Chapter 12
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Northern Duke (5)
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Inside the academy classroom after class had ended.
A brown-haired woman approached Elly.
"You're meeting with the Magic Department Head today, right? Let's go together!"
"Huh? Uh, sure..."
The moment the homeroom teacher left, the brown-haired woman came over to my desk and grabbed my arm.
"Wait a sec! Slow down!"
"Today we're definitely going to that cake shop in town! You've been putting it off for days now after saying you would!"
"It's only been three days... Can't we go on the weekend?"
"I want to go today!"
Even as I was dragged toward the Magic Department Head's office by the brown-haired woman, my mind was still a whirlwind.
'I barely remember any of the original story now, but the Magic Department Head hasn't changed too, has she?'
In the original story, she became the heroine's magic mentor, teaching her various theories.
A cheerful and bright character who never lost her temper, no matter how many mistakes the heroine made.
When we arrived at the Magic Department Head's office, my friend knocked on the door.
"Is the Magic Department Head in?"
A brief moment passed, but there was no response.
"She's not..."
"Huh? What are you kids doing?"
"Oh? Flame Department Head!"
A passing teacher asked us, who were standing in front of the Magic Department Head's office.
"Is the Magic Department Head not here right now, by any chance?"
"The Head is always at the magic training grounds at this hour."
"Pardon?"
I asked back in surprise at the unexpected answer.
'The Magic Department Head is someone who obsesses over theory and hardly practices, though?'
"Anyway, if you want to meet her, should I let her know?"
"No, thank you. I'll head to the mana training grounds now."
I bowed to the teacher and made my way to the mana training grounds.
As I opened the door and entered, I could see students practicing amid translucent glass barriers.
"Elly! Look over there! It's Lady Scarlet!"
I looked in the direction the brown-haired woman pointed, and saw brilliant flames flying in all directions around her.
Dozens of fireballs visible in the distance shot out simultaneously.
They struck the iron scarecrows on the opposite side squarely in the face, exploding on impact.
"Firing that many without a single miss?"
Using powerful magic and controlling it with precision were entirely different matters.
It wasn't uncommon for young mages to lose control of their spells and cause trouble for allies.
I turned my gaze to search for the purple-haired Magic Department Head.
Beyond the thick glass walls, powerful mana rippled in the air.
"Whoa... First time seeing a 6th Circle mage cast magic."
"I wonder what spell she's practicing."
The brown-haired woman let out an exclamation.
The mana that had filled the isolation room, swelling as if it might explode, vanished completely in the next instant.
As if dissatisfied with something, the Magic Department Head stomped the floor hard.
After a short while, she emerged from the magic training room.
"Haa... The theory is perfect, so why isn't it working?"
The Magic Department Head pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from her brow.
"Hello, Magic Department Head!"
"Oh? Who are you... Ah! New students!"
Her gaze fell on my nameplate color as she looked at me, realizing I was a freshman.
"Elly... The genius who reached 4th Circle at 15!"
"Haha... You're the one who published 7th Circle theory, Department Head."
The Magic Department Head, now serious about theoretical research, would scout me as her assistant from here.
'People online say grad students are pitiful... Aren't grad students amazing for sticking around university that long?'
I'd spent my whole life in hospital beds, never attending a regular school outside of hospital classes.
To me, grad students lingering at university like a dream were beyond comprehension as to why they'd be pitied.
"Anyway, study hard from now on. I'll do a bit more practice and head back."
"Pardon?"
Yet another unexpected response.
"Wouldn't you need some help with your research, by any chance?"
I couldn't afford to lose the original heroine's mentor entirely like this.
Swallowing my embarrassment, I asked directly.
"Ah... I've been taking a break from research lately. Theory is great and all! But if you can't use it in real combat, what's the point?"
"Whaaat?!"
It was common sense, but coming from her, it wasn't.
'In the original, she lived in her lab, not even wasting commute time!?'
Incredible words flowed from the mouth of the woman who'd turned her office into a personal research lab.
"Theory alone at 7th Circle is meaningless, right? My actual skill needs to reach 7th Circle."
"Aren't you 30 now? The principal reached 7th Circle at 35..."
"Comparing to others is pointless. And my birthday hasn't passed yet, so I'm still 29."
She took a water bottle from her pocket, drank some, and turned her gaze back to the training grounds.
"Anyway! I'm off to practice. You girls enjoy school life!"
"Ah... Okay."
Before I could reply, the Magic Department Head vanished back into the training room.
'Wait, hold on. Then who's my magic mentor? My swordsmanship mentor?'
I'd lived leisurely since possessing this body, vaguely thinking I'd work on it later.
I cursed my past self for dumping the homework on my future self.
The cake shop in town that my brown-haired friend dragged me to was delicious even in this situation.
Stifling heat and swarms of insects.
Monkey monsters swung through the towering trees using their long arms.
Gazing at the tree-climbing monkey monsters, I recalled the contents of the booklet from the mercenary guild.
'Among them is a giant monkey... Killing it drops the magic stone for the next floor, right?'
As I pondered, a massive rock came flying from somewhere.
-Thud!
The rock collided with the mana barrier I'd pre-activated and fell to the ground.
The monkey monster that threw it from afar smacked its lips.
'The strategy said to hold off the monkey monsters for about 10 minutes, and the giant one appears...'
I pulled a clock from my temporary subspace to check the time.
Even after over three hours trekking through the jungle, no giant monkey had shown.
Sweat poured like rain in the sweltering heat, and my damp clothes weighed me down.
The handkerchief I'd prepared was already soaked and useless.
In the end, I decided to reveal some of my hidden power.
I cast fixation magic on the nearest monkey monster.
The tree-swinging monkey's body froze.
I approached as it plummeted to the ground.
Drawing a sword from my subspace, I stabbed the monkey monster.
In pain, it writhed and screamed.
"Haa... Where's your boss? Hey! Should I kill this one?"
I shouted loudly and scanned around, but...
The monkey monsters atop the trees just blinked their big eyes, showing no real reaction.
Very few monsters had any camaraderie among their kind.
With no choice, I slit the captured monkey's throat, but the situation remained unchanged.
'The original didn't cover floors 1 or 2... All I have is the guild's intel...'
But the guild booklet only said to play defensively until the giant monkey appeared and take it down.
There was no record of it taking this long.
"Fine, something's gotta happen if I keep killing them."
In the end, I resolved to kill every visible monkey monster.
I quickly scanned the surroundings, closed my eyes, and pictured their positions.
'Thirteen in total. Positions and heights...'
After calculating in my head, I activated the spell. Sounds of things crashing down came from all directions.
The monkeys' cries filled the jungle, confused by the turn of events.
"Sigh, killing them is such a hassle."
In this open area, my specialty poison gas magic wouldn't work.
No matter how much more mana I had than a typical 4th Circle mage, I couldn't cover the entire vast jungle.
To maximize effect, I'd need to seal the ceiling too, but the layer height was too great, and efficacy would plummet.
'Lucky the promotion exam was in a narrow cave.'
I looked up at the sun illuminating the jungle.
I wondered what you'd see flying sky-high in a dungeon.
A mana sun pretending to be real? Or actual outer space?
Entertaining useless thoughts, I methodically dealt with the fallen monkey monsters.
The moment I killed the last one, rustling leaves sounded from afar.
Turning, I spotted a massive shape wriggling atop a distant tree.
'Does it only appear after clearing the trash mobs? Wait, then why doesn't the booklet say...'
Various questions arose then.
The giant monkey monster began swiftly fleeing through the trees.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going!!!"
Too far for magic.
I sprinted with all my might, but it was no match for a tree-swinging monkey monster.
"Am I actually going to lose like this?"
As I chased the giant monkey monster, new ones appeared from somewhere to hinder me.
They'd caught on to me binding their limbs with magic.
Now they no longer stood still on trees watching me; they kept moving, dodging spells.
'Doesn't matter. I won't miss.'
-Thud!
Realizing my approach was wrong, I ducked into a small cave I'd spotted nearby.
The monkey monsters didn't give up, hurling rocks into the entrance.
But with all sides blocked except the entrance, it was the perfect spot for a space mage to rest.
I sealed the entrance with a mana barrier, stripped off my clothes, wiped down with a wet cloth, and changed into fresh ones from my temporary subspace.
'Temporary subspace lasts 24 hours... Might as well make a new one here.'
I transferred items from yesterday's temporary subspace into a newly created one.
Legends spoke of ancient 7th Circle space school archmages creating infinite internal spaces where time stopped.
Mine was backpack-sized at best, lasting only 24 hours.
If I didn't continuously supply mana, even the maintained subspace spell would collapse.
'Even so, no volume or weight is a huge merit. That's why they recruit mages.'
I gazed at the low-grade magic stones from my subspace.
Opportunity strikes once.
The booklet noted monkey monsters learn patterns from opponents.
Once they figured mine out, I'd have to retreat to the city.
I etched magic circles onto the low-grade stones while checking my remaining mana.
'About half left... Better rest a bit before heading out.'
I wasn't an idiot to let pointless pride get me in danger.
Considering my past life's age, losing to an 18-year-old brat was infuriating.
But this was a dungeon, not a playground.
Lulled by the rocks thudding against my space magic barrier, I enjoyed a peaceful rest.
About an hour later, I confirmed my mana was full.
'Tons of mana and fast recovery... Well, the Philosopher's Stone should perform at that level.'
This was still far from its true power due to my low circle.
Emerging from the cave, refreshed, I surveyed the jungle.
Monkey monsters still leaped between trees nearby.
I ignored them, wandering the trees and dropping low-grade magic stones at intervals.
As I moved away, the monkeys approached the stones.
They picked them up, threw them, smashed them—no reaction.
Losing interest, they resumed bounding around me.
'Worried they might destroy them... Good, they don't see them as threats.'
To avoid tipping them off, I hadn't used magic stones since entering the dungeon.
They'd surely seen other parties use them before.
But for some reason, monkey monsters didn't retain learned info from other parties.
'If they did... They'd probably be monsters for real.'
Dozens of parties entered this massive dungeon.
If they learned all combat patterns, floor 1 would be hell already.
'Like a game, deliberately balanced difficulty... I used to brush it off as just romance fantasy...'
Now that the novel was reality, was glossing over questions with "it's a novel" right?
Mulling it over, I scattered hundreds of prepared low-grade magic stones throughout the jungle.
Preparations complete, I circulated mana through my body and cast fixation magic on the monkeys leaping between trees.
They dropped one by one.
Drop one, kill it. Drop another, kill it.
After repeating a dozen times, no monkeys remained nearby.
Then, rustling from a distant tree signaled another massive shape.
Too far for magic.
Soon, the giant monkey would flee, new ones would attack.
"Got you."
I instantly teleported near a low-grade magic stone by the giant monkey.
Its eyes widened at my sudden position change.
Without hesitation, I cast fixation magic.
-Boom!
The 3-meter giant monkey crashed to the ground.
Bewildered, it blinked its big eyes at me.
I pulled a prepared saw from my subspace.
Finally grasping the situation, the giant monkey began roaring ferociously.
'Easier than expected... Makes sense; the guild master wouldn't send just two if it was hard.'
He'd judged two 4th Circle mages could reach floor 3 without issue.
Its unexpected pattern stumped me a bit, but I secured the next-floor magic stone easily.
'Why did the pattern change, though?'
Dungeon patterns were common knowledge as fixed once set.
As I pondered while staring at the fist-sized, glowing green magic stone,
Orange smoke rose from between distant trees.
Instinctively, I dashed toward it.
"What? Still here?"
Knowing ancient magic's power, I'd assumed she'd moved to the next floor long ago.
But the smoke contradicted that.
A basic truth most otherworlders knew.
"Haa... Occupational hazard, huh."
I raced toward the distant rescue signal.