Flowers Blooming Amidst the Plague (2)
The intensity of the heavy snowfall had finally begun to wane. By the time the thick piles of snow melted into steam under the heat of the magic-infused pipes and drained into the sewers, the tutoring session was well underway.
"You intended to master the concept of Exception Handling in just half a month?" Schmidt, the tutor for the Nihilit Baron’s household, adjusted his monocle and spoke with a sigh. "Lady Freya, that was only possible for Young Master Julian because he is who he is."
Schmidt shook his head vigorously. Even though Exception Handling was considered a foundational concept, it was by no means easy. There were thirty formulas alone. To internalize them to the point where one could recite them fluently even when poked in the side required at least a month of basic training. But the true difficulty of this concept only began after one had memorized the formulas.
"Then, to check how well you have mastered the concept, Lady Freya, I shall ask you a question. Suppose an enemy and your ally are currently clashing with swords. You are standing about forty-five paces away from them. In this situation, if you were to cast a fire spell, which Exception Handling formula would you use?"
"Um? Uh… wouldn't I use the 4th formula, which designates the range?"
"If you use the 4th formula, it will be nullified the moment the enemy hides behind your ally."
"Oh, oh then…."
This was the core of the problem. "Memorizing formulas" and "mastering concepts" were entirely separate realms. Memorizing formulas was somewhat achievable in a month, but learning which formula to apply in a real-world scenario took far longer.
"If I add the 4th formula to the 1st formula…."
"The incantation time would double, and the two conditional statements would cause a contradiction, resulting in a fizzle," Schmidt replied coldly.
"H-hoe…."
Freya’s eyes spun in confusion at Schmidt’s blunt correction. It was a far too cruel problem for a girl who had just turned twelve.
"Haa…." The tutor let out a deep sigh. "Do not be too discouraged. Even those called prodigies usually take three months just to take their first steps in this field."
"B-but Brother did this in just four days…."
"Let us treat him as an exception." Schmidt offered a bitter smile as he recalled his former student. "You do not need to imitate him. In the end, it is more important to reach the finish line than to get there quickly."
Julian. He was a painful memory for Schmidt as well. A genius who had blazed through a three-year curriculum in just three months—a talent that would not be out of place even when compared to the Great Sage. What if he had possessed the talent of a Mage? Even a year later, Schmidt still thought the gods were truly cruel. It would have been less heartbreaking if they hadn't given him such a "firefly-like" talent in the first place.
"So, Lady Freya," Schmidt said, adjusting his crooked monocle and gently coaxing her, "if you push yourself this hard already, you might burn out later. Your current pace is already enough to rival any genius, so there is no need to be so impatient."
"But I want to be able to use magic quickly, too."
"Why is that? Is there a particular reason?"
"It’s not a special reason, but I just… I want to follow Brother, just like my sister…."
"Pardon?"
"Ah, it’s nothing!"
She wanted to follow Julian down into the Limbus Pit. Seeing him help those in need down there felt like the stories of the heroes she admired so much. Above all, she enjoyed learning new things from Julian’s side every day. However, remembering her mother’s words, she cut her sentence short.
— "Freya, please keep it a secret from the other families that Julian goes down there."
— "Why?"
— "I fear they might point fingers at your brother."
— "Why would they point fingers when he’s doing good work? Are they jealous?"
— "Hmm… jealousy… perhaps one could see it that way."
Freya looked up at her tutor. She had heard that he was the third son of some Count’s family. Of course, even in Freya’s opinion, it didn’t seem like Schmidt would point fingers at Julian. But rumors could still spread among the nobles because of it. So, Freya hurriedly corrected herself.
"I just… thought that if Brother could do it, maybe I could too."
At Freya’s answer, Schmidt smiled warmly. He found the competitive spirit typical of twelve-year-olds quite cute.
"That is fine, Lady Freya. Since you are the Young Master’s sister, you will be able to catch up without being impatient."
At the tutor’s words, Freya briefly remembered the fact that she and Julian didn't share a single drop of blood, but she didn't voice it. It didn't matter much right now.
"Now then, shall we begin?"
"Yes, Teacher!"
Freya nodded vigorously and gripped her quill tightly. Even if they were strangers with no blood ties, to her, Julian was the most wonderful and magnificent brother in the world.
While Freya was having a pleasant time with Mr. Schmidt, I had returned to the Limbus Pit for the first time in a while and spent a chaotic day. Perhaps because it was right after the heavy snow, patients who had been waiting were flooding in all at once.
'Still, it's better than last year. Thanks to Eri.'
In this situation, Eri’s presence was a huge help. Since she filtered out who had bone marrow issues beforehand, the work was much smoother. With the morning clinic finished, we took a brief lunch break.
"Si jaco ∈ {socii}, then damnum → 0… no, what was it? Does Si jaco come first, or does objectum come first…."
In a private room at Fleischhof. While waiting for the food to arrive, Eri was staring at a scrap of paper and muttering to herself.
"Si objectum.signum = protectum… no, was there a comma here? Or was there not? Ah, I don't know!"
Eventually reaching her limit, Eri pulled at her hair and collapsed onto the table. "I mean, it hasn't even been that long since I learned to read, and they want me to memorize thirty formulas!"
Over the past two weeks, unlike Freya who had memorized the thirty formulas to some extent, Eri had only managed to learn fifteen. It was partly because she hadn't been reading for long, but mostly because she hadn't developed the habit of sitting still for long periods.
"Ah, I don't know! I'm taking a break! Teacher! I'm going to do the delivery—."
"You aren't an errand boy anymore. Act like an assistant and go back to the duty room to study."
"Whoa! Teacher, when did you get here?"
"Since you just called Si Jactor, Si jaco."
Even that was only fifteen because I had forced her to sit down. I glanced at the scrap of paper in Eri’s hand. Certainly, they were formulas I had already memorized but still hated looking at. However, as a protagonist with a "genius" persona, there was a line I absolutely had to say.
"Is that difficult…?"
"I'm not a genius like you, Teacher!" Eri let go of the hair she was pulling and grumbled. Whether she liked it or not, I sipped my pre-meal tea and corrected the typos on her memorization sheet.
Creak—
Just then, the door to the private room we were in opened with the sound of rusted hinges.
"Teacher. I heard you came to eat, so I came to greet you."
"It’s been a while, Wangcho. How are your toes?"
"Hehe… I had a bit of a hard time during the heavy snow."
"I told you to cut down on the alcohol and meat."
At that moment, Eri interjected between us.
"Wangcho is a hyena beastman, Teacher. Do you really think it makes sense for a hyena beastman not to eat meat?"
"I clearly told you that you could substitute it with rabbit meat or duck eggs, and that you could distill beer to drink it."
Did she really think I hadn't considered that? At my retort, Eri, who had been trying to defend Wangcho, shut her mouth. Feeling awkward, Wangcho blatantly changed the subject.
"Ah, brother. Did your face heal up well?"
He waved at Otto, who was sitting in the corner of the room, silent as if he didn't exist. Otto’s face, which had been covered in scars until just before we left the Limbus Pit, was now clean.
"Wow, the priests from the upper district really have great skills. I thought those scars would last a lifetime. There’s not a trace left."
"It’s all thanks to Teacher Schnabel." Otto glanced in my direction. "They said the first aid was done very well. Thanks to that, they could treat it perfectly even with low-level healing magic."
Hmph. Of course. As a world with complex magic, the principles of divine magic here are also complicated. The deeper, dirtier, and less properly treated the wound is, the exponentially higher the difficulty and the amount of divine power required to heal it. But in Otto’s case, because I had treated the wound artistically, he was able to recover without any issues.
'I am a trauma surgeon, after all.'
While I borrow the power of the "misunderstanding" trope for obstetrics, pediatrics, or internal medicine, trauma surgery is genuinely my own skill. Therefore, while it was the healing priests who treated Otto, I believe I deserve about 30% of the credit.
…*Sigh*. It would be nice if I could use healing magic, too. The problem is that I have no faith.
Anyway.
"Oh, this is the first time I've heard brother speak this much."
"…."
"Hey, look at brother keeping his mouth shut."
Wangcho patted Otto’s shoulder and joked. Otto didn't brush off the touch as if it were annoying, but he just stared out the window with his characteristic stoic expression.
"Jokes aside."
Wangcho sat down heavily in the chair opposite me and slightly dropped his usual oily smile. I hardened my expression as well. Though it didn't mean much since I was wearing a crow mask.
"Teacher. Please be careful when walking around this street for the time being."
"Has something happened?"
"It just so happens that this year is Ghoul Season again."
Ah, now that I think about it, that’s right. There is a peculiar season in this Limbus Pit. Roughly once every three to four years, immediately after heavy snow melts, the natural occurrence rate of undead in the Limbus Pit rises exponentially. And since the principle was related to what Eri needed to learn, I asked her.
"Eri. Do you know why ghouls run rampant in the Limbus Pit once every four years?"
"I'm already starving and miserable, and now I'm going to die of cold—"
"Eri, use polite language."
For a mage, language is life. Scientific knowledge is important, but vocabulary is just as crucial.
"…Well, they say ghosts who die of starvation and ghosts who die of cold have strong grudges. Isn't it because of that?"
"That is the perspective of an ordinary person. You are in the process of becoming a Mage now."
Mage. Wangcho’s eyes widened at the word, but I didn't pay him any mind and continued.
"Can you explain it magically?"
"…I didn't learn that."
"You must have forgotten it."
I ruffled Eri’s hair roughly and reminded her of the content again. "Now, Eri. What did I say were the five elements needed to cast magic?"
"Formula, incantation, catalyst, mana, and… uh…. what was it?"
"Symbolism."
Symbolism is very important in magic. Of course, the other four are also necessary, but that’s not what’s important right now.
"Ghouls absolutely require the symbolism of 'a death that the gaze of the gods does not reach.' That is why ghouls do not naturally occur with corpses in public cemeteries where funerals or requiem rites have been performed."
Unless some crazy dark mage performs a ritual that desecrates death, that is.
"For this reason, ghouls frequently occur in slums or battlefields. Because no one mourns or prays for the dead there."
The Ghoul Season in the Limbus Pit also occurs once every four years, immediately after heavy snow, for this very reason.
"The symbolism of desecration that has been accumulating until now has burst. The corpses that were preserved by freezing act as catalysts, reacting with the mana pooled in the city’s fog, causing ghouls to occur."
Still, four years is an increase in the interval. Before I arrived, it used to be Ghoul Season once every two years. Since I arrived, the mortality rate has dropped exponentially, so it had been four years since it last hit D-Sector. I heard that other sectors were still struggling because ghouls ran rampant once every two years.
"But Teacher. There's something strange."
"Tell me."
"Then why do they occur naturally even without a formula or incantation?"
"Originally, formulas and incantations are not essential for casting magic."
A formula is a kind of framework for a person to use magic in the form and at the timing they desire. Therefore, just because there is no formula doesn't mean magic won't be cast. It just means the magic is cast at its own whim. Incantations are also not essential for magic. You can think of an incantation as a process of bargaining with the world to compensate for a lack of symbolism, catalysts, and mana. Therefore, if symbolism, catalysts, and mana are sufficient, it means neither incantations nor formulas are essential.
"Of course, for a person to cast magic, both are eventually essential."
However, unlike the vast nature where everything is overflowing, humans lack mana, symbolism, and catalysts, so the two above are effectively semi-essential. "Now, do you understand?"
"Sort of."
"I didn't understand."
I ignored Wangcho, who was shrugging his shoulders. In any case, Wangcho’s point was that Ghoul Season had come to D-Sector for the first time in four years.
'Sigh. I feel like I could have extended it to five years if I had done a little better.'
As I was thinking that to myself, Otto, who had been silent, spoke to Wangcho.
"…Do we not have to go up this time?"
"Oh, brother. Don't tell me you're scared because of what happened last time?"
Click.
Otto silently cocked the hammer of his revolver. Wangcho recoiled and replied.
"Can't even make a joke."
"…."
"Alright. I'll just answer what you ask. You asked if you have to go up, right?"
Otto nodded.
"No need. How strong could ghouls be, anyway? How strong could things that died of starvation and died of cold be if they just got up?"
Wangcho was right. Unlike battlefield ghouls, slum ghouls are weak. To put it bluntly, even if ghouls came in droves, Otto could just drive his car and run them over.
"The originals are too weak. Unless some superhuman living somewhere died and that corpse became a ghoul, it’s not that dangerous. So just relax and eat, brother."
"…."
As soon as I heard Wangcho say that, I thought: 'Damn, that is one hell of a reassuring line….'