CHAPTER 115
CHAPTER 115
Growing Magic
From the beginning her magical power had not been particularly remarkable, so even with that growth it could not be said that she possessed a large amount of mana compared to other students who had already undergone prior training. However, in terms of growth rate, she surpassed any other student.
Although she normally did not display much magical power due to her pulse-type magic vein, at this very moment of suffering, her power was blazing so intensely that it was visible to the naked eye.
“It won’t continue growing at this rate forever. Still, I’m not sure whether I should be sad or happy that Flora’s daughter is growing so quickly.”
Baroness Willem was seized with complex emotions as she looked at Idnia.
Watching Idnia’s magical power grow rapidly in her class… as an educator, it was gratifying. However, knowing that Idnia was the daughter of Flora, whom she hated, prevented her from purely rejoicing in that growth.
If she knew the full details of Idnia’s current situation, she would realize that the growth of her magical power was not something to simply celebrate. Whether fortunate or unfortunate, Baroness Willem did not yet know that much.
After Baroness Willem’s class, Professor Magram’s class awaited them again.
“Now then, continuing from yesterday, we will have the retrieval magic class today as well.
Retrieval magic is a very simple spell that forms the foundation of all summoning magic, but depending on how it is implemented, it can become a highly advanced spell.
So, speaking of which, yesterday’s class was too easy, wasn’t it? I assume that once you’ve learned telekinesis, everyone has succeeded in simple retrieval magic.
Except for student Idnia.”
Everyone’s gaze naturally turned toward Idnia.
Looking at the current shop status table, Karl had 9 points. Isolde and Idnia had 8 points, but as the leader of the Euros dormitory, Idnia had earned 9 points from the common shop by herself.
There would be no disagreement that she was the top student among all students.
And yet, for some reason, she—who ranked first in shop earnings—was unable to succeed at everything.
Even Marie, who was the least skilled in both magic and academics, could do it easily.
“So, Idnia. Can you succeed today? I haven’t assigned a task, but you must demonstrate success today in order to proceed to the next lesson.
Before we move on, could you show us briefly?”
“Ah, well… just a moment.”
Idnia set down her magic wand and walked away.
“Hehe, you weren’t feeling well yesterday because you went to the bathroom, right?”
“You’ll do fine now.”
Nora, Kate, and Mina, three students from Zephyros, were badmouthing and mocking Idnia.
They took perverse pleasure in seeing Idnia—who had been leading the shop rankings—make an unexpected mistake.
“Those foolish fools… what are they doing… they’re plucking the whiskers of a lion.”
Isolde was furious as she watched her friends openly insulting Idnia.
She wanted to somehow repair her relationship with Idnia, but she couldn’t abandon her friends. If she suddenly changed her attitude now, everyone would find it strange and start questioning her. And since she couldn’t reveal that she was the daughter of a demon or a half-demon, it felt like her heart might burst.
“Ah, Duchess Idnia. You should at least demonstrate your retrieval magic. If you’re looked down upon, they’ll keep mocking you.”
Isolde watched anxiously, hoping Idnia would succeed.
Idnia had gone to the Wizard Ball practice room the previous evening and again that morning to try magic.
She had done farm work in the vegetable garden and practiced alchemy with alchemical equipment.
These spells worked well.
As Idnia had hypothesized, magic that consumed a lot of mana functioned without issue, but minor spells that required little mana did not work.
The pulse-type magic vein was the problem.
So Idnia continued using her mana until she was nearly exhausted, to the point of feeling nauseous from overuse, and then attempted retrieval magic.
Once mana is completely depleted and one is in a near-exhausted state, retrieval magic works properly.
“I’ve emptied my mana beforehand, so it should work this time. The activation word was definitely Nae-son-eu-ro, ‘by my hand,’ right?”
Idnia silently spoke the activation word and reached out her hand toward the magic wand.
Because she had expended her mana beforehand, the magic activated successfully.
“Oh. As expected…”
“It seems you really weren’t feeling well yesterday.”
“Those nouveau riche bastards couldn’t shake off their base nature and were acting out… do you think Lady Idnia achieved first place in the shop by chance?”
“Strictly speaking, she isn’t first. Excluding public shops, the top private shop belongs to Prince Karl.”
“Well, still…”
The students of Euros, and the noble-born students, respected Idnia.
Even if the House of Betelgeuse had fallen, it remained an electoral princely house.
Moreover, considering that its downfall came from being the first to confront the Demon Lord’s army, it would be strange not to respect them.
As the gentry rose and nobles lacking business acumen increasingly lost their place in society, many noble-born students respected and supported Idnia regardless of dormitory.
“Oh dear. Why make such a fuss just because she succeeded the next day like all the others…”
Conversely, for the gentry-class students, Idnia—the textbook symbol of a fallen noble—was an eyesore.
“Alright, enough nonsense… that was an interesting method, Idnia. It seems you’ve been struggling with pulse-type mamax.”
Magram burst into laughter upon realizing that Idnia had succeeded by deliberately depleting her mana.
“Ah, Professor Magram. You knew?”
Idnia felt a slight irritation.
She had failed to use magic in class yesterday, and he had known all along but said nothing until now.
However, using that method will become more difficult as your magical potential grows.
“I happen to know a good method, and I can offer it to you at a reasonable fee.”
“What? A fee? You mean you charge money?”
“Well… among the students, you’re the only one suffering from pulse-type magic vein issues.
Since this doesn’t benefit the development of other students and is purely due to one individual’s constitution, resolving it is a personal matter.
Also, as a practitioner of wish magic, I cannot do it for free.
Ah, since we’re in class, let’s talk about money later. Doesn’t that sound a bit materialistic? Now, let’s proceed. Idnia, you may return to your desk.”
Magram gestured for Idnia to return.
Idnia was left speechless by his shamelessness.
“So materialistic! He was the one who brought up money first…”
She didn’t believe educators had to burn their own wealth, time, and lives for students, but it was absurd for a professor to demand extra payment under the pretext of teaching.
“Hmm? The classroom seems a bit noisy.”
While Magram was focused on Idnia, a subtle tension was brewing among the students.
The nobles and gentry, divided further into wealthy landowners and intellectual classes such as lawyers, legal professionals, and wizard families, had formed factions and were clashing emotionally.
At the center of that tension was none other than Prince Karl of Oxbach.
“Hey. Who was talking nonsense just now? How dare you look down on an Elector family? Swear on your name and step forward.”
Karl appeared outraged that someone had mocked Idnia.
As Karl issued his challenge, Magram cleared his throat.
“Ah, Karl. This is class, so stop. If you continue, I’ll have no choice but to give you a demerit.”
“Understood, Professor. But then please stop students from saying nonsense as well.”
“Very well.”
Magram drew his scimitar while smiling.
Whoosh!
As he threw the blade, the flaming scimitar flew through the air, forming a wall of fire about one meter high from the ground between Karl and the other students.
“……”
“Ugh…”
The heat could be felt even from a distance. The intense heat, as if flesh would melt upon contact, forced everyone to remain silent.
“Now, let’s move on to the next step. Until now, you’ve used telekinesis while observing the object to retrieve it.
From here on, you will mark objects in advance and summon them to your hand without looking. Like this.”
As Magram extended his hand, a scimitar leapt from the flames and flew toward Karl’s head.
Karl stared straight at the blade, but it curved around him, avoiding his head, and returned smoothly into Magram’s hand.
Even if obstacles are in the way, you must guide the object so it reaches your hand.
“What… what are you doing?”
Rudolf stood up and protested in Karl’s place.
“As you can see, I was merely demonstrating an example.”
“Isn’t that dangerous?”
“Oh, it’s fine. You’re welcome. This sword is just a prop.”
At that moment, the heat from the fire pillar disappeared and the flames became transparent.
When Magram grasped the scimitar and bent it with his fingers, it flexed like rubber.
Just moments ago it had been a blade capable of burning bones, but now it had turned into an illusion and a toy prop.
“No…”
“Brother…”
Unable to bear it any longer, Isolde whispered to Rudolf to stop.
“When Prince Karl raised his voice during class, the professor immediately threatened him with a sword. Just like that student who was eating a donut yesterday, that professor is a narrow-minded lunatic. What will happen if you get punished too?”
“Even so…”
“B-but more importantly, the difficulty of this class has suddenly increased severalfold.”
Isolde quickly changed the subject, worried Rudolf might get hurt.
“Yes. Retrieval magic does have that aspect. Would you like to try solving it on your own before I explain the structure?”
“…Yes, I will try.”
Isolde stepped forward of her own accord.
She did so to divert Magram’s attention away from Rudolf.
She handed her magic wand to the assistant, placed a chair on the desk, and stood behind it.
“Nae-son-eu-ro!”
With Isolde’s activation word, the magic wand flew on its own, bypassed the desk, and landed in her hand.
She had successfully retrieved the wand from a hidden position, avoiding obstacles.
“Oh? I never expected a first-year student to succeed before we’ve even covered structural analysis. Miss Isolde, I’ll award you 1 point.
And if you could explain how you succeeded, I’ll give you another point.”
As Isolde had hoped, Magram shifted his focus back to the lesson rather than his hostility toward Rudolf.
“Hmm… I cast the Wizard Mark spell on the wand to place a mark in advance, then summoned an air spirit to that mark and had it bring the wand to my hand.”
“Ah, remote summoning of an air spirit. That’s a good idea. The spirit handles obstacles on its own and brings it without requiring concentrated focus or sensory transfer.
How do you feel about combining that with the existing activation word?”
She could feel the magic reacting within the activation phrase, as if the method was already implemented.
It seemed that someone had already used this technique and integrated it into the activation formula. In other words, the method she had devised was actually something senior mages had been using long ago.
Surprisingly, the method Isolde had devised already existed as a variation of basic retrieval magic.
“Excellent. That was a fine explanation. I will award Miss Isolde 2 points.
And the procedure you demonstrated was nearly perfect.
The margin of error compared to the established method was less than 1%.”
Magram praised Isolde and awarded her a total of 2 points.
With that, Isolde’s shop reached 10 points.
She had surpassed Karl and become the top individual.
Of course, if Idnia allocated all her common shop points to herself, her current total would be 17 points, so she was not in a position to be satisfied with first place.