Chapter 1: Slow Bane

Dragon Era 509

「This is bad...」

I set down the pen that had been scratching across the wooden board and cradled my head. No matter how many times I ran the numbers, the result didn’t change.

「What should I do...」

As I folded my arms, puzzling over it, the classroom suddenly grew noisy. I glanced at the window; the sky was dyed red, and I sighed—so late already.

「Sensei, bye!」
「Ah, goodbye.」

I smiled and waved at the village children running energetically past the window.
They are the ones who will inherit the village—precious lives. Which is exactly why I can’t ignore this problem.

「Ugh, I’m tired. Finally finished.」
「You too, Nina. Good work today.」

I thanked Nina as she appeared in the staff room, stretching. Not that “staff” meant more than the two of us.

「What’s wrong? You look even more pathetic than usual.」

The moment she took one look at my face, she asked that. It’s been close to five hundred years since I met her—quite a long time when you think about it. Just by seeing each other’s face, we can more or less tell what the other is thinking. Her expression hardly changes, but this was her version of a worried look.

「Yeah, about that...」

Just as I was about to explain—

「Onii-chan!」

A small figure launched at me with a cheerful shout, and I caught her on reflex.

「Class is over!」

Red hair in twin tails, a radiant smile. Her large red eyes sparkled; the face all but promised she’d grow into a beauty, but for now she dressed almost like a boy and wore a sword at her hip.

「Good work, Yuuki.」

The little girl climbing all over me with boundless energy was one of the students especially attached to me.

「Excuse me—has Yuuki come here...? Ah. She has.」

Soon enough, a boy with a face the spitting image of Yuuki’s appeared. If you calmed Yuuki down, let her grow a bit, and cut her hair short, you’d get this—an exquisitely pretty boy you could mistake for a girl.

「Good work to you as well, Amata.」
「No, I’m sorry my little sister is bothering you.」

He bowed politely; despite being only a year or two older than the little Yuuki, he was remarkably composed. Part of me wished he’d act a bit more like a child—he is one, after all.

「Come on, Yuuki, time to go!」
「Nooo!」

Like this Yuuki here, clinging to me with all her might and refusing to let go.

「...So?」

Watching the scene, Nina suddenly spoke up.

「And what was it you were fretting over again?」

Huh? You’re asking me that now?

「Well, Yuuki not letting go is a bit of a problem.」

The moment I said that, Yuuki let go at once.

「Onii-chan, do you hate me now?」
「Of course not. It’s okay.」

I ruffled Yuuki’s hair as she looked up at me, worried.

「Well?」

Looks like Nina wasn’t going to be put off.

「It’s not really something I want to discuss in front of kids...」
「It’s fine. They’re of the Sword Clan.」
「Yeah! I'm Tsurugibe!」

At Nina’s words, Yuuki reacted instantly, eyes shining as she waved her arms enthusiastically.

I let out a deep sigh and raised both hands in surrender. Well, it’s not as if telling these two would change anything.

「The truth is... at this rate, this village will die out.」
「What!?」

Nina’s eyes widened a fraction; Amata drew a sharp breath, and Yuuki cried out in surprise.

「That said, it’s more than a hundred years off—and only if we do nothing.」
「Oh, that’s all?」
「You startled me for a moment.」

Taking advantage of that opening, I said it with a teasing lilt, and Yuuki and Amata both patted their chests in relief. Yes—one hundred years.

Only a hundred years.

「What do you mean? Can you see the future?」

Only Nina shared my sense of it, and she asked in a hard voice. For Yuuki and Amata, a hundred years is an unimaginably distant future—likely after both are gone. But not for Nina and me. If we’re not careful, that much time slips by in the blink of an eye.

「Not prophecy—projection. A simple calculation.」

Nina and I—and Ai. The magic school the three of us started has grown alongside this village named Hiiro. The more our research advanced and eased daily life, the more the population grew; the more the village developed, the more students we had, and the bigger the school became. A virtuous cycle.

Both progressed extremely smoothly, without any major problems—and—
And that, in itself, was far too smooth.

「At this rate, we’re going to run out of food.」

The village still relies on hunting and gathering for food. Even with a population that such an unstable lifestyle shouldn’t normally be able to support, we had stores enough to get through winter with room to spare—because we have magic.

The icehouse made with cold magic lets us preserve meat long-term; spears and bows reinforced by magic stick in the quarry even when the aim is off. By steering the trees and listening to the grass, even small children can safely enter the forest and pick nuts high up.

From external threats, Nina and I protected them; no major plagues ever broke out, and we made it this far without any trouble.
We made it this far all too easily.

「The numbers of game animals and edible plants have been declining, little by little, every year. Meanwhile, the population keeps growing. If nothing changes, everyone won’t be able to eat—that happens one hundred and twenty-eight years from now.」

Perhaps not quite following my explanation, Yuuki and Amata gaped blankly. Only Nina nodded, “I see.”

「But Onii-chan will do something about it, right?」
「Yeah. Of course.」

Of course I can’t let this village perish. I have to make this school far larger—turn it into something known across the world.

「But concretely, what will we do?」

I nodded to Amata, who asked with a serious look, and answered:

「We’re going to start farming and animal husbandry.」