CHAPTER 114
CHAPTER 114
Conflict Between Classes
While Idnia was flustered, the other students one by one succeeded in the recall spell.
“I fumbled a bit at first because I didn’t have a magic wand, but isn’t this basically a variation of telekinesis?”
“Using it without a wand doesn’t consume much mana, so it’s not that burdensome.”
“As long as you pay attention to control, it’s fine.”
While the other students were succeeding one after another, Idnia—who had been first in the store rankings until now and could be considered the best among the top students—was the only one unable to cast the spell.
Unable to watch any longer, the assistant instructor picked up Idnia’s black iron magic wand and handed it to her.
“Student Idnia. Try holding the wand and recalling this.”
“Ah, yes.”
Idnia accepted the black iron magic wand and attempted to cast the recall spell toward the key ring the assistant had placed on the floor.
However, the spell did not activate at all.
In the end, while all the other students succeeded, Idnia was not even able to cast the spell.
“Ahaha. Our Lady Idnia must not be feeling well today.”
“She even raised her hand during the morning class asking to go to the restroom.”
The Zephyrus female students, Isolde’s friends, began openly mocking her as if to make sure Idnia could hear.
Isolde, whom Idnia had once rescued, turned bright red with embarrassment at her friends’ remarks.
Even though she had warned them not to provoke Idnia, it seemed her warning had been useless.
‘Hmm… pulse-type mana circuit.’
Idnia had a vague idea why her magic was not working.
The reason spells she had been able to use were no longer activating was, ironically, because her mana had increased.
Until now, Idnia had overcome the weaknesses of her pulse-type mana circuit with overwhelming spell activation affinity, aided by her native Korean pronunciation and scientific sensibilities.
Her pronunciation of activation words was so precise that she had forcibly triggered spells.
However, as she continued her training as a mage, her mana grew, and a problem arose.
Spells that consumed relatively little mana compared to what she possessed began to work less reliably.
The basic recall spell she was attempting now consumed too little mana to stimulate Idnia’s pulse-type mana circuit.
As Idnia’s total mana increased, spells that originally required a significant portion of her mana were becoming too light, and as a result, mana circuit activation was no longer occurring.
No matter how perfect her pronunciation of activation words was, if mana could not be released through the mana circuit, the magic would not manifest.
‘To think that increasing mana would actually make it harder to use magic. I’ll need to come up with a solution for this as well.’
Now Idnia had to prepare countermeasures for how to control her pulse-type mana circuit, improve her diet, and also deal with the demons approaching Dunaice Academy.
Dinner at the academy remained as dreadful as ever.
It was the kind of meal that fueled a burning desire to somehow secure food independently, whether through farming or anything else.
‘Ah, humans are truly cunning. Now that I have money in hand, this has become much harder to endure.’
Idnia, who had never been particularly concerned with food before, found it increasingly difficult to tolerate the meals when she thought about the money she had gained from selling treasures, the Aca coins sent by her father, and the money she had earned today from selling scrap from the dungeon.
‘But I must endure. Lately I’ve been earning well, but there’s no guarantee I’ll make this much again next time.’
No matter how much it felt like torture to eat such unappetizing food, she could not afford to use the academy’s canteen, which clearly overcharged and took advantage of its students.
‘As for the pulse-type mana circuit… I’ll test it tomorrow.’
Idnia quietly mulled over her thoughts while forcing down the unpleasant meal.
At that moment, Mari approached her.
“Excuse me, may I sit here?”
“Ah. Yes, of course.”
“Thank you.”
Mari sat down in front of Idnia and asked,
“Um, are you alright, Idnia? About today’s magic….”
“Ah, that’s because I have a pulse-type mana circuit.”
“A pulse-type mana circuit?”
“Yes. Well, I already understand the reason, so now I just need to find a solution. Were you worried about me?”
“Well….”
At that moment, another round of giggling laughter could be heard from somewhere.
Several female students were looking toward Idnia and laughing.
They were likely laughing at her failure to cast such an easy recall spell.
“Lady Idnia of the ducal house. And Miss Mari.”
Rudolf approached Idnia and Mari.
“May I sit at your table?”
Rudolf, who had originally been sitting among the Zephyrus students, had somehow come looking for Idnia.
“Of course. But what brings you here, Your Highness?”
“Your Highness… well, about that. Lady Idnia. I was thinking of putting a stop to the other students’ behavior….”
A faint trace of anger lingered in Rudolf’s voice.
As the imperial capital Dunaice became the center of culture and technology, the empire underwent great changes.
As commerce and business grew stronger than traditional means of production such as land and agriculture, many new wealthy classes emerged.
On the other hand, the nobles who indulged in luxury and pleasure within Dunaice’s social circles declined, and the empire was now accumulating tension between fallen nobles and the emerging gentry class that replaced them.
To the students of the gentry class, Idnia was a symbol of fallen nobility.
She belonged to a ducal house, the highest rank among nobles, a family that had even been a ruling royal house before the founding of the Holy Eldar Empire.
The royal ducal house had fallen.
Unlike other nobles who fell due to debts incurred from luxury and indulgence in Dunaice’s social scene, this family had fallen while standing at the forefront of wars against demons… but regardless of the reason, what mattered was that the most noble bloodline had declined.
Whether Idnia liked it or not, to the children of the gentry class, she was the very image of a fallen noble drawn on paper.
Until now, the students had not dared to treat her lightly because she had shown no weakness in class. But the moment she revealed a weakness, reactions of schadenfreude began to spread among the gentry students who disliked nobles.
They had not been able to speak openly when Idnia was thriving, but inwardly they had all been waiting for her downfall.
The tension between the gentry class and the noble class was that severe, and for Rudolf, who was supposed to govern the empire, it was nothing but frustrating.
Now that the gentry students were looking down on Idnia, a member of the imperial elector family, Rudolf could no longer stand by and watch.
“Lady Idnia of the ducal house. If you permit it, I would like to discipline the students of Zephyrus. In addition, I could ask Karl and Lorenzo to assist….”
“First of all, thank you for your concern, Your Highness. However, I don’t think that kind of approach will resolve the issue.
Rather, could I possibly borrow your name and face at a later time?”
“Pardon? You wish to borrow my name and face?”
“It’s nothing major. I would like to borrow your name when hosting parties, for example.”
In reality, she was saying: I will be the one acting, but I would like you to be the host.
“Ah. A party, you say? Well, that is of course….”
Rudolf had no idea what Idnia was thinking.
“Then… Miss Mari. I’ll skip today’s preview and review. I think I’ll head to the wizard ball training room for a moment.”
“Ah. Yes, please do.”
“Then I’ve finished my meal, so I’ll be taking my leave first. Your Highness, Miss Mari. I’m going to check the garden before it gets too dark.”
Idnia bid farewell to Rudolf and Mari and stood up.
As Idnia rose, Rudolf and Mari ended up sitting at the same table.
The atmosphere became awkward.
‘It feels like being with someone who is a friend of a friend, but not someone I’m close with.’
Mari had fallen in love at first sight with Rudolf, but she did not have the conversational skills to speak casually to the crown prince.
Instead, Rudolf smiled at Mari and said,
“I was worried when Lady Idnia suddenly couldn’t use magic, thinking she might be unwell, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. She doesn’t appear to be concerned at all, so perhaps I was overthinking it. Come to think of it, Miss Mari, you are Lady Idnia’s roommate in the same dormitory, correct?”
“Ah, yes, that’s right.”
“From what I hear from Lady Idnia, the two of you study together for preview and review?”
“Yes. I’ve learned a great deal from Lady Idnia. Thanks to her, I’m barely managing to keep up with the difficult classes at this school.”
“I see. That’s admirable. Your abilities seem to be improving quite a bit as well, Miss Mari.”
“Oh, no, you’re too kind. By the way, what do you think Lady Idnia plans to do?”
“I’m curious as well. She doesn’t seem to care whether other students gossip about her, but if left alone, the situation may grow worse. Before someone with a rough temperament like Karl intervenes, I think it would be better for me to handle things to some extent… Ah, come to think of it, you said you came from a monastery, correct?”
Rudolf asked, wondering if she was not a commoner from a farming background.
“Yes, I’m simply the daughter of a farmer.”
“I see. And yet your magical abilities are improving—just as expected of a Saint candidate.”
Rudolf praised Mari’s growth.
‘What is that now? Like escaping a wolf only to step on a snake…’
Isolde watched from a distance as Mari chatted amicably with Rudolf, and it troubled her.
But since her identity as a half-demon had been discovered by Idnia, she had no choice but to remain cautious for now.
The next morning, the magic enhancement class taught by Baroness Vilem began.
It was another audiovisual training session to strengthen mana, a class that made Idnia, who was already struggling with her increased mana, suffer even more.
‘I—I won’t get stronger from this. I can’t focus on the content of the class at all. Even if the content is tormenting me, it won’t make my mana stronger. Probably?’
This time, the video being shown was an imperial family promotional video, essentially a music video praising various welfare activities conducted by the imperial household, especially improvements in living conditions thanks to cotton produced at imperial plantations…
The level was almost like something from North Korea.
A man who clearly appeared to be a propaganda singer was singing, and the lyrics were….
‘Cotton flowers bloom across our homeland fields.
So much cotton, we weave warm clothes!
We wear warm clothes, thanks to the imperial grace~
Children eat their fill with cottonseed oil~….’
He was singing this embarrassingly childish and cringe-worthy song praising the imperial family.
Naturally, Idnia felt a creeping discomfort as she watched it.
‘Why is His Majesty the Emperor so refined in appearance, yet his sense is like this? Well, I suppose it works with the public, but ugh, it feels like my brain is rotting.
This is giving me a headache. At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if a song like “His Majesty the Emperor uses teleportation techniques” comes out someday.
Ah, but come to think of it, Emperor Franz is also a powerful mage, so he probably could actually use teleportation.’
Idnia trembled even more as she realized the absurdity of this world.
Could this audiovisual class have been designed specifically to torment her?
‘Hmm… remarkable.’
Baroness Vilem was observing from a distance.
‘At first she didn’t seem all that exceptional, but somehow she’s growing her mana the fastest in this class.’
Each time Idnia experienced mental distress, her mana increased.
In Baroness Vilem’s mana enhancement class, the person gaining the most from it was none other than Idnia.