Solomon lay on his back, staring at the ceiling.
He concentrated on the feeling of his new core rotating slowly within his stomach. Even without doing anything, he could feel it slowly purifying itself and growing in stability. It was almost at the advanced stage.
At this rate, he would be back to his former strength in a little over four months. Perhaps sooner.
"The ogre was a rolling stone~ga-doo-doo-doo-doo, wherever he laid his axe was his home~..!"
Solomon slowly lifted his head to stare at the corner of the room.
Raizel could use his armor even when his essence was outside of it now. That meant he used it to hold his books while he read, and even had it turn the pages for him.
He used the excess brainpower he saved to sing songs that aged Solomon by a minimum of sixty years with every verse.
Raizel suddenly stopped singing and looked up. "Hey, when's the last time you ate something?"
Solomon wrinkled his nose in confusion. "I don't know… why?"
"Just because you don't need food doesn't mean it can't be beneficial to you. Drawing energy from various sources helps your core stabilize and advance."
Solomon thought that idea made decent enough sense. And yet, he wasn't all that inclined to leave the room.
The echoes of everything that happened yesterday still gripped him.
Raizel could already see that his brother wasn't very inclined to step out into the world anymore. As of late, staying in to brood seemed to be his only real interest.
He was worried about him. He knew the path Solomon was going down all too well.
"…I thought I was the dead one here, not you."
Solomon's brow shot up. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means you still have breath in your lungs, so you should be acting like it. How long are you going to allow the guilt of what has transpired to rob you of life?"
"You must be the single most annoying ghost to ever exist." Solomon sat up in annoyance. "We're not on vacation. I am a mass murderer on the run from your father and six of the most powerful warriors in the human realm."
"I didn't say things weren't outside of the ideal. But if I can find some reason to smile and wander, so can you."
Raizel had his armor close he book he was reading so that he could stare at Solomon seriously. "And I know you're feeling guilty, but it's important that you understand what happened on the island was not your fault. It was a tragic accident that-"
"How would you have any idea how I'm feeling right now!?" Solomon snapped.
He wished he could have taken the words out of the air as soon as he said them. He had forgotten exactly who he was talking to.
The flash of anger that showed up on his face was instantly chased away by regret.
It was a rare moment when Raizel didn't respond to his yelling with more yelling. Instead, his gaze became hard and hurt.
"…One day, you are going to have to confront the reality that the things that happen to you in life might not be your fault, but they will be your responsibility to deal with all the same. And I hope you realize that before your demons turn you into someone you don't want to be."
Solomon could not respond. What was he supposed to say?
In his mind, he was already beginning to notice some very unsavory changes within himself.
Was redemption truly off the table for him as he had come to believe? Or was he just saying that because he couldn't see past all of the blood on his hands?
Either way… he didn't know if the answer was going to be easy for him to find.
-
Solomon ended up leaving the room after that conversation. He thought it was for the best.
The academy grounds had a slightly different atmosphere when classes weren't in session.
If you didn't know enough about the school, you could swear it was almost like a god damned social club.
Solomon saw groups of students walking together, laughing and talking amongst themselves. He even saw couples, as difficult as that was to believe.
Surrounded by so much levity, so much normalcy, Solomon believed he was going insane.
He wanted out.
Solomon ended up testing the claims of the Dean a lot sooner than he thought he would.
He found one of the many exits to the school grounds and looked around.
Not a guard, not an instructor, not a magical observation device, nothing.
They truly didn't care about students leaving the campus. Granted, this was a rather isolated island, so it wasn't as if they could go very far, but still. It was quite a novel experience for Solomon, who was used to having his freedom restricted while in school.
When he crossed the open threshold into the outside world, he realized that he wasn't the only one with this idea.
There were other students coming back from hunts with the corpses of magic beasts slung over their shoulders. This was the first thing Solomon wasn't surprised to see.
The cores of magic beasts do wonders for the advancement of one's aura and physical body. The more advanced the beast, the greater the benefits.
It was a very lucrative way to spend one's time. And thus, Solomon decided that he was going to try his hand at hunting for the day.
Solomon traveled deeper into the forest until he could no longer see the academy grounds behind him.
Once he made sure he was alone, he looked down at his feet and concentrated.
Over the past three months, he had been practicing the use of magic more after neglecting the art for the last ten years of his life.
It took a lot of concentration. So much so that it was't uncommon for his nose to spontaneously spring a leak.
But after three whole minutes of staring at his feet, the winds kicked up along the ground.
Gradually, the wind lifted him out of the knee-high grass and into the air.
He was careful to maintain his balance, remaining in an upright position as he ascended higher and higher.
A small smile formed on the edge of his lips as he wiped a bead of sweat from his brow.
Maybe magic… was just a little bit fun after all.