The God of Cool Air

The air conditioner is a god. “Y-Yumia… you trained in aura too!?” “Shh.” For now, I could maintain it for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠about ten seconds after training it to a certain level. But it was still a power I barely understood, forcibly boosted by the tower’s ability. Once it ran out, I’d have to wait a painfully long time for it to recharge.

I stabbed my sword into the wall. Then, with careful sawing motions, I traced a circle. After pushing out the cut section—

A perfectly round O-shaped hole. Since the leftover space would be filled with putty anyway, I made it a bit on the generous side.

“…Done! Yahoo!”

“Whoa!!”

Aris and I cheered together. It was something I’d done without thinking about the consequences, but the clean result was pretty satisfying. Now all that was left was cleaning up the mess and sealing the gaps with putty…!

“It’s finished!”

I had successfully brought modern civilization into the world of magic.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

“I-It actually worked…?”

Aris still looked completely stunned.

“Aura really is something else.”

“When did you even learn aura?”

“There are ways. Just keep it a secret.”

“I wasn’t going to tell anyone anyway… but aura is supposed to be the exclusive domain of knights. How did you even get it…”

“Let’s turn it on first!”

I’d kept the barrier running since this morning to power the generator. It had eaten up a full twenty percent of my magic stones, but in return, I’d completely filled one massive battery. This should last us three whole days.

“Guess I’ll have to go farm some more magic stones soon.”

I hadn’t used high-grade stones, but the tower was basically a tutorial gate. It dropped more artifacts and miscellaneous rewards than magic stones anyway.

“Isn’t it hard to get magic stones at school?”

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

“I’ll just go back to the modern world… Ah.”

I’d said it casually, but when I saw Aris’s puzzled look, I stopped mid-sentence.

“I’m going back to my hometown. Want to come with me sometime?”

“Hmm… I am curious about your hometown, Yumia. It’s not dangerous, right?”

“This place is way more dangerous.”

At least Earth didn’t have dragons living in the forests.

“Then I’d love to! I’m really interested in your hometown!”

Good. I’d planted the seed. I’d been needing a healer anyway.

“Shall we turn it on?”

“Yes!”

I pulled out the remote with batteries already loaded and pressed the power button. A cheerful beep-beep rang out from the stand-type air conditioner in the living room.

“W-Wow!”

And a moment later—

“Yumia! The wind is so cool!”

Aris was literally hopping in place. I felt a wave of laziness and pure catharsis from the comfortable temperature I’d almost forgotten. So this was the true joy of modern civilization.

“Man… this is really nice.”

The air conditioner was straight-up overpowered. We stood in front of it for a long time.

I immediately called the others over. When you get something good, you’re supposed to show it off.

“It’s hot… why are you calling us… I wanna sleep…”

“Exactly. Why did you call us? I can’t stay in a girl’s room for long anyway.”

Oh right. The gender ratio was off. ‘Or… is it actually balanced?’ I wasn’t sure whether to call it balanced or not.

I’d called Linia too. She showed up rubbing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her sleepy eyes. Her bright pink hair was slightly stuck to her skin from sweat. Since there were no lectures today, she must have been taking a long nap.

“…The air… isn’t hot? Wait, this… isn’t even humid?”

Linia, who had been clutching a pillow, instantly snapped awake.

“What did you do? Did you deploy some kind of barrier magic to control the temperature? No, it doesn’t feel sticky at all.”

Robert stepped inside, looking fascinated.

“Here, welcome drinks.”

I handed them each a cup of iced tea with ice cubes. Robert and Linia walked in holding their cups, their eyes immediately locking onto the air conditioner.

“Is this a magic tool? I don’t feel any mana from it.”

“Are you sure you’re not just blind to it?”

“I can at least sense mana.”

Tsk. Failed to tease them.

Linia and Robert gathered around the air conditioner and began an enthusiastic discussion.

“Incredible. How did you implement temperature control magic circles without using any mana?”

“We have magic circles installed at my family home too, but this seems much easier to control while also managing humidity.”

“Can I touch it?”

“Go ahead.”

Haha, it’s not that big a deal. No, actually it was a huge deal. An incredibly huge deal. Thanks to the air conditioner, I could finally show off in front of these otherworlders again. It felt great.

After a few minutes of debate, Robert and Linia reached their conclusion.

“This is ridiculous.”

“Yeah.”

I watched the scene while sipping my iced tea, then stood up.

“Alright, Robert.”

“What?”

“Time to leave.”

“What?”

This was the girls’ dormitory after all. I didn’t care, but now that the bragging was done, he had to go.

“W-Wait! I barely got any of the cool air because of Linia…”

Robert hadn’t gotten much time in front of the air conditioner because Linia had completely claimed the spot.

“Not my problem.”

I saw Robert out.

Once he was gone, Linia—for some reason—had spread out a blanket and was reading a magic book.

…Where did she even get that book from…

“Hey, that’s my book!”

“I’m not leaving?”

“What? You need to go sleep in your own room!”

Aris tried to shake Linia awake.

“Linia wants to live here.”

She really meant it. Aris tried everything to get her to move, but Linia wouldn’t budge.

“Linia, you can cool down a room with magic!”

“Eh, really?”

“Hmm… I can make ice at least.”

Then just do that.

“But it gets hot again right away… and when the humidity rises, my hair gets all limp…”

Apparently there were several problems.

“I just want to stay until the temperature control magic circle gets fixed… I can sleep in the storage room…”

“Hmm… it’s sudden, but I don’t mind.”

We’d been hanging out a lot lately and had grown pretty close. Aris looked at me as if seeking approval.

It didn’t really matter to me. Dormitory A was as spacious as a decent apartment. Even without an extra bed, there was more than enough room for one more person.

Besides, Linia’s magic repertoire was far broader than mine. Honestly, she could cast pretty much any spell she wanted.

“Linia, can you cast in code?”

“Hmm? I can do higher levels too. If you want me to teach you, I’d be happy to…”

“Okay. You’re hired.”

The moment I said that, Linia curled up in the corner like a cat. I had acquired a mini magic library that purred softly.

And so, a cat-like person was added to the room. But the important thing was that the date for the Potion Studies final had been set, and the Magic Repair midterm had begun much sooner than expected.

The midterm had felt relatively simple. The final, however, did not escape Professor Karnarof’s demonic grasp.

“The Magic Repair final will be an open-book exam.”

“Excuse me?”

“Nice! I didn’t study!”

“Phew… thank goodness. There were so many parts I didn’t understand.”

You idiots. Even though I only attended university for a short time, I knew this much. I had never seen a single “open-book” exam from a professor that was actually fair!

“The test will last eighteen hours, from morning until midnight.”

“…What?”

“Y-You’re joking, right?”

“Have you ever seen Professor Karnarof joke? He’s dead serious!”

Karnarof continued speaking with a solemn expression, completely ignoring the students’ reactions.

“You may leave to eat or do whatever you want. However, any form of conversation or exchange of information with others is strictly prohibited.”

A restriction was engraved on the students. The exam that followed was pure Karnarof.

Beautifully twisted practice problems. Problems that looked completely new but could be solved by cleverly applying what you’d learned. Problems that required proof according to magical logic. And problems that simply wouldn’t solve no matter how hard you thought about them.

The exam began amid heavy tension. By the time it ended, everyone was practically dead.

“Hm. Time’s up.”

The devastated exam room. Me, Linia, and our group of four. Only the students who had studied seriously remained. Everyone else had already turned in their papers and fled. I should have done the same.

The Mathematician of the Magic Circle had spat blood and collapsed. I had forced it back up after multiple overloads and fed it problems. The first cooldown had only been ten minutes, but by the end it had stretched to three hours. Once the exam finished, it completely shut down.

‘Good work…’

Without it, I wouldn’t have been able to solve everything. Whether I got them right or not was another story.

“Hm. Everyone worked hard.”

Most students had already fled after turning in their papers early, but Karnarof didn’t seem to care at all.

“Since time is up, I will now collect the exam papers. Also, I will now announce the details for the Basic Attack Magic final exam, so…”

The mark engraved for the restriction glowed. I felt Karnarof’s words slam directly into my brain. Even if I’d been asleep, those words would have echoed in my head.

“I-It’s finally over…”

Aris staggered and planted her face on the desk.

Well, at least that part was done.

“Now only the easy stuff is left.”

Potion Studies and Basic Attack Magic weren’t particularly exhausting subjects. I’d made a ton of potions for the money, which had massively raised my proficiency. Though now I had to make them because of the air conditioner. For Basic Attack Magic, I probably wouldn’t need much preparation, just like the midterm.

‘I just need to memorize the herb chart properly…’

But after reading the notice Karnarof had posted, I felt a chill run down my spine.