Chapter 18
Chapter 18
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: Volume 4 - The Elf Dreaming of an Affair with an Orc Feels Frustrated Again Today (2)
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◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Bored, bored, bored..."
"Lady Rozaria, you're still the same even as the semester winds down?"
"Whiria, I'm so dissatisfied. Why won't this damn academy let us go outside?"
The girl called Whiria smiled and soothed Rozaria, saying there was nothing to be done about the rules.
Rozaria replied, "I know, I know..." but still vented her frustration by punching the cushion on the bed.
It felt like years had passed since she last saw Kali, yet even the first semester wasn't over yet.
This just didn't make any sense.
"Argh! I miss Kali. I want to hug him and rub my cheeks against his like this and that!"
"I've always wondered, but how did you and Kali become such close friends from childhood? Your families have such different temperaments."
"...Who knows? Our families have always been close. I never really thought it was anything special."
Come to think of it, mage families and swordsmanship families didn't usually mix much.
Most parents had graduated from the academy too, but even if the magic and swordsmanship departments were in the same place, the classes were different, so they didn't interact much, right?
And dorms tended to group students from the same department anyway.
"Maybe there was some specific trigger? Grandpa didn't seem to care much, so it felt like a connection from our parents' generation."
"It's kinda enviable to have someone you like. Ah, I thought coming to the academy would mean bumping into lots of guys, but the magic department is crawling with girls..."
"Why not go look in the swordsmanship department? Whiria, you're pretty, so you've got a shot."
"N-No, don't even joke about that! Me, pretty?!"
"There you go again. I'm not just saying it. I'd cheer for Whiria to have any love as long as it's not Kali."
"Lady Rozaria..."
After rolling around on her bed for a while, the two glanced at the clock without much thought.
They realized it was about time to head out and began getting ready.
Any other day, Rozaria would have dragged her feet, but today was Professor Rondo's Basic Magic class—one of her favorites—so she moved with surprising speed.
"Lady Rozaria, you really love Professor Rondo's classes. Is it because you know her?"
"Not really related. Professor Rondo teaches us extra stuff we wouldn't learn otherwise. I like that, and her stories about art are great too."
"I struggle to understand most of those extras you mention... Ah, but I do like when she talks about drawings. Whenever it feels like we'll doze off, she switches to something fun right away."
After enduring the droning voices of old professors every time...
Whiria made a fuss, saying Professor Rondo's classes felt like a declaration that she wouldn't let them sleep.
Rozaria nodded in agreement.
"Right? Even the younger professors try to imitate her a bit..."
"Hello, everyone. I feel great after going outside the academy for the first time in ages. Jealous? Yes, that's me bragging."
The class burst into laughter at Professor Rondo's playful opening as soon as it began.
Of course, a few students including Rozaria shot her genuinely envious looks.
As if expecting that, Professor Rondo pulled something out.
"Do you remember why I went outside the academy?"
"To submit your new work..."
"Yes, exactly. Remember when I talked about how paintings in galleries are changing these days?"
The lecture, titled 'Basics of Magic Studies,' had veered off-topic from the start.
But none of the students in the classroom minded.
On the contrary, most watched Professor Rondo with interest, wondering what it was about.
"This is a secret just for you all. I decided not to give it to other years."
She began handing something out to each student.
The kids, receiving what looked like wrapped books one per person, felt a chill—why a book out of nowhere?
New textbook?
But the packaging felt more like a gift...
"Ah, don't unwrap it yet. It'll be more fun if you listen to me first."
Usually, she'd bring up art when students got sleepy during lectures.
But pulling it out right at the start today made everyone’s eyes sparkle with anticipation of something special.
Professor Rondo recapped her previous talk on the trend of heavy deformation in paintings.
"And leading that trend was a painting called Su Baek Hwa. Inspired by it, I painted White Light and just put it on display."
She let out a hollow laugh, saying the exhibition hall had something unimaginable.
Without explaining properly, the students clamored for her to hurry up and tell them.
Grinning mischievously, Professor Rondo said it was fine to unwrap the books now.
"Huh...?"
The moment Rozaria peeled back the wrap, she saw a nude girl with snow-white hair.
But before the nudity could even register as embarrassing, other elements demanded attention.
The features were exaggerated to an astonishing degree, yet boldly omitted human traits blended seamlessly without awkwardness.
The style hammered the artist's vision of beauty straight into the viewer's head, delivering a massive shock to her.
"What... what is this...?"
"The cover of the book I just gave you is that Su Baek Hwa I raved about."
"You praised this highly? It's pretty, sure, but this isn't a person..."
"The fact you're saying it's not a person means you've recognized it as one, right?"
"Huh...?"
She'd planned to tell them to go see it themselves, but when copies suddenly went on sale, she'd impulse-bought a bunch.
Of course, nothing for the upperclassmen who never listen these days.
As everyone reeled from the unfamiliar style, Professor Rondo joked and continued.
It was shocking enough that the amazing painting was being sold as copies, but a sequel was on display too.
Professor Rondo said the sequel was inside the book and told them to check it out.
"...Black and white? It's a real book? A drawing!?"
Flipping it open casually, it was black-and-white like any normal book.
But one big difference: it contained shaded illustrations.
Books shouldn't have shading...
"Shading with a single color...?"
"Ah, these are dotted patterns!"
"Yes, exactly."
The gray parts they'd assumed were plain were actually intricate patterns up close.
They naturally read as gray, mimicking the texture of brushes or paint.
Each page turn filled the view with natural black-and-white art.
"What about the sequel, Descent of the Avatar? Your faces match mine when I first saw it. Confusing, huh?"
"P-Professor, there's text here... Is this a novel? But there’s way more drawings..."
"It's astonishing. This is a form of art we've never experienced. The art world is undergoing back-to-back upheavals thanks to this one artist, 'Siu'."
"Do you remember the first day of my Basic Magic Studies lecture?"
"Basics aren't about learning to do things theoretically."
"They're lectures to help you build the foundation for stable magehood through accumulated skill."
"I said that, right?"
"Yes, we remember."
"The example I showed you today was from the art world. But similar things happen in magic all the time."
"Right now, you could become a great mage by chasing trends. But when a massive shift like this hits, those trendy results become useless."
Yet the foundation called 'skill' that you build learning magic doesn't vanish.
That's why magic basics teach you the 'method' of building your own skill foundation.
"Don't cling to your narrow view of magic skill. Focus on building strength via the methods I taught. That's all."
The rest of class was spent sketching their own character studies in the style of Su Baek Hwa.
Facing a completely new style, it was about grasping basic drawing fundamentals from scratch.
This highlighted how neglectful they'd been of the 'drawing' aspect in magic basics so far.
"Lady Rozaria? That's...?"
"Ah, weird, right? It's not quite turning out how I want yet. A bit more and it'll be good."
"Isn't that too much omission?"
"Somehow, it feels like I could pull this off."
The sketch emerging from Rozaria's fingertips bizarrely took the form of a 2.5-head-proportion figure.
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