I Became the Instructor She's Obsessed With
Morning arrived without fail, and I headed into the Academy for work.
The one difference from the usual was that I was going in alone today.
The Green Forest Dawn Society elf elders weren't much of a threat anyway, and she said she had something she wanted to practice at home. I never got an answer as to exactly what she meant to practice, but I figured it wasn't a real problem, so I agreed and left for work.
Jerie's skill aside, the manor's security system was more than solid enough.
"So where should I put these materials?"
"Ah… those can go over there."
And right now, I was in Research Building 12 with Charlotte, deep into a full laboratory deep-clean.
When someone pours everything into research and nothing else, the place ends up looking like a disaster zone.
"Whew. It actually looks decent now."
Once we had more or less finished putting things in order, the lab reclaimed its original interior and atmosphere and practically showed itself off. Beyond simply looking better, the open space made the room feel a little larger.
Even Charlotte, who had tried to stop me from bothering with the cleanup at all, seemed to concede the point; she offered her impression in a quieter voice than usual.
"Y-you're right. I'm sorry for making you get involved in something like this."
"There's nothing to apologize for. When someone's buried in research, the room is bound to get a little chaotic. That's just how it goes."
If you looked at it honestly, alchemy research was hard to keep tidy in the first place. The trial-and-error alone produced dozens—sometimes hundreds—of transmutation circles, and the reference materials needed to construct all of them were never a small pile. On top of that, every experiment had to be recorded afterward so the circles could be refined for the next run. The harder you worked, the more the lab filled with every kind of document imaginable and turned into a mess.
"But Instructor Ryu Seojun… what did you come to see me for…?"
"Hm? Ah, nothing particular."
Charlotte tilted her head and asked. I'd barged in and launched straight into a deep-clean of the lab, so she still had no idea why I'd shown up at Research Building 12 at all.
Truthfully, I hadn't come with any special plan. Human relationships never got anywhere if you overthought them and tried to scheme every step. One way or another, you had to bump into each other directly and slowly close the distance.
I twisted that honest feeling just a little and answered her question.
"If you look at what I actually do, I'm basically a parachute hire. Rather than zoning out until quitting time, I figured I'd take a little of the load off you, Instructor Charlotte."
"Th-there's no need for that. You have your own work to do, don't you?"
"Killing time in the park until I leave has been my entire routine so far."
There were so many witnesses I couldn't even invent an excuse. Things had gotten so bad that a rumor was circulating among the cadets: if you urgently needed to find an instructor, go to the campus park first.
Charlotte apparently couldn't come up with another reason to refuse. She made a small sound of thought, then pulled a thick bundle of documents from the bookshelf we'd just organized.
Thud!
The sound it made when it hit the desk was not reassuring. I swallowed hard on pure reflex, and Charlotte made her request in a voice that mixed apology with relief. Whatever the reason, she was offloading her work onto me, so of course she felt bad—but the sheer volume of it being handled by someone else still left her relieved. The horror of paperwork tormented superhumans and ordinary people with perfect equality.
"Then… would you add annotations to the transmutation circles and theory texts here?"
"Yes. Leave it to me."
The silver lining was that the work was simple and repetitive. For someone who could fully grasp a transmutation circle just by looking at it, what Charlotte had asked of me wasn't difficult. All I had to do was take the information in my head and write it out by hand.
I sat down at once and flipped through the circles and theory texts one page at a time, adding annotations and interpretations as I went.
The volume is insane. She's been doing all of this alone?
Given James's personality and ability, there was no way that bastard had ever properly handled work like this. He'd have half-assed it, slacked off, and caused nothing but trouble for the other cadets. Every time the thought crossed my mind, Charlotte looked more impressive for having endured this long. Managing this deranged amount of work while still pushing her personal research forward…
Still, watching the pile shrink bit by bit is pretty satisfying.
How long had I been grinding through the boredom and tedium that were the worst parts of simple repetitive labor?
"Y-you've already finished that much?"
"Hm? Ah, yes. Everything was so well organized that just interpreting and annotating was easy."
Charlotte started in shock and began scanning the results of my work one by one. Then her hands started trembling, she let out a gasp of pure admiration, and she suddenly shoved her face right into mine.
Uh. Closing the distance this abruptly is a little much.
"How did you do this?! These are incredibly complex circles—I thought you'd need several days working in stages!"
"W-well. You just see it when you look, you know? Call it experience. Interpreting transmutation circles has always been a specialty of mine."
I leaned back a little under the pressure as I answered, and Charlotte finally managed to settle herself and steady her breathing.
"Instructor Ryu Seojun. You said a moment ago that you didn't have anything to do, didn't you?"
"The meaning's shifted a little, but it's not wrong."
"Then…!"
Charlotte rushed to her own desk in a flurry, pulled out another enormous stack of documents, and brought the whole mountain over in front of me.
What is this, a fresh refill of work?
I looked up at the newly restocked paper mountain with that exact expression, and Charlotte, hands shaking, picked up the top few sheets and held them out to me.
"There's research I'm conducting. Would it be possible for me to get some advice?"
"What kind of research are you…"
Judging by the volume of documents, this was no ordinary project. I made a low sound of thought as I took the papers she offered.
And as I carefully read through the contents, my expression gradually hardened.
Is something like this even possible?
Even for me, with Universal Transmutation, I couldn't confidently guarantee a chance of success. For now the research looked like it had an absurd goal—but if it ever succeeded, the impact would be enough to overturn the entire existing system of alchemy.
"As expected, Instructor Ryu Seojun. You grasped what research I'm pursuing at a glance."
I turned at the sound of her voice and met Charlotte's eyes. She looked as if she'd known I would understand the purpose of the work. All the mixed emotions from a moment ago were gone; only a fierce hunger and obsession for alchemy burned in her pupils.
The look was unsettling enough that I almost flinched. I forced myself to meet her gaze and offered my reading of it.
"You're trying to rebuild existing alchemical theory from the ground up so that every alchemist can use alchemy without a transmutation circle."
I understood the basic skeleton of the theory. But there were far too many gaps, and the methods for filling those gaps didn't look promising. Even so, it didn't seem completely impossible, which only stoked the curiosity of wondering whether it might actually work.
What is the most important element of a transmutation circle?
Ask any alchemist that question and every one of them will give the same answer: the circle that symbolizes the Ouroboros, the cycle of power.
Charlotte's theory started from that point. Without drawing a separate transmutation circle, she proposed forming the symbolic circle of circulation within the human body itself, turning the alchemist's own flesh into a functioning transmutation circle.
And she even presented the method beautifully.
The representative method she proposed was pressing the palms together. When the two palms met, the extremities of the body that had extended in opposite directions connected—left flowing into right, right into left—merging into a single circulating current. Pressing the soles of the feet together would be harder; palms were the practical choice.
Up to there, it was fine. No real error in the method.
The problem came after.
A circle was only the skeleton of a transmutation circle. What put flesh on that skeleton and produced the actual effect was the formula of geometric figures and symbols written inside it.
"It looks difficult. Realization itself might be possible, but only an extremely small number of alchemists would be able to use an extremely small number of alchemies this way."
I knew because I used alchemy without circles. This was pure insanity, and even if it succeeded, it would never settle in as the basic standard of alchemy. Circle-less alchemy was a near-impossible art without a separate supporting ability like Universal Transmutation. It required absurdly precise mana control and material calculation ability at the same time just to hold together.
And Charlotte knew that fact perfectly well.
"That's why I'm asking you, Instructor Ryu Seojun."
"…What?"
"I heard it from Instructor Sayulcheon. That you can use alchemy without a transmutation circle."
Charlotte set both hands on my shoulders. Then, in a solemn voice that held not a shred of hesitation, she pleaded with me.
"I'll do anything within my power. Would you teach me that method as well?"
Looking into her eyes as she said it, I swallowed hard. Her gaze was flickering dangerously, as if she might collapse at any second.
I'm fucked.
Faced with a look that carried a hint of actual madness, I broke into a cold sweat and screamed internally. I had momentarily forgotten that Charlotte was the living embodiment of validation-hunger, obsessed with alchemical results.
"Please."
"…"
Apparently my presence had left Charlotte's mental state even worse than in the original story.
What the hell do I do about this.