Chapter 28

EP.28 First Class (4)

The lecture has ended.

It was a one-hour lecture. An hour is not a short time. However, Resty felt that the hour passed in an instant.

She closed her eyes and then opened them.

Countless things flashed by.

Her mind was in turmoil. She couldn't properly organize her thoughts. She saw something. She felt something. Such vague impressions floated in her head.

She saw it.

The most perfect magic.

Having seen it, she realized.

How she should hone her own magic.

'Amazing.'

Her heart raced.

It was a feeling she had forgotten over the past few years.

'Interesting.'

Magic was interesting.

It was enjoyable to learn something new. She hadn't felt this way in a long time.

At least, since she ascended to the position of the next Tower Master, magic had been like a duty to Resty. It was something she had to do, something she couldn't avoid.

To Resty, magic was such a thing.

But.

'Not today.'

Today, magic was interesting.

She wanted to draw even a little more of the circuits. She didn't want to forget what she had learned in class and wanted to make it her own. A pleasant excitement filled her.

'I want to hear a little more.'

She wanted to talk to her, even if it was just a little.

"..."

Resty silently stood up from her seat.

The aisle was already bustling with people leaving the auditorium. Although the knights were guiding them, the crowd was not well-controlled.

However, Resty was a student at Aphria.

She didn't need to follow the procession of outsiders.

She walked along a path not permitted to outsiders. Her steps unconsciously quickened.

"Was it good? Master?"

"Not bad at all."

And.

"Honestly, I don't think you taught us anything. Didn't you just keep reciting spells?"

"If they can't learn from that, they don't deserve the name of a magician. That was enough."

Two figures came into view.

Roselle, the elder, and the woman who had just been on the podium.

'Lania von Trias.'

Chewing on that name, Resty stood before her.

"Huh?"

After a moment, she looked at Resty.

Their eyes met.

Gulping.

Resty swallowed and slowly opened her mouth.

"Professor Lania..."

"Professor Lania!"

However, she couldn't finish her sentence.

It wasn't just Resty who wanted to talk to Lania. Many students approached her, and a professor joined them.

"Ah."

Passing by the frozen Resty, they approached Lania. Resty, unable to join the crowd, watched their backs in a daze.

"That was really impressive, the magic..."

"Professor of Elemental Magic, Elness. I truly admired it. How did you manage to..."

Praises continued.

As if to release the lingering excitement, they surrounded Lania and called her name repeatedly.

Should I try to push through the crowd?

Resty thought about it, but...

"Oh dear."

The moment she saw the familiar emblem on the robes, Resty instinctively took a step back. She wasn't the only one who stepped back.

"Those people are..."

"Those robes, the Ashen Tower..."

The gathered students and professors murmured and made way. Through the parted crowd, they approached Roselle.

"As expected of Roselle's student. It was a lecture that truly adhered to the basics."

"What? You came too?"

The emblem on the robes was intricate. It was an emblem only those at the pinnacle of the Ashen Tower were allowed to wear.

"Since it's your student's first class, I thought I should come. As a friend and fellow elder, it's the least I could do."

"You talk well. Despite not contacting me properly since Laniel left."

"Ahaha! When you say it like that, I have nothing to say."

Elders of the Ashen Tower.

"The mages of the Tower also wanted to hear the lecture and meet your adoptive daughter... but I've held them back for now. They needed to cool off a bit."

"Even we, who have been in the field for a long time, are eager to draw circuits. How must those young ones feel?"

It wasn't just one or two.

Three of the six elders of the Ashen Tower were present. Resty took a few steps back at their presence.

"Wasn't her name Lania?"

"Yes, Lania von Trias."

The elders called her name.

"Revisiting the basics, indeed. It was a fresh approach, reminding me of when I was young and just starting out in magic."

They praised her lecture.

"The continuous formation of the apex, truly beautiful magic that adhered to the basics."

They praised her skill.

The more they praised, the more Resty took a step back. She found the elders uncomfortable. Especially the elder who had appeared here.

-I wish you were at least half as good as the next Tower Master. I'm so disappointed.

-A half-baked one as the next Tower Master? The elders must be getting old. Tsk, this is why...

A voice she had heard before echoed in her ears.

She remembered their disapproving faces, their cold gazes.

Thud.

As Resty took a step back, she bumped into someone. She dropped her notebook. She dropped her pencil case. The pens spilled out of the unzipped pencil case and clattered on the floor.

"..."

Resty slowly lifted her head.

The elders were looking at her.

Tsk.

A short, dismissive sound.

The elders' gazes didn't linger. They glanced at Resty as if she were filth and quickly turned away.

A brief gaze.

A barely audible, dismissive sound.

If this were the Tower, Resty would have been unfazed. She had received such gazes countless times within the Tower.

However, this was not the Tower.

"...What?"

"The Ashen Tower elders just..."

Some people witnessed the elders' overt disdain. An uneasy atmosphere spread among the students. Professors gave her sidelong glances.

Under those gazes.

Resty lowered her head.

Her excitement subsided.

Her racing heart grew cold.

Resty stood there in a daze, forgetting to pick up her notebook.

2.

After the lecture, many people came to find me. Students, professors, and even the elders of the Ashen Tower.

'A bit unexpected.'

I didn't think those heavy-footed elders would come all the way to Aphria.

'It's been a while.'

Had it been about 5-6 years since I last saw them?

Given the time that had passed, I thought the old men who were once so unpleasant might have become a bit more welcoming.

But, no.

No matter how much time had passed, the moment I saw their faces, the feeling that came over me was not warmth but disgust.

'That old man is still being a pain.'

I could have called it rude, but considering the trouble he caused when I was the next Tower Master... it wasn't rude, it was the expected reaction.

-Where did you crawl out from...

-At least maintain some dignity...

Those old men who used to nitpick about my background and then shut up when I outperformed them with my achievements.

'If I had just one more year, I could have changed everything.'

That was a bit disappointing.

"Phew..."

I exhaled and looked around.

Many people were still in line. I scanned their faces, but the person I really wanted to meet wasn't there.

The owner of the Ashen Tower, the current Tower Master.

The elder of the Ashen Tower.

The person I respect next to my master.

'Well, they are very busy.'

I started to get annoyed.

"Master."

"What is it, Lania?"

"Can't you get rid of them? I'm getting annoyed."

"Just bear with it for a day. This was a stage for you to gain recognition."

I whispered to my master, but it seemed this time it wouldn't work. I sighed inwardly.

"Ah, come on!"

At that moment.

"Move out of the way!"

The surroundings became chaotic.

"Who do you think you are, telling us to move..."

"I don't know you? Have you been a mage longer than me? Are you better than me??"

"No, the order..."

"Ah, move, I said!"

Someone was trying to push through the crowd to reach me. A knight, unable to stand it, went to the center of the commotion, but...

He returned with a troubled look.

"What's the commotion?"

"The White Tower Master..."

My master asked, and the knight answered.

In the end, a woman who had been causing a disturbance ignored the order and boldly approached me.

"Hey, White! Dignity..."

"Shut up, Black! Do we have time to wait? We're in a hurry!"

The woman who had been fidgeting with the Black Tower Master stood before me. Her face was familiar.

'Ah, that woman who looks like Sara.'

And the woman who had left shoe marks on my slippers.

Thinking of that, my voice naturally became sharp.

"...What?"

"I... I'm sorry for last time?"

"Pardon?"

"I, I'm sorry. For ignoring you. I didn't realize you were such a high-level mage."

What was she trying to say?

"You... you?"

"Yes."

"If you want, I can offer you a position as my personal secretary at the White Tower..."

"Huff."

A laugh from somewhere.

I turned my head to the side.

"Huff... huff..."

My master was covering her mouth, trying to hold back her laughter.

"...What, Roselle?"

"Did you say 'secretary,' White?"

"What's wrong? Did I say something I shouldn't have?"

"Even while reconstructing your body with mana, you couldn't fix those old eyes, I see."

White tilted her head in confusion.

One second, two seconds... then, as if she finally understood, her face turned red.

"What, what! Roselle, did you say everything?!"

"Come on, White. Don't make a scene... let's go."

"Ah, let go of me!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

In the end, Black grabbed White's neck and dragged her away, bringing the situation to a close.

"...What?"

I just tilted my head.

For a while after that, I exchanged greetings with external mages and answered simple questions from professors and students.

How much time had passed?

I stood up from my seat. People were still around, but they were all those I had already greeted.

"Students, return to your classrooms. Outsiders, follow the knights back."

As my master said this, the crowd began to disperse. The remaining professors waited a step away for my master.

"Lania."

Pointing to the crowd, my master asked.

"Are you going too?"

"Pardon?"

"Since you have a break tomorrow, how about we have a light dinner today? If you want to go, I'll go too."

"I don't want to go."

"I thought you wouldn't."

My master nodded, as if she had expected it. I dusted off my robe and took a step. My pace kept quickening.

"Do you have somewhere to go?"

"Hmm."

I answered my master's question.

"The cafe is about to close."

"...What?"

"I haven't been able to go these past few days because of the lecture preparations."

It's one of my few hobbies.

Since I hadn't been able to enjoy it for a week, I had to go today.

"Don't you have a lot of coffee at home? The expensive one you bought recently..."

"It doesn't taste good when I make it."

"Is the coffee there that good?"

"Yes."

There was no hesitation in my answer.

My master looked at me with a very peculiar expression.

"...Go ahead, then."

3.

Resty, who had been standing in a daze, slowly bent her knees. She began to pick up the pens that had fallen on the floor. They didn't come easily.

Clatter.

A pen slipped from her fingertips and rolled on the floor, moving further away.

"...Sigh."

Resty let out a long sigh.

What was the point of all this?

She had resolved not to be bothered by such things, but her body had stiffened.

"Why does this keep happening?"

She should have gotten used to it by now.

It was natural to receive such gazes, considering her skills were nothing compared to the previous next Tower Master.

Laniel von Trias.

The previous next Tower Master.

That legendary mage was practically the Tower Master. During the two years he was the next Tower Master, the Ashen Tower achieved remarkable progress.

The most brilliant two years in the Ashen Tower's history of over a hundred years.

Those who remember that moment now form the Ashen Tower. And most of them despise Resty.

It's not jealousy or envy.

It's disdain.

To them, the next Tower Master is Laniel. It's a position that should be reserved for his return.

They think.

Resty is just a usurper who took the position.

'Why do they treat me like this?'

Resty disliked their gazes.

'I didn't want this position.'

The elder had wished for it.

He had told her she had talent.

'I don't like it. Really.'

Clatter.

Resty watched the pen roll on the floor. It finally stopped at someone's feet.

"..."

Resty slowly lifted her head.

A woman was looking down at her.

Ashen hair.

Blue eyes.

'Lania von Trias.'

Resty involuntarily sighed.

"Ah."

The person she had so desperately wanted to meet was right in front of her. Resty took a shallow breath. She had questions, many of them.

But, she couldn't speak properly.

"..."

Narrowed eyes.

That sharp gaze stifled Resty's words.

It was the same as Roselle's gaze.

The same as the other elders' gazes.

Under that gaze, which seemed to pierce through her, Resty held her breath and lowered her head to avoid it. She waited for the woman to leave.

However, the slippers didn't seem to move.

After a moment, the sound of the robe brushing against the floor was heard.

"Here."

A voice.

Resty looked up.

"Did you draw this?"

The woman was kneeling, meeting Resty's gaze. She held a notebook in her hand.

"...Yes."

Resty nodded cautiously.

"Hmm."

A look of interest.

"You drew it well."

"...Pardon?"

"You drew it well."

She quickly flipped through the notebook.

"You didn't miss a single detail?"

Her voice was satisfied.

"Everyone else was lost in admiration, but you were the most attentive."

The woman picked up a pen that had fallen on the floor and began to draw on a blank page.

Rustle.

The pen danced on the white paper, moving from curves to straight lines and back to curves.

At first glance, the process seemed chaotic.

However, the pattern that emerged from the chaos was intricate.

'...A circuit?'

The completed pattern was a circuit.

A complex, multi-layered circuit. After a moment, the woman stopped and handed the notebook to Resty.

"From how you drew everything, I thought you could handle this."

Then she asked.

"Can you solve it?"

Resty met her gaze.

The eyes were still cold and blue. However, Resty saw the expectation in them.

"See you at the next class."

With those words, she left.

"..."

Resty looked at the circuit drawn in the notebook.

It was complex. Not just one, but several circuits intertwined. However, it wasn't just a tangled mess.

It was a circuit tied with a set of rules.

A circuit that could be solved immediately if one knew the method.

'Can you solve it?'

Those words echoed in Resty's ears.

It was difficult.

Difficult, but worth the challenge.

Resty slowly stood up.

The pen she picked up no longer rolled on the floor.

Author's Note

Today, I added a bit more than usual.