A broad avenue stretched out before us.
A monument stood to one side of the main gate, while neatly grown plants lined both sides of the road.
High above, pristine white buildings reflected the sunlight, beautifully illuminating the streets below.
At the top of the main gate were engraved the words Imperial University, Le Sete Academy.
Charlotte took the lead, explaining that this was her alma mater.
Thanks to having worked as a developer, I was already familiar with the layout, but I accepted her guidance without comment.
“We need to go to the Academic Affairs Office, so it is this way.”
Charlotte left the main avenue and walked along a smaller side path, taking in the picturesque scenery around us.
Perhaps because the rain had stopped yesterday, the earth was still damp, and droplets of water clung to the vegetation.
The scent of rain entering my nose felt unexpectedly refreshing.
This place apparently held plenty of memories for Charlotte as well, for she lingered over every passing sight.
If the person walking beside her had been anyone other than me, she probably would have started telling stories about what had happened here and what that place had once been like.
Unfortunately, there was a considerable barrier preventing me from sharing in such nostalgia.
Namely, the fact that I had never experienced any of it.
“What do you think? You never went to university.”
Perhaps as a substitute, Charlotte quickly changed the direction of the conversation and asked me a question.
She mostly seemed to be talking simply because she felt like saying something, but I understood.
‘If the person beside me were a coworker, I probably would have said a few things too.’
The stone tiles beneath my feet.
The scent of grass filling the grounds.
The warmth of the sunlight and the gardens blending naturally with the morning atmosphere.
It would be somewhat inaccurate to say that I had created all of this myself, but that did not mean I felt nothing while looking at it.
I slowly swept my gaze across our surroundings and nodded.
‘If I could have spent my school years somewhere like this, it might have been rather enjoyable.’
Even if it had not been this particular place, attending some other academy might have been nice.
Aiden, however, had never attended an academy.
More precisely, by the age when he ordinarily would have attended one, he had already achieved so much that he saw no reason to follow a standard curriculum.
Still, seeing a place like this made me think that attending one at least once might not have been so bad.
Before answering her question, I indirectly sounded out her own feelings first.
“Does returning to your alma mater stir up old memories?”
Hmm……
Charlotte made a show of pondering the question, as though she herself did not know.
“Hard to say.”
I walked on slowly as I waited for her answer.
We had plenty of time, and there was still a long way to go.
One might wonder why I did not look at the person I was speaking with, but whenever I looked at Charlotte, I felt as though I were having a conversation with an enormous brown cockroach covered in chitin.
If I wanted the exchange to feel even remotely like a conversation between people, I had to avoid looking at her as much as possible.
Charlotte mulled over the phrase before eventually answering, sounding as though she had fallen into a shallow pool of nostalgia.
“Old memories, huh? I suppose so. Maybe I did feel that a little. What about you?”
Sensing the atmosphere around her, I maintained my silence instead of answering.
Only once the signs of her reminiscing had faded did I open my mouth.
“You asked what I thought, did you not? …As someone who has never experienced student life, I have little basis upon which to answer. I would rather refrain from trying to define it.”
“At times like this, you are supposed to humor me a little. Why are you always so rigid?”
Charlotte’s lips twitched as though asking what kind of answer that was.
I ignored her completely.
We stopped by the Academic Affairs Office and completed the necessary procedures, then met the President while we were at it.
Afterward, I allowed myself to be persuaded into visiting a lecture hall.
The President had suggested that I observe a class.
There was undoubtedly an element of showing off involved in the recommendation, but I saw no reason to refuse.
I would be teaching here myself soon enough.
Charlotte accompanied me as well, saying that being here was bringing back memories of her student days. Since we were entering a classroom while a lecture was already underway, we slipped inside as quietly as possible.
Charlotte lowered her voice as much as she could and spoke to me with barely concealed excitement.
“This is the Grand Lecture Hall. It feels huge no matter how many times I come here.”
It was large enough to resemble a grand opera house.
Yet despite its enormous size, students packed nearly every available seat.
There were no empty seats left, so we ended up standing at the very back, but I did not complain.
Instead, I squeezed my eyes shut as a brief wave of dizziness washed over me.
Aside from that, everything was more or less within my expectations.
‘…Nauseating.’
To think that every single person among that enormous crowd looked grotesque to me.
It was fortunate they had not been looking in my direction. If they had been, I might have made an unsightly scene.
Just after thinking that living as Aiden might be considerably harder than I had expected, I glanced sideways at the professor continuing the lecture.
[…And so, ultimately, magic is formed from innumerable combinations of figures, each carrying its own meaning. The state of ‘purity’ that Mages ultimately strive toward is……]
“Ah… This is Pure Magic Theory.”
Charlotte, who had been listening with interest beside me, instantly lost all life in her eyes.
I had no idea what the subject involved, but judging by her reaction, it had to be an exceptionally difficult field of study.
Since this was one of the magic lectures the Dean had confidently insisted we absolutely had to observe, I gave up on understanding it almost immediately.
‘Besides, I am a swordsman who uses a rapier.’
I might have been able to pick up a few superficial details, but once scholarly analysis entered the picture, there was no chance I would be able to keep up.
I remained silent and let most of the lecture wash over me.
Apparently, Le Sete Academy offered many high-quality magic courses like this thanks to the numerous affiliated institutions that cooperated with the university.
That was supposedly the main reason its Department of Magic continued to flourish.
‘In contrast, I seem to remember that the Department of Knighthood, which deals with Weapon Arts and Martial Arts, has been comparatively weak.’
In order to restore the balance between the departments, the university had promised extensive support and recruited a Visiting Professor.
And that professor was……
‘Me.’
Professors with genuine reputations were usually retired knights who had already withdrawn from the front lines, which made recruiting them difficult.
On the other hand, hiring a professor who focused entirely on theory meant sacrificing practical experience.
Of course, there were professors who managed to strike a balance between the two.
It was not as though none existed.
However……
‘The classes taught by the truly excellent professors always fill up the instant registration opens.’
Because of that, the Department of Knighthood apparently suffered every registration period as students overwhelmingly crowded into the classes of only a handful of professors.
That was also why Aiden could begin teaching immediately despite having no real experience instructing anyone.
It was likewise why the academy was allowing him to establish an entirely new course rather than taking over another professor’s existing class.
[In other words, what we call purity in magic refers to the state that exists before the fundamental ‘combination’ of these figures.]
The professor gestured from the podium, and a simple fireball appeared.
[Let us consider an example. All of you should already know the strokes, formulas, and figures that constitute a fireball.]
The professor drew a Magic Circle in midair using mana, then enlarged it for everyone to see.
Someone let out an exclamation of admiration at the flawlessly drawn Magic Circle.
[Then which formula within this fireball signifies flame? What converts mana into fire? And which stroke causes that flame to take the shape of a sphere?]
The professor snapped a finger.
The circular Magic Circle separated into its individual figures, which began disappearing one after another.
Eventually, only a single character remained.
Perhaps calling it a stroke would have been more appropriate. Then again, even calling it a figure felt somewhat inaccurate.
It resembled a serpent.
It was neither symmetrical nor composed of straight lines.
Compared to the contemporary school of magic, which constructed symmetry through strokes and geometric figures, the character was unmistakably alien.
The twisting symbol was commonly called ‘Ignite.’
It was one of the few ancient runes that had been discovered in the modern era.
[As you can see, this is a rune. Once all the other figures are stripped away, this single character remains as the symbol representing ‘fire.’]
The professor spoke casually as he surveyed the audience.
Then his gaze stopped somewhere.
For a moment, I had the distinct impression that our eyes had met.
‘Surely I imagined it.’
[Of course, this character alone cannot create a flame. However, the origin of fire can be defined through this single character. In other words, a pure approach to magic is essentially the same as approaching the ‘Rune Language’ itself.]
Then……
Without finishing the thought, the professor shifted his gaze once again.
A strange sense of discomfort crept over me.
No.
It was anxiety.
Our eyes met.
[Then let the student who arrived late and is standing in the very back explain why this single character cannot produce a flame on its own?]
In an instant, the attention of hundreds of cockroa—
No, hundreds of people turned toward me.
I felt my stomach churn violently and closed my eyes.
A Teaching Assistant approached without making a sound and handed me a microphone.
“Um, we are not students—”
With every eye focused on us, Charlotte tried to explain the situation, but it was already far too late.
I turned my gaze toward Charlotte.
So even this brazen woman could get nervous in situations like this.
“That is enough.”
“Huh?”
Ignoring the foolish sound she made, I looked toward the professor.
The distance between us was easily comparable to the distance from the stage of an opera house to its main entrance, so I could barely make him out.
Even so, I felt certain that we were looking directly at one another.
I could not actually confirm it, but that was the impression I had.
In a situation like this, the best course of action was to answer quickly and leave.
If we wasted time explaining the circumstances, I would merely remain the center of attention for longer.
More importantly, that length of time was a very serious concern.
I had no idea how long my stomach could endure the sight of hundreds of antennae twitching at once.
For now, I would organize my thoughts while speaking.
There was no time to calmly work through the answer.
I reached deep into my memories and dragged out the information I needed.
‘Right. I think this was how it was explained in the setting book.’
“The primary reasons are that we do not know the original meaning of the Rune Language, nor do we know its true pronunciation.”
The professor interlaced his fingers and patiently waited for me to continue, apparently satisfied that my approach was correct.
“It is said that in ancient times, magic was invoked through runes without the use of Magic Formulas. However, the complete system was lost after the Great War. In the process of reconstructing ancient runes from surviving documents, Spell Formulas were subsequently added.”
In other words—
“The pure approach to magic that you are teaching appears to be founded on the premise that modern magic is a degraded form of what existed in the past, and that pursuing purity is ultimately an attempt to recover its former glory.”
Someone sucked in a sharp breath at my audacious declaration that modern magic was an inferior version of ancient magic.
That answer was practically a direct challenge to the current standing of magical scholarship.
After all, I had just denied the very paradigm that magic continued to advance with each passing day.
Contrary to my expectations, however, the professor merely regarded me with interest and offered no rebuttal.
“Even if we knew their original meanings and pronunciations, the primary reason we could no longer invoke magic through runes is that, over the course of dozens of generations, the vocal organs required to pronounce them have already atrophied.”
Charlotte stared at me from the side as though demanding to know how I could possibly know any of that, but I had no intention of answering.
‘Thank goodness I was the director.’
My knowledge of the background story might have been spotty, but I had practically memorized all of the game-related information.
That had saved me.
Otherwise, my stomach would have started sounding alarm bells by now.
[An excellent perspective. And what is your name, student?]
Student.
Student, was it?
I raised the microphone and corrected him.
“I am not a student, but my name is Aiden. I will be newly appointed here at the beginning of this year. I look forward to working with you.”
I had said everything that needed to be said.
I pushed the microphone back into the bewildered Teaching Assistant’s hands and left the lecture hall.
Charlotte, who finally realized what was happening, hurried after me.
“W-wait! How did you know all of that? No, more importantly, why did you leave?”
Because I was striding away so quickly, Charlotte had to break into a run to catch up with me.
She stared at me in confusion.
Why had I left?
Obviously……
The moment Charlotte saw my face, her expression hardened.
She apparently thought something terrible had happened.
With an utterly serious and dignified expression, I asked,
“The restroom. Where is the restroom?”
“Uh, um… over there? Why?”
“Thank you.”
I moved even faster than before and rushed into the men’s restroom.
By the time I finally finished what I urgently needed to do and came back out, Charlotte had apparently heard me vomiting from outside.
She was staring at me with an expression of utter contempt.
It felt unfair.