"Ah, I feel like it's coming out, I think," I said.
"Is that true? Hanaoka-san, you are amazing. As expected of a Great Magician," Kitaoji said with a warm smile.
"I'm not sure. It might only feel that way."
"No, no. Because it is you, Hanaoka-san, it must be right."
I didn't really get why it had to be "because it's me," but it felt like praise, and it didn't feel bad at all.
"I thought I should speak with you properly," he said.
"Yes, what is it?" I asked.
"By the way, what do you think the average number for my magic status is?"
Kitaoji is the principal of the training school, so his number should not be low. Even so, my 999 seems strange. Maybe half of that... around 500?
"About 500?" I guessed.
He gave a small laugh. "My average is about 100."
"100?"
"Yes. That is still on the high side. Like the other status numbers, the average for magic is around 50."
I had never cared about other people's status before, so this was new to me. The average is 50... then my 999 is...
"Do you understand now how high your number is, Hanaoka-san?"
"Y-yes."
"The job of Great Magician... it seems there was only one person in the past."
"What? Really?"
"Yes. It was over fifty years ago. That means, in all the records, you are the second Great Magician in history."
"The second in history..."
"Yes. Sometimes a person with the job of 'magician' appears, but the Great Magician job is so rare that no one knows if it is from family blood or a sudden change. The conditions for it to appear are not known at all."
The conditions...
It must be "forty-year-old virgin." There might be other conditions, but that one is almost sure.
Still, even looking back more than fifty years, I am only the second? In this world where people marry young, I knew we were few... but that few?
"As the name shows, a Great Magician is at the top of all magic users. Right now, twelve magicians sit at the top. They are called the Holy Twelve."
"The Holy Twelve? That sounds amazing."
"They are the leaders and aces of each Defence Bureau, and they fight on the front line to defeat monsters. Their magic numbers are not open to the public, but they are said to be around 300 to 400."
Three to four hundred. I still didn't really get it, but it must be high.
They are the Holy Twelve, after all.
Since it is magic, "holy" feels strange, but "holy" does sound more grand.
"The Great Magician is said to be an even higher job than those magicians. Let me ask you a quiz, Hanaoka-san. What kind of life do you think the only Great Magician in history lived?"
"Well, if that job is above theirs, maybe they beat monster after monster and became a high officer in the Defence Bureau?"
He shook his head. "No, sadly that did not happen. That person died young after a self-explosion in a dungeon."
"Self-exploded!? Does that mean—"
"Yes. Just like you, that person's magic was too strong, and they caused a huge blast inside a dungeon and died. It happened one month after they joined their unit. They were also forty years old, the same as you."
What...?
The shock stole my words.
They died only one month after joining. And they were forty, like me. It didn't feel like someone else's story.
If I graduate and get placed in a unit like this, I might follow the same path.
And still a forty-year-old virgin.
Notes:
• Kitaoji - Older, small man. First introduced as school’s odd‑jobs/handyman. Kind, surprised by Hanaoka’s power. But later, he is the school principal; acts as Hanaoka’s magic instructor, guides him to sense his own mana.