A Deal with the Professor
After sending Beatrice off, I followed Professor Lena for quite a while before arriving at the entrance ceremony hall. Ahead of us was the space that would later serve as the training grounds.
“Isaac, right? I got your name correct?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She tied her dark-red hair into a ponytail and suddenly dropped into a stance.
“Huh?”
“Enough talk. Come at me.”
“Whaaat?”
Unable to hide my confusion, I took a stance anyway.
Before I could even process what was happening, a fist came flying at me.
I tilted my head and dodged.
Whoosh!
The sharp crack of air told me immediately that this wasn’t an ordinary punch.
“Oh? You dodged that pretty well.”
Whoosh! Thud!
The attacks kept coming without pause. I dodged with my head as much as possible and blocked the punches aimed at my stomach and sides.
“Ugh…”
My arms throbbed from the constant blocking, but compared to the pain I’d endured recently, this barely registered.
‘At this rate, it won’t end.’
It was strange that she suddenly started sparring, but she wouldn’t have called me out just to watch me defend.
In that case…
I watched the fist until the very end, dodged it, and grabbed her sleeve to yank her forward.
“Eek.”
Professor Lena’s balance broke from the unexpected move.
While she was off-balance, I hooked her ankle.
Grabbing her collar, I pulled her down into a mount.
“Huff…”
“Whoa~ Not bad at all.”
Professor Lena was now pinned beneath me.
…If anyone else saw this position, it would look pretty awkward.
“What’s going on all of a sudden?”
“Ah~ I just had something I was curious about.”
What could she possibly be curious about regarding an ordinary commoner student?
While I tilted my head in confusion, Professor Lena poked my thigh repeatedly.
“How long are you planning to stay like this? I’m still a woman, you know.”
“You threw the first punch.”
“I’m the practical training professor. This level of surprise attack is standard for training purposes.”
Fair point.
I stood up and released the mount.
Even if I refused to let go, she could break free anytime. Better to release when told.
If I messed up, I’d be the one getting beaten.
“Ugh~ Getting pinned by a student. Have I been slacking too much lately?”
Professor Lena lightly stretched before striding toward me.
“So, Isaac. It looks like you know how to fight. That technique earlier was excellent too. Your instincts are so good it’s almost annoying to mention.”
“I’m pretty decent.”
“But there’s one thing I don’t understand.”
“Yes?”
Mid-sentence, Professor Lena threw another punch.
What was with this woman today?
I tried to go for another mount against the slower punch.
“Huh?”
Grabbing the sleeve went the same way.
But this time, my body flew into the air.
Thud.
“Ugh…”
“So that’s how it’s done? Oh, this feels pretty good.”
An awkward but solid mount position.
The difference was technique versus raw strength. No matter how much I struggled, she didn’t budge an inch.
This must be how Sun Wukong felt crushed under a mountain.
“Eek.”
Now she was even pinching my cheeks.
“Oh. The texture feels better than I thought.”
“Thwen weth go oh my cheekth.”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“Weth go oh my cheekth.”
“Ah, let go of my cheeks.”
After kneading my cheeks for a while, Professor Lena grinned.
“You can’t use magic, can you?”
…She hit the nail on the head out of nowhere.
“Normally, when commoner students get ambushed, they start casting magic right away. But you didn’t even try. Even when I left you completely open.”
“Well~”
“And second.”
Her hand slid down from my cheek and grabbed my neck.
Gack. That’s not my kind of thing.
“Urgh…!”
“You barely have any mana. I’ve never seen someone with this little before.”
She was trying to draw out my mana by threatening my life.
Isn’t this an interrogation method?
And she was doing this to a regular student just because she was curious?
This person wasn’t sane either.
“Hmm… Why would the principal be interested in you?”
“Urgh? Keh… Khh…”
Wait.
More important than the air rushing back into my lungs after she released my neck was what I’d just heard.
“Khh…! The principal is interested in me?”
“Yeah. From the moment he first saw you, he’s been talking about nothing but you.”
“Huh…?”
That old man loved magic. Of course I liked it too, even if I couldn’t use it.
But why would he be interested in me? If it were Beatrice, maybe.
“Why?”
“I came to find out, but I can’t tell. No matter how I look at it, you’re more suited to this side than magic.”
“Well, that’s true.”
“Puhahaha!”
When I accepted it calmly, she raised her eyebrows and burst into laughter loud enough to shake the training grounds.
Still trapped in the mount, I couldn’t cover my ears, so the ringing lingered for a while.
“Kekeke… It’s been a while since I laughed this hard.”
“Glad you found it amusing. I feel like my ears are bleeding.”
“They’re not. Besides, we have the Saintess, don’t we?”
“We’re not close yet.”
“Even if you’re not close, she’d heal you. The Saintess has a reputation to uphold.”
“…Wow… If you said that in front of someone from the Holy Kingdom, they’d come charging at you.”
“Go ahead and try. If you can win.”
“Wow…”
As expected, geniuses were on another level.
“Kid. Your eyes look impure.”
“What do you mean?”
“Felt like you were cursing me in your head.”
“I wasn’t.”
“If I say it’s right, then it’s right.”
“Hah…”
She finally released my pinched cheek, which throbbed a little.
“So, what are you going to do?”
“About what?”
Professor Lena released the mount and held out her hand.
With a bright, toothy smile, she made her offer.
“No matter how I look at it, you’re better suited to my side than magic. So if you want, I can train you like this.”
“Oh.”
It became this simple?
I’d been planning to ask anyway, but the chances of rejection had seemed pretty high.
Although Professor Lena usually showed a lighthearted side, she was actually one of the empire’s top powerhouses.
Receiving one-on-one training from someone like that held value that couldn’t be measured in money.
“How about it? Want to try?”
“Yes!”
I couldn’t pass this up.
“Alright, then your first mission is this.”
Oh, here it comes.
“Beat Radien.”
“…You’re not going to train me before that?”
“I’ll teach you if you win.”
“Hmm… Understood.”
I nodded calmly. I had to win anyway.
It was just that one more reason had been added.
Ah. This was going to be fun.
I hoped next week would come soon.
*
After the light sparring with Professor Lena, when I returned to the classroom, everyone was busy preparing to head back to the dorms.
In that short time, one lecture had already ended.
If it was magic theory, it would’ve been Professor Seres. I hoped I hadn’t gotten on her bad side for no reason.
“I told them Isaac went to see the homeroom professor~”
“Oh. Thanks, Vera.”
“Not me, the class rep said it~”
“Class rep?”
We elected a class rep?
Come to think of it, Professor Lena had pointed out the class rep.
“Ah, Rayna… ma’am.”
Whew. I almost called her by her familiar name.
“Yes?”
Rayna, who had been organizing her books, turned around because her name was called.
Wow. She really was pretty.
“Ah, thank you for passing on the message.”
“It’s my duty.”
Cold as ice.
I bowed my head and tried to leave the classroom with Beatrice.
“…!”
What?
I thought Rayna called me and turned around, but she was looking at Elicia.
“…Rayna, what are you doing?”
“…Just stay quiet for a moment.”
So they were talking to each other.
Did she develop some kind of mania? That would be bad.
Scratching my head, I started walking again.
“Training~ Training~”
“Instead of calling it training, should we say research?”
Because that’s what it really was.
Could you really call unilaterally shooting and erasing magic “training”?
“Research~ Research~”
Beatrice must have thought the same, as she immediately changed her words.
Research, day 2.
I wondered if I’d erased about five spells.
A question mark appeared above Beatrice’s pointed hat as she excitedly shot magic.
Not a metaphor—the question mark was literally drawn with mana.
“What is it~”
“What?”
“My mana is being eaten, but it’s not increasing.”
“…Explain it so I can understand too.”
“Ah~ Right~”
This time it was an exclamation mark.
“Umm~ So basically~”
“Yeah.”
“Isaac’s mana goes ‘nom!’ and eats my mana~”
“…Yeah.”
“But Isaac’s mana isn’t getting any fatter~”
“Give it up.”
“Hueeng~”
I didn’t know exactly what she meant, but I did know Beatrice was cute.
To roughly analogize using concepts from Earth—
There was something like the law of conservation of mana, but it didn’t hold here.
But I didn’t know the principle behind it. Neither did Beatrice.
I hated complicated things.
“Shall we stop here for today and go eat?”
“Sure~”
Erasing five spells was plenty. Time to replenish calories.
And.
‘There’s also a place I need to go today.’
Originally, it was an item that only people who didn’t use magic would farm, but who would’ve thought I’d go get it myself.
I was a bit excited.
After getting a hearty dinner and finishing preparations to leave, I stepped outside.
Since it was a bit far, I was about to board the carriage I’d reserved in advance.
“Isaac~ Where are you going~”
“…Huh?”
Whoa. She caught me.