“……Wooow.”
Lia looked around Deculein’s study in admiration.
“It’s just like I heard.”
Everything really was luxurious. The bookshelves, of course, but also the chairs, the tables, the curtains—everything.
It was also spotless, without a single speck of dust. The books on the shelves, the tiles on the floor, even the windowsills and the tops of the bookcases, places one could easily overlook, were cleaner than most sterilized rooms.
“Hm? What the. Did he already clear it out?”
Yeriel, who had been rummaging through Deculein’s desk drawers, scratched the back of her neck and muttered.
Lia trotted over to her.
“Well, anyway, all you need to know is that you look incredibly alike…… and you’ll be seeing him often from now on.”
Saying that, Yeriel put the drawer back in order. Exactly as it had been before they came.
So Deculein remembers even things like that?
“Here. Take this.”
Then Yeriel handed her a piece of paper. It was a list densely packed with writing.
“It’s a list of things to watch out for. You’re a guest, so there’s nothing you have to do, but there are quite a lot of rules of etiquette you have to follow.”
Lia’s mouth fell open as she read down the page.
When walking down the corridor, walk slightly to the right of the exact center. When dining, be sure to observe the following manners. Take care not to use any vulgar words in speech, and so on and so forth……
“Still, you said you stayed in the Imperial Palace for a few weeks, right? Then you’ll be fine.”
“Ah…… yes.”
Lia nodded. Yeriel snickered and added,
“Just follow what’s written there, roughly, and if possible, try not to stand out to that person in your daily life. He’s pathologically fussy.”
“What is pathological?”
A cold voice suddenly sounded.
Startled, Yeriel and Lia turned toward the entrance of the study.
“……You’re already awake? Was four days of sleep enough? Are you all right?”
It was Deculein. His complexion looked rather tired, but he was dressed neatly in casual clothes. A dress shirt with a black knit sweater, less heavy than a suit but still impeccably tidy.
So he doesn’t wear the full suit set even at home.
He glanced at her and said indifferently,
“You came.”
“Yes. I came.”
“Yeriel.”
Then he jerked his chin toward the door at Yeriel.
An order to leave.
“Fine. Hey, if you have anything to ask, come up to the fifth floor. That’s my room, okay? I’ll be staying here for a month, so anytime.”
“Go.”
“Ah, fine.”
Thud—
The door closed as Yeriel left.
“……Gulp.”
Left alone with Deculein, Lia swallowed for no reason.
He first held out a sheet of paper to her.
“Take it.”
“What is this?”
“The circuit structure of your body.”
“……?”
Lia looked at the paper. In that instant, her body flinched.
It was, unmistakably, an anatomical diagram of her own body.
You know, the human anatomy chart you often saw in science rooms.
“This—”
“I can grasp it simply by looking. What circuits your mana flows through, and how they operate.”
“…….”
Honestly, goosebumps rose on her skin.
Because that meant he had literally “taken apart” her entire body and looked inside.
“First, look at that with your own eyes.”
Snap— Deculein flicked his finger. Then mana spread across the anatomical diagram of Lia on the paper.
Mana emitted from the dantian in her abdomen branched out in all directions.
“Wah?!”
“This is the flow of mana shown when you manifest your talent. Even to your eyes, it is arbitrary. There are no rules, only disorder.”
Arbitrary.
Just as he said, the mana from the dantian shown on the diagram wandered all over the body before barely manifesting outward.
“To describe the circuits in your body, they are like land without roads. The mana within your body moves as it pleases, without system or order.”
“Ah…… yes. I can see that now.”
“In fact, most adventurers are like this. They waste a great deal of mana without even realizing it.”
That was something she hadn’t known.
Then again, she had learned everything by throwing herself into it, without any systematic education.
“By contrast.”
Snap— Another flick of his finger, and mana spread once more through Lia’s anatomical diagram.
This time, it was different from before.
The mana within the body moved neatly, as if running along orderly roads. Toward its destination without wasting a single bit of mana.
“This is the optimal road for your body that I designed. In simple numerical terms, mana consumption is reduced by 57%, and power increases by 33%. In terms of efficiency, it is more than three times greater.”
“Wooow…… But, wait a second. You designed it, Professor?”
“Yes. I took your height, weight, and mana capacity into consideration. It is flawless optimization.”
Lia’s brow naturally furrowed. More than anything else, because of the height and weight.
“H-how did you know my height and weight?”
“I know by looking. But is that what matters right now? Pathetic.”
Deculein reproached her and sat in a chair. Lia felt pointlessly pricked inside.
“……Right. It doesn’t matter. How do you lay down the roads?”
“It is simple. I will pour my mana into you.”
“……?”
At those strange words, Lia could only tilt her head blankly.
His mana, into me, what?
“I am saying I will lay down roads. With my mana, inside your body.”
“……Huh?”
“I will guide your mana with my own and pave an efficient path. After repeating it a few hundred times, the path will open. It is no different from fairly extreme accelerated education, but it is the best method to have the body learn before the mind. Or do you intend to stay here for two or three years and learn by the proper method?”
Lia quickly shook her head.
The main quest could end in six months, so she didn’t have enough time.
“Good. However, pain is inevitable. I will be artificially correcting the route of your circuits and widening them.”
“Yes. I understand.”
Deculein nodded and said,
“Then prepare yourself and come back.”
“Hm? I’m already prepared.”
“…….”
“Let’s start right away!”
Lia smiled brightly.
She didn’t need any preparation.
Pain was something she had already grown more than used to while working as an adventurer.
“……Good.”
Deculein lifted his index finger as if scoffing. A small strand of mana rose from its tip and flowed in through Lia’s nose.
Lia accepted it as well, without any particular defense.
“Brace yourself.”
“Yes. I already kyaaaaak!”
The next instant, Lia vomited blood.
It was truly hemoptysis.
“……Huuuuugh.”
A pain as if something inside her had been severed. When she came to her senses, her entire body was pressed against the floor.
Her vision blurred, and her arms and legs twitched on their own.
“Huuuuugh…….”
She couldn’t even breathe properly. If this wasn’t rock bottom, nothing was.
That insane professor Deculein. That villain, what the hell was he trying to do to me? He must have tricked me and meant to kill me.
A villain after all, that mop-headed Deculein.
“Ah— ah— ah—”
Having lost a portion of her ability to think, Lia only opened and closed her lips like a dying goldfish.
“Hm.”
Then a voice descended from above her head, as if evaluating her.
“Is this all you amount to?”
Lia desperately lifted only her eyes to look at him.
She saw Deculein’s indifferent, dry pupils. She saw his dissatisfied face looking down at her.
“Not…… yet.”
Lia spoke. She barely managed to spit out the sentence. With her clenched fist, she pressed against the floor.
Deculein nodded.
“In that case.”
Then an even fiercer, more violent wave came rushing in.
“!”
All the organs in her body heaved once more. Her body, which she had been trying to raise, collapsed completely.
“Urghghgh…….”
At one moment cold, at another hot, an unbearably strange pain crackled and surged upward.
It was so painful she couldn’t breathe, and before she could lose consciousness, her eyes rolled back.
……Tsk. As expected, perhaps such excessive talent dwells in far too insignificant a body.
A tone seeped into her faint consciousness.
……It may be better to discard her. What a waste.
Hearing him say he would discard her, Lia clenched her fist. Out of sheer stubbornness, her competitive spirit ignited. She forced her closed eyes open.
And shouted,
“Nod yed idio!”
Not yet.
That was what she had meant to say, but her tongue had gotten a little tangled.
* * *
1 p.m.
The training ended after a full two hours, and I put on an outing suit.
“Wh…ere… are… you… go…ing?”
A feeble voice asked my destination.
“The Mage Tower.”
“N-next… train…ing…?”
I looked at Lia as she asked that.
The girl lying sprawled on the floor was covered in blood from head to toe.
Truly drenched in blood.
Her mouth was sticky with coughed-up blood, and blood was gushing from her nose as well. Even her eyes were bloodshot, to the point that one could not tell if it was tears of blood or something else, and the way she spoke in that state made her no different from a ghost.
There was only one reason I did not throw out such a filthy creature at once: because her face resembled Yu Ara’s.
“Receive healing first.”
I had already prepared a harmony-type mage and medicine to calm that body, so there would be no aftereffects.
“Next train…ing…… next……”
Ignoring the girl muttering blankly, I went out to the parking lot and got into the car that had been waiting.
Secretary Ren skillfully drove the car along the road, while I looked at the official notice from the first Personnel Committee in my hand and pondered.
The subject was Epherene.
The location was the 90th floor of the Mage Tower.
If a proper verdict was not reached here, the matter would later be taken up to the Floating Island.
If that happened, it would become even more troublesome.
“We have arrived. I will be waiting.”
Before I knew it, as I was thinking, we had reached the Mage Tower.
“Go ahead first.”
“Yes.”
After sending the secretary away, I boarded the Mage Tower’s elevator.
[90th Floor]
The 90th floor where I arrived. The highest floor, which someone like an assistant professor could not even reach by ordinary means.
The first Personnel Committee was held on this high of a floor.
Also, the structure of this place was extremely oppressive and authoritative.
The subject of the Personnel Committee would look up at the adjudicators from a very low place separated by magical glass, while the adjudicators would, conversely, look down on the subject from a high place like a balcony.
“You’ve arrived!”
“Everyone has been waiting!”
As I entered, the faculty, including Lellin, welcomed me. I returned the greeting with a nod and took my seat.
“Professor Deculein! You’re here!”
From the highest seat, Chairwoman Adrine called out with a bright face.
“Assistant Professor Epherene will be here soon!”
I looked beyond the plate glass.
In the darkness, there was a single small, shabby chair prepared.
Epherene would sit there alone.
“Yes.”
I nodded, and Adrine smiled broadly.
Just then, a voice rang out through the loudspeaker.
─Assistant Professor Epherene is entering.
* * *
……Sitting in the shabby chair of the Personnel Committee, Epherene was now thinking. About what she had done wrong.
The crime of submitting a paper to academia?
The crime of harboring the irreverent idea of connecting magic and science?
Was she such an enormous figure, and had she committed such a tremendous wrong, that a Personnel Committee had to be convened over merely that?
─The connection between magic and science. I am curious whether Assistant Professor Epherene truly thought this paper was empirically verifiable.
This was Lellin’s voice.
Was it because everything said at the Personnel Committee would remain on record? His tone was quite refined.
“Yes. I thought so.”
Epherene also answered in a polite tone.
“I truly thought it was possible. And I thought this would become the foundation for the advancement of magic.”
─……Assistant Professor Epherene. Magic has its prestige. The Mage Tower has its prestige as well.
This was Siare’s voice. A professor who always pretended to be gentle while subtly looking down on and discriminating against commoner mages.
─You submitted to academia a paper that simultaneously harms and disregards the prestige of magic and the prestige of the Mage Tower, and you are still continuing that research. This time, I hear you have been reading some irrational book called the theory of relativity.
Epherene clenched her teeth. She looked up at them with venom in her eyes.
─Do you think that is not wrong?
“Yes.”
She answered immediately.
For a moment, silence settled.
“I do not think it is wrong. To begin with, I did not do it to harm anyone’s prestige.”
Epherene spoke.
No matter how she thought about it, she had done nothing wrong.
If this was truly a matter of “right and wrong,” then she clearly had done nothing wrong.
“The connection between magic and science. Is my thought, is my paper, truly so wrong?”
─As expected, she is the daughter of some random noble who knows nothing. It is just as one would expect from someone who never even passed through the Academy.
Lellin’s voice again.
This time, words that dragged in her family, her household.
─If she were a commoner, there would be at least some room for leniency. She would be saying such things out of genuine ignorance, after all. However, she is no random noble.
Epherene clenched her fists.
─After submitting an irreverent thesis that seeks to undermine the prestige of magic, and disgracing the Magic Tower with it—
“What exactly is prestige?”
She cut off the fat Relin.
“Is prestige so important that it should stand in the way of progress? If magic is connected with science, it will grow even stronger than it is now. And I’m not saying science should take precedence over magic! If the two harmonize together—”
─Enough of that nonsense! A nobody from a nameless family like yours—
“Why is it nonsense?! What does status or family even matter?! What importance does bloodline have to a mage?!”
Thud—!
Epherene sprang to her feet. The chair flew back and struck the floor, and an even louder shout filled the space.
“All I have to do is prove it! I can prove it!”
Connecting it with science.
Epherene was confident she could prove that.
Because she had an abundance of something called “time.”
“I! I’ll become a mage far greater than any bloodline—”
─Epherene.
At that moment, a calm voice cut through her impassioned speech.
Deculein.
Epherene swallowed her breath and looked up toward him.
─Bloodline is important. Even you were born with one. If you truly were the daughter of an ordinary commoner, would you have the talent you possess now?
She tried to answer, but her mouth suddenly clamped shut.
Because her father, too, had undoubtedly been a mage.
─Though your father was only half of one, he possessed a genius talent for theory. The Luna family’s history also has many excellent mages.
“…….”
─Furthermore, the bloodline of my Yukline possesses a uniqueness that will be recorded in history. The same is true of Iliade, Freyden, and McQueen. The Magic Tower evaluates only ability, but that ability is, without question, inherited in large part from one’s bloodline.
Deculein’s words descended from above. They were different from Relin’s, who had merely poured his words out.
A person whose very speech was truly regarded as authority.
─That being the case, your statement just now crossed the line. Do you intend to defy the system and incite a rebellion?
“…….”
─How pathetic.
Deculein seemed to be stabbing at her silence.
Epherene could not see his face.
But she felt no sense of betrayal.
Because she already knew Deculein.
─I will say no more. I, Deculein, as Head Professor, set the disciplinary measure of this personnel committee to “dismissal”—
Dismissal.
Just as that unbearably weighty word was about to press down on Epherene’s heart.
─Wait a moment! I object!
Adrienne suddenly shouted.
That moment was salvation for Epherene, and a wrench in Relin’s plans.
─There has never been a case where a mage was dismissed just for submitting the wrong thesis! And even more so if that mage is an assistant professor! Why? Because the lower one’s authority, the lesser one’s responsibility!
The grinning fairy’s voice continued cheerfully.
─The Magic Tower has freedom of magic! Therefore, I would like to conclude this matter by suspending Assistant Professor Epherene for two years, with a review for lifting the suspension every quarter! Also, also, if we’re going to start nitpicking from the beginning, there’s the supervising professor’s negligence in management too!
The supervising professor’s negligence in management.
In other words, Deculein’s fault.
Adrienne boldly brought it up.