Magitech Class (1)
“Magitech class?”
I'd only tossed out the idea lightly, but Charlotte went wide-eyed. She even froze mid-motion with her fork and knife, staring at me for a moment before slyly glancing over at Gines.
I could already guess she was lost in some wild fantasy again.
“W-was it something like that? I had no idea...”
“What are you imagining this time?”
“N-no, Young Master. I'm rooting for you! Fighting!”
“You're not thinking something weird, are you?”
I'd only learned about the magitech class because of Gines's plea. Her lecture was on the brink of cancellation, so she'd begged someone—anyone—to join via course change. Without her request, I probably never would've noticed the class even existed.
Cancellation.
Every semester at Denebergen Academy, countless new lectures open their doors, but some inevitably get axed. Professors and courses without enough student interest simply don't proceed. Even a teacher with flawless materials is pointless without pupils to teach. It's like a brilliantly written manuscript gathering dust—its true value unseen by the world.
But I wasn't signing up out of pity for Gines's plight.
“It's not what you're thinking.”
“Huh? How do you know what I'm thinking?”
“...”
Charlotte's imagination was obvious without asking. She probably figured I was joining out of sympathy—or maybe some budding affection. But in truth, whether the class got canceled or Gines got to take it didn't matter to me one bit.
My interest in magitech stemmed more from Charlotte... or rather, the last king of Drelin.
Just as I wielded my sharp senses and swordsmanship, that bastard relied on magitech gear and cutting-edge tech as his weapons. If knowing your enemy and yourself guarantees victory in every battle, then studying magitech wasn't optional—it was essential. At the very least, I needed to understand it enough to figure out countermeasures.
“Eh, think whatever you want. Anyway, I'm planning to sign up for magitech. What about you, Charlotte?”
“Hmm... I'd have to drop something else, then. Hold on. But Young Master asking me of all people... hehe.”
Charlotte pulled out her schedule and scrutinized it carefully. The reason I'd asked her specifically was simple: from here on out, I planned to stick close to her as much as possible.
You never know when or where the traitor might show up.
The spy colluding with Drelin's last king still hadn't been flushed out. The special class roster, our back-mountain meetup—everything had been leaked by an insider, no doubt. In the worst case, they could kidnap Charlotte, bolt from the academy, and hand her straight to that king. That's why Elfin, Yustina, and I—who all knew the full story—were staying extra vigilant.
“You seemed to know a ton about magitech last time. We take it together, and it's an easy A, right?”
“That's not a good attitude for a student, Young Master!”
“What's wrong with it? With so few people, it's absolute grading—no competition.”
And of course, Charlotte had no memory of that hospital-room grilling. The demon siblings, the clash with Catarina—all erased by Elfin's memory wipe. Another chunk of recollection gone. As Yustina said, it was unavoidable, but a twinge of guilt still pricked at my heart.
“But... did I really know much about magitech...?”
“Don't sweat the details. Find anything to swap? I dropped Herbology, by the way.”
Come to think of it, even that memory was gone for her. It felt oddly disorienting—recollections I still held crystal-clear were blanks for others who'd lived the same events.
My pivot to safer topics landed smoothly, thankfully.
“Yeah, found it. That Herbology class you're dropping? This one dropped it too.”
“Cool, Herbology it is, then. Fun class, but... wait, what?”
The voice wasn't Charlotte's. She was sitting right across from me, but it came from behind.
I turned, half-expecting it—and there she was: Yustina... or Yuz, as she went by here.
“This one shall join that magitech class as well. No complaints, I trust?”
“Complain? I wouldn't go that far...”
“Then we're settled.”
Yustina slid casually into the empty chair beside me and crossed her legs. There was no rule saying only Charlotte could join me in magitech, but Yustina tagging along was a surprise.
Didn't she have a dim view of magitech itself?
Not hatred, just indifference—no real need to learn it. Born a dragon, her innate magic eclipsed anything magitech could dream of achieving.
So why bother with magitech now...? Oh, right. She doesn't need any classes.
By that logic, Yustina could've skipped basic magic, basic combat, magibeast studies, herbology—the works. And with her mirroring my entire schedule, her intentions were crystal clear.
“You wouldn't be thinking something perverse, would you?”
“Me? What?”
“Deneb, 'tis not what thou imaginest. Absolutely not.”
“How do you know what I'm imagining?”
It felt like déjà vu of my exchange with Charlotte earlier. I teased Yustina, fully savoring the irony of her suspicion.
“E-ei! 'Tis not that this one changed courses to take the same classes as thee! In truth...”
Yustina finally cracked, blurting it out. But the words that followed wouldn't come. She glanced nervously at Charlotte, lips twitching silently.
Looked like it was a secret from Charlotte. Right on cue, Yustina's voice echoed in my mind without her lips moving.
[Charlotte, Charlotte! With the traitor lurking anywhere, we must be cautious! 'Tis not thee I'm following—'tis her!]
[Ah, got it. But she's following me. So you're following her who's following me... which means you're...]
[What manner of twisted logic is that?! A-at first, this one doubted if thou wert truly Deneb, so I matched thy schedule... but now, 'tis absolutely not—!]
I waved her off dismissively.
[Fine, fine. One person's not enough coverage anyway. You're welcome to tag along. More the merrier, really.]
I held back the big question: why keep up the student act even after uncovering my identity? She'd probably clam up and blush if I asked.
Elfin was sticking with the special class to protect Charlotte and hunt the traitor... but Yustina? Pure whim.
“Alright, so that's three of us?”
“For the moment, aye.”
“...Gines is gonna be thrilled.”
“Told you, I couldn't care less about Gines.”
Still, three new students should save it from cancellation. I filled out the course change form, feeling a pointless swell of pride.
“Ughhhh...”
“Told you to go easy. Here, lean on me?”
“No... I can walk... on my own...”
I strode down the hall, leaving a groaning Elfin in my wake.
First day after the weekend, and her special class showed no mercy. The back-mountain incident probably made her push for safer training, but only the venue had changed—to inside the academy. Elfin's standards remained brutally rigorous.
Not even mid-tier spirits are pushovers.
Today's drill: sparring her summoned wind wolves. As spirits under her control, no risk of fatal wounds—but they weren't the walkover I'd expected.
Spirits just reverse-summon if "killed," so no holding back out of worry. Nice in theory, but Elfin never did "easy."
“Owww...”
Still recovering from the Catarina fight? No mana core left, yet she'd burned through stamina and mana like an overflowing reservoir.
Not critical, though—I waved off Yustina's healing and headed to the infirmary.
“Feels like I'm here way too often lately...”
After the back-mountain brawl, I'd relied on the resident healer auntie when Elfin and Yustina weren't around.
—'Patient needs total rest! Total rest!'
She'd grumbled about all the traffic in the "rest" room... but my friends weren't the type to care.
She'd surely nag me for not resting properly last time.
Creeeak—
“Anyone here...?”
The door opened to a serene treatment room, beyond which lay cozy private recovery beds. As always, the infirmary felt oversized for "infirmary"—practically a full hospital, befitting Denebergen's prestige.
Familiar after a day or two crashing here, I navigated straight to the treatment area.
“One moment—treating another patient.”
“Ah, got it.”
Someone else at this hour? And not a student, from the look.
A bespectacled, wiry man—middle-aged, but gentlemanly. Plain yet kindly, showing his leg wound to the healer auntie.
Magibeast Studies professor?
I knew him well. Popular among students like me, Charlotte, Yustina, and others in his class. Talented lecturer, despite the "eccentric" rep.
Not that I like him much.
Eccentric? To me, very eccentric. He'd once made Yustina dismantle every back-mountain trap solo for dozing in class.
If she were a normal first-year—not a dragon—that'd mean wading into a magibeast den. Sure, they were hypnotized, low risk... but some wore control collars that day.
She could've gotten hurt...
Something flashed in my mind.
“Huh?”
...No way. The traitor?