The next day, I went to work at the university magic tower early in the morning.
“Scorching Flame······.”
Sitting in my office chair, I was reading through Allen’s lecture notes and several magic texts in turn.
I was in the middle of establishing, roughly, what direction my lecture on “elemental attribute magic” should take.
“This should do for explaining ‘pure elements.’”
One of the fields of magic the mages of the tower struggled with the most—“pure elements.”
If compared to modern academia, it was like an advanced course in pure mathematics’ analysis, one that delved to the extreme into calculus alone. And “Scorching Flame” was one type of “pure elemental magic,” notorious for its atrocious difficulty.
At the very least, it was not at the level of a Debutant.
And yet, I was able to understand the structure of “Scorching Flame” surprisingly easily.
That was because in a pure, not applied, linear process of digging into a single field, “Comprehension” functioned more optimally.
Of course, understanding did not immediately lead to acquisition, but I intended to refine “Scorching Flame” as simply as possible and use it as a textbook to help them understand “pure elements.”
“······That should be enough preparation for class.”
After writing the script, I closed the lecture notes. Then I called Allen through the crystal ball.
“Allen. Come here for a moment.”
About five seconds later, the door opened and Allen appeared.
“Yes, yes, Professor.”
Allen came briskly, but his face looked extremely tired. The dark circles under his eyes made him look like a panda.
“Did you find out what I asked you about last time?”
“Yes. Here it is.”
Allen rummaged through the pocket of his robe and took out a booklet. It was an auction catalogue.
“Next Wednesday, at the auction house in ‘Luten,’ snowflake stone has been listed.”
I had told Allen to look into whether there were any auctions where rare ores had been put up as items.
Skimming through the catalogue, sure enough, there was a metal called “snowflake stone” near the bottom.
This was a setting even I knew, a metal ranked among the top ten in the world.
Above it were only things like dragon bones and dragon horns—mythical and legendary items that could not be obtained even with money—so snowflake stone could be called “the strongest obtainable in theory.”
“Good work. Tell them I will participate in the auction.”
“Yes, yes. Understood.”
Allen bowed and left.
For reference, I had already checked the amount in my personal account. Even in this world, accounts and card systems had been invented.
[205,238,039 ∃]
The balance in the account was a staggering two hundred million elne.
This was more than enough.
It was a personal account, so there should be no issue even if I spent it all, and in the first place, the Yukline family was set up to be absurdly rich because their territory was overpowered.
Even in sports, if the home market is good, they call it a big market, and it makes an enormous amount of money even when the team’s results are poor, does it not?
“······Now that I think about it, Allen is merely a graduate student.”
I suddenly felt sorry.
Allen was, in terms of an ordinary university, a graduate student. And what I had just ordered him to do was an extremely private matter.
To make matters worse, the reason Allen’s dark circles were growing darker by the day was because all the mages who had shared the work until last year had quit.
Because Deculein’s character had been exposed, any halfway competent mage of the tower would never volunteer to serve under me.
In other words, in modern terms, Allen alone was handling not only the work of every graduate student, but even the professor’s personal errands.
“When put that way, it is serious.”
If I left him like that, either I would be stabbed to death, or Allen would die from overwork. One of the two.
It seemed I should treat Allen better from now on. Hire some people, too.
“Um, Professor.”
As I was thinking that, Allen came back in. He held out an envelope in both hands.
“An official notice just arrived from the magic tower.”
“Very well. Go home now and rest comfortably.”
“Yes, yes.”
I tore open the needlessly old-fashioned envelope. There was a single official document inside.
[······A hearing to inspect the progress of the research currently being conducted by Chief Professor Deculein, “The Creation of Pure Elements and Four-System Magic Based Thereon,” will be held in six months. Please prepare the relevant materials by then.]
“Ah.”
This was a branch where one misstep could get me fired from my professorship.
It had to be quite an important event, but had Deculein truly been conducting magical research all this time?
If he had, where was the process of that research?
······The laboratory.
* * *
Deculein’s private laboratory was filthy. In any case, it seemed no one had entered since long before I became Deculein.
“······It does not seem like there would be anything here.”
I searched the laboratory, thinking there was no harm in trying.
With Psychokinesis, from the ceiling to the corners. I really rummaged through almost every place there was.
All sorts of objects and dust flew around like mad, but no matter how much I searched, nothing came out.
Had he burned it all?
Or had he never conducted any research in the first place?
I stopped my Psychokinesis and stood still, looking around the interior.
A needlessly vast space, cobwebs on the ceiling, reagent bottles in which unidentified liquids were rotting, pencils scattered about, a mana extractor······.
Among that whole mess, at one certain spot.
Golden bubbles were gurgling up from a particular tile on the laboratory floor.
There it was.
Without lifting a finger, I flipped the tile over. Inside the tile that flipped over with a clatter, a lump of hardened feces was covering it like a lid.
It was the ultimate defense mechanism to stop Deculein.
Of course, since his personality had transferred to me as well, I felt faint for a moment, but I cleared the filth away with Psychokinesis.
At the bottom, an old, worn briefcase was buried amid dung dust.
It was certainly not Deculein’s.
Most likely, it belonged to the mage who had been doing the research in Deculein’s place.
I set the briefcase down on the floor and opened it. Bits of dung scattered in all directions.
“······.”
My head hurt for a moment, but I endured it and checked the contents.
As expected, there was a bundle of documents. I brought them over with Psychokinesis and grasped them in my hand. The smell of dung was faint.
Thank goodness I was wearing gloves.
“······A cipher?”
The roughly seventy pages of documents appeared, at a glance, to contain “formulas.”
From that, I knew they were related to magic, but all of their contents had been encrypted.
“That will not work.”
I interpreted the cipher with “Comprehension.”
Mana was consumed in chunks, and from the very first page, line by line, the meaning was revealed. As the magical documents were unveiled like that, I had no choice but to close my eyes.
A golden light bright enough to dazzle the eyes.
These documents contained a radiance that would not be satisfied even if it filled the entire laboratory.
“······Was it an extraordinary piece of research?”
However, it did not seem to be complete.
There were torn sections, empty paragraphs, and even outright incorrect logic.
I carefully gathered the documents so they would not break apart.
Then, suddenly, I discovered an accessory clinking in the corner of the briefcase.
It was a pendant.
The pendant, whose edges were already worn down, held one faded photograph.
“······.”
It was a photograph of a father and daughter. The father’s face had been broken, but the child was smiling brightly like a little rascal. The V-sign she had drawn with her fingers was innocent.
I knew this child’s face. She was far younger, cuter, and more baby-faced than now, but I was certain.
Epherene Luna.
Perhaps this was······ the grudge the mage named “Luna” held against Deculein.
“······Do not worry.”
Feeling somewhat bitter, I murmured.
With my Comprehension, I should be able to organize and interpret the entirety of your research, gather its scattered threads, discover the parts you failed to think of, calculate them, gain insight into them, and develop it into something more complete.
If I completed this research paper in that way—
“I will put your name down as a co-author.”
Regrettably, I cannot submit it under your name alone. I need achievements too.
I put the documents and pendant into my bag and stepped outside.
* * *
······At the same time.
The freshman mages were chatting at the café “Light and Coffee” on the university grounds.
“In my opinion, we commoners need to band together. I mean, we need to make a club.”
Dressed in robes, each of them had expensive coffee and desserts placed in front of their seats, except for one person.
Epherene only had plain water.
Using the excuse that she did not like sweets or coffee, she was merely watching the mouths of her classmates as they ate cake.
“There are only thirty people from commoner backgrounds in this class, right? If we don’t stick together, we might suffer some unfair treatment someday.”
Those were the words of Julia, a fellow mage. An orange-haired bourgeois commoner.
“Epherene. You’ll join too, right?”
“······Huh?”
Epherene, who had been sipping water, was flustered by the sudden proposal.
“No. I—”
“Epherene, you absolutely have to be there.”
Julia set her coffee cup down with a clack and spoke.
“You stood up even to that Sylvia, didn’t you? I felt so refreshed when I heard the rumor. That girl totally thinks she’s some kind of princess.”
Epherene smiled bitterly.
Ever since their big quarrel that day, it had somehow spread as if Sylvia were the representative of the nobles and she herself were the representative of the commoners.
Even though she was a proper noble herself. Though untitled and without territory.
“But······ to do that, we need permission from an advising professor······ They probably won’t like us gathering together······.”
A cute boy with a timid impression, “Ferit,” muttered as if to himself. Julia also jutted out her lips and nodded.
“······That’s true. That’s the biggest problem.”
A club made up only of commoners.
The purpose of encouraging one another was good, but it would be difficult to receive a professor’s permission.
To found a club, they absolutely needed one advising professor, and most professors were from noble backgrounds.
Of course, there were professors from commoner backgrounds, but once they were appointed as professors, they became “honorary nobles,” so they acted like real nobles.
“How about Professor Relin?”
Ferit’s eyes sparkled as if he had come up with a good idea.
Julia shook her head.
“You don’t know the rumors about that fat professor? He’s famous for only treating nobles well. I heard from the seniors that if a commoner goes to raise an objection, he won’t even listen.”
“Oh, really? I thought he was a kind person······.”
“Right? What kind of world are we living in now that he can act like that?”
They discussed which professor would be good.
However, there were not many people bold enough to guide the creation of a commoner club while being mindful of the eyes of other noble professors.
No, there were almost none.
“······Professor Deculein is obviously impossible.”
A man named Rondo muttered in passing. Epherene flinched.
“Oh, right, that professor!”
At that, Julia suddenly widened her eyes and snapped her fingers.
“At least that man looks down on nobles and commoners equally! Isn’t that fair?”
How on earth was that fair? Epherene was beginning to want to leave her seat, but······ she could not.
The coffee and desserts filling the table.
She had to eat them.
In the first place, I joined this group aiming for those spoils(?) over there.
These kids are the children of rich bourgeois families, so they’re definitely going to leave food behind, and if I don’t eat this, I’ll have to starve for the entire day······.
“Epherene! You ask him for us!”
“······.”
Then the sparks flew to her. Epherene, who had been quietly aiming only for the cake, silently bit her lip.
Julia said,
“Epherene, there was a rumor about you, wasn’t there? They said you avoided disciplinary action thanks to Professor Deculein.”
“Huh? No. No way. Is that professor the type to do that? It just ended well for both of us.”
“Really? Then······ Ah, my head hurts. Let’s decide later who to ask, and go write this up for now.”
Julia stood from her seat and fluttered the “Club Founding Plan.”
This was the very moment she had been waiting for!
Epherene smiled bitterly and shook her head.
“Ah, sorry. I don’t have time, so you guys go on—”
“I’ll treat everyone to a late-night snack today.”
“······.”
“Hm? Ephy, what did you say?”
A late-night snack.
These kids had no sense of restraint, so they would probably order all sorts of things without holding back.
In that case, a late-night snack was far more practical than cake.
In the first place, she was not in a position to eat while being picky about taste, and as long as she filled her stomach, that was enough. If there was food left, she could take it back to the dormitory.
“······I said I’ll only help write the plan.”
Epherene smacked her lips and quietly got up.
Their group left the café and headed toward the magic tower. Julia kept looking down at the paper and muttering.
“First, we should make it seem like it isn’t a club for commoners······ But then would they think we’re deceiving them······ Ah, this is complicated······ Huh?”
Julia, who had been scratching her head, looked somewhere, then widened her eyes and froze.
It was not only Julia.
Everyone stopped except for Epherene, who was thinking only about what they would eat for a late-night snack today. They stood rooted to the spot like trees, barely even breathing.
Far away, on the very path that led this way, was a person who would stand out no matter when or where one saw him.
With a gait too perfect, with gestures more noble than any noble in the world······
“He” was walking over.
“E-Epherene! Please!”
“Huh? What? The late-night snack menu?”
Julia abruptly handed the plan to Epherene.
“What is this? Why are you giving it to me?”
Then she shoved the bewildered Epherene hard in the back.
“—Hup!”
Epherene, launched forward without knowing why, soon found herself standing in front of someone. Because he was so tall, at first all she could see was his chest.
For an instant, a fresh breeze blew as if this place were a forest. The clear, clean fragrance that followed made her uneasy.
Epherene slowly raised her head. Gulp—her throat bobbed.
The front of a perfectly tailored suit,
An aristocratic tie and the pure-gold insignia announcing his rank,
A neat collar and a sharp jawline,
And······
At last, his face.
“······.”
Deculein.
He was looking down at her.
At that gaze, gleaming coldly like frozen jewels, Epherene was so startled she nearly fainted.