Lankart Spendrai. A genius who comprehended his Unique Magic Path at the mere age of thirteen, and reached Strategic-class Formulaic Magic by fifteen.
After his evaluation, the Military Nation celebrated, proclaiming that a talent to lead their future had been born. Especially for a nation that had been lacking in mysticism and magical power, the desperation was all the more acute.
Even though the vessel called the Military Nation was far too small to contain Lankart, and he ended up overflowing.
"Hahahahat! Yes. When they said a mysterious explosion occurred at the Tree of Origin, I wondered who it could be! Huey, it was you after all!"
But the Military Nation wouldn't know.
That Lankart and I were still in contact.
"No. I didn't do it."
"When the Bottomless Chasm disappeared, I had a hunch it was your doing. I went looking for you, but you had already left! Why did you do that? If you had at least left word, I would have come to get you!"
"That wasn't me either. Jiseon accomplished that."
Despite my explanation, Lankart didn't listen at all.
"It doesn't matter! The essence of a Magic Deity is knowledge. Even if the Bottomless Chasm disappeared and the Tree of Origin burned, that knowledge doesn't vanish. It might have an effect on the power of a Caster who has a Magic Deity as their Unique Magic Path, though!"
"Uh, yeah. I didn't do it, but I need to run before an angry Nebida comes looking for me."
"Just wait a little. Moving three people wasn't in the calculations. Since these idiots mass-produced scrolls, it takes a while to modify the formula."
Seems he still has no intention of listening to me. Even though I said I didn't do it, he doesn't seem to believe me.
Lankart continued modifying the magic circle while talking incessantly. He drew lines where magical power would pass, and alternately placed gems and minerals at the intersecting points.
White Magic. Magic that reproduces the world's mysteries through high-alchemical-value mediums. Practically the mainstream of the magical world.
Formulaic Magic was only widespread in the Military Nation; in reality, it was a type of Black Magic that used one's own body as a sacrifice. Mages of the Magic Federation didn't even consider Formulaic Magic as real magic. Not because it was Black Magic, but because its ceiling was extremely low.
If the sacrifice is limited to your own body, the magic you can use is also limited.
"If you want to finish quickly, then help. I don't even want to understand why these idiots drew it this way."
"Fixing the scroll requires magical power, you know. I don't have that much magical power."
Remembering my pitiful magical capacity, Lankart clicked his tongue.
"Tch. What a shame. I wonder why the world gave you such knowledge but no magical power."
I gained that knowledge by reading others' minds, so. I'd say neither of them was originally mine anyway.
"It's better than having neither. And don't try to fix the scroll so complicatedly. Just looking at it, this scroll wasn't designed with scalability in mind. They closed it off so it can't even be modified."
"Do fools not even realize that the scrolls they make are foolish? You should have been in the scroll design department instead!"
"To move three people, you'd need three scrolls. Even for you, it would be difficult to redesign them from scratch."
"What are you talking about? I'm different. I can fix even the scrolls those idiots sealed shut."
Lankart grumbled as he finished modifying the magic circle. In a brief moment of respite, Shea approached me and asked carefully.
"Hughes. He is..."
Ah, at least in this timeline, Lankart and Shea must be meeting for the first time, right? Then it would be cleaner if I introduced them. I said,
"Ah, yes. That's Lankart. A friend I studied with during my time in the Military Nation."
"That's not the whole story. For just a simple friend, it seemed like you knew each other until recently."
"We didn't meet often, but we were still in contact."
"In contact? With Lankart Spendrai?"
"I never told you his full name. Well, yes. Is there a problem?"
'Magic Deity Hall. A secretive organization within the Magic Federation that solely handles and investigates Magic Deities. A member of that organization, Lankart Spendrai, was in contact with him until recently, beyond just being classmates?'
Lankart must have been quite famous even before the regression. To become famous enough to catch the attention of a classmate who is a regressor. I feel somewhat proud as Lankart's best friend.
'The madman called the Mad Mage, who swept two cities of the Empire into a vortex?'
...But still, the one I was closer to was Historia. Lankart simply admired me one-sidedly.
It's not that I cut ties, it's just how it was. I merely stated the facts plainly.
While modifying the magic circle, Lankart saw Shea and me standing close together and asked.
"More importantly, Huey. What's that? A new woman you're keeping around?"
"What?"
Shea frowned, seemingly displeased. Worried that Lankart might cause a misunderstanding, I spoke up.
"A new woman? Anyone hearing that would think I change women every time."
"Don't you, though? In Hameln, that wild boar. In Amitengrad, the heir of the holding company. Every time I saw you, you always had a different woman by your side."
"Haaa?"
Shea's displeased gaze was now directed at me. No, why are you looking at me? Lankart said it, so take it up with Lankart.
Lankart, completely ignoring my predicament, continued.
"I thought you'd changed from rough wild boars to a slightly more docile taste, but you've come back after all. Huey, I don't think you'd fail, but as advice, it's better to keep women at a distance. Women's only pleasure and pride is putting collars on men and dragging them around."
"Hey, hey, hey, you bastard! Watch your mouth! Do you know who this person is!"
"Why? Is she your sponsor or something?"
"Uh..."
That's somewhat close. She gives me money and help. Even information from the future. Honestly, she's a sponsor I don't want to lose.
"What do you mean sponsor! Deny it!"
"Then it would be a lie."
"Really? ...So. You're saying you think of me as a sponsor?"
"In a way?"
"In a way, what!"
I don't know what made her so angry, but Shea tried to hit me. It was a sudden gesture, closer to a tantrum. Normally, even if I read her thoughts, I wouldn't have been able to react to an attack like this.
"Neither a comrade, nor a sponsor... what?"
Before I knew it, I had grabbed Shea's arm. Shea stared at me with wide eyes, her wrist caught in my grip.
Huh. What is this. Normally, she would have already touched me before I could even react.
"Ms. Shea. Are you tired? You seem different from usual."
Maybe it's because it's an arm that was once severed and reattached. Something feels different from before? When I asked, Shea answered with a bewildered expression.
"...No. The one who's different from usual... isn't me."
'My arm was blocked. Right now, my arm is being controlled purely by qi due to the injury I sustained. This isn't that I've gotten weaker. Hughes's strength is...'
"Done. Get ready."
Hearing Lankart's words, Shea flinched and quickly pulled her arm from my grasp. Lankart, who had modified the scroll for three people in that short time, pointed to a spot on the magic circle and said.
"Tch. Expanding one into three isn't easy. Huey. Grab that woman and stand in that spot. Since I bundled the two of you together, you need to hold onto each other like one body. If you want to leave the annoying woman behind, you can let go slightly in the middle."
He still speaks without any consideration for the listener's feelings. Shea was also the type who wouldn't back down from a provocation, so she reacted with a sharp attitude.
"Do you want to die at that woman's hands? Just activate the magic circle. Making a fuss over one Reverse Gravity."
"Oh? Can you read magic circles? Seems you're not a complete fool after all."
Rather than being intimidated by Shea's killing intent or threats, Lankart was purely impressed that she recognized the type of magic circle, and adjusted his evaluation slightly upward before saying.
"Woman. Understand one thing clearly."
"What?"
"The reason Huey always keeps a woman by his side is purely because he lusts after women's bodies. If that wasn't the case, there'd be no reason for him to drag around screeching idiots like you."
"...Hughes."
"No, why are you looking at me? I never said anything like that, I never lusted after anything, and in the first place, Ms. Shea was cross-dressing!"
This is unfair, so unfair! I didn't do anything to be criticized for!
No, and what's wrong with lusting anyway? Men should like women! That's the natural order of things!
More importantly, why is this Lankart bastard suddenly making false accusations? If I had actually done a lot with women, I wouldn't feel so wronged. I just earned some goodwill and said some lip service, that's all!
"Just think a little and it's obvious. Why would Huey drag around Historia, whose intellectual level is far below his? It couldn't be for her brains, so it's obviously for the body, isn't it?"
Lankart, who almost sent me into the abyss as if it were nothing, tapped his temples and declared.
"However, the only one who can truly engage in intellectual and spiritual communion with Huey is me! Unless you're a 'chosen one' like me, you can't even view things from the same perspective as him!"
"...Ah. Is that so."
Shea must have been slowly figuring it out too. What kind of person Lankart was.
Arrogant, conceited, with a chosen-one mentality, and hating fools. But if he felt even a slight connection with someone, he'd acknowledge them. And then test them recklessly.
And if he ever felt he was defeated intellectually... he'd suddenly lash out like a madman. Hedging his bets as if trying to justify his own defeat!
Thanks to that, I also suffered a lot trying to live up to Lankart's expectations.
"Aah. Don't worry. It's natural for you to devote your body and soul to clinging to Hughes. Females are naturally drawn to capable males, after all."
"Shut up! That's not true! I haven't devoted anything yet!"
"The noisy one is you, woman. You dragged this out too long, so shut up and stand still. Tch, this is why you shouldn't listen to braying horses."
"No matter how you look at it, you're the one who dragged it out!"
Lankart ignored Shea's words entirely and chanted the spell.
"The trajectory of a thousand autumns that grips the world. From the center of the great right helix, I shall walk against the heavens. Twist open the path toward the universe."
Magical power flowed along the magic circle. Light starting from Lankart spread like water. Upon reaching the gems, the magical power merged and transmuted, swirling with even greater force.
I hastily led Shea onto the magic circle. Shea, who briefly flinched, stood close while maintaining a subtle distance from me.
Meanwhile, Lankart, having finished his incantation, poured in the final burst of magical power to complete the spell.
"Reverse Gravity."
The moment the final word was spoken, the magic circle was enveloped in a halo of light, and I began to "fall" toward the sky.