From that day on, Elodie’s magic lessons were held in the Workshop.
Because the Workshop’s location was at a very high altitude in the sky, there was basically no worry of being discovered.
“......That’s as far as the concept of formula composition goes.”
Elodie set down the chalk. At first it had felt awkward to handle the things created in the Workshop, but she soon got used to it. After all, there was no difference from the real things.
“The more formulas you stack, the more complex it naturally gets. As it grows more complex, the activation time also gets longer. So sometimes we use a single formula that combines two effects to lighten the calculation. You could say the difficulty increases while the complexity goes down.”
“For example?”
“There’s a formula called ‘Chaktan.’ It’s a formula that makes an activated spell adhere to the target’s surface. This one includes the effects of ‘Stop’ and ‘Offset Activation.’ Of course, the number of formulas goes down, but by that much, that single formula becomes harder.”
Frondier, understanding, nodded.
“So even if they’re both four-formula constructions, one might just be a list of basics, while the other could be a high-difficulty system that contains the effects of other formulas.”
“Mm, mm. The teacher is happy to have a clever student.”
Elodie nodded with a satisfied smile.
Frondier propped his chin and let out a thoughtful “hmm.”
'Combining magic and combat. The name has romance, but I can see why no one attempts it. Just doing magic properly by itself has tremendous depth.'
Of course, part of why Frondier thought this way was because he already knew Elodie’s skill.
Her tremendous destructive power and the many kinds of responses she had to all sorts of situations. He could feel, if only the tip of the iceberg, how much skill was required to realize that.
Elodie asked,
“You said you decided to teach Magic–Combat Combined, right?”
“Ah, yeah.”
“Will that be okay? Magic–Combat Combined is different in name only; the system never properly functioned even on the Falind continent. If it worked, magic–warriors would’ve been all over the continent long ago.”
“To be honest, I was looking down on it a bit.”
Frondier himself could manage to do magic and combat in parallel. No—he was already doing so.
That was why he had decided to teach Magic–Combat Combined. It was a choice he made himself.
But what he himself could do and making others do the same were completely different matters.
'Most of my combat is the application of a Unique-rank magic called ‘Weaving.’ Naturally, other people can’t copy that.'
Frondier’s Weaving, in and of itself, is very closely tied to combat. But there aren’t many magics like that. In most cases, they amount to auxiliary effects that slightly increase attack power or speed.
“Hector, that guy, was more impressive than I thought.”
At Frondier’s mutter, Elodie was surprised.
“Hector? You mean White Lion Hector?”
“Yeah. I saw him in Teiben.”
“You really do have unexpected connections all over the place.”
Elodie let out a sigh as if flabbergasted.
Hector, Ledwi’s son. Of course, in this world that’s a secret few know, so she kept her mouth shut about that.
But aside from such family ties, there were few who didn’t know of Hector’s prowess itself.
“He’s the only person who properly does the magic–warrior people wish for.”
“Rather than twisting my own fighting style to teach the students, it’d be better to take Hector as a reference.”
'If only Hector were by my side.' Frondier muttered with a sigh.
At that, Elodie thought for a moment and then said,
“To be honest, by my standards, I think it’s harder for a mage to use aura than for a warrior to use magic.”
“......Huh?”
Frondier cocked his head.
From what he felt, the depth of magic was far greater than that of aura.
Of course, there are people like Pielot or the Imperial Palace knight Pascal who use aura to an inexhaustible degree, but that’s still closer to the concept of manipulation.
Elodie went on.
“To be frank, I still don’t understand aura.”
“It’s simple. You condense the qi in the body, accelerate the circulation, and increase strength and speed. Like a car engine.”
“You can only say that because you can use aura.”
Elodie shook her head.
“From where I stand, all you did was accelerate, yet it yields effects beyond precise formulas.”
“......Ah.”
When you put it that way, it’s true. Since Frondier had mastered aura himself, it didn’t impress him much, but from a mage’s perspective it would look quite strange.
Being able to use aura versus not being able to is a colossal difference for a swordsman. Of course, that’s on the condition that everything else is equal.
For a mutant like Pielot, who awakened aura earlier than other basics, aura can actually hinder growth.
But aside from such cases, aura grants warriors tremendous power.
It blocks most attacks, strengthens one’s own strikes, and increases speed. A swordsman like Pascal even emits and launches aura itself.
“From a mage’s standpoint, there’s no magic so convenient. It’s like a collection of every effect worth using in combat.”
“......I see. I get what you’re saying.”
He had to admit, when put that way, it was odd.
Why is aura so efficient? It also uses qi, so in that respect it’s no different from magic.
Aura, which has not even a single formula, outperforms magic that uses set formulas.
'The reason it yields greater power is itself simple. A seasoned swordsman uses stronger aura. He can condense more qi and generate energy.'
By contrast, magic can’t do that.
Magic doesn’t get stronger just because you pour in a lot of mana.
To use strong magic, you have to know strong magic.
'......Hm?'
There, Frondier lifted his head.
Seeing that, Elodie’s eyes narrowed.
“......You’re having some weird thought again, aren’t you?”
“N-no? I’m not?”
Frondier hurriedly shook his head.
Weird thought, he says.
This is what they call a good idea.
***
Before conducting the magic experiment for which a “good idea” ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) had come to him, there was something Frondier had to do first.
Atlas’s break was a week away.
That meant finals were right before their eyes.
Accordingly, Frondier had to make the final exam questions.
“Questions 1 through 10 will be fundamentals......”
“Make sure the difficulty is well-balanced......”
Of course, Frondier was not going to write all the questions for a single subject’s final.
No—truth be told, Frondier did almost nothing.
At Atlas, the teachers write the exams in teams, and this tendency is even stronger for theory exams.
While everyone spoke passionately in the conference room, Frondier sat quietly.
'Whether I should step up or not.'
Simply put, Frondier was watching the mood.
As a new teacher, he couldn’t just meddle as he pleased, and by nature he didn’t particularly want to, either.
He was already plenty busy. He declined to have any more work added.
“Then since we’ve set the scope for composition, let’s stop here for today. Next time, we’ll compile the questions we’ve written and review them.”
The most experienced among the magic teachers wrapped up with that.
Even up to then, Frondier had hardly spoken. He only gave appropriate answers to what he was asked.
Yes. Indeed. I see. That’s right. Those four phrases were all he said in the conference room.
“Then we’ll be counting on you as well, Teacher Frondier.”
“Yes. It was numbers 15 through 20, right.”
At Atlas, like anywhere else, the written exams get harder toward the end. Of course, there are trap questions planted here and there, but you can’t really call that difficulty.
'At this level, I can proceed without much burden. The types of exam questions Atlas uses are all in the Workshop, so if I just patchwork them together......'
It wasn’t very teacherly thinking, but it was efficient thinking.
“Teacher Frondier.”
At that moment, Teacher Giotto called Frondier.
“Yes?”
“Would you be interested in writing the final problem?”
Frondier looked at Giotto, wondering what on earth that meant.
Giotto gave a sly wink that only Frondier could see.
As if he were doing him a favor.
“Writing the final problem is a serious responsibility. But if you do it well, your footing will become much more solid.”
“......R-right.”
Frondier tilted his head ambiguously.
'I don’t think a new teacher would be given a role like that.'
Naturally, the final problem has to be the most difficult, and it should be solvable only if you properly understand the theories learned so far.
This kind of weighty task didn’t seem like something a new teacher would take on.
Was Teacher Giotto suggesting it because he thought it would help Frondier?
But to be honest, it was nothing but one more bothersome task.
Frondier’s eyes sank.
'Whether this teacher is on my side or not, he sure is a nuisance.'
Frondier looked around.
Honestly, even up to this point he hadn’t been worried because he figured there would surely be pushback from the other teachers.
However,
“Sounds fine to me. I’m in favor.”
“Pardon?”
One teacher spoke, and another nodded.
“Teacher Frondier hasn’t been here long, but the students’ evaluations are very good. They say the class quality is high and his grasp of theory is deep.”
“......No. I only teach an ordinary class—”
Another teacher chimed in.
“I’m in favor too. Above all, Teacher Frondier is the outstanding person who developed the three-dimensional map, isn’t he? It’d be a waste to miss a chance for a talent to shine.”
“T-the 3D map has nothing to do with magic theory—”
They weren’t listening.
On top of that, they were defending Frondier.
Everyone was in a state of wanting Frondier to write the final problem.
That was when Frondier realized.
'These people—none of them wants to write it!'
Frondier wasn’t the only one who found writing the final problem a hassle.
Of course, if you produced excellent quality, you’d earn your fellow teachers’ recognition and the students’ good evaluations, but that’s only if producing excellent quality is possible.
What they were making now was a written exam for theory class. There wasn’t any particular angle to raise the quality, and if you made a clumsy attempt and wrecked the difficulty, you’d just get cursed out.
They didn’t want to make Frondier’s life hard.
They just didn’t want to do it themselves.
“Then it’s settled. We’re counting on you, Teacher Frondier!”
In the midst of this, Giotto flashed a wink and stuck up a thumb as if he’d given real help.
Barely holding back the urge to grab it and snap it,
“......Understood.”
Frondier answered.
'Since it’s come to this anyway,'
Frondier’s Workshop holds all the materials for every class of the first term. The very distillation of knowledge, with summaries and organization, points for improvement and supplements all recorded.
He had material perfectly suited to producing a “final problem.”
'I’ll make it properly.'
Frondier smiled where no one could see, deep inside.
A strange idea came to him.
