The Death of the Foolish Sheep (1)
The Death of the Foolish Sheep (1)
#25
Today was finally Monday.
The day I was going to the Academy! I was already sooo excited to see what experiments I'd get to try. Of course, the highlight would be my secret experiment with Do-yun...
That mean woman had locked Do-yun up in her mansion, so I couldn't do any secret experiments at all. And sneaking in with the invisibiliiity potion wasn't easy since there weren't many bottles left. If Mom caught me, I might even die.
Hmm... what if I tried making the invisibiliiity potion myself? I could just go to the Academy that day and ask Professor Edel, right?
I couldn't wait!
#26
"Ha Do-yun. There's a simple experiment planned at the academy today. Naturally, as promised, I won't do anything dangerous."
Well, I did have to actually do some work. I'd feel a little self-conscious just clinging to the mansion like a freeloader.
"You just need to be my practice partner for my Unique Magic."
"I'm not a mage, so is that really possible?"
"Yes. My Unique Magic is a magic that forms contracts regardless of whether the target is animate or inanimate. Please watch this."
Estelle's fingertips glowed, and in an instant, a golden flame flared up and vanished.
"Did you see that? That was magic performed by forming a contract with the air at my fingertips."
Estelle flicked a single finger through the empty air and began to explain.
"I requested that the air ignite, and in exchange I transferred mana to it, thereby completing the contract. Normally, inanimate objects have no will, so as long as the scale of the magic isn't too large, contracts with them are easy."
"Then I have a rough idea of what I'll need to do."
"Yes, exactly what you're thinking. At my current skill level, contracting with living beings isn't easy. I'd appreciate it if you could serve as the contracting partner for me to practice my Unique Magic, Do-yun."
Oh. This might actually be a rewarding task. It felt like I was becoming a genuine academy employee. Anyway, I resolved to give it my best today.
#27
Lecture Room 401 on the 4th floor of Astravia Hall was a moderately small room with a fairly cozy and snug atmosphere.
Estelle had chosen this room as the experiment site not for any particular reason, but simply because it was the only vacant room available for immediate use.
Still, Estelle was reasonably satisfied. A room of this size was more than adequate for using her magic.
"Now then, please stand here in front of me and hold out your right palm."
I extended my hand.
As I held out my palm, Estelle interlaced her left hand's fingers with my right and began her incantation.
『—Petamus Altiora—』
Let us seek higher places.
It was a magical incantation I'd never heard before, yet for some reason, a single clear intuition flowed into my mind.
This was a spell to make me fly.
Flutter—
A pair of golden wings sprouted from my back. They were vast enough to cover the entire blackboard in the lecture room, and I could feel a vitality so intense it made me want to whip up a typhoon then and there.
"Whoa—"
"How is it? How do you feel?"
"I feel like I could fly right this instant. So do I just... try flying now?"
The golden-haired girl with the bob cut nodded.
"Yes. But please be careful, as you might fall while flying. And if you do fall, you must try to fall toward where I am as much as possible. That way I can cast an impact-absorption spell for you."
"Alright—"
With those words, I threw open both sides of the lecture room window and hurled myself out. I couldn't restrain the impulse to fly. I felt something like a foreign desire driving me, but that was hardly my concern.
Whoosh!
The green lawn rushed up to meet my eyes.
In that moment, the wings sprouting from my back began to function, stirring up a violent gust, and before I knew it, my heavy body had forgotten its weight entirely and was soaring upward toward the crimson sun.
Ah—
So even the floating continent of Arcanum, which had always felt so enormous, was ultimately nothing more than a single small city.
From this height, everything in the world felt different. The academy looked so tiny. Like the miniature toys I used to play with at the orphanage as a child.
I wanted to keep climbing higher. Just as I was thinking that, I glanced behind me and found that my golden wings had already vanished.
"Uwaaahhhh?"
I was falling. The moment that thought struck, a dark terror coiled around my body.
I was going to die I was going to die I was going to die I was going to die I was going to die I was going to die I was going to die I was going to die I was going to die I was going to die I was going to die I was going to die I was going to die I was going to die I was going to die I was going to die I was going to die
I was definitely going to be smashed to death.
Was this the end...
『—Accipe leniter—』
Along with Estelle's voice, my vision went dark.
#28
"Do-yun."
Ah, I felt dizzy. The sky and clouds were spinning, and the cute woman in front of me was spinning too. Who was she? She looked awfully young, but also somehow familiar.
"Do-yun, are you alright?"
"Haa... haa... huh?"
"You just fell from the sky. But since you only went straight up vertically, I was able to catch you just fine."
Ah, right. It had been brief, but I had definitely flown through the sky. And to a ridiculously reckless height at that. One wrong move and I might have died, yet I survived. Should I call it good luck?
"So was the experiment a success?"
"No, unfortunately it was a failure."
"Why? I can't even use magic, but I still flew through the sky."
Estelle rested a hand on her chin and continued her explanation.
"First of all, though I still haven't fully grasped it myself, Do-yun, you were maintaining your conscious reasoning far too strongly. Earlier I told you that contracts with inanimate objects are easy, yes? A contract requires mutual consent. But when using magic on a living being, obtaining consent each and every time would be impossible, wouldn't it?"
That was true. Having to go through such a cumbersome process every time would reduce the magic's efficiency. If I were Estelle and had to contract with living beings, I'd want to avoid that kind of hassle too.
"Originally, the moment I used my Unique Magic, you should have lost your reason and flown off into the sky immediately. It seems I need more practice after all. You'll continue helping me, won't you?"
"Of course. Please start again right away."
Honestly, I couldn't resist this. After all, I could fly now. Being offered an absolutely incredible pair of golden wings—why would I resist? Even if I lost my reason, I'd still be able to perceive and feel what was happening.
This was just like riding a roller coaster. On a roller coaster, you couldn't change the course by your own will, but you could still feel the thrill fully. That was what this was like.
#29
Before I knew it, time had passed and dusk was settling in.
According to Estelle, the experiment had been a complete failure. She said it was because my conscious reasoning remained far too lucid.
I suspected the Imprint that Elysia had transferred to me might also be having an effect, but thinking back to Estelle's reaction when I'd seen her at the infirmary last time, it was probably best not to bring that up just yet.
"Up until now, I've been using a method that stimulates desires from beyond your unconscious mind to form the contract. Starting tomorrow, I'll try stimulating your Preconsciousness—the space between the unconscious and the conscious."
I didn't quite understand what exactly she meant.
"What specifically do you intend to do with this Preconsciousness?"
"If the unconscious is the source of desire, and the conscious is the thoughts we're aware of, then the Preconsciousness is the point where desire undergoes censorship and transformation."
Hmm—so it was the place where my hidden desires get censored.
"In other words, I'll attempt the contract by stimulating Do-yun's ordinarily suppressed desires. You might end up showing some slightly embarrassing behavior, but since this is a private experiment between just the two of us, I'm sure you'll be fine."
"Alright. You even caught me when I fell from the sky earlier, after all. I think I can trust you and leave things in your hands, Estelle."
"Then I'll see you again tomorrow in this lecture room. I need to stop by the infirmary for some business, so Do-yun, please feel free to return to your room at the mansion at your convenience."
With those words, the blonde girl departed. Suppressed desires, huh. What on earth could my suppressed desires be?
I suspected it might be a desire for money. After all, I'd come up to Arcanum because of that god-awful money in the first place. Well, I'd probably find out tomorrow, so getting back to the Eurasia mansion and going to sleep quickly seemed best. Especially since Elysia wasn't around.
At times like this, if Elysia were here, I might have even asked her for a secret experiment at night. Maybe it was because I'd been working, but it was one of those days where I missed Elysia's warmth.
#30
"I'm afraid it'll be difficult with just the recipes I currently have."
The green-haired mage answered.
"Hnnng."
"The surest method would be to consult the research texts of the late Mage Florentia. Why not ask my mother to locate them for you? Since the reagent involved uses a Unique Magic, helping you further is unfortunately beyond my own abilities."
With those words, the silver-haired girl stepped out of Professor Edel's personal alchemy research lab.
'I supposed I'd have to go home and comb through every one of Grandmother's texts. Even if I couldn't make the invisibility potion, I might still be able to create something similarly useful.'
With that, Elysia straightened her back confidently and walked home. She could hear a few apprentice mages around her murmuring as they looked her way, but what did that matter?
In the end, the world was proved by results. If the secret experiments with Do-yun succeeded, every mage in the academy would see Elysia in a new light. Of course, that was the seed of a disaster yet to blow through the academy—but for now, no one seemed to realize that fact.