Chapter 66: Mage

At first, he wondered what it meant.

If it’s a Fighters’ Club tournament, isn’t that already happening in arcades all the time anyway?

These days, as if people could not stand someone staying in front of the machine for too long, coins were piled high near the coin slot. And the repeated sight of winners and losers being decided over and over again had become an ordinary arcade scene.

Come to think of it, lately, so-called experts sometimes appeared and held out for quite a while, but even then, more than ten rounds was impossible. The game was so popular that there were more than just one or two people called experts, and new players kept improving and climbing up.

The current unspoken rule was that the experts played on the machines near the entrance or on the first floor, while the relatively inexperienced players went upstairs.

In fact, this was a system Ras had subtly induced.

It was something one could notice from the fact that the same machines were placed separately to begin with. After all, this kind of placement was something decided by the Management Team or higher-ups.

Because he had knowledge from Earth, he already knew the shortcomings of fighting games. So he paid attention to making sure new players and those hopeless at fighting games would not give up too easily.

But a tournament? Nationwide?

Once Srin belatedly read it properly, he unconsciously stopped in place. He knew that acquaintances sometimes held simple tournaments to compare their skills, but he had never imagined that an actual formal tournament would be held for a game.

Then, based on the information given by the placard, his imagination continued, and he pictured masters from all over the country competing against one another to determine the number one player in the Republic of Smite. Srin felt as if his hair were standing on end.

Honestly, Srin himself did not have the skill to join them. But even so, he wanted to participate in that tournament. And he was deeply curious how incredible the number one player in the country would be.

After all, even the people called good players at this arcade made him wonder whether they were truly controlling the same characters in the same game as him, and he could not help admiring them.

Then his gaze went to the prize money written below it.

Thirty thousand del?! Seriously?

For a factory worker, that was money one would have to work three whole years to earn. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Srin had at least found a decent job, so his income was not bad, but even then, it was still a large sum he could not save in a single year.

It might be somewhat materialistic, but once money was involved like this, that tournament suddenly felt real.

He did not particularly doubt whether they would actually give that money.

Arcade Game Land was already a famous facility, so that alone gave it credibility. And anyone who thought about it a little more could guess that this shop was earning tremendous money.

And if one had even more interest, one would know that the owner of this business had earned a lot of money by selling PC games and joysticks, and had recently even become a big shot who exported products to the Brunyard Federation.

There was no way he would make empty promises over a mere thirty thousand del.

After hesitating briefly, Srin headed straight into the arcade and, following the staff’s guidance, registered as a contestant.

“Thank you for participating!”

This was what was happening all across the Republic of Smite.

Ras was in the middle of a magic lesson at Bert’s house.

“It seems you’ve learned enough Rune Language now.”

After conversing with Ras in Rune Language for quite a while, Bert nodded. Ras’s eyes widened, and his face brightened.

In truth, Ras had felt for some time that his Rune Language skills were not bad. However, because his teacher Bert had not acknowledged it, he had not been able to begin formal magic training.

But that was only in front of Bert. In reality, Ras had separately obtained magic books and tried using the Rune Language he had learned so far. However, no matter what he did, he had not been able to cast magic.

So instead of being disappointed that he had no magic power, he decided to think, just as Bert had judged, that his Rune Language ability was still insufficient. Then he simply followed her teachings diligently.

And at last, today, he received her acknowledgment.

It had been quite a long time. No, since it had only been a little over a year, it could actually be considered short for learning an entire language. But perhaps it felt that way because Ras’s life in this world had been so incredibly dense.

“Um. Then?”

Ras looked at Bert with eyes full of longing, and she smiled as she nodded.

“Yes. I think you can try magic now.”

“Haa...”

A sigh escaped on its own. He was happy, but this was also the moment that would determine whether he had magic power or not, so he was equally nervous.

In fact, aside from simply wanting to use magic, Ras had another purpose.

He wanted to investigate why he had suddenly come to this world.

Perhaps it was so obvious that it did not even need to be said.

However, even Ras himself had not thought of it when he first decided to learn magic.

Perhaps at that time, the difficult period of adapting to this world had passed in an instant, and by the time he decided to learn magic, he had already achieved a fair amount ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of success, so he had half-forgotten the idea of going back.

Even now, he did not particularly want to return.

It was not that he did not miss his family or the relationships he had there. His relationship with his family had not been very good, but they were still family, at least. However, if asked whether he wanted to recover them badly enough to give up the success and relationships he had gained in this world, the answer was no.

Especially since he even had a girlfriend named Ella.

Ras thought of Ella and smiled faintly. He felt newly regretful. Just thinking of her made him feel happy. That was why he thought how nice it would have been if she could have attended these lessons with him.

Ras wanted to be with her as much as possible. So whenever he did something, he usually invited her.

And she accepted those invitations quite well. That was why they went to performances together, visited good restaurants together, and had even almost gone to a gym together.

However, the gym had refused with a troubled expression because the consciousness of this world was still old-fashioned. Ella, on the contrary, had been motivated. Perhaps because she came from the streets, she showed interest in becoming stronger.

Yet strangely, when it came to learning magic, she flatly refused. She also did not clearly tell him why she disliked it. After hesitating for a long time, the one thing she barely managed to say was this:

“Because I’m scared...”

Ras found it somewhat regrettable, but it was not something he could force her to do. So he gave up, thinking perhaps she had met some frightening mage during her time on the streets.

In any case, returning to the matter of Earth, when he thought about how he had come here, the thing that seemed most suspicious was magic after all.

It was a supernatural phenomenon that could not be explained by science.

Among the things he had imagined, one was that somewhere, someone had been researching some extraordinary magic, and as a side effect, he had been dragged into this world.

Or perhaps one of the beings of the Four Realms had summoned him for some purpose. Though he had no idea why they would summon someone as ordinary as him.

At any rate, magic was the only thing that gave him even a little room to suspect something like that.

As already mentioned, he had no intention of going back. But precisely because of that, he needed to investigate it even more. Since he had been dragged here without knowing why, it was possible he could be sent back just as suddenly.

“Shall we try it, then?”

While Ras was briefly lost in sentiment, Bert had been choosing an appropriate spell to use for the test. After completing the preparations needed for casting, she called Ras.

“Yes!”

The magic she prepared was Spirit Magic. As someone who researched Ancient Magic, Bert did not particularly like Spirit Magic, which had become the mainstream these days and pushed out other forms of magic.

However, spirits were almost like inorganic beings, so as long as the conditions were clearly met, magic almost never failed to activate. In that respect, it was the most suitable for someone like Ras, who had just started and wanted to test himself.

“Let’s use Flame Magic. You’ve seen it many times by now, haven’t you?”

“Yes.”

While studying Rune Language, he had seen and read many kinds of magic. And since this Flame Magic was one of the most basic spells, it was one of the ones especially familiar to his eyes. He felt a little reassured.

In fact, there were several spells even easier than Flame Magic.

For example, there was a spell that caused a faint wind to blow. But in the case of wind, it was somewhat ambiguous to judge. So when choosing something that would clearly indicate whether magic had activated, Flame Magic was selected.

“You remember, right? The Object of Prayer and Clear Will.”

“Yes!”

At Ras’s energetic answer, Bert smiled faintly and gestured softly for him to try. Ras closed his eyes, clearly pictured the image, raised his concentration, and began reciting the Rune Language.

“Spitus dum Hipasio hostiam da mihi...”

Once he became used to magic, he could simply recite it inwardly, but as a beginner, he needed to say it aloud for the sake of concentration.

It would have been nice if he could feel magic power moving like in martial arts novels, but there was no sensation at all, so all he could do was concentrate and concentrate. After finishing the Rune Language, Ras wished for it with true desperation.

Huh?!

Then he saw a tiny red flame flash before his half-open eyes. For a moment, it felt ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as if every hair on his body stood on end.

The flame soon faded. Ras even wondered if he had seen it wrong. He frowned and stared at the empty space where the flame had disappeared, then hurriedly turned to Bert.

“You succeeded. Succeeding on the first try is quite rare, you know?”

She smiled and told him he had succeeded in a calm voice. Only then could Ras smile broadly and raise his fist.

“Wow!”

Setting everything else aside, his mind seemed to turn white from the sheer sense of achievement he felt at that moment.

In truth, because he was a person from another world rather than this one, he had been slightly skeptical about whether he possessed magic power. That made this success even more thrilling.

However, as his excitement cooled a little, a thought arose.

As expected, this body was not from Earth but had originally belonged to this world, to the human named Epek Ras. Even so, it was not as if he felt any guilt about that now.

After all, he had also been dragged here without knowing why. And because he had been living so busily, he had not thought much about that side of things. He merely felt a little curious about what kind of person the original Epek Ras had been.

“That’s a relief. Since you succeeded in casting magic, from now on, if you continue practicing while reading magic books, you should be able to become a good mage.”

Ras was about to thank her when he realized something about her wording felt strange.

“Huh? Wait, don’t tell me I have to stop coming ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠here now?”

“No. It’s not like that. Well, you can study on your own now, though.”

After saying that, Bert seemed to think for a moment, then explained the situation.

“It isn’t right away, but soon I’ll probably have to leave to conduct research related to Ancient Magic.”

“Ah...”

“Usually, once I leave, it takes quite a long time. So before leaving, I wanted to teach you at least enough for you to study independently, but you achieved the goal earlier than expected.”

Though Bert herself was still young, she showed him a gentle smile as if looking at a much younger disciple. Ras felt somewhat ticklish. But he did not particularly dislike it either. After all, he had always been weak to beautiful women.

“I understand. Then I’ll be in your care until then.”

“Yes. Of course.”

Ras almost asked her to continue teaching him after she returned, but he only said this instead. He was becoming busier and busier. Now that self-study had become possible, he was not certain whether he would continue coming here.

Bert was knowledgeable about Ancient Magic and was also a high-level mage, so he intended to continue their connection. But receiving lessons as her disciple was not the only way to maintain that connection.

In any case, Ras became a mage that day.