8

“Our arrival was late because of Ains, Kirishiya.”

Laika cut in from the side toward Kirishiya, who had been facing Ains.

“Oh my, is Ains-san bad at mornings?”

Ains tapped the plaster floor with his prosthetic leg and created a chair, then sat down.

“I wasn’t really before, but ever since coming to the big city of Kirk, I guess I’ve been too excited and the days feel longer…”

In short, he had simply been staying up late and couldn’t wake in the morning.

“Lady Lizelotte also seems weak in the mornings, so maybe all sorcerers are like that.”

“Like vampires.”

Kirishiya said with a small laugh.

“Good morning, everyone! I’m happy you’re all on time again today!”

Hanna’s cheerful voice spread through the classroom as she entered.

Ains covered his ears and muttered a complaint.

“…So energetic.”

“The good point of Hanna Wills is that brightness. Though it really hits the morning after drinking so much you can’t tell alcohol from water.”

“So Seidel-san makes jokes too.”

“I don’t guarantee they’re funny, but I do make them.”

In a small voice, Seidel asked Ains to create a chair for him as well, saying,

“My apologies, but I would like to sit today too…”

“Of course, sure.”

Ains answered, though he caught a faint smell of alcohol from Seidel’s breath.

Apparently Seidel had drunk heavily yesterday.

If so, his earlier remark might not have been a joke but a real experience from this very moment.

Ains tapped the floor again with his prosthetic leg.

The floor just behind Seidel rippled unnaturally, rose silently, and fixed itself into the shape of a chair.

Seidel lowered himself heavily onto it. The scent of alcohol drifted around him as he exhaled deeply.

From the podium, Hanna stared with her mouth hanging open in a dumbfounded expression.

“…Um, Seidel-senpai. As an attendant, I’d rather you not naturally sit in a chair. Also, where did that chair come from?”

When the surrounding students saw Ains’s magic they looked confused due to lack of knowledge, but Hanna Wills, an instructor of the Sorcery Academy well-versed in magic, was astonished by the same sight.

“Ah, please don’t mind it. Instructor Hanna Wills, please continue the lecture as usual.”

“No, the floor is…”

Seidel spoke calmly while Hanna failed to regain composure.

“It won’t break the floor. I’ll put it back, so don’t worry.”

Ains, sitting beside Seidel, replied.

Hanna’s look toward Ains clearly meant, “You’re sitting too?” but she judged pressing further would confuse the students and waste class time, so she followed Seidel’s lead and began the lecture.

Using the blackboard at the front, Hanna began teaching. At first the lecture was choppy due to her unsettled thoughts, but gradually she returned to her usual performance.

“Is she really that worried about the floor, Hanna-sensei?”

“She wasn’t the worrying type, as far as I know… Ah, pardon me. It seems I am still slightly drunk.”

Seidel had an idea why Hanna was shocked. He himself had been astonished by Ains’s magic yesterday.

Alchemy. Anyone who studied magic knew of it.

However, it was taught that alchemy was so complex it required large-scale formulas.

Transforming a single substance could be done with incantation casting, but manipulating mixtures of many substances was too complicated and required precisely drawn magic circles.

Accurate understanding of materials, formula construction, and immense effort yielded little benefit. Thus alchemy was considered a pinnacle magic no one attempted because of its difficulty.

But Ains, sitting beside Seidel looking bored with the lecture, was different.

He performed that alchemy silently, as if dismissing the teachings entirely.

Seidel did not know it, but Ains was still deploying a formula despite silent casting. From an outside perspective, however, it was the same.

“One goal you should achieve by the time you graduate the Sorcery Academy is to manifest the intermediate spells Fire Spear, Ice Spear, and Lightning—commonly called the Three Intermediate Types—using shortened incantations.”

Hanna told the students who were watching her.

Among them were already students who had reached that level.

Naturally, the surrounding students turned toward Laika.

“I hear Laika-san can already use shortened incantations for the Three Intermediate Types. Therefore, aim for higher silent deployment and shortened casting of advanced magic.”

Laika silently nodded at Hanna’s gaze.

She had already begun working on it. However, it could not be achieved overnight. Though taught directly by Ains, she still failed to do it well.

That reality kept her from becoming arrogant despite standing above others in skill. It vividly showed her the difference between genius and ordinary talent.

She had heard her father Kansas was also a highly skilled mage, praised as a genius by others.

Yet Kansas himself said he was merely a talented person far below a true genius. He too knew what a real genius’s ability was.

“Let’s all learn together. We have the materials for it, and we can provide that knowledge here!”

Hanna explained the educational policy from there.

Magic manifested by pouring mana into formulas. Therefore understanding formulas and memorizing many variations was important.

“…”

Ains listened with a dissatisfied face.

“I struggled with this as well. Advanced formulas especially were complex—I spent so much time on them.”

Seidel muttered beside Ains.

Hearing that, Ains stood from his chair.

He tapped the floor once with his prosthetic leg, and the chair lost shape and returned to flat flooring.

Ains walked over beside Laika and spoke.

Hanna at the podium and Kirishiya next to Laika both saw his actions.

Hanna looked like she wanted to say something about Ains repeatedly interrupting, but ignoring that, Ains said,

“Laika, let me see that book.”

He pointed at the book placed on every student’s desk.

“The textbook? You don’t need it, Ains. Well fine, just don’t dirty it like usual.”

Laika joked lightly, but Ains gave no reaction and silently flipped through the pages.

After a moment, Ains closed the book.

“Here, thanks, I’ll return it. Also, I’m going to take a little walk around the academy.”