OHNIR – Chapter 25
Chapter 25: Forgetting
Ultimately, Kelusta did nothing with the two necklaces.
She simply placed the box back where it belonged with gentle hands, then lay down on the soft bed, completely relaxed. Her eyes were open, gazing blankly at the faint glimmers on the bed canopy.
“System,” Kelusta asked, “when you discover you’ve forgotten something… do you feel sad or regretful?”
As if contemplating, the System remained silent for a long moment before replying with the stiff, mechanical tone of a proper program: “My apologies, temporary host, but I cannot answer your question… Systems do not forget. All our ‘memories’ are nothing more than strings of data—for us, recalling something is as simple as extracting it at will.”
It said, “In our world, the human concept of ‘forgetting’ simply does not exist.”
The System’s tone was perfectly calm as it spoke, as if reciting an axiom—authoritative and firm, yet it inexplicably evoked a sense of sadness.
“...Is that right?”
“I am certain, temporary host.”
“Then I have another question,” Kelusta said. “Have you forgotten? …I’m just a character in a game. Like you, I’m just a ‘program.’”
She wasn’t sure if she’d misheard, but for a split second after she spoke, Kelusta thought she heard a crackling sound in her mind, like a short circuit.
She hesitated for a moment before deciding to press on. “So, my memories should also be nothing more than a string of data, correct?”
“…”
“But I can’t do what you call ‘extracting it at will,’” the brown-haired girl said softly into the silence. “I have forgotten—truly and completely forgotten—even if that memory is just data, and even if forgetting isn’t supposed to exist in our world.”
Kelusta gave a low laugh and asked ambiguously, “Perhaps you’re the same?”
This time, however, the System offered no reply. It fell silent, as if it had entered complete hibernation, not making another sound.
Kelusta didn’t mind. She just sighed softly, closed her eyes, and allowed her consciousness to fade.
“Didn’t you sleep well last night?”
At the dining table, Gloria asked with concern, “I noticed you look quite exhausted.”
Kelusta subconsciously touched the dark circles under her eyes. She hesitated, then said, a little embarrassed, “Maybe it’s because your bed is too comfortable, Senior. I’m not quite used to it…”
Gloria paused, then shook her head with a helpless smile. “I should have you sleep over more often. That way, you’ll get used to it sooner.”
Kelusta: “…”
She lowered her head and focused on her breakfast, trying to hide her flushing cheeks.
She didn’t know if she’d ever get used to the four-poster bed, but if this kept up, she’d certainly get used to her face turning red.
Beside the brown-haired girl, a lighthearted smile touched Gloria’s eyes. Her gaze drifted downward, lingering on the exquisite swan necklace around Kelusta’s neck for several moments before she turned back to her meal, eating at a leisurely pace.
Sitting across from them, Wend was rendered speechless by his sister’s teasing. Fortunately, he had class today, so he wouldn’t have to stick around and be a blatant third wheel. After finishing his meal, he gave the two girls a somewhat cool farewell and left Gloria’s residence without a moment’s hesitation.
Going to class is much better than this eyesore, he thought, his expression blank, as he hurried back to his own dorm to grab his textbooks.
Unlike the “tool man,” Kelusta and Gloria had the entire morning free. They couldn’t just stay in the dormitory. Kelusta glanced at the beautiful sunlight outside, rubbed her stomach, and sighed with a pitiful expression, “I ate too much.”
Gloria had woken up a little late due to being drunk the night before, so breakfast was once again Wend’s creation. This time, Kelusta remembered his complaint from the previous night and kept her mouth shut, not daring to praise the capable ducal heir with so much as a single word.
Sure enough, she managed to avoid stepping on that landmine this time.
Gloria chuckled. Meeting the brown-haired girl’s squirrel-like eyes, she thought for a moment and suggested with a bright smile, “Then let’s go for a walk. I heard Professor Lysa from Herbology had a class plant a new batch of magic roses yesterday. They’re apparently growing well. We could go to the garden and take a look.”
“Ah… Professor Lysa loves doing strange things like that,” Kelusta mumbled. “Last time, she had us plant an entire field of tulips, but they were all dead within two days.”
Professor Lysa of Herbology was a gentle, middle-aged woman with a very kind smile. Aside from her penchant for making students plant flowers, she was considered the most well-liked teacher at Holy Light Magic Academy.
“She just enjoys teasing the first-years. She won’t teach you the serious material until your second year,” Gloria said. “Still, planting flowers… I suppose you could call it an academy tradition.”
They decided to go right away. Having come empty-handed, Kelusta shamelessly borrowed one of Gloria’s long dresses. It was far more luxurious than the cheap cloth dresses in her own wardrobe. The exquisite fabric and design were both comfortable and beautiful, perfectly complementing her pretty face. The dress was a little long on her, but it was just right, elevating her entire bearing.
As they walked side-by-side through the garden, no one would have guessed that the girl beside the silver-haired noble was, in fact, just an ordinary girl from the countryside.
—No, in truth, Kelusta was no longer ordinary.
After the uproar at the tea party, many people now knew that this commoner girl had not only caught the eye of two royals but had also ridden the coattails of the Duke’s daughter’s punishment of Avia to vent her own frustrations. It was a bold move that many minor nobles lacked the courage to attempt. Therefore, even when they encountered the pair strolling through the garden, most of the noble students in the know were merely taken aback for a moment and refrained from gossiping.
As for those who were uninformed… there were naturally perceptive people who would bring them up to speed.
Everyone knew that Her Highness Starangui and Lady Gloria were close. The commoner had been personally invited to the tea party by the princess, only to suffer such humiliation and terror that she nearly lost her life. It was hardly surprising, then, that Gloria would come to comfort her at the princess’s request.
The royal family’s decline was growing more severe. Their desire to win support from the commoners to counterbalance the powerful nobles was an understandable and overt political maneuver.
It was precisely because Gloria understood the students’ way of thinking that she dared to openly stroll through the garden with Kelusta. On one hand, she wanted to quash the budding schemes of certain individuals; on the other, she had her own selfish reasons.
Since she had decided on her, she would not let this opportunity be lost—helplessly and irresistibly—like the last one.
“Senior, I don’t see any new flowers…” Kelusta looked around, then pointed quizzically at a rose so withered its thorns looked ready to fall off. “Did the flowers planted yesterday already wilt by today?”
She pursed her lips and said disdainfully, “That’s just pathetic. The ones I planted lasted a day and a half, at least!”
“…” Gloria said, her tone insincere and perfunctory, “Perhaps you’re just more talented when it comes to gardening? —Anyway, there’s nothing to see among these withered flowers and weeds. The new roses aren’t in this section. Let’s walk a bit further in.”
The garden at Holy Light Magic Academy was vast. Kelusta had once seen magical recordings in the school’s historical archives, and the garden back then had been a true riot of color. Countless Wood, Water, and Wind mages with a natural affinity for nature had willingly tended to it, and the academy had provided them with ample land—this was the “tradition” Gloria had mentioned.
Now, however, not a trace of that former glory remained. The deeper they walked into the garden, the more empty, unused plots of land they saw.
“There are fewer and fewer new students at Holy Light Magic Academy, and almost no one volunteers to tend the flowers anymore,” Gloria said pointedly as they walked. “Decades ago, this was considered the most beautiful sea of flowers in all of Nobili… Now, it can barely maintain a veneer of its former beauty. It’s ironic, really.”
Kelusta glanced at the decaying flowers, their growth pitifully stunted, and sighed inwardly with regret.
The effects of the dissipating magic were not limited to ecological collapse; it also meant the disappearance of mages.
Kelusta turned to look at Gloria’s cool expression. After a moment’s thought, she broke into a wide, cheerful smile. “Well… don’t say that, Senior.”
She lifted her fingertips, and a white light flashed as her magic fluctuated. Trickles of faintly fragrant water began to gather in her hand. Gloria watched, transfixed, as the smiling brown-haired girl sprinkled the droplets onto the plants. The limp leaves and petals seemed to instantly regain their vitality, visibly transforming from withered yellow to a vibrant, healthy green.
Kelusta leaned in to smell the revitalized flower, then carefully plucked it and handed it to Gloria, saying with a grin:
“Trees will grow again, and flowers will bloom again. As long as someone is willing to do something, everything will get better.”
—Water infused with magic was the best nourishment for plants.
To be able to revive a dying plant to this extent in such a short time… As expected of a mage who could catch even Prince Satrick’s eye, I suppose?
Gazing at Kelusta, who had turned back to her with a face that screamed ‘praise me,’ Gloria smiled. She concealed the shadow in her eyes, gently stroked Kelusta’s head, and praised, “If Professor Lysa saw this, she might… give you an A on your final exam right on the spot.”
Kelusta: “?!”
Her eyes lit up, and her face flushed with excitement. “Ah! I get it! My Herbology class is next week. I’m going to perform this for the professor in person!”
Gloria clapped along cooperatively. Her expression was serious, but she couldn’t hide the amusement in her eyes.
Kelusta, who was at the bottom of her class, didn’t notice. She continued her ambitious declaration, “I’ll start with Herbology—by the end of the term, I’m going to get an A in every class except Potions!”
The recognized top student simply smiled without a word.
In the hundred-year history of Holy Light Magic Academy, she, Gloria, was the only person to have ever earned an A in every single subject.
…Still, it’s good to have dreams. Even if they don’t come true, they’re a comfort.
And so, she kindly allowed Kelusta to indulge in her fantasy. Kelusta chattered on about her strategies for winning over each of her teachers as she skipped alongside Gloria, heading deeper into the garden.
Just as she was saying excitedly, “As for Potions, I don’t think many people can get an A anyway, so just getting a passing C shouldn’t stop me from placing in the top three. In that case—”
Before she could finish, Gloria raised a hand, cutting her off mid-sentence.
“Shh… listen,” the silver-haired woman said, frowning slightly. “Do you hear that strange sound?”
Kelusta froze. She listened intently for a moment, and her expression suddenly darkened.
Damn it.
…Of all the times for this stupid plot point to trigger, it had to be when Gloria was here!
Is this payback for the good couple of days I’ve been having?!
Anger flared in Kelusta’s chest, and she roared at the System in her mind, “Are you doing this on purpose?! Just because I poked a sore spot last night, you had to get revenge this quickly?!”
The System, which had ignored her all morning, finally deigned to speak, explaining calmly, “Respected temporary host, while my designation is ‘World Line Convergence,’ I do not control the triggering of the original game’s plot events. Therefore, in a situation like this…”
A vein throbbed on Kelusta’s forehead.
Sure enough, the next second, she heard the mechanical electronic voice in her head say with unconcealed glee, “I can only say your luck is terrible, sweetie. The System does not accept any negative reviews or complaints regarding such matters. I wish you a successful mission and the best of luck. Try not to lose all your affection points! Mwah.”
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