The Professor's Shackles Broken
In the end, I had succeeded in breaking the old professor's stubbornness.
With his pride still high, Aipman returned to his calm voice.
“Didn’t I tell you, Professor? I’ll live longer than you. Of course, together with my wife.”
“So, how am I supposed to live longer? Just tell me what you want.”
“Do you know two students who have enrolled in the academy this year?”
“The prince and princess of Solea, I suppose.”
“There’s a key to treating your wife with those two.”
“That’s all I can tell you.”
I turned back toward the window and started to leave.
“W-wait! What exactly is that key?”
“You’ll have to confirm it yourself.”
I tossed the riddle at Aipman and stepped out through the window.
Coming up had been easy, but coming down was more cautious.
The view below from this height was dizzying.
But I’d seen far more dizzying sights than this in my previous life, so I descended without much panic.
The answer to the riddle I’d thrown at Aipman was Erewon the prince.
Me, who had learned how to heal my body with mana from my master.
It was right after I woke from my coma.
After I had worked my body to exhaustion to deal with the mage Sera and the ambassador Weez, and had told Lura what I needed to do.
---
“Stop laughing.”
My master kept chuckling as he looked at me.
I told Lura what I needed to do next and sent her away before I could properly heal my body.
Now I had to heal the wounds I’d inflicted on myself, so I focused on my body calmly, but my master kept laughing right beside me.
That made concentration difficult.
“But your appearance is hilarious. Don’t laugh.”
Even I could see that my condition was terrible.
Looking at the mirror that blocked Lura’s life from being affected, my body was swollen and covered in bruises everywhere, a sight that made me sigh every time I saw it.
So, the goal was to concentrate.
Rotating mana throughout my body to replace it with vitality, then using that vitality to speed up my body’s recovery.
My master watched me in silence while I concentrated.
“Why do you always do it this inefficiently?”
“Because I’ve always done it this way.”
My master stared at me as I said I’d always done it that way, then clapped loudly.
“Student, it’s time to learn magic.”
“Now? Of all times?”
“Actually, it’s not magic that I’m teaching you. What I’m going to teach you now is that you’ve already been using mana to replace vitality in your body. In a way, you’ve given the mana an order to replace vitality?”
“I suppose so.”
“Then what’s the difference between that and magic? Watch. Mana, become a warm flame.”
As my master spoke as if addressing someone, a small flame appeared on his open palm.
“The chanting most mages use in this world is a kind of formula. A formula for handling the mana you possess in your body.”
“So, if I just chant the formula, I can use magic?”
“Somewhat different. Chanting the formula is one thing, but understanding and mastering that formula in your body is another. When you swing your sword, you do it according to the formula?”
“Absolutely not. Right now, I swing it as my head, body, and instincts dictate.”
“Exactly. Magic is the same. It’s not just about the formula.”
I still didn’t fully understand what my master was talking about, but his expression was already satisfied.
“Try squeezing as much power as you can into your hand.”
Following his command, I clenched my fist. Blood rushed in and my muscles tightened.
“Good. Now, instead of power, gather mana in your hand too.”
That was just as simple.
Magic was one thing, but hardening one’s body with mana was nothing.
“What’s the difference between power and mana?”
“I have no idea what you mean.”
“Power can be handled freely inside your body. Mana, as you just saw, you can handle well too?”
I still didn’t grasp the meaning.
“Close your eyes. If power is the strength of the body, mana is the strength of the mind. Imagine—when arm muscles are too tight and it hurts, you naturally relax the strength. So, imagine mana becoming a warm healing light and healing your arm from the inside.”
Closing my eyes and imagining while manipulating mana, the mana gathered in my arm.
But that was it.
“Your faith is lacking. From now on, trust your mana a little more. I’ll help you a bit now.”
When my master placed his hand on my body, the mana inside it began to transform into something else.
A very warm, comforting aura.
That aura gently stroked my arm.
The pain left in my arm completely vanished.
“Now, open your eyes.”
As I opened my eyes, my master grabbed my arm and held it in front of me as if to show off.
The swollen parts and bruises had disappeared completely.
“Do you feel it? Normally, a person would take an enormously long time to get used to mana. Most never reach that level before they die. But thanks to me opening your entire body so mana flows well, you can already feel it.”
Handling mana this way was something I’d never done before, so it felt extremely mysterious.
“Amazing.”
“Now it’s your turn to try it yourself. Close your eyes again.”
Since it was quite fun, I obediently closed my eyes once more.
“Next is the other arm. This time I won’t help, so do it yourself.”
The sequence was the same.
Enough mana to fill the arm, then start imagining.
Imagine mana turning into a warm, comforting aura and stroking my arm from the inside like when my master helped earlier.
“Open your eyes.”
As I opened my eyes, my master again grabbed my arm and held it up in front of me.
“Congratulations. Success. As expected of my student. Welcome to the world of magic.”
---
What my master taught me was the basics of magic.
Mana, like the power inside my body, could be freely controlled and used according to my will.
Mana was another power that moved according to my imagination.
After I recovered my body, I immediately had to start the plan to catch the spy, so I didn’t try other magic.
But the decisive point was that even if I poured mana into someone else’s body and could still control it with my own will, I could heal other bodies too.
Treating Emma, the headmaster’s wife, was actually possible right now.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t that kind of person.
During my wandering life after being exiled in my previous life, I heard the word “kind” a great many times.
And…
Most people who called me kind were using and deceiving me.
The word that best matches before “kind” is “foolishly.”
“Kind” hides the meaning that you’re foolish and gullible, easy to use.
Headmaster Aipman of the Imperial Academy was an extreme meritocrat.
Honestly, I hadn’t thought he wouldn’t notice me and Lura.
So I had thrown him a hook so he would keep a closer eye on us.
To see how special we were, and keep watching us.
So that when the empire chose its future path, he would side with Solea, where the future was bright.
---
The path of the headmaster of the Imperial Academy as he returned home after work.
His body, which would be eighty next year, was old and sick, but his steps were unexpectedly light.
This was a route that had always been heavy for him.
“I’m home, grandma.”
“Oh, you’re here?”
When I knocked on the door, my wife Emma opened it.
Emma accepted the headmaster’s hat and said,
“You didn’t eat dinner, did you?”
“The food grandma makes is the best in the world. How could I eat outside and come back? Besides, there are no young people these days who want to eat dinner with an old man like me.”
“Sorry I’m not young. By the way, did something good happen at the academy today? You seem in a good mood.”
“Does it show that much?”
“Of course. How long has it been since we’ve spent time together? And not just good things, but very good things, it seems.”
“Even so, the best thing in my life is meeting you, grandma.”
“You too. Next year you’ll be how old, and you still say things like that. Huh? But how old were you last year?”
When Emma saw that Aipman didn’t remember his age, her expression darkened.
Aipman’s expression also darkened at that.
“Your age… ugh.”
Emma couldn’t finish her sentence and collapsed where she stood.
“Emma!”
Aipman threw the outer robe he’d been folding and ran to Emma.
He quickly hugged her and helped her up.
Emma opened her eyes drowsily and said in a powerless voice,
“Aipman. Why do your face suddenly look so old? Your hair is white too. You’re not even forty yet, and you’re already graying? That’s strange.”
Emma’s tone had changed somehow.
“Strange? So, take me to the shop and make me pretty, grandpa.”
“Grandma, that’s too harsh. I’m still in my thirties. Tonight, tonight….”
Emma stopped talking again for a moment.
“Oh? When did you come?”
“Just now.”
“My mind… I was preparing dinner.”
“No, I ate outside today. You probably already ate dinner, don’t you remember? I’ll rest now too, so Emma, eat your medicine and rest today.”
“Did I eat dinner? I guess so….”
Before Emma could say more, Aipman helped her sit leaning against the wall.
He quickly ran to his room and opened the sealed magic box.
Inside the box was a bottle of luminous holy water.
Aipman wrapped his hand around the bottle so Emma wouldn’t be startled by the light and brought it to her to drink.
“Emma, go to sleep soon. I’m fine.”
When he carried Emma to the bed and laid her down, she settled into the soft mattress and immediately fell asleep.
Aipman closed the door to the room where Emma was sleeping and went into the kitchen.
The warm bread made by Emma for dinner was baking in the oven.
If he could, he would eat it, but the bitter saltiness that had been in his mouth since earlier made him turn off the oven fire.
He stepped outside again and walked aimlessly away from the house.
It was a sight that didn’t match the title of headmaster of the Imperial Academy, with tears and snot dripping down to his lips.
That was why the bitter saltiness had been in his mouth.
“Ugh… ugh….”
No matter how loudly he cried, Aipman, who had come to a place where Emma couldn’t hear, finally burst into the sad sobs he’d been holding back.