Ch.18Chapter 18

There weren’t many people coming to The Academy on Saturday mornings. Though it seemed the students had no choice but to come in on weekends for their research.

I attended a first-year Academy lecture with the Professor, but in reality, it felt less like a lecture and more like supervised self-study where she checked how much work they’d done.

Actually, the Professor only told me it was a lecture, but I seriously wondered if it might be something else with a different name.

The students were bustling about. Some were piling up materials and working on laptops, while others brought magic paper to draw Magic Circles they had designed.

The Professor began checking their work one by one.

“What’s wrong with this Magic Circle? Does this even work? Won’t it eventually get stuck here?”

“…Oh, you’re right.”

At the Professor’s sharp critique, the student who had been drawing on the magic paper stopped. As if there was no going back, he crumpled it up and threw it in the trash.

The atmosphere continued to be somewhat intimidating. Many students shook their heads at her pointed questions and said they would redo their work.

Perhaps because many were just beginning to write their theses, some showed interest in me.

“You said you’re a Demon God, but what’s your maximum Mana capacity?”

“…Don’t know.”

Thinking it might seem like I was dismissively brushing off the question, I deliberately made eye contact with the student who asked before shaking my head.

When I knew so little about myself, I wondered if I could really be of any help here. I wasn’t particularly anxious since I hadn’t come to help anyway.

I recalled the Professor saying that since I was spending my days so tediously, watching something might make me less bored.

I didn’t particularly want to watch the Professor grilling the students, but since I wasn’t required to do anything as a fixture here, I just went along with it. While scribbling some letters, I asked a student next to me.

“What’s this?”

“A desk?”

“Teach me how to write it.”

When I held out my pen, the student with purple hair was startled.

“…You don’t know how to write ‘desk’?”

“No…”

The student couldn’t continue at my dejected voice. After a moment, she extended the pen she was holding and scribbled some letters on the paper I was using.

“Is this ‘desk’?”

“No, Lenya. That’s my name.”

“…Lenya. I’m Ourr.”

Lenya smiled.

“Yes, I introduced myself earlier, remember?”

“Lenya, teach me about desks.”

“Are you studying how to write?”

“Yes.”

“…I see, that makes sense.”

Lenya nodded as if she understood something, then wrote more letters for me.

“This is ‘desk,’ and this is the word for ‘pen.’ Did you know this one already?”

I shook my head since I didn’t know the characters for desk and pen. Seeing this, Lenya hesitated briefly before writing one more.

“This means ‘notebook,’ how about this one?”

“Don’t know.”

“Then let’s do this. I’m not completely free, but I’ll teach you three words for now. There are so many words, I’m not sure where to start.”

Lenya taught me three words. Then, as if she had her own work to do, she showed me a densely written paper. Looking at it made me recoil.

How much effort would it take to read all that? It seemed it would be difficult to catch up quickly. So I decided to focus on what I could do now and looked at the words in front of me.

Lenya’s light navy blue eyes glanced at me.

“Ourr, have you ever emitted an aura?”

“…Don’t know.”

“Hmm…”

Though I hadn’t come to help, I felt bad for consistently answering “don’t know” to every question.

“Sorry.”

“No! There’s nothing to be sorry about. If you haven’t emitted one, that’s just how it is. I don’t know what an aura is yet either. …But they say the Professor can emit an aura like a Demon God.”

“I know that.”

“You do?”

Lenya looked surprised that I knew. My gaze turned to where the Professor was. Remembering the ring on her index finger, yesterday’s conversation flashed through my mind.

“Yes.”

“Hmm, then I don’t need to tell you. I came because I’m curious about the Professor’s original.”

“…You came all the way to the Academy for that?”

“Not exactly. I came because I want to create my own original too. People don’t usually ask others to reveal their originals.”

Lenya tapped the end of her pen. Perhaps because she was holding it at the very tip, the pen made a large arc. As I quietly watched Lenya tapping her short hair, I let out a small groan.

There must be something captivating about originals. Well, if something is said to be one-of-a-kind in the world, perhaps anyone would be tempted.

If it were in your own hands, wouldn’t that pride be immense?

“Ourr, isn’t there anything you want to do?”

“Like how Lenya wants to create an original?”

“Yes, yes.”

Lenya nodded.

But I felt like I didn’t have much I wanted to do. I had suddenly arrived here and was integrated into this life by someone else’s will, not my own. Since I didn’t dislike it, I just went along with it.

I didn’t think I had particularly wished for anything. I just thought it would be nice if my body grew bigger. It wasn’t a childish fantasy of wanting to become an adult because I was young.

I wondered what happened to the original owner of this body. Whether they completely disappeared or were displaced because of me, I couldn’t know. So I thought it would be good if I could return it with dignity if the owner came back.

“Hmm, I want to grow bigger.”

I fluttered my sleeve. When I showed her the sleeve that was folded twice, Lenya smiled as if she found it ticklish.

“Hmm, I see. You want to grow bigger.”

“Yes.”

When I nodded, Lenya’s lips twitched slightly. She looked like someone who couldn’t contain herself after seeing something amusing. As I started to become wary, sweating profusely, she seemed to realize her expression and corrected her smile.

“Ahem, ahem. After hearing so many worldly wishes, I just couldn’t help it when I heard such a pure wish…”

Should I show her how Sera spontaneously created a Magic Circle and made me grow with a “poof!” for her to believe? Well, I was getting tired of explaining everything, so I decided to just let it slide if she found it cute.

There was no point in protesting by banging on the desk since she’d probably find that cute too.

“…Worldly?”

When I tilted my head, Lenya hummed and pointed to a seat in front.

There was a student with black hair that reached down to their shoulder blades, currently in conversation with the Professor.

“That’s my friend over there. Her goal is to work under the Professor.”

“Under? Can’t she just graduate from the Academy…?”

“No, even among Academy students, the process differs. Getting under the Professor is another difficult matter. There’s a world of difference between having an advisor professor and becoming the Professor’s junior.”

Seeing Lenya wiggle her finger while saying it was extremely difficult, she seemed like a person with tremendous passion. No wonder she was sitting in the front row.

I tilted my head, wondering why she wasn’t sitting with her friend if they were close. Of course, I wouldn’t pry into their friendship since we just met.

“Hmm, I see.”

“Ah, the Professor is coming this way soon.”

Lenya, who had been showing interest in me, started focusing all her energy on the materials in front of her. There were dozens of sheets of white paper with Magic Circles drawn on them. She began attaching post-it notes to appropriate places, as if adding footnotes.

As the Professor approached…

“…Lenya, was it?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Hmm.”

The Professor skimmed through a few pages of Lenya’s materials and shook her head.

“If you just imitate an original, you’ll end up with just a copy. You don’t want that label, do you?”

“N-no, I don’t. I plan to research first and then move in an original direction!”

“Original? Then would you like to create a PowerPoint presentation for the next session?”

“I-I’ll try my best…”

Oh dear. A sudden presentation.

As I watched Lenya being put on the spot in real-time, the Professor, who had been reviewing the materials, gave me a smile with her eyes. It was as if she was asking if I was doing well.

Well, I was just memorizing three words—desk, notebook, and pen—what more could I do?

As I fidgeted with the paper, the Professor seemed to soften, lowering the materials in her hand.

“No, it’s okay. You don’t have to do the PowerPoint. You can show me the results later.”

“Yes, I’ll do my best.”

“What have you been doing, Ourr?”

The Professor turned away from Lenya and asked me. If she was asking even though she clearly knew I was studying writing, she probably wanted to hear the details.

“Lenya taught me some words. This is ‘desk,’ this is ‘notebook’… and this is ‘pen.'”

“You’ve made a good friend who teaches you these things.”

As I pointed to each word I had written and explained, the Professor nodded as if she had heard something pleasant.

As the Professor moved away to check on other students, Lenya thanked me.

“You saved me by being here…”