Chapter 52

How to Survive at the Academy

Korita,코리타29-37 minutes 18.04.2022

How to Survive at the Academy

Chapter 52

Glast Subjugation (1)

Lucy always laid down facing the stars.

Laying down on the rooftop of Trix Hall, looking up at the sky, the twinkling starry night high above her and pressing down like a comfortable blanket...

The heat and cold weren’t particularly important factors for Lucy, as she wore various protective magics over herself. However, being in the sunlight, having a good view of the open sky, and hearing the occasional rattling of the leaves or the flowing of the stream were more important to her than you would think.

On the other hand, being completely blocked in by walls and ceilings wasn't good.

That’s why she didn’t like Ophelis Hall, despite the well-lit, sunny rooms, the expensive beds, and the high-class bedding.

Even though the maids were neck-deep in work because of the half-destroyed Ophelis Hall, the maids still didn’t slack when it came to keeping tabs on Lucy.

Every day, they made sure Lucy wore her freshly cleaned uniform properly and neatly as they gently combed her white hair, which tended to fly all over the place. Even then, her behavior was still no different than that of a stray cat on the street.

‘There is no end when it comes to learning, Lucy. I’m sure that Mr. Silvenia must have also thought the same thing.’

That old man.

The worn-out wizard hat full of creases—originally worn by the magician Glockt before he gave it to her—held the fragrant scent of rosemary. Sniffing the sleeves of her clothes, she could smell the same scent. While Lucy was sleeping, the maid’s continued to do the laundry as they saw fit.

Suddenly, she remembered the day Glockt passed away. A day where the rain poured down heavily.

The memory of the time she sat down in Glockt’s cabin, holding onto his hat as she blew away all those who approached him, felt so far off and distant—like the starry sky. She even attacked those who tried to touch the archmage Glockt’s corpse as they pleased.

Compared to that time, had she become gentler?

Though, compared to back then she hadn’t exactly become any more dependable. Rather, it was more appropriate to say that she had become lazier. Aside from the maids, there was no one left to discipline Lucy.

If you were to ask if her life had gotten boring, she wouldn’t think so.

Even on the rather confined Acken Island, there was a surprising number of beautifully scenic views, delicious food to eat, and many crazy events.

Most of the time, Lucy—who was distant because of the hardships she had experienced in her life—found none of it interesting. Either way, it didn’t seem as if her life was particularly boring.

‘You may have been born with the natural gift of talent and the blessing of the stars, but that's no excuse to stop learning, Lucy. Even if everyone in the land of learning is beneath your talent, there must definitely still be something there for you to learn. That’s why you must always be learning. Be humble and use your power for the sake of everyone.’

‘And... Be careful of the loneliness that will one day slowly creep up on you. With the strength to defeat everyone else, it is bound to be accompanied by a bitter loneliness... Lucy, I am sorry that I am leaving you first.’

The form that loneliness takes differs from one person to another. The cold blade of loneliness would eventually find everyone, in some way or another.

But Lucy was still too young to understand that fact. Even now, that fact still hadn’t touched her heart.

That tingling feeling inside of her was closer to longing than loneliness.

He was like an old man that would nag her all day long. Whenever she was asleep out on the outskirts of the magic forest, he would lift her up and throw her aside, always getting angry while scolding her. Though, now that he was gone there was a strange feeling of emptiness left in his place.

They would probably never see each other again.

There was a time where a part of her heart suffered from that fact, but as time passed the pain of that wound slowly began to fade away.

Now, the satisfaction of just having a bag of jerky in her arms was enough to hold off that feeling of longing.

‘That’s very much like you—’

It was funny, thinking of what Glockt’s’ expression might be if he saw what she was up to now.

Though what was lost, was lost. She has had enough experience to know that trying to get it back would just be a waste of energy.

All she had to do now was stare up at the starry sky and be lucky enough to enjoy her time.

There wasn’t much else to do, either. The lessons in class were too easy. She could memorize the contents of a book just by quickly skimming through it. Practical class also required no more than a flick of her finger. The Glockt Scholarship Foundation was fully taking care of her tuition. And the professors didn’t particularly bother her.

One day, she remembered his wrinkly old hands that used to pat Lucy on top of her head.

At some point in time, the feeling of missing Glockt had become as natural as the first time she had felt comfortable with him.

For Lucy, the feeling of leaning on someone and beginning to miss them had come so naturally.

Even though it was annoying and frustrating, she was someone who would one day feel suddenly empty, realizing that there was no one around her.

After realizing what longing truly was, she didn’t want to make any more relationships of that type.

It was a feeling that the young genius magician never wanted to experience again. Thus, she had become detached from the world, and by the time she came back to her senses she had already become extremely lazy. In a way, she was living quite a ridiculous life.

She knew well that, when the day came that her fate caught up to her, she would still have to get up even if it was annoying.

However, it wasn’t yet that time.

Lucy swung her feet off the dangerous handrails on the roof of Trix Hall. Just in case her hat flew away, she held it down with one hand, biting a piece of her jerky and looking up at the autumn night sky... It was quite vast and pleasant.

For the time being, it seemed as if the autumn skies would stay sunny and clear. At least it wouldn’t be pouring down rain.

Feeling good about that fact, Lucy started to hum—unusual for her.

* * *

Act 2’s final chapter was starting.

As for the other events that took place, I didn’t have a choice but to hear about them from Ziggs, Yennekar, and Lortel.

I didn’t want to get unnecessarily close to everything, but I didn’t have that type of freedom. Also, there wasn’t really a good excuse or reason for me to get involved with what was going on between the main characters in the first year.

As long as I could confirm the fact that the story was progressing smoothly towards the end, without any major issues, there wasn’t a problem.

However, the situation had changed a bit as it neared the final chapter. That was because a reason for me to get involved had appeared.

If there was a magically engineered item production formula that was going to be wasted anyway, I definitely wanted to get my hands on it. That was because there was no better option when it came to creating a solid foundation for my growth. If I got lucky, maybe I’d become stronger at an explosive rate.

[Good work, young master Ed! Now there’s no longer any issues regarding the camp’s food reserve level!]

“It’s still a bit lacking if it’s going to last me through the winter.”

It didn’t take long to collect food, stocking up the camp’s food reserve for now. In the first place, I was already somewhat used to hunting, and after raising my specs it had become a lot easier than I thought to catch wild animals.

[But you can’t overwork yourself! If you want to get six hours of sleep on schedule, you should slowly finish up your studies for the day. Also, you didn’t eat enough meat or vegetables today, young master Ed! You need to make sure to make up for it at dinner! Also, you haven’t been drinking enough water!]

“Yeah, yeah.”

Mugg began to report on each aspect of my daily life, one by one. By that point, it felt like I had a personal secretary instead of a spirit that would enter the battlefield at my side.

[If you end up fainting again, I will really die! Please make sure to live a long, healthy life for me! I really want to maintain our contract relationship for a very long time, young master Ed!]

After fainting that one time, Takan seemed to have scolded Mugg heavily on what he was doing, since he was always next to my side. However, it was the same regardless of where you went—the ones at the bottom were always left to take blame.

I’m really sorry about that, Mugg!

***

“After all, people that are too nice aren’t all that great. Right, Ed?”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“Today, my friends fought amongst themselves, and I couldn’t say a thing to them.”

After finishing up my daily schedule at school, I returned to camp with Yennekar.

It started to become normal for Yennekar to return to the camp with me instead of going to Dex Hall. It was at the point where it didn’t feel strange in the slightest. I started to wonder if she was even really sleeping back at Dex Hall.

Thinking over how Yennekar must have felt uncomfortable at Dex Hall, it was something that I could understand. After all, I was the one who told her that she could come visit my camp whenever she wanted in the first place.

Yennekar came back to my camp, automatically taking out her own mug and making some herbal tea on the table with mine.

At first, it was uncomfortable to see her using the spirits to help maintain my camp sometimes or seeing her roll up her uniform sleeves to do my laundry. That was because, from my point of view, I had nothing to repay her with.

She even took the time to teach me about spirit-type magic. When I asked her how I could repay her, since I didn’t have anything, she had quickly waved her arms and said that it was okay. I even started to have bad thoughts, wondering if that was how a pimp felt.

... Alright. Let’s stop thinking such bad thoughts.

“Clara and Anise had a fight today. You know them, right? The two friends that I am always hanging out with.”

“Yeah, I know them.”

“It wasn’t a big deal. We were all just chatting while walking to monster ecology from elemental studies, when they suddenly started bickering over something minor, which then turned into a fight. But... Since I was in between them, they ended up feeling sorry for me.”

“That must have been confusing for you.”

“That’s true, but... I started to feel weird when I thought about how considerate they were of me before they started fighting.”

Yennekar grabbed her mug as she looked down at the campfire sadly.

“Come to think of it, it’s always been like that. Everyone is always so nice, kind, and considerate towards me... Even though they don’t have to do it. It’s like some obsession that they all have.”

I wouldn’t deny the fact that Yennekar was well known for being a fairy in this world. But it was interesting seeing that others' consideration towards her was only making her tired.

No, that wasn’t it. Thinking of it as a Yennekar-type of reaction, it all started to look natural and make sense.

The school had complete trust in Professor’s Glast’s screening process. That meant that he had some level of freedom guaranteed to him when it came to picking students for his class.

In return for that trust, Professor Glast’s eyes were always able to accurately distinguish those with talent.

Always playing musical instruments or singing, Adele always had a relaxed smile, making her famous amongst the students as a wandering minstrel or romanticist. Her strange talent, which let her use magic to play an instrument, was quite interesting even to Lortel.

Ayla was less impressive when it came to her amount of magic power and her weak sense of resonance. However, her knowledge and academic ability were comparable to even the professors. In addition, Lortel had overheard before that she seemed to show an abnormal resonance to a unique magic power, instead of just regular magic power. Though, since it was outside of Lortel’s interest, she didn’t know many details.

“But wouldn’t there be complaints brought up amongst the other students who want to join Class A?”

“That is something that I will need to take care of.”

There were lots of students that were full of complaints against Professor Glast’s class.

“Hm... I’m sorry to say this, but... There were also a few other students whose magic power and resonance level didn’t seem all that bad... So, if those students end up complaining...”

“I don’t want to waste any of my time on those with uncertain talents.”

Professor Glast responded sharply to Ziggs’ comment. However, Ziggs continued to speak with a displeased expression on his face.

“I’m saying this as carefully as possible to avoid being rude, but...”

“There’s no need to be careful with your words. Tell me exactly what you are feeling as it is. It won’t hurt me in the slightest.”

Even though Ziggs’ stuttered over his words a bit, he got his message across clearly.

“You mentioned those with uncertain talents, but there are also people who are trying their hardest in a desire to be recognized. You don’t know what ways they may or may not be able to improve, but I’m sure their skills won’t be low. That’s why, when it seems like you are ignoring them because of their lackluster skills, it makes me feel a bit uncomfortable. It seems like you are unfairly demeaning their efforts.”

As Ziggs continued to speak, he briefly looked up at Professor Glast’s expression.

Sitting down a few seats next to him, Lortel let out a sigh. Staring at Ziggs, she looked like she really couldn’t understand him at all.

Ziggs seemed to think the act of directly questioning Professor Glass' policy was disrespectful. He still really hadn’t figured out just what type of person Professor Glast was.

Even though it was a situation where it wouldn’t be all that strange to get mad, Professor Glast continued to calmly respond in a rather subdued tone.

“Did you think that by demeaning and despising their efforts, I was looking down and ruining those kids lives, Ziggs Eiffelstein?”

“......”

Silence suggested that it was true.

“I apologize for that. I don’t particularly think that way. Rather, the surest way to ruin their life would be to hastily instill a sense of confidence in their uncertain talent by pushing them forward.”

Lortel stopped listening to what he was saying.

To someone like Lortel, who had gathered information regarding the personal histories of the academic staff, Professor Glast’s remarks held a different meaning.

Professor Glast’s only daughter Myuri was a former student of the magic department at Silvenia and died after hastily participating in a monster subjugation.

Just like a beetle is a beauty in the eyes of its mother, Professor Glast had expectations of Myuri as she seemed to have a talent for magic.

And because of that sense of overconfidence in that uncertain talent of hers, there was no need to explain the details of what had happened when she jumped into participating in the monster subjugation.

His excessive obsession with proven talents and respect towards the man that brought forth the age of progress.

The reason that he was more passionate than anyone else for the birth of someone extraordinary, someone who could make the majority of those without talent follow behind them, was probably... To ultimately eliminate such unnecessary sacrifice.

To some it might seem like a noble action, while to others it might be seen as extremely pitiful. Lortel didn’t want to give any sympathy to him because, in this sense, it was purely self-righteousness.

“I understand.”

Ziggs quietly lowered his eyes as he nodded. Digging any deeper than that would just be considered nosy.

“And Lortel Kehelland... Hmm... There’s something I need to discuss with you that isn’t related to this class. I will call on you later.”

It must be because there was something he needed to discuss regarding the Sage’s Seal Resonance Transferal.

Lortel was the person who had bought the Sage’s Seal, and Professor Glast was the one who was left responsible for the Seal’s Resonance Transferal by the school.

It was a matter that took place aside from their relationship as a teacher and student, so it wasn’t something he could currently discuss at the podium.

* * *

[Magic Skills Details]

Grade: Proficient Magician

Specialized Field: Elements

Common Magic:

܀ Fast Casting Lvl 8

܀ Mana Sense Lvl 8

Fire Element Magic:

܀ Ignite Lvl 14

Wind Element Magic:

܀ Wind Blade Lvl 13

<Intermediate Magic can now be learned!>

Spirit-type Magic:

Spirit Resonance Lvl 12

Spirit Understanding Lvl 12

Spirit Manifestation Lvl 1

Sense Sharing Lvl 1

<Spirit Slot: Low-Ranking Fire Spirit Mugg>

Resonance Level: 2

Spiritual Efficiency: Good

Unique Skills:

܀ Blessing of Fire Fortune (Temporary Immunity to Fire)

܀ Explosion (Low-level Explosion)

܀ Increased Ability of Fire-Type Magic

<New Spirit Slot: Empty>

It was about time to start learning Intermediate Magic.

For students in the magic department, whether or not you could acquire mid-level magic was extremely important.

The level of mid-level magic, also known as intermediate magic, was the boundary between an expert magician and a rudimentary one.

Unless you were originally born with a talent for magic, you would usually start dealing with intermediate magic during the second year’s curriculum or at the start of your third year. Even if you were only able to use two or three mid-level spells, it would be enough for you to be treated as a professional magician.

In other words, a magician’s ability was judged by how diverse and powerful their mid-level magic was. Only about 10% of Silvenia graduates were able to reach that level or beyond.

Even with the same mid-level magic, the power it had was certainly different depending on the individual level or proficiency. For example, even though Lortel’s Ice Spear was mid-level magic, it certainly exceeded the power of the other mid-level magic used by the second years.

As for high-level magic, unless you were at a level higher than the faculty, you would only be able to use it partially. Even among the graduating fourth years, only students that were considered elite held a command over it.

And if you were looking at the highest level of magic... In the first place, within Silvenia—even counting the professors—there were only one or two people who would be able to command it... Except for unusual cases, like Lucy.

Anyway, my specs had risen to the extent that there shouldn’t have been any problems with using mid-level magic. Considering where I started, I’d grown so much that I had forgotten how weak I used to be.

By the next elemental studies class, I would be able to partially fulfill my role as a real magician.

Feeling satisfied by my progress, I closed my book where I was sitting in the corner of the classroom. Today’s elemental studies class went rather deep, and there were many things for me to learn.

“Ed, you have been called upon. After your next lecture ends, please go down to Professor Glast’s laboratory, which is underneath the school’s conference rooms in the teacher district.”

It was when I was gathering my books about to leave the classroom that I heard the voice.

It was the elemental studies teaching assistant, who I was already quite familiar with.

“Hm? Are you saying I’ve been summoned?”

Come to think of it, I didn’t respond to Professor Glast’s summons last time. It was because I ended up collapsing after overworking myself.

I had forgotten about it, but because he called on me again, it seemed like it was important business.

As far as I knew, Professor Glast shouldn’t have been able to meet with anyone at the moment. The Seal’s Resonance Transferal was in a few days, so he should be neck-deep in work. Of course, I was also busy.

I still had to finish the work back at camp, prepare for final exams, and there were a few things I needed to check on regarding the storyline, so I didn’t have much time to spare.

I wanted to take care of my business slowly, as I didn’t want to end up pushing my body too far. Though, I wondered if I was going to start getting busy again soon.

“Hm.... Alright. Tell him I got his message.”

That was what I told the teaching assistant as I finished gathering my books.