Ch.154Chapter 154

Magical power was spread throughout the world. It was just like air.

It had existed since the beginning of time, naturally blending with everything. Living beings were also influenced by it.

Depending on how they absorbed magical power, humans evolved differently, resulting in different races such as the commonly seen elves and dwarves.

At The Academy, you could see people of various heights. When you thought about it, it wasn’t really that strange.

Since everyone’s form depended on how they absorbed magical power, it was easy to accept these differences as natural.

But Demon Gods were different.

Unlike races that evolved differently based on how they absorbed magical power, Demon Gods were beings born from magical power itself. When and how they were born remained unknown.

Since no one had observed it, it ultimately remained in the realm of the unknown.

“This is difficult.”

Even reading books didn’t help much. Since most of what I wanted to learn fell into unknown territory, my research kept hitting dead ends, making it hard to discover anything useful.

I closed the book. Thinking that continuing to read wouldn’t yield any results, I decided to take a break and leaned back in my chair.

Using my arms as a pillow, I slumped forward, and Ouro, who was sitting next to me, poked me with her finger.

“Get up.”

“Whyyy.”

“We agreed to study together.”

“…Ugh. It’s too hard.”

Ouro was studying to enter school, while I was studying magic. Since we were good at different things, we had started studying together as each other’s teachers, helping each other improve.

But despite Ouro trying hard to teach me, I couldn’t learn properly and just kept groaning in frustration.

“Stop studying that stuff and just focus on magic.”

“But this is interesting too.”

“Hmph, even Demon Gods don’t know much about those things. No matter how hard you try to learn about it, no one will be able to give you proper answers.”

“…I guess you’re right.”

Listening to Ouro, I realized she had a point.

The fact that no human had ever witnessed the birth of a Demon God might mean that Demon Gods are born far away from where humans can see.

The lack of data seemed to suggest exactly that. There had been no opportunity to observe it so far, and such opportunities would likely remain rare in the future.

“Alright. I’ll just focus on studying magic.”

“You don’t have enough Mana right now anyway. You can just take some from me. I can give you enough for small spells.”

“Awesome.”

“Use it sparingly though. I don’t want to burden the Professor.”

“I don’t want to burden her either.”

I felt the same way. I had no intention of learning at the expense of troubling the Professor.

Ouro seemed to see me as an immature child, which made me pout. When I looked at her with my lips pursed, she turned her head away as if she hadn’t meant anything by it.

With nothing left to say, I decided to focus on the book again.

I didn’t really need magical theory.

The standard approach was to use circles for circulation, triangles for stability and imbalance, and other shapes with specific meanings, combining them with runic language to cast spells. But that common knowledge didn’t apply to Demon Gods.

Demon Gods control magic through imagination. That’s why I needed to read books. Imagination stems from curiosity and is built upon accumulated information.

If I wanted to create fire, I would simply imagine fire. But it might not be proper fire, or the image might be too vague or weak, causing it to extinguish quickly.

So my job was to browse through books to learn about different types of fire, to expand my knowledge.

“How about this?”

“Whatever.”

“You’re being too dismissive, Ouro.”

“Just make what you need, why bother with unnecessary things…”

“Honestly, I’ve never really felt the need for magic. I just want to use it.”

I pouted.

Ouro acted like a child in front of the Professor, but when she was with me, she tended to treat me like I was younger.

Ouro, who only used magic when necessary, probably couldn’t understand me. Since I had never properly used magic except when growing my body, she couldn’t possibly understand my desire to use it like some kind of fantasy.

Especially since she could use magic even in her young body, understanding my feelings was beyond her reach.

Well, I didn’t expect much from Ouro. It was enough if we could understand each other somewhat and just be together.

We might live separately later, but for now, since we were living together, it seemed fine to just adapt to each other. The Professor would like that too.

Nodding to myself, I started exploring various things. I flipped through the book, trying to absorb the different types of magic inside.

After some time passed, having roughly memorized various spells, I felt smarter than before.

That was the power of studying. I realized I could now study well enough to keep up with a study group. Of course, I would need Ouro to provide magical power to follow along.

“Now it’s my turn.”

“Yeah, it’s Ouro’s turn now.”

It was Ouro’s turn to study.

Just as I couldn’t use magic alone, Ouro couldn’t study alone. I planned to teach her everything step by step, from difficult letters to mathematics.

I told her to write from 1 to 10, starting with letters and numbers. Ouro frowned, struggling at first, then began moving her small hand to write.

She wrote crooked letters with a pencil, gradually writing down what I had asked her to.

Watching her write so diligently, I found myself nodding. Thinking she was doing well, I smiled and glanced at Ouro’s book.

What should I teach her first? How should I explain this?

While I was thinking, I noticed the Professor coming out of her room.

“Ourr, Ouro. Are you studying hard?”

“Yes! I’m teaching her well!”

I straightened my back and answered enthusiastically.

Ouro, who had been holding a pencil, stopped and looked up. She stared at where the Professor was standing and showed her the notebook filled with crooked writing.

“Professor, I’m studying.”

“My, you’ve been working hard.”

The Professor smiled and came over to us.

“Did you finish your paper today?”

“Not yet. I just came out to get some water.”

“Oh, let me get it for you!”

“Ah, that would be helpful, thank you.”

I jumped up and rushed to the kitchen.

When I returned with a cup of water, the Professor was already next to Ouro, watching her talk.

“This is 1, and this is 2.”

“Yes, you’re learning well. What’s 10? Can you write it?”

“…Ta-da!”

“Oh my, you memorized it well! Ouro, you’re quite smart, aren’t you?”

Ouro seemed excited. I couldn’t call that expression emotionless anymore. How could anyone call it emotionless when she couldn’t hide her excitement?

After handing the water to the Professor, I returned to my seat. The Professor gulped down the water and placed the cup on the table with a thud.

“That was refreshing. By the way, what were you doing, Ourr? Studying magic?”

“Yes, Ouro helped me a little so I tried using a bit.”

“Really? Is Ouro old enough to use magic well now?”

“Ouro can do it.”

I couldn’t, but Ouro could. This was thanks to the Professor’s power.

Right now, the person who could handle magic best here was probably Ouro. The Professor certainly had abundant magical power, but being human, she faced the constraint of having to create magic circles.

That was like a shackle.

Not every magic or desired phenomenon required a magic circle. Magic circles were like puzzles fitted into the world, and if they weren’t the right answer, they wouldn’t activate. Considering this, Demon Gods were truly the masters of magic.

A Demon God who could use magic at a young age thanks to the Professor’s power? That would certainly be considered the strongest.

While I was disappointed that my capacity hadn’t properly grown yet, in a way, it was fortunate that there was an age where the vessel was small. This left me with mixed feelings.

“I helped her.”

“Good job, good job.”

Ouro wore a proud expression as she boasted about her achievement. The Professor smiled brightly at Ouro and stroked her hair several times.

“Me too…”

Thinking that I was also teaching Ouro well, I reached out my hand. The Professor hesitated for a moment, then came over and stroked my head.

Feeling the Professor’s touch made me feel somewhat at ease.

“Both of your heads feel exactly the same when I touch them.”

The Professor alternated between stroking Ouro’s and my head, then smiled wryly. Since our head shapes were identical, it probably felt the same to her.

I absentmindedly grabbed Ouro’s hair. When I playfully tugged at her hair, Ouro’s hand flew to my head as well.

“Let go.”

“I let go, I let go. I was just joking.”

Since I started it this time, I coolly let go.