Arsonist

Once I got back to my room, I decided that instead of sleeping, I'd head out to the yard for a while. My original ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠plan had been to crash straight into bed, but listening to Sylvia, it sounded like actual combat was coming sooner rather than later — and it seemed smarter to get some practice in ahead of time.

So I tried casting some magic. I'd fully grasped the first of the fundamentals by now, but aside from Flame Wind, I'd never actually cast anything. That meant I needed time outside to practice, because theory and the real thing were two entirely different beasts.

This was a three-story mansion a little ways out from the city. As long as I kept my magic reasonably restrained, there was no chance anyone elsewhere would see it.

"Okay, so… fire magic, then."

I had used Flame Wind before, one of the basic fire spells, and it hadn't been all that difficult. You could say it cast itself the moment I thought of it. Output control, though, was a little trickier — and fine-tuning that was exactly what I needed to work on. That was the kind of thing you only got a feel for by doing it.

I poured mana directly into the formula in my head, and—

Fwoooosh—

A wind of flame ripped through the empty air.

"And that was me, not controlling it at all."

Since it was a technique out of the first fundamentals book, it wasn't particularly powerful. Anything stronger would probably mean hunting down a more advanced book to read. Not that I had any real desire to go that far — according to everything I'd learned from the gallery, high-tier magic tomes were absurdly hard to get your hands on. You practically needed connections to the royal family just to acquire one.

Thinking it over, I fed mana into the formula again, this time controlling it as delicately as I could so nothing leaked outward. It helped to picture coloring inside the lines.

Wow, saying 'coloring inside the lines' makes me sound like a total amateur, I thought. But it was the truth. How cleanly a mage poured mana into a fixed formula was what determined their skill — and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the more complex the formula, the harder it became to keep the mana from spilling out.

"So… like this, and then—"

I cast Flame Wind again, and—

FWOOOSH—!

A gust of fire several times larger than before went streaking off into the night, until a sudden breeze caught it and sent it sailing straight toward the mansion. A short while later:

"…Tsk."

I resolved myself to the fact that I was going to get an earful.

Dawn came, and although I'd lain down in bed to sleep, it refused to come. Was it because there was someone of the opposite sex in the mansion? Not even slightly — I had zero interest in that sort of thing to begin with. There was exactly one reason I couldn't sleep: a sense of accomplishment. It had been a long time since I'd felt anything like it.

Back whenever the mages around me used to tell me to take on a disciple, I'd always scoffed — a disciple, seriously? But my disciple's learning speed was so ridiculous that, somehow, teaching was actually turning out to be fun.

"…Faster than me, huh."

I'd come to this other world and picked up magic at a prodigious pace myself, yet my disciple was growing even faster than that. There was just one problem: it didn't exactly look like she was trying.

I took three whole days to finish it, I thought. I saw no joy in her at all, even though she'd read Fundamentals of Magic I — a book that had taken me three days — in a single day. If anything, she seemed to find learning magic a chore. That attitude made absolutely no sense to me. How could anyone not find magic fun? Pouring mana into a formula, weaving new ones from nothing — how was that not fascinating? I found it entertaining just to watch.

Mulling it over, I got up from bed, sat down in the chair, and looked ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠outside. And then—

"Hm?"

I could see a black-haired man out there. …Huh. Didn't think he was the type to work this hard. I'd known my disciple for barely a single day, but I'd already had his number. Talented, but unmotivated — that was my disciple in a nutshell. And yet here he was, outside at dawn, practicing. You'd sooner expect ghosts to break out crying.

But then, right on cue:

Fwoosh—

My disciple casting Flame Wind into the open air. Hm, not bad. It was undeniably once-in-a-generation talent — better than mine, frankly. Impressed despite myself, I kept watching.

And then—

FWOOSH—!

He cast Flame Wind again, and the thing went sailing off on the wind and slammed straight into the mansion. Thankfully it didn't reach as high as the second floor, where I was staying.

"…I'm making tomorrow's test a hard one."

I quietly vowed my petty revenge. How dare he try to burn my house down.

And so, after practicing magic through the small hours and lightly charring the first-floor wall in the process, I'd hurried back up to the second floor and crawled into bed. Sleep, however, would not come. Probably because I could see my scolding coming from a mile away.

Since sleep wasn't happening, I connected to the gallery instead. Who would even be on at this hour?

Scrolling through the feed, I came across a curious post and clicked on it.

"Hmm…"

It felt like the right call to leave a comment here. So I did.

The moment I posted my comment, replies came pouring in — probably because it was the middle of the night and everyone was bored out of their minds. They were remarkably quick on the draw. Scrolling through the responses:

"…Is that actually true?"

I did already know this one — Sylvia had told me. Even so, I left another comment. I was aware I was being a nuisance, but nothing beat asking a mage directly. Sure, I'd heard it from Sylvia, but there was nothing quite like cross-checking your sources.

The replies came flying in almost instantly.

So that was it. All this time I'd wondered why nobody went mage, and here was the answer. Though I had also just learned something a little shocking. Well, that aside — the important part is…

So Transcendence let you return to Earth through dimensional magic. If it were just a rumor, I'd have brushed it off, but that gallery poster was a genuinely famous mage on the forum. The odds of them lying were slim. Sylvia had already told me as much, of course, but getting it cross-checked like this made it feel solid.

"So Transcendence is actually possible."

Transcendence was a stage above even Grand Mage. As far as anyone knew, not a single Grand Mage in history had ever managed it. And yet, judging by the way the forum mages reacted, it seemed someone had. That had to be why they said Transcendence meant a trip back to Earth through dimensional magic.

With that thought, I left a closing comment.

And with that, I closed the gallery. I'd found everything I wanted to know. Ah, whatever. Honestly, Transcendence or any of it didn't need to concern me — I'd only just finished Fundamentals of Magic I. Something like "Transcendence" was light-years beyond where I stood.

With that, I drifted off to sleep.

How much time had passed?

Chirp, chirp—

The birdsong outside woke me up. Part of me wanted to keep sleeping, but having already snapped awake, sleep wouldn't come back. So I got out of bed and headed straight downstairs. I was hungry.

Shuffling down to the first floor looking like a wreck, I found someone had beaten me there.

"Oh, good morning."

"…Mm."

Sylvia had already arrived and was eating. Eating alone would have been dull, so I struck up a conversation.

"So… um…"

"The thing you burned last night?"

"How did you know about that…?"

I was pretty sure I'd burned it nice and quietly. I couldn't help wondering how she'd found out — and the moment I looked up at her with that question written all over my face—

"The mansion has warding magic and protective magic laid over it. Of course I'd know."

Huh. I hadn't known that. Apologizing seemed like the obvious first move, so I did, immediately.

"I… I'm sorry. It wasn't on purpose, I was just practicing."

At my apology, Sylvia gave a small snort of laughter and opened her mouth.

"If you're that sorry, go into town and buy me something."