Don't Explode in My Building
When Imperial History class ended, I had become a celebrity. Not in a good way.
“That’s the guy.”
“They say he laughed after Lady Roengreen’s room got sealed.”
“The lecture hall changed the moment he showed up, didn’t it?”
“Isn’t he connected to the imperial family?”
“I heard he’s a fallen noble.”
The rumors had swollen nicely by mixing fact with speculation. I had become the emperor’s illegitimate son, the hidden grandson of the Trust Management Bureau director, and even a secret inspector sent to audit the academy. The last one hit a little too close to home.
“Wouldn’t it be better to just tell the truth now?” Nicholas asked as we walked down the corridor.
“Tell them what?”
“That I’m actually the owner of this academy. So bow down.”
“If I reveal my identity, they’ll take away my management rights.”
“That’s the first I’m hearing of that.”
“You just heard it.”
Nicholas stopped walking.
“Wait a second.”
I kept walking.
“What did you just say?”
“We’ll be late for afternoon class.”
“Ethan.”
“The basic mana manipulation practice room is on the first floor of the east wing.”
“Are you sure you only like blueprints?”
I didn’t answer. I hadn’t exactly said I was the building owner. I had only accidentally let slip that I held management rights. It wasn’t a big deal. Even if Nicholas compared it to what he already knew, I would only go from suspicious person to extremely suspicious person.
The afternoon joint practice was held in the Second Magic Building. The structure, decorated with blue crystal on its outer walls, was also called the Blue Crystal Hall. It was where they taught basic spellcasting, mana measurement, and the use of magic tools. It was also the building I worried about most in the entire academy.
Mages weren’t people who used buildings. They were people who caused explosions inside buildings and then claimed the building was too weak.
Inside the practice room, twenty round casting platforms were arranged. Around each platform, silver lines forming circles absorbed mana shockwaves. The students divided into groups and took their positions. Nicholas and I headed for the rearmost platform.
“Not there. Come this way.”
The assistant instructor called us over. Two worn wooden casting platforms stood separately on one side of the room.
“Scholarship students use the auxiliary platforms.”
Nicholas looked at me.
“Again?”
“Let’s just see.”
I approached the wooden platform. Its surface bore old burn marks, and the mana absorption lines were broken in several places. It wasn’t on the verge of collapse or explosion, but it was hardly in good condition.
In contrast, a massive casting platform adorned with gold decorations stood in the center of the room. It wasn’t on any of the original blueprints.
“What is that?”
The assistant instructor answered my question with clear annoyance.
“It’s a high-output casting platform donated by the Magic Tower.”
“When was it installed?”
“Does a scholarship student need to know the facility’s history?”
“It looks like the stabilization patterns on the floor were cut to install it.”
The assistant instructor’s face hardened. The surrounding students’ gazes gathered. Even Leticia Arden, standing in front of the central platform, lifted her head. She was dressed more casually than in the morning. Her long red hair was tied high, and she wore black magic-control gloves on both hands.
“You can read magic patterns?” Leticia asked.
“A little.”
“Which school?”
“Building management.”
Nicholas lowered his head beside me. He seemed to be holding back laughter. Leticia didn’t laugh.
“What does a magic stabilization pattern have to do with building management?”
“Because if it explodes, the building gets damaged.”
“It won’t explode.”
“Every mage says that until it does.”
Laughter erupted throughout the practice room. Leticia’s golden eyes narrowed.
“My casting platform was designed by the Magic Tower’s master craftsmen.”
“And the floor was designed by the Belcrown family’s craftsmen.”
“Belcrown?”
She repeated my surname. Only then did she seem to realize what I had said. Leticia looked down at her feet. The base of the golden platform was covering part of the silver stabilization pattern. More precisely, the circular pattern had been cut away and new mana conduits forcibly connected.
She seemed to notice the anomaly as well, but soon looked away.
“Are you saying the Magic Tower’s calculations were wrong?”
“I’m saying I want to see the inspection records.”
“And if there aren’t any?”
“Then it shouldn’t be used.”
This time the assistant instructor interrupted.
“Belcrown student.”
His voice dripped with blatant irritation.
“Stop interfering with the class. That platform was specially provided by the Magic Tower for Miss Arden’s advanced practice.”
“Did you receive approval for its use from the academy?”
“We received permission from the professor.”
“What about approval from building management?”
“Why would we need permission from a building manager about magic facilities?”
It was a good line. I checked the assistant instructor’s name tag. Ludovick Hale. One more name to record.
Leticia placed a crystal orb on the casting platform.
“If you’re scared, step back.”
“I’m worried about the building, not myself.”
“Buildings are sturdier than people.”
That was wrong. People could be healed even if injured, but three-hundred-year-old mana conduits were nearly impossible to replace.
The professor entered the practice room and class began. Today’s assignment was to infuse a set amount of mana into a crystal orb and maintain its glow. A beginner lesson. Only Leticia was given a separate task. She would demonstrate simultaneous deployment of multiple attribute spells using the high-output platform from the Magic Tower.
I placed my hand on the worn wooden platform. I had mana. Not much, but enough to produce a faint light in the crystal orb.
“Oh.” Nicholas sounded impressed.
“What?”
“I thought you solved magic with money too.”
“What do you take me for?”
“Building owner candidate.”
The word “candidate” had been added. Slight progress.
At that moment, red light spread from the center of the practice room. Leticia had begun her casting. Flame. Wind. Ice. Three magic circles of different attributes overlapped and rose. The students gasped in admiration. The professor nodded with a satisfied expression.
“As expected of Miss Arden.”
Leticia pushed mana into the spell without the slightest tremor. The golden platform hummed lowly. At first it was a normal sound. The second vibration lasted longer. By the third, the floor itself was shaking.
I stopped moving. Blue sparks jumped above the silver stabilization pattern.
“Stop casting,” I said. My voice was drowned out by the admiration.
Leticia drew out a fourth attribute. Lightning. The mana conduits screamed.
“Leticia!”
The moment I shouted her name, a blue beam of light erupted from beneath the golden platform.
Boom!
The explosion shook the practice room windows. Students screamed and threw themselves to the floor. Three magic circles distorted. Flame and ice tangled together while wind blades shot in every direction. The professor tried to raise a barrier, but it was too late. The emergency shutdown device on the practice room wall failed to activate.
Why isn’t it closing?
I looked up at the ceiling. The mana flow couldn’t escape through the west wall. The reason came to me quickly. The west maintenance passage. I had seen the record a few days ago that it was blocked because experimental equipment from the Magic Tower had been stacked there.
“Everyone out the east exit!”
The students couldn’t move. Some lay flat on the floor, others crowded toward the exit. Colliding students fell and blocked the doorway.
Nicholas grabbed my sleeve.
“Ethan!”
“Get the students out.”
“What about you?”
I saw Leticia. She was trapped in the middle of the rampaging mana. Blue light extending from the golden platform wrapped around her arm. Even when she tried to pull away, her glove seemed stuck to the platform and wouldn’t move.
“I’ll open the shutdown device and come back.”
“You don’t even know where it is!”
“I do.”
I ran toward the west wall of the practice room. A shard of ice grazed my cheek. Hot blood flowed, but I didn’t stop. The wall looked completely ordinary. But when I pressed the decorative panel below the third pillar, the stone plate slid inward. A maintenance passage appeared.
“Why is that open?” someone shouted behind me.
There was no time to answer. I squeezed into the narrow passage. The heat pouring from the rupturing mana conduits stung my skin. At the end of the passage was a red handle. It was the emergency device that physically cut off mana throughout the entire Blue Crystal Hall.
I grabbed the handle. It was burning hot. The smell of my palm cooking rose. Gritting my teeth, I pulled down hard.
Clunk.
The entire building shook once, violently. The light that had filled the practice room vanished. The flames disappeared. The ice fell to the floor. The golden platform spewed black smoke.
Leticia’s body pitched forward. I dashed out of the passage and caught her. She was lighter than I expected. Her pale face appeared between strands of red hair. She was conscious but wore an expression that said she still didn’t understand the situation.
“You…”
“Don’t speak.”
“How did you know about the shutdown device…”
“Later.”
I laid her on the floor. Smoke still rose from the golden platform. Nearly half the stabilization pattern on the floor had burned away. The repair costs were going to be higher than I anticipated.
“I told you not to use it.”
Leticia’s eyes widened.
“That’s what you say right now?”
“My building burned.”
“Your building?”
I had slipped up. I stayed silent for a moment.
“That’s just how I phrased it.”
“How is that ‘just how you phrased it’?”
Fortunately, the emergency medical staff came running in. Students were evacuated outside, and the professor was too busy explaining the accident’s circumstances. I naturally stepped away from Leticia.
Beyond the practice room door, I saw the hem of a black skirt. It was Ines. She entered leading six staff members from the facility management bureau and surveyed the ruined practice room at a glance. The burned floor. The ruptured mana conduits. The fallen students. And my hand that hadn’t even been bandaged yet.
Ines’s expression turned ice-cold.
“Young mas—”
She cut herself off. There were too many people around.
“Belcrown student.”
That had been close.
“You’re from the Trust Management Bureau.”
I spoke first. Ines looked at me for a moment before bowing her head.
“I came to confirm the facility accident.”
Her voice was even colder than usual. Ines quickly turned her gaze to the professor.
“Who damaged the circular stabilization pattern?”
The professor cleared his throat.
“There were some adjustments during the installation of the platform provided by the Magic Tower.”
“Did you receive written approval for the facility modification from the owner?”
“Is that kind of permission necessary for installing magic equipment?”
“It is.”
Ines opened her folder of documents.
“Article 14 of the Blue Crystal Hall lease agreement. Any modification to the building’s foundational mana conduits or stabilization patterns requires written approval from the owner.”
“We had approval from the faculty council.”
“Is the faculty council the building owner?”
The practice room fell silent. Ines pointed at the ruined golden platform with a fingertip.
“Unauthorized facility modification. Failure to conduct safety inspection. Illegal occupation of emergency passage. Interference with emergency shutdown device operation. Student injuries.”
With each item, the color drained further from the professor’s face.
“The Second Magic Building will be closed effective immediately.”
Leticia pushed herself up.
“Wait a moment.”
“Who are you?”
“I am Leticia Arden. I am the user of that platform.”
“I see.”
Ines checked her list.
“We will also close the private research lab assigned to Arden student.”
Leticia’s face hardened.
“My research lab has nothing to do with the accident.”
“It is the place where the equipment that caused the accident was stored.”
“That equipment belongs to the Magic Tower.”
“Which is why we will return it to the Magic Tower.”
“My research will be interrupted.”
“Today the students’ hearts nearly stopped.”
Leticia closed her mouth. Ines gave instructions to the facility management staff.
“Seal off the entire Blue Crystal Hall. Internal equipment is prohibited from removal until safety inspections are complete. Bill the Magic Tower for repair costs and business interruption damages.”
“Business interruption damages?” the professor echoed.
Ines turned her head.
“The losses incurred while the facility cannot be used for other classes.”
“This is an educational institution.”
“An educational institution operating in someone else’s building.”
No rebuttal came.
I quietly hid my hand behind my back. Ines saw it. Her eyebrows twitched slightly. It seemed I wouldn’t escape a scolding later.
Students began moving out of the practice room. Leticia refused the support of the medical assistant and walked on her own. As she passed me, she stopped.
“Belcrown student.”
“Yes.”
“How did you know where that emergency passage was?”
“I like blueprints.”
“And the shutdown device?”
“It’s on the blueprints.”
“That device isn’t marked on ordinary blueprints.”
She was sharp. She hadn’t become the Magic Tower’s genius for nothing. I didn’t answer.
Leticia took one step closer.
“You said ‘my building’ earlier, didn’t you?”
“You misheard.”
“My ears are accurate.”
“Maybe the explosion damaged your hearing?”
Her lips pressed into a thin line.
“You.”
“Yes.”
“What exactly are you?”
“A fallen noble scholarship student.”
In the distance, Nicholas shook his head. His expression said, Here we go again.
I headed to the infirmary to get my hand bandaged.
That evening, after applying medicine to my palm and returning to the dormitory, someone was sitting in front of my door. Red hair. Three thick magic books resting on her knees. It was Leticia Arden. When she saw me, she stood up.
“Open my research lab for me.”
“No.”
“You’re not denying that you can open it.”
I had slipped up again. I couldn’t close the door and walk away. This was my room.
Leticia hugged the books to her chest.
“I’ll wait until you open it.”
“Do as you please.”
I opened my door.
“I really might stay here all night.”
“The corridor is a common area.”
“Doesn’t it bother you at all?”
“There is one thing that bothers me.”
Leticia’s eyes sparkled.
“What is it?”
I walked past her into the room.
“Don’t ever explode in my building again.”
As I tried to close the door, Leticia stuck her foot in it. And then she smiled. It was an expression I hadn’t seen from her all day.
“So it really is your building.”