October 6th.
The day after we heard from Councilor
Wagman about the consequences regarding the bullying of us.
Under a clear autumn sky,
Sharon and I entered the classroom for the first time in almost half a month.
Our classmates were distant
and sneaking peeks at us on a sunny day, and in the morning.
When Quentin Wagman walked
into the classroom, my classmates tensed. They were bracing themselves for a
clash between me and Quentin.
But when Quentin saw us, he
greeted us smilingly, “Good morning, Mr. Lockhart, Miss Jakes,” and
we greeted him back, “Good morning, Mr. Wagman,” as if nothing had
happened.
At that moment, the air in the
classroom tensed for a moment and then relaxed as if to exhale. Anita
Isherwood’s eyes were wide open, as if she couldn’t believe what she was
seeing.
I let out a little sigh at
that. I was convinced that her father had sent her to get rid of us.
But I didn’t care about her,
and Sharon, Quentin, and I chatted. I know Quentin and Sharon had no agenda,
but I was trying to make my classmates realize that the “incident”
was over.
My classmates seemed to read
the atmosphere between us and were relieved that the situation would not be as
tense as it had been in the past. They, too, were chatting among their good
friends until Mr. Bennett arrived.
At 8:00 a.m., Mr. Bennett
entered the classroom. As he entered, he saw me in my seat and looked slightly
disappointed. He still seemed to be wishing I wasn’t there.
I pretended not to notice and
said, “Stand up! Thank you!” and signaled the opening salute. As if I
had been in this class all this time.
Bennett’s voice trembled
slightly.
“Starting today, there will be
a slight classroom change. Mr. Lockhart and Miss Jakes will be taking a lecture
from Professor Ruspede. Anyone may request to attend Professor Ruspede’s
lecture, but only students approved by Professor Ruspede will be allowed to
attend. Anyone wishing to attend should contact me later.” (Bennett)
Then Bennett looked at me and
said, “You guys go to Professor Ruspere’s lab. Do you know where it is?” I
said, “Yes, I know where it is,” and left the classroom with Sharon,
since I have visited more buildings for researchers than this classroom.
Professor Lionel Ruspede’s
laboratory was located at the back of the researchers’ building. It was near
the laboratory of Liddy’s old friend, Mr. Kitley—Professor Kitley Elvine, and
we arrived at Professor Ruspede’s laboratory without any hesitation.
We knocked on the door in
front of the professor’s room, but there was no response. I wondered if he was
not home, but when I put my hand on the doorknob and pulled, I found that the
door was unlocked and the light from the light magic tool was leaking from
inside.
Because of the presence of
people, I warily called out, “This is Lockhart…” However, there was
no sign of a reply, so I had no choice but to open the door and peek inside.
Inside, Professor Ruspede was
buried under a pile of books, frantically writing something. I felt bad for
interrupting him, but I couldn’t just leave, so I said, “Excuse me,”
and went inside.
(I guess he was so engrossed
in his research that he didn’t hear me. I’ll wait until the professor takes a
breather…) (Zack)
I said to Sharon, “Let’s
wait here until the professor notices us,” and I took out a chair that was
near a pile of books and sat down to wait.
Professor Ruspede continued to
write incessantly for the next 30 minutes without looking up even once.
Then, perhaps running out of
paper for notes, he suddenly stood up. Then he noticed us sitting near the
entrance.
“Mr. Lockhart and Ms.
Jakes. Oh, yes, I heard from the headmaster. They said I would be your mentor
starting today.” (Ruspede)
And he asked us how long we
had been waiting, and we said about thirty minutes.
“That’s a terrible thing,
isn’t it? When I get absorbed in my research, I don’t pay attention to anything
else. From now on, please don’t hesitate to call out to me.” (Ruspede)
The professor said,
“Could you wait for another 30 minutes or so? If you’re not busy, you can
read one of the books around here, or you can go outside until it’s time,”
and he went back to his desk.
I looked at Sharon and
suggested to her, “If it’s about 30 minutes, let us look at the
book.” She nodded, and we began looking for books near us.
As one would expect from the
books in a first-rate researcher’s room, they were quite advanced. In
particular, the books on magic circles and magic tools seemed to reflect the
latest research results – the papers always included the professor’s name – and
had brand-new, brightly colored parchment covers.
I picked one that looked
relatively easy and flipped through the pages.
I had not mentioned that the
paper in this world ranges from low-quality papyrus to the fine-textured,
fine-grain paper of Earth.
This fine paper is made by
applying wood magic to low quality papyrus-like paper. I heard that the upper
grade students of this academy are also involved in making the fine paper.
Liddy, who was actually involved in this work, told me that it is a very lucrative
part-time job, and that users of wood magic can lead a wealthy life at the
academy, along with users of gold magic. Incidentally, gold magic is used to
refine metals, so this is also a part-time job for academy students.
I began reading a book,
“Introduction to Magic Circles: From the Basic to Applications.”
Sharon seemed to have decided
to read a book titled “The Development of Magic Tools”.
The books I have read in the
library so far have mostly been about attributes I am not good at, darkness and
gold, but I started reading a book about magic circles and my curiosity was
immediately piqued.
Because I realized that the
magic circle is a kind of system.
It was like an electric
circuit, as the input signal, magic power, is converted and amplified using a
circuit called a magic circle to cause the desired phenomena.
In the magic circle, a diagram
corresponding to the power of each spirit is drawn. The order in which the
power of each spirit is applied and the form of power it is converted into is
indicated by symbols such as runes and diagrams.
The way to draw the symbols is
exactly the design of the system, and as a former designer, I was very
interested in the magic circle.
There are two ways to use
magic circle.
One is to make magic available
to those who have no background in magic. The other is to assist in the
efficient use of powerful magic.
The first is used as a magical
tool. Of course, the magic circle does not activate by itself, but requires a
magic stone to convert magic power into spirit power. It is no exaggeration to
say that a magic tool is a combination of magic stones and magic circles.
The second use is not well
known to the general public.
It is said to be used in a
western religious state called Holy Kingdom of Lux, where several magicians use
magic circles to perform large-scale miracles – determined in the book to be
large-scale light-attribute magic – in order to create a magic circle. The book
says that magic circles were painted on the floor of the cathedral in order for
multiple magicians to use magic to perform large-scale miracles – which are
determined in the book to be large-scale light-based magic.
Although the technology seems
to be lost now, it was said that magic circles could be used to perform
large-scale attack magic, such as that used in sieges, as well as teleportation
magic.
I was reading the book, lost
in thought.
I didn’t even notice that
Professor Ruspede was looking at me until Sharon poked me on the elbow. I
apologized to the professor, thinking to myself, “I really need to work on
my presence-detection skills.”
“I got absorbed in the
book. I’m sorry to keep you waiting.” (Zack)
I apologized, and the
professor laughed and said, “Yes, yes, I understand. I do the same thing.”
I was a little depressed to be
told by a famous eccentric professor that I was just like him, but I quickly
composed myself.
“Then let me start
teaching both of you. First, I have to check your knowledge. Mr. Lockhart will most
likely know everything Ms. Jakes knows, so I’m going to ask Ms. Jakes instead.”
(Ruspede)
Sharon was nervous at this
statement. Come to think of it, until the other day he was calling me young
Lockhart, but today I noticed that he was calling me Mr. Lockhart, so I asked
the professor why, partly because it was meant to relieve Sharon’s nervousness.
“Because until the other time,
you weren’t a student at the academy. That’s what we’re supposed to call you
here at the academy on official occasions. Unless, of course, you graduate.”
(Ruspede)
I was surprised at the fact
that this Professor Ruspede cared about such things. I had thought that he
would call us whatever he wanted to call us, regardless of such etiquette.
This conversation seemed to
relax Sharon a little, and the professor began to ask her a number of
questions.
The professor said,
“Well, let’s start with a simple question,” and began to ask.
“Can you tell me
everything that is needed to activate the magic? Including the reasons why?”
(Ruspede)