I was attending graduate school for the second ti.
My day started with cleaning the school grounds. The reason being that there couldn’t be a single leaf left on the path that our lovely professor took to and from the school.
Due to the downpour of rain last night, the corridors were an absolute ss. Nature’s precious gifts were strewn out all over the ground. The leaves ford a tight bond with the ground using water as an adhesive and had no intention of being swept into the garbage bin.
Overco by outrage as I was straining to sweep the floors with frail arms, I pretty much threw the broom down.
“I can’t take this anymore.”
Even graduate students who were jokingly called slaves didn’t clean their own schools. That was normally left to cleaning companies.
Oh right, I was a slave on top of being a graduate student. It felt incongruent because I kept comparing it to the standards of where I was from.
Grooowl.
I was hungry. I’d been cleaning since waking up and hadn’t eaten at all. To exaggerate a bit, I might die of starvation.
This wasn’t going to work. My body wasn’t going to hold if I didn’t take a break.
I wiped the wet bench with a linen cloth and sat down. I could hear the joints in my spine going crack as they snapped.
Whether it was because it had rained, even this kind of sound ca off damp. As if moisture had seeped into my bones.
“What have you done to deserve a break?”
Yeah, there were tis like that–like when you’d be studying in your room thinking, ‘How about a quick break?’ and mom opened the the door the mont you picked up your phone. Unfortunately, this seed to be that kind of timing.
Getting up as soon as you sat down only compounded your exhaustion. Yet if I didn’t rise imdiately, I could get hit by a fireball.
I hurriedly got up and stood straight. Then, a woman ca up in front of .
She furrowed her brows and looked around.
A pair of red eyes like an albino’s sat beneath a scrunched forehead.
People with such eye color generally had a fiery temperant. Was it from receiving the blessings of the Fire Elental?
“You are still terrible at cleaning. Shouldn’t you know how to by now after three years?”
For now, I bowed my head.
“I’m sorry.”
“If you understand, then improve yourself.”
This was the best way to deal with Professor Klais Hasfeldt. It was obvious what would happen if one showed even the slightest hint of resistance against the heir of the Hasfeldt Duchy that had led the Empire since its founding.
Staying conscious of the professor, I picked up the broom at my feet. A shitty northwestern wind had blown through the leaves on the branches in the anti and thanks to that, the corridor that I had already swept beca ssy again. A leaf even landed on my head.
“The external corridor is disorderly. This will obstruct the way for the enrolled students walking here.”
“.......”
“What are you doing? Get to it.”
Fuuuuuuuuck!
I really wanted to uproot every single tree within the Academy but if I did that, my head would be plucked, too. There were so that had been donated by nobles or royals, after all.
“Geez.”
“Geez?”
“The weather’s great.”
Clutching my famished stomach, I tap-danced along the 200m long corridor that connected the research wing to the school building.
Professor Hasfeldt sat far off on the bench that I cleaned and watched my shenanigans. At the sight of her crossing her legs, it felt like my brain vessels were twisting up as well.
Still, she’ll let have breakfast since I’ve done this much sweeping, right?
“This is enough. Finish up and follow to the lab.”
“Erm.... What about breakfast?”
“There will be no breakfast today. There is an urgent matter to attend to.”
Shit. You must be fucking with .
**
[◆ Progress]
[Fire Magic : 836/1048]
[Water Magic : 234/992]
[Earth Magic : 351/1005]
[Air Magic : 112/824]
[Unclassified : 0/148]
[TIP: You cannot return to your world before mastering all magic.]
“.......”
“Aether.”
“Yes, Professor.”
“Please get so magic paper from the supply room.”
I collected a few sheets of magic paper and a pouch of mana stones from the shelf and exited the supply room. Hasfeldt had a pipe in her mouth with the window closed.
I opened the window and accepted the stick of mana grass she handed .
After the bout of manual labor from early to late morning, things got a bit easier since I wasn’t going to be able to set a single foot outside this room until dinner ti.
Now was the ti for ntal labor. It should burn less calories than physically moving. It’ll be a pain to not be able to drink water until the afternoon, however.
“We received news that Magic Beasts are flooding the northern battlefront. Hence no more research for now.”
“And that ans......?”
“You’ll be focusing all your efforts on scroll fabrication for the next week.”
To put it simply, she ant producing military supplies. Like during WWII when the task of building the nuclear bomb was divided up and carried out in many college research facilities throughout the Allied countries.
Professor Hasfeldt’s specialty was Fire Magic. She had a particular expertise in the fabrication of Fire Scrolls that took care of the enemy on its own when the magic stored in the paper was activated.
“We need to match the quantity requested by the knights. Three hundred should suffice for today.”
The problem was that the base work required to fabricate the scroll would all be done by .
Wasn’t that too many?
But thinking like that was losing on my part. I had already learned the truth of not expecting a reasonable amount of work in a graduate school in the first place from my original world.
There was a sense of giving in to things too easily, though. Is this that gaslighting thing or whatever it was?
I situated myself in one section and put the mana grass between my lips. A pungent odor pricked my senses as it wafted even before the stick was lit.
I placed the magic paper in the center of the table and placed a mana stone near it. Then lastly, I pulled out a thick hardcover book from the hip sack I was wearing.
< The Research of Relations Between Magic and Physics >- Subtitle : The Magical Guide for Physicists Adventuring Through a Fantasy World (Beginner)“.......”
It was because of this bastard, co to think of it. Basically, this book was why I’d been suffering until now.
An already fading mory. Within that mory, I was reading a paper.
I had been reluctant to read the paper due to its strange title and ridiculous length. But because I had received money from the author to peer review it, I....
Completely shot down that paper. After having read only a few pages.
It was only natural, because it talked about bullshit like magic and scientific explanations of the supernatural starting from the abstract. It took less than thirty minutes to return the poorly-written fantasy novel in the format of a paper.
But the author must have thought that I cheated them out of examination fees and sent a girl to protest.
She was a girl with exotic eyes like lted alluvial gold. The other distinct thing was that she was wearing a thick robe. It certainly wasn’t an outfit to be worn in modern society.
- Who are you?
- You.
- Excuse ?
- I said ‘you’. You’ll know if you take this.
The girl handed a hardcover book. I didn’t want to take it but was forced to when my body moved on its own.
Then when I ca to I had dropped into this world as that girl.
So much for plausibility and verisimilitude1.
Anyway, this eyesore that I had insulted for being pseudoscience in the other world could be used in this world as a factual paper. I had to admit it was useful.
“Prioritize completing Light Arrow. They need to be delivered first.”
“Understood.”
Schliiiff.
[Interdiate Fire Magic - Light Arrow]
Description: [A Fire Magic that shoots out an arrow of light. Has superior penetration but only travels a short distance.]
[▶ Scientific knowledge required for crafting this magic scroll]
[■ Required]
[1st Law of Thermodynamics(Condition t)]
[2nd Law of Thermodynamics(Condition t)]
[Maxwell’s Equations(Condition t)]
[□ Optional]
[Liénard–Wiechert Potential(Condition t)] -- Required for distance-increase circuit
[Basic Theory of Cyclotron(Condition t)] -- Required for rotational output increase
[Bohr-Somrfeld Quantization Rule(Condition t)] -- Required for penetration force increase
“Hmm.”
Below that were the basic instructions and diagram for scroll fabrication. After having spent three years under Professor Hasfeldt, I could eyeball sothing of this level easily.
Scroll fabrication was similar to using an electric circuit. One would lay out the necessary mana stones and wires atop the magic paper that looked like a breadboard then once other magic elents were implented on top of it, it was complete. The type of magic changed depending on the circuit’s composition.
“They requested for maximum penetration force. You’ll be able to do it, won’t you?“
“That won’t be a problem.”
Although Light Arrow was supposed to be a magic with Fire properties, it fundantally dealt with light.
It just needed to have the elent being processed along the light’s trajectory penetrate through the enemy’s shell in a tunnel effect2. With proficient handwork, twenty scrolls were finished in the blink of an eye.
“Siiip.”
I took a drag of mana grass after completing one set. Then using the mana forcefully flowing through my body, I let it spill onto the scroll and check if the closed circuit had any issues.
It was so-called quality control.
Alright. Nothing was wrong, then.
“Ah.”
The mana stones I had brought were all gone. This was the last one, even.
“Professor, I’ve finished all of the mana stones.”
“You may get more from outside.”
“How many should I buy?”
“Why would we waste money buying low-grade stones? You can go find them on the hills out back.”
So.
Basically, she wanted a poor, weak girl who missed breakfast and lunch to beat down so Magic Beasts and collect the materials, yeah?
“There will be no dinner if you delay.”
“I’ll be back.”
“Be sure to return before 5 p.m.”
Bam!
Right. Gotta do as I’m told. I wouldn’t want to be resold to the slave market for failing to perform.
At least Hasfeldt was a woman. What would’ve happened if so sex-obsessed pervert had won at the auction? Considering what could have been, this was comparatively better. Right?
Wasn’t it?
“What’s wrong? You look like you stepped on crap.”
“......?”
When I ca down to the research wing, a woman with a large-brimd hat chuckled as she saw .
Judging from the robe she was wearing, she wasn’t a student but a staff like Hasfeldt.
I imdiately recognized who she was.
“Professor Heerlein.”
“It’s been a while, Aether.”
riga Heerlein. One of two most beautiful mbers of this Tilette Academy along with Professor Hasfeldt.
She approached with a wave.
Being an Earth Mage, it was her trademark to go around with a large golem guardian almost twice her size.
“Are you here to see Professor Hasfeldt?”
“No, she’s no fun, too obsessed with research. I’m here to see you today.”
I tilted my head.
“? Why?”
Professor Heerlein had been interested in since before. But she’d only shown it every once in a while and never randomly showed up in front of the Fire Magic lab like this just to wait for .
“Isn’t it hard working for Klais?”
“It’s fine.”
“Don’t be like that. You can tell honestly.”
“.......”
“You know that I was a commoner before I graduated from here, right? Even if one becos a noble, their essence doesn’t really change. And it’s botherso to keep formalities in front of kids like you. So, go ahead. Think of as an older sis and tell how you truly feel.”
“I’m actually okay.”
Because you know, one should always keep their tongue in check.
Don’t judge by appearances, Professor Heerlein. Although this is how I look, the person within is about the sa age as you.
“Is that so? If you’re doing well, alright then. If you had told you were struggling, I would’ve helped you enroll into the Academy officially.”
Huh?
What did you just say?
Footnotes
1. the notion that so propositions are closer to being true than other propositions. The problem of verisimilitude is the problem of articulating what it takes for one false theory to be closer to the truth than another false theory.2. Where an electron or atom passed through a potential energy barrier even though it doesn’t have the sufficient energy needed to do so, a quantum chanic phenonon
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