In Buyuseong, I was a nobody, but in the Lower Realm, I was a king and a respected teacher. Basking in the hospitable treatment of the school district's people, I savored the superiority of being human.
How does it feel? Absolutely splendid. In truth, I'm mediocre, yet I'm being treated this way simply because I descended from Buyuseong. It's as thrilling as gambling with borrowed money.
What if I'm found out? Few people in Buyuseong even know me to begin with, and no one will come looking to correct their misunderstanding. Even if I am exposed, I can simply brush off my hands and leave without a care.
Indulging in responsibility-free pleasure, I threw myself into research for ascending the Dragon Gate.
My research was a method for talentless humans to catch up to the talented. Having just acquired a good test subject, I resolved to make the most of this environment.
"Hey, kids. Come here for a second."
They were the failing students of the border school district in the Celsius territory.
There is a hierarchy even within school districts. Children brimming with talent attend superior school districts, and among them, those who stand out are taken in as disciples of prestigious magical houses.
The children remaining in this school district were like cheap lottery tickets that hadn't been scratched yet, with little expected payout. They were预定 ignoramuses.
Kids who couldn't even properly detect or control mana were useful to me, who was in a similar boat. When I beckoned, the children approached and sat down with faces full of expectation.
"Each of you, hold this lens in front of your eyes and look at my fingers. What do you see?"
I handed them lenses carved from High Crystal and asked. The children looked at my fingers and answered.
"I see a hexagon."
"It looks like an ice crystal."
I hadn't formed a crystal yet, but the mana that would form its framework was visible. It seems pre-formation mana can be seen through the lens.
"Then what about now?"
"I don't see anything."
"Hmm. As expected, mana detection through a lens is influenced by the lens's attribute. It can't detect all mana."
A lens doesn't detect all mana on your behalf. It only makes specific mana waveforms shine. This won't do.
Just as I was recording the results and about to collect the lenses, one child hesitantly kept glancing at the lens. I asked the child absentmindedly.
"What do you see?"
"Uh... Something is... smiling."
"What is?"
"The flame seems to rise as if it's smiling..."
"Oh, correct answer."
He can see this. High Crystal is a crystal, so it detects the mana that forms crystals well, but mana blazing like a flame shouldn't be very visible.
In other words, this means.
"There are kids like you. People who can perceive it but don't know it's mana. If you repeatedly observe mana like this, you can properly detect it."
"Huh?"
"Congratulations. You've grasped mana detection."
So even in a dumping ground, there are raw stones capable of mana detection. The child looked back and forth between the lens and me, then literally jumped for joy.
"Wow! I did it, I did it...! Finally!"
The child who realized his talent rejoiced, but I wrinkled my face as if unimpressed.
Mana detection is truly the first step of magic. One learns mana control from mana detection, and then gains knowledge to be reborn as a magician—that's the standard route. And there are many people in the world who can't even follow that easy route and drop out. It's a thousand years too early for them to be happy.
What about people who can't even take that first step? Shut your mouth.
In a bad mood, I reached out my hand.
"What are you doing? Hand over the lens. That's mine."
"Uh... Can't I keep this?"
"No. You need to practice seeing without it, kid."
Failures not knowing their place. You just need to quietly stay as my test subjects. Well, since one managed mana detection thanks to me. The test subjects will be more docile now.
"I have some things to organize, so read the grimoire over there. You, the one who detected mana, read along the brightly shining parts in the grimoire's crystal. You'll have an interesting experience."
"Yes!"
The bothersome kids roamed around together, not even realizing they were being used. A lens was a good approach, but a simple lens won't do. To achieve something like mana detection, more devices will be needed.
There's a lot to do. Having test subjects is good, but managing them is work too. To control children running amok, I alone am not enough. And it's not my job either.
"Ma'am. Please come here for a moment."
The amiable-looking woman brightened as soon as she saw me and welcomed me.
"Oh my, Teacher! What brings you here! Do you need something?"
"Nothing much. I need someone to look after those test... I mean, kids. And run some errands for me while you're at it."
"Oh, of course! I was actually looking to hire someone anyway!"
"When will they arrive?"
"She said she'd come today, so I'll send her to the schoolhouse as soon as she arrives!"
"Alright."
I turned away as if I had nothing more to say. Behind me, the woman's voice laced with laughter reached my ears.
"If you need anything else, please say so anytime!"
'Jackpot, jackpot! Even among magicians, a magician who imparts teachings to children! The kids' reactions are good, and there are results too! My prestige rises!'
That woman was a bigger shot than I thought. In the Magic Federation, school districts are class, and schoolhouses are facilities upon which one's own and one's children's futures depend. Being entrusted with the operation of such a facility means holding power over the people of this area.
The woman, who became the representative of this school district by raising her eldest child as a magician, was ready to give up everything. Completely unaware that I was using the kids as test subjects.
"What would ignoramuses know. That's just how far they go."
Having lived in Buyuseong for a few days, even humans like that seem foolish and insignificant. I guess the place for me isn't in this Lower Realm. People should live where they fit in.
Now. The crystal lens test is done. What should I do next? It was when I returned to the schoolhouse lost in thought.
A woman carrying a bundle was hovering in front of the schoolhouse. She didn't look like a child, being fully grown. Reading her thoughts, I realized she was the housekeeper called by the woman.
"Hey. Are you the housekeeper?"
Startled by my voice, the woman clutched her bundle tightly and answered.
"Y-yes! I was told to start working here from today!"
Finally, a legally bound slave secured by a financial contract. The kids are obedient, but I can't have them clean or manage belongings. I pointed my finger inside the schoolhouse.
"Is that so? We both know what we're here for, so there's no need for further talk. Cleaning, managing belongings, preparing bedding, preparing tea time, and other miscellaneous tasks are your responsibilities."
"Yes! Just leave it to me!"
"Caution. Don't touch my things without permission. Don't do things I haven't told you to do. Always keep the room at 25 degrees, and make sure there's always clear water from melted ice."
"Uh, um, wait. Belongings, work, 25 degrees, melted ice water..."
Flustered by my rapid-fire instructions, the woman counted on her fingers and mumbled. She seems a bit scatterbrained; I wonder if she'll do well. Tsk.
"Do you happen to know magic?"
"Do I need to use magic too? I don't know any magic..."
"Hmph. If you could, you wouldn't be doing this job. Can you use magical tools?"
"Yes! I've used those often! My previous job was attending to a magician!"
"Attending to a magician? Hmm. Then you should be somewhat useful."
The woman clenched her fists vigorously and shouted.
"Just leave it to me! You definitely won't be disappointed. If I get kicked out of here too, I'll have nowhere else to go, so I'll work as if my life depends on it!"
"That's not exactly a reassuring thing to say."
But well, she does seem tenacious. If she's attended to a magician before, she'd be one of the few capable people in this border school district.
The woman has some shame. She didn't send just any fool, but someone who seems clever and likely to work well. Catering to my whims is the most important thing, right?
...So that's the person she chose. Ma'am, you've been beautifully deceived.
The housekeeper looked around the schoolhouse with an innocent face, exclaiming in admiration, and began unpacking her bundle in one corner of the room.
***
"Mana detection, in essence, is sensing mana through your senses. Until now, you've probably tried to perceive and detect mana as an invisible, imperceptible mysterious force... Needlessly so."
The arrival of the housekeeper accelerated my research even further. Of the twenty-five children learning at this schoolhouse, seven succeeded in mana detection. An accomplishment achieved in just three days since I started teaching.
"Do you think Celsius awakened to a Unique Magic related to heat and cold for nothing? How does Pascal control the wind, and why did Fahrenheit obtain blazing flames? Heat, cold, wind brushing against the skin—it was because they were the senses humans encountered most frequently, before the theory of mana detection was ever established."
Is it because they're talented? No. It's because my teaching is superior. Overflowing with knowledge, and able to clearly read which parts they lack understanding in through mind reading, I completely drew out the talents of the schoolhouse children.
"Mana is everywhere. In the end, it's important to feel mana with your senses. Heat, cold, sound, light, wind. If you can feel it, you can weave it together to create magic."
I said, plucking a xylophone made of High Crystal. The mana-filled crystals resonated, scattering mana in the form of vibrations. Mana seeped between the sounds.
"Sound is the same. Kid."
And the child trembled all over, removing his hands from his ears.
Right now, all kinds of noise were ringing throughout his body. Sounds he had never heard or seen before. The noise that should enter his ears was reverberating through his entire body. It was as if someone had placed him on a drum and struck it hard.
The colossal noise shaking heaven and earth was heard only by that child.
"S-sir... Then, what I'm hearing in my ears right now is..."
"Congratulations. You've been blessed by magic. Reading and combining mana through vibration is a magic studied by the Pythagorean school long ago. It's not widely used because it requires not only talent but also an artistic sensibility, but in other words, that means it's that rare. You should be able to enter as a disciple in the Decibel territory without much difficulty."
One more addition with this. Eight in total. Even if mana detection ability is the easiest, this is far too many to emerge from a border school district like this. I suppose this is all thanks to my grace.
The child shook his head vigorously and cried.
"No! I want to continue taking classes here!"
"That's your choice. Do as you like. But today is the last day I'll spend time on you alone."
All humans cover themselves with pretense. No one wants to be left behind. If there isn't even expectation, they'll be discarded. That's why students in school districts desperately hide what they don't know and try to appear as model students.
But I am a mind reader. I see through all such attempts, read their aptitudes and talents, and awakened their mana using methods suited to them.
Sound magic was the most difficult, but I succeeded even in that. I can say I've handled all the students here.
"Now. You all roughly understand by now, right? What kind of talent you have, and what you need to do."
However, in truth. The problem isn't on the side of the "chosen."
It usually comes from the side of the "abandoned."
"That's all for today. Go home."
Excluding the eight chosen ones, the seventeen who couldn't feel anything.
With empty expressions, they stared only at the ground and slipped out of the schoolhouse as if fleeing.