp forest air. “Yeah,” Yard replied quietly, following behind me.

We moved forward, my thick-soled boots treading firmly on the wet soil.

As we walked through the forest, which was as dim as twilight, we reached the area near the border when Yard, behind me, called out, “Wait.”

“What is it?”

“Seven o’clock direction, maybe two hundred meters ahead. There’s something there.”

I turned in that direction and focused on Mana Detection.

Mana Detection is, as the name implies, a basic spell used to sense magical energy. It’s one of the first things you learn at the academy to pinpoint the location of enemies or magical tools—the “basics of the basics.” However, the accuracy of this basic spell varies wildly depending on the user.

For the record, my accuracy is quite high. I felt a surge of surprise yet again that Yard had caught a tiny, ripple-like fluctuation in mana that even I hadn’t noticed.

“…Yard, if you had studied seriously at school, your grades definitely would have been better than mine.”

“Even if my grades were better…”

“Hm?”

“…Even if my grades were better, I wouldn’t have been number one. So, it’s fine. This is fine for me.”

Yard gave a weak, hollow smile.

“…I see.”

“Yeah.”

From then on, there was no conversation between us beyond what was strictly necessary as we cautiously made our way toward the source of the mana.

What we found was a massive tree emitting a faint, dark aura. It was smaller than the one found a few days ago, and its mana wasn’t as strong, but it was definitely the same phenomenon. Red fruits lay scattered like traps around the roots and under the spreading branches. It was chilling to think that every single one of those contained a monster.

“…So, this is a parasitized plant…”

I turned to see Yard looking just as stunned as he sounded.

“Yeah. That’s right, you didn’t see the previous tree, Yard. The first one was much bigger, and the mana was nothing like this. It had probably been parasitized for a very long time.”

“…I have a mountain of questions, but for now, we need to report this. Stark, could you handle the communication? I want to pick up some fruit and observe this tree for a bit.”

“Sure, no problem.”

Yard’s face showed a mix of disgust for the parasitized tree and an even stronger curiosity. This was the first time I realized he had a personality that was intensely interested in the unknown.

I suddenly wondered why I hadn’t known that.

The classes assigned based on mana aptitude don’t change from enrollment to graduation. I’ve known Yard since we were ten—a relationship that isn’t short by any means—and yet there’s so much I don’t know. I only realized he was taller than me the other day.

As that thought started to pull me deeper, I snapped out of it, uncrossed my arms, and moved away to contact the squad leaders.

“Squad leader, can you hear me?”

『Yes, yes, what’s up?』

“We’ve discovered a host tree. Is it possible for you to come to our location?”

『Oh, good work. Roger that, we’ll be there soon, just wait a bit. Oh, also, it’d be great if you could pick up some of the fruit. Thanks, appreciate it!』

“Yard is already doing that.”

『Typical Yard. Tell him thanks for me!』

“Understood. Our location is—”

A short while later, I finished the call, put away the comms device, and turned back toward the tree.

“…Yard, what are you doing?”

The way he was crouching at the base of the tree, staring intently at a crack, made him look more like a researcher than a soldier.

“I was thinking about how the insect monsters parasitize the tree. The entry point is definitely here, and I think the core mentioned in the report is right nearby. But the word ‘parasite’ doesn’t quite sit right with me. …This tree is in great shape, and it has so much fruit. If we assume it’s getting more nutrients than other trees, maybe the tree and the monsters have a symbiotic relationship?”

He rested his chin on his hand. He started speaking slowly as if to let me hear, but his pace gradually quickened.

“Mmm, if I could see a cross-section, I might have a completely different opinion, but that would be difficult. Safety comes first.”

“Yard.”

“Whoa!”

“You’re too jumpy. The squad leaders will be here soon.”

I sighed at Yard, who had sunk into a sea of thought. When I spoke close to him, his large body leaped back with an agility that didn’t match his size. As I kept talking, Yard rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

Next to where Yard had been crouching was a full bag, likely containing the fruit with the insects inside. I turned my gaze back to Yard.

“Thanks, appreciate it.”

“Huh?”

“From the squad leader.”

“……Oh, I see.”