Sylvia manifested her magic. Her magic circle formed slowly, and the entire classroom watched with eyes full of anticipation.
A leading candidate to become the next Archmage.
What sort of magic would Sylvia of Iliade bring into being?
“······.”
Sylvia’s magic, from its very premise, possessed a mana capacity that far surpassed that of most professors. She wove her spell with that immense mana.
“Huh?”
However, doubt slowly surfaced in the eyes of Epherene, who was watching from right beside her.
Epherene could tell.
No—Sylvia’s magic circle was so misaligned that even Epherene could tell.
Whoooooosh──!
Mana condensed as if it were about to burst. A tremendous gale distorted the space as it raged. The ground was swept clean, and the hem of Epherene’s robe was sucked inward.
“······.”
Deculein watched Sylvia without a word. Her magic merely repeated amplification, never manifesting as any phenomenon.
Craaaack······.
The sphere of mana scorched the ground. Repeating condensation and contraction, it burned with dense intensity.
At this rate, the only ending would be an explosion, and so, at a certain moment—
Deculein severed her formula circuit.
······.
The magic was dismantled, and the classroom sank into silence. At Sylvia’s failure, the Debutants merely parted their lips soundlessly.
“I failed.”
The person whose spell had been dispelled was, in fact, calm. She fidgeted slightly as she looked up at Deculein.
“I’m still lacking too.”
However, Deculein’s gaze was cold. Looking down at Sylvia, he shook his head.
Sylvia bit her lip.
“It’s unfair.”
“What is?”
“You say I’m too good and have nothing to learn, while the ones who are lacking get taught because they can’t do it.”
Several Debutants flinched as if they had been struck.
“It doesn’t make sense. If I’m good, then shouldn’t you watch over me even more?”
Because he was her muse. Because merely meeting him had been her fortune. Because she, more than anyone else in this Magic Tower, was suited to receive his teachings······.
Sylvia believed she would grow further under him.
Deculein looked at Sylvia. Sylvia did not avoid his eyes either.
“No. It is not unfair.”
“It is unfair.”
“What is unfair is your talent.”
For a moment, the air settled heavily.
“Are even the hardships of a genius superior to those of the mediocre?”
Kim Woojin had once heard the complaints of a genius.
A guy who had more talent than him and had even gone abroad on a scholarship had said his paintings weren’t turning out well lately, that the standards were too high only for him······.
“They are not. You, who do not need teaching, do not know those who cannot grow without it.”
What hardships they, those geniuses, suffered. What slumps they went through.
He had never cared about any of it, not even a damn bit. To diligent strivers who shed tears of blood because they lacked talent, a whining genius was detestable.
Perhaps Deculein had been the same.
“Sylvia. This is not the Academy. No one here will indulge your whining.”
“······.”
“If you do not wish to endure it, give up on your own.”
At that moment, Sylvia lowered her head.
“If you do not wish to give up, then become someone worthy of your talent.”
Each and every word of his seemed to pierce her heart like a blade.
It felt as though her heart were collapsing.
“The mana condensation you deliberately caused just now was dangerous. Had it exploded, there would have been casualties. Ten penalty points.”
Ten penalty points.
The maximum amount that an ordinary professor could not even issue.
“Wow, ten points, that’s insane······.”
Everyone in the classroom widened their eyes in shock, and Epherene muttered without realizing it.
At that exact moment, her eyes met Deculein’s.
“Epherene. Use of profanity during class.”
“Ah, ah, wait! No! No!”
“One additional penalty point.”
“Noooooooo──!”
* * *
The end of the semester at the Magic Tower was busy for everyone, undergraduates and faculty alike.
For professors, it was the time to begin projects or evaluate results; for mages, it was the period to prepare for various examinations—finals or promotions—or write theses; and it was also when scouting inquiries from territories, nations, corporations, and adventuring parties began to pour in in earnest.
Since winter brought many duties such as civilian and firepower support against monster waves, the summer at the end of the first semester was, in truth, the most important period in a mage’s career.
“Professor Louina. During this counseling week alone, 117 people have requested consultations.”
Louina’s assistant professor, Jenkin, a direct disciple who had worked with her at the Kingdom Magic Tower, spoke.
117 people.
A full 39 times Deculein’s number.
Thanks to the reputation she had built in the kingdom, and because word of her character had already spread through the Magic Tower, mages requesting consultations with Louina never ceased.
“······.”
“······Professor?”
And yet Louina herself was dazed.
Again and again, the image of Deculein she had just seen came to mind.
“······It was blood.”
“Yes?”
There had been blood on Deculein’s lips. Also, the smell of blood had been distinct in his office. It was not a smell that could come from a small wound or a nosebleed.
“As expected······.”
It must have been hemoptysis.
Louina leaned back in her chair and let out a sigh.
Because of today, she had become almost certain.
Deculein would die in five years.
“Professor?”
“······Hm? Ah, right. 117 people. I’ll take ten a day.”
“Yes. Also, the approval documents have come down.”
“Already? In just three hours?”
Louina’s eyes went round. The documents Jenkin handed her clearly bore the [Approved] seal of the Planning Office Director.
She had expected at least one or two weeks.
Louina smiled bitterly and nodded.
“Things are working out well. Since the budget’s been secured too, bring all the old ones over now.”
Louina had formally submitted her resignation to the Kingdom Magic Tower. Her position as chief professor had been inherited by her most reliable disciple, but there were still many disciples who wanted to follow her.
“Yes. I have already contacted them.”
“Good. You may go.”
After sending Jenkin away, Louina quietly looked around her office.
“It’s spacious.”
The professor’s office on the 47th floor of the Imperial Magic Tower was roughly the same size as the office of the Kingdom’s chief professor.
That was how enormous the difference between the kingdom and the empire was.
“Hah. Five years······ Why don’t you think of it as your karma?”
She muttered as cynically as she could, but there was a certain bitterness in her tone. In the end, Louina let out a deep sigh.
“······Haa.”
Her desire for revenge against Deculein had certainly been a passion that burned in a corner of her heart. It had been a great purpose that filled her life.
And yet, for the ending to be nothing more than this.
“My life, and your life too. They’re both really damn awful.”
Her feelings were complicated in many ways.
More precisely, they were shit.
* * *
6 p.m., after all classes had ended.
Epherene, having exceeded the penalty point limit, was dragged to the Magic Tower’s administrative office.
“Kahahaha! What’s this? Your final penalty points came from Chief Professor Deculein?!”
“······.”
“Kekekeke! Yes! I knew that man would one day be unable to tolerate your insolence!”
Relin, a professor who appointed himself the Magic Tower’s disciplinarian, laughed heartily as he handed Epherene cleaning tools.
A scrub brush. A mop. Rubber gloves. Detergent, and so on. Epherene put all of them into a wheeled basket.
“Get out, you brat! Hurry up and clean! Kekekeke!”
“How far do I have to do?”
“Today, from the 3rd floor to the 4th! Kekekeke!”
“······Yes.”
“Hahaha! Khehehehe! Keke! Hahaha! Hahahahaha! Kekekeke!”
He laughs like an actual lunatic. Did air get into his lungs or something?
Epherene pouted and trudged outside.
“Haa······.”
For reference, it did not matter if she used magic to clean.
However, the number of bathrooms was the problem. The Magic Tower had nearly ten or more bathrooms on a single floor, and if it was the 3rd to 4th floors, that meant a whopping twenty.
“No wonder my fortune this week was bad. I definitely need to switch to tarot readings.”
Epherene began cleaning the bathrooms starting on the 3rd floor.
At first, she tried to handle the tools with 「Psychokinesis」, but it was terribly difficult. So she mixed detergent into the spray of water created by 「Water Serpent」.
If she controlled it incorrectly, poop dust would fly everywhere, so she carefully scrubbed the toilets and tiles.
“······Hup.”
After she finished cleaning the first bathroom and came out—
“Ah.”
She met Deculein in front of the faculty elevator on the 3rd floor.
He seemed to be leaving work, dressed in a perfect suit, but upon seeing Epherene’s appearance, he frowned as though she were filthy.
Epherene felt pointlessly indignant.
It’s because of you! You could’ve given me only one point instead of two!
“Professor. But wasn’t ten penalty points at once too much? I heard it’s the first time in ten years.”
“You received two points.”
Can you not do arithmetic? Deculein’s eyes seemed to say that.
Epherene’s face became like an angry bulldog’s.
“No. I mean Sylvia, not me.”
Deculein gazed at Epherene.
“······Epherene.”
“Yes.”
Then, as though dumbfounded, he continued.
“Who is worrying about whom? The only Debutant who understood my problem was Sylvia. She is not at a level where you can worry about her.”
“······.”
Epherene shut her mouth.
Well, when he put it that way, she had nothing to say. Sylvia had been the only one to get full marks on the midterm exam, after all.
Ding—
Just then, the elevator arrived. Deculein stepped inside, and Epherene crumpled her lips as she muttered.
“······Do you know how hard I tried not to get those 2 points?”
Epherene started cleaning the bathrooms again.
From the employee bathroom on the 3rd floor to the cafeteria bathroom, the standard bathroom, the bathroom for the disabled, then up to the 4th floor and the mage bathroom······.
“De-De-De~ Deculein is stupid~ stu~ pid~ In the whole~ world~”
He’s the most~ unlucky~ one~
She was humming it like a work song when—
Thud—
The wheel attached to her basket caught against someone’s toes.
“······?”
She raised her head and looked at the person.
It was Sylvia.
Epherene turned right, trying to pass her, but Sylvia blocked the way. This time she turned left, but Sylvia blocked her again.
Epherene’s brow narrowed into a frown.
“What are you doing? Move already. I’ll run you over with the basket.”
“Arrogant Epherene. What are you humming?”
“It’s called a work song.”
“······.”
Epherene belatedly examined Sylvia’s condition. She seemed somewhat angry, and unlike usual, the dark circles under her eyes were deep.
“Arrogant Epherene. You don’t know. What kind of blessing you’ve received. Because you’re stupid.”
“······Hey. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but—”
“Parachute. A stupid parachute who doesn’t even know how to open a parachute.”
From six to nine today, while receiving the punishment for ten penalty points—“Rodran’s Moral Lecture”—Sylvia had unconsciously imagined it.
A dreadful future in which Epherene, as Deculein’s disciple, surpassed her.
“Haa. I don’t know what you mean by parachute, but I just met that Professor Deculein, you know?”
“Arrogant parachute.”
No matter how she thought about it, Sylvia could not understand. Why in the world would he choose a girl who spoke so recklessly······
Then Epherene spoke.
“Do you perhaps like that professor?”
“Are you insane?”
Sylvia spat the words without realizing it. Immediately after, her face grew hot. As if shocked by what she herself had said, she covered her mouth with both hands.
“Pfft. I guess you do like him?”
“No. No. No, I don’t. He’s my muse.”
“I don’t know what that means, but do you know what that professor said about you?”
“······About me.”
“Yeah. What he said about you was—”
Rubbing her chin, she recalled what Deculein had just said. Pretending not to be interested, Sylvia focused her attention on Epherene’s lips.
Epherene whispered.
“Deculein said you’re the only one who understands him.”
“······!”
In that instant, Sylvia made a sound as though her breath had stopped.
And then she said nothing.
“I don’t know why you did that weird rebellion today, but doesn’t that mean he trusts you that much?”
Sylvia said nothing. She was frozen like a statue.
“······Hello?”
Epherene poked Sylvia. Sylvia’s lips trembled, but she did not say anything.
Watching her reaction, Epherene carefully asked,
“Since I gave you good information, you’re buying me dinner tonight, right?”
“······.”
Sylvia moved only her eyes to look at Epherene. For some reason, Epherene smacked her lips and added,
“Then I’ll also pretend I didn’t hear what just came out of your mouth.”
Sylvia, who had been staring blankly, soon nodded.
The gloomy atmosphere from just moments ago had vanished before anyone knew it.
······.
The imperial capital’s famous restaurant, “The Pig’s Flower.”
Epherene arrived at her regular spot together with Sylvia.
“Now then, Epherene. Here you go!”
The owner set down the grilled Roahawk set.
Sizzle— sizzle—
A deadly sight boiling atop the stone plate.
Epherene was already salivating. Was her mouth watering? Anyway.
“You brought a friend today.”
“She’s not my friend.”
Sylvia corrected him with a narrow glare. The owner shrugged and asked again.
“Is that so? Then what might your relationship be?”
“······.”
Sylvia thought for a moment, then pointed at Epherene.
“She’s my slave.”
Epherene jumped in shock.
“What ridiculous nonsense are you saying? Slavery was abolished three hundred years ago.”
“Hahaha. What a cheerful noble you are. Please enjoy your meal. You too, Epherene.”
The owner left with a hearty laugh. Epherene immediately put on her gloves and grabbed the bone portion of the Roahawk.
“You grab the bone like this and tear into it. It’s incredibly delicious, you know? You should try it too.”
Sylvia looked at Epherene as if she found her absurd. Displeased by that shabby lack of decorum, she looked for a knife and fork.
“······.”
But perhaps because Epherene was eating like a caveman, there were no utensils at all. Left with no choice, she made them herself with magic.
Nom nom nom nom—
Epherene, who had been happily tearing into the meat, suddenly looked at Sylvia. Sylvia was only cutting off the meat with her knife and eating that.
Epherene smiled brightly.
“How is it? Delicious, right?”
Sylvia answered dryly.
“I don’t have a sense of taste.”
“······.”
Epherene’s movements flinched to a stop. Her slowly chewing lips gleamed with meat grease.
“······Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Why? You ate fish just fine back then.”
“I was hungry then. I’m not hungry now.”
Epherene belatedly nodded as she recalled that time. Come to think of it, Sylvia had never once said it was “delicious.”
“······Since birth?”
“No. I lost it while I was living.”
“Ah······ sorry.”
Epherene closed her mouth and focused on the meat. At the same time, she glanced at Sylvia. Sylvia really was picking at the Roahawk.
Even when she’s eating Roahawk, she’s like that. She really must not have any sense of taste······.
“Still, this is really good for nutrition and stamina too. They call it a complete food, right? Once you finish it, you can actually feel your mana filling up.”
“······.”
Sylvia gave no response, and Epherene smiled bitterly.
—Ten minutes later.
“······.”
Epherene stared blankly at Sylvia’s plate. Epherene’s Roahawk had only bones left, but Sylvia’s still had plenty of meat.
“······Tsk.”
As Epherene smacked her lips out of sheer regret, Sylvia spoke.
“You eat it.”
“······Huh? Ah, it’s fine······.”
“Eat it.”
She had been taught that refusing twice was impolite.
“Yeah, okay. Thanks.”
As she ate the meat Sylvia had left behind, Epherene thought.
Our first meeting at the Magic Tower was the worst, and the relationship between our families is the worst too······ but I guess she isn’t only bad.
Look at that.
Just like she promised, she’s even taking care of the bill herself, isn’t she?
* * *
Tick— tock—
At dawn, when she would normally be busy reviewing magic, only the sound of the second hand filled the mansion today.
—The only one who understands me is Sylvia.
Sylvia recalled Epherene’s words in Deculein’s voice.
—The only one who understands me.
It was a shame she had not heard it from him directly.
But even imagining it was enough.
Her heart, which had felt as though it had been stabbed all over with needles, healed in an instant, and her stifled mind now felt light enough to fly away.
—Is Sylvia.
However, even as she smiled soundlessly, filled only with happiness, in the end she grew sad.
He understands me, and that is why he is letting me go.
So that we can meet again in a higher place······.
“Bear-Panda.”
Sylvia took out the Bear-Panda that Deculein had given her as a gift. Then she dressed its back with the handkerchief Deculein had given her.
“This is your cape.”
Thus, it was a caped Bear-Panda. Holding that adorable child in her arms, Sylvia lay down on the bed.
It was a quiet night with moonlight seeping in.
On top of the blanket was Bear-Panda, and by the bedside was Speedy. There was nothing to fear anywhere. It simply felt as if this world itself were protecting her.
—The only one who understands me is Sylvia.
Within that fullness, recalling his voice once more.
Sylvia fell peacefully asleep.
*
“······So something like that happened. That damned Deculein.”
Meanwhile, Giletheon of Iliade received an official notice from the Magic Tower in the lord’s office. It stated that Deculein had imposed ten penalty points on Sylvia.
“Shall we lodge an official protest?”
At the butler’s words, Giletheon shook his head.
“No.”
A full ten penalty points.
Neither Giletheon himself, nor Giletheon’s father, nor his grandfather, nor his great-grandfather—no one of Iliade had ever suffered such humiliation at the Magic Tower.
“It’s fine.”
If it had been twenty years ago, he would have taken it as a declaration of war.
But now, it did not matter.
He did not mind.
“Leave it as it is.”
Giletheon smiled instead.
There was no need to think of it as humiliation.
For the emotions that would pile up layer upon layer from now on would one day become firewood to kindle Iliade’s brilliant blaze.
“If the child did wrong, should she not experience receiving penalty points as well?”
Saying so, Giletheon burned the Magic Tower’s official notice. What had been a document soon became ash and crumbled away.