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"Teacher... Please don't hurt me..."
"It's okay, it'll be over soon."
Cold fingertips lifted my hair, touching the warm lobes of my ears.
"Ah... Just as I expected..."
"This is what you wanted, right? Do you want to stop?"
"Yes, but... Ah!"
Recalling every memory, I produced two small ice cubes and pressed them against my earlobes.
"I haven't done anything yet, you know?"
"I'm just temporarily numbing it with ice. I heard about it from a friend before... Yes, I'm ready! Please go ahead!"
Julius remained expressionless as he pierced a sharp needle into my earlobe. There was a sensation of skin being pulled, but thanks to the ice, it wasn't too painful.
"Try not to move for a bit."
The needle scraped against the back of my earlobe. After a while, it was wiped with a handkerchief, and I heard the click of a fastener.
"It's done. You shouldn't feel any pain now."
"Thank you! Mary, could you bring me a mirror?"
Looking at my left ear in the hand mirror, I saw a small magic stone shining, something that hadn't been there before.
Since I hadn't pierced my ears in my past life, this was my first-ever piercing. It made me a little excited.
"Thank you, teacher! I'll make sure not to lose it."
"Yeah, that would be helpful. Shall we begin the experiment then?"
The earring gifted for my birthday was not only a diamond stud but also a magical device. Today, we were going to experiment if it could facilitate communication.
Julius seemed to have already saved the mark of this earring, as a faint static sensation ran through my earlobe immediately.
Got it! As instructed by Julius beforehand, I infused magic into the stone.
"(Connected. Can you hear me?)"
"(Yes, it seems to have worked.)"
This time, to save Julius's mark, I touched the small black magic stone on Julius's left ear.
"What material is this made of?"
"It's the same as yours. It's dyed with my own magic from the master's horn, giving it this color."
"Wow, that's fascinating."
Pressing my fingertip against the small stone and infusing my own magic, I could indeed feel the presence of the mark. Saving this to the inner dimension would complete the registration process.
"By infusing magic into the mark, you can recognize the presence of the other person if there's a response. Then, just like with regular telepathy, you send your thoughts to that coordinate."
Infusing magic into the mark was similar to the process with a slave mark. It seemed they had only extracted the initial connection with the other person. When I infused magic into Julius's mark, I felt a strange sensation as if Julius were present within me. Guided by a thin thread, I pinpointed Julius's coordinates and deployed a modified magic circle for communication.
"(Yeah, seems to be working fine.)"
"(Let's try communicating without revealing our appearances!)"
My excitement soared. Unlike communication devices in the past life, like landline telephones or mobile phones, the medium here was just the earrings engraved with the mark, yet communication was possible.
And unlike regular communication devices, with this telepathic communication, we could converse without speaking aloud.
Unlimited secret chats!
Julius teleported to the garden and reestablished the connection. Even without seeing each other, I could connect with Julius, feeling a slight tingling in my earlobe.
"(Shall we try moving a bit farther?)"
Receiving communications from Julius and initiating some from my end, after several attempts, I started to get accustomed to the communication.
"(Oh, so it works even from here?)"
"(Teacher, where are you right now?)"
"(I'm in Clayra.)"
Huh, all the way there?
It seemed Julius saved coordinates every time he went out, as he had also teleported to the northern forest afterwards.
"(I should have saved mine too. I completely forgot since I didn't use teleportation there.)"
"(You wouldn't be able to roam alone without guardians or servants, right? Besides, it's not permissible for the lord's daughter to venture outside the castle alone.)"
"(So the teacher also had common sense. Wasn't it you who took me out of the room in the middle of the night for the baptism ceremony without my consent?)"
"(As long as I'm there, it's safe. Plus, the castle grounds and outside are different matters.)"
The communication abruptly ended, and after a while of silence, Julius appeared in front of me.
"Welcome back. How was it?"
"It seems it doesn't reach beyond the borders. Perhaps I shaved off too much of the magic circle..."
"Let's research it again next time. But more importantly, would you like to try connecting with multiple people? Let's invite your brother too!"
"That's a good idea."
With a smirk, Julius and I stormed into Didier's room. Although it was still mid-semester, we had already completed our credits, so we took a break to plan the rescue of the slaves with Sergio.
Didier, who seemed to have been looking through documents, surprisingly looked up and jerked his shoulder in surprise when we arrived unannounced.
"What?!"
"Look, this is the communication magic tool I received from Teacher Julius the other day. Isn't it cute?"
I proudly showed it off to Didier, who was lying on the long chair with his hair draped over his left ear.
"Oh, yeah. It suits your transparent skin and shining silver hair like Sheryl. Of course, even without such decorations... Huh? A communication magic tool? Did Julius really give you that?"
Since I had immediately entrusted the earrings to Mary at the birthday party and only showed the bracelet, it was the first time it was revealed.
With a sweet smile, Julius tempted Didier.
"Yeah, and I'm thinking of giving you the same thing. How about it?"
"Of course, I'd be happy to receive it. It's quite thoughtful to have matching earrings with Sheriel."
"Then, could you bring out your attribute magic stones? The highest quality ones."
After Didier widened his eyes in shock, he tossed the documents onto the table and instructed Dirk to bring the jewelry.
When Dirk brought a silver tray with various pieces of jewelry, Julius immediately began inspecting them.
"You can use any of the ones here. They were sent by indifferent nobles anyway."
"Then, let's use this one."
Julius chose a magic stone brooch resembling an amethyst, edged with delicate goldwork. He then returned to my room and proceeded to dismantle it without hesitation.
"What a waste... Are you sure about this?"
"It's fine, isn't it?"
Whether Didier wasn't particularly interested in jewelry or the sender didn't matter, he watched with delight as the brooch was disassembled. Then, Julius, with a tool resembling an ice pick, broke the magic stone with a crack. Oh, what a waste...
Afterward, he shaved the small fragments to the size of earrings, and when he tapped them with a wand, the stones emitted a brief light.
"That's the end of the stone processing."
"How did you engrave the mark?"
"I just drew the mark casually, saved it, and then expanded it to the size of the stone. Granting it requires some skill, though."
"Even though it's so small?"
"It's just a matter of practice."
Since there were leftovers from making my earrings, we attached them to platinum bases and completed them in about half an hour.
"Brother, it won't hurt if you cool it with ice."
"It's not a big deal. Julius will do it, right?"
Although Didier already had several piercings in his ears, it seemed he wasn't going to exchange any of them. Julius mercilessly pierced the freshly made earrings into Didier's earlobes, making Didier's left ear even more extravagant with the small amethyst beads.
After explaining how to use them, we confirmed communication with Julius. Didier quickly got the hang of it and saved my mark as well.
"Well, let me try it first. I'll connect to Sheriel first."
As a signal came, I connected with Julius for communication.
"(How about it? Can you hear me?)"
"(I can hear you. How about you, Brother?)"
"(Didier, can you hear Sheriel's voice? ...Oh, I see. It seems that even though telepathy can be sent to multiple people at once, the recipients can't connect with each other. It's the same with regular telepathy, so it can't be helped.)"
"(So I just need to connect with Brother like this?)"
It was possible from the beginning to specify multiple coordinates and deliver telepathy. Since the process was the same even through the mark, it was a natural result. I simultaneously infused magic into Didier's mark and connected to him.
"(Brother, can you hear me?)"
"(Yeah, your sweet voice echoing in my mind is fantastic.)"
"(Once connected, there's no inconvenience in conversation. Unless going beyond the borders, there's no need to wear Noah anymore. We got a good result.)"
Noah, who had been relaxing with Ciel on the carpet, twitched in response.
"Is Noah always connected to the teacher?"
"Yeah, ever since the contract, we've been loosely connected. Noah seems to always be reading my thoughts."
"Then, did he also hear what we just said? Are you going to take Noah home today?"
When I lifted Noah, he extended his limbs lazily with a resentful look on his face while wagging his tail.
"What does Noah say?"
"He says something like 'let me choose where to stay.'"
"Hehe. Noah, want to be my pet? Ciel is alone at home most of the time, so I'd be happy if you could be his playmate."
As I rubbed Noah's cheeks, he wriggled out of my hand.
"You have to make a contract with a spirit before entering the academy. Since Noah usually shares my magic, he shouldn't absorb too much of yours."
"Noah has been eating my magic too? If it's petrifying, Ciel is here, so it's okay, right?"
"Are you planning to bring a dragon to the academy? And how do you plan to sleep together when it quickly grows bigger than a bed?"
Oh, right...
While Ciel had grown to about twice his size, he was still the size of a medium-sized dog. I wonder how long it will take for him to grow to the size of the dragons I saw in Klayla.
"Do you have any idea which spirit you'll contract with, Teacher?"
"No, but Noah seems to know. However, he says it's not the right time now. It seems the location isn't clear because he's still asleep in spirit form."
"Is it Noah's friend? Since he's sleeping, it would be bad to wake him up, so let's wait a little longer."
It would be great if Noah woke up before Ciel grew. Well, there are still four years left, so it should be fine.
"Sigh... Even if I graduate, Sheriel will enter the academy right away. It would have been better if she had been born a little later."
Didier sighed and slumped over from behind.
"Didier, just so you know, you can't communicate when crossing beyond the borders."
"Huh?! What's the point then?!"
Let's keep quiet about the room for improvement. It would be annoying to receive telepathy constantly. At least let's agree to do the research after Didier graduates and secretly connect telepathically with Julius.