An Angel Lives in the Academy
Chapter 40: The Angel Who Makes It Rain (10)

Episode 40

There was a spirit named Naiad. The master of all water in the other world and this world, and the ruler of all spirits born from that water.

Some nations worshiped her as a god, and Naiad, initially uncomfortable with such worship…

Eventually came to see it as natural.

The vanity she had built up, her haughty pride.

She had become so arrogant that she even looked down on the authority of Heaven. If she looked down on Heaven, how would she view the humans of Earth?

These lowly beings.

These inferior beings.

Naiad's pranks caused floods in capitals, and her tantrums brought droughts to entire nations.

And in such chaotic times, countless orphans are always born.

"What is this?"

One day, she discovered a baby abandoned by the lakeside. The peacefully sleeping child possessed the talent of a high-potential spirit user.

"Where are this child's parents?"

Naiad thought.

Heaven trains priests for its own sake. Then was there any reason why she shouldn't raise a priest-like being as well?

The arrogant spirit king, Naiad, believed there was no such reason.

"Open your mouth."

"Fathe..."

"What did you say? You little brat. How dare you talk back to me."

"Fathe!"

Thus began Naiad's parenting journey.

Naturally, Naiad wasn't a very good caregiver. Her personality was grumpy and arrogant, and she lacked even self-awareness.

But she had many talents.

For example,

"Undine. Go and clean up the child's excrement."

The ability to command other spirits.

"Yes, human. You're saying these clothes are the most expensive?"

"Th-That's right, Naiad-nim. These clothes are made from precious fabric that only the daughters of the capital's nobles wear."

"Good. Then..."

Naiad said with a smile.

"Hand them all over."

Or the ability to threaten others like this.

And so on, she possessed various abilities.

Despite countless trials and tribulations, the child grew up well. With blue hair that resembled Naiad, and sparkling blue eyes that seemed like lapis lazuli.

This child, raised to serve her as a priest, had become Naiad's most important concern.

'Concern, my foot.'

Of course, Naiad wouldn't admit it at that time.

The girl had a playful personality. Moreover, she had a pure and kind heart, capable of shedding tears when she saw others cry.

And her spirit sensitivity, the ability to communicate with spirits, was on a completely different level…

"Mei, did you see it? The look on Ifrit's face as it twisted in anger?"

"Yes, he was truly surprised when I summoned you in his territory."

"And the way he just spewed lava because he was angry, I must tease him about it forever."

It was all Naiad's pride.

This beauty, this personality, and this spirit sensitivity, all resembling herself.

The girl, happy to see Naiad enjoying herself, cautiously opened her mouth.

"Th-That, Naiad-nim. Have you ever heard this? When I went to the human village, the woman who raised the children there said this to them."

The girl hesitated.

Then she slowly said,

"M-Mother."

Naiad didn't answer.

And without a word, she left the girl's side.

'The illusion is getting stronger. It seems the memory of being called 'mother' still lingers strongly in Naiad's heart.'

Leffrey looked at the Reflection Flower blooming even more brilliantly and thought,

'Why did she run away? Was she angered by being called 'mother'? Or was she embarrassed? Or...'

Leffrey used the knowledge he learned from Klein to deduce the caster's emotions through the fluctuations in magic power. This memory, to Naiad…

'...Sadness. This is a sad memory.'

And this was the last time the girl would be able to call her 'mother'.

Thus, Naiad and the girl always spent their time together. The girl learned about human foods from the human villages and introduced them to Naiad, which was one of the reasons why Naiad often held cooking competitions during the Blessing of the Spirits.

"Bring me more of this pudding."

"But you ate it yesterday and the day before!"

"Just one more time..."

"No, Naiad-nim, what are you, a child? What is this?!"

"Just one more time!"

Thus, Naiad came to understand humans.

And then the time came.

The demon king's invasion began.

The other world was already in chaos even before the invasion. The people of the other world, who had been suffering defeat after defeat, finally formed an alliance to confront the demon king, but...

They realized it was too late. Far too late.

The demon army swept across the world, crushing everything in its path. Empires and kingdoms fell, the elves' forests burned to ashes, and the dwarves' fortresses were crumbled.

Naturally, the spirit king's lake couldn't escape the flames either.

And the young spirit user living in that lake couldn't escape the sword either.

Naiad, holding the cold body of the child, pleaded with Heaven to spare its soul.

The one who heard that plea was Uriel, one of the four archangels of the other world and the Angel of Life.

"Naiad, representative of water, I have come to guide the child's soul by the will of the Almighty Heaven."

"No, you can't."

"You can't? What right do you have to say such a thing? Why are you saying this?"

Naiad said,

"This, this child..."

The words the girl had yearned for.

The words Naiad couldn't say due to her embarrassing, petty pride.

"She's my daughter. So don't take her away..."

The words that still tore at Naiad's heart.

"My daughter..."

One day, in a burning other world, a mother wept as she held her child.

And this memory, neutralized by Leffriel's memories and the memories of others, slowly began to fade.

Leffrey looked at Naiad. Even though Naiad knew this was just an illusion, she was still caressing the disappearing girl's cheek.

And all the illusions vanished. The remnants of those illusions, like scattered embers, beautifully illuminated the academy sky.

"It's finally over."

Leffrey muttered in a small voice as he watched the scene.

⟨Preventing the distrust that would arise among people is truly an angelic act!⟩

⟨Making the world a little brighter is truly an angelic act!⟩

⟨Instilling faith in humanity among the people is truly an angelic act!⟩

.

.

⟨Increasing humanity's odds of victory is an angel's duty!⟩

⟨You have fulfilled your duty.⟩

⟨New Power Acquired⟩

* * *

There is one surprising fact.

The Blessing of the Spirits was actually a cooking competition.

Students suddenly started fighting each other, illusions appeared and destroyed the forest, professors unleashed their Ultimate Skills, and all that…

But it was a cooking competition nonetheless.

Leffrey and Yumari, wearing aprons.

The scene was quite lovely.

Leffrey was a handsome boy with an angelic face, and Yumari was a girl who could easily be ranked among the top in terms of beauty.

The sight of such a boy and girl, wearing cute aprons and focusing on cooking... The reporters were clicking their shutters like mad.

They knew their front page for tomorrow was already decided.

Of course, Yumari knew this, but Leffrey was completely oblivious.

"Mari."

"Yes?"

"Why did you suddenly start smiling?"

Yumari generally had a very cynical personality. Moreover, her empathy was also quite lacking. So most of the time, the kindness she showed was just an act.

"Reporters have gathered. It would be good for our popularity to smile."

"What? Reporters? I don't want my face to be known."

Leffrey hated being in the spotlight.

Long, lazy, and peaceful.

These three words were Leffrey's goals in life.

"Smile."

Yumari poked Leffrey's dimples. What on earth was she doing?

"Wh-What are you doing?"

"You want to succeed as a hero, right? Then it would be helpful to show a smiling face to the public. I've been trained to do this too."

"I-I don't need training. I'm naturally good at smiling!"

Leffrey pushed Yumari's hand away and smiled brightly.

"How's this?"

"..."

Yumari looked at the boy's smile without a word.

The girl, staring at the boy's smile, felt her face flush and couldn't help but escape.

"Wait, Mari!"

"What is it?"

Leffrey curled his fingers and muttered,

"Cat paw!"

"Ah..."

Yumari looked at the boy imitating a cat paw. And she muttered,

"With a knife like this, you won’t cut your fingers. The knife will probably break instead."

"I know that. I wasn't telling you to be careful, I was telling you to be careful not to break the knife."

Blegh-

It was the gesture commonly known as sticking out your tongue. Yumari tried to regain her composure while maintaining her fake smile, but...

'Something warm and fuzzy is rising in my chest.'

It was a feeling she had never experienced before.

This was...

Yumari pulled herself together again and started chopping the ingredients as Leffrey had instructed. Then she asked again,

"But can we really win with this recipe?"

"No, it will be difficult."

"Then why..."

Leffrey, unable to say "Because this recipe gives the most Angelic Power...", just started making excuses.

"We can't help it with our skills."

Actually, they could help it.

Leffrey was a master-level chef with Cooking Lv.10.

'But Naiad needs this dish right now. Perhaps...'

And Angelic Power was more important to Leffrey than the Blessing of the Spirits. Now that he had already foiled the scheme of student council president Yu Si-hyun... Leffrey didn't need to worry about winning anymore.

Yumari looked at the boy and thought,

'It's obvious just by looking. Leffrey is an incredibly skilled cook. He could probably make this simple dish without my help.'

Then why did he choose such an easy dish?

'Other difficult dishes would be impossible for me to help with… So to make it seem like we're cooking together, this simple dish is the best.'

Yumari continued to build up her misunderstandings.

'He thought about me again.'

Yumari smiled.

This time, it wasn't an act.

* * *

And so, the food judging began.

Naturally, the judge was Naiad, and the ones being judged were the students' dishes.

As Naiad started tasting a student's dish, the student standing beside them would explain,

"The dish is made with blue beans and glass mushrooms from the north side of Naiad's Forest, and duck meat with the skin. The sauce served with it is an otherworldly bisque sauce. Please enjoy."

Leffrey, listening to the explanation, clapped enthusiastically.

'Wow, so eloquent.'

Leffrey had never been to a restaurant that explained dishes like that.

After the evaluation of another team ended, it was finally Leffrey and Yumari's turn.

Yumari whispered to Leffrey,

"Are you sure you want to explain the dish?"

"Yes. I think that would be better."

Because that way, he could gain more Angelic Power.

Leffrey smiled as he looked at Yumari.

The dish Leffrey and Yumari would present to Naiad was…

"Pudding?"

It was pudding. A simple milk pudding.

"What is this...?"

Naiad tilted her head. It seemed she hadn't expected such a simple dish. And as she took a bite of the pudding...

"...This is..."

Naiad continued to eat the pudding with an expression of disbelief. Bite after bite... as the pudding almost disappeared…

Leffrey began to explain the dish.

"This pudding is based on a recipe left by a young girl. The girl wrote the pudding recipe in her magic book for someone very dear to her, for someone who would live much longer than she would, because that person loved pudding."

Honestly, the pudding wasn't that delicious. It was a young girl's original recipe, so it couldn't be that great.

But to Naiad, this pudding was incredibly delicious. So delicious that she unconsciously left only one bite.

However, Naiad couldn't bring herself to eat the last piece of pudding. Why?

"What, what was the name of that recipe?"

"The name of this dish is..."

Leffrey, just before Naiad's illusion completely disappeared, could glance at the magic book the girl always carried.

There was only one recipe written there. And the name of that recipe was...

"Pudding that Mother Loves."

Silence fell.

There was no answer.

Instead...

A gentle rain, slowly moistening Naiad's Forest, began to fall from the sky.