The Bet Is Made Because I Have Confidence in Myself.
The lecture had begun.
Aaron Patrick's voice was a low, soothing tone that drew the audience in.
Despite his young age of twenty-five, he possessed the power to focus the ears of his listeners.
“I have heard the overall evaluation of Rune Magic. I do not know about the academic evaluation, but it is not a practical discipline.”
The audience nodded in agreement.
“I will break that prejudice today.”
His tone was filled with certainty that he would pass.
It was arrogant.
However, perhaps due to Aaron Patrick's noble bearing, there was something that made the audience expect more.
Aaron pointed to the girl with the strikingly pink hair among the seated audience.
“You. What is your name?”
“This year's freshman, Ashtad Anastad.”
For some reason, there was a subtle hostility in her tone, but Aaron paid no attention.
“Tell me the basic structure of magic formulas.”
The girl showed a momentary look of surprise. Then, after taking a few deep breaths, she answered calmly.
“Role, start, execution method, finish.”
“That is a good answer. Sit down. According to Ashtad student's words, there are four magic formulas to manifest magic.”
It was content that anyone who had entered the academy would know. So there was no particular interest in Aaron's explanation.
It was a rather dull topic for a man who had declared he would break the prejudice at the start of the lecture.
“Rune Magic uses runes, but in the end, it falls into the category of magic. Because of this, one must not only have knowledge of runes but also basic magical aptitude.”
“Hmph, then it is a subordinate of magic?”
One man interrupted.
Aaron's eyes moved to find the speaker. It was a familiar silhouette.
“Professor Millard Alfried, raise your hand and state your name before speaking.”
“You know it and still...”
“You are a fool who cannot even observe basic etiquette. The academy is running very well.”
“...I am Professor Millard Alfried, in charge of elemental magic. Is that enough?”
“Yes, the dull professor Millard Alfried who does not even listen to the end of his words. Since you seem to have a lot of curiosity, I will explain kindly. I said it was in the mold, but Rune Magic and magic are clearly different categories.”
To explain, Aaron Patrick put on his gloves in his pocket.
As mana formed at the fingertips, he drew a line in the air.
“Put the formula into this line. The difference from magic is that not all formulas are put in. Only the basic form is put into the formula, and the rune characters are drawn.”
The expressions of most of the audience were filled with doubt.
“Most of the students who came to the lecture are mages, so they would be suspicious. Whether magic can be performed with that alone.”
It was a natural question.
Due to the nature of magic, if even one formula is missing, it will not manifest at all or mana will explode.
“Without wasting words, I will show you the manifestation.”
He drew a formula in the air.
“First, magic. The type is basic light. Ashtad Anastad.”
“Eh?”
“You do not see this formula as what?”
“Um... The form is a sphere of light attribute, the trigger is the mana spark of the caster, and it has a radius of 1.5 meters.”
“Excellent.”
With praise, he snapped his fingers.
— Click!
Following the clear sound, a sphere of light appeared at the fingertips.
“As you see, magic manifests only by inputting the exact formula. However.”
He drew a line again.
A line of a different formula from before.
A single line segment collided with the formula. It had a completely different speed and density from building a magic formula.
But.
“You who draw it like this will not know anything about Rune Magic. There, the red-eyed one.”
“Eh?”
The girl opened her eyes wide and pointed at herself with her hand. She checked both sides again to make sure it was not someone else.
“Only the red-eyed one. So stop looking around.”
“Ah!”
“...What is your name?”
“This year's freshman, Skadi.”
With a pounding heart, she called out normally.
“Come here. Look at the formula in the line I am drawing up close and tell the audience.”
“Wow, really?!”
She nodded vigorously, then hurriedly stood next to Aaron.
Just the fact that she was next to him accelerated Aaron's heart, but Patrick blood helped calm it.
No, more like disgust than calm.
“The formula that goes into Rune Magic is only the form because the rune serves as the attribute and trigger.”
“Then what about the rest, the execution method?”
“The interpretation of the rune.”
[Wunjo (wunjo)] — Banish the darkness.
With clean pronunciation, the rune responded and became a sphere of light.
“Runes are basically divided into two meanings: the literal meaning and the traditional meaning. The interpretation of Wunjo.”
Traditional meaning — Light, meaning.
Basic meaning — Joy.
“At this time, I interpreted Wunjo as light. This time, it was interpreted with a different meaning.”
[Wunjo (wunjo)] — Convey the meaning of joy.
Aaron Patrick's pounding heart and the emotions he felt toward Skadi were conveyed to the audience.
“Wow...”
“This is definitely...”
“...Tsk.”
“The formula form is exactly the same, but the magic itself has changed!”
Professor Millard Alfried raised his hand with an unpleasant expression and spoke.
“This will not show the practicality of Rune Magic.”
“Indeed, this alone is insufficient. If it ends at this level of line, Rune Magic will end up just being interesting. Even more so if it shows the same performance compared to the effort put in, there is no need to learn it.”
“But” said Aaron Patrick.
“If it is only mastered, there is no discipline that shows such practicality.”
— Swish.
His hand moved gracefully like a conductor.
[Dagaz (dagaz)] — Grant the attribute of change.
[Berkana (berkana)] — Grow.
[Inguz (inguz)] — Bear the desired abundance at the end.
The wooden furniture in the lecture hall began to change.
The chair became a tree that rose to the ceiling of the lecture hall.
The desk became a thicket.
On the branches, lush leaves and fruits grew.
The rustling of the leaves and the scent of grass proved it was not an illusion.
If a normal magician built it, it would take hours of effort.
Aaron Patrick turned the lecture hall into a forest in just one minute with only three runes.
“...”
A sigh escaped because he could not help but admire in the lecture hall that should be quiet.
The audience was not dull enough to not know the possibility of Rune Magic unfolding before their eyes.
“Question.”
Aaron Patrick took off his gloves like a conductor who had finished the song.
“The prejudice has been broken.”
The answer was set.
That day.
All the audience, including Millard Alfried, praised Aaron Patrick's lecture.
It was a score of 10 out of 10, easily surpassing 9.
*
After the lecture, Aaron Patrick returned to the room in his mansion and rested.
He exhaled roughly and checked the mana circuits.
“Still the same.”
After regression, 70% of the mana circuits in his body were in a state close to impossible to regenerate.
He did not know the exact reason, but there were guesses.
The 25th rune that originally did not exist.
It was the realm that Aaron Patrick could not touch that manifested.
If it was the price for manifesting magic that did not match his status, it made sense.
As a result, he had to use Rune Magic five times a day, but he had no regrets.
“However, it was close.”
He had originally planned to teach with only two Rune Magics, but he had forced it to show at least one to Skadi.
“Foolish guy.”
It was truly irrational and unreasonable behavior.
He covered his face with his palm.
His fingers passed between his eyes.
He let out a deep sigh.
No matter how many times he recalled the memories.
“Foolish guy.”
Shame burned.
If Patrick blood had not hated her, he might have grabbed her hand right there.
To confirm that it was a brand new white hand without blood on it.
He had realized that on the first day he regressed.
“Madman.”
He shook his head to clear his thoughts.
There was something to do.
He picked up the fountain pen with the rune written on it.
[Sowelu (sowelu)] — May this rune be maintained intact.
There was no ink in the fountain pen.
Even knowing that, Aaron did not put down the fountain pen.
— Drip.
It was meant to dig into the skin.
A temporary measure to forcibly increase the number of magic uses.
He drew the line slowly and precisely based on his right shoulder.
The feeling of the formula being engraved on the body could not be described even as a joke.
It was like the sensation of putting an unknown thing into the body.
— Click, click, click, click...
The clock sound in the room covered even a small groan.
Only after all the mana in the circuit had drained out could the tip of the fountain pen return to its original position.
“Hoo... half?”
While wiping the cold sweat with a towel, Sebastian's voice was heard.
“Young Master, the interviewee has arrived.”
“Interviewee?”
“Yes, did we not decide to hire a servant?”
Only then did Aaron remember that he had posted a job advertisement to hire personnel to manage the large mansion.
Aaron straightened his disheveled clothes, checked his appearance in the mirror until the last moment before leaving, and nodded with satisfaction.
“I will go down now.”
When he entered the reception room on the first floor where the interviewee was, Aaron Patrick had to calm his pounding heart.
“...Why are you here?”
“Wow! Professor, hello! So this is Professor's mansion?!”
The girl who had shaken his heart even in today's lecture was in front of him.
The purpose of coming here was only one, but still, Aaron Patrick asked.
“Why did you come?”
“Because I came to apply as a maid! Good pay! And guarantees the time to attend the academy. It is strange that I did not apply.”
“Hahaha, do you know each other? Good. Since there is a relationship and it does not seem bad, shall I pass you as is?”
“The interview is an interview.”
Aaron Patrick thought.
Just standing in the lecture hall had caused all sorts of thoughts. But coming as a maid to the mansion?
He could not hold on.
It was not something he could accept in character to say no without reason or to lower the conditions.
However, he could make her give up.
Or drop her fairly.
With that in mind, Aaron Patrick sat down and looked directly into the girl's eyes.
“Let's start.”