The Magic Seminar (2)
“A magic seminar, you say?”
Leaving the headmaster's office, Ruid was on his way to Delin's Lake when someone leaning against the wall with arms crossed called out to him.
“?”
It was a man with white hair and crimson eyes. He'd clearly taken liberties with the standard uniform, remodeling it into an outfit so flamboyant it practically shouted look at me. His intent to flaunt himself was all too obvious.
“Your results this time are ones even this great self must acknowledge. Still, do not grow too full of yourself.”
His mouth curled into an insufferable smirk.
“If your turn had come a little later, it would have been I who smashed down the Colosseum's walls.”
Having said his piece, the man strode off as if there were nothing more to him, boots clacking against the stone.
But before he'd gotten far, he turned back around.
“Ah, I nearly forgot to mention something.”
“…?”
“Lately the rabble have been chattering your name about, it seems. That commoner trash would dare speak a noble's name so freely—what a convenient age we live in. I cleaned out every last one of the eyesores, yet the stench of them simply refuses to fade. Do be careful. The actions of witless brutes cannot be predicted even through the eyes of a genius such as we.”
The man swept his hair back and lifted his chin, favoring Ruid with a single look of supreme arrogance before whipping his head away.
Surely, this time he would actually leave—but no, he came to an abrupt halt mid-stride once more.
This time he spoke without even turning around.
“Why did I help you, you ask? Is it not obvious—”
A soft chuckle drifted back to where Ruid stood.
“Because you… are this great self's rival. The only being in this world permitted to insult you is I.”
And off he went again, clack, clack, clack.
This time, he did not stop.
Ruid stared after his retreating back with the expression of a man watching nuclear waste roll away.
Who the hell was that??
He could say with certainty that it was the first time he'd ever laid eyes on the man.
**
“Ah, that insufferable man.”
The moment Ruid described the audacious stranger who'd said his piece and vanished, Hershey's brow furrowed.
“People say strange things about him—how even after seeing that performance, catching up to him was still a long way off… as if he were telling others to try harder. Silver hair and red eyes, correct? About this tall?”
The wind gathered itself and sculpted the figure of an imaginary person.
The build matched perfectly. Ruid nodded.
“That's him.”
“So it really was that insufferable man. What an odious creature. Did he pick a fight with you too?”
“More like…”
Ruid thought back to the encounter. It hadn't felt so much as picking a fight as filling up his own self-esteem off of Ruid and then leaving.
“So? Who is he?”
“Damon Kairos. Heir to House Kairos. In a word… royalty. Not that it amounts to much—he's been thoroughly shut out of the line of succession, so his House carries less prestige even than Windsor.”
Only then did Ruid realize who that insufferable man had been.
House Kairos.
A ducal title created for members of the imperial family who had been cast out of the succession order.
For instance, when an Emperor died and the crown prince ascended the throne, the remaining princes were granted the surname Kairos.
Among them, the most exceptional individual was designated heir and made to lead the ducal house.
The name was etched into Ruid's memory as well.
Except…
…Was Damon that kind of character?
The Damon in the novel had always carried himself with a good deal more dignity. Then again, he was a minor character who rarely appeared in the original—nothing special there. Ruid decided not to dwell on it.
“By the way, is your preparation for the magic seminar going well?”
“No.”
“…Well, I suppose you wouldn't concern yourself with something like that.”
Hershey's lips fluttered for a moment before she turned her face slightly away and spoke in a very small voice.
“……I did sign up for it.”
“Hm?”
It was too quiet to catch.
“I—I also decided to attend your lecture, Ruid.”
Hershey flushed, embarrassed. She knew perfectly well how extraordinary Ruid was, but sitting in on a lecture given by her own classmate still felt mortifying.
“You don't really need to attend, Hershey.”
Ruid said it while looking right at her.
“Wh-what's that supposed to mean? Am I not allowed to listen?”
She pouted, just slightly.
Ruid shook his head.
“It's not that you're not allowed. It's that there's no need. You can just ask me directly.”
“…Sorry?”
“About magic.”
“Really?”
Hershey's eyes went round.
Ruid nodded as if nothing could be more obvious.
“But… wouldn't that be rude? Asking a mage about magic.”
Ruid understood what she meant by it, but the phrasing was bizarre. If you didn't ask a mage about magic, who else would you ask?
“I don't consider it rude at all. If there's anything you're curious about, feel free to ask. Just one condition—only while I'm awake.”
Whether his methods would actually be of help to her was another question. Frankly, most magic was something that simply worked for him.
“W-well of course. If I did ask, I would never dream of interrupting your nap…”
“Right. Then we're fine.”
“…I truly will ask, you know? No taking it back and calling it a joke later.”
“Yeah, yeah, I got it.”
Hershey beamed.
“Then I won't hold back.”
Like someone who'd been waiting for just this moment, she immediately produced a pen and notebook.
“…Right now?”
“…Is that not all right?”
“It's not that it's not.”
He just hadn't expected her to jump straight in like this.
Ruid gave a slow nod.
“Go ahead. Ask.”
“Then the thing I've been most curious about is…”
Hershey launched into her questions, and Ruid answered without a moment's hesitation.
Even he was rather surprised by that. The moment he heard a question, the answer simply surfaced on its own.
That was how they spent the better part of an hour, talking—
when an unexpected problem reared its head.
“Then, next would be…”
“…Again?”
Hershey's face fell.
“I'm sorry. I've asked far too much, haven't I?”
“No, no. Keep going.”
And this is why I shouldn't have offered to teach…
…Hershey's scholarly appetite was truly monstrous.
**
“Did you see? The Master of the Magic Tower is here.”
“Hehe… I even got his autograph.”
“Ahh—! That's so unfair, Felton!”
“Then go get one yourself if it bothers you so much. He's still over there.”
Hershey walked down the corridor with a perfectly blank face.
The Academy was in a slightly festive mood today.
The key figures of the Magic Academic Society had arrived. Academy graduates generally flowed into the Society or into universities, so making a good impression on them was enormously important.
Of course, none of that concerned Hershey, who was set to inherit her family instead.
Come to think of it, what will Ruid do after graduation?
The thought that he might join the Magic Tower crossed her mind, and she immediately shook her head.
…Not a chance.
Ruid had said he had no interest in the position of family head. But Windsor was not like an ordinary noble house.
In most families, members who did not inherit the title were cast out to eliminate any potential threat. Windsor, by contrast, kept them residing within the family, contributing in other ways.
So Ruid would put that talent to use for Windsor if anything—why on earth would he bother joining something as tiresome as the Academic Society?
“Oh— it's been a while.”
Just then, Sophia greeted her.
Hershey offered only a small nod and passed by without a word.
As if she didn't know the girl at all.
Sophia's expression darkened.
Trying to gain something without losing anything isn't cleverness, Sophia. It's greed.
Hershey remembered how Sophia had clung to strict neutrality during the disputes between the nobles and the commoners.
She couldn't claim they'd been close, exactly, but they had frequented each other's company since childhood.
And yet Sophia was receiving the same treatment as the commoner children she'd played with for only a few weeks.
That attitude—desperate never to be disliked by anyone—sickened Hershey.
It was not how a noble ought to behave.
Hershey took her seat and laid out her writing instruments and notebook, tidied them neatly, rested her hands on her knees, and straightened her back.
There were still thirty minutes before the lecture began. She'd come early on purpose, to secure a good seat.
—Isn't Lord Ruid really incredible? Already drawing the Society's attention at that age. Haah… what on earth was I doing at that age?
—I'm more jealous of his family… What would it feel like, living as the youngest of House Windsor? They say even Lady Amelia turns into a docile lamb in front of him.
The whispers of the students who'd arrived first drifted through the room. Hershey's shoulders puffed up despite herself.
And I'm with him every single day.
Just being around the very person everyone else was praising filled her with pride.
Hershey hid a faint smile and secretly spun up her wind mana—the better to catch every word.
“What are you doing later? We have the whole day off today, remember?”
“Really? Why?”
“You didn't know? If you attend the magic seminar, you get the rest of the day free. We're supposed to review the material afterward, apparently.”
“Whoa, amazing! I had no idea. Want to go get dessert?”
“Sounds great—”
“Glad I came! Honestly, I only showed up because they say the fairy of Delin's Lake is as cute as the rumors claim.”
Hershey shut off her wind mana with a sulky face.
How insolent. You came to attend the lecture, and this is what you talk about?
She gave the floor a little kick as she thought it.
Come to think of it, she was the only one in this lecture hall sitting alone.
Naturally so—attendance was taken at Delin's Lake, leaving no chance to make friends. And even when opportunities had arisen, she'd turned every single one of them down.
Which, she believed, was exactly how she'd come to earn her precious bond with Ruid and Amelia. She had no regrets about that at all.
But when she sat alone like this, every once in a while, she couldn't help feeling a little lonely.
“Silence, commoners. This great self has deigned to grace you with a personal visit—what do you think you are doing?”
The lecture hall went ice-cold at the sudden voice of a man who had appeared out of nowhere.
Every student's gaze snapped to a single point.
Damon Kairos. He barked out:
“Why are you not showing proper respect this instant!”
With sour, constipated expressions, the students rose one by one and bowed.
“It is an honor to behold the true line of Kairos, which reflects the glory of the Empire.”
Damon waved a hand, and everyone sat back down.
Hershey, naturally, did not. The position of Minerva's heir was a weighty one.
Apparently that irritated him, because Damon made his way over to her.
“Hooh, what have we here—a most insolent wench. You don't even bother to bow.”
“Even if the actual Crown Prince were to visit, that protocol isn't observed at the Academy.”
Hershey's correction was precise. Damon smirked, took the seat beside her, and crossed his legs.
Hershey shot him a scathing sidelong glance.
“And why, exactly, are you sitting there?”
“Everywhere I look, it is nothing but petty nobodies. The only seat fit for this great self is here, it seems.”
“…Does the fiancée sitting all alone over there escape your notice entirely?”
“Ah, now that you mention it, I do have a fiancée. Such an unbearably dull woman—her name escapes me altogether.”
The worst kind of man.
Hershey was thoroughly displeased.
She'd have been disgusted even if the fiancée were a stranger—but no, Sophia was someone she knew personally.
Whatever distance she'd prepared herself to put between them, this was how her own former childhood acquaintance was being treated, by her own betrothed.
“Would you also mind my reputation, then? When a man with a fiancée sits beside another girl, it invites misunderstanding.”
Damon blinked, as if the thought had never once occurred to him.
But he soon smirked and said:
“Rest easy, wench. I have no intention of stealing my rival's woman.”
“…Rival?”
“Hm? Is that not what you are? You cling so sweetly to Ruid's side at every hour.”
“—!”
Hershey's face went scarlet.
…Just a little bit the worst kind of man.
Her opinion of Damon underwent a dramatic revision.
**
Ruid opened the lecture hall door right on time.
…Truthfully, he'd almost been late again; it was Amelia who'd woken him up.
—So that's the one from the rumors…
—Oh ho, how young. Already displaying skill like that—his future is remarkably bright.
Whispers reached his ears. He glanced sideways to find countless people staring straight at him.
Why are there so many?
Ruid felt a flicker of pressure.
And it wasn't just the people.
Five or six recording crystals were trained on him from every angle.
Clifford, the headmaster of the Academy himself, was seated in the very front row.
Maybe I should have prepared a little more.
Ruid pondered it seriously. Had he ever done a presentation in his past life?
He remembered a few occasions during group projects when, too lazy to trudge through the research, he'd volunteered to handle the presentation instead.
How had those turned out…?
Neither good nor bad, as far as he could recall.
Can I actually pull this off?
All kinds of things radiated from the crowd's stares.
Doubt. Expectation. Disbelief.
Every last one of them felt like a weight.
Ruid had never once stood before a crowd this size, never once been the object of anyone's expectations.
He'd been nothing but an unemployed bum, after all.
And yet.
Somehow… I feel like I can do this just fine.
That was the feeling he had.
Ruid slowly opened his mouth.
“We will now begin the magic seminar.”
Click.
The transparent light of the recording crystals rippled outward.