Chapter 21: Please Teach Magic (1)
Arabella hadn’t told about it, but it looked like being a ‘disciple’ held a deep aning for mages.
“Mages yield to their successors via an act called ‘inheritance’. After the ti of Carnaxus, a so-called ‘universal magic education’ was established. However, in modern tis, mages with particularly outstanding talent are still taught by famous mages so that when the mage dies, they receive that mage’s magic…”
I closed the book with a thump.
That must be it.
What Cidrane was looking for was not simply a disciple but a ‘successor’. Given that an 8-chain mage was only now ntioning sothing about a successor, his standards were clearly high.
That also implied that my talent was that outstanding.
Vwoosh.
As soon as I opened my hand, a fireball ford from the magic I had rearranged. Using chain-level magic without a circle was an impressive feat, for sure.
“Now that I think about it, I do feel sothing swirling around in my body.”
That was why I took out the crystal ball that Arabella had given , ant for whenever I wanted to see and contact her, and imbued magic into it.
A mont later, I could hear Arabella’s voice.
⸢Oh! Dane?⸣
It was good to hear her.
“Hey, sis. Sorry for calling on you so suddenly.”
⸢No, it’s fine. I just finished so research with so professors and was on my way back! What’s up, Dane? You wanted to see ?⸣
“Yeah. I did.”
⸢Tch. That didn’t sound like you ant it.⸣
“No, I really did.”
⸢As expected of you, Dane. You’re different. Clare, that hermit, can’t be found anywhere these days……⸣
It wasn’t surprising that what I thought the relationship between my sisters was like was incorrect,
⸢So, Dane. What’s up?⸣
I summarized what happened that day to Arabella. However, her astonished voice rang out.
⸢What did you say? You used chain-level magic, Dane?⸣
Turned out that Arabella was more focused on using magic and not on the fact that the head of the mage tower was asking to be his disciple.
“Yeah. I just tried it and it worked.”
⸢You just tried it and it worked……⸣
I could hear her let out a scoff.
⸢If our professors heard you, there’d be a racket. Hm…… While I knew your affinity for magic was high, this goes beyond my expectations……⸣
Upon seeing Arabella react like that when she was never perturbed by anything, I could tell what I had done was really amazing.
“A circle is in charge of purification and refinent. With that in mind, isn’t it possible for because my mana is already pure enough to not need refinent?”
⸢That’s a plausible hypothesis. We need to test this out. Dane, I’m going to send a mana stone to the transmission machine in your room later for sampling. Could you pour a bit of your mana into it and send it back?⸣
“Yeah, got it.”
As expected of Arabella. She thought of sothing and took action quickly.
While it was indeed true that my magic was outstanding, I had no confidence that I would be able to catch up to Arabella when it ca to the theory behind magic.
For reference, Arabella was currently twenty-six years old and already a 6-chain mage who had developed a number of practical artifacts.
That was why the brand nad after Arabella was selling like hotcakes among the nobles—and, of course, the mages—and was fairly famous.
From what I heard, there were items Arabella made that one could not buy even if one were to pay a premium price for them…
One of those items was my compact crystal ball, which greatly improved the sound quality and connection speed and had been reduced in size to be portable.
Another was the transmission machine she had just ntioned.
It looked like Arabella had chosen to take the path of artifact and magic item developnt as her career path.
Well, having her be both a mage and an inventor was a good thing.
⸢By the way, if you’re already using chain-level magic… you’ll probably cause quite the commotion soon when you arrive at the academy, no?⸣
“But I want to go and pass my ti quietly there.”
⸢There’s no way that’s happening. Talent always draws the attention of others. But just in case, if anyone tries to bully you, tell ! I’ll utterly destroy them!⸣
While that sounded rather brutal, it was reassuring.
After all, the one who broke the nose of a male student who had tried to lay hands on her while teasing her was that very sister of mine.
I think that male student was the second son of Duke Dwel, was it?
Arabella continued talking as if she were very interested.
⸢By the way, as ti passes, is your magic becoming even purer, Dane? Without a circle, even? I need to keep an eye on this. Ah. Dane, I’m getting a summons from the professor. Eesh. If I had known this would happen I wouldn’t have given the professor a crystal ball for free, I’d have made them pay…⸣
It looked like all of the academy’s professors were making things difficult for people.
Otherwise, Arabella would not have said that.
Or maybe her personality was just… Mm. That would be sothing I should never let escape from my lips.
⸢I have to go!⸣
“Sure, Sis. I’ll contact you again later.”
⸢Okay! Make sure you send back the mana stone!⸣
After the crystal ball fell quiet again, I put it back.
Then I drew a conclusion.
I had sohow forged a path that had never existed before.
No, rather than ‘sohow’, I had clearly done so.
I drew upon my mana.
I had never thought about it before because it felt so familiar to , but to think my mana was dense and pure. I had not realized it.
“Do I have a dragon’s heart inside of or sothing?”
While there may be evidence that the ancient magic kingdom of Archana existed, there was almost no evidence that dragons had, so they had beco fairy tales.
I grinned at that ridiculous thought and thought of Cidrane.
That old geezer must have been suffering a fair amount right about then.
Magic reflux was a dangerous phenonon to mages that could lead to death.
After using magic under such circumstances, he had to have been paying the price dearly, head of a mage tower or not.
Though, that ant he would be staying for that much longer.
Well, if I said I wouldn’t be one, that should be it, but…
“Wait a mont.”
I still didn’t really know the arrangent of code for 2-chain level magic because I hadn’t been able to spend a lot of ti with Arabella like I had before she headed off to the academy.
I had been able to contact her through letters and the crystal ball, but teaching code arrangent required a fair amount of ti to be dedicated to it.
So, trying to pin Arabella down to spend all day with to teach codes when she only returned ho once or twice a year wasn’t possible.
That naturally made think of the ‘debt’ Cidrane had incurred with when I saved him from the forest and cured him of poison.
“Shall I go try and ask him to teach magic codes?”
I was not one to let debts go unpaid. I was the type who would take on anything on the battlefield—short of dying.
Cidrane was moaning in pain.
It looked like producing even a trace amount of magic had caused him problems.
“I’m dying here. Dying.”
Originally, he thought he would be staying for a week and then leaving. However, now it would take twice as long.
If only that kid was willing to beco his disciple then none of this would have happened.
“What in the world must I present to him?”
Should he give him so grand artifact? Or the inheritance magic passed down to him from previous generations that only he knew?
‘No, that’s too much.’
If the kid were to scam him, he wouldn’t have anything left.
Seeing Dane’s talent now, were he to develop it further, the likelihood that the student would beco the master was high.
“Then maybe… a letter of recomndation?”
Given that Dane said he was entering the academy, that didn’t seem like a bad idea. If he were to receive a letter of recomndation from a powerful figure, it would be reflected in his academy entrance marks.
But what was the point of a letter of recomndation when he was refusing to beco a disciple of soone like the head of a mage tower?
He was the youngest son of the war hero, Count Sogres, on top of that.
His oldest sister was that unprecedented genius mage, and his other sister looked to be pretty famous among the summoners even if Cidrane wasn’t sure about it himself.
‘Maybe I should be studying this family’s genes instead?’
It was in the middle of various thoughts that Cidrane was wracking his brain for when he heard a knocking sound.
“It’s , Dane Sogres.”
“……!”
Cidrane swallowed drily.
Did he co to apologize, perhaps?
Or did he change his mind?
“May I enter?”
“S-Sure. Co in.”
The door opened and Dane appeared.
He was still as irritatingly handso as ever.
“How are you feeling?”
“Um. I feel like I’m dying. Ugh, since I’m older now, I have aches all over. Thanks to overdoing it with magic earlier… ughhh.”
He was acting like he was an elderly person who had been working all day rather than the head of a mage tower.
However, his attempt at provoking sympathy failed.
“I keep telling you that I won’t do it.”
“…I get it, I get it.”
Cidrane tossed the question out anyway since he had nothing to lose, “Do you have no interest in magic?”
“I am interested.”
“Then why won’t you beco my disciple?! Wait, don’t tell you’re already soone else’s…”
“I’m not.”
“…Then why not??”
Dane responded simply, “I don’t want to restrict my future to just the path of a mage.”
Then what was he saying he would be doing?
“Are you really going to beco a magic spearman?”
“No. I’ll beco a magic-spearman-assassin-summoner.”
Cidrane’s hands were shaking.
He was clearly toying with him.
Otherwise, how could he say such unheard-of things?
Dane added insult to injury on top of that.
“I’ll add swordsman to that as well.”
“I’ll be damned.”
One had to doubt the brains of so of the people who learned magic.
This seed to be exactly such a case.
It seed like a likely guess given that Cidrane was unaware of how Dane, in his previous life, had fought on the battlefield so much that he was tired of fighting people.
“Even if you have no other chance at this if not now?”
“Yes.”
“Ughhh…”
Cidrane let out a sound as if he were in real pain.
However, he could not give up and asked, “Do you have any interest in a letter of recomndation?”
“Letter of recomndation?”
That was it. It looked like he was showing so interest.
“That’s right, a letter of recomndation. Didn’t you say you were entering the academy? If you use soone like , you could bypass the annoying entrance exam and build a great reputation from the very beginning.”
Dane thought about it for a mont.
Cidrane’s heart was beating fast.
‘Don’t tell …?’
Soon, Dane’s head could be seen nodding.
“Yes, that does sound good.”
“Th-That’s right! Now you’re starting to get it!”
Cidrane sounded very pleased.
Dane asked, “Could I ask for another favor after that?”
“Of course! Whatever you want! I’ll give you whatever you want! Actually, a letter of recomndation really isn’t all that much! Ahaha!”
“I’m curious about the code arrangent for 2-chain magic. Would that be okay?”
It was not difficult at all.
He may have lost his way in the forest, eaten mushrooms, and suffered in great pain, but he was still an 8-chain mage and the head of a mage tower.
“Ahem. I know the code arrangents for all of the 2-chain spells.”
“That’s great.”
“Hoo hoo. Indeed it is.”
He was a child, after all. A letter of recomndation for entrance into the academy and the code arrangents for 2-chain level magic. He could have given him many other things.
“Did you want to start learning imdiately? I’m not in the best shape right now, but I should have no problem with just that!”
“Yes, that sounds good.”
“Good.”
Cidrane clenched his fists hidden under the blankets as if he had finally achieved sothing when…
“Then we can consider this paynt for the debt for being saved from the forest.”
“What did you say?”
“You asked to tell you what I wanted before because you incurred a debt with .”
“……”
Cidrane recalled what he had said at that very mont and was at a loss for words.
“Oh, was that not what you ant?”
He had been played.
Completely, at that.
By a little kid who is barely fourteen!
It didn’t matter that his body didn’t look like it was a fourteen-year-old’s!
“I-I incurred only one debt!”
“Saving you from the forest was one. Curing your poison was another. I was going to add moving you from where you were to our castle, but you can consider that a freebie.”
At that mont, Cidrane realized that this must be what it felt like to have soone pull a fast one on him.
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