A small garden inside the royal castle of [Eldorado].
Not long after entering the castle, I saw Leon off as he returned to his work, then followed a familiar path toward the garden where the children from [Another World] would be gathered.
The gardens of [Eldorado], which possessed the most advanced architectural techniques in the West, were not only vast in scale, but their furnishings also felt close to modern Earth design.
It was probably because Leon, being a [transfer] himself, had a deep interest in architecture.
He had even said that in his original world, he had dreamed of becoming an architect.
'...For kids from another world, this place must feel at least a little familiar.'
As I watched the children from [Another World] playing in the garden and thought that this was probably the most comfortable country for them in the material world, one girl spotted me and came running over in a hurry.
"Teacher!"
The black-haired, black-eyed girl charged at me like she meant to headbutt me, then threw her arms wide and hugged me with monstrous strength that didn't feel childlike in the slightest.
If I had been an ordinary human, it wouldn't have been strange for my waist to snap.
Even to me, with [the body of a saint], it felt dangerously strong.
I supposed she hadn't been given the fate of a Hero for nothing. She seemed far stronger than the last time I'd come here.
"Easy there... be careful not to knock me over."
When I warned her with a wry smile, the girl beamed and hugged me even tighter.
"It's been so long!"
"Yeah. It has, Shizu."
The girl's nickname was [Shizu].
Her full name was Izawa Shizue.
She was the majin who had received the [Hero's Egg] from me and become the first disciple Ria and I ever took in... no, an [elemental spell] user.
Just as in her original fate, Shizu had come to accept Ifrit, a fire [Greater Demon].
There was one difference, however.
I had not forcibly fused Ifrit with her.
The enormous amount of magic power inside Shizu had already stabilized thanks to the [Hero's Egg] I had shared with her, so there had been no need to forcibly merge her with a spirit to keep her stable.
Then why had I entrusted Ifrit to Shizu and made her an elementalist anyway?
The answer was simple.
Shizu, who possessed [Flame Manipulation] and [Flame Attack Nullification], was the one who could create the greatest possible synergy with Ifrit.
The reason she had failed to properly control Ifrit in the future, and why the two of them had been such a poor match, was because they had rejected each other, and there had been no one capable of stabilizing their unstable fusion.
But I, as a [Deva Lord] among demons and one especially adept with souls, was able to communicate with Ifrit separately and regulate his power, so I placed a [Contract] on him to keep him from going berserk.
'If you help Shizu and me, I'll make you a [Spirit Queen]-class being later.'
"Teacher Ria is looking after Pirino and Piz. I'll show you the way!"
"Really? Then I'm counting on you."
"Okay!"
Important### Ramiris only has the title [Spirit Queen]; her race is actually a [Pixie], a fairy that fell from being a spirit, so she has absolutely nothing to do with a [Spirit King], which is the evolved form of a [Greater Demon]!! (A lot of people seem to get confused about that...)
**
A garden that stretched deep into the woods.
Chatting idly with Shizu, I made my way toward the heart of the forest, and before long I sensed several familiar auras.
Three in total: a demon, a majin, and a monster.
"Hehe, so Shizu was late because she was coming with you?"
The demon, needless to say, was my lover, Ria.
When she gave me a light wave, I waved back, then lowered my gaze to the young brown-haired girl clinging to her side like a ball of fluff, and to the golden fox monster beside her.
Ria had arrived in [Eldorado] before me because I had been delayed by what happened in the [Eastern Empire], and she had been looking after Pirino, Shizu's friend and a fellow [transfer], as well as Piz, the [Wind Fox] of the [Cryptid] race that Pirino had tamed.
For reference, Pirino and Piz were the children originally fated to be killed by Ifrit when he ran wild on his own.
But perhaps because Ria and I had intervened, the two of them had fortunately survived, and were now growing up safely as candidates for Leon's [Magic Knights].
Thanks to that, we had succeeded in erasing one of the biggest traumas that had made Shizu hate this world in the first place.
"Huh? Teacher Adelio!"
[Grr?]
The two who had been important ties in Shizu's life had been rolling around on the ground playing, but when they realized Shizu and I had come over, they brightened at once.
"It's been a while for you two as well. I heard you joined the [Magic Knights] candidates?"
"Yes! I want to become strong like Shizu too."
[Grrr!]
"That's a good choice. Going out into the world as an adventurer like Shizu is nice too, but if you work hard by Leon's side, there'll be a lot for you to learn there as well."
Pirino wasn't my disciple the way Shizu was, but since she was always attached to Shizu, she had naturally started calling me teacher, and by now I practically thought of her as a disciple too.
When I asked Leon if that was all right, his answer had been, "I don't mind. It'll surely be a good opportunity for that child as well, so I'll leave Shizue in your care together with her."
And Ria, while looking after Shizu, had unexpectedly discovered that she enjoyed taking care of children. She said it wouldn't be bad to look after Pirino and Piz herself too.
Feeling that through Shizu and Pirino, she was gradually learning both maternal affection and love, I accepted Leon's request.
'...Becoming teachers together feels pretty nice in its own way.'
Standing with Ria as she came to my side, I watched our disciples chatter away together like baby birds and drew a faint smile.
Hoping those children would break free from their original fates and find new paths of their own.
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