Ch.40The City of Three Magic Towers. Ortus (6)

The next day arrived, and after washing up thoroughly, I headed to Room 202.

This time, Professor Felice was already there, drawing magic circles on five desks.

“Just a moment. I need to concentrate.”

“Hmm.”

I closed the door and stepped out, and after a few minutes passed, I heard her voice from behind the door.

“Alright. You can come in now.”

When she said that, I opened the door again and entered, looking at the circular magic circles engraved on the desks.

“What are these?”

“Sealing magic circles.”

“Sealing magic circles?”

“Yes. There’s nothing particularly inside them, but we’re testing dispelling magic.”

“I see.”

Come to think of it, I’ve heard that among treasure chests found in labyrinths or dungeons, quite a few have magical seals on them, though I haven’t seen one myself yet.

To succeed as a mage, being able to break such magical seals would be crucial.

“Isn’t dispelling magic for breaking curses?”

“It’s a term that encompasses breaking both curses and seals. They share the concept of undoing something, after all.”

“I see.”

I nodded and lightly touched the magic circle with my hand.

Like a doodle on a desk, there was no electric current or any “magical reaction” of any kind.

“To you, it’s just an ordinary scribble. It would be different for mages, though.”

“Hmm.”

I dusted off my hands and said to Professor Felice:

“By the way, when does this class end? I can’t keep working here indefinitely.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll finish it within a week.”

“Well, if that’s the case.”

For someone like me who used to work 240 hours a week, managing time was an important issue.

It was only because I was naturally robust that I could endure working 240 hours a week for years. If it had been someone with weaker (actually, normal) physical strength, they would have lasted a few months before dying from overwork.

But life is full of unexpected turns, and thanks to that, I was able to develop a superior body and mind compared to my peers.

While I can’t take credit for my physical strength, which was purely a matter of talent, I could at least pride myself on having overwhelming mental fortitude compared to others my age.

“Felice.”

“Yes?”

“Can you mages… detect things like a person’s mental strength?”

“Well… there are specialized types of magic for that, so it’s possible. But that’s not my specialty.”

“So you can’t do it?”

“No, I can, but the accuracy would be lower. How should I put this… do you know what tree rings are?”

“Of course.”

“Then this should be easy to understand. By looking at the rings on a tree stump, you can tell if the tree was old or young, but unless you’re skilled, you can’t determine ‘exactly’ how many years it lived.”

“I see, that’s what you mean.”

“Why? Curious about what kind of mental energy you possess?”

I silently nodded.

I had never had my mental state appraised by anyone else.

If I counted the fortune teller under the bridge I once paid, the number would increase, but we all know fortune-telling is just a scam.

Felice closed her eyes and looked in my direction, and I maintained proper posture while waiting for her to open her eyes.

“Hmm…”

“Are you finished?”

She nodded, and I sat down in a chair, waiting for her answer.

“How should I put this… it’s an extraordinary energy.”

“Extraordinary energy?”

“How to explain… it’s like your concept of ‘self’ has been directly abstracted into energy.”

When I tilted my head 30 degrees at her abstract explanation, she provided some additional clarification.

“What I mean is… you don’t have any similarities with anyone else. You know the saying about shared suffering creating bonds? People who have similar experiences tend to connect.”

“And?”

“Normally, as people grow, they absorb energies from others, leaving traces behind. Like loose threads sticking out, these remnants of others remain in their energy. But you don’t have any of that. It’s like a freshly made garment.”

“…Are you saying I don’t accept other people?”

I couldn’t understand.

While my past might be somewhat dark, if you searched the world, there would be many with more unfortunate backgrounds than mine…

I don’t particularly have problems dealing with people, and moreover, I have a clear goal that no one could mock—to pilgrimage through the famous regions of the 13 continents.

Besides, I’ve grown by accepting advice from others throughout my life.

Mr. Thompson, who taught me how to tie mooring lines at the harbor, and Chef Patterson, who showed me how to prepare ingredients… without their help, I would probably be a vagrant on the streets by now.

“Well, you don’t need to worry too much about it. As I said, my accuracy is low. It’s not even my specialty.”

“But you can see the ‘traces’ in other people normally, right?”

“…That’s true.”

“Then I’m not a normal person, for better or worse.”

“I… suppose so?”

Hmm.

I consider myself fundamentally harmless.

Unless someone harms me first, I don’t particularly harm others.

Most people’s cognitive schemas should be similar to mine, so to say I “don’t accept others”…

Good grief. Is this how witch hunts start?

*Creaking sound*

“H-hello.”

And finally, class time began.

*

“Now, everyone try to break the sealing magic circles drawn on your desks using dispelling magic.”

As the girls with colorful hair sat at their desks, Felice gave those instructions and set a one-hour timer using magic. Soon, they began channeling magical power to break the seals.

“Huh. Fascinating.”

Suddenly, the black magic circles that looked like doodles began to glow blue, and as the magical power penetrating them became visible, the layered sealing magic circles rotated in various directions, resisting the intrusion of the dispelling magic.

Though I’m not a mage, I’ve heard that to become one, you generally need to go through a magic tower.

Since such fascinating processes were included in the regular curriculum of magic towers, I supposed this was how children cultivated their dreams of becoming mages.

With that thought, I smacked the white-haired girl on the head.

*Thwack!*

“Ouch! What are you doing?!”

“What am I doing? I’m disrupting you.”

As her concentration broke, the sealing magic circle that had been bending in various directions reset, and the white-haired girl looked back at Felice.

“Did you think you’d be able to focus solely on dispelling magic in a real situation?”

*Blink*

[53 minutes 31 seconds]

The white-haired girl blinked like that, and I proceeded to smack the heads of the other students equally, breaking their concentration.

“I’m sure I told you all to practice restraint-suppression combination magic by tomorrow, didn’t I?”

“Oh no.”

Learning for the first time that “oh no” could be expressed as a verbal exclamation, I gave them all another knock on the head…

“Kus!”

The brown-haired girl’s Kus spell pushed me far away.

“Huh…!”

“Not bad. But you missed the follow-up spell.”

“Eek… Rect!”

“Too slow.”

I said that while dodging the lightning bolt she cast, then delivered a punch to the brown-haired girl’s stomach.

*Thud!*

“Urgh…!”

And she fainted, unlikely to wake up within the remaining time.

“Are you just going to stand there? Or are you going to subdue me and break the seal?”

“…Cheba!”

*Whoosh! Snap…!*

As the word “Cheba” was uttered, magical ropes appeared in mid-air, tightly pulling at my limbs, and I was left completely defenseless.

“Rect!”

Then the purple-haired girl cast the Rect spell on me, and I writhed in pain as if my entire body was being stabbed with needles.

“Argh!!”

*Crackle! Sizzle!*

However, pain was just something to endure, and as the electric current from the purple-haired girl’s Rect spell began to burn the ropes, I was soon freed from my restraints.

“Grrrr…!”

Of course, that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt, but just because I was being electrocuted didn’t mean they could kill me.

It wasn’t a matter of ability, but of mindset.

“Eeeek!”

Despite being electrocuted for over a minute, I kept approaching, and the white-haired girl who had cast the Cheba spell turned pale and began to cast the Kus spell again.

“Ku…”

“Grrr!”

*Grab!*

“Kyaaaaa!!!”

At that moment, I mustered my strength and grabbed her wrist, and the current flowing through my body began to flow through hers as well.

Soon, the white-haired girl lost consciousness from the extreme pain, and the purple-haired girl, flustered, canceled her spell only to be hit by me and sent flying.

“Eeeek…”

“Cast your spell.”

“Hic…hic…hic…”

“If you don’t cast, you’ll get hit.”

A spell caster was someone who cast spells, and if they didn’t cast, they were merely pretty ornaments.

And right now, in this classroom, I was the only one with the legitimate authority to discipline these girls…

“Early graduation seems unlikely for you!”

“D-don’t come near!”

*Thwack!*

I can assure you, I was utilizing that right very well.

A job where you can freely discipline girls—literally a job you couldn’t do even if they paid you.