The White-Haired Prodigy
The gangsters’ words made a sigh slip out of me before I could stop it. Even back when I was a mage, people said I didn’t look like much, but this was something else entirely.
“Khehehe! Must’ve grown up like a flower in a greenhouse. You’ll get sold anyway, but if you behave, I won’t hit you.”
The same extra-tier looks and extra-tier dialogue as always. I shrugged.
“Doesn’t matter to me.”
This was the perfect chance to find out exactly how far this body could go.
“What’s with you, miss? You really think you can take us on? If you just stay quiet, I wasn’t planning to leave any scars.”
The gangster kept running his mouth. Still, I had zero intention of letting a man’s mind inside a woman’s body get pinned down by the likes of him.
“Since when do men talk this much?”
I’d dealt with trash like this more times than I could count. They were nothing but lowlife thugs who formed gangs in the slums. Taking them down would be over in seconds.
In the end, it all circled back to that damn hero, Eugene. That son of a bitch was largely to blame. The bastard wandered into the slums every chance he got. It would’ve been fine if we actually met real informants, but most of them were just kidnappers. Especially the ones targeting the Saintess and the Archer. I was the one who saved those two bitches from all of it. And how did they thank me? By treating me like an errand boy.
—Wait, why does a mage have such ridiculous strength?
—Why didn’t you just become a fighter instead?
—Hero~ The mage is scary.
—Hey, why are you punching like a brute? You’re frightening them.
Just remembering it made heat flare up the back of my neck.
“I’m suddenly pissed off.”
“If you cooperate with us quietly even now—”
Cooperate? They could freeze to death. If I weren’t using this body, maybe I’d consider it. But as long as I was the one inside it, I couldn’t allow it to be dirtied. Especially not by slum trash like these. Losing to them would be ridiculous.
“No matter how you look at it, dealing with mongrels like you isn’t hard even in this body.”
I tried wrapping mana around my fist. Not bad. It seemed this body had been training with mana regularly. Feeling it and controlling it came easily.
To test exactly how strong it was, I drove my fist into the wall beside me.
Crunch!
Rumble!
The wall collapsed. Hmm. Not bad at all. My senses were returning.
“What kind of monstrous strength is that in such a small body!”
“Everyone has something called mana circuits. Even people who can’t use magic can become strong if they know how to operate it properly.”
Even idiots who couldn’t cast spells could wrap mana around their bodies and play the role of neighborhood boss if they handled mana operation well enough.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Mana can protect a sorcerer’s body even if you only wrap a little around yourself. The reverse works the same way.”
If used properly, mana could also stimulate a person’s metabolism. A kid who operated it skillfully could become as strong as an adult.
“What kind of bullshit is that!”
“No matter how much physical training the body has neglected, good mana application makes a surprising difference.”
The gangsters instinctively sensed me as a threat and charged. The bald man standing closest swung a hand axe. I lightly stepped back and drove my fist straight into his solar plexus.
Crack!
His solar plexus caved in, and he dropped on the spot. Strangely, my body felt even lighter than before.
“By chance, this body holds quite a vast amount of mana. You lot seem perfect for some moderate testing.”
“What… what the hell? How is some wench this strong?”
Hmm. If I were in their shoes, I’d think the same. A girl who looked like a delicate greenhouse flower suddenly beating people senseless with her fists? Of course they’d be shocked. But you picked the wrong day, boys.
“Hey, you lot chose the perfect timing. No one cares if slum trash disappears without a sound, right?”
I’d been moving away from magic lately, but it had been a while since I fought with it. After all, mana operation was the foundation of magic itself.
From the second one onward they attacked without mercy, so I personally took care of them.
Thud!Crunch!Snap!
I failed to control my strength on one of them and he died instantly. But he was just more slum trash gone, so it didn’t matter.
After I’d beaten three of them, the rest slammed their foreheads to the ground.
“S-spare us! We didn’t recognize you!”
“You were trying to knock me down and shake your lower halves just a few minutes ago, yet now you speak so politely. Do you want to live?”
“Yes! We’ll do anything you command!”
Anything you command. Exactly what you’d expect from slum rats.
“Fine. Do you have an informant?”
“By informant you mean…”
Every country’s slums had at least one. Information brokers. They didn’t claim to handle corporate secrets, but they provided information worth the price. Nobles often used them to eliminate political enemies. The hero party, however, only received information that helped with their journey.
“I need information on the hero and the Demon King.”
“H-hero and D-Demon King!”
Why are you so surprised? Weren’t the hero and Demon King always hot topics? The empire itself spreads articles about them whenever a scandal breaks to calm public discontent. That should tell you everything.
“Can you get it?”
“I-if it’s just obtaining it, then yes, but…”
Then obtain it. I couldn’t stay locked up in the academy forever.
“Also look into places in the imperial capital where I can work.”
They seemed to have covered this semester, but if they didn’t support next semester’s tuition, things would get dangerous. Even if I used a scholarship for tuition, I still needed living expenses right away.
“A place suitable for work…”
“Somewhere appropriate for an Attelina Academy student to work part-time. Anything is fine. Just not shady places. You understand me, right?”
These gangster bastards were surprisingly well-connected in this area. They’d probably find something easily. Back when I was with the hero party I even had to do odd jobs. I beat up gangsters then too in order to find work.
“U-understood. Then… for contact…”
“Leave this behind.”
I created a messenger bird out of pure magic power. A swallow. Small and convenient to carry. Plus, I’d know if these guys tried to run.
“And if you have money, hand it over.”
“M-money… we also… uh…”
Oh, impressive. Even after getting beaten like that, they still didn’t want to give it up.
“You’ve extorted plenty from people here anyway, haven’t you? This hyung needs it for academy tuition, so hand it over.”
“You should’ve given it from the start.”
I shook the money pouch in my hand. It wasn’t enough for tuition yet, but selling the dresses would bring in a decent amount.
What remained was training my mana operation. In the end, I was still a mage. Swordsmanship, archery—everything had been done with mana’s help. How much I could do in a girl’s body remained to be seen, but I had to make the effort.
“The mana circuits are also quite well established.”
I returned to the dormitory, sat on the bed, and began controlling the mana. It seemed the young lady had trained her mana operation regularly; the circuits were perfectly intact.
In my previous life, I had absorbed all kinds of knowledge to master magic. Mana operation should be as natural as breathing. By applying it freely while eating, sleeping, and going about daily life, I could use it anywhere. I had to fuse with the body itself.
Once you reached that level, the body and mana circuits became one and the circuits themselves disappeared. That was why the worst nightmare for mages—mana circuit destruction—had no effect. It was already engraved on the soul. The original owner seemed to have practiced extensively, so I reached the peak without much difficulty.
Mages who fully fused their mana with their bodies had their hair turn pure white.
It made me suspect the duke family’s bloodline was born for magic. Ordinary mages needed decades to reach this point, and many never learned the method or had bodies unsuited for mana operation from birth. Ninety percent of mages never achieved fusion.
I should be able to finish before the new semester starts.
I managed to complete Mana Fusion before the semester began. The original woman’s body was practically a cheat, and since I already knew the sensation of fusion, it was only natural.
Wearing women’s clothing had become somewhat familiar now.
While putting on the school uniform, I stared at Olivia in the mirror. Snow-white hair like fresh snow. Deep blue eyes like the ocean. Flawless pale skin and a perfectly proportioned figure.
Yes. Today, as always, Olivia boasted a flawless appearance.
“The problem is that I’m the one moving this body.”
After staring for a long time, I touched my hair. It really was pure white and quite long. Should I cut it? It wouldn’t inconvenience magic, but having been a man before, long hair still felt strangely repulsive. Even sitting down to pee felt weird.
No, let’s just leave it. Cutting it would draw attention in its own way. I hated anything troublesome.
The crown prince and Lily. There was no reason to get entangled with them. Besides, Lily was a year younger than me. From the diary, it seemed the original owner used to go harass Lily alone every time. That no longer had any meaning. If I didn’t seek her out, we’d simply never cross paths.
I had met the crown prince before. He was a guy with a decent head on his shoulders. He just had a head. The kind of person who could moderately and uneventfully inherit the throne. That was all.
Since I was now a second-year, there was no reason to mix with the crown prince again. If we met, I’d just pretend not to know him.
Attelina Academy. Second-year Class A of the empire’s greatest academy was Olivia’s class.
The academy was essentially a miniature version of imperial society. The crown prince and his followers would probably look at me like filth, but I needed to change the perception of at least the peripheral students in my class.
“Um… hello.”
I was reading a book on imperial magic when a girl approached and spoke to me. She had the kind of pure, innocent face that would fall for a hero-type without hesitation.
I closed the book and gave her a gentle smile.
“Hello. Nice to meet you.”
“Excuse me, but… I don’t think I’ve seen you before, my lady.”
Never seen me? The imperial academy encouraged social gatherings, so most students would have at least glimpsed each other’s faces. The high school division kept the same students from first to third year. Although commoners could enroll now, it had originally been created for noble children.
Ah. Was it the white hair that changed my impression? There was no way the largest human nation on the continent didn’t know about hair dye. Could one’s entire personality shift just because of hair color?
“I’m Olivia.”
When I answered kindly, the girl’s face turned deathly pale.
“O-Olivia? Olivia Lapa Ashtar?”
“Yes.”
The moment she heard the name, she moved to a seat far away.
It seemed the original owner had caused quite a lot of trouble last year. At this rate I might become an outcast. Wasn’t this a little dangerous? Just how many incidents had she caused that people reacted like they’d seen a dangerous monster?
After some time passed, even though I hadn’t put up any shield, the students filling the classroom kept their distance.
Fuck? What is this? What the actual hell? What exactly did the original bitch do on a daily basis?
Was the difficulty level higher than when I was in the hero party?
This is ridiculous. Complaining about it now wouldn’t change anything.
While the atmosphere remained ice-cold, a man wearing a mage’s robe finally entered the classroom.
“Hey, you lot! Long time no see!”
Only then did the absurd harassment stop.