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"Use this to pay off your debt, and eat some meat too."
Once I'd finished the juice, Luna handed me a worn out pouch.
Wondering what sort of gift this could suddenly be, I took the pouch, only to be startled by how much heavier it was than expected.
"Ahh... this shine."
"Cash I have on hand right now. Just that much."
Looking inside the pouch, golden coins glinted and shimmered.
Just from the weight alone, there seemed to be at least a solid 30 gold in there.
Was this really just the cash she casually carried around while working out?
Was this what noblesse oblige looked like?
Ah, or maybe not?
"Hey... giving me such a huge sum of money all of a sudden... I haven't really done anything for you."
At my words, Luna tapped her own head and smiled.
I noticed the ribbon I'd made and given her as a gift when we first met, still sitting on her head.
She'd even fixed it in place with a plain, unadorned hairpin so it wouldn't fall off, and kept wearing it in her hair.
"The gift. I received first."
I wondered, for a moment, what that ribbon could possibly be worth that it earned me a loan of 30 gold, but then a rush of emotion welled up in me at the thought that maybe it was because she considered me such a close friend that she'd help me out like this.
"Really, thank you so much... I'm in a genuinely urgent situation right now, so I'll take it, but I'll pay you back as soon as I possibly can!"
"...You don't have to pay it back."
I said this with a smile, and Luna, seeming embarrassed, turned her head away and cleared her throat awkwardly.
Leaving Luna with one more word of thanks, I quickly threw off the sandbags strapped to my arms and legs and got ready to head straight for the Order.
I intended to pay off this uncomfortable debt right away.
"Hey! Seriously, thank you! You're honestly the best friend I've ever had in my life!"
After saying goodbye to Luna, I left the training room in high spirits.
But, too excited at the thought of finally paying off my debt, I completely failed to catch the small, shocked mutter she let out behind me.
"...Friend?"
……
"Wow! There's nothing like Auntie's cooking!"
Having bought a sandwich with the money left over after paying off my debt, I said this while taking a huge bite.
The lady at the shop seemed pleased at my words and smiled warmly as she spoke.
"You know that already, so how about paying up first?"
Something about this academy really made it feel like every single person, from the priests to the cafeteria lady, was possessed by some kind of money demon.
Making a sour face as I paid up and headed back toward the dormitory, I sank into thought watching the students wandering around here and there.
Since the academy was a five-year school that students attended starting at eighteen, it had a fairly even mix of minors and adults.
Because of that, there was actually a school rule stating that, until the third year, when students actually turned twenty, getting caught dating on campus could result in expulsion at worst.
Conversely, starting from third year, students were allowed to date freely among themselves, along with several other restrictions being lifted, which allowed for a relatively more free school life.
But right alongside the lifting of those restrictions, the number of students dropping out also tended to spike sharply starting from third year.
Feeling that their skills fell short compared to other students, some looked into other paths, and some dropped out due to financial issues as well.
But the biggest reason students dropped out was that, starting from third year, the discrimination based on ranking became far more severe.
A representative example of this discriminatory treatment was that, from third year onward, failing to place in the top 100 meant most of the benefits available to students would be taken away.
That meant not only would the various perks offered free to students start costing money, but even the Order's 90% discount on Holy treatment would disappear entirely.
Of course, families with enough financial means could still afford to keep their children in school even without ranking in the top 100, but by the time most students had passed second year, they were generally considered to have learned about as much as they reasonably could, so quite a few simply dropped out.
Most commoners tended to drop out for this same reason after finishing their second year, whether to take up mercenary work like me, or to inherit the family trade.
You could say it was the academy's way of expressing that it only intended to carry forward the very best of the elite, a mere 100 students.
Furthermore, since it was realistically quite difficult for a commoner to rank high enough to receive these benefits, it should give you a sense of just how impressive Aria and Aden actually were for having accomplished it.
Of course, it was a bit concerning that I now had to accomplish that same impressive feat myself.
Especially since, as far as theory went, I was practically a blank slate, which made me wonder whether it was even possible to rank in the Magic Department, a department that placed considerable weight on that exact area.
So I needed someone who could help me study magic theory.
Ideally, someone who could also tolerate my personality without much trouble, that would be even better.
'Of all people, why does Aria have to be the only one who comes to mind...'
The reason I found myself particularly hesitant around Aria was, surprisingly, quite simple.
It wasn't that I'd fallen for her because she was too beautiful, or that I didn't know how to talk to women.
It was more of a personal issue, you could say.
Right before the fight with the ancient being, Aria and Aden had grown even closer.
Around the end of their twenty-second year, they'd confirmed their feelings for each other and become a proper couple, and, as if finally releasing all the feelings they'd held back for so long, the two of them ended up sharing a fiery, passionate relationship.
"Damn it... that's so damn enviable."
It was like some kind of erotic novel.
Aden was already perfect in every other way, so why did he even need to be that impressive there too.
The only contact I'd ever had with a woman was during medical treatment... and even then, she'd seemed a little reluctant about it, if I recalled correctly...
Anyway, being someone who'd never even had a girlfriend, all of this felt like a lot to handle.
You could call it a total lack of immunity.
Of course, since I had zero actual experience, I'd never gotten far enough to actually finish fantasizing about it...
"..."
Walking along like that, I eventually arrived at the dormitory without even realizing it.
I opened the door to the first-year dormitory, wiping away the tears streaming steadily down my face with my hand.
If they were going to regress me anyway, they could have at least made me handsome while they were at it.
'Ah, come to think of it.'
Something suddenly flashed through my mind.
In just a few more days, the trigger that had once led me to quit the academy less than a month after enrolling would arrive.
Of course, the circumstances were quite different now compared to back then.
According to the original schedule, there was supposed to be a simple sparring session coming up this Wednesday in the "Practical Application of Magic" class, meant to gauge everyone's skill level.
Though it was called a simple sparring session, it was also the day when a kind of hierarchy would form among the students.
I didn't remember the professor's name from back then, but he'd been an incredibly obnoxious man...
Feeling uneasy, I pulled out my schedule to check who was in charge of Wednesday's class.
"...Hm?"
[Wed] Practical Application of Magic (Marey Beatrice)
Marey Beatrice.
That was the exact same name as the old hag I'd clashed with in the rooftop garden earlier.
Something had changed.
Since this was the very professor who'd thoroughly crushed me into giving up on becoming a mage before the regression, even though I couldn't remember her name, I remembered her face clearly.
Except that professor had definitely been a man.
And I also distinctly remembered that back then, they hadn't come from some prestigious family like the Beatrice family, famous for its great achievements in the war against the northern continent.
'Has something already started changing this early on...? Why did it change? Could there be... more things I'm missing besides this?'
Returning to my room, I took off my outer clothes, lay down on the bed, and let out a sigh.
With my brain barely functioning as it was, there were far too many things I had to keep track of, and it left me feeling a bit overwhelmed.
Setting all the complicated matters aside, I decided to just try to get some sleep.
For some reason, Luna didn't show up for morning training today.
I wondered if she had something important keeping her busy.
Not thinking much of it, I finished my workout alone and went to eat, and, probably because it was lunchtime, there were far more people around than I'd expected.
"...Benjamin?"
At the sound of a voice calling my name, I turned my head to find Aria standing there, holding a sandwich in each hand, smiling brightly at me.
"Benjamin, are you here for a sandwich too?"
I nodded silently with an indifferent expression.
But despite my lukewarm attitude, Aria kept smiling and spoke to me brightly.
"Then, Benjamin... want to eat with me? I originally planned to eat with a friend, but he said he hasn't had much of an appetite lately and isn't eating... and I happen to have two sandwiches!"
The friend she'd originally planned to eat with was clearly Aden.
I wondered if the guilt over the classmates he hadn't been able to save was still eating away at him.
Because of this, that gentle, soft-hearted kid had apparently been desperately trying to grow stronger, but somehow, I still couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for Aden.
"It's free, right?"
"Pfft, of course!"
At my question, Aria laughed heartily and gladly handed me a sandwich.
Taking a bite without hesitation, Aria pointed to a corner of the room as if she'd been waiting for the chance.
"Benjamin, in exchange, could you help me carry this over there?"
Looking where she pointed, I saw a box packed full of something.
A large label was attached to the front of the box, showing exactly what it contained.
[Mana Stones]
"The professor said these are the Mana Stones needed for today's Mana Theory class, and I was carrying them, but they turned out way heavier than I expected..."
Since carrying Mana Stones was no problem for me at all, I nodded readily, but setting that aside, I found I simply couldn't tear my eyes off the Mana Stones themselves.
[Reader]: Can read the flow of mana that someone has created.
A flow of mana created by someone didn't necessarily have to be limited to a person.
Even mana simply diffused throughout nature, as long as it formed a consistent flow, could be read as text like this without any issue.
'If I can read it as text, that means, according to the system's judgment, its logic has already been grasped... which means I might be able to change this Mana Stone too, however I want, couldn't I?'
With a small spark of hope, I reached out and touched the Mana Stone.
Crack!
Contrary to what I'd expected, only a small spark flashed from the Mana Stone, with no other change at all.
I'd tried to turn it into a Fire Fist spell, but it only twitched briefly before returning right back to its original name.
"Benjamin! What did you just do?"
Seeing the small spark flash from the Mana Stone under my hand, Aria asked with a startled expression.
Lightly ignoring her question, I began Editing the Mana Stone once more.
Converting it into a spell had failed, but since I'd already experienced something similar to this once before, I could roughly grasp what was happening.
It was the same kind of rejection I'd experienced when trying to delete "Sword Aimed at the Throat" during my sparring match with Lancia.
Back then, I'd tried to erase the mana's very existence itself and failed, but when I'd changed it to "Sword Knocked Away" instead, it had knocked away exactly as the name suggested.
From this, I could infer that within the flow of magic, I could create spells, and within the flow of a sword, I could draw out a sword.
'If that's the case...!'
[Marionette's Ghost]
The shape of the Mana Stone in my hand began transforming into a blood-red sword.
A straight, single-edged blade with no hand guard gradually revealed itself.
As the bizarre inscription engraved into the blade's surface neared completion, an indescribably thick sense of bloodlust began spreading outward, and Aria, sensing that strange energy, gradually started backing away.
This was a cursed sword, rumored to carry an aura that entranced anyone nearby, as if bearing some mission to absorb all the blood in the world, and said to drive anyone who held it mad with bloodlust, reducing them to nothing but a lunatic.
I was one of the few people who knew that rumor to be entirely true.
I'd been the one to kill the man who had gone mad after wielding this sword, and it was precisely because of that kill that I'd been able to become an A-rank mercenary.
If I'd been able to handle this sword back then without having to destroy it, I wondered if I might have reached S-rank even a little sooner.
"Of course, well... there was also a chance I would have gone mad myself."