In My Previous Life I Was a Saint, but Now I Want to Cut Corners - Chapter 15

While I managed to control Arias’s rampant outburst, you could see her seething with anger. While I was lost in my thoughts to calm down Aria, Professor Montt called out in a shaken manner.

“Uh… Uhm… M-Ms. Ren…Renaria, wh-what the hell, was that?!”

“Oh, Well… You see, my Aerial went a bit out of control overhearing Lance’s words, but of course, I’ve managed to calm her down…”

I gave my best oh it’s nothing smile by slightly adjusting the corners of my mouth, which more than likely displayed a fake “it’s not a problem” smile.

“Stop it? What? How?”

“Well… I just told her to stop… and she did…?”

Professor Pual looked at with absolute disbelief.

“Renaria… If it’s not too prudent to ask… But you can actually see Aerials? Let alone communicate with them? You absolutely have to tell me how!?”

I took a step back out of anxiety, and I could see Aria getting more enraged by the second…

“Professor Montt, Please calm down. Aria is going to get angry again…”

“Aria…? Have you perchance named your Aerial…?”

“Oh no, I forgot,” I thought to myself. For a moment, I completely forgot it’s impossible to see Aerials, So it’s impossible to actually give them names. So, of course, they would be surprised that I actually could name my aerial… I couldn’t help myself from addressing Aria by her name… I have to take a deep breath to calm my nerves.

“Well, it’ll be okay, I can just fake it,” I thought to myself.

The classroom was a mess, but it was undamaged. Lance was slapped against the wall on his butt. Luckily he looks okay. I was a little relieved that he was not hurt, but I was still peeved about his comments.

” While we cannot see Aerials, we are protected by them, and I personally feel we should be grateful towards them and respect them like all the other spirits, so I took it upon myself to name my aerial.”

I have fond memories of my parents being very doting on their spirits. They would actively talk and pet them. The spirits would react with joy and jump around. As a family member, I could see them without my family feeding them magic to be seen, so I’d show them affection even if they couldn’t speak to me when I was given a chance. Their expressions of joy were all that I needed.

I explained to the class that even Aerials who could not be seen still want to be doted on, and by expressing our gratitude towards them, you could become closer with your spirit.

“I see… Thank you for explaining your discovery. However, I need to ask, have you been able to communicate with your Aerial since you named it?”

“Yes, Professor, Since giving Aria her name, I feel even more connected to her.”

While I’m not lying, I’m also hiding some crucial information… For example, my apparent massive magical power, but this was better than just saying I’m extremely powerful, so I’m special. That would be more like a certain someone I rather not name…

“As she said, we should all try actively getting closer to our guardians, and we may find some sort of clue to unlocking their physical bodies in the future.”

“But that being said, I need my desk to be fixed, Eric and Lance. Since you’re the cause of this mess, fix my desk.”

I took a look around the classroom, and it was in chaos with chairs and desks flown all over the room. I felt I needed to apologize for the mess and bowed.

“I’m so-”

“Nope, Don’t apologize. Eric and Lance were disrespectful. So it’s understandable why your Aerial was angry. In fact, if your Aerial did this much damage on its own, the situation could be much worse. We got lucky, it seems.”

While Professor Montt looked like a weak, sickly man, he carried his desk with ease. Eric voluntarily helped him with his cheerful personality. While in contrast, Lance stood in the corner pouting.

“Come on now. You can help too, lance. There is something I want to mention which needs to be addressed even more after what happened. We must never neglect our spirits. If you do not actively take care of them, not only will the spirit die, so will you. So take Renaria for an example of proper treatment of your guardian.”

“What?”

I couldn’t help but exclaim that out in surprise, considering how calm Professor dropped that information.

“For your first lecture, I’ll give you this quick lesson. The Salamander needs constant attention, and you have to talk and play with it regularly. Otherwise, it will become a small flame and burn out. There is a story named ‘Haddie The Fool.’ While it may be a children’s book, the content is actually insightful. It goes like this. ”

Once upon a time, two twins were named Haddie and the other Hakim. Haddie was gifted with the salamander spirit, while Hakim was gifted Undine.

However, only Hakim was valued in the desert since he could produce water sources for his village. Haddie was outrageously jealous of Hakim’s popularity that he began to out Salamander to harass him.

Haddie would continuously verbally attack his Salamander with phrases such as:

“You’re useless.”

“You can’t do anything. Why are you even my spirit? I hate you!”

“I wish you’d just go away and be replaced with Undine!”

Eventually, his verbal arguments became physical and he took out his frustrations out on it.

As time went on, the Salamander became smaller and smaller. The Salamander made sure to keep Haddies’ fires light at night and protected him from the traveling bandits.

Never once did Haddie ever appreciate the things Salamander could do for him and would continuously compare its achievements to be nothing more than fodder compared to Undines.

The poor little Salamander eventually dried up from the neglect and disappeared.

At first, Haddie believed his Salamander played a prank on him, as he called out for it, but the Salamander never answered his calls. Haddie, furious, forcefully attempted to summon the Salamander, to which the Salamander never showed.

Without the Salamander Haddies, fire magic would no longer manifest. Without the contract between him and the Salamander, he could no longer use fire magic for the rest of his life.

“The adult version of this story ended up much more tragically than just never using fire magic again. But all of you are far too young to hear that version, maybe in the future. But for now, listen to what I have to say.”
//TLNOTE: Remember, these kids are ten years old.

“Unlike the other spirits, Aerials are invisible, so it’s hard to notice these types of changes. They just suddenly disappear without warning. People who are comfortable using Aerial magic eventually lose it, which usually leads to some tragic demise.

Lance’s face was turning pale as Paul shrugged lightly.

“It’s strange, isn’t it? We take things for granted and only realize what we had was so irreplaceable that we are only left with regrets and dismay when it’s gone.”

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