chapter_0137

138 – See You in the Fantasy

138 – See You in the Fantasy

“Max!”

My teacher has returned.

Meiko swung open the shop door, her blue hair swaying.

“Budget cuts! What does that mean?”

As soon as she heard the news that the Illusion Magic school’s grant budget was being cut, she sent a letter to her teacher.

A message saying that a countermeasure was needed.

It was true that she had received a large amount of funding compared to the number of people, thanks to her many research achievements and activities.

However, this was compensation for her performance.

It didn’t make sense to suddenly cut it just because the number of people was small.

To solve this, she needed the help of Meiko, the dean, and she called Meiko, who would be busy with research.

“It means exactly that. The executive department said they would cut our budget by 25%.”

“25% of 80 gold is 20 gold? They’re cutting it this suddenly?”

“Yes.”

“…It’s ridiculous. How many achievements have I made with my research so far?”

“I contacted the dean, but I was told that she was absent, so I didn’t notify her separately.”

“They couldn’t contact me because I wasn’t in the lab? Hmph! What a joke! I reported where I was going to the finance department and the magic department, but they couldn’t contact me!”

She spat out the words as if venting her anger, and bit her lip.

“Are they saying this because I skipped basic magic research for magic research to give Illusion Magic physical power? It’s research to add to the usefulness of the Illusion school after all… This treatment is too much. Are they trying to kill all the marginalized schools!”

She was very angry.

She seemed to be more angry about the fact that they had done something without even contacting her than the fact that the budget she was supposed to receive had been reduced.

“What’s the reason?”

I pointed to the store.

“They said that the store’s income is 5 gold per month, so the support budget is being cut.”

“What? Why just because it brings in 5 gold?”

“There is a regulation that if a magician belonging to a school exceeds 2 gold per person, the support budget will be reduced by 20%.”

“We only have two people, so how can they apply that regulation to us? That’s a regulation to prevent too much budget from being wasted…”

She stopped talking and let out a deep sigh mixed with annoyance.

But there was something more important than budget cuts.

“The executives came to our store yesterday.”

“What? Why?”

“Because they think we’re summoning demons.”

Meiko frowned at the words.

“These bastards, really!”

Harsh curses burst from Meiko’s mouth.

It was the first time.

I’d seen her curse.

The long-suffered grievances of the Illusion magicians had exploded.

“I’ve explained so many times that Illusion Magic isn’t like that, and they’re still doing this?”

Illusion Magic had long been ignored as something used by the Demon King and demons.

To change that perception, the teacher, as well as the previous magicians, worked hard.

To say that Illusion Magic is not a technique that demons learn.

Meiko even went to war against the Demon Lord’s Army.

She said that she disarmed various traps set up by the Demon King and monsters and moved forward.

She worked so hard to change the perception, but she was still treated as Demon race magic, so she was furious.

“This is definitely a trick by the Blaster or Life Magic schools to keep us in check.”

“The large schools called the Empire’s Six Great Magic are keeping us in check?”

“Of course! If we have physical power, we can exert much more overwhelming power than Blaster or Life Magic.”

I agreed to some extent.

If strong Illusion Magic only had physical power, it would be able to smash enemies more efficiently than any other magic.

But even so, Blaster is keeping us in check.

I think that’s a bit of an exaggeration.

“I think we need a countermeasure.”

“Are you going to visit them?”

“Of course. I’m going to argue with them. I’m going to hold an emergency temporary meeting.”

She took the symbol of the Illusion school from her chest and pinned it to her chest.

It meant that she was starting her official duties as the dean of the Illusion school.

“It’s been a while since I’ve done the work of a dean.”

Meiko said, stretching her shoulders.

“But I managed to solve it roughly. I sent back the executives who came, and I fully informed them that we were not suspected.”

But even with my words, Meiko shook her head.

“That’s not enough. How nasty are those guys in the magic department and the deans of other schools? Do you think they’ll give up with just that? I have to go and negotiate with them for sure.”

Her face was full of distrust of the magic department and the deans of other schools.

“Should I go with you?”

Meiko shook her head at my question.

“It’s okay today. Max, you’re my disciple and an important executive who has to act as the dean’s representative in case of emergency, but you still have to protect the store today. Maybe a customer will come.”

“I understand.”

“And leave this to the dean. That’s why I’m the dean, to use my power at times like this, right? This teacher will solve everything.”

She shouted, pounding her chest.

She’s so confident that I’m worried.

“Are you really okay?”

“Of course. Do you think I’m going to cause a Mana explosion in the magic department and smash the whole place? Or kidnap the main magicians and administrators and let them watch and experience their most terrible memories hundreds of times in Illusion.”

It’s too detailed, so I’m more worried.

“I won’t do that. I’m just going to have a peaceful conversation.”

Meiko smiled as she read my expression.

“Are you really okay?”

“I’m okay, okay? My disciple is too worried.”

It’s true that Illusion Magic has lost its usefulness to many people because it doesn’t have physical power.

The dismantling method was simple enough that most magic could be easily broken if you concentrated a little.

However, the Illusion that a magician like Meiko uses is sometimes capable of giving mental trauma even if it doesn’t exert physical power.

“I’m not stupid enough to do bad things in a place where I’m going to negotiate.”

She smiled coolly and headed to the magic department.

I watched her receding figure with an uneasy face.

‘I managed to solve it well…’

As she said, she wasn’t the kind of person who would give up after being chased away once.

How persistent are magicians?

They were humans who would not hesitate to make thousands of efforts to explore a single truth.

People who would never give up until they got the result they wanted.

They were the kind of people who would be perfect if you took the word obsession and attached it to them.

‘The problem is that I don’t know who reported it.’

In fact, I was going to stay still until I found out who reported us.

The risk of moving would be less if I knew who the enemy was.

Besides, I’m not the dean of a school like Meiko, so I have less authority.

But if Meiko, the dean, holds a temporary meeting, I’ll be able to find out soon.

Once I knew who had challenged me first, I had no reason to hold back.

I’ll go and teach them a lesson then.

That’s what I was thinking when I was cleaning up the store.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Someone was knocking roughly on the door.

Who is it?

At this hour.

“Who is it?”

“Open the door. I know you’re in there.”

I heard a familiar voice.

But it wasn’t the voice of a customer who used to come to our store.

When I opened the door, a woman with long green hair was glaring at me with a frown.

“Are you not Dean Aurora?”

It was Aurora, the dean of the Life Magic school.

She was a dean I had met several times at the magic school before I opened the store.

She was a magician of the same class as Meiko, the dean of my school, and the youngest dean except for Meiko.

She was also a magician who was called a genius along with Meiko.

Now that she was just thirty years old this year, she was also a magician who had a strange sense of inferiority to Meiko.

“It’s been a while, Max.”

“Were you the one who made the absurd report to the executive department and the guards that we were committing the evil act of summoning Demon race?”

She didn’t answer.

But I knew that silence was the answer.

“Do you hate my teacher that much?”

“Me? Meiko? Why would I hate her? Because she awakened magic a little earlier than me?”

She smiled and sneered, then crossed her arms and said.

“Would I be jealous that she became the dean of a stupid Illusion school that no one looks for?”

I clenched my fists at her words, which insulted our school and my teacher, Meiko.

“Is the dean of the Life Magic school more valuable, or is the dean of the Illusion school, which doesn’t even have a title, more valuable?”

“I can’t just ignore those words.”

“Is a mere general magician trying to challenge the dean now?”

She snapped her fingers and laughed.

She looked confident that she could finish me off with just a little finger movement.

“It’s okay. We Life Magic school are so often misunderstood as having no combat power. I think it would be good to change that perception this time.”

“…I’m sorry.”

I needed to step back now.

It was absurd for a magician with almost no combat power to have a magic battle with the dean of the Life Magic school.

At least, if it was a magician with a lower Mana concentration than me, I could overwhelm them with the mass of Mana, but that was impossible for a dean-level magician.

“It’s okay. Sometimes you can make mistakes with childish blood. The reason I came here is not because of anything else, but because I thought the executives had missed something, so I came here myself.”

“……”

“I’m originally meticulous about things like this. You know, right? Max too. I think you helped me with my research once?”

“I have never done that.”

“Oh, I was mistaken. There must be a lot of magicians like Max. Magicians who stick to the dean to look good.”

“Is that so?”

“Anyway, can I go inside? You won’t refuse, right? It doesn’t look like Meiko is inside either.”

“…Come in.”

I made way for her to come inside.

“Oh, the smell of dust. You should clean up a little. What’s this smell? It’s dirty. Oh, maybe you’re deliberately creating this atmosphere. Demons like these gloomy places.”

“Is that so?”

“We Life Magic magicians are so meticulous that we don’t miss things like this. Oh, doesn’t Meiko coach you on this? Then that might be the case.”

“……”

She looked around the store.

Slowly passing through the waiting room, Aurora, who was holding the veil of the massage room or recovery room with the Magic Circle drawn on it, turned to me and smiled playfully.

“Are you curious why I reported you?”

“……”

“Weren’t you curious why I reported this shabby store that looks like it’ll bring out beggars instead of demons?”

“I was curious. There have been times when people whispered behind my back that the Illusion school was Demon race magic, but it was the first time that a magician had reported it so directly.”

“That’s because you’re encroaching on our territory.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, look at this kid. Are you still pretending not to know? Did you really think I didn’t know?”

Aurora raised the corners of her mouth and put the name of one person in a small voice.

“Yuris, and Nikki.”

“……”

“The 1st Knight Order is telling us to cancel the partnership service we had with them? It was our Life Magic that was in charge of the Knight Order’s fatigue recovery.”

Anger gradually rose in Aurora’s voice, who bit her lip.

“What kind of bastard is trying to come and eat up that pipeline that I created by splitting up my research time and going to the battlefield with them?”

“Did you make this absurd false report because Yuris came to our store?”

“Of course. There’s no way that Illusion Magic could have recovered Yuris’s fatigue. You must have pretended to recover it and deceived her with Illusion.”

“There’s no way Yuris would be fooled by such a trick…”

“That’s why I’m saying you used Demon race’s magic. You disguised it with magic so elaborate that even the goddess of victory was deceived.”

It was an absurd speculation.

Aurora was forcibly making up a reason out of anger over losing her client.

“Am I wrong?”

“You’re wrong. We’re not in a contract with a demon, we’re using real Illusion Magic…”

“Well, it doesn’t matter what the truth is. This store will be closed after today anyway.”

“Yes?”

“I told you. I was about to lose a customer because of a damn competitor. So what can I do?”

“Are you going to kill the competitor?”

“Bingo. I’m going to get rid of this whole place. Don’t worry. It’s easier than you think to create a non-existent crime.”

Aurora smiled and pushed the veil aside.

Whirr!

And the huge Magic Circle that is revealed.

The Magic Circle that fills the room is densely engraved even on the walls.

“A room without a single window, Magic Circles drawn on the walls, floor, and ceiling. If people who don’t know anything about magic see it, it’ll look like a real demon summoning circle. Don’t you think?”

“Aurora, what are you…”

She wasn’t like this originally.

She wasn’t such a greedy magician.

-Oh, Max. Did you do well in class? Professor Gregory’s class is difficult, right? If I give you a little hint, don’t focus too much on raising your Mana.

How did it come to this?

Maybe it’s because of the inferiority complex that Life Magic is always pushed back by divinity.

She was always suffering because of that.

It wasn’t just her problem.

Almost all Life Magic schools have been called a derivative of divinity, so they had a strange obsession with having to beat the divine order.

The reason I didn’t choose Life Magic was also because it was inferior to divinity.

‘What does Yuris mean to her?’

Is this how extreme a person has become?

“It’s a really elaborate Magic Circle. You’re definitely talented. It’s a waste. That you didn’t come to our Life Magic. If you had, you might have surpassed divinity.”

“Aurora.”

“It’s okay. Meiko won’t get hurt. I don’t want to do bad things to my classmate. It’s okay if you sacrifice a little. This store will be completely closed.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that.”

“What?”

I didn’t intend to go this far.

I looked at Aurora’s feet, which were inside the Magic Circle.

She was completely defenseless against Illusion Magic as she came inside and admired the Magic Circle.

Enough that if I cast magic right now, she would be trapped as it is.

I might lose in a normal fight.

But even my teacher, Meiko, couldn’t overcome my Illusion in a place where the conditions were perfectly met.

And that was the same for the Hero, the Saintess, the Knight of Victory, and even the High Elf.

“I don’t think I can send the dean away like this.”

“What are you doing now?”

“I’ll see you in Illusion.”

“Hey! You’re crazy…”

She couldn’t finish her words.

Snap!

I snapped my fingers, and the Illusion Magic Circle activated as it was.

And the huge Illusion Magic Circle completely trapped Aurora.

[Run in administrator mode.]