Chapter 10
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 010
Chapter Title: The Deceptive Feather
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I stared at Elin, who was boldly auditing my lecture.
At this point, it wouldn’t be strange if she took the hint and left on her own, but she showed no sign of doing so.
“Professor, if what you say is true, shouldn’t mages be able to reinforce their bodies just as well as knights?”
That question sprang from my earlier statement that the mana knights use isn’t all that different from the mana mages use.
“That’s not the case.”
“And why is that?”
Just as I expected, she immediately pressed for the reason.
For me, who needed to pry her away somehow, I exuded intimidation instead of answering.
“What’s your name?”
“I’m Eones Elin, Professor.”
“Your name isn’t on the attendance sheet. Not only are you sitting in on the lecture without permission, but now you want to ask questions too?”
“That’s right.”
Beyond her boldness, she seemed to have some backing she trusted in.
Otherwise, she couldn’t possibly answer like that.
‘Should I go hard on her?’
I didn’t want to take it this far, but…
Before making a decision, I pondered one last time.
She was the sole ray of beauty in this lecture hall teeming with chitinous insects.
If I mentioned Isel, those female cockroa—er, bugs didn’t count as women.
In contrast, Elin had a form I could recognize as human.
And above all, being the protagonist, her face was pretty.
Her petite build was a shame, but the modeling was well done, and with such a human face, I didn’t want to chase her off…
She was a comfort to my heart, proof that I was still human…
I shook my head vigorously in my mind.
‘No, I need to survive.’
If I left Elin here in her current state of curiosity, all that awaited me was a doomed future.
To live, I had to drive her away.
‘But is a life spent every day amid these chitinous insects really living?’
A sudden conflict flashed through my mind, voicing my inner turmoil.
If eating healthy and living to a hundred was the alternative, why not just chow down on instant food and call it quits at sixty? It’s not like immortality was on the table.
She’s a beauty. A beauty.
Everyone else is bugs, hideous insects, but she’s a woman, a beauty. And I’m supposed to send her away?
Can’t she just stay…?
I snapped out of it.
If I sank any deeper, I’d never pull myself out.
That was terrifying…
“I value principles and rules. I have nothing to teach you. Leave.”
After laying down the stern command, I resumed writing on the board when Elin countered.
Still brimming with conviction.
Far from cowed, she burned with even greater resolve.
“Professor, I’m the top student overall. And the top in the Magic Department as well.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“The current classes in the Magic Department are Professor Gerard’s [General Theory of Magic Application]. It’s far below my level and not much help to me.”
She looked like she had plenty more to say, so I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall, as if to say, go ahead and spill it all.
“I brought this up with the department head, and by the privileges granted to the top student each generation… I received assurance from the president for freedom of attendance and freedom of course selection.”
‘Was there a setting like that?’
Yeah, there probably was.
A bit further in, they even recognize field trips as attendance if you submit a report.
It was all devices put in place so players wouldn’t be tied down by academy classes…
‘Who knew it’d come back to bite me like this.’
“So, you’re saying you’ll audit my class under freedom of course selection?”
“At the very least, your lecture seems far more useful than my department’s classes. Can’t I?”
Should I just flat-out say no?
…Even leaving aside whether she’d actually leave if I did, it lacked justification.
Her department’s classes fell short of her level, and she had freedom of selection—blocking that could harm my reputation.
As a temporary professor, getting on a student’s bad side would be a headache.
‘It’s definitely not because of that pretty face. Not just because of that.’
I needed to renew my temporary position.
To keep good evaluations… so absolutely not because I fell for her beauty.
If it’s not, then it’s nothing…
“…I can’t give you credits. You’re not on the attendance sheet. If you want credits, get it processed through the relevant office.”
Maybe she’d drop out from the hassle.
With no other angle, I brought up administrative procedures.
It wouldn’t go full bureaucracy nightmare, but it was no small bother.
If it was annoying for me, it’d be for her too—perfect shield.
‘Didn’t that call center rep say sending annoying customers a form to fax and mail back slashed their workload?’
Since a counselor said it, it had to be effective.
But defying my expectations, Elin nodded.
She brushed it off casually, making it seem like no big deal.
She’d endure that? I let out an admiring gasp inwardly.
I wouldn’t have bothered…
Unless there was some rock-solid reason, there’d be no cause to—
I paused the pen I’d gripped to write on the board.
My hand hesitated in midair.
‘A rock-solid reason?’
A purpose that would make that honeybee so obsessively clingy.
‘Rune…!’
She came because she sensed the rune.
‘Why’d it have to be inscribed there of all places.’
“Back to your question: mages accumulate mana near their heads, knights near their hearts. Even if the mana’s properties are similar, the explosive power and conductivity differ greatly.”
“Does that mean a mage could achieve knight-level body reinforcement if they could compensate for that?”
“In theory.”
In theory—those words carried heavy negative implications.
Without looking back, I answered indifferently, and something ignited her competitive spirit, as she continued.
“They say in the past, there wasn’t much difference between mages and knights. Mages excelled in close combat like knights, and knights could wield magic like mages…”
“I don’t know what ‘past’ you mean, but there was never such a time.”
“No, there was. Mainly in eras when runes were used, or so I’ve heard.”
She paused as if probing, then asked what I thought.
Her eyes coldly assessed me. I met her gaze silently before turning away.
“Absurd nonsense.”
No need to play along.
I dismissed the question curtly and continued the lecture.
I’d planned to just cover evaluation methods and aura basics for the first class, but her questions derailed me.
“Time’s up. Let’s end here. Do the assignment as announced by next week, and I’ll see you then.”
As I packed my materials and headed out, a shadow followed.
One was Isel, the other…
“What’s your business, Student Elin?”
“I have lingering questions about the lecture.”
“The lecture’s over. Compile them and ask next week.”
Elin stared straight at me, refusing to back down.
But I didn’t have to indulge her.
As I tried to ignore and pass by…
“Your coat—was it Professor Aiden who draped it over you?”
Coat? I instinctively turned.
Oh no, the moment I did, an image of Elin smiling flashed in my mind.
‘No, I still have a chance to recover.’
Aiden rarely let emotions show on his face.
Maintaining a solemn demeanor, I shook my head regretfully.
“Unfortunately, nothing rings a bell. I suggest asking other students.”
“Professor Prezel said it was a man—a rather tall professor. I’m certain it was one of the professors.”
She looked right at me.
She seemed utterly convinced…
“Ah! Professor, where did you put your coat back then?”
Isel blurted it out, and Elin’s gaze sharpened.
“…….”
‘Haa…’
“What do you want to know?”
Flat-out rejection wouldn’t work.
She was the incarnation of ambition, living solely to become the best.
The moment she sensed growth potential, she’d latch on relentlessly.
Having given her that certainty, denial alone wasn’t enough.
I decided to satisfy her just enough to send her away.
As I took a step back, Elin eagerly asked.
“I sensed mana residue from a rune on your clothes, Professor. I wanted to ask about that.”
I gave her a steady look, then turned.
“…Not here. Follow me.”
Now it all hinged on how well I acted.
I sat on the research room sofa.
I asked if she wanted tea or coffee; she chose tea, so I requested the same.
While Isel brewed it, I slowly drew out her words.
“First off, yes, it was my coat.”
“Why deny it?”
“Does that matter?”
When I asked a bit snidely, Elin shook her head.
Right, that wasn’t the point.
Something far more crucial needed addressing now.
“Alright, let’s start with this.”
I lightly summoned mana with a gesture.
Unlike a rapier, it moved like an extension of my body—pure energy.
A small, incomplete feather bloomed in my hand like a flower bud.
Rough yet naturally unfurled, I waved it before her eyes.
With a finger snap, it burst into white flames.
No warmth or ash from the fire.
Melting away like smoke was mesmerizing in itself.
Elin tracked the feather as it faded.
After a brief gasp of awe, her expression hardened.
Words unspoken spilled from her parted lips.
“This is… surely…”
“Mages obsess over the ‘pure’ state, and I once clung to purity too. This aura is proof of that.”
“Then!”
“Sit. We’re not done.”
I calmed Elin and crossed my legs.
Pretending to think, I cast my gaze downward before speaking.
‘Yeah, if I say it like this, she’ll lose interest.’
Pushing her away entirely wouldn’t work, so I’d guide her to convince herself.
Once she acknowledged it herself, she wouldn’t probe further.
Her interest would wane, and she’d distance herself naturally.
As a Magic Department student, she had no reason to attend my lectures.
“Elin, why can’t modern mages use rune magic?”
Not that I didn’t know—I needed her to say it herself.
“…Loss of original meanings, absence of pronunciation, and degeneration of the vocal organs to produce them.”
“You know it well. My answer runs along the same lines.”
“But on your coat…!”
“I tried. Failed.”
State the result first to disappoint her.
This would gradually crush her expectations and lead to acceptance.
“Romantic notion, isn’t it? High magic with just pronunciation, no cumbersome chants. Body reinforcement like a knight, aura unleashed. Ideal, truly.”
I denied it outright before her eyes.
“But as a species, we’ve already lost those organs. No atavism, and even if born with them, our entrenched mana accumulation makes it impossible.”
Atavism—some nuts chase it professionally, but no ties to me now.
A little mention wouldn’t hurt.
‘Crazy folks are everywhere. No one’ll link me to those anti-human ancestral regression freaks.’
“Still…”
“If you sensed the mana residue on my coat, you’d know it was the fire rune, Ignite.”
Elin nodded after a silence.
I formed another feather, clenching and releasing my fist.
A pristine white feather.
I infused power, and it glowed like a flickering incandescent bulb.
As before, it crumbled without form when the energy faded.
Engulfed in white flames, it shattered into fragments.
The bits slipped through my fingers, pattering to the floor.
But even those oxidized just before hitting.
All of it mere mana illusion.
No substance, naturally.
Elin sighed at the oxidizing shards.
“This is the fire rune you sensed. A pathetic imitation compared to the real thing. Why I hid it.”
“…That’s.”
“I never meant to show such an unfinished product. A professor would spot the subtle flaws instantly…”
Elin looked at me with complex eyes.
“You’re still a student, so mistaking this for a rune is forgivable. I understand. But as you saw, it’s a laughable fake.”
Not worth your curiosity.
I declared it to Elin with conviction.
Final, as if saying drop it.
“We can’t use runes.”
As Elin’s head drooped fully, I smiled inwardly.
Dejected, good. With this…
‘Nailed it…’
“Professor, are you lying to me?”
Her lowered head rose slowly, reproach in her eyes.
…Lying?