All the children from the school districts in the northeastern part of the Celsius territory flocked to the school where I was. The number was a full hundred and fifty. Every morning, the children came in an endless stream to the school where I resided.
I was not an enthusiastic teacher, but I was a capable one. Using telepathy, I would grasp their aptitudes, interests, and level of understanding, then stimulate their mana with a magic tool alongside a few tips. The children who realized something from this would awaken mana perception and take one step closer to becoming a mage.
It had been eighteen days since I descended to the lower realm.
Of the hundred and fifty, forty-three children had awakened mana perception.
And one child had even grasped mana control.
"Oh, you who have stepped onto the great path of magic. You who have earned the right to climb the stairs of knowledge. Today, I feel boundless joy at the birth of a successor. With your shining intellect, name yourself after that lofty star of knowledge and scatter it across this world."
With a face full of emotion, the old man placed a tower hat on the child's head. The hat, shaped like the top of a tall spire, was the emblem of a newly made mage. The child received an apprentice staff and a cheap magic primer with an expression of disbelief.
That child was now a clear chosen one.
A being different from the children they once studied alongside.
I let them use the school's courtyard for the award ceremony. They asked me to host it, but I had no desire to do such a bothersome task, nor did I know how. I left it to the experienced mage and immersed myself in my new task.
"You who have just awakened mana perception must be overjoyed. A new color has been added to the world, and simply watching how it moves must be entertaining. Enjoying it is fine, but remember this. Mana perception is merely your first step."
I sent the failures away. Those remaining were the children who had awakened mana perception. Having already surpassed the basic level, I began lessons for their second awakening.
"The reason mana perception is easier than mana control is simple. Mana control requires your own mana."
That was also the reason I couldn't use proper magic, despite possessing perfect theoretical knowledge and the indirect mana perception ability through telepathy.
"No matter how excellent a mechanical device is, you cannot operate it properly if you lack the strength. Magic is similar. Even when using a magic tool, activation mana is required, and as the scale of the magic grows, so does the mana needed. Of course, the same logic works in reverse. Trivial magic tools that induce phenomenon-grade magic can be used by even manaless commoners."
The Magical Federation overflowed with such magic tools. I clapped my hands, and the housekeeper brought in a massive pile of magic tools.
Mana lamps, mana braziers, ice crystals, resonance crystal spheres, and so on. They were numerous phenomenon-grade magic tools that required extremely little activation mana, making them usable by ordinary people. I laid out the magic tools haphazardly and spoke.
"If you've learned mana perception, you'll also be able to sense the mana wavelengths changing with your own actions. By repeatedly observing the flow of mana from magic tools, you'll eventually learn mana control instinctively. That child who became a mage also realized mana control while walking home staring at a mana lamp in the darkness where they couldn't see an inch ahead."
I told them to do that, but I didn't expect them to awaken control just from doing it. Even if I provided the catalyst, a child of that caliber must be on the edge of genius.
The children gathered here? Except for one, they couldn't even dream of awakening before I left. Well, once mana perception becomes everyday and they put in more effort, they might control it. But that's a story beyond my hands.
"Try it. Focus on the mana, and sense how it flows. There is purpose in the movement of mana. Observe it closely, and someday you too will be able to control mana like that."
"Yes!"
The children who shouted energetically rushed in clumsily and grabbed the magic tools. They even bickered to get the magic tool they wanted. While the housekeeper sighed at the thought of cleaning up afterwards, a large boy snatched the ice crystal from a skinny boy.
"Hand it over!"
"Uwah!"
The skinny boy screamed and tumbled backward. All eyes focused on that direction. The large boy wore a gleeful expression, but upon seeing my gaze, he hastily made an excuse.
"It's not like that! This was originally mine!"
I answered reflexively.
"It's mine, you thief. Do you know how much that's worth?"
Even if I briefly took them as disciples, I don't forgive stealing my belongings. As I answered coldly, the boy waved his hands.
"Ah! N-not that! I claimed it first, and that bastard just snatched it right away!"
"Ugh..."
The skinny boy clutched his head and glared at the large boy with sharp eyes. The desperate gaze even revealed a sense of urgency.
But the large boy merely scoffed.
"What are you glaring at? An unregistered nobody!"
Unregistered. A discarded child belonging to no school district.
A school district is a collective of parents who can pay tuition. Those who admire mages pool their money to build schools, invite teachers, and receive instruction.
There are ranks to the wealth the parents possess. If someone pays a lot and someone pays little, the side paying more will naturally rebel. Parents of similar wealth naturally gather to form school districts, and over time, the districts gradually become stratified.
And at the bottom of the hierarchy.
Those who cannot even afford to invite a teacher become "unregistered," excluded from all education.
T1NrUTkreFYvQUZ1VEE0bGdJSWROMVducFR2VEdlVXJnZTg4NVlJK0JHWXFZSTFGZUFSYXNUYzI0bFNMYjdkcw
The final destination of the commoners. If there is no mage in the family, or even a technician who knows how to use magic tools. Or, lacking education, if there is no will to teach one's children. They eventually head toward being unregistered.
With no way to contact any knowledge or magic for the rest of their lives. As incurable commoners.
If there is admiration for mages ahead, there is the fear of falling to unregistered behind. These two emotions are the power that made the Magical Federation a nation of magic.
"Why did an unregistered come here?"
"When they can't even pay tuition."
"Aren't they eavesdropping on the classes? Since students from numerous school districts are mixed in this school..."
"They could sneak in without anyone noticing, couldn't they?"
The educated children were cunning and quick-witted. Quickly realizing what had happened, they distanced themselves from the unregistered.
It was when the unregistered, having been caught, clenched his teeth.
Approaching with heavy steps, I held cards in both hands, looked straight at the unregistered, and asked.
"Can you sense mana?"
The unregistered noticed me and answered quickly.
"Y-yes..."
"Left hand and right hand. Which one holds my magic tool?"
"Th-the left."
"The correct answer is both. Liar."
I opened both fists, revealing clover cards, and said. The unregistered wore a defeated expression.
"A good attempt, but... shallow lies always reveal their true worth quickly."
Choosing the left without a moment's hesitation? Gambling your fate on a simple 50% probability. His decisiveness is fast, and his mind works reasonably well.
But that won't do.
I knelt on one knee in front of the little kid. The unregistered, who had been harboring hope that I might show mercy, flinched when he saw my gaze.
Because there was no compassion or warmth in my eyes.
"Kid. Whether you listen to my class or not makes no difference to me. To me, everyone here is nothing more than commoners anyway."
Cold, but that was reality. The children nodded without disappointment. For a supreme mage (prospective) from Affluence like me, teaching children in the lower realm was nothing more than volunteer service.
"However, I only gathered children who succeeded in mana perception. It's to teach a class befitting that. This is not the place for you."
"Why not...!"
If this continues, he'll be expelled. Sensing that fact, the unregistered shouted desperately.
"I heard you teach the school without asking for any compensation. Then, I can listen too! What's wrong with me! Why, don't you have the confidence to teach me?!"
'I have to listen to the class somehow! Rely on compassion? He's not someone that works on! Provoke him. It might be dangerous, but if I miss this opportunity, there's no future ahead!'
...Oh ho. Provoking me to listen to the class?
Uneducated but experienced. Must be from rolling around in the unregistered slums. Very cunning. But you see.
"The students of this school learn magic for at least 3 years, up to 7 years. Letters, mathematics, geometry, history. They learn all that basic knowledge and practice magic whenever they can find time."
Without being shaken at all by the childish provocation. As coldly as possible, stripping away emotion. With a voice frozen to the bone, I only conveyed the facts.
"My lectures are the best. But listening to my lectures won't bridge the gap of 3 to 7 years. If that were possible, why practice? Why read books diligently? Magic is an honest discipline. It produces phenomena only in proportion to the mana invested. Have you invested that much time?"
"I-I didn't..."
"Was the environment poor, was the time insufficient? Your environment and your time are parts that constitute you. If so, you should have shown talent that surpasses them."
To the unregistered, I must have seemed like a miracle. A mage who descended from Affluence and gave fair teaching to the frontier school districts. If I, who was doing something no different from volunteer work, might teach him... he must have harbored that illusion.
But I, who was like a miracle, shoved cruel and cold reality in his face. Denying the heart of the unregistered who held faint hope.
"I can stay here for a little over a month. It's impossible to awaken you in that time. I don't attempt the impossible."
"Ah...!"
"If you want to listen, then listen. It won't help you at all, though."
"Ugh..."
Tears welled up in the unregistered's eyes. Abandoned by the Magical Federation as unregistered, he was now abandoned by me as well. Despairing, aggrieved, and shuddering in misery, he could no longer stay here.
My words were clear truth. Even if he stayed here, it wouldn't help him at all.
"Aaaah!!"
The unregistered howled like a beast and ran out of the school. Flinging his shoes off randomly, he ran barefoot through the icy streets. His feet must be cold, but could it compare to his heart?
Amidst the giggling sounds coming from all around the school—saying they knew it would happen, or that an unregistered snuck in and got scolded—I called the housekeeper.
"Housekeeper."
"Yes?"
"He left his shoes behind. Go deliver them."
"Pardon? Me? Alone in this cold weather?"
"You can manage that much."
'Heartless. Unfamiliarly so. But, if you were truly heartless, you wouldn't send me.'
The housekeeper alternated her gaze between me and the outside of the school, then murmured with a slightly regretful face.
"May I go comfort him?"
"Do as you please."
"I'll be right back!"
The housekeeper chased after the unregistered with quick steps. Watching her figure briefly, I sensed the students' gazes and spoke.
"Is the practical training all done? Should I collect the magic tools?"
"N-no, sir!"
The murmuring about the unregistered's appearance was only momentary. The children immersed themselves in magic tool training. Soon, the children would completely forget this incident, or they would use it as gossip to talk about playfully.
The northern wind was as cold as always. I closed the door the housekeeper had left open.