The two of them had headed out to eat together, but Howard would soon find himself regretting that decision for various reasons.
"Ainsworth..."
"Hmm? What's up?"
"Can you... actually eat all of that?"
"Oh! Of course!"
Lydia flashed him a bright, cheerful grin, but Howard was breaking out in a cold sweat.
The table was crammed with so many dishes that there was hardly an inch of wood showing, and every single one had been ordered by Lydia. Since she was still just a young girl, Howard had assumed her appetite wouldn't be anything special. "Eat as much as you want," he'd told her. "It’s on me. I’m your senior, after all!"
Naturally, Lydia saw no reason to hold back after that. She had ordered practically everything on the menu and was now stuffing her cheeks with a look of pure bliss.
Howard picked at his own food, but he couldn't even taste it. He discreetly checked the remaining balance in his wallet; once he realized he’d just barely have enough to cover the bill, he let out a quiet sigh of relief.
"Howard! You’re a great guy!"
Lydia hadn't expected him to let her indulge quite so freely—though that was a bit of a misunderstanding on her part—and her opinion of him had shot up significantly.
To her, he felt like a kind older cousin.
Howard hadn't anticipated this much of an appetite, and while the bill was enough to make him break out in a sweat, he told himself it was fine for their first outing together.
Still, it was a massive expense. His personal life was going to be quite lean for the rest of the month.
"Phew! I'm stuffed!"
"Yeah... I can see that. Do you always eat this much?"
"Hmm? No, usually I eat a normal amount. But when someone says 'as much as you like,' you kind of want to see how far you can go, don't you?"
"...I suppose so."
Howard thought that even "as much as you like" should have some reasonable limit. The amount Lydia had polished off was nothing short of abnormal. Even the waiter bringing the dishes had been shooting them suspicious looks halfway through the meal.
"Anyway, what was it you wanted to talk about?"
They finally reached the main topic, but Lydia looked a bit drowsy, likely from her full stomach. Still, Howard wasn't going to back down now.
"Well, it’s nothing huge... but to start with, how do you like being in the military?"
"...Hmm. Well, it’s exactly as I expected."
"As you expected?"
"Yeah. There are a lot of interesting people. Including you."
"Me too?"
Howard tilted his head in confusion. In his own self-assessment, he didn't particularly stand out. He was called a genius, but in the military, that didn't make him special.
He was convinced there was nothing about him that would catch Lydia's eye.
"Yeah. I heard you're a genius sorcerer, right?"
"I don't know about that..."
"Hmm? Aren't you proud of it?"
"Hahaha. Are you really the one to say that to me?" Howard asked, tilting his head.
There was certainly a hint of irony in his voice. He was indeed a sorcerer hailed as a genius, but that title felt hollow in the presence of Lydia Ainsworth.
She was, after all, the genius among geniuses—a once-in-an-age talent the likes of which had not been seen since the dawn of sorcery.
"Ah. I see. You wanted to ask about talent."
Lydia realized the true purpose of the meeting through that brief exchange. She set down her dessert spoon and wiped her mouth with a napkin.
"You basically want to know why I volunteered for the military at this age, don't you?"
"You've got me figured out."
Howard raised both hands in a gesture of surrender. Then, Lydia’s expression shifted, turning uncharacteristically serious.
"I’ve thought about this for a long time. No, you’ve probably felt it too, haven’t you?"
"Felt what?"
"That you’re a genius, and that you possess a talent everyone envies. You're aware of it, right? That you're a person on the 'talented' side of the fence."
"That's... well, yes."
Howard was indeed one of the gifted. He was undoubtedly already among the top tier of sorcerers. His military aptitude was equally high; it wasn't for nothing that he'd been scouted for the Special Selection Unit Astral at such a young age.
This was something he and Lydia shared.
"There is a domain that effort alone can never reach. I realized that when I was still a child. I wondered why the people around me couldn't do the same things I could. And then, I understood. I had this thing called talent that no one else possessed."
She began to speak as if reaching back into a distant memory.
"I don't come from a particularly special background. My parents are sorcerers, but they're within the realm of ordinary. My older sister is ordinary, too. But I was born with talent that might be the greatest in the history of sorcery. At the Academy, the nobles were always trying to pick fights with me. I beat them back every single time."
Seeing her speak with a defiant smirk, Howard thought it was very much like her. Her exploits were famous; stories of her taking on twenty nobles at once and walking away without a scratch were common knowledge.
But suddenly, the emotion drained from her face, leaving her expression blank.
"It was exhilarating at first. But you know... I was lonely. Even with geniuses like Abby and Carol around me, there wasn't a single person who could truly reach me. I just started to get scared. I wondered where this talent was going to take me."
"..."
Howard was genuinely stunned. Lydia Ainsworth was the ultimate genius, a sorcerer with a guaranteed future. He had never dreamed she harbored such anxieties.
But Lydia continued to bare her heart.
"Plenty of people were crushed by the weight of my talent. Some of them might have achieved great things as sorcerers if they hadn't met me. I kept moving forward, trampling over those possibilities. And in the process, I realized something."
"And that was...?" he asked tentatively.
The answer she gave was the core principle she lived her life by.
"Talent comes with a corresponding responsibility."
Howard was struck by the weight of the words. He had never considered having a responsibility toward his own talent. He had simply wanted to know what a genius so far above him was thinking when she arrived at the Special Selection Unit Astral.
"With talent comes responsibility, huh..."
"Yeah. My talent—this power—carries an immense responsibility. That's why I decided I should use it for the sake of the masses. Well, I'm sure it’s mostly just self-satisfaction. But even so, I chose to live by that creed, and that’s how I ended up here."
"...Quite frankly, I think you're incredible."
"Hahaha! Of course I am! I'm the greatest genius in history, after all!"
The shadow that had been on her face just moments ago was gone.
Howard finally understood. This genius sorcerer, years younger than him, knew exactly how to face her own talent. Or rather, she had decided her own path for herself.
He felt a deep sense of admiration for her.
Age had nothing to do with respect. Howard respected Lydia from the bottom of his heart because of how dazzlingly bright she shone.
Starting with this meeting with Lydia, Howard would go on to grow even further.
"Phew. Thanks for the meal today!"
"Don't worry about it. You taught me something far more valuable than the price of dinner."
"Oh! In that case, are you going to keep treating me?"
She sounded like she was joking, but Lydia was actually about half-serious.
"No, I’ll pass on that. I’d be bankrupt in a week."
"Hahaha! Wise choice! Well then, Howard. I’m looking forward to working with you."
"Yeah. Same here."
They exchanged a firm handshake.
And so, Howard began his duties with the Special Selection Unit Astral in earnest.