Snap—!
Deculein flicked his fingers. The lecture hall was dyed pitch-black.
And Epherene came to understand why this place was called the “special floor.”
“Wow.”
The ceiling had turned into the night sky. Clear black, like drawing paper sprinkled with stars.
“Truly pure magic is······.”
Deculein spoke as he swept his gaze over the lecture hall.
“Never mixed with impurities, but pure. Even if it is the same magic, it is firm and distinct, as if it were magic of a different rank. Like the body of the 「Iron Man」.”
Pfft— Just then, someone let out a small smile.
Epherene looked at him. He was a mage from the Imperial Palace.
“You.”
Of course he wouldn’t miss it.
Deculein pointed at him. The man faced Deculein in a slightly crooked posture.
“Your name.”
“······Ron.”
“Make fire.”
The Imperial Palace mage, “Ron,” created a flame. Just an ordinary fire, 「Ignition」.
“A small flame. Infinitely commonplace.”
“······.”
Ron’s eyebrow twitched. Deculein looked at his fire with 「Vision」.
“Because it is an unrefined fire, it is merely hot. Nothing more than a simple campfire. Far from pure, it is filthy.”
There was nothing mysterious or unusual about it, merely a magic circle of four strokes.
“······However.”
Deculein interfered with that “four-stroke” formula.
He had bestowed upon it a portion of his knowledge—namely, the properties of the 「Iron Man」.
Fwoosh───!
The flame crackling in Ron’s hand flared into a blaze. Its warmth instantly encroached upon the lecture hall.
“······.”
Everyone, including Epherene, stared blankly at that fire. More precisely, they observed its “color.”
It was not some mere lump of flame. The grain of the fire demon was radiant, and the heat was exceedingly dense.
“It is a fire that burns purely.”
The output of magic is determined by input. The greater the input, the greater the output; when the input ceases, the magic itself fades away.
And yet this ultra-high-temperature flame, like a white-red gemstone, existed without any input at all······.
“Ron.”
“Y-yes.”
Deculein called the Imperial Palace mage’s name again. As if startled, he straightened his back.
“The ordinary element called 「fire」 growing through a certain property bestowed by the caster. Giving rise to a high degree of purity. That is what ‘pure application’ means.”
Ron quietly looked down at his own ember.
Snap—!
Deculein flicked his fingers again. Then, numerous starlights came into being in the air.
“The essence of the elements. Pure internal force. That is the core I will teach in this lecture. Watch closely.”
Having finished speaking, he began writing.
Woooooo······.
The starlight of the 80th floor resonated with the celestial bodies. Its flashes embroidered formulas, calculations, and magic circles into the air.
Epherene hurriedly scribbled in her notebook.
However, the content was far too immense to be contained on a small sheet of paper.
No, even setting aside its scale······.
“Professor. Is this really a magic formula?”
Epherene mustered her courage and asked. To that extent, Deculein’s formula was a form she had never seen in her life.
The corner of his mouth twisted.
“No. It is ambiguous to call it a circuit, and strange to call it a magic circle. It is a new element that composes magic, one that did not exist before. I intend to name this origin ‘Quality.’”
By that point, Rosério began looking around. Not only her, but all the mages who had trusted in their own brains and neglected to bring writing tools became busy.
“This ‘Quality,’ if adjusted appropriately, can be applied to any magic.”
Just as 「Traits」 do in a game.
Snap—!
Deculein flicked his fingers. Soil condensed in the air into the shape of a sphere.
Its fine particles floated like a planet. A blue sea appeared on the surface, and brown continents rose.
It was Earth.
“Woooow······.”
Epherene admired it in a daze. However, when Deculein clenched his hand, that magic scattered like a mirage.
“This too is only a portion. To understand my ‘Quality,’ fundamentals are required. And fundamentals are theory.”
Deculein moved the starlight with 「Psychokinesis」.
“Now begins the main subject.”
In the darkness, line by line.
The “new magic” he had invented was being written.
* * *
······Meanwhile, Yusephine recalled what had happened this morning.
—You killed Veron.
Yusephine had not given up on the matter that had made Julie grieve. Rather, with that mad obsession and tenacity, she had surpassed her own limits.
She had newly “awakened.”
—I know everything.
She extended her shadow to the bottom of the sheer cliff.
She searched from an altitude of thousands of meters, across an area of tens of thousands of hectares, and recovered Veron’s corpse. She identified the shape of the steel that had pierced his chest.
—So I’m curious.
Why had Deculein gone out of his way to kill Veron?
What had his motive been?
—The way you looked, wanting nothing more than a smile from Julie, wasn’t a lie.
Was it because Veron, the subordinate Julie cherished, had gotten on his nerves?
Or because Julie and Veron had been in that sort of relationship?
Because he had been madly jealous?
No way~
Yusephine was no fool.
—Veron must have tried to kill you, right? And you hid that fact because Julie would be hurt?
Naturally, Veron, blinded by love, must have harbored killing intent first, and Deculein must have acted in self-defense.
—······.
—Professor? How about saying something?
Even then, there was no change in Deculein’s expression. The professor maintained the dignity of a noble.
—······Yusephine.
—Mm~?
Yusephine smiled brightly. Deculein looked down at her and continued.
—I have a request.
—Oh, come on. Of course I won’t tell Julie about this—
—I will bring down the Freyhem Knights.
—······?
Yusephine blinked blankly.
That statement had surpassed her expectations by far.
—There are many methods. Julie is upright, but some of the knights under her are exceedingly ordinary people. Laundering money from the underworld and handing it to them, giving them bribes······.
—How is that a request? Do you think I’ll just stand by and watch?
Deculein silently stared at Yusephine. Yusephine immediately grasped the emotion contained in his gaze.
—If the Knights fall······ Julie will hate me.
That was why she understood it even less.
Because to him, there was only “affection.”
—······Of course. Probably enough to kill you. But she won’t be able to kill you. That’s the kind of child she is.
Those words from Yusephine. Yet Deculein’s reply that followed was strange.
—No. That much is not enough.
—······.
—Yusephine, you will help. So that Julie hates me enough that she can kill me.
Yusephine’s mouth fell open.
Because this was the first time she had encountered something so utterly unreasonable.
Was this man perhaps wishing for suicide?
—Why?
In the end, Yusephine voiced that innocent question. Deculein answered with his own conviction.
It was a single sentence.
—Because I love Julie.
—······Love?
—I murdered Veron out of jealousy, tried to bring down the Knights to monopolize Julie, and everything about me that seemed to have changed until now was all an act······
······That scenario should suffice. I will inform you of the timing later.
His voice still lingered in her ears, but Yusephine quietly opened her eyes.
Now back in the present, she was in a café near the Magic Tower.
“Hmmm······.”
Yusephine rested her chin on her hand and looked at Julie. Julie, seeming a little uncomfortable under that gaze, fidgeted with her lips and sipped her teacup.
Yusephine asked.
“Our Julie~ Aren’t you curious?”
“······About what?”
“About what conversation I had with Professor Deculein.”
“······.”
Julie said nothing. Silence was affirmation.
“It’s still a secret, but Julie. I’ll say just one thing. Don’t trust that professor too much.”
For now, Yusephine had decided to take part in Deculein’s scenario.
It was also for Julie’s sake, and right now, the mischievousness called “curiosity” was racing madly through her veins.
“Professor Deculein is wearing a mask—”
“Stop trying to sow discord.”
Julie narrowed her eyes. Yusephine shrugged.
“······All right~ You’ll find out later anyway. You can regret it then. I’ll be going now~”
“Where are you going?”
“Mm~ That professor asked me for quite a lot of favors. I might be busy from now on.”
The search for some demon called Nesius or whatever.
Deculein had also requested that alliance from Yusephine, and Yusephine had gladly accepted.
Whatever it was, it seemed like it would be fun.
“Big Sis will be going now~ Take care, our Julie~”
* * *
Whoooooosh······ A hot wind swept across the rooftop of the Yukline lord’s castle.
Yeriel sat on the railing together with Ganesha.
The muggy wind was not unpleasant; rather, it was gentle.
“Mmmmmm~ To think the weather is like this even in midsummer. Hadekain really does have good land. When I retire later, I’ll live here.”
Ganesha exclaimed as she stretched. Yeriel glanced sideways at her.
“Never mind that. Anyway, you said you caught a giant rat flying through this sky today?”
“Yes, yes~ Before I even realized it. I hate rats more than anything in the world, you see? But that rat was extremely huge, and it was flying? Ooh, sheeet······ So I smashed it along with the lord’s castle spire······ and when I came to my senses, I had returned to two days ago.”
Ganesha smiled brightly. At her ambiguous words, Yeriel furrowed her brow.
“What are you even talking about······ Anyway. I know everything now.”
“Hoho. Is that so? That’s a relief.”
“That······ Sigh. Forget it. What’s the point in saying it?”
When she recalled the moment she had seen through the frame, a deep sigh escaped her.
Yeriel hugged her knees.
Now that she was actually facing the adventure party, there was not much to say. It had already been resolved, too.
“······Oh, right. By the way. Where did that child, ‘Lia,’ come from?”
She changed the subject, pouting her lips. Ganesha flinched, but soon answered calmly.
“Lia is someone we met in the Archipelago. She’s a rough gem with definite talent, and now she’s our family.”
“······Is that so?”
“But why are you interested?”
Ganesha asked, pretending to be nonchalant.
Yeriel answered quietly.
“······Because it’s strange.”
“Strange? What is?”
Ganesha perked up her ears. And Yeriel gazed at the distant sky, as if trying to grasp some memory drifting among that wind.
“······She resembles someone.”
“Resembles someone?”
“······.”
Yeriel looked back at Ganesha. Ganesha fluttered her twin-tailed hair as though nothing were wrong.
Flutter, flutter—
Flutter, flutter—
Yeriel gave a small laugh.
“Does that hair move on its own?”
“Yes. I can hit people with it, too. Anyway, who does she resemble?”
“Mm······ Deculein’s, my brother’s, first fiancée.”
“······.”
At that moment, Ganesha’s breath stopped for a moment. Goosebumps prickled along her back.
Yeriel scribbled on the rooftop floor with her finger.
“That child named Lia resembles that fiancée. Very much so, too.”
“His first······ fiancée?”
“Yes. That woman Julie has some faint resemblance as well, but that child is really the spitting image.”
“But Lia is still young, isn’t she?”
“Her eye color and hair color are different, but the more she grows, the more she’ll probably come to resemble her. I’m good at reading people’s faces.”
“O-oh, I see······.”
At that moment, Ganesha felt some prank of fate.
If it had not been for her, Lia would have gone to Deculein, and perhaps thanks to her appearance resembling that fiancée, she might have lived a better life than she did now······.
Ganesha asked in a subtle tone.
“What kind of person······ was that fiancée?”
“I only know a little. You know, just on the level of knowing the setting? I only saw her properly during the betrothal ceremony.”
“Hmm······ Is that so? What was the professor like on the day of that ceremony?”
Pfft— Yeriel mocked him without realizing it. For some reason, that was what happened when she recalled Deculein from that day.
“It was the first time in my life I saw him smile like that. Truly, it was the face of someone sincerely in love.”
It was then that Yeriel first learned.
That such a soft smile and tone of voice existed in Deculein as well.
“······Hoho. The professor has a surprisingly pure-hearted side, too. Surely he won’t look at Lia and be reminded of her, will he?”
At Ganesha’s words, Yeriel’s brow furrowed sharply.
“Are you insane? Do you know how many years apart they are? My brother isn’t that abnormal of a person······.”
······My brother isn’t that abnormal of a person.
The floor directly beneath the rooftop.
Someone, who had sharpened their hearing to an extreme and was eavesdropping, murmured bitterly.
“······Sorry.”
This was probably because of the setting she had needlessly added.
After finding out that Deculein’s model was Woojin, she had felt strangely petty and forced in an Easter egg.
“I was too······.”
The setting that the woman Deculein had truly loved was actually “Yoo Ara.”
Her ridiculously pathetic behavior, hoping that he would discover it and hold onto her.
“······I was such a loser.”
Lia forced a smile and sniffled.
She hadn’t thought a mere Easter egg would come back as a butterfly effect like this.
“Ah, seriously······ I’m such an idiot······.”
She plopped down on the floor and buried her face in her hands.
This was why······ thinking about home was bad for one’s mental health.
* * *
After two hours of class, there was a ten-minute break.
Epherene was dazed, her mind drifting.
“······Are you all right?”
Professor Luina asked from beside her. Epherene nodded and muttered as if sighing.
“Yes. But······ everyone’s studying.”
From her seat in the back, Epherene had a full view of the strange scene in the lecture hall.
Not only the Mage Tower mages of the ranks of Kendel, Regello, Braham, and the others, but also Archduke Cretos, the Addict Astal, the Imperial Palace mages, Professor Relin, and even Rose Rio were all······.
Studying like examinees.
“Ah, how stingy can ya be? Would it kill ya to lend me one notebook, one pen, and one eraser? I’ll pay ya back tenfold on the Floating Island, I tell ya!”
Rose Rio was outright arguing. All because of some measly writing tools.
“Hey, Lorhan. You don’t know who I am?”
“Ah, stop talking to me! I’m going to forget!”
“What?!”
When Rose Rio grabbed a mage’s robe, the mage shook him off roughly.
Good heavens, to treat an Ether-rank mage so carelessly.
“······Hey? Lumière Lorhan? I’m Ether Rose Rio—”
“Ah, for goodness’ sake, keep it down!”
A roar rang out. It was Archduke Cretos. Rose Rio looked at him and let out a laugh of disbelief.
“Even you, Cretos—”
“Ether Rose Rio. Do not disturb the atmosphere of study.”
The Addict Astal restrained him solemnly. The gazes of the seven other Addicts seated beside him in a row were also prickling.
“Ah, I’m sorry too, but what am I supposed to do when I don’t have anything to write with?”
“That is your fault. Who told you to come empty-handed?”
“······I didn’t know.”
“Be quiet now. Ether Rose Rio, this is a warning delivered directly by the Floating Island.”
Rose Rio was practically being ganged up on. The other mages who hadn’t brought writing tools were in similar positions.
“Why is everyone so sensitive?”
“······They’re mages of the Floating Island, aren’t they? New knowledge is flickering right in front of their eyes, so of course they’re like that. Madmen. If things really go wrong, they’d probably even commit murder.”
At Luina’s words, Epherene glanced at her.
“Hmm······ Professor Luina, aren’t you taking notes?”
“I already finished. My hands are fast.”
“Ah······.”
Epherene looked at Deculein’s theory still shimmering in the air.
“But how did Professor Deculein realize all that?”
“······Who knows. Maybe because the day of his death isn’t far off?”
Luina answered as if joking. Epherene’s eyes widened.
“Huh?”
“······What’s wrong?”
“I’ve heard something similar before.”
Luina quietly leaned toward her.
“What?”
“······‘The closer a mage comes to the heavens, the more they comprehend the truth—’.”
The words Rohakan, who had once kidnapped her, had said.
Luina cleared her throat with an ahem and leaned back against her chair.
“Is, is that so? A coincidence, a coincidence. I-I-I was j-just joking.”
It was then, as she broke out in a cold sweat.
“──!”
A sudden roar rang out, and with a crash— desks and chairs overturned as mana surged.
Epherene and Luina were startled and looked that way.
“Why, why are those people acting like that?”
Four or five mages were fighting each other.
She didn’t know the reason.
No, she felt like she vaguely did.
“Ah, you crazy thief—!”
The instant one of them spat out a curse and manifested destructive magic.
“Stop.”
A cold voice seeped in.
Snap—
Everything was cut off in an instant.
“How truly······.”
Deculein had arrived exactly as the ten-minute break ended. He glared at the tangled-up mages as if they were pathetic.
“······Bug-like things.”
Meooooow~
At that moment, the red-furred munchkin suddenly escaped from Cretos’s arms. The possession had been released.
However, the gazes in the hall were focused only on Deculein.
“Whether your heads are large or small, whether you are old or young······ you are idiots filled with nothing but greed, without the slightest shred of dignity.”
Deculein felt the vibration of the message paper scribbling inside his coat.
A communication had come from Keiron.
“Today’s class ends here. Keep this in mind. In my lecture, ugly, filthy, or lowly behavior will not be tolerated.”
He immediately left the lecture hall.
Since he had gained a convenient excuse at just the right time, there was little opposition.
Thud──!
When the elevator doors closed, the 80th floor sank into silence.
But that bewilderment lasted only a moment; soon, the sound of pencils continued.
Deculein had left, but his notes were still intact.
“······.”
Epherene blinked blankly, and Luina smiled bitterly.
“Deculein’s personality is still the same. I thought he’d toned it down a bit. But lowly behavior? Back in the day, he was the one who did the most of it. Does this mean he’s changed somewhat?”
“Ha, hahaha. Professor Luina······?”
At that moment, Relin approached. He quietly placed his notebook on the desk.
“Shall we form a study group together? Sharing our notes?”
“······You can’t understand it on your own?”
Luina asked back. Relin went ahem, ahem, and shook his head.
“That’s not it, but······ after reaching middle age, I’ve finally encountered a lecture that ignites my scholarly passion again, one might say······ As expected of Professor Deculein. If we understand this lecture together, we may also be able to earn points with the professor.”
“No thanks. To be honest, I didn’t understand it either. I just finished taking notes.”
Epherene continued taking notes for the time being.
Then, the Addict Astal took out a crystal orb and began communicating with somewhere.
“Yes. This is Astal.”
Epherene perked up her ears as she wrote.
“It is a possibility that could become a new ‘element’ of magic. I believe I still need to understand it as well, but it is extremely special.”
For the Addict, who was stingy with praise, to use the words “extremely special.”
Epherene harbored a pointless jealousy and, perhaps, the vain suspicion and expectation that this lecture, too, might be connected to her father—for a very brief moment—
Click─!
Suddenly, the clear, sharp sound of a switch rang out.
At that instant, the mana in the lecture hall was dismantled, and all of Deculein’s notes disappeared.
“Eh?”
“What the, who was it!”
“Uh, wait a second?”
“What is it? What could it be? What is it?”
“Who turned it off······? Who would dare······.”
“Again, again! Hurry, turn it back on! I haven’t written it all down yet—”
The mages panicked.
No, it was more than that. They were in utter panic.