novelraw Chapter 149 : Chapter 149
Chapter 149 : Chapter 149
149
“Teacher! Namress! Let us go to Namress! Namress! Once we get there, you know—let us power up! Let us train our Aura together! Please?”
THUD—
The conference room door burst open violently.
The Namress nobleman who had been deep in discussion jolted in surprise and turned toward the door. No matter how he looked at it, the sight made no sense to him: a student—at most sixteen or seventeen years old—had barged into a faculty meeting room without hesitation. His expression clearly said that this was completely beyond common sense.
Yet it was also difficult for him to become angry on the grounds of authority or hierarchy. The content of her outburst was, after all, an enthusiastic insistence that helping them was only natural, delivered with the passion of someone nearly singing. He seemed torn between whether he should be pleased or furious.
Seeing his discomfort, I stepped in to smooth things over.
“That is Rozalin. She is the Guard Captain of Akarind Academy.”
“A student—no, wait, what? The Guard Captain? She is wearing a school uniform.”
“It is a hobby.”
“I dropped out, you know!”
“Let us call it a preference.”
“Well, our academy uniform is pretty!”
The Namress nobleman looked even more confused.
Hmm. This was not my intention.
“She is also one of the top three at our academy when it comes to handling Sword Aura.”
“Why top three?! I am number one! Me! Teacher! I am the successor!”
“I think Pan used Aura Wave.”
“That bastard is a cheat!”
Leaving only those words behind, Rozalin turned and marched back into the hallway. The sound of her footsteps—tap tap tap—faded away.
Why did she even come here?
For a moment, I felt just as flustered as the nobleman before me. I quickly regained my composure and addressed him again.
“My apologies, Viscount Welfes.”
“Oh, no. If there was any discourtesy, it was I who committed it first, in front of the lord’s castle….”
Viscount Welfes had been on his way to meet Lord Murray Taylor when he stopped me. Even he could not have imagined what would happen next—that more than half of the Kingdom of Namress, including his own territory, would be devastated by a suddenly appearing Demon.
“……No one could help us. There was no choice. A hole opening in the sea out of nowhere—how could anyone possibly overcome that?”
“It has only been two days. People have not had enough time to respond yet.”
“In those two days, ninety percent of the ships on the sea vanished. They were swallowed whole by massive currents. The ships were dragged away from beyond the horizon, from places where the currents could not even be seen.”
So it was not just a visible hole. It was a force that encompassed the entire sea.
“We cannot approach it, nor can we deal with it. And yet the monsters move freely within it and infiltrate deep into the kingdom!”
“Are the monster casualties severe?”
“Each individual creature is not difficult to handle. The problem is that they keep pouring out endlessly. Damn it!”
His face twisted in horror. It was not merely an expression. Otherwise, there would have been no reason for him to abandon all pride and rush to the academy after only two days. His face was pale, and his voice trembled.
“My family… my lands… everything has been reduced to ruin. We must deal with this quickly!”
“Please do not worry. I will not go back on a decision once it has been made.”
“Thank you. Thank you!”
“We will depart immediately in the afternoon. I will take care of a few matters so that we can move as quickly as possible. Let us meet later at the plaza in front of the academy’s New Building.”
Leaving Viscount Welfes behind, I exited the conference room. My first destination was the Chairman’s office.
The academy had finished its final evaluations and entered the vacation period. The students had completed their formal studies and now had two months of rest ahead of them. However, that was only true for students. The professors remained behind to continue their work. Especially now, with the academy’s reconstruction project in full swing, the amount of work awaiting the faculty was enormous. Classrooms had to be redesigned according to educational purposes, and countless other tasks ensured that the days would be relentlessly busy.
“And even so, you must leave the academy at this very moment?”
Gwen, unsurprisingly, did not welcome my decision. I would have reacted the same way in her position.
“I apologize.”
“You are aware that you have been rather inattentive to the academy lately, correct?”
“I am aware. Still, most of my external work is focused on managing the academy’s reputation and drawing in talented individuals—”
“Forget the grand excuses. I just need more teachers here whom I can truly rely on.”
I blinked.
Had I heard her correctly?
Someone she could rely on? A proper teacher?
When I raised my head and looked at her, Gwen stared back at me with an expression that seemed to say, “What? So what?” It had been barely half a year since she had taken the Chairman’s seat. In that time, she seemed to have grown out of her earlier arrogance and raw pride.
When I continued to look at her, her earlobes flushed faintly red.
“What is it?! If you think you are not trustworthy, then go out there and become someone who is!”
“You do realize that what you are saying makes no logical sense, correct?”
“Why not?!”
Perhaps she had grown a little less than I thought.
Or perhaps this was simply more like her.
“We have to develop curricula, conduct instructor interviews! Thousands of students are going to flood in! Everyone will want to take your classes, and I do not want chaos in the lecture halls or complaints later on! I just hate all of it!”
“I understand. I will return as quickly as possible. You do not need to worry too much. I believe I can resolve this matter swiftly.”
This time, we would be receiving help from the Holy Kingdom. Considering the speed of a Griffon, we should be able to reach Namress in about two days.
After leaving the Chairman’s office, I headed to Berlis’s laboratory.
“Oh my~? Teacher~?”
“I am going to deal with the Ocean Hall that appeared off the coast of Namress. I received some information from Rozalin, but I believe I will still need your help.”
“Of course~ What can I help you with~?”
Berlis replied with a bright smile. One sleeve of her robe hung loosely, and if not for the skeletal hand protruding from it, the scene might have been quite pleasant.
“I would like to learn how to use magic, at least a little.”
“Huuuh?”
Berlis stared at me and let out a strange sound, as if asking what I was talking about.
“Aren’t you the hope of swordsmen right now~? And you want to abandon the sword and switch to magic? Is your dream to become a Magic Swordsman~?”
“It is not a dream. I just think it may be necessary.”
When I had attended the Academic Exchange Conference at the Imperial Royal Academy, I had met a student named Ailen. She was a prodigy who wielded both magic and swordsmanship. Since meeting my teacher again, the question lingering in my mind had been whether Aura—this form of swordsmanship—might itself be a kind of magic that transcended the sword.
“I understand that the 3rd-circle in magic is the stage where one can enhance mana. Is that correct?”
“That is right~.”
It was not merely the ability to use magic, but the ability to adjust and refine it according to one’s capacity. Yet I had skipped past mastering the sword and manifested Aura directly. Even the Spear God had remarked that my growth was unnatural and insisted that I further train my body.
They say that the orthodox path is often the fastest. A shortcut lacks a foundation and is inherently unstable. Aura might be the same.
“I understand creating Aura. However, if Aura truly resembles magic, then it should not stop at simply flowing through mana. I believe it must be strengthened and freely controlled.”
“Hmmm~ That is a very good line of thought. I have much to consider as well~.”
I had heard that the Ocean Hall had been destroyed by three 6th-circle mages who flew into the air and bombarded the central hole with magic. I only knew two 6th-circle mages: the current Tower Master, and Ulf.
However, there was someone named Ban in the Magic Tower—a man who might have defected after glimpsing the laws of Demons. Since his regression, he had done nothing but remain holed up in the tower. If he had been influencing others and shaping opinion during that time, he could very well be obstructing efforts related to Demons.
‘He appeared out of nowhere during the exchange conference and even attacked me.’
He was suspicious in many ways. It was safer to assume we could not rely on the Magic Tower. Ulf, meanwhile, was occupied alongside the Wolf King and unable to move freely.
Missing a graduate student who fled without writing a single paper truly was the fate of a teacher.
In any case, given the current situation, the only way to properly resolve the Kingdom of Namress’s crisis was to maximize the power of my Aura.
“That is true. Hmmm. All right~.”
Berlis rummaged through books and materials in the laboratory, seemingly pondering where to begin. I quickly added a condition.
“If possible, I would like to focus on attributes.”
“……Pardon~?”
“I need to leave this evening.”
“Wow…… You are not very prepared to learn as a student~! I do not even have any teaching assistants anymore!”
You mean the many dolls you turned into criminals?
Ever since I learned they were criminals, it had become very difficult to treat them as innocent creations or teaching assistants.
“That is fine. I am fairly intelligent.”
“Wow. How annoying.”
Hmm?
That did not sound like Berlis’s usual languid tone.
“All right~ Then we will focus on the essentials. What do you think it means for magic to become stronger~?”
“Is it not literal? When you cast a spell like Fireball, its power increases.”
“That standard varies~. For a Fireball, the temperature of the flames might increase, or the mana cost might decrease, allowing more casts. Or the explosive force itself could become stronger.”
“So the concept of ‘strength’ is abstract.”
“Exactly~! That is why the 3rd-circle is the step leading to the 4th-circle~.”
The higher one ascends in magic circles, the more one breaks existing laws and establishes one’s own. In other words, the 3rd-circle is the process of understanding how those existing laws are structured.
“You said you skipped the 3rd-circle process, right~? Then think about it. What does it mean for Aura to become stronger?”
Well… um.
The first thing that came to mind was the ability to cut objects more effectively. Aura had become famous for being able to cut through anything, so it was a natural thought. But that was the standard of an Aura Walker or a Runner. After reaching the Adept stage, Aura was no longer just about cutting, but about conveying one’s will more precisely.
“Exactly~! Teacher. What does it mean to cut better?”
“Literally, it means that when an object touches the blade, it is sliced more cleanly….”
“Then if the blade does not touch the object, it cannot cut, right? Aura becoming faster could also mean that Aura has become stronger~.”
“But aside from me, no one else can emit Aura.”
“It does not necessarily have to be emitted or projected~. What matters is understanding what Aura itself is made of.”
I understood.
Aura might make the sword lighter.
Aura might invigorate the body.
Even heightened senses from feeling mana could be considered an aspect of Aura.
As my thoughts flowed along that line, my conception of Aura expanded endlessly. Watching me sink into contemplation, Berlis smiled softly.
“Now then~ You have your will, Teacher, so mana will naturally guide the way~. Is that enough~?”
Enough.
I calculated my current will, my body, and the power of my Aura.
“I believe I can depart this evening.”
It seemed likely that I could deal meaningful damage to the Ocean Hall.
However, there was one concern.
‘……They said that five Mana Roads had been connected. That is not going to break again, is it?’
I had a strong feeling that the power I was about to unleash might exceed what my body could endure.