Several mages approached Julia and struck up a conversation.
“Little one. How is school life treating you?”
“No one’s bullying you, right? Just say the word. I’ll go straight to the Headmaster and grab him by the collar!”
“Ehehey, sister! Why are you scaring the kid? Julia, just quietly tell us who it is. Do that, and the one bothering you won’t be seen the next day.”
“And what will you do?”
“Just make them sleep forever.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to not let them sleep?”
“Eh? That’s true too?”
The chatter among the Dream School mages resembled a noisy marketplace.
“You sure are receiving a lot of affection.”
At Ludger’s words, Julia ground her teeth.
It was as if she was saying, ‘This is why I didn’t want to come.’
At Seorn, she was considered the most proud and cold person of all, yet here in her own school she was treated like a darling child.
In the end, Julia couldn’t hold it back and burst out.
“Ah, enough! Stop already! People will think I’ve been gone for ten years!”
“No, it’s only because we worry about you. Want some candy?”
“Stop treating me like a child! I’m a proper mage of the Dream School now!”
At her outcry, the Dream School mages exchanged looks.
“Even if we don’t treat you like a child, how many years apart are we in age?”
“If people here had married early, they would all have daughters your age.”
“Eheh. Daughters? Some here would already have grandkids.”
“But they don’t, right?”
“That’s true too?”
Wahahaha!
They laughed among themselves, loud and carefree, as if everything was funny.
Their noisy, energetic behavior was enough to tire even Ludger.
“Eh? But our little one has brought a man with her?”
“Goodness! She’s already that age?”
“And who’s this gigolo supposed to be?”
Their gazes naturally shifted to Ludger, standing beside Julia.
Just as with Zantman, no one here recognized him.
More than anything, the fact that their beloved youngest had brought a man made them glare as if they were ready to hack Ludger apart with a kitchen knife.
What stopped them was Zantman.
“Hey, you bastards! What do you think you’re doing? He’s a guest!”
“A guest? Isn’t he just a man our little one brought along?”
“He’s our little one’s school teacher!”
The mages’ attitude flipped instantly.
“Oh my! So you’re a teacher. Forgive us, we didn’t know. But what brings you here, teacher?”
“Isn’t it vacation now? Ah! It must be that! A home visit!”
“Home visit? Isn’t that for meeting parents?”
“Still, we’re like family to our little one, so it makes sense he’d come.”
“That’s true!”
True? What nonsense.
Ludger almost said it aloud but barely held back.
In this day and age, who still talks about home visits? Or perhaps their deep affection for Julia clouded their reason.
“Teacher, is our little one doing well?”
“She hasn’t been struggling or suffering, has she?”
Thinking them exhausting but still opening his mouth, Ludger replied.
“Julia is the top among Seorn’s new students. In every class she never fails to place first, so you need not worry.”
At those words, the Dream School mages visibly sighed in relief.
“Oh dear, I was seriously considering bringing bags of candy just to make friends with her.”
“Sister, candy? Come on. Kids these days don’t like that stuff.”
“Really?”
They were exhausting and a bit ridiculous, but their affection for Julia was undeniable.
Normally, a school’s internal relationships were built upon strict hierarchy.
Even if the degree varied depending on the school, none were this tightly bound like family.
‘When I first heard rumors about the Dream School, I thought it was just a gathering of eccentric geniuses with rare talents.’
But this was no different from a village association in the countryside.
Not that it was bad.
In fact, it was rather human and warm.
For a school of dreamers, perhaps such emotional bonds made even more sense.
Though for Julia, being smothered with such excessive love was clearly shameful.
Maybe that was why she clung so desperately to her proud façade at Seorn.
“Out of the way, you lot, let us pass!”
“Zantman, you bastard! You should’ve told us Julia was here sooner!”
“Why would I?”
“Shameless! You bullied Julia again, didn’t you?”
“Enough already, I need to escort the guest. We’ll talk later.”
“Escort? To whom?”
“He’s here to ask about the depths of Dreamland. This guest wants to find it.”
“What? This young man came to inquire about the depths of Dreamland?”
The Dream School mages stared at Ludger with wide eyes.
Their reactions split evenly.
“This young man has strong curiosity. But too much curiosity can be poison.”
“Still, life’s short, why not live for romance and adventure? I support him!”
“But why exactly are you asking about the depths? We could tell you, but don’t tell me you plan to go in?”
At that, the others broke into a fuss.
Their trembling fear revealed how much they dreaded Dreamland’s depths.
Zantman barked at the noisy crowd.
“Shut up, you idiots! In the end it’s the elders who decide. What good is your chatter?”
“You’re an elder too!”
Ludger shot Zantman a look that said, ‘You are?’
Stroking his beard, Zantman looked off into the distance.
“Was I?”
“Ha! The old fool’s senile at last!”
“What did you just say? Senile? To an elder?!”
“Weren’t you busy? Stop wasting time and show the guest around!”
About to flare up, Zantman clicked his tongue and led Ludger and Julia onward.
Cheers of support and shouts welcoming Julia followed them.
Julia’s face flushed red from the attention.
To break the awkwardness, Ludger spoke.
“They are quite entertaining people.”
“......I won’t deny that. You don’t see people like them just anywhere.”
“Indeed. I was surprised myself.”
Ludger gave her a quiet piece of advice.
“Caring about Sedina is good, but don’t neglect these people too much.”
“What is this, life advice?”
“Something like that. Friends are important, but one day you’ll also be grateful for family-like seniors and juniors.”
“I already know that, you know? It’s just... a little embarrassing.”
Ludger chuckled.
“That can’t be denied.”
If even as a bystander he felt embarrassed, how much more must Julia feel.
At the front, Zantman stopped.
“We’re here!”
Beyond what was disguised as a research chamber but clearly used as a bedroom—
There was an ordinary-looking door.
Yet Ludger sensed that nothing inside was ordinary.
From outside he could already feel faint magical waves, as if the very space within was saturated with something arcane.
Opening it rashly might be dangerous.
But Zantman flung it open without knocking.
A sweet fragrance wafted out with the breeze.
‘A fragrance? No, something different.’
The aura spilling from the room defied description.
Fragrant yet felt on the skin, warm yet perceived by smell.
Inside was filled with countless colors.
Like a field of flowers, or like stars scattered across the night sky.
Sight carried taste.
Breath carried sound.
A peculiar sensation where the senses overlapped and blended.
Julia and Zantman also halted for a moment, caught by it.
“Ugh. This room is always like this whenever it’s opened.”
Zantman clicked his tongue and strode inside.
With each step, the floor rippled beneath his feet.
Lights swept up in the ripples, giggling like children before fading and returning.
‘This scene... I’ve seen something like it before.’
A faint sense of déjà vu.
Ludger soon realized what it was.
‘The surface world of Dreamland. It resembles what I saw there.’
When he had entered Dreamland for the Order Synod, he had witnessed such sights.
The ground filled with water, stars submerged beneath, mist rising all around.
What he saw now was much the same.
And at the center of the room—
A presence floated, asleep.
‘An old woman?’
Suspended in slumber was a woman who looked over eighty.
Curled like a child in the womb, she drifted in the air.
The white garments around her flowed like another star drifting in the sky.
‘That woman... the master of the Dream School.’
The Dream Master.
Clara Cowen.
A mage wrapped in mystery, said to spend over 300 days of the year asleep and rarely appearing in public.
“Old woman! I’m here! Wake up!”
At Zantman’s shout, Clara’s floating form stilled.
Slowly she descended.
Her small frame touched the floor lightly.
Her face was deeply lined with wrinkles, her age showing in every feature.
She looked like she could pass away at any moment.
But when she opened her eyes—
The piercing gaze made Ludger understand why she led the Dream School.
Half-dreaming eyes, not fully awake.
Yet Clara Cowen’s blue eyes calmly examined him.
“Well, this is curious indeed. Not only has one who does not dream come here, but I sense traces of Dreamland upon him. Do you perhaps have ties to one of our other children?”
Ludger was startled inside.
He had only entered Dreamland once—during the Order Synod.
And most recently, only when Helia had visited to exchange greetings.
It had been long ago, yet Clara instantly saw through it.
“Eh? Really?” Zantman asked in surprise.
But at the same time, he accepted it: if Ludger had been to Dreamland, no wonder he was curious about the depths.
Meanwhile, Clara’s probing gaze never left Ludger.
“How strange. A man who does not dream, yet comes seeking the dream world. Child, what is it you seek that brings you here?”
Her voice was kind yet stern.
Ludger revealed his purpose.
“I want to find a way to reach the depths of Dreamland.”
“The depths...”
Clara neither looked surprised nor angry.
As if she had expected it, she muttered the word softly and turned away.
“Come in.”
At her permission, Ludger stepped inside her chamber.
Zantman and Julia tried to follow, but Clara stopped them.
“Only this child may enter. You two wait outside.”
Neither dared defy her.
Though they often quarreled like siblings, before Clara they were quiet and obedient.
Ludger entered her space.
At once the door closed of its own accord, and the scenery within shifted.
Around him, the view changed into the likeness of a study in reality.
“This is...”
“Don’t be alarmed. This space is my magic. It is reality, yet it contains the dream world. Naturally, for one who does not dream to ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ step inside, such reactions occur.”
A non-dreamer only ever perceives reality.
Even in dreams, they merely replay fragments of the past.
Not a world blended with imagination and the unconscious.
Even in sleep, they remain bound to reality.
“Sit.”
Tap tap.
A staff appeared in Clara’s hand.
She tapped it twice on the floor, and a soft chair rose up under Ludger.
He sat naturally.
“So. You wish to enter the depths?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“There is something I must find there.”
“Something to find. I cannot say if such a thing exists in the depths. But if you insist on going to that perilous place, then it must be very precious to you.”
“It is.”
Clara gave a small nod.
“The depths of Dreamland can be reached.”
“You mean...”
“Even if it is a forbidden space, access is not blocked. One may go, if they wish. But what follows is the true problem.”
“I am prepared.”
“No. This is not a matter of mere resolve.”
Clara struck the floor with her staff.
“In the depths of that world lies a being that must never be awakened.”
And the scenery around them changed.