Book 1 Chapter 26
Episode 25
Rain, stumbling into the dormitory, closed the door and collapsed into a chair. Then, frantically, he opened *The Life and Achievements of Archmage Lin* and searched for the index at the end of the book.
- Turaina
- 91p, 154p, 189p, 268p
“There’s no mention of her falling into black magic? Was there any reason for her to?”
Even after reading all the stories about Turaina on the pages listed in the index, there was no such content.
[Turaina was a child found by the Lesta party in a ruined village in the Rambrus area.]
It was a village submerged in a swamp due to the erosion of the Abyss, but somehow, she had hidden and survived in the attic.
Was she seven years old then?
She was filthy and crying silently, so giving her food to tell her to shut up was the cause of all trouble. After that, she followed me everywhere.
[Lin, recognizing Turaina’s magical talent at a glance, took her as a disciple and taught her magic.]
This is fabricated.
I didn’t teach her because of her magical talent.
- Let's entrust this child to a shrine in the next city we pass through.
- That’s a good idea, Lesta. It’s too dangerous for her to travel with us.
Lesta and Friede suggested entrusting Turaina to a shrine, but… Lin, having learned from life in the slums, knew that if she were handed over to a shrine like that, she wouldn’t fare well.
Her future would be decided the moment she was left at a shrine.
She would either become a monk at the shrine, or if she couldn't endure life there and escaped, she would become a petty thief.
- Hey, don't people without value get no respect?
- …?
- "The truth shall set you free." A famous saying by the first mage, Emitsa Page. Magic is an incredible ability. It gives social value to those who can use it.
I just planned to teach her a few basic spells. Then she could be used as a common mage somewhere. That was just my intention.
- Even if you don’t understand what I’m about to teach you, grit your teeth and learn. Got it?
The kid learned well without a word of complaint.
I also gave her the name Turaina then.
‘It was a dragon word meaning “learning,” just an aspiration for her to learn well without giving me a headache.’
As they stayed together on the way to the city, Friede laughed, saying, "Lin must be smitten with that kid, so he likes younger types." Lesta, out of the blue, asked with a serious expression if he really preferred younger people.
- That’s not it.
It was just that I saw myself during my slum-wandering days, and my desperate efforts to learn magic after the dean took me in, in Turaina.
Whether it was simple kinship, or pity… As I taught her, I simply realized she had considerable talent.
‘That troublemaking little kid…’
Rain clasped his hands behind his neck and stared blankly at the dormitory ceiling.
‘How much she followed me around.’
I left her at a shrine in the city, but she eventually escaped using the magic I taught her and chased me all the way.
Calling me "Master," "Master Lin," she tried never to be separated from me for a moment.
She had an incredible talent for magic and soon became capable of fighting the Abyss, but I still absolutely forbade her from following me to the final battle.
- Master, I want to go too. I want to go and fight with you… Please, please take me with you…
Now that I think about it, I remember telling Turaina that I would return, so she should wait. Rain twirled the quill pen in the air.
“Sigh, what am I going to do with this troublemaker.”
It’s not entirely my fault I couldn’t return… I even provided a stepping stone for her to become a priestess, for a girl who might have died on the road somewhere. So, as a master, I feel like I did everything I could.
“If that’s what happened, she should have lived well and died in the ranks of a saint, not caused unnecessary trouble in her later years and ended up blacklisted by the Church.”
If she really researched black magic…
Perhaps the fact that she was a child taught by Archmage Lin and Friede, and that she had performed the duties of a priestess, spared her immediate excommunication and heresy interrogation.
‘According to Sammy, they gave her leniency for that, so she lived a long life and died of old age…’
They say she died of old age when I was about three, but why have books suddenly been put on the censorship list this year?
“I have no idea.”
Twirling the pen, something suddenly came to mind, and he opened Lin’s diary. Immediately, a magical butterfly, Rudiyen, popped out and landed on his head.
Socrafres.
- You can inherit the progress of 'Unique Magic' research from your surroundings.
- Progress 37.9% => 39.9%.
It increased!
By as much as 2%, even.
It seems like it increases when you corner and take out someone with magic. He felt good, but his attention was elsewhere now.
[Our Master, the Coolest in the World]
Bottom right of page 86, written in cute handwriting in the language of the Dragon Republic. It was a prank Turaina had pulled a long time ago.
Above it, a clumsy drawing depicted Lin teaching magic and hitting Turaina on the head with a pen.
“…”
As Lin, the moment he discovered this, he immediately smacked her on the crown of her head… but now, Rain just silently stared at his disciple’s prank for a long time.
Until the moon reached its zenith and the starlight streamed through the window, finally fading into the dim light of dawn.
For a very, very long time, Rain silently gazed at the drawing, unable to close the diary.
* * *
“Today’s lesson is on solving quadratic equations. In middle school, you might have found solutions only within the realm of real numbers, but to advance to 2-star magic, you must learn how to find them within the realm of complex numbers…”
<Dellitein> adopted a rotating class system for advanced subjects to leverage the specialized characteristics of each professor. Simply put, the most proficient person in a given subject leads the class.
‘Wow, this is driving me crazy…’
I try to attend the class, intending to check the progress of modern mathematics, but my eyes keep closing. If I force them open, the vision splits into two, then three, then merges again repeatedly.
I can’t fight the sleep.
Lin’s body could more or less endure marching for two days without sleep, but the body of this young master from a noble, pampered magical family is like this after staying up all night.
“…Hmm, it’s already this late. I’ll leave you with some practice problems, so solve them and bring them by this time tomorrow. Solve them alone, don’t consult anyone.”
As soon as I received the rice paper from the assistant, I scribbled on it with a quill and then slammed my head onto the desk.
“Hey.”
But into my drowsily fading consciousness, a cheerful voice intruded.
Krista Warden.
She was so loud that I purposely sat far away during rotating classes, but did she really manage to find me here again?
“Let’s settle the match we couldn’t finish last time, right here! It’s a competition to see who solves this first!”
Rain, with his head still down, waved his hand like a ghost, as if telling her to go away.
“I’m done.”
“What did you say?”
“I already finished it. Just go.”
Then it was quiet for a moment.
Fortunately, it seemed like she was going to retreat obediently, but suddenly, a strange pressure was felt under his arm. She was trying to pull out the rice paper.
“Hey, it’ll tear. What are you doing.”
“Give it to me! Where are you trying to trick me?!”
As Rain lifted his arm slightly with a short sigh, Krista snatched the rice paper. There was no solution written, only the answers.
“Look at this, you know that if you’re this sloppy just because it’s not an exam, the prestige of the mage families will collapse? Hurry up and compete with me, a serious competition! Hey, are you listening?!”
But Rain didn’t answer. Soon, even soft breathing could be heard. Krista crossed her arms, dissatisfied.
“…What did you do all weekend until late at night?”
I’m such a fool for getting all excited to compete as soon as I got this… Krista clicked her tongue and sat in the seat behind Rain.
‘Shall I solve it in 2 minutes?’
Break time is 10 minutes. If she solves it in 2 minutes, she’ll have time left over even after correcting Rain’s answer sheet.
Krista, a genius who entered as top of her class, indeed solved all ten practice problems in 1 minute and 37 seconds.
“Ra Berti (Excellent)!”
Krista, who was admiring her own answer sheet with satisfaction, glanced around and placed Rain’s answer sheet on her desk.
Fortunately, most of the students had returned to their own classrooms.
Hiding a hint of embarrassment with a cough, Krista leaned her upper body over the desk and whispered quietly enough only for Rain to hear.
“Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. This isn’t helping you, alright? I’m doing this to uphold the prestige of the mage families.”
“…”
“We can’t have our family suffer because of you, can we? We can’t.”
Then Gertrude Fenton, who had been standing next to them watching Krista’s actions, narrowed her eyes.
“Watching from the side, it looks like young lady really likes young master. I must be mistaken, right?”
“?”
“?”
“Hey, do I look like I’d like a guy like this? He’s my rival. I just don’t want to see my rival fall apart in some strange way.”
Gertrude was surprised by the unexpectedly serious answer, though she had expected embarrassment, and secretly relieved. Nothing strange would happen between them.
Just then, someone appeared and poked their head through the back door. It was a kind-faced third-year boy.
“Young lady Krista Warden?”
“?”
“I’m from the student council; could you spare a moment?”
Ah, the student council… Krista nodded and stood up from her seat.
“You do this. Got it?”
“Yes, if Young Master Rain were expelled, young lady would surely fall ill with lovesickness, so I’ll do my best.”
“You, you, I, I’ll kill you when I get back!”
After Krista left with the student council senior, Gertrude sighed and sat down to solve her own problems.
The time taken was 2 minutes and 58 seconds.
Pushing her own answer sheet aside, Gertrude was about to write the answers and solutions on Rain’s answer sheet when she suddenly froze.
‘Huh?’
This… She couldn’t believe it and checked her answer sheet and Rain’s answer sheet repeatedly, but the reality remained the same.
‘My answers are exactly the same as his…?’
Rain clearly slammed his head on the desk as soon as the professor left. The time from the assistant distributing the rice paper to the professor leaving was at most 10 seconds.
‘It wasn’t a particularly difficult problem, but he solved it all in 10 seconds? And all through mental calculation?’
* * *
Due to reports of the anomalous phenomenon of the Rat-Spider Queen appearing on the surface, passage through the Moss Peak area of the Vermillion Mountains was completely blocked.
The adventurer's guild had prohibited hunting Rat-Spiders until a survey team composed of high-ranked adventurers could be formed.
Yet, two figures, fearless, entered this territory. One was a tall man, and the other a girl-sized woman.
“Damn it, I spent half a year painstakingly creating it, and now…”
Both wore dark blue robes; a normal person would not wear such a color unless they wished for a hot date with an inquisitor.
Dark blue was the color of the Abyss, and only sorcerers of the Black Church, who worshipped the Abyss, wore such clothes.
“Ugh, so annoying, so annoying, so annoying!”
Staring at the carcass of the Rat-Spider Queen, the woman stamped her feet and flapped her arms.
“This was supposed to significantly reduce the number of those bug-like adventurers and draw out the ‘Children of Gold’!”
Meanwhile, the man walked around the area, touching the ground and dry trees scorched by fire, raising his eyebrows.
“The heat of the flames still remains, and the explosion radius is absurd… This is at least 4-star magic. We need to be cautious.”
“What good is being cautious? What was it? ‘Lem and Bat’s Fluttering Money Duplication Adventure Party’? They apparently used a scroll to catch it!”
A scroll isn't merely a piece of paper with a magic circle drawn on it. It refers to a highly advanced magical tool with magical power imbued into that magic circle.
To put it simply, it allows even ordinary people, not mages, to cast magic just by unfolding the scroll.
However, only 4-star mages dare to even attempt to create one, and even for them, it takes a considerable amount of time. Furthermore, since they are single-use, the cost burden is significant.
“We definitely have to retaliate. I’ll just separate the flesh from their bones!”
“That would only give the ‘Children of Gold’ evidence that we are in the South. We cannot ruin the grand plan that is already in motion.”
“Then what am I supposed to do when I’m so annoyed I could die?! I want to catch someone and kill them! I want to, want to, want to, want to!”
The woman whined like a child, playfully tapping the man with her hand like a hammer, but the man, accustomed to his superior's petulance, merely sighed and pulled his dark blue hood deeper over his head.
“Since the plan has gone awry, there’s something that takes precedence over retaliation, isn’t there?”
“What! What! What is it?!”
“What else could there be? Other than reporting to Lady Turaina.”