Side Story 8. The Magic School and the Monster in the Basement (7)
It seems that there’s a nobleman with some large guts.
During the battle magic practice class, we were fighting one-on-one with magic on rotation, and the bowl cut pointed me out.
"Come out, Audit Student!"
I glanced at Milpia. Didn’t she say that there was no big nobleman who’d touch me who’s under the protection of the duke and guild director?
At my glance, Milpia shrugged as if there were no problems.
Well, there wasn't really a big problem. The gap in skills was not small enough that I might accidentally hurt the bowl cut. What's annoying was that I’d have to match his skill level?
"Don't make eye contact with Miss Milpia. Hurry up and come out!"
I was slightly surprised by the bowl cut’s sharp eyes. To catch my eye in such a short time, he had some talent. I helplessly got up and stood in front of the bowl cut.
The professor teaching the battle magic class, looked at me and asked, "Will you be okay? Pavlov is pretty strong."
I laughed as if I was in a tight spot at the professor's worries. "Haha, then shall we hand it over to someone else?”
The bowl cut shouted urgently at my words.
"Didn't Professor-nim say that it's important to fight regardless of who the opponent is? Moreover, it's a waste to miss the experience of practicing with a completely new opponent!"
He was a good talker. Even though he was planning to openly lay me down and score points with Milpia.
“Hmm, that makes sense.” The professor nodded at the bowl cut and suggested to me. "Come to think of it, I heard that you had a special admission offer. If you enter the school, battle magic is a required class, so how about experiencing it?"
The students sitting down were surprised and buzzed.
Looking at the reactions of the students, it seemed more a deal than when Dane Walker said it wasn’t a common opportunity.
Hearing about the special admission, the gaze of the bowl cut went from hot to practically burning. How annoying.
The professor's suggestion couldn’t be ignored, so I decided to say yes.
"Then shall we try it?”
"Good thinking. Do you have a magic wand? If not, there is one more practice use...”
A practice magic wand was as it was called was a magic wand literally for practice. It had no use unless you couldn’t use your own personal magic wand unexpectedly. There were several of my magic wands in my pocket space, but they were not appropriate to be brought out here.
"Then I'll borrow one for practice."
If I asked Yuria or Alice, they’d lend me their own, but a magic wand was like a magician’s other self and so it would not be polite to ask to borrow it.
"Huuuuu! A magician left his magic wand! You're unqualified as a magician!" The bowl cut proudly pointed at me and shouted.
It seemed as if he was anxious to inform Milpia of my flaws. I could see his inner thoughts so clearly that it was rather cute.
"That's true.” I nodded casually and agreed with him.
What the bowl cut said was true. A magician always carried a magic wand. There were even people who always carried their wands with severe obsession without even putting them in their pocket space.
"Ugh!”
When I moved on casually, the bowl cut frowned and was upset.
Well, by the way, no matter how much it was for practice, it was in such bad condition. This was a blunt instrument rather than a magic wand. If I beat him with this, he’d die, right?
"Okay, then get ready. Sparring start!”
When the professor shouted to start, the bowl cut began to pour mana into his magic wand and chant.
"Like a storm sweeping the ocean..."
There were a lot of unnecessities, but it was quite decent mana control.
I pushed forward the blunt instrument, I mean, the magic wand.
"Flash."
"Gasp! Like a wave of rage..."
When an intense flash of light broke out from the end of the magic wand, the bowl cut covered his eyes and skillfully chanted. It seemed that he had practiced to overcome this sort of disturbance, but it was a suicide to not look at the other person.
I walked over, kicked his leg, and knocked him over.
"Argh!"
Just before the bowl cut hit his head on the ground, I grabbed his collar. Thanks to this, there was no mishap in which the bowl cut’s head was broken.
I put the blunt instrument, I mean, the magic wand, in front of his head and asked, "Will you surrender?"
He looked like he was about to cry. "That, that's cheating! How can you trip someone in a magic battle!”
Isn't this a battle magic practice? You thought you wouldn't get attacked when you didn't even use high-speed chanting? Isn't close-up battle a basic for fighting a magician?
Normally, fists are faster than magic. When I learned about magic battles, I learned as I was beaten to death. If you keep getting hit, magic would become faster than fists.
"Don't you consider the hand-to-hand battle in this class?” I asked.
In fact, it was embarrassing to call it a hand-to-hand battle when it was just tripping someone.
The professor scratched the back of his head as if he was embarrassed. "No, I allow it, but the level the kids are at is yet to reach the level of using magic alongside hand-to-hand combat. The seniors are forced to do it, but they’re still in the lower grades."
Uh, the level.
"I would have prepared myself if I had known that you were going to have a physical fight!" The bowl cut protested with a childish tone.
However, it did not work even a bit on the professor.
"I've taught you to prepare for physical fights all the time.”
"That's... But if we fight again, I'll win. Let's go again!"
Milpia, who was sitting, spoke to the bowl cut, "You'd better give up. You can't block sword aura with your barrier.”
At Milpia’s sudden words, I looked at her.
- Why do you have to say that?
She shrugged at my question.
- Why? I'm helping you so it’s not annoying. You already told the Adventurers’ Guild and the boarding house that you know how to use sword aura anyways.
That's also true. Certainly, the bowl cut looked at me with surprise at Milpia's words and was overwhelmed. Milpia was watching, so he couldn’t take back asking to fight again, but he didn't seem confident in dealing with sword aura.
Poor guy. How did he end up falling in love with such a snake-like woman. Tsk tsk tsk. I let you off easy.
"We can't be the only ones fighting, so I think we'd better stop here," I suggested.
The professor nodded. "Right, next person, come out and pick."
The bowl cut and I went back to our seats.
"Ohh! It's my first time seeing a magic swordsman!"
"Ahem! We’re in the middle of class, so be quiet!" The professor warned.
However, the students around me found it interesting that I knew how to use sword aura and kept talking in a small voice.
How annoying!
-o-
After class, I talked to Dane Walker, who was sprawled out in the lounge.
"You look tired."
"Yeah, the students are at a lower level than I thought. They didn't understand the obvious things."
Dane Walker sighed and asked tiredly, "Hey, is it that hard to do mana calculation?"
The mana calculation is the basic required for higher-order magic. Mana calculation was not necessary depending on the level, but it was something that became necessary when the level increased.
"It can be difficult when you learn it for the first time. Since you don't need such accuracy until learning magic calculations."
To put it simply, mana calculations were like a high-precision scale used for cooking. It was like when frying eggs, you don't need to be careful about the number of grams of salt you season with but need accurate amounts for baking. It was important because the magic results could change to the point where there was a joke that most of the high-ranking magicians had obsessive compulsion because of the mana calculations.
"Is that so?" Dane Walker scratched the back of his head with a look of annoyance.
Come to think of it, Dane Walker seemed to have no obsessive compulsion, considering that he was a magician who even climbed up to being a madosa.
"Mister Dane Walker, wasn't it hard when you were a student?”
"Me? Not really. Even when I didn't study, I did well."
It was something that would garner resentment if other magicians heard it, but it was natural. Mana calculation was basic. If you were at the level of stumbling from basics, you wouldn’t be able to become a great magician, let alone a madosa.
"But it sounds like you're also saying this is a given?"
At his fairly sharp point, I smiled and waved my hand. "There's no magic that's as sensitive to quantitative calculation as alchemy. Isn't it natural?”
"I guess. I did hear alchemists were good at that. For you, a master of medicine, it must be a piece of cake."
Convinced, Dane Walker stroked his chin. "Huh? Then there’s no need for you to go to the Magic School?"
Mana calculations were the Magic School curriculum tailored to classes for the highest grade. In other words, the standard for officially being able to boast as a magician was to be able to do mana calculations. Therefore, it could also be said that if you could do mana calculations skillfully, you didn't have to go to the Magic School.
At Dane Walker's realization, I nodded.
"That's why I refused."
Of course, even with the level of a graduate, it was still worth attending the Magic School. Although it hasn't been long since it was built, it was filled with better facilities than my workshop, and the good environment for magic outside of my specialty was a merit. If it was before I crossed the wall of the Magic Way, I would have definitely positively responded to the dean's recommendation.
"What? You refused?!”
Alice's voice was heard from outside the lounge.
Outside the door was full of students who were here to see the madosa, Dane Walker, including Alice.
Yuria also stuck her head out from the crowd and said, "This place has great facilities! Let's attend together, Den!"
At her recommendation, I smiled awkwardly. "Haha, I’ll think about it."
I had no intention of going. In the first place, the level of professors was lower than mine, so why would I go? Perhaps if the professors were at the level of Elder Mirpa or Old Man Arpen, but it was absolutely a no.
At that time, the voice of the bowl cut was heard among the crowd.
"How dare you! You ungrateful, ack!"
He seemed to have been stepped on by someone while squeezing through the crowd. I wonder if his weak-looking bones broke or not. Poor guy.
"I'm thinking about going home now. What about you, Mister Dane Walker?" I made a drinking gesture.
Dane Walker sighed grimly. "Sigh, I got a seminar with the professors in a little bit. Ugh! If it weren't for the teacher, I would've skipped it."
I sympathized with him sincerely. The tight schedule would have been frustrating for Dane Walker, who was accustomed to an adventurer's freedom.
"Then I'll head out first. Work hard."
"All right. Let's have a drink after our instructor's work is done. I'll treat you big time!"
"I'll look forward to it."
I left Dane Walker behind and walked through the crowd that was there to see Dane Walker. When I left the lounge, Alice and Yuri approached me.
"Didn't you come to see Mr. Dane Walker? You can look around more.” I suggested as I walked toward the main gate.
Alice snorted and replied, "No, I'm here to go home with you." Then she avoided my gaze and whispered softly, "But, but please take me when you go for drinks later."
She pretended not to be, but she was interested in the madosa level, which was still distant from her.
"Haha, I’ll think about it. But Milpia and A… ria, I don’t see them?” I asked.
Yuria smiled and answered, "They both left school first because they had something to take care of. But Den, you seem to always hesitate when talking about Aria?”
I flinched at her question. If I saw her often, I’d become used to saying Aria, but since I don’t, I keep almost saying Arelia.
"Hahaha, do I?”
I was about to change the subject, but luckily I heard a call from behind us.
"Stop there!"
The people who called us were the bowl cut, who was limping from having been stepped on earlier, and his friend.
"I have something to say!"
As if agreeing with the bowl cut’s pompous voice, the friends also shouted.
"Let us join for the drinks!"
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