第１１５０堀：大好きなこと (Part1)
**Chapter 1150: The Things I Love**
**Side: Comet**
“……And so, I would categorize the danger level of this monster as—”
Havia, who really ought to be a ghost, continued to explain the monster with such infectious delight.
Agil and I were currently face-to-face with her, trying to glean whatever information we could. It’s truly fascinating; she really is a “semi-transparent” silver-haired girl. At first, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but she seems surprisingly stable. While there are gaps in her memory—as she’s demonstrating right now—she’s managed to dig up pieces of her past and explain them to us quite coherently.
This is what you’d call a zombie with its soul firmly intact. In other words, she’s a high-level lich, much like myself. The only difference is whether or not she possesses a physical body.
“Yes, yes, Havia. That’s enough for now. Besides, didn’t you just finish class? Let’s start by having you drink this and calm down.”
Agil interrupted her explanation, offering a cup of tea.
“Okay! Thank you.”
Havia accepted the cup with refreshing honesty and took a sip. I had been bracing myself to clean up a puddle of tea that would inevitably pass right through her, towel already in hand, but…
“Mmm. It’s warm and delicious. This ‘green tea’ stuff is actually surprisingly good, isn’t it?”
Oh? For some reason, the tea didn’t pass through her body but vanished somewhere, and not only was the chair not wet, but her lower body had suddenly become clearly visible.
Still, if I were to let out a cry of surprise, it might agitate her, so I held my tongue and shot a glance at Agil, waving the towel around as if to show it off. Agil, seeing this, widened her eyes in surprise as well. But, as expected of Agil—she is someone Yuki recognized, after all.
“Yes. Green tea is delicious. I like it, too.”
“I don’t dislike green tea either, though I suppose I prefer coffee,” I added, playing along.
Well, the fact that she’s starting to manifest a physical form means her power and spirit are stabilizing. Not having to mop the floor every five minutes is a blessing.
“Coffee, huh? I find that a bit too bitter for my taste. You’re quite the adult, aren’t you, Comet?”
“It’s not exactly a ‘grown-up’ drink, you know. It’s just a matter of preference, so don’t worry about it too much.”
Exactly. You can’t distinguish an adult from a child based on what they drink. There are plenty of adults who don’t touch alcohol.
“I see. So just drinking coffee doesn’t make you an adult.”
“Oh? Are you in such a hurry to grow up, Havia?”
“Hmm. I wonder. But look, even now, I’m still a student—a child—which is why I’m here getting scolded by the Headmaster and Vice Headmaster, right? Don’t get me wrong, learning in this lab is fun, but… I want to challenge the Great Tree Sea and conduct my own surveys, you know?”
“I understand that feeling all too well. I’m the same way; I want to investigate those kinds of things myself.”
“Right? But as a student, I don’t have that kind of freedom. So, I figured becoming an adult is the best way to get it.”
Ah, so that’s what this is about. Perhaps I should offer some advice as an adult.
“It’s true, Havia. As you say, once you become an adult, you have the freedom to act as you please.”
“Exactly!”
“But freedom comes with its own set of hardships.”
“Eh? Freedom is hard?”
“Yes. Havia, are you paying for your own tuition and meals at this academy?”
“No. I’m a scholarship student, so my tuition is waived and my meals are covered in some places, so I’m not paying for them myself. But I earned this through my own ability, so does that count as working for myself?”
“Well, that’s not wrong, but what Comet is trying to say is that once you graduate, that environment will disappear. You’ll have to rent a home and earn money to eat. Are you prepared for that? Or, before that, do you even have a means to earn a living?”
Agil cut straight to the reality of the situation.
“Earn… money?”
Seeing Havia tilt her head in that adorable way, I knew for certain: this girl is surprisingly naive about the world.
“Hmm, oh, I see. Right now, I have support from the academy and the country, but once I graduate, that’ll be gone.”
“Exactly. Well, you could find employment somewhere after graduation. Like me—a Magic Sword User and a researcher.”
“Oh! Agil, you’re amazing. Then I’ll become a researcher too… but that’s not exactly easy, is it?”
Oh, she’s not quite as dense as I thought; she’s wearing a troubled expression.
“Well, obviously not. But a ‘researcher’ is ultimately just an employee. You can’t just do whatever research you want. You have to do what your superiors tell you, and if you don’t produce results, you’ll get fired at worst.”
“Ugh…”
Ah, Agil worked in Enaria, didn’t she? She must have been forced to do plenty of research she didn’t want to do. Though, since Agil is a ‘Magic Sword User,’ I imagine she had more career options than most.
“Working as an adult means taking responsibility for the tasks you’re entrusted with. Only after you fulfill those duties do you receive a salary. That is what it means to earn money. Though, research isn’t the only way to make a living.”
“You mean just working normally? Like the shops in town?”
“That’s one way. You could keep your research as a hobby and find a different job to earn your keep.”
“Ah, I see. Hmm… I’m starting to lose confidence. Ugh, what am I going to do after I graduate?”
Well, it might be rude to say, but a student worrying about their post-graduation career after they’ve already died is a rare sight indeed.
Wait, is that it? She’s made it her goal to accomplish something in life. She’s finally becoming conscious of it. That’s why her once-faint existence is becoming so clear. Yes, I haven’t conducted a proper experiment to confirm it, but my intuition says I’m right.
I think I’ll title today’s report: “The Will to Live: Contemplating the Future.”
But that aside, I need to give the troubled Havia some advice.
“Don’t worry about it too much right now. Life has a way of working itself out.”
“Eh?”
“Back in the day, I was in a place where I studied and researched magic, but the sexism was intense. They’d steal all my results, and they were jealous just because I was slightly more skilled at magic than they were.”
“Ehh!”
“Comet, I don’t think discouraging the youth is the right approach.”
“No, no, I’m not done yet. I got fed up with it and went back to my village. I started making things and researching stuff that actually helped the villagers, and surprisingly, I ended up making quite a bit of money.”
“Wow. I guess things like that happen, too.”