Ch.90Awakened Hatchling (2)

“If you look at this magic circle…”

Fenicia was diligently continuing her lecture, but the students couldn’t focus on it.

Ruide Christopher.

The youngest of the Windsor family and a genius magician.

Known as the Fairy of Dellin, the Indolent Ruide.

To the Academy students, Ruide’s existence was mystery itself.

He barely attended school once a month, and the occasional sightings of him were bizarre. Some claimed to have seen him sleeping in a meadow, others on a rooftop, and so on.

Recently, there was even an unverifiable rumor that “he froze half the Imperial Palace!”

For such a young master to attend class as a teaching assistant—it was only natural that the students taking “Dellin’s Magic Theory” had their eyes fixed on Ruide.

Hersy also couldn’t concentrate on her studies. She could study anytime, but today’s Ruide could only be seen today.

‘Aww… he’s too cute…!’

Ruide was sitting in a chair, munching on a baguette. Soon after, he began nodding off.

“…this theory!”

When Fenicia’s voice rose slightly, Ruide’s eyes snapped open. He looked around in confusion before putting the baguette back in his mouth.

…And then dozed off again. Ruide’s small shoulders moved rhythmically. He had finally fallen asleep.

‘This, this isn’t the time.’

It wasn’t the time to be watching Ruide doze off. Hersy had a mission. A mission to be recognized as the heir.

She tried to focus on her studies again. But—

‘…One day should be fine, right?’

In the end, Hersy gave up studying and took in Ruide’s appearance.

He was cute. No other words were needed. It felt healing after meeting that fox abuser this morning who had put her in a bad mood.

‘How wonderful would it be if the whole world were filled with Ruides.’

In such a beautiful world, Hersy would be extremely happy.

Hersy thought that the other students watching Ruide must feel the same way.

‘…Come to think of it, it’s only natural that the Windsor family gets along well.’

It made sense that Irene and Amelia cherished him. Unlike herself. She wasn’t as cute or lovable as him.

He was in a different league from her.

‘…Am I dreaming a dream I can never catch?’

She tried to look at her textbook, but the densely written notes didn’t register in her mind.

**

Ruide, who had been nodding off, suddenly opened his eyes.

‘I want to sleep more.’

Though his mind was still hazy, he rubbed his sleepy eyes and lifted his head. It was too difficult to stay awake in a child’s body.

Still, he had seen everything he needed to see, even while dozing.

Through blurry vision, he took in Klein. The boy had his eyes closed in meditation.

‘Good class attitude… has a habit of checking two or three times before using magic. Generally diligent?’

But the subtle anger he felt earlier when looking at himself.

That was clearly an attitude of dislike. The cause seemed to be that Ruide had ignored his handshake during their first encounter.

‘He doesn’t show it, which suggests wisdom. But his fake personality… the fact that he can’t hide it completely shows he has an emotional side.’

Ruide recalled the original story.

There was information about Klein. He had sided with Justin to bully Hersy. For example, saying things like, “How disappointing. You’re a disgrace to the Minerva family.”

‘But in the original story… not a single person liked Hersy.’

Deciding to make further judgments, he got down from his chair.

Fenicia was carefully examining the proposals submitted by the students. Ruide grabbed her collar and tugged it gently.

“Young master?”

“I’ll help you. It’s my job originally, after all.”

The goal of this classroom was to recreate Dellin’s magic.

Today’s plan was to receive proposals before the test and give advice to each student individually.

Originally, the teaching assistant would filter them first before she made the final judgment, but she couldn’t casually order the young master around.

In the end, even if it took more time, Fenicia had no choice but to do everything herself, but when he volunteered to help, her face brightened.

“I would be grateful if you did. Please just exclude the ones that are completely unfeasible.”

“Unfeasible?”

“Ah, I apologize. That wouldn’t be an issue for you, young master. Well, by student standards. Please exclude magic that requires level 4 or higher.”

Ruide received the proposals and, yawning, headed to an empty desk. A student next to him nodded in greeting.

‘Sorry, but I’m not interested in you.’

Only the key characters mattered to Ruide. So he quickly flipped through the proposals, but—

‘Wait, this is wrong.’

At first, it was just slightly irritating.

‘The limbs are attached backwards?’

‘I get the intention, but why make it so complicated?’

‘This magic doesn’t even make sense.’

The more he flipped through, the more his lips twitched.

‘…This guy just plagiarized.’

For reference, the plagiarist was Klein. Hersy’s older brother.

He put the papers away after seeing that much.

With a disgruntled face, he looked up. He stared at Fenicia.

“Young master?”

Fenicia asked curiously, feeling his gaze.

Ruide spoke without hesitation.

“Can I point out the issues directly?”

“If—if the young master is willing to review them personally, that would be more than welcome. The students would probably want that too. But are you serious?”

Normally, he would never do this.

He wouldn’t have even attended this class in the first place.

‘Of course. I’ve grown up.’

Ruide nodded. Fenicia smiled brightly.

“You’ve made such a big decision! Thank you!”

‘…Were expectations of me that low?’

To get such a reaction for this much.

Ruide felt rather awkward.

“First.”

Ruide stood on top of the desk. This way, he could meet their eye level. Looking around, he said:

“You all seem to be thinking about magic too complicatedly.”

“But Dellin’s magic is difficult.”

It was a woman with downturned eyes. Ruide stared at her and spoke firmly.

“It’s your preconception that makes it difficult. The more complicated you think magic is, the more complicated it becomes. Because magic is a mystery that shows the most plausible thing humans can imagine.”

Despite his appearance, he had conducted quite a few experiments. That’s what the first year after his possession had been about.

He had investigated what was possible with magic and what wasn’t.

As a result, he could understand a few rules. There was a big difference between magic with nonsensical logic and magic without it.

In other words, magic is self-conviction.

The logic itself can be nonsense. As long as the caster can believe in it, that’s enough.

“For example, this magic.”

He held up a magic circle.

“It’s a magic that mixes fire and water half and half. It seems like they wanted a powerful fire magic that wouldn’t be extinguished by water, but they made it strangely, so it’s far from its original meaning.”

The cheeks of the girl who presumably drew this magic circle turned red.

“Fire is weak against water.”

The students nodded. Of course, it was too obvious. Elements have affinities. That’s a value that never changes.

“But that’s not true.”

“?”

“Fire and water are relatives.”

“What?”

“They haven’t been getting along until now, but they decided to be friends from today. I just saw them reconcile.”

“What??”

Of course, it’s a completely nonsensical sophistry.

But in the world of magic, it’s different.

Whoosh—

“Fire.”

Gurgle—

“Water.”

Fire and water combined above Ruide’s hand. It was so ecologically repulsive that it was grotesque.

“See, they can get along, right?”

Ruide dismissed the magic.

The students looked on with blank expressions.

‘If someone with a science background had possessed me, they probably wouldn’t be able to use magic well.’

It would have been extremely limited. They instinctively think that what can’t be done can’t be done.

But he, who had been unemployed, was different.

He had the innate skill of “self-rationalization” that all unemployed people possess.

That’s why he could use any magic.

“A magic circle is a tool. It’s just a means to use magic easily, and it can never be the main thing.”

Ruide burned the stack of papers.

The students’ eyes widened as the papers blazed with a whoosh.

But not all the papers were burned. Only one paper flew into Ruide’s hand.

“They were all strange, but there was just one normal one. Klein Minerva.”

“Yes.”

Klein stood up abruptly. He showed a confident smile.

After looking at Hersy, who was diligently taking notes, with a gaze close to mockery, he greeted Ruide with a noble’s bow.

“This magic circle is perfect. It’s a magic that can operate normally while being something that doesn’t exist in this world.”

More precisely—

“It’s a magic that can be used if you ‘only have the magic circle.'”

It meant he hadn’t thought of it himself.

Thinking it was praise, Klein smiled with satisfaction. He nodded once as if embarrassed.

However, he couldn’t help but freeze his expression at Ruide’s next words.

“Where did you copy it from, Klein Minerva? This is impossible with your skills. Because to complete this magic circle, you need at least level 5 magical knowledge. But Klein, you’re at best a level 3 talent. You can never, ever reach level 5.”

Ruide’s expression as he said this was incredibly cruel.

**

Imperial Council Chamber.

The agenda item this time was “Establishment of the Emperor’s Direct Guard.”

“As we’ve seen from the previous incident, having His Majesty personally maintain too powerful a knighthood is not good for state governance.”

“I propose that operational control rights be determined by deliberation.”

“By what right would you move His Majesty’s direct guard? It cannot be. Your Majesty, the problem was with the individual knight. For this knighthood, select those with certain status! I believe that for knights, honor is as important as strength.”

The nobles were busy opposing each other’s opinions.

It was a clash of desires. Lucius silently watched them fight.

Only after the commotion subsided did Lucius speak. His answer had already been conveyed.

“The sword will go to Amelia Windsor. For magic, they will receive advice from Ruide Christopher Windsor. Also, I will transfer the authority over the newly established Imperial Knights to those two.”

“…!”

In this incident, the responsibility fell on the Imperial family’s debt to Windsor.

If entrusted to Windsor, the nobles lose the right to object.

“…Yes, Your Majesty.”

“It is considered a righteous decision.”

Having the Emperor’s direct guard formed by Windsor proved that the Windsor Duchy was still strong and had enormous influence on the Imperial family.

It was an appropriate way to honor Windsor, which had suffered damage in this incident, while also establishing a justification for the Emperor to have his personal knighthood again.

At first glance, it seemed like a reasonable decision. No, it was the only way for the Emperor to have personal troops without being mindful of the nobles.

But— the Emperor’s intention lay elsewhere.

‘The Windsor Duchy will be inherited by Amelia Windsor. Her forming a knighthood is a step toward that goal.’

Even the Emperor couldn’t interfere with the Windsor Duchy’s succession.

But it’s true that he could exert tremendous influence.

In the first place, the Windsor Duchy’s “successor test” was closely related to the Emperor.

It would be fine if Amelia Windsor achieved greater merit than Irene Windsor.

Lucius just needed to avoid standing at the forefront and guide the way from behind.

However, the problem was that Irene Windsor was too outstanding. Amelia facing her alone was a shortcut to defeat.

Therefore, Lucius thought of the only key that could shake this situation.

‘Ruide Christopher. I must use that child.’