“…Wow.”
Lia was looking around Deculein’s study with admiration.
“It’s just as I heard.”
Indeed, everything was high-end. Bookshelves, chairs, tables, curtains, and everything else. It was also clean with not a speck of dust. The books, the tiles on the floor, the window sills, and even the tops of the bookshelves seemed cleaner than any room she’d seen before in her life.
“Huh? What the, did he clean it up already?”
Yeriel, who was rummaging through Deculein’s desk drawers, scratched the back of her neck and murmured. Lia inched closer.
“Anyway, all you need to know is that you are very similar… since you will see him often in the future.”
Yeriel said so and organized the drawers just as they were before they came. Deculein seemed to remember all those things.
“Here. Take this.”
After that, Yeriel handed her a piece of paper.
“This is a list of things to watch out for. You don’t have to since you’re a guest, but there are a lot of etiquettes that you have to follow.”
Lia’s mouth opened wide as she read. In the hallway, walk a little to the right from the center. When eating, be sure to observe the following etiquette. Be careful not to use vulgar words in what you say, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah…
“I heard you stayed a few weeks in the Imperial Palace. Then it will be fine.”
“Um… yes.”
Lia nodded. Yeriel added with a smirk:
“Only follow what is written there, but if possible, do not stand out to him in your daily life. He is such a pathological person.”
“Pathological?”
A cold voice sounded behind them. Yeriel and Lia were startled and looked back to the study entrance.
“…You’re awake already. Are four nights enough? Are you okay?”
It was Deculein. His complexion looked pale, but he was dressed in neat casual clothes. Wearing a shirt and black knitwear, it looked less heavy than a suit.
He glanced at her and spoke bluntly.
“You came.”
“Yes. I came.”
“Yeriel.”
And to Yeriel, he beckoned her out the door.
“Okay. Hey, if you have anything to ask, come to the fifth floor. That’s my room. I’ll be staying here for a month, so anytime.”
“Go.”
“All right.”
Slam-
The door closed as Yeriel left.
“…Gulp.”
Lia, now alone with Deculein, felt her mouth go dry. He first held out a piece of paper to her.
“Take it.”
“What is this?”
“It is the circuit structure of your body.”
“…?”
Lia flinched as her eyes passed over the paper. It was the anatomy of her body.
“This-“
“I can comprehend just by looking. What circuits run through your magic and how it works.”
“…”
Goosebumps prickled up her arms. He saw her entire body, torn apart like it was ready for an autopsy.
“First, see it with your own eyes.”
Snap-
Mana spread across the sheet of paper, starting at the abdominal power source and spreading out.
“Wow?!”
“It is the flow of mana that you see when you express your talent. Even you can see that it acts on its own. There are no rules; it is chaotic.”
Arbitrary. As he said, the mana of the power source shown was wandering around the body.
“The circuit of your body is like a land without roads. The mana within your body moves without system, in disorder.”
“Ah… yes. I can see that.”
“Most adventurers are like this. A lot of mana is wasted.”
It was a fact she didn’t know. She learned everything by experience.
“On the contrary.”
He snapped again, and mana spread once more across the diagram. This time it was different from before. The mana moved neatly as if running on a well-ordered road to its destination without wasting a single drop.
“This is the optimal road for your body that I designed. As a simple numerical value, mana consumption will be reduced by 57%, and power will be increased by 33%. In terms of efficiency, it is more than three times.”
“Wow… but wait a minute. You designed it?”
“Yes. I considered your height, weight, and your mana capacity. It’s the perfect optimization.”
Lia frowned.
“H-How did you know my height and weight?”
“I know just by looking at you. But is that important now? It’s pathetic.”
Deculein scolded her and sat down.
“…Indeed. It doesn’t matter. How can I pave the road?”
“Simple. I will pour my mana into you.”
“…?”
At that strange remark, Lia tilted her head blankly. He would do what, with his mana?
“It means that I will build the roads. With my mana in your body.”
“…Eh?”
“I’ll guide your mana with my mana to pave the way for efficiency. If I repeat it hundreds of times, the path will open. It’s pretty intense accelerated training, but it’s the best way to get your body used to it before your brain. Or, are you planning to stay here for two or three years and learn using the slow method?”
Lia shook her head. The main quest could end in six months, so she ran out of time.
“But pain is natural, from artificially altering the path of the circuit and increasing the width.”
“Yes. I understand.”
Deculein nodded.
“Then get prepared and come back.”
“Yes? I’m already prepared.”
“…”
“Let’s start right away!”
Lia smiled widely. There was no need for preparation. She had grown used to pain anyway while working as an adventurer.
“…Fine.”
Deculein raised his index finger with a sneer. At the end of it, a little bit of mana rose and shot forward, flowing through Lia’s nose.
“Be prepared.”
“Yes. I’m already- kyaaaaah!”
The next moment, Lia vomited blood.
“…Uhhhhhhh.”
When she came to her senses, she was collapsed on the floor. Her vision was blurry, and her limbs convulsed uncontrollably.
“Uuugh…”
It was hard to even breathe. This was the worst. This crazy professor, Deculein. What was this villain going to do? This had been a trick… as expected from the villain, Deculame.
“Ahhh- ahhh- ahhh-.”
Lia, losing some rationality, opened and closed her mouth like a dying goldfish.
“Hmm.”
Then, his response came. Criticizing.
“Is this everything you have?”
Lia looked at him, desperately raising her eyes. She saw Deculein’s indifference, plain in his eyes. She clenched her fists against the ground, forcing out a sound in response.
Deculein nodded.
“Then.”
A more violent and fierce wave washed over her.
“!”
It felt like her organs were melting.
“Ugh…”
At one moment, it was cold, and in the next, it was hot, all while a strange pain consumed her. She couldn’t even breathe, and her vision turned dark before she lost her mind.
“…Tsk. Is there too much talent in a body that’s too insignificant?”
His voice still reached her.
“…It might be better to throw her away. It’s a waste.”
Hearing that, Lia clenched her fists and burned her will to win. She forced her closed eyes to open.
And she shouted.
“Nhot iyet!”
She meant not yet. She wanted to say that, but her tongue twisted a bit.
* * *
1:00 pm.
The training was concluded in two hours, and I put on my suit for going out after finishing up.
“Where… are… you… going?”
“The tower.”
“What… about… the… next… training?”
I looked down at Lia. She was on the floor; her body was covered in blood. It was bloody. Blood was dripping from her mouth, oozing from her nose. Even her eyes were so red that I didn’t know if she had started crying tears of blood. The only reason I didn’t get rid of her right away was that she had a face that resembled Yuli’s.
“Start healing first.”
There would be no aftereffects since I had already prepared a medicine for her.
“Whataboutthenexttraining… next…”
Ignoring her murmurs, I went down to the parking lot and climbed into the car that was waiting. Secretary Ren skillfully drove as I pondered over the official document of the first Personnel Committee I held.
The target was Epherene. The location was on the 90th floor of the tower. If the verdict didn’t go well there, it would move up to the Floating Island next. That way, things would grow even more troublesome.
“We’re here. I will be waiting.”
We had reached the tower.
“You can go first.”
“Yes.”
After sending Ren away, I took the elevator up the tower.
[90th floor]
I reached the 90th floor. An assistant professor couldn’t even come this high normally.
The structure here was overbearing and authoritarian. The subject of the personnel committee looked up at the judges from a low place separated by a magic glass window, and the judges, on the other hand, looked down at the subject from a balcony.
“You came!”
“Everyone was waiting!”
As I entered, Relin and the faculty greeted me. I nodded to say hello and sat down.
“Professor Deculein! You are here!”
Adrienne, the head of the board, shouted with a bright look.
“Assistant Professor Epherene is coming soon!”
I looked through the window glass. In the dark, there was a single small and shabby chair. Epherene would sit there alone.
“Yes.”
I nodded, and Adrienne grinned.
─Assistant Professor Epherene is now entering.
* * *
…Sitting in the shabby chair of the personnel committee, Epherene was thinking now about what she did wrong.
The crime of submitting a thesis to academia? The crime of embracing the blasphemous idea of linking magic and science? Was that such a huge mistake to make?
—The connection between magic and science. I wonder if Assistant Professor Epherene thought that this thesis was verifiable.
It was Relin’s voice. Maybe it was because everything said at the Personnel Committee was recorded, but he spoke formally.
“Yes. I think so.”
Epherene also responded politely.
“I thought it was possible. And I thought this would be the foundation for the development of magic.”
─…Professor Epherene. There is such a thing as prestige in magic. There is also such a thing as prestige in the tower.
That was Ciare, the professor who pretended to be meek every day but looked down and discriminated against commoner magicians.
—You submitted a thesis to academia that simultaneously overruled and ignored the prestige of magic and the prestige of the tower, and you are still continuing your research. This time, you are reading an irrational book called the Theory of Relativity.
Epherene clenched her teeth and met their looks with determination.
─You don’t think that’s wrong?
“Yes.”
She answered immediately. Silence fell for a moment.
“I don’t think it’s wrong. I didn’t mean to damage anyone’s prestige in the first place.”
Epherene said. No matter how much she thought about it, she didn’t do anything wrong. If this was a matter of right and wrong, there was nothing wrong with it.
“The connection between magic and science. Are my thinking and my thesis that wrong?”
—After all, you’re the daughter of a random nobleman who knows nothing as expected from someone who didn’t even go through the academy.
It was Relin again. This time, he was going after her family.
─If you were a commoner, you’d have a little bit of room for generosity because you would be saying that, not knowing. However, that’s not the case even for a random noble.
Epherene clenched her fists.
─After submitting a blasphemous thesis that attempts to undermine the prestige of magic, that undermines the face of the tower-
“What is prestige?”
She interrupted Relin.
“Is prestige something great enough to block progress? Connecting magic with science will make it even stronger than it is today. And I don’t mean that science takes precedence over magic! If we harmonize the two together-“
─Stop talking nonsense like that! A nameless family like you-
“Why doesn’t it make sense?! What are identities or family names? What is the importance of blood to a wizard?!”
Thud-!
Epherene stood violently, knocking her chair down.
“I can prove it! I’ll just have to prove it, right?!”
Magic’s connection with science. Epherene was confident she could prove it. This was because she had an abundance of the resource called ‘time.’
“I! I’ll become a magician greater than blood-“
—Epherene.
Then, a calm voice cut off her passionate speech. Deculein.
Epherene swallowed her breath and looked up.
─Bloodlines are important. Even you are born with a bloodline. If you were the daughter of a real commoner, would you have the talent you have today?
As she was about to answer that, she suddenly closed her mouth. Her father was also a wizard.
—Your father had a genius talent for theory. There are many great wizards in the history of the Luna family.
“…”
—My Yukline bloodline has its uniqueness that will go down in history. Same with the Iliade, Freyden, and the McQueen. The Magic Tower only evaluates skill, but skill is undeniably inherited by a fairly large part from one’s bloodline.
Deculein’s words systematically rained down. It was different from Relin, who was just pouring out his anger.
—If that is the case, you crossed the line. Do you mean to cause treason by disobeying the system?
“…”
─You’re pathetic.
Epherene couldn’t see his face. However, she didn’t feel betrayed. She already knew this Deculein.
─Stop talking about this. As the head professor, I, Deculein, have decided on the course of expulsion as the disciplinary level this time-
Expulsion. The moment such a heavy word was about to crush Epherene’s heart-
—Wait! I refuse!
Suddenly, Adrienne shouted. That moment was salvation for Epherene.
─There has never been a case in which a wizard was fired just because they submitted a thesis incorrectly! Even more so if it’s an assistant professor! Why, the lower the authority, the less responsibility!
The roaring fairy voice continued cheerfully.
─The Magic Tower has magical freedom! So, I would like to conclude with a two-year suspension for Assistant Professor Epherene and a review of the suspension every quarter! Also, if you want to nag, you should consider her supervisor’s negligence!
Supervisor’s negligence. In other words, Deculein’s fault. Adrienne boldly fired back.
