Saikyou Mahoushi no Inton Keikaku (LN) - Volume 2 - Chapter 7

Seventh Chapter 

Converging Turbulence 

Just before returning to headquarters, Alus removed his mask and robe. 

If he kept his mask on, he’d be treated as a suspicious person and invite needless chaos. Moreover, his job was pretty much done, so he no longer needed a disguise. 

Upon their arrival at headquarters, Tesfia was taken to the field hospital, as it was called, though it was only on the level of the Institute’s infirmary. Swift measures were needed to keep her burns from leaving scars. 

Tesfia herself rejected treatment, saying it wasn’t a big deal, but Alice—who was all smiles when she returned—quickly put an end to her resistance. 

Accompanied by a rescue worker, Tesfia reluctantly entered the tent where a healing Magicmaster awaited. 

Healing magic was constantly improving, but it still couldn’t instantly heal deep wounds. At best, it could activate the cells to raise a person’s regenerative abilities. 

Things would be different if several healing Magicmasters were here to cast spells, but Magicmasters capable of using healing magic were currently few and far between. 

When using healing spells, the healer needed to match their mana to the injured person. Normally, personal characteristics largely affected mana, with each having their own unique wavelength. That’s why the healer needed to match their mana wavelength to the injured person to reduce any rejection. 

At the same time, the healer needed to work on the cells, spurring on the regenerative abilities through mana. That went beyond the level of skillful usage of mana control, requiring superfine technique to adjust on a cell-by-cell basis. 

It was distinctly different from Alus’ mana control, and was of course always in high demand. 

Active Magicmasters always needed to deal with getting hurt, but young girls should get those injuries healed if they could. 

Tesfia still didn’t know enough about the world to loudly boast about the scars known as a ‘Magicmaster’s decorations.’ Fortunately, even the resident healing Magicmaster had the skill to heal the cuts on her forehead and cheek without them leaving scars. 

Once Tesfia was out of sight, Alice lowered her head to Alus. “Thank you, Al.” 

Her bright smile was like a medicine that helped push aside a bit of the gloom Alus was feeling, and heal that fed-up feeling from dealing with nothing but trouble. 

However, it really was just trouble. Thinking back to the giant spider, he was usually never that talkative when dealing with Fiends. 

Alus indulged himself in his thoughts. Back then, he recalled feeling a slight sense of joy in battle—though an opponent on that level wouldn’t be enough to satisfy that—along with a different feeling. Realizing that, he began thinking that his words and actions at the time were like someone else’s. 

Though it had only been a little... what he felt might have been anger, something he hadn’t felt in a long time. That said, he’d never been angry with Fiends before, so it was a bit early to decide that was it. 

But the end results were that he’d completely exterminated the Fiend, so from an onlooker’s perspective it might look like punishment born from anger. 

Alus objectively analyzed the situation. In which case, why did he feel that way? 

However, no matter how much he analyzed it, he couldn’t find a reasonable explanation, so thinking any more about it was a waste. As Alus preferred logic, he couldn’t help but discard those thoughts. 

So he responded to Alice’s gratitude by saying flatly, “It was only by chance.” 

In fact, he hadn’t known that the last rescue request he’d received was for Tesfia’s group, so it truly was only a coincidence. 

Though Alice didn’t seem to think that way. She believed he’d worried for her best friend, and used everything he had to save her, and she gazed at him without a doubt in her eyes. 

Alus decided to ignore Alice after she began thanking him profusely. 

After some time, Alice began worrying about Tesfia’s condition again, and ran over to the field hospital after thanking him one more time. 

Talk about restless, Alus thought to himself as he saw her off. 

Shortly thereafter, Alice returned beaming with joy, with a big smile as if she wanted to say something to the sour-looking Alus. It was a truly captivating, innocent smile, but it definitely had a hidden meaning. “Al, there’s practical training after this... but my group’s tired and won’t be participating. So I have some time on my hands...” 

The practical training was voluntary, but the principal decided to continue with the extracurricular lesson, assuming there would only be a few participants. And if supervisors wouldn’t be needed, Alus wouldn’t be needed either. Though he was to keep himself contactable in case something happened. 

He knew what Alice wanted to say. And that it was probably Tesfia who’d put the idea in her head. The reason for her roundabout way of asking was probably her way of holding back. But in this scenario, he almost felt that was worse. 

“Okay.” While he hadn’t been the slightest bit exhausted by the battle, he honestly found it to be a pain. However, he didn’t say it out loud. If he did, he’d create a difference in how he treated the two. 

And with Tesfia’s interest in Mistlotein, these two students were somewhat troublesome, but they got full marks for their enthusiasm. 

“I hear you managed to exterminate some Fiends, too.” Alus sighed. “To think I would be wrong about both of you.” 

In other words, Alice had fulfilled the criteria for passing, just like Tesfia. Meaning that they’d be able to receive Alus’ instruction without reservation. As that was something Alus himself had brought up, he couldn’t take it back now. 

“I wouldn’t mind if we ran into a B class, you know.” Alice let out a muffled laugh, probably having heard all about it from Tesfia. 

Alus gave her a cold stare. “Don’t get full of yourself.” He knew she was just kidding, so he spared her with a light flick to the forehead. 

Even then, Alice seemed delighted, and had a bounce in her step. 

When Loki returned, he gave her words of sympathy as he guiltily asked her to continue looking after the students who stayed behind. 

Thus Alice’s and Alus’ one-on-one lecture began. 

Once they left the headquarters, Alice asked about something like it had just come to mind. But seeing how she’d curiously been looking on from behind, she must have been holding it in till now. 

“Is that... your AWR?” She pointed at Night Mist hanging off of his waist. 

This was a quality she shared with Tesfia. It was in their nature to ask about anything that caught their eyes, even more so if it belonged to the greatest Magicmaster. 

“You want to see it?” 

He knew the answer without having to ask. Or rather, her expression made it painfully obvious. But he still decided to check. Though with the answer clear, Alus had removed the scabbard from his waist when he heard her question. 

Sure enough, Alice nodded her head without reservation. 

“It’s a little heavy.” 

Alice held it up with both hands as if it was a highly valuable work of art. Like she was a vassal receiving a treasure from her lord. “Oh, it is!” Her arms lowered a little from the unexpected heft. 

She reached her hand towards the handle, muttering, “It’s beautiful.” 

“...” 

There was a pause before Alus reacted, as that was an impression he hadn’t heard before. Night Mist, with its jet-black blade, was more often described as creepy and rustic, and he himself believed it was an AWR purely for exterminating Fiends. 

He suspected her sense of aesthetics must be quite unique, and started explaining about Night Mist, giving her the same information he told Loki before. 

“Can I try it?” Alice didn’t mean using it to slay Fiends, but rather passing mana through it. 

“I don’t mind,” Alus replied immediately. His AWR had magic formulas engraved on it, but just passing mana through it wouldn’t do anything. And if Alice was going to do it, he was sure she’d use the same incomplete and awkward form she used during practice. Though lately, she’d made remarkable progress... but Alus didn’t bother putting that into words. 

If she grew through praise that would be nice, but Alus would find it irritating if she started getting carried away. 

Alice began her enchantment of Night Mist. 

“...?” 

But only Alus realized something was off. 

Alice was focused on her mana control like always. While she enchanted Night Mist, it wasn’t limited to just the blade, but also extended to the chain in the scabbard as well, and Alus’ instincts told him something was strange. 

Continuing her enchantment, while unaware of Alus’ reaction, Alice opened her mouth in surprise. “—!! How far does this go...?” 

“There’s 50 meters.” 

“No way!!” Perhaps because she was disheartened, the flow of Alice’s mana stopped and dispersed. 

But Alus had definitely seen it—or more accurately, felt it. 

Her mana had caused one of the rings, albeit slightly, to react... the ring she’d gotten a reaction out of held the formula for Morshonell Link, which Alus had used when saving Tesfia. 

He was unable to derive an answer for why that had happened right away. He quickly rejected the temporary conclusion he’d reached before even considering it. Her attribute is supposed to be the element of light. It could have been a false response by chance... No, that wouldn’t make any sense either. 

Among all attributes, light and dark were exceptionally rare and were referred to as elements. Alus was confident in Night Mist’s accuracy of reacting to mana. Moreover, the ring that had reacted, engraved with the formula for Morshonell Link, was an attribute-less formula. The spell’s structure itself was really simple, with no attribute formula to serve as its basis. Which was why, if it were to be categorized, it would be attribute-less. 

With the ring’s reaction being so weak, it was hard to tell for sure. But as far as Alus knew, Alice’s attribute was light. And at the same time, she most likely had something unique to her, just like him. 

However, it was still too early to decide that Alice’s mana had another property. While the matter interested him, he deferred his conclusion to later and didn’t say anything. 

After that, Alice spent quite some time under Alus’ guidance, with Alus sometimes lending a hand, and successfully defeated over ten Fiends. Though with how few Fiends there were around headquarters, they had to go out a little ways. 

Among the defeated was a C-class Fiend; however, it proved to be too much for Alice, so Alus had to deal with it. 

Alice’s attitude when dealing with Fiends was consistently fearless. That might have been because Alus was next to her, but she didn’t step back even against formidable opponents. It was a resolute courage, something all Magicmasters should have. 

Watching her spearmanship, Alus thought it was quite impressive. She was still somewhat restrained by her form, but the more experience she got, the more adapted for dealing with Fiends her style would become. 

By the way, her enchantment still wasn’t on the level of being able to damage a C-class Fiend. Tesfia was probably the same in that regard. However, there existed a difference between them... one thing about Alice that was inferior to Tesfia. 

“Is that the only spell you can use?” Alus asked, instantly dealing with a Fiend that was too much for her. 

“Yes. That’s why I can’t do a lot of effective damage to Fiends.” Alice smiled faintly, scratching her cheek with a dirty finger. Her Reflection and Reduction were incredibly powerful against Magicmasters, and could protect her against Fiends, but couldn’t work as a decisive blow. 

“At this rate, you’ll only be able to defeat up to a D class.” 

“... There are only a few light attribute spells, and the attack ones are really difficult.” Alice herself knew she couldn’t go on like this. But the problem with her attribute wouldn’t be solved so easily. Her words sounded like an excuse, and she smiled wryly, like she’d given up. 

An affinity for the light attribute was inborn. Very few Magicmasters had it. Even compared to the dark affinity that it shared similar traits with, those with the affinity for light were few. That’s why there was no detailed information about its characteristics, and the reason it was only inborn remained a mystery. 

In the research field of magic, more effort was put toward the common attributes due to the rarity of those with the light affinity. As such, the current state of research on the two elements was hopelessly behind. 

Alus was also able to use high-level magic regardless of affinity, but that wasn’t the case when it came to the elements. As one could expect from the name, attribute-less spells weren’t related to the attributes, which included the two elements. 

“I see... Well, if you become a guinea pig for my research, I might think about it,” Alus said, surprising even himself. 

“Hmm?!” Keeping a smile on her face, Alice tilted her head with a confused and anxious expression. Her face practically said, “What are you talking about...?” and showed a surprising amount of unrest. 

Perhaps realizing that using the phrase guinea pig was a mistake, Alus corrected himself. “It means that because of your affinity, if I examine your body, I might be able to understand the light element and create new spells.” 

“Huh?!” That seemed to cause a strong reaction, as Alice covered her body with her arms and froze in place. The words ‘examining your body’ held a different meaning to a teenage girl. 

It dawned on Alus that he could use a few more words, but he’d never had any intention of forcing her. While he was interested in element spells, there was little data available, and he merely thought it would be nice if he had a subject to examine. 

But with this exchange, Alus was immediately fed up. “Then I don’t care,” he told her coldly, without humor or a smile. Because of that, his tone sounded unexpectedly harsh, and a serious atmosphere was created. 

“Ah, oh, I was just kidding.” Alice quickly realized the change, and followed up on her remark as if to apologize for misunderstanding his motives. “But are you serious about examining me...?” 

The blush on her face turned redder and redder. She seemed to be imagining the scene that Alus was offering up. Even the tips of her ears turned red, and she looked down at her body, at a certain well-developed part, and looked at him in embarrassment. 

Seeing that, Alus had no choice but to add onto his proposal. “I don’t know what you’re thinking, but you’re probably wrong. In fact, what do you think I am?” 

“Uhm, well... A boy?” 

“... No. Well, I am. But I’ll only be hooking you up to a special machine that analyzes your body’s information. I’ll also need you to change into a hospital gown so I can check your mana.” 

“Oh... is that all... Then that’s fine. Or rather, please do.” 

Alus had thought he’d politely explained it, but when he heard Alice’s reply combined with her wry smile, he felt he was being taken lightly. Perhaps she was thinking there was only so much a boy his age could do, even if he was the current No. 1. It felt like she assumed he was just making her tag along with his little game. 

“Just so you know, I made this,” he said, pointing his thumb at Night Mist. 

“—!!” 

It was now back in its scabbard at his waist, but Alice should have literally felt the power within it, as well as how elaborately it was made. He was putting his abilities on display so as to reassure her, and reconsidered that her taking him lightly might have been a little far-fetched. 

Strictly speaking, Night Mist’s creation had been a collaboration—but that wasn’t anything she needed to know right now. 

“... I-I wasn’t doubting you,” Alice said, in a very awkward tone. 

In the end, it seemed his conjecture had been right after all. 

In fact, in Alice’s mind, she recalled a conversation with Tesfia when they were returning from training. After Alus had been particularly wordy on the topic of magic, the two had laughed at his behavior, comparing him to a child. 

Back then, Tesfia had disrespectfully said, “I bet he’s not even doing any impressive research.” 

Alus had a slight frown on his face, while Alice scratched her cheek with an awkward laugh as usual. 

After many twists and turns, Alice finally gave her approval. She promised to let Alus examine her, then continued defeating Fiends for as long as time would allow. 

And as usual, Alus ended up having to tag along with her training. 

* * * 

It was the next day of class for the first-years. Yesterday’s classes had been canceled, and two days had passed since their extracurricular lesson. 

The classroom was bustling with discussion, though there were still some vacant desks as well. That was because some still couldn’t attend classes due to the shock of fighting Fiends. That said, there were only a few of those. 

Two topics dominated the classroom. 

The first topic was about an elusive masked Magicmaster who’d actively assisted the extracurricular lesson. Just a few should have seen him in person, and while somewhat exaggerated, those supposedly saved by him sang his praises. 

“And then he just knocked out that creepy upperclassman with his bare hands!” 

“He landed a clean blow with his knee...” 

Most of it was gossip, but some weren’t far off the mark, thinking he must be a renowned Magicmaster, or a supporter the Institute had called in. 

The other topic was Loki’s daring and resolute commanding, having the teachers obey her and ordering the upperclassmen like they were her own limbs. There were some exaggerations mixed in here too, but many students had been saved by her capabilities. 

Thanks to those two, there had been practically no casualties among the first-years, aside from some students suffering from shock. 

The extracurricular lesson had ended as well as it could in regards to injuries, which was what the principal had worried about the most. 

Moreover, those who had plunged the day into chaos were made to pay for it. 

The reinforcement teams and supervisors that exposed the first-years to danger by disobeying orders and acting independently had received punishment from the Institute. Most of the dozen or so students managed to escape with just a month’s suspension. 

That said, those who already had a position lined up with the military after graduation would surely be reassigned. And those who were planning to sign up with the military would also suffer the same fate. 

Also, while the suspension was only for a month, it was a painful blow for those who strove to learn powerful magic and rise in the rankings. 

Then there was the only expelled student... Cabsol Denvel. 

The reason was simply because of the casualties he’d brought about. Because of him, they’d encountered a high-classed Fiend they normally wouldn’t have encountered, and the students were exposed to mortal peril and mental trauma, with some still in hospital beds. 

Incidentally, that female student who regained consciousness before anyone else was somehow managing to go to class. There was still a ways to go before she would fully recover, but there would be no impact on her daily life. 

As for the fate of the three male students still in the hospital, what happened to them would be up to their own efforts in recovery. 

Cabsol himself was receiving medical care at his family home, but a fear had taken root in his heart, and the use of magic now triggered the trauma deeply imbedded inside him. His spirit had been broken and his life as a Magicmaster was now over. 

The Institute had hesitated in deciding how to handle him, considering his noble lineage, but in the end they chose the aforementioned expulsion. It would also serve as a deterrent to keep others from following in his footsteps. 

The reason the Denvel family didn’t raise any objections was because it was already pointless. Even if the expulsion were to be revoked, Cabsol wouldn’t be able to recover from his broken spirit and reclaim a future as a Magicmaster. 

Returning to the classroom, the two people of note were both absent today (though nobody knew that Alus was that masked Magicmaster). 

The reason, as expected, was the extracurricular lesson the day before yesterday. The first-years had had their lesson two days ago, the second-years had theirs yesterday, and it was the third-years’ turn today, so the two of them were out eradicating Fiends by direct request of the principal. 

But nothing like the events that took place on the first day happened again. With the B-class Fiends eliminated, Alus and Loki saw less action. 

The Institute’s swift punishments put a stop to any copycats, preventing any further incidents from troubling the two. 

Thus the curtain fell on the Second Magical Institute’s first extracurricular lesson. If it were to be added to the students’ regular curriculum, the particular events and lessons learned from this round would surely aid in training the next novice Magicmasters to come.