Your Paper Is Dope (4)
Your Paper Is Dope (4)
By the time April arrived, spring lethargy had settled over the classroom.
Even the special class was no exception. A few students who didn't care about being seen had buried their heads and fallen into a deep sleep.
Aether was no exception either. Though she sat in the very front row at her own urging, once Fire Magic class began, Aether stopped even checking for the teacher's gaze and became one with her desk, and headed for dreamland.
'She's impossible.'
Rote had tried waking Aether several times, but it was useless. Since Aether's grades were better than her own anyway, Rote didn't feel much need to bother.
'Well, she manages fine on her own.'
Eventually, when the class bell rang, Professor Haspelt had Rote carry the teaching materials back to the faculty office. After Rote finished tidying the supply room and came out, Professor Haspelt broached a topic.
"Miss Saliere, are you perhaps familiar with a Magic Art called Flare?"
It was an abrupt question. Yet it carried a word weighty enough to halt Rote's stride.
"Flare?"
"Yes. Someone with your talent for Fire Magic has probably heard of it at least once."
"I've heard it's the ultimate Fire Magic that Professor Haspelt's house has been researching intermittently."
The general theory behind Flare was not something Professor Haspelt had created alone. Flare was the Magic Art that House Haspelt had been striving to develop like a cherished wish since before she was born.
"You know your facts. It's also well known that Flare is still incomplete."
"Well... if it's not too presumptuous, may I ask why you're suddenly bringing this up?"
"To put it bluntly... yes. Miss Saliere, would you consider helping me develop Flare?"
"Pardon?"
Rote doubted her own ears.
"I'm telling you this specifically because it's you, Rote. House Saliere is quite a reputable family in Fire Magic as well, isn't it?"
"......."
"I can offer you a reasonable compensation. Flare is a Magic Art that deserves to be treated as critically important in modern society."
"I'm grateful for the offer, but...."
Rote trailed off. She already had an arrangement to collaborate with someone else.
Perhaps Professor Haspelt had sensed Rote's hesitation, because she quickly continued speaking.
"I'm not asking you to help to the very end. I just hoped you might spare some time this coming weekend. There's an experiment that's difficult for me to run alone."
Rote knew exactly what those words implied.
How could she not? Hadn't she been the one who supplied the massive amount of mana to the Flare generator Aether had built? That time had been so dangerous that she'd suffered symptoms of mana depletion despite consuming several Mana Cigarettes. Rote understood very well just how tremendous the amount of mana required for Flare truly was.
But even setting that aside, there was a reason Rote couldn't accept Professor Haspelt's request.
"I'm sorry, Professor. I have an appointment with someone else that day."
"...Then it can't be helped. Let's talk again after midterms."
Rote bowed her head and then exited the faculty office.
'What exquisite timing.'
There were two people developing Flare. And both needed her. Rote felt a sense of fulfillment at having her talent recognized by others.
'Once midterms are over, I'll have to help Professor Haspelt too.'
Noblesse oblige: those of high rank must bear the responsibility befitting their station. That principle didn't apply only between nobles and commoners.
Noble to noble, noble to country. Developing Flare would mean crushing magic beasts and bringing victory in war. Victory would, in turn, lead to stability for the people.
Midterm preparations, and now helping someone else. The workload was mountainous. Rote hummed to herself as she headed for the dormitory.
**
A few days later.
"Ready?"
"Shall we?"
A large sheet of Magic Paper had been spread across the clubroom floor. Drawn upon it was a diagram in the shape of a torus. It was a magic circle called a 'Teleportation Circle'.
The Flare generating device and a few additional pieces of equipment were placed onto the Teleportation Circle. Even then, space remained—enough for about five people to stand on the circle.
Vermel had prepared this Teleportation Circle.
"The destination is the northernmost point of the Elankaya Mountains. Gear up tight."
It was a basic fact that the temperature drops as latitude increases. Because of that, we'd already dressed in winter clothes before even reaching the target point.
"It's hoooot!!"
Fwoosh!
With those words from Frey, the scenery changed.
An endless field of snow stretched out. The rock mass jutting up through it had at least one face sheared cleanly off. It was a nunatak formation, sculpted by countless storms over hundreds of millions of years.
The sight of such rock meant we were indeed at the northernmost tip of the Elankaya Mountains. What lay beyond probably wouldn't even qualify as "land" in a scientific sense.
"It's coooold!!"
A blizzard howled from all sides. Fortunately, its intensity wasn't severe. At least, that was the case considering the average temperatures of the northern Elankaya Mountains.
Huh.... It wasn't actually that cold.
"I figured as much."
If Vermel hadn't wrapped the Flare firing device in Air Magic, the experimental equipment would've frozen solid by now. We had to finish the experiment as soon as possible and return.
"Can we run the experiment here?"
"The device is already prepped. As long as we don't lose the reference materials and data sheets for the proceedings."
"Quit dawdling and get ready! I picked this place specifically because it's crawling with Calamity-class beasts!"
The first order of business was to redraw the Teleportation Circle to return to Tillet. At Vermel's skill level, it took less than a minute to draw. Our escape route was secured.
Next came preparing the camera. I'd brought it for the purpose of submitting physical evidence for any future academic conference presentations.
Right after setting up the experimental equipment, I moved to speak with Rote and Frey.
It was just at that moment.
"Hey! One's coming!"
Frey, who'd been tracking, shouted in an urgent voice.
The rumbling of the earth grew steadily worse. The ground shook so hard it was difficult to keep my balance. Though I could sense that something was approaching, I couldn't tell exactly where it was.
"You idiots! It's underground!"
With a thunderous crash, something colossal tore through the ground and burst out. It looked like a lobster, and both of its claws glowed a furious red.
Like any magic beast, this one's body was clad in iron armor. Its torso section gave off a faint blue light in places, as if studded with LED lamps, while its overall color was gray. Its two eyes resembled the hue of a filament bulb.
No, that description didn't matter. None of it mattered.
It was huge. By rough estimate, just one of its claws approached three meters in size. Its torso was the size of a decent apartment building. The sheer scale of it was enough to make every hair on my body stand on end.
"Are you insane!"
"Let's get ready, fast. There's no time!"
The thing didn't scream. That made it more dangerous. The first attack began as the creature's claw lifted high and then hammered down.
The ground boomed and snow exploded in all directions.
"How much longer until the Flare is sighted in?"
"One minute... no, just hold out for 30 seconds!"
Thanks to the additional modifications over the past few days, the experimental equipment that produced Flare had been lightened to a certain degree. By now, operating it was practically as simple as toggling a laser pointer on and off.
However, it required a brief warm-up period. Even after pouring in mana, you had to wait a moment. The difficulty would increase further if we actually had to aim it.
I didn't need to worry about accuracy, though. We couldn't miss if we fired anywhere.
"Frey! Buy us some time!"
"How am I supposed to buy time when everything's a snowfield?! I'm an Earth Magic user!"
"You blockhead runt! There's bedrock under the snow, isn't there?! Use that!!"
"Oh."
Ah, it was honestly hopeless.
Still, Frey reacted immediately. A mass of rock tore up through the thick snow and blocked the lobster's claw.
The transmutation kept going. The interval was brief, but the steel lobster kept swinging its claws, making the wait to ready the Flare feel interminably long.
"Now I see what it is—that's a 'Homarus'...! This thing is Calamity-class!"
"What? Isn't that bad?"
No matter how prestigious Tillet was, a first-year academy student facing a Calamity-class magic beast was near impossible. Even now, Frey was barely managing to fend off its claws.
Maybe if it were Vermel, the possessor, it would be possible—but that was uncertain. The elf was busy protecting the Teleportation Circle and had no leeway to focus on offense. And I certainly couldn't handle it personally.
"No, if anything, a Calamity-class is a welcome sight."
I couldn't forget the original objective. Whether Flare could instantly suppress a Calamity-class target would determine the success or failure of this experiment.
"Ready!"
Sighting was complete. Frey deployed one final barrier and immediately popped a candy into her mouth. It was Mana Candy, a mana-supplying food said to be more expensive than Mana Cigarettes.
Since lighting a Mana Cigarette in a minus-20-degree blizzard was impossible, we'd brought along another luxury item densely packed with mana instead. The moment the barrier Frey had created shattered, Rote and I turned the scroll toward the Homarus.
The Homarus's eyes and the scroll containing Flare lined up in a straight line. Along with the sound of the beam focusing, a ray of light redder than the creature's own claws discharged.
The next instant, the blizzard stopped.