Chapter 21
Chapter 21
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: Experiential Learning (3)
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Outside the duke's residence, Pink Pink lit a mana cigarette and brought it to her lips.
Her cheek stung. From the unexpected turn during the experiment that doubled as a test.
So first, she inhaled deeply of the mana-laden smoke and asked her disciple, Arthur Jarvis.
"What's with her?"
Even for her, who hated politics and beating around the bush, this was unusually direct.
Because if one word summed up the result of that little test just now...
"It was bizarre."
Shoot mana, produce flame. A simple fire-elemental spell, lightly applying the entropy change formula based on heat transfer.
Of course, hardly anyone besides her would call it simple, but since she genuinely felt it was straightforward, she had become the master of the Magic Tower.
Anyway.
For a simple spell, the result should have been simple.
A little mana makes a small flame. A lot makes a big one. End of story.
It wasn't just anyone else insisting this girl was worth watching—it was Arthur. So she'd prepared for the chance of a massive blaze shooting up.
Even if flames engulfed the entire house, they would have been contained under the Pink Tower Master's predictions.
But.
What actually happened wasn't fire... it was electricity. A small bolt of lightning.
She hadn't prepared for that. So the electricity grazed her cheek, leaving a sharp sting.
Without the constant seven-layered mana barrier she kept around herself, she might have even needed healing magic.
And her disciple answered.
"I don't know either."
The Pink Tower Master sucked on her mana cigarette and offered one to her disciple.
"Want one?"
"I'm good. I have plenty of mana."
Mana cigarettes weren't treats—they were recovery items.
Certain plants capture and store ambient mana. Mandrake leaves, elderwood bark, winter nightbloom buds—these are prime examples of mana-infused parts.
Drying just those bits and smoking the result allows mana absorption through the fumes. That's a mana cigarette.
It looked exactly like a regular cigarette.
Or rather, if you boiled it down to 'smoke + herb,' it was a cigarette. No addiction, no foul smell. Just one only those who dabbled in the world of mana could enjoy.
"And they're expensive."
"Can't I treat my own disciple to one mana cigarette?"
"I'm fine. Says the one always singing about no research funds."
"Always looking after your master only when it suits you. You're infuriating."
The Pink Tower Master inhaled deeply from her mana cigarette.
"Fuuu..."
She felt a bit recovered.
Tiona's unexpected electric attack (no intent to attack) had been that big a deal even for her.
"I asked if she has talent."
"I think I know the answer without hearing it."
"No, listen. It'll be different from what you think."
Fine, he'd listen.
"She has no talent for standard magic. Best case, she'd be a master."
Even masters didn't need talent, in her honest opinion. At least the Pink Tower Master thought so.
"But she holds the potential to pioneer a new school of magic."
"A new school...?"
"You know how Numerology came about?"
"By observing the principles of harmony in numbers, experimenting, and accumulating knowledge?"
Engineering magic was scientific—in the sense of hypothesis, experiment, verification, building knowledge.
And engineering—in the sense of not stopping at theory but devising real-world applications.
Asking how Numerology came about sounded like asking how chemistry or mechanical engineering started.
They'd just observed what was already there. Discovery, not invention.
"Half right."
The Pink Tower Master lit a fresh mana cigarette.
"You're right—before Numerology was born, humans already saw numbers as mystical."
For some reason, humans felt squares were balanced, triangles vicious. Five harmonious, seven ingenious, nine dignified.
"But until the ancient mage Pyrgotas pioneered it first, it was just vague intuition."
Magic is altering the world using mana.
Magic existed from the moment the first lifeform capable of wielding mana was born, able to resonate it with their will.
But Numerology didn't exist back then.
Same for elemental magic, spirit arts, incantation magic.
Someone first conceived, 'What if we use magic this way? Couldn't it produce powerful effects in specific fields?' And built a system around it.
The Pink Tower Master had glimpsed that potential in Tiona.
"The talent needed to pioneer a new school isn't about strength."
Not even skill in handling mana.
"It's having a unique way of seeing the world. And that girl... has a talent for seeing differently."
The conversation paused briefly.
"So how should I teach her?"
"Obvious. Teach her everything. All kinds of magic, literature, math, natural sciences, alchemy and metallurgy, cookie baking..."
The master smiled at her disciple.
"Seems like you're already doing great without my advice."
"You're too kind."
"Aww... keeping distance here of all places... Ah."
The mana cigarette's ember went out.
Regular cigarettes stay lit until rubbed out, but mana cigarettes could snuff if you inhaled too much mana at once.
"Disciple, light it for me?"
"You can do it yourself, Witch of Refined Flames."
"Won't you indulge your master's whim?"
Shameless.
But what could he say to that?
He sparked a flame at his fingertip and touched it to the half-smoked end.
As the Pink Tower Master inhaled through the tightly rolled stick, his fingertip felt faintly cool.
"Fuuu..."
After one drag, the Pink Tower Master spoke.
"Disciple, can't you really join the Magic Tower?"
"Sorry."
"...Tch."
Her gaze swept over him.
"You're weirdly good at everything, aren't you? Magic, and other stuff too..."
"Just dabbled in a bit of everything. Mediocre at best."
And saving the world wasn't for the mediocre, but for those with irreplaceable spikes of genius in specific fields.
In the original story, protagonist Cynthia, Lea, and the White Mage were like that. And from master's words, Tiona might become one upon awakening.
"For mediocre..."
The Pink Tower Master eyed him up and down again, then shook her head.
"It's been ages since the holy sword vanished..."
"Pardon?"
"Wasn't she a saintess? That young lady who greeted me when I entered the house."
It hadn't sounded like saintess.
Or had it? Maybe he misheard because she whispered.
"Not a saintess."
"What? She was slathered in the gaze of the goddess."
"That much, huh."
Not surprising, even that much.
"Cynthia Frey—she'll abruptly become the world's greatest saintess."
"Not surprising at all."
A brief silence followed.
"Disciple."
"Yes."
"Are you still trying to save the world?"
"Yes."
His master fell silent again.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "...Lady Tiona."
At Cynthia's words, Tiona froze midway through picking up the plate with the brownie remnants to lick off the powdered sugar.
For reference, the brownies had vanished long ago. Mostly into Tiona's stomach, though not all.
"Wh-what is it?"
Was she about to complain about getting too small a share? Cynthia didn't seem the type.
Lately, Tiona had felt a bit awkward around Cynthia.
Not dislike.
Not hate.
If pros and cons, her feelings toward Cynthia were pro.
She'd turn 10 wrong workbook answers into 7, help with Arthur's homework.
And Cynthia was just likable in general.
Sometimes pitifully timid or scared, but kind and considerate.
Still, somehow... awkward.
Especially when Cynthia shot Arthur that 'certain gaze' now and then—the awkwardness grew.
"Teacher Arthur is..."
So when Cynthia started her sentence like that, Tiona was thrown.
"What kind of person is he, exactly?"
But it led to a question Tiona hadn't expected.
"...What do you mean by that?"
"What kind of person connects with people like that?"
Cynthia recalled the elf she'd met before, Eleonora.
At the time, it was so shocking all around that she'd glossed over it, but thinking back—how do you just call up an elf or a Magic Tower master like neighborhood friends?
And.
"What does teacher want from us?"
"...Want what?"
"I mean... um..."
Cynthia glanced around, then whispered in Tiona's ear.
"Lady Tiona, what do you think of the teacher?"