This Might Be Fine in Its Own Way
It went without saying, but the Academy was a school.
A university and a high school stirred together, if one had to name the blend. Each course had its own professor, and once you chose the classes you wanted, you simply went to the proper classroom when the hour came. Set aside the fact that students were sorted into homerooms rather than departments, and it was a university in all but name. Think of high school and university mixed at roughly two parts to eight, and the shape of the place came clear.
We were first-years, though, so it sat closer to high school than to university. Most of our classes were fixed.
Come to think of it, back when I was slaving away in graduate school, I had heard that high schools these days let you build your own timetable. The high school credit system, was it? By that measure, this place might be nearer a high school than a university after all.
That an academy in a medieval-flavored monarchy where magic was real should resemble the schools of Earth was strange... but if I called it convergent evolution, there was nothing I couldn't accept.
"...I feel like I can live again."
I let out a sigh. A breeze moved through the leaves, and soft sunlight spilled down between them. Seated on the bench, I swung my feet and watched the quiet.
As I had said a moment ago, the Academy was a school. And schools had lunch.
Hauled off by Mariella, I had endured a scolding through the entire meal. There is a saying that you don't bother even a dog while it eats, and I had wondered whether this wasn't a little much... but I was in no position to argue. The fault was far too much my own.
Oh, and the meal had been a buffet. Quite a spread. How much money had they spent?
"...About thirty minutes left, I suppose..."
A light wind brushed my cheek.
What was everyone else doing? Back in the classroom, most likely, talking. Mariella herself had vanished with the other young ladies the moment the meal was over.
The Academy was the Empire's finest institution of learning. Ties with the people admitted here could only help. There was nothing to lose.
"Haa..."
Another sigh escaped me. What had happened earlier kept coming back, and it was painfully embarrassing.
Stammering would have been shame enough, but what was my name, again? I could have died of it. My first impression had surely been fixed as the girl who wasn't quite right in the head.
Well... it didn't matter. I hadn't come to the Academy to make friends. I had come here to work. To work. Whatever the first impression, all I had to do was do the job.
Right. So I was fine. Making friends with children whose mental age was about half my own would have been a little strange to begin with, wouldn't it?
"...I should head in."
Time remained, but if I lingered until the last possible moment and ended up late... this time it might not end in words alone.
I rose from the bench and looked around. I had only come to kill a little time, yet the longer I looked, the more the place pleased me.
Trees closed it in, free of other people's eyes, and I liked that. What I liked best were the chairs, the awning, and the other furnishings, set out as if they had been prepared for someone in particular.
Dust lay over them. Had whoever used this space before simply left them behind?
I would have to come here often. A secret hideout of my own.
After lunch, the schedule was time spent walking the Academy. A tour, of sorts. It was the first day, so rather than beginning classes at once, they seemed to be showing us the grounds in the spirit of an orientation.
"That building on the left is the research wing, where the professors carry out their various studies. If any of you mean to pursue magicology, in a few years you'll be working in that building."
Henry's voice came from up ahead.
"In the research wing—as one would expect—most of the work is magical research, so magic may be used without prior notice. No record of its use is kept, either. Those who have already received security clearance may even carry a wand, though only inside the wing. It may not mean much to you yet, but once you have lived here long enough... you will understand how convenient that is."
The air among several of the children changed. They gazed at the building with shining eyes, bright enough that even I, at the back, could see it.
"And though you cannot see it from here, there is a wide open field across from the research wing. I suspect it may be the place all of you will like best."
He let the pause hang, then went on without breaking stride.
"The magic training grounds."
"Ooh..."
A faint cheer rose from the front. Every eye turned at once, so I knew immediately who had let it out. Buried in the crowd, I couldn't see him clearly, but I could tell he was a boy with blue hair.
Does he like magic?
"Today is Wednesday, so... two days remain. In two days you'll be learning Practical Magic out there, so you need only wait a little."
Practical Magic. A subject I had never heard of. Then again, I didn't actually know a single subject. Somewhere among my luggage there was probably a stack of papers with the timetable in it. I might need to read the thing. I ought at least to know when and where each class was held.
"...Why are you standing there in a daze?"
"Ah, it's nothing..."
Mariella's voice beside me brought me back. The gap between us and the others had already opened. I had been trailing faithfully at their heels when the thought struck me.
"Mariella, I have a question..."
"Yes? What is it?"
"You can't use magic. So what do you do in classes where you actually have to cast?"
"...You ask something that rude so naturally..."
"Huh...? That was a rude question?"
"Isn't it obvious...?"
I only stated a fact.
"...Haa."
Mariella let out a short breath.
"Well. You didn't say it out of malice, did you?"
I nodded.
"...It can't be helped, I suppose. A subject like that doesn't mean you absolutely have to use magic. There are new students without a Circle, you know."
"There are...?"
Wasn't the Academy where you came to learn magic? If you wanted to be a knight, you joined a knight order.
I tilted my head, and beside me Mariella smiled wryly.
"Don't worry. I have my own plans. And it is only that I can't cast. When it comes to theory, I know quite a lot."
"...You do?"
"A-ahem. This is a little embarrassing."
She cleared her throat. Sheepish, her cheeks flushed red.
That aside—classes.
"Classes... I'm looking forward to them. A little."
"......What?"
Mariella's eyes went wide. Surprise crossed her face and was gone, and her usual expression returned.
"Unexpected. I thought you would be bored, since you already know all of it."
"Knowing something and being able to explain it well are two different things."
People commonly believe that perfect understanding lets you explain a thing well. They are wrong. The premise and the conclusion run backward. If you can explain something perfectly, that can prove you truly understand the field—but the converse does not necessarily hold. Take Ria. She is the highest authority on barrier magic, yet if you bring her a circuit she designed and ask why she built it that way...
"Mana goes whoosh through here, and that side sparkles, right? So you tilt this side just a liiittle, and twist it like so... and that cuts down on the mana that leaks."
Yeah. Ria cannot explain anything. Far too much of an instinct type. Put kindly, her intuition is exceptional.
In any case, the ability to explain and the depth of one's knowledge are separate matters.
Of course, I am good at both.
"I suppose that's true..."
I felt a gaze fixed on me. Mariella's.
"You may as well look forward to it, don't you think? I have never sat in on a class myself, but the professors are of quite a high caliber. Even Professor Edward Heisen, who has charge of our class, proved Klenberch's Fifth Hypothesis. He stands at the very forefront of theoretical magicology, doesn't he?"
"Ah. That man."
Right. Sooner or later I would be sitting in his class as well. I wondered how good he really was.
"...Klenberch's Fifth Hypothesis has been proved?"
"......You didn't know? It wasn't long ago."
"I'm not the sort who combs carefully through every paper... and alchemy was never my field."
"...? Why is alchemy coming up?"
Mariella tilted her head. I explain things well, so I decided to explain it kindly.
"That's an alchemy problem, isn't it? I took a rough pass at it once when I had the time, but so many alchemical equations turned up that I more or less gave up. I only know a little alchemy."
"......?"
Mariella's head kept moving.
"So... that...? Alchemy? All of a sudden...?"
Has she broken? Mariella's body creaked.
"...I'll explain later. No. You wouldn't understand it even if you heard."
"What did you say?"
"Nothing."
"......"
We walked on. At some point we must have finished the planned route; we were back in front of the building where we had started.
"From tomorrow it's a proper Academy life. Nothing like today is going to happen, is it...?"
The voice came from beside me. A thread of cold seemed woven through it.
"You do understand that you are my attendant, yes? If you cause trouble, I am the one who gets the earful."
I nodded. Pure reflex, born of the survival instinct.
"So long as you know. I'm counting on you from here on, Miriel."
Miriel. The name I would have to use at the Academy.
Vowing I would not forget it this time, I took the hand she held out.
"I hope tomorrow comes quickly. Lectures from the Academy's professors. I'm looking forward to it."
"Don't expect too much... The greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment."
I still preferred sprawling around at home, and I still couldn't stand a place full of people...
But this, in its own way, wasn't bad.