A Strange Feeling (2)

Iren and I each chose one person.

I picked Karl Laupen, while Iren chose Irina.

I intended to give efficient advice through Karl, the very source of this whole mess. Iren, on the other hand—

"Irina. Want some help?"

"Ugh! It won't break! Huh? Your Highness?"

Tiny Irina stared at Iren in surprise. Ever since Iren had given her that sharp warning, Irina had been keeping her transformation magic off whenever she was near me.

"Ugh. I don't need any help, thank you very much."

"For someone who doesn't need help, you look like you're struggling pretty hard."

"Mind your own business. A fragile little princess like Your Highness couldn't help with this mess anyway."

"Is that so?"

Iren laid a hand on the golem Irina was holding down with sheer grip strength. Irina's eyes went wide with panic—the golem was about to crush Iren flat.

"It's dangerous! Get away!"

"Detection leads to the Collection of Code."

The instant Iren finished the chant, the golem that had been a heartbeat away from smashing her flat froze solid. Irina blinked.

"Huh?"

"This kind of thing is easy when I handle it."

"……."

"But Irina can't do this, can she? You're really pathetic. That's why Frey hasn't so much as glanced your way since that day."

Iren burst into laughter.

"Got it, loser?"

"Y-y-y-you little—! Princess Iren!"

A vast surge of mana exploded outward from Irina's body like a detonation.

Irina Varian. Young lady of the marquisate that held the post of Imperial Finance Minister.

The Valencia Empire was a magical empire, so even the Finance Minister was no ordinary human. In this empire, the way you proved your worth was through magic—or through raw strength.

Those who wielded magic fulfilled their roles as civil officials; those who honed their physical power protected the empire as knights. The Varian Marquisate belonged to the mage side.

Under normal circumstances Irina, as the young lady of House Varian, should have become a mage. There was just one snag.

Magic could not increase a person's height. More precisely, the side effects were far too severe.

A human body is the most stable form nature has ever crafted. It exists in its present shape because that shape is the best for survival and the most harmonious.

If a human used magic to artificially alter their fundamental physique, side effects were inevitable. Minute discrepancies would appear in places no human could even detect.

Changing only one's outward appearance with transformation magic was fine. But the moment you laid hands on the original body itself, side effects were guaranteed.

Irina, who had been miserable about her small stature since childhood, had turned her eyes toward physical training instead—clinging to the belief that exercise would make her taller! Magic that couldn't even grow her own height was useless!

Unfortunately, there was a fact she had never known: excessive exercise during the growth period actually hindered physical development.

In the end Irina never escaped 125 centimeters even at seventeen. That was why she had been using transformation magic to hide her complex.

In exchange she had grown strong enough to stand at the very top of the knight course. At present, not a single third-year knight student could guarantee victory against her.

The important point was that Irina, who possessed a mage's talent, had also achieved greatness as a knight.

A mage's foremost talent is the vast quantity of mana within the body. Without enough mana, you cannot cast the spells you know.

So what happens when all of that mana is poured into physical reinforcement?

"Don't look down on me!"

The limiter Irina had been unconsciously holding back snapped free. She slammed a fist into the golem that was closing in on her.

Boom!

The golem disintegrated into powder. Irina snorted through her nose.

"How's that! I can do it too, right?"

"Wow. You're seriously barbaric."

"What did you just say?!"

Irina seethed even as she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠began smashing golems one after another. Iren smirked and raised her voice.

"Irina can destroy the golems! Cover her!"

Several students heard Iren's shout and herded the golems toward Irina. Irina let out a scream.

"Wait! This is way too many!"

"Hang in there, Irina."

"Your Highness, help me too!"

"I'm fragile, unlike you. Aah. I'm getting dizzy."

With that, Iren casually slipped backward. Irina wanted nothing more than to thrash her, but the golems were already charging, so she had no choice but to clench her fists.

"When this is over, you'd better be ready!"

"Yes, yes."

Iren let Irina's words slide past her ears and smiled as she looked toward me.

What are you going to do, Frey? Fixing the logic circuits is going to take you a lot longer than me, isn't it?

The thought had barely formed when—

Whoooosh!

A magic circle hundreds of meters in diameter suddenly bloomed across the sky.

"Huh?"

Iren stared blankly at the circle. The students fighting the golems forgot they were being hit and turned their gazes to the sudden appearance of the formation.

Frey? This was supposed to be an indirect-support contest!

Karl, the one I was supposedly helping, could never have deployed a magic circle of that scale. Instantly weaving something that large was impossible for anyone short of a genius on Frey's level.

Iren frantically searched for the origin of the magic—and found it.

Mana was pouring from Karl ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Laupen's hands, forming the very foundation of the circle.

"It wasn't Frey……?"

Iren was thrown into confusion.

I watched her face and smiled.

So Iren had triggered Irina's latent potential. To make someone that much stronger with nothing but provocation—maybe that silver tongue of hers was her true talent after all.

Karl was fretting as he watched Irina pulverize the golems.

"Y-Young Master Katram? What do we do now?"

"Karl. You're usually so shameless—why are you shriveling up like this?"

"Well, this whole uproar is my fault……."

"Don't get so down. I doubt the professors will dock you points over something like this, and none of the students are cursing you right now, are they?"

"Hmm."

Karl looked out at the students battling the golems.

Just as I said, no one was cursing him. If anything, they were having fun. Sure, a few looked dissatisfied, but none of them were openly bad-mouthing Karl.

Honestly, I didn't get it. How could anyone enjoy getting beaten up like that? Because the lecture had been canceled? Or because noble life was just that boring?

Whatever the reason, it didn't matter. What mattered right now was filling the hole in Karl's self-esteem.

"Karl. You brought some life into this dull Academy."

"Me?"

"Yeah. Look how much fun everyone's having. Check out that knight-course guy over there laughing while his skull's getting cracked open."

There really was a knight-course student gushing blood from his head and roaring with laughter. I made a mental ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠note never to get involved with that guy.

"But an event like this is only proper when the host keeps it under control. Right?"

"Th-that's true."

"Think about it. Picture yourself stopping hundreds of golems all at once. How do you think your classmates would look at you then?"

"They'd think I was amazing…… maybe even revere me."

Karl's eyes grew hazy. He was clearly lost in that future, drunk on the thrill of it. Good. The motivation was planted.

"Then you have to take control. What's the way to solve this problem? I already explained the cause ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠earlier."

"I have to neutralize the overloaded pseudo-personality generation circuits. But to do that I'd have to get close……."

"Haa, no. That's not it."

This is why people say a dull mind makes the body suffer. Why would a mage even consider close combat?

"In the end the problem came from the circuits, right? So what should you use to fix it?"

"A problem caused by circuits…… so circuits?"

"Exactly. The simplest way to neutralize a circuit. You designed the blueprints—you should know."

Magic is the language that conveys one's will to the world.

And a circuit is like a device that records that language. It stores spells so they can be used instantly—once, or semi-permanently.

The storage part is what matters.

Any storage vessel, once a hole is punched in it, will leak its contents.

A jar of water will gush out; a container of food will be invaded by insects that devour everything inside. Circuits are the same. The moment a gap appears, the mana and the language stored with it scatter and vanish.

So what is the simplest way to punch a hole?

Most objects shatter when struck by something of equal strength and hardness.

"With the blueprints in your hands, you could whip up identical circuits in no time."

"Identical circuits…… if I analyze them according to the blueprints…… then the method of striking them would be—"

Karl let out a cry of realization.

"A magic circle!"

A magic circle is simply circuits gathered together until they form a fixed pattern.

"What will you do with a magic circle?"

"Those golems are Academy experimental models. They move by drawing mana from the Academy's underground supply. Right now every single one of them has my circuits installed."

"And?"

"If I embed identical circuits into the ground, a resonance phenomenon will occur between the circuits, and I can siphon off a portion of the mana being supplied from the Academy's basement. Magic circles normally devour enormous amounts of mana, but with the Academy's mana-supply system assisting me, I can weave one on the spot!"

"And after you weave it?"

"Resonance again. A magic circle woven from the same circuits will resonate with the ones inside the golems. Then I over-inject mana. The overheated circuits will burn out!"

"Good. Can you actually do it?"

Karl glanced back and forth between his blueprints and the rampaging golems. Then he spoke with eyes full of determined will.

"Even if I can't—I'll make it happen."

"That's the right attitude."

And that was how it went.

Karl immediately drove the circuits into the earth and drew the Academy's underground mana into himself. Because the Academy used so much magic, it had mana storage vaults and generation engines built beneath it—making the feat possible.

A monstrous volume of mana flooded into Karl's body. Left alone, he would have exploded.

To prevent that catastrophe he instantly poured the incoming mana into weaving the magic circle. The basic circuit blueprints were already complete, so all Karl had to do was blow mana into them and replicate the circuits.

The first one took ten seconds. By the tenth it took one second; by the hundredth, even less. A little more time passed and the over-injected circuits began self-replicating, packing the framework Karl had prepared until it was completely full.

The hundreds-of-meters-wide magic circle was finished in an instant. The identical circuits of the giant formation and the golems resonated through waves of mana.

Then—over-injection!

Boom! Ba-ba-boom!

Every last golem burst apart. Karl strode forward through the smoke of the explosions.

"I! Solved it!"

"Whoa! What the hell, that was so cool!"

The Academy students erupted in cheers. I watched with satisfaction, then turned toward Iren.

Her dazed face was plain to see.

Well then—for a whole week you can only speak to me. How do you plan to handle that?