It had been almost a year since I enrolled in the Magic University.
I was now sixteen years old.
In this world, there was no custom of celebrating birthdays outside of ages five, ten, and fifteen, so I had completely forgotten when my own birthday was.
I could probably figure it out if I looked at my adventurer card every day, but it wasn't the kind of thing I checked regularly.
Well, age didn't really matter.
---
After meeting Nanahoshi, my daily routine had changed.
First, I'd wake up and train.
That part was mostly the same as always.
However, while I was doing my sword swings, Baldigardi would occasionally show up.
He'd just stand there watching in silence.
He wasn't there to drill me or give advice—
he'd just fold his four pairs of arms, rest some on his hips, and nod along saying "Mm, mm."
What was he finding so agreeable?
He never said anything in particular.
If he opened his mouth, he'd start bellowing with laughter at the crack of dawn and disturb the neighbors, so I never asked either.
I didn't know how to interact with him.
He seemed like an amiable enough person, but I had no idea what was going on in his head.
He was a Demon King, after all, and I had a feeling it would be bad to get on his bad side.
But one day, Baldigardi opened his mouth.
"Hm, an interesting training method, but does it serve any purpose?"
*Does it serve any purpose.*
That stung a little.
"There must be a reason for everything I do," I countered.
"You have an absurd amount of mana—training without wrapping yourself in battle aura is meaningless," he replied.
Battle aura.
*Battle aura.*
Now that I thought about it, I'd heard the term thrown around quite often.
But when it came to how you actually wrapped yourself in it, things got vague.
This was a good opportunity. I decided to ask.
"What exactly is battle aura?"
"Battle aura is, in essence, mana!" Baldigardi declared.
According to him, battle aura was a technique that used the mana within your body to explosively boost your physical abilities.
In short, physical enhancement.
That much matched my expectations.
"How do you wrap yourself in it?"
"Coat every fiber of muscle in your body with mana and compress it!"
"Ohh."
What wonderful advice.
So this was the wisdom of a Demon King.
With this, I too could become stronger.
I could ascend to a higher level.
And so, I tried releasing mana like in Dragon Ball, and I tried to feel the sensation of it wavering around my body like in Hunter × Hunter, and I experimented with all sorts of things—but there was no difference in my physical abilities whatsoever.
It just felt like I'd gotten stronger, was all.
"You know what your problem is? You've got no talent!"
He then gave me a blunt explanation of why I couldn't do it.
Apparently, battle aura was something you naturally learned how to wrap yourself in through physical training.
I'd been training pretty diligently myself, but I still couldn't manifest battle aura.
Therefore, I had no talent.
Apparently there were people like that.
No matter how hard they trained, they just couldn't wrap themselves in battle aura.
"Fufufufufufu! But you don't really need it, do you!
Even Laplace didn't wrap himself in battle aura, and he was plenty strong!"
Baldigardi liked to compare me to Laplace.
Maybe it was because we shared the trait of possessing tremendous mana.
"Lord Baldigardi, have you ever met Laplace?"
"Mm, he destroyed most of my body in a single blow, and it took quite a while to recover!
I thought I was going to die that time! Fufufufufufu!"
Was that really something to boast about?
Well, just the fact that he'd fought someone that powerful and survived was probably boast-worthy enough.
According to Baldigardi, Laplace was a mysterious and shady man, but his use of mana was masterful.
"If I fought the way Laplace did, could I become strong too?"
"Don't even think about it. If you tried to use mana the way he does, your body would shatter in an instant.
Besides, the very fact that a human possesses that amount of mana is abnormal!"
Immense mana destroys its wielder.
I had a rough understanding of that already.
The process of infusing mana into yourself was like stretching your arm to its absolute limit.
Push it past the breaking point, and naturally, it snaps.
Laplace had a body and techniques commensurate with his vast mana reserves.
I had neither the body nor the techniques.
With a human physique, no matter how much I trained, I could never become like Laplace.
At least, that was what he said.
"Besides, what's the point of getting stronger?"
"The point... you ask?"
Having died once already, it was only natural to want to avoid it next time, wasn't it?
"I've known several men who pursued strength and fame too far, and none of them turned out well.
My nephew, for example—stubborn as a mule.
He's settled down now, but back then he was going on about becoming the world's greatest hero before he died.
There are far more important things in life than that."
"Important things? Like what?"
"Like women, of course! Find yourself one and you'll understand! Fufufufu!"
Baldigardi said this with a smug look on his face.
Even in the manga I'd read in my previous life, the guys who chased nothing but strength never ended up happy.
I wasn't planning to chase strength that obsessively either.
In this world, the strong could throw their weight around, but might didn't make right.
Chase women instead of strength.
That hedonistic mindset, I could understand.
But with my condition making it impossible to go after women with any vigor, what was I supposed to do?
"Demon King."
"What is it?"
"Do you happen to know a cure for impotence?"
"......I don't."
For me, the Demon King's wisdom didn't seem all that useful.
---
After breakfast, I headed to class.
Recently, I'd been studying intermediate detoxification magic.
Intermediate-grade detoxification magic.
Detoxification magic could handle most symptoms at the basic level.
But for specific diseases, high-rank poisons used by powerful magical beasts, or advanced stages of illness, you needed pinpoint incantations and an enormous amount of mana.
At the intermediate level and above, you learned those pinpoint spells.
And those incantations were long.
At intermediate alone, they were several times longer than attack magic.
Apparently, incantations had been shortened from their original ancient forms by wise men of old, but that streamlining apparently hadn't been applied to intermediate-level detoxification magic and above.
There were many types, too.
At intermediate, you had to memorize over fifty incantations.
Some of them could even create poisons.
*Poison can also be medicine*—well said, indeed.
At advanced, over a hundred.
At that point, you needed a pretty formidable memory.
At saint-level and above, the need to memorize decreased, but mana consumption increased instead.
King-level and above were studied and kept secret by each nation.
Create a poison that healing magic couldn't cure to threaten other countries, then develop the formula to treat it.
Every world had its own arms race of virus and vaccine.
Incidentally, the divine-grade detoxification magic was said to cure a certain rare disease.
I believed it was called the Mana Stone Disease.
A condition where the mana in your body gradually turned into mana stones.
Throughout history, only one person had ever been able to cast it.
The incantation was carefully preserved in the Millis Cathedral.
Incidentally, as the rank went up from intermediate to advanced to saint, the incantations grew longer.
At king-level, you'd probably have to read through an entire book.
Even with my body's excellent memorization, learning them all would take a fair amount of time.
Memorizing prayers—priests had it tough in every world.
Well, if it were me, I'd just carry around the book with the incantations written in it.
Maybe if I mastered detoxification magic, I could cure my own condition too.
That was what I was thinking when I signed up for the class, but after asking the instructor, apparently there was no spell at advanced level or below that could cure ED.
Of course not.
It was a psychological issue, after all.
---
Lunch.
I'd been eating outside until now, but it was starting to get cold.
So I decided to build a structure.
Using earth magic, I enclosed a table with a roof and walls.
I cut a hole in the center of the table and built a fire in it.
Punch a ventilation hole in the ceiling, and in no time you had a kamakura-style shelter.
The stone table, heated by the fire, was quite warm.
I got that far before Vice-Principal Genius showed up and chewed me out.
She told me if I was going to build a structure outside, I should just eat inside instead.
So I reluctantly moved to the first floor to eat.
I'd expected Zanoba to object, but surprisingly, he didn't say a word.
"Juli can't sit at the third-floor tables, you see."
On the third floor, there were apparently no chairs for those of slave status.
Another local rule.
Zanoba didn't treat Juli as a slave.
He treated her as his junior disciple, a fellow student.
That said, her status was still lower than his, and I'd seen him boss her around here and there.
The treatment of slaves varied wildly.
I couldn't tell if Zanoba's approach was good or bad.
But it was certainly better than outright treating her like a slave.
When I entered the dining hall, the crowd parted for some reason.
"Hey... that's Rudeus..."
"Amazing, right? He took down all the special students in just one year..."
"I saw him fight the Demon King—one hit, just one hit..."
They were whispering about me.
I didn't remember taking down everyone, and the Demon King had taken three hits to knock out after one clean shot.
But I couldn't say I minded.
I just didn't want to get too full of myself...
The parted crowd led to a table at the very back.
"Fufufufufufu! So even you don't do well in the cold, huh?"
For some reason, Baldigardi was sitting there, guzzling alcohol that definitely wasn't on the cafeteria menu.
His skin had shifted from black to a dark reddish hue.
Was he drunk?
His muscles were pure mystery meat.
The surrounding students were watching from a safe distance, clearly wanting to sit down but not daring to.
Was I supposed to always use this spot for meals?
Well, if so, that was fine.
On the second floor, I knew Elinalise and Cliff were eating.
I'd glimpsed that scene once, and it was the picture of a lovey-dovey couple.
Feeding each other "Aaah," kissing without caring who saw—
Watching them just made me feel hollow, so I tried to stay away.
"Master, that Demon King's drink looks really delicious!"
"Fufufufufufu! You can tell just from one look—truly befitting of the Coal Tribe!
Indeed! This is a fine brew that a man with a lint ball on his head had been hiding away!"
Juli, tugging on Zanoba's hem, made that remark.
A lint ball on his head—did she mean Principal Georg?
The Coal Tribe were supposed to be fond of drink, and sure enough, Juli was no exception.
But she was way too young for that, wasn't she?
Or so I thought, at least.
"Hm, Demon King, would it be permissible to have one cup?"
"Of course! Drinking alone isn't much fun anyway! Fufufufufufu!"
Zanoba overheard, and Juli received a cup and sipped at it delicately.
Was that really okay?
She was far too young, wasn't she?
I could always use detoxification magic later if it came to that, I supposed.
Well, I'd had a little sip myself at age seven in this world, so I wasn't in a position to talk.
"Well then, allow me one cup as well."
"You've got class—don't," I said.
"If Master says so, then Lord Baldigardi, I must respectfully decline."
"Fufufufufufu! Not even free to drink alcohol—being a student is tough!"
With that exchange, we finished the day's lunch.
Me? I didn't drink.
---
After lunch, it was back to class.
I was learning advanced healing magic.
A fifth-year classroom.
Surprisingly, Placed in the same class as Pursena.
What was surprising was that Pursena was alone—Linia was taking a different class.
Pursena focused mainly on healing magic, while Linia took attack magic courses.
Pursena, who always seemed like she wasn't taking things seriously, was actually attending class diligently—albeit while chewing on dried meat.
That said, as a special student and former delinquent, she was feared, and lately she'd been something of a loner.
Apparently she'd struggled to pair up with anyone during practical lessons.
So she was quite grateful to have me around.
"If you're the Boss, I suppose I can give you something important."
She'd offered me her half-eaten dried meat.
I gratefully accepted it, licked it thoroughly, and then savored the taste.
Pursena looked absolutely disgusted.
Even though *she* was the one who gave it to me...
As for Linia, she'd been asking me all sorts of questions about attack magic lately.
Apparently she was struggling mainly with composite magic.
Attack mages tended to hit a wall with composite magic, apparently.
Sylphie didn't seem to have that problem, but maybe it was the difference in mental flexibility between a child and an adult.
Today's lesson was on composite magic involving water and fire.
That brought back memories.
I tried to explain phase transitions—evaporation, condensation, melting—using the "Mechanisms of Rain" framework.
But Linia tilted her head.
If she could understand that seawater evaporates to form clouds, raindrops grow inside the clouds, and eventually fall, she'd be able to apply it to some degree.
But she objected: "If all the ocean turned to rain, wouldn't the ocean disappear, nya?"
"When the rain falls, it flows back into the sea, so the total amount stays the same," I explained.
"You're lying, nya, because the water in the Great Forest seeps into the ground!" she shot back with a smug face.
From there, I walked her through the cycle step by step—water seeping into the ground being absorbed by trees, or becoming groundwater...
She tilted her head through the whole thing.
That said, she wasn't as lacking in comprehension as Girene, so she'd probably get it eventually.
Speaking of attack magic, I'd mastered an earth-attribute saint-tier spell.
Sandstorm.
An upgraded version of the advanced spell Sandstorm.
On paper it didn't look like much, but when you actually used it, an incredible volume of gale-force winds and sand would engulf the entire area.
Visibility dropped to zero, and even breathing became difficult.
Even after the effect wore off, loose sand remained scattered across a wide area.
If the water saint-tier spell Grand Thunder Cumulonimbus was a spell of rain and wind, then Sandstorm was a spell of sand and wind.
Saint-tier spells seemed to involve weather phenomena quite a lot.
The instructor who taught me warned, "It can damage crops, so never use it within a city."
Was that the standard disclaimer when teaching saint-tier spells?
In any case, I was now an earth saint-tier mage.
Eat my dust.
Not really.
If I had time, I'd find instructors for the other two attributes and learn those as well.
Incidentally, that earth saint-tier instructor had said, "I wouldn't have guessed you didn't know any saint-tier spells."
According to Baldigardi, my incantationless magic attacks had already reached king-tier in power, so the instructor had assumed I already knew at least saint-tier.
That Demon King had told me that the stone cannon I'd fired at him had emperor-tier destructive power.
A spell with that much pinpoint destructive force—apparently he'd never seen anyone other than Laplace use one.
When I asked if I could call myself an earth emperor-tier mage, he said I could call myself whatever I wanted.
He'd said it in a way that suggested there was more to it, so I decided not to.
There was no upside to boasting about being incredible without a reason.
---
By mid-afternoon, I headed to Nanahoshi's laboratory.
Her lab was spacious.
The room you entered first had the impression of a storage shed with things scattered everywhere.
From the shed-like room, you went into the adjacent one.
That was an experiment chamber lined with mana-resistant bricks.
And from there, another room over was Nanahoshi's bedroom.
One corner of the bedroom apparently served as a food pantry.
Sleeping alongside food—didn't she get mice and cockroaches?
After getting a general picture of the layout, I understood: she had the talent of a shut-in.
I was one to talk, I knew.
Incidentally, I was forbidden from entering the bedroom.
The experiments primarily involved summoning magic.
In the experiment chamber, she'd pour mana into a magic circle she'd drawn herself.
That was all there was to it, but the volume was enormous.
She was also running approaches on magic circles that were "expected to fail."
Even with money to spare, mana crystals weren't always available for purchase, and the market had limits—buy too aggressively and you'd earn grudges from all quarters.
So these experiments had been put off for a long time.
All she did was pour mana into magic circles.
Most of the time, nothing came of it. The paint would vanish, leaving only the sketch beneath.
But occasionally, a startling amount of mana would get sucked in with a *gyun gyun* sound, and something would briefly poke through.
A soiled black feather. An insect leg. Things like that.
I asked if it was a success, and she said of course it was a failure.
But not knowing what she was doing was starting to build up a bit of stress.
"Actually, what exactly are you experimenting on?"
"A preliminary theory—specifically, a few stages removed—for a magic circle to summon humans from our world."
If she could complete a summoning circle for humans, she could theoretically reverse-engineer a sending-back circle too... maybe.
That said, "a few stages removed"? The road ahead was still long.
But setting that aside...
"If you summoned a human the same way, wouldn't that disaster happen again?"
"Of course I don't intend to cause another disaster. But if I can prove the next two theoretical stages, I can formulate a hypothesis about why that disaster occurred in the first place."
That was apparently the plan.
"There's a saying—'experiments are bound to fail,' so please don't take this lightly. A lot of people died in that disaster."
"If you're going to quote that, it should be 'life is bound to have failures.' I know that already. That's exactly why I'm building the foundation carefully like this."
Was this really the foundation stage?
I wasn't sure.
Maybe I should learn summoning magic myself.
"I'd like to learn about summoning magic too."
"Summoning is my lifeline. I can't just hand that over casually."
"You said you'd teach me anything!"
When I said that, Nanahoshi clicked her tongue.
"When I finish this experiment, I'll answer one question for you."
"One? That doesn't seem like a fair trade."
"When all the experiments are done and I leave, I'm handing over all the results, information, and connections to you anyway. So just be patient for now."
Nanahoshi was irritated.
Well, I supposed it was unsightly to start demanding things before any results had materialized.
While I was thinking that, she handed me a book.
*Sig's Summoning Arts*, it read.
"If you're that curious, look it up yourself."
I'd seen it somewhere before, but I had no memory of reading it.
I'd graciously give it a read.
That was the current state of the experiments.
Nanahoshi was apparently trying to brute-force her way through tens of millions of magic circle patterns to find the underlying principles.
It was a long-game endeavor.
---
I no longer went to the library.
But Fitz-senpai occasionally came along for the experiments.
Watching her, I could see just how grueling the work I was doing really was.
After all, she ran out of mana after exciting just about twenty scrolls.
"Rudeus-kun, this—just one sheet consumes about as much as an advanced spell," Fitz-senpai said.
Fitz-senpai was a user of incantationless magic, but her total mana reserves weren't that large.
Or rather, they were considerably above average by normal standards, but I was apparently off the charts.
I wished someone could quantify this for me.
But even someone as capable as Fitz-senpai hit this wall.
I didn't know exactly what kind of magic circles Nanahoshi was drawing, but was summoning magic really that mana-hungry?
Unlike attack magic, you didn't fire it off repeatedly in battle, so a higher cost wouldn't be unreasonable.
But even clearly failed scrolls caused Fitz-senpai to run dry.
Then again, maybe it consumed that much mana precisely because it was a summoning from another world.
"Sorry, I'm on guard duty too, so I can't help with this... I need to keep mana in reserve in case something happens..."
"That can't be helped."
Fitz-senpai had been down lately.
She seemed a bit wounded.
She apparently had some pride when it came to magic.
Everyone had their pride.
"......"
Nanahoshi never spoke to Fitz-senpai.
Fitz-senpai, in turn, seemed to find Nanahoshi a bit difficult.
"I'm... useless, aren't I?"
She said this with a lonely look, but I shook my head.
"That's not true at all."
"You think so?"
"Yes. Having you here gives me peace of mind."
Over this past year, I'd received a great deal of help from Fitz-senpai.
I didn't want to say goodbye just because she felt she wasn't useful enough.
If Fitz-senpai truly couldn't manage, I wouldn't stop her from stepping back.
But if she was withdrawing because she felt she wasn't strong enough, I wanted to put my foot down.
"Come whenever you have time. We've been investigating this together, haven't we? Let's get to the bottom of this together."
"...Okay. Thank you."
Fitz-senpai smiled bashfully.
I was weak to that smile no matter what.
Fitz-senpai was probably about thirteen now, I thought.
In another few years, she'd be a handsome young man who could make any girl swoon.
Well, how to put this...
Honestly, lately, Fitz-senpai looked like nothing but a girl to me.
Were my eyes broken?
Or maybe—had I awakened to a different path?
---
When the sun set, I returned to the dormitory with Fitz-senpai.
We parted ways in front of the women's dormitory.
"Oh, that's right, Rudeus-kun."
"What is it?"
"You should be able to walk down this road now, don't you think?"
Fitz-senpai gestured to the path in front of us.
The very path where, right after I'd enrolled, I'd been falsely accused of being an underwear thief.
I hadn't gone near that road since that day.
"You keep saying that, but if I walk there, won't people scream?"
"Hehe, you've actually become quite popular with the girls in the dormitory, you know."
"Huh? Seriously? Like some prince charming at Tennis Academy?"
"Tennis...?"
Fitz-senpai gave me a blank stare.
"They say you're a gentleman who punishes the wicked but doesn't lay a hand on ordinary students.
After all, you're strong enough to defeat the Demon King who beat all those beast-tribe warriors in one blow,
yet when surrounded and threatened, you didn't fight back at all."
Liar.
I'd heard the rumors.
I was listening.
Popular, my foot.
No way.
"Hehe, at first people were scared of you, but
Linia and Pursena started going around telling people.
'The Boss is a generous gentleman who doesn't bully the weak,' or something like that."
Fitz-senpai said this while placing a hand near the tips of her ears, mimicking Linia.
How to put it...
Ah.
Cute.
Something was descending to about waist level.
"Eventually, everyone seemed to catch on to your charm.
Your clothes might look a bit shabby, but your face isn't bad, your brooding side is appealing, and the fact that you're strong without being arrogant is great too."
Oh ho.
Those two were doing me a real favor.
It sounded like they were keeping quiet about my condition, too.
I'd treat Pursena to some premium meat.
What did Linia like? Status? Fame? Cash?
"Some people are still scared, though. Gordeau-san, for example."
"Ah, well, she can't be helped. She was the ringleader. And I kind of got into it with her the other day too."
"I see. Linia and Pursena go up to Gordeau-san every time they see her and pick a fight about that day."
*Pick a fight.*
That phrase brought back the image of a terrified gorilla from the other day.
Bullying.
"Shouldn't you stop them, Fitz-senpai?"
"I won't. After all, Gordeau-san was in the wrong—she unilaterally decided you were the bad guy. It's good medicine for her."
Fitz-senpai could be pretty ruthless too.
But bullying wasn't okay.
"She didn't mean any real harm, so please don't push her too far... Could you pass that along to Linia and Pursena as well?"
My tone had gone a little stiff.
Fitz-senpai held up her palms in a panic.
"No, no. They're not bullying her. It's more like friendly banter—Gordeau-san's all 'Come on, give me a break already!' type of thing."
Gordeau-san—with that appearance, she was the type to get teased?
Bullying and teasing were separated by a paper-thin line, so you had to be careful with that.
"I see. As long it's within the bounds of roughhousing... In any case, I've moved past it, so just make sure they don't go too far."
"You're kind, Rudeus-kun. Okay, I'll let Gordeau-san know too."
There was no need to let Gordeau-san know anything.
If she sent me her panties as thanks, I'd just have to deal with the awkwardness of disposing of them.
"Hehehe..."
Fitz-senpai smiled bashfully and walked off down the path.
I stayed where I was.
After about three steps, Fitz-senpai turned back.
"So, in other words—it's okay, right?"
"No, I've finally built up a good image, so I'll hold off on walking there like I own the place."
I struck a cool pose as I said it.
"R-right? Very Rudeus-like of you."
Fitz-senpai stammered, covering her mouth.
Was she laughing?
Maybe I really should stop trying to look cool.
I'd been told "your smiling face is creepy" more times than I could count.
That was too many syllables.
"Okay then. Bye, Rudeus-kun. See you next time."
"Yes, let's meet again."
And with that, I parted ways with Fitz-senpai.
---
After dinner, in the Zanoba Room, I gave Juli a magic lesson.
Juli was diligent, clever, and absorbed information like a sponge.
Her hands were dexterous too—anything she couldn't do with magic, she could do by hand.
Maybe this wasn't the right way to put it, but I considered her a bargain.
She was exactly the type of person who qualified as a hidden gem among slaves.
That said, she was still in her first year.
Her mana reserves were far from sufficient, and her precision was nowhere near ready.
Dexterous as her hands were, she'd only just started using carving tools and still had a ways to go.
I'd need to take a long view with her.
I taught her while working on my own dolls.
Lately, I'd started making a "1/8th Scale Fitz-senpai."
The problem was, Fitz-senpai always wore baggy clothes, so I couldn't tell her body's contours.
Long-eared races had almost no body fat, so she had to be thin...
The question was: to include or not to include.
If I made the clothes removable, it wouldn't matter either way.
But I was torn.
My brain said don't include them, but if Fitz-senpai saw it, she might get angry.
I wanted to show the finished product to her too, and I couldn't decide...
"If you'd like, I could ambush her and strip her down for you."
"Don't you dare."
Zanoba made that offer to me in my indecision, but I shot it down.
As for Zanoba, he was continuing work on the Red Dragon figurine under my direction.
The Red Dragon had large individual pieces, which suited Zanoba's style.
That said, Zanoba's hands were still as clumsy as ever, so progress was slow.
Take your time, I said.
---
Before bed, I read *Sig's Summoning Arts*.
It was the story of a witch named Sig who summoned magical beasts one after another.
In the end, she consumed enormous amounts of mana through a mass of offerings to summon a magical beast stronger than herself—and was devoured.
Her apprentice mourned her death and swore never to summon a beast beyond his own ability.
The fact that it had a moral was very fairy-tale-like.
It was easy to imagine that an amateur like me, with only massive mana reserves to his name, consuming vast amounts of mana to summon something might result in a terrifying creature he couldn't control.
If I was going to study this, I'd better grasp the pros and cons thoroughly first.
But the book didn't contain specific summoning methods or magic circles.
What was I supposed to research from this?
---
And so, my days passed.
I couldn't find a way to cure my condition.
It felt like I'd arrived at the next stage before finding one.
Or maybe, because I'd received advice, I'd become too optimistic and should have been frantically searching from every possible angle instead.
Just as those thoughts began to cross my mind one day—
My troubles began hurtling toward a resolution.
End of Chapter 8: Adolescence — The Special Student Arc
Next Chapter
Chapter 9: Adolescence — The Sylphiette Arc