Shut-in Magician: 074

The next day, Shiu’s senpai called him to class 7 in the graduate course.

“Are you okay? I heard you were getting bullied.”

The people in this class were all children of nobles, but a lot of them were called eccentric and didn’t fit in with noble society sometimes.

That was also why Shiu was interested in them.

“Apparently. I didn’t know it was happening though.”

“… You’re too aloof,” they accepted this fact.

“But, I heard that dirty water was thrown at you and that they poured oil on the stairs,” The class leader, Casper, said worriedly.

“I guess I didn’t notice it. I wasn’t injured either.”

He thought that the filthy water had been accidentally spilt and he didn’t get wet because he had avoided it, so it was fine. It was the same with the oil; he’d thought someone had spilt it and cleaned it up.

Just how thick can a person be when they don’t even realise that people are being vindictive to them?

“How can I say this? You’re loveable, aren’t you? I’m not in a position to say this, but nobles can be pretty unrelenting so be careful.”

“I will. Thank you.”

Casper was the 3^rd son of Earl Bullard, but the main reason why he didn’t act like a noble at all was because he was here in the place called the den of weirdos. In other words, he interacted with others regardless of their appearance and status as long as they had the same interests.

Reigdole and Antony helped him search for graduate courses when he was thinking about which one to join.

“The student president is in my class right? Year five class one. His entourage is so annoying in the mornings. I don’t even care to listen to them, but it’s like they come to me anyway. Then, I heard Shiu’s name as they were rambling. A problem has occurred for one of my important class 7 classmates! Was what I thought and I got worried.”

“Ahaha.”

His senpai was good at looking after others.

Class 7 of the graduate class researched and analysed magic formulas in the ancient language.

It was more like a lab than a class room.

The teacher in charge was a baron named Eje Moltke and he had level 2 language magic.

By the way, Shiu didn’t have a chance to raise his level lately since he was careful not to cast appraisal on people without their consent. Galgrecia did say that it was a breach of manners after all.

However, old man Stan had said, “It’s also work to appraise people and your skills will rust if you don’t use it.  So it’s fine as long as you don’t use it for anything bad.,” so he appraised people who might get acquainted with him or those who seemed like trouble.

Therefore, he had appraised everyone in his class.

There were interesting things like Eje’s language magic and Casper’s development magic.

There was also something that was known as fixed magic. This hadn’t been explained to him yet, so he didn’t want to ask; but Eje and Casper explained their magic to him when they had first met, and also talked enthusiastically about their research.

“At any rate, I have language magic, so I get carried away sometimes.”

“What?”

“I just can’t believe you understand the ancient language even though you don’t have language magic…… Uoah……”

Shiu was surprised because he didn’t think the teacher would cry.

“And even your pronunciation is nice. It sounds even better than the linguistic teacher at Seeker.”

“Sensei, you graduated from Seeker, didn’t you?”

“…… Uoah, I did…… I was at the bottom of my class though……”

“Shiu, leave Eje-sensei alone. Look at this.”

“Yeah. This is more important.”

All the students weren’t even fazed by sensei crying as they looked towards their own research.

Eje was the only one who was shocked when Shiu read the magic formula from an old book, and then he was extremely excited.

“But, there are books on the ancient language in the library. You’ll be able to understand it if you read it.”

“…… Do you know how many books the library has on ancient language?”

“Mm, 45 dictionaries and about 500 books related to it. There’s only a small amount. It’s annoying because there are a lot of inconsistencies. I entered this academy because I wanted to read the books at Seeker,” he said and someone grumbled, “It’s here. The birth of a new weirdo.”

The class became quiet and after a while, he saw people nodding.

As a matter of fact, it was next to impossible to analyse magic formulas written in the ancient language based on materials and dictionaries that were incomplete.

So, Shiu actively participated in class.

It was like a puzzle game and he was happy when he discovered things about the ancient language that he didn’t know before. He guessed what the words meant from the context and his classmates celebrated with him if he got it right; he fit in here more than he thought he would.

He had a great time discovering new magic and formulas he would have never imagined before.

On the other hand, the simplified magic formula, conservation technique, was also applied to formulas in the ancient language and attracted his attention.

“You don’t use a staff and you cast without arias, right? It’s too stable, even if you have a lot of tattoos in the ancient language. I’m sure there’s an explanation for this. I cast magic using arias in the ancient language but it’s not as stable as yours. Can you teach me the simplified magic formula next time? I want to know if there would be a difference in stability.”

“Okay. Anyway, here, take this. This is the foundation for ignition and water ball,” he passed a small book over and Casper snatched it.

“Am-amazing.”

“I got fed up with teaching my friends, so I made a textbook?”

“…… I see, okay, mm, so it’s like that.”

Shiu gave up since Casper wasn’t listening to him and flipped through an old book on magic formulas written in the ancient language.

He already had this book in his record storage, so it was a meaningless action, but he was feeling bored.

Then, Casper finally snapped out of it.

“It’s more stable this way. I see. It’s important that it’s easy to understand after all.”

“I think that magic is the difference in imagination. MP is also important for using powerful magic, but a firm image is needed to cast stable magic.”

“…… I see!”

In other words, it was stable and efficient to think in terms that are easy to understand.

This meant that it was better to use longer arias for a stable effect if one were to use the ancient language.

“Alright, I’m going to try it, 「IGNITION」!”

Shiu was surprised that fire had suddenly ignited in the classroom. There weren’t any safety measures.

“Then next is 『IGNITION』!”

The power increased. It was amazing how no one warned him. The teacher was still out of it and the other students were immersed in their own research.

“Now finally, 《Oh Spirit of Fire. Grace me with fire, IGNITE》.”

Casper’s last ignition was the smallest and it flickered a lot.

His control looked good because he used around the same amount of MP.

Which reminded Shiu that Casper was wearing an MP measuring instrument around his neck.

“Normal arias are too time consuming and unstable. I can only do this much even if I’m used to the ancient language. If people understood your simplified methods, then they can still cast magic with simple arias. Plus the magic is much more stable and powerful. Amazing! A new age of magic is coming!”

“It’s not practical.”

“It isn’t?”

“This content overturns the way people think. They would become puzzled by this information instead of understanding it. It would have an adverse effect. So, I don’t know if it’s better to continue with arias or inforce people’s imaginations.”

“But, you use this method, right?”

“Because I understand it. I also taught my friends about it because it was convenient. They’re still children after all. I have also taught those who would believe me. But I won’t announce it to the public.”

“Hmmm.”

“I thought of a way to simplify magic for people who have low MP, so I started this for a different reason. Also, rapid development poses a danger. I plan to live my life peacefully, so I won’t do the unreasonable. New ideas only receive persecution. Do you understand what I mean?”

“…… Yeah. Oh yeah, I only have an understanding of it.”

“I think strengthening the power of your imagination is more important than fussing over simplification.”

If he can imagine the result and understand it well then he could cast magic without the ancient language or arias.

In fact, this was what Shiu did.

Casper and the others thought that he could use magic without arias because of his lie, “I have ancient language formulas tattooed on my body.”

It was irritating but he kept quiet about it.

Magicians were people who didn’t reveal their tricks in the first place.

But they did get passionate when talking about research that they knew well. Like that, Casper also taught Shiu many things.

Casper had development magic and according to him, “It’s exactly like that. It helps me develop complex magic formulas. It’s really useful for strange things and complex magic. But I don’t have language magic, so I have to study the ancient language.” There were still limits to his magic since it was only at level 2, but if he mastered it then he would be able to accomplish amazing things. At any rate, he could open the black box.

Which meant that he would be able to solve the magic formulas that Shiu came up with. Shiu didn’t think that this ability was a threat, since he had patents on his magic tools. It was an interesting ability.