Oh My, Sister, Do You Know This Student Too? Interested?
Oh My, Sister, Do You Know This Student Too? Interested?
I was at the training grounds early in the morning.
I never thought I would lose to Aria in the first place, but what lies ahead won't be so simple.
Consistent training was essential to prepare for the upcoming exploration assignment.
I had just finished training to increase my total mana capacity.
I had just worked through an intermediate-level regimen. What matters is that I accomplished it. Now that I know the method, my growth won't be slow.
'Just a little further.'
Short as two weeks, long as a month. Within that time, this body will be able to handle advanced magic.
The real problem right now was something else.
It's hot. This heat is more bothersome and unpleasant than the training itself.
I stripped off my top entirely. There's an "In Use" sign at the training ground entrance, so no student would barge in.
While resting like that, I spotted a blue light glowing on the cover of Trivia. I flipped it open without much thought.
[ ▷ You can't even solve this. ]
[ ▶ Please teach me. ㅠㅅㅠ ]
It was that client who had spent ten gold coins on the search alone.
Teaching them isn't difficult. But negotiating the price comes first.
And to negotiate the price, I need to gauge just how desperately the client wants this teaching.
Humans pour more money and time into things they are desperate for. This is an utterly self-evident truth.
[ ▷ I'm busy. I'll contact you later. ]
Less than a second after the letters landed, a reply came.
[ ▶ I can give you as many gold coins as you want. ]
As many gold coins as I want. If I settled for just that, I'd be third-rate.
[ ▷ I'm not short on gold coins, but as I said, I'm busy. ]
[ ▶ I'll procure goods for you too. ]
[ ▶ I'll do anything! !ㅅ! ]
Now this is an excellent client.
I gave Trivia a satisfied look and wrote down several conditions.
From here on, meeting those conditions is the client's job.
[ ▷ Describe how far you've gotten. ]
[ ▷ Describe where you got stuck as well. ]
[ ▷ From now on, report your progress to me once every eight hours. ]
But just then, someone suddenly thrust their head toward my shoulder. I reflexively shielded Trivia.
"Hey, Plan! I brought you a drink... Oh."
It was Becky. She waved her hands about frantically.
"Ah, I wasn't trying to look. Really. I just brought this because I was grateful for today's feedback... The situation makes it look like I was trying to peek, doesn't it?"
This morning, I had given Becky feedback on her mock battle from yesterday.
I had previously agreed to let her ask me about any magic she didn't know, so even though she suddenly asked last night, I didn't refuse.
"By the way... hmm, looks like it was pretty hot."
All of a sudden, Becky started twisting her hair around her finger. She couldn't meet my eyes.
I figured I knew why. I put my top back on.
Only after I was fully dressed did Becky speak again.
"Hey, Plan. But... seems like the person contacting you is pretty interested in you?"
"What do you mean."
"I mean, like. I wasn't trying to look. But they said they'd do anything for you... they must have a lot to offer. A noble, maybe..."
Why, of all things, did she have to see that part? I let out a deep sigh and ignored it. Engaging with this is a waste of time.
"It doesn't matter. I have no interest in that side."
"Ah, is that how it is?"
Becky's hair-twirling stopped. It was like the conversation would end right there, but then Becky spoke up again.
"Plan, how are your preparations for the exploration assignment going?"
"As usual."
"Then you'll do fine. I'm worried to death."
Ugh, Becky let out a heavy sigh.
"Just thinking about breaking through those maze-like paths makes me dizzy, and on top of that it's competitive, so we have to keep other teams in check, too. It's driving me crazy."
"You just do it."
"Hey! Not everyone's as incredible as you! You think it's easy to figure out the other teams' witches while breaking through the path!"
Becky burst out yelling. Then, all by herself, she deflated.
"To make it worse, I've barely managed to exchange greetings with my teammates. We'll have to coordinate on such a day... but no one says a word..."
That gloomy expression was full of worry.
For her, a commoner without even innate talent, every step would be lonely and painful. Her growing pains would be agonizing.
But offering comfort is entirely contrary to my nature. So I had no suitable words to give her.
Indeed, teaching her magic is about the only compassion I can show.
"Becky."
"Yeah?"
I jerked my chin toward the center of the training ground.
"Go stand there."
Becky's head tilted.
"Why? The feedback's done. I remember all of it."
"Stand."
"All of a sudden?"
With a puzzled look, Becky did as told. I gave a short command.
"Deploy the ice barrier again."
"O-okay. Did I do something wrong?"
After concentrating briefly, Becky generated an ice sphere, then spread it thin to create a wide rectangular wall. Compared to yesterday, the color was clearer and more transparent—the mana woven more tightly, so the strength had improved as well. The difference was unmistakable.
"Until all your mana is exhausted."
"Huh? All of it?"
"Again."
At that, Becky's face went ice-pale.
◈
Violet was in the Academy's intensive care ward.
Letting out a long sigh, she rubbed her face with her hands. The very fact that a student had fallen into critical condition felt awkward to her.
That was only natural—an incident in her lecture had never happened since she became a faculty member.
'Just why would she do something like that?'
Violet simply couldn't understand.
She was curious about what had happened between Plan and Aria.
Just what had happened that made Aria harbor the intent to use an Extreme Poison Scroll? As she pondered such things—
"Aria?"
A refined male voice shattered Violet's thoughts. The man had neatly swept-back hair.
His gaze turned toward Aria Fontaine, who was lying on the bed beyond the glass window. Violet carefully addressed him.
"Are you affiliated with Student Aria's family?"
"Yes. I am the personal secretary to the head of the Fontaine family."
Violet removed her pointed hat and bowed politely.
The man asked in a composed voice.
"What happened?"
"She was struck by her own Extreme Poison Scroll. She's in a state of full-body paralysis, but because we took swift measures... she'll be fine soon."
"Is that so. That is truly fortunate."
The man smiled and looked toward Aria. Yet his expression as he gazed at her was oddly cold.
It was around then that Violet sensed something off.
He didn't show the reaction Violet had anticipated.
No worry for Aria Fontaine, no shifting blame onto the Academy, no anger—none of the emotions typical of someone from the Fontaine family could be detected.
Staring at Aria with an utterly indifferent gaze, he spoke.
"How did it come to this?"
"It was her own fault. She broke Academy regulations and got caught up while using a scroll she had privately brought in."
Violet kept her courtesy while calmly conveying the facts.
"As for why the scroll's private possession wasn't noticed in advance—a perception-inhibiting artifact was attached to its surface. That, too, violates Academy regulations."
"Ah. So that's how it is."
The man nodded politely.
However, Violet caught the words the secretary muttered as he looked at Aria beyond the window.
"......Pathetic."
He definitely muttered that.
"Pathetic thing, can't even resemble her own brother. Just die already..."
But that muttering was brief. He quickly turned his head and bowed deeply to Violet.
"If there is anything the Fontaine family must bear, please let us know in writing. If disciplinary action is needed, please feel free to impose it."
With those final words, the man turned away.
As the man leisurely departed, Violet stared blankly after his receding figure.
...A young lady who hears such abuse from her own attending secretary.
The feeling was strange, but family matters were not something a professor like her could intrude upon and judge.
She soon turned her steps toward her office.
Her footsteps were precise, but her eyes remained fixed on the documents in her hand. She was now examining information on the student Plan.
Honestly, in terms of ill-fated situations, this one was even worse.
Status: commoner. Family details listed "unknown," meaning he had no parents either. And on top of that, he was placed in the Magic Department at F grade...
"......?"
Violet stopped at some point. It was because the door to her office was wide open.
A robed woman with long orange hair was bent over, presenting her rear to Violet as she rummaged through the grade sheets.
Violet lifted a broom with telekinesis and struck that woman's rear with all her might.
Smack!
"Eek?!"
A witch of the exact same orange shade as Violet jumped up like a frog.
She turned her head, met Violet's eyes, and immediately burst out yelling.
"Oh, seriously! Sisterrr!"
"Sepia. I told you not to come and go from my office as you please. I'm sure I locked it—how did you open it again?"
As Violet let out a heavy sigh, Sepia grinned slyly.
"I can't help it, it's for my work as a Magic Department journalist~ You know work is unavoidable. When the higher-ups give you a job, you do it! And this is legal, you know?"
"There's no one above you in the journalist team."
"The Yudit family requested it~ I have no choice but to comply."
The Yudit family. Violet was well aware of the majesty of that lofty knightly house.
But why they had come to her office was still beyond comprehension.
"They're a knight family. Why would the Yudit family demand the Magic Department's grade sheets?"
"It's confidential, so I can't say more~ Anyway, I've seen all the grades, so my business is done!"
Sepia trotted right up to Violet. Then she took a sly glance at what Violet was examining.
"Oh my, do you know this student too, sister? Interested?"
"I know him. He's the reason my head hurts right now."
"Yeah, yeah. He is a pretty amusing student."
"Why?"
"Well~ I wonder why~"
Sepia gave a meaningful smile. Then, at Violet's irate glare, she burst out laughing.
"Alright, alright. I can't say the rest yet. But do you know he's been homeless?"
"Homeless?"
"Yeah. There was that period where you could unpack your dorm luggage but couldn't actually move in, right? He slept outdoors the whole time. Hilarious, isn't it?"
Sepia smiled brightly, but Violet's expression turned icy.
"You investigated even something like that?"
"That's the job."
"......And is that something funny? Get out."
"Ah, w-wait. Go easy on me! Agh! Wait! Oh, that reminds me, soon an incredible transfer student is coming to the Magic Department! Ah, I said stop hitting me!"
"Get out."
After flinging Sepia out of the office with telekinesis, Violet quietly sank into thought.
'Being homeless... and he raised F-grade skills up to A-level?'
She let out a hollow laugh at the sheer absurdity.
His remark about disliking scrolls had genuinely amused Violet. She wasn't particularly fond of scrolls herself.
And then there was the mock battle between Aria Fontaine and Plan that she'd witnessed with her own eyes.
That battle was truth, containing not a shred of falsehood. Plan had displayed skills perfectly befitting an A-grade student.
No, he had shown even more than that. The fact that he could handle Interference-type magic already meant he had surpassed the level of a mere freshman.
His response in using Rapid Freeze to block Aria Fontaine's scroll was also excellent.
Thanks to him, things didn't escalate. If the Extreme Poison Scroll had exerted its full intended effect, every student in the training ground might have ended up in the intensive care ward.
"Hmm."
She rubbed her chin and considered for a moment. Then she made her decision.
She did not pity his status or his poverty. No, pity itself might be something she shouldn't offer.
But one thing was certain.
Effort that deserves recognition should be recognized, and actions that deserve reward should be followed by commensurate reward.
Violet moved her hand to the drawer beneath her desk.