Chapter 33: Hyung, Is That Right?
Surprisingly, the one who greeted the morning earliest at Glaube Magic School was not a mage.
Zvart Verite.
Perseta’s younger brother always woke earlier than anyone else, found a spot near the school, and began his dawn training.
Whooosh!
Fwoosh!
Every time he exhaled, orange flames billowed from his mouth.
Gift [Fox Moon].
That was why he woke earlier than anyone else to begin training, then trained later than anyone else before finally going to sleep.
At present, the magic school was a space filled with the lingering traces of mana left behind by countless mages connecting with the Mystic Worlds.
By absorbing plenty of that mana here, he could increase the power of his Gift.
At the same time, in order to completely internalize that power as his own, Zvart put himself through desperate training every single day.
“Good morning, Lord Zvart Verite.”
And not long after he began training, there was always one woman who passed in front of him.
“Ah, you came out early again today. Good morning, Bianca Ash.”
“Yes. Good morning. Let’s do our best again today.”
At her words, Let’s do our best today, Zvart quietly looked Bianca over.
Her hair was dry and rough, and her face was pale and haggard.
Her complexion looked terrible.
“Um… don’t push yourself too hard.”
“Oh, please. I always start later than you and go inside before you do.”
“I’m a knight, and more importantly, I have a Gift.”
“I’m a mage, and more importantly… Anyway, I’m fine.”
With that, Bianca slipped inside the school building.
Zvart watched her go, then shook his head.
“Isn’t being a mage even more reason to worry? They’re physically weak to begin with.”
—Haaah? Are you worrying about another woman right in front of me?
“…No. No, I’m not, Lady Fox Moon.”
—Quiet. I have decided to suspend your stamina recovery during today’s training.
“Whaaat?”
A sigh escaped Zvart.
He had a feeling today’s training was going to be far harder than usual.
Bianca Ash was an excellent student at Glaube Magic School.
And that wounded her pride.
Because she was not the most excellent, nor even extremely excellent.
She was merely excellent.
Her rank was sixth.
First and second were always contested by Sage Sienel and Salinelle, constantly overtaking one another and stealing the positions back and forth.
Third belonged firmly to Principal Ignacio.
Fourth was Shara Elif, Saintess of the Holy Angel Church.
Fifth was Crown Princess Rana Vishena of the Magic Kingdom.
And so Bianca was sixth.
Considering that there were nearly a hundred students now, including the theologians and the mages who had gradually joined through word of mouth, one might think sixth place was an extremely good result.
But Bianca Ash’s pride could not accept that.
At the very least.
At the very least, shouldn’t she be in the top five?
In fact, before the Saintess arrived, she had been able to stay within the top five.
But then the Saintess came, and Bianca’s ranking was pushed down.
‘This is horrible!’
She thought.
Perseta’s grading system was truly horrible.
Only one person, first place, received an A+.
“A” was given only down through fifth place.
Then everyone through fifteenth place received an A-, no exceptions.
What was truly horrible was that these standards did not change even as the number of students increased.
Should she call it absolute relative grading?
No. If it was relative grading, shouldn’t it be something like a certain percentage of the total class receiving a certain grade?
That was the part that truly tormented her.
Sixth place.
An A-.
She simply could not accept a rank and grade like that.
What upset her most of all was falling behind Rana Vishena, Crown Princess of the Magic Kingdom.
Rana was one year older, but that was only a single year.
The Saintess was such an exceptional existence that Bianca could more or less let that one go.
But falling behind Princess Vishena too was something Bianca’s immense pride in her magic absolutely could not tolerate.
But…
Even so…
No matter how hungry Bianca Ash was to study, even she found this difficult to simply accept.
Immediately after today’s class ended, Perseta casually tossed out another remark as though he were merely reminding them to throw away their trash on the way out.
“Ah. This would be good to do as an assignment too. Compare the movement of the Divine Realm predicted by the <Almagest> with the actual observational data of the Divine Realm’s mana frequencies, and determine how much they differ and in what way.”
Homework!
More homework!
Wasn’t assigning homework every single day a little too much?
And not one of those assignments was easy. On top of that, didn’t he also give exams whenever the mood happened to strike him?
At last, unable to endure it any longer, Bianca Ash raised her hand.
“Um, Teacher Perseta. We’re still working on the assignment where you asked us to redescribe the movements of the Mystic Worlds while accounting for the rotation of the Human World. Adding another assignment on top of that would be an enormous burden.”
Bianca Ash spoke calmly and confidently with her hand raised, despite the deep dark circles beneath her eyes.
At the sight, the deathly pale Saintess Shara Elif looked at her with admiration.
‘So cool!’
She genuinely thought that.
Was this the kind of vibe someone had when they had been attending Perseta’s classes longer than she had?
Shara was still afraid of Perseta, so she could not bring herself to make such a request, despite wanting it desperately, desperately badly.
But Perseta merely smiled brightly and replied,
“But you can do it, can’t you?”
“……Pardon?”
“I know all of you can do it. If you can do it, then you do it.”
“Ah…”
Bianca Ash fell silent.
Perseta was pushing forward with such an innocent smile that there seemed to be no opening at all.
And thus Bianca Ash’s rebellion was crushed with astonishing emptiness.
Saintess Shara Elif quickly withdrew her admiring gaze.
As long as the assignment had not been withdrawn, every person in this classroom was her competitor.
This time, she resolved, she would definitely rise to at least third place.
And so class ended.
As Bianca Ash dejectedly gathered her writing utensils and books, Rana, Crown Princess of Vishena, approached her.
“Bianca Ash?”
“Ah, yes. Your Highness.”
There was something sullen and slightly insolent in Bianca’s voice.
But Rana Vishena paid it no mind and spoke with concern.
“I know you’re working hard. But shouldn’t you take care of your health too? You do realize how terrible your complexion looks right now, don’t you?”
“I’m fine.”
“No. Even now, we should gather some of the other students and go speak to Teacher Perseta together. It’s true that the current pace is too difficult. It isn’t just you, Bianca. The other mages are all at their limits too.”
Bianca gestured around them.
She was right.
Every mage in sight had a hollow, exhausted face.
At a glance, one could almost mistake the place for the laboratory of some sinister mage researching the undead. None of them looked properly human anymore.
Their exhaustion had accumulated to such a degree that even rest no longer did much to relieve it.
And yet, despite that, they had no time to rest.
Rana Vishena thought that if classes continued like this, it simply would not be sustainable.
But Bianca answered coldly.
“Your Highness. I know my own body. Teacher Perseta decided to continue like this, so we should follow him. If you’re really that worried, don’t say it to me. Go tell him yourself.”
Bianca finished gathering her things and abruptly turned away.
She muttered loudly enough for everyone to hear.
“She was quiet earlier. Why is she only saying this now?”
At those words, Crown Princess Rana Vishena’s face reddened.
The truth was that she had been born with extraordinary stamina.
She was one of those rare people who barely grew tired no matter how much she worked, recovered almost immediately after only a little sleep, remained mentally unshaken, and possessed a will like steel.
That was Rana Vishena.
Because of that, she had been slow to notice the condition of everyone else.
Only after hearing Bianca speak earlier had she finally looked around properly, and only then had she realized it.
The level of exhaustion in this classroom was far too high.
But there was no time to give a long explanation.
Bianca had already packed her things and left.
Rana let out a small sigh by herself.
She was genuinely worried about Bianca.
“You want me to slow down the lessons a little?”
“Yes, Teacher. At this rate, no one will be able to endure it.”
Perseta fell into thought for a moment.
Crown Princess Rana Vishena had come to him unexpectedly, and he thought her concern did have merit.
But still…
What a waste.
“You see, speed is important when it comes to enlightenment too. Imagine struggling to roll a boulder almost all the way to the summit. If you stop to rest there, the boulder rolls all the way back down again.”
“Ah…….”
“If everyone can endure just a little longer, they’ll be able to see the summit. Please hold out until then.”
Perseta dipped his head slightly and walked past her.
The truth was, lately he had found himself enjoying every day and looking forward to what came next.
Because the mages were growing rapidly.
What pleased him even more was that they were not simply accumulating knowledge.
They were developing the very ability to think.
Ultimately, Perseta’s goal was to cultivate mages capable of becoming his research colleagues.
For that purpose, mages who merely memorized knowledge were useless.
He needed mages with the courage, creativity, and ability to think necessary to use that knowledge and explore the unknown alongside him.
But developing the ability to think was anything but easy.
It was much like building muscle.
They had to break apart their existing preconceptions and ways of thinking, then fill the gaps with new frameworks and methods.
That was why stopping midway carried far too much risk.
After going to all the effort of breaking apart their old preconceptions and thought patterns, what if he did not quickly fill them with new frameworks and methodologies?
It would be like working out intensely and then refusing to eat.
Rather than improving, they could actually regress.
That was why Perseta could not slow down the pace.
But then……
“Hyung! Hyyung!”
He had only taken a few steps away from Crown Princess Rana Vishena.
Zvart came flying toward him.
A deathly pale Bianca was bouncing on his back like a doll.
“Bianca collapsed, Hyung!”
“Ah.”
Perseta moved immediately.
He laid Bianca on a table, placed a hand on her shoulder, and scanned the condition of her body.
“Hmm…… Her condition really is a mess.”
The problem was not merely that her physical body was exhausted and run-down.
Even the mana composing her body itself had been violently thrown into disorder.
Perseta quickly released mana to regulate Bianca’s own while calling upon the fairy princess who was bound to him by contract.
“Lady Hinariririane! Please help.”
—Okay!
At her contractor’s request, the fairy princess leaped across space, tearing through the air as she appeared.
Her blessing immediately settled over Bianca’s body.
Hhh…
Haaah…
Only then did color return to Bianca’s pale face, and her breathing became peaceful.
But Perseta’s expression remained grave.
‘I was wrong.’
Fortunately, he was capable of reflecting on his mistakes.
‘Human bodies are more fragile than I thought.’
It was shocking.
Her condition had deteriorated enough for her to actually collapse.
It was a moment of sweeping change in Perseta’s way of thinking, which until now had focused entirely on progress and achievement rather than physical condition.
Watching him, Zvart complained with a dissatisfied expression.
“Hyung. I really think you’ve been pushing everyone too hard. Bianca collapsed today, but who knows who it’ll be tomorrow? I see all the mages coming and going from the school. Everyone looks awful lately.”
At those words, Perseta felt the heavy weight of responsibility and nodded.
“Zvart. You’re right.”
“Right? Then maybe slow the lessons down a little……”
“I think the school needs a rest facility.”
“…Huh?”
“A place where they can recover their condition even if they only rest for two hours a day. We need a shelter like that.”
“Uh… Hyung?”
“If we have something like that, we might even be able to progress through the lessons faster.”
“H-Hyung! That’s way too harsh….”
Perseta answered Zvart’s bewilderment with a bright smile.
“It’s fine. If it’s a facility I design, resting there for only two hours will be better than sleeping for ten. Mages can’t sleep too long, you know. Enlightenment requires speed.”
Zvart was rendered speechless.
He turned around in bewilderment and saw that Rana Vishena, standing beside Perseta, was wearing almost exactly the same expression as he was.
“Ah. Right. I need to go get something for a moment. Please look after Miss Bianca Ash. She’ll probably wake up on her own after some time passes.”
Apparently intending to act the moment the idea occurred to him, Perseta quickly disappeared into the distance.
Left behind, Zvart looked at Bianca lying there, then briefly exchanged a meaningful glance with Crown Princess Rana.
He realized it.
Crown Princess Rana Vishena felt exactly the same way he did.
The words neither of them had ultimately managed to say.
Hyung.
A rest facility?
Not something like that…
Couldn’t you just let them get some proper rest?
That thought, having missed even its chance to leave his mouth, faded pitifully away in his throat.
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