The magic class was taught by Professor Aiaie Hekati.
This professor, whose name is a whopping five characters long, was a mage of immense skill by the standards of the Legend of Academy universe.
Her signature look included shiny, crimson curly hair and clothes adorned with decorations that reminded one of Halloween cosplay.
“Today, we’ll practice drawing magic circles. Please follow the magic circle on page 34 of your textbook,” said Professor Aiaie Hekati in a somewhat drowsy voice before sipping on a steaming cup of coffee. That cute cup with a heart on it must definitely contain coffee, given her character’s love for it.
By the way, I thought Nicasia was incredibly beautiful, but Professor Aiaie Hekati is stunning too! Especially her chest, which seems more emphasized than in the illustrations. It reminds me of people jokingly typing “The wisdom pouch has arrived lol” in chats.
“Wow… Esme is amazing!”
“How do you draw such perfect circles?”
Coming back to reality from the wisdom pouch, Murmur.
I was sitting at a round table with several students, drawing magic circles. Esme was sitting next to me, along with about three other students.
“Hehe~! If you can’t even draw a magic circle like this, you can’t call yourself a lady of the Bloodberry family!”
Esme laughed so hard that her twin-tied hair bounced cutely. Seeing her act like this, she can be really adorable at times, but I don’t like how she bullies Murmur.
“Uh…?”
“…Murmur is drawing really well too, right?”
“Her circles are bigger and prettier than Esme’s, aren’t they?”
How can you compare the drawing skills of elementary school fifth-graders to mine, Murmur’s? I drew a pretty decent circle and then followed the magic circle in the textbook.
This is more fun than I thought. I didn’t know this when playing the game, but this is how people in a fantasy world learn magic, huh?
“Ugh…!”
Esme looked at me as if she wanted to tear me apart, shaking her hands in frustration.
“Murmur!”
“Yes?”
“Why are you copying me?!”
“…Professor Aiaie Hekati told us to draw the magic circle, didn’t she?”
Esme trembled with anger and immediately drew a bigger, prettier magic circle on a new sheet of paper.
“Wow!”
“Esme is amazing!! She drew it as beautifully as the middle school seniors!”
“It’s huge! Bigger magic circles are better, right!”
Kids, that can’t be right. Even though I’ve only read the settings, a bigger magic circle doesn’t necessarily mean it’s better.
Ignoring Esme, who was puffing out her chest in pride, I diligently followed the magic circle.
By the way, is this skill actually gaining experience? In the game, this part was random, but since I’m living Murmur’s life, it would be great if I could choose which magic to learn!
“Mur─”
If I can learn magic myself, I should definitely start with defensive magic. It has some incredibly useful effects.
What should I learn next? Since I can’t avoid dealing damage, should I learn elemental magic? If my stats don’t increase well randomly, I might be at a disadvantage in close combat, so maybe I should learn summoning magic?
“Murmur─”
By the way, what was Esme’s specialty magic? It would be really convenient to learn counters for the magic that rivals often use. Like a picky eater among elemental magic…
“Hey!! Murmur!! Why are you ignoring me?!”
“Huh, huh…?”
What’s this?! Esme suddenly shouted and started shaking my horn.
『Stress increased by 5!』
“Wh-what…! What are you doing?!”
“Why are you ignoring me! Why are you ignoring me! Why are you ignoring me! You’re just a demon, acting all high and mighty!!”
“Wh-what do I do? What do I do?!”
“Professor!!! Esme and Murmur are fighting!”
“Hey, hey… stop fighting…”
Did I ignore her? Really? I didn’t hear anything…
“Never mind…!”
“No! You ignored me too when I called you!”
“Why, why did you call me?!”
“Quick! Admit it! I drew it better!”
Esme let go of my horn and drew a large magic circle with her cute, soft hands.
“You drew it well.”
“That’s soulless!”
“Wow, amazing.”
“You’re mocking me!!!”
Esme stomped her little feet, unable to control her anger.
Why? I complimented her properly, didn’t I?
“What are you two doing? Didn’t the teacher tell you to draw the magic circle?”
“Professor Hekati!! Murmur is ignoring me!”
“I didn’t!”
Professor Aiaie Hekati narrowed her eyes, looked at me and Murmur, and then sighed. A genius like her wouldn’t be interested in a fight between fifth-graders.
“Esme, a bigger magic circle isn’t necessarily better.”
“Ugh…”
“Since magic circles can ultimately be drawn with a finger, no matter how small they are, you need to learn how to draw them accurately with all the essential elements.”
Professor Aiaie Hekati patted Esme’s head.
“Keep trying. The Bloodberry family has an excellent lineage.”
“Hehe… Yes.”
Isn’t she too easy to handle? She immediately sat down with a happy expression.
Or is she just a fool who gets heated up and cools down quickly?
“And Murmur…”
Professor Aiaie Hekati looked down at me with a strange expression.
Ah, come to think of it. This professor probably doesn’t like demons.
Mages can’t like demons.
How should I describe this? To a mage, a demon is like a Korean seeing someone eat kimchi with pineapple. They both use magic, but they’re too different. They can use deadly magic on each other, so they can’t see each other in a good light.
“Draw the magic circle again.”
Her voice sounded a bit cold.
I followed her instructions and drew the magic circle. Honestly, it’s really easy. Just follow the magic circle in the textbook.
─ Swish swish
“Wow…”
“Murmur is so fast…”
I suddenly felt like a zoo monkey with all the kids gathering around to watch.
“I’m done.”
“…Now draw the one on page 56.”
What’s this? Why is she suddenly asking me to draw something else?
Is she trying to bully me? Does she think demons can’t draw magic circles properly?
─ Swish swish
“Next, page 114.”
I drew the magic circle again as instructed. I don’t know the difference between the three, but following the instructions wasn’t difficult at all. There were some wobbly parts, though.
“Professor Aiaie Hekati, I’m done.”
* * *
‘I can’t believe it. She can already replicate magic circles at this age?’
Aiaie Hekati looked down at Murmur, who was holding a crayon, with deep admiration in her heart.
‘First of all, this child… using a crayon instead of a pen to draw such precise replicas of magic circles…’
The genius mage could recognize Murmur’s genius.
‘I’ve never seen a descendant of Nectar so seriously replicating magic circles, and even with such crude tools, she can replicate them perfectly…’
Aiaie placed both hands on Murmur’s shoulders. As a genius herself, she could recognize another genius and knew the immense value of each genius in the history of magic.
“Murmur.”
“Yes, yes?”
“I think we need to have a private talk after class. Come see me after.”
Murmur’s face turned pale in an instant. Of course, Murmur couldn’t possibly understand Aiaie’s thoughts.
“What’s going on, is Murmur in trouble?”
“The teacher just said it’s not about drawing big circles!”
“Esme got praised, right? Esme is still the best!”
Amidst the chatter of the innocent fifth-graders, Murmur trembled and held her horns with both hands.
‘Oh? She has genius potential but can’t control her mana flow properly…’
Aiaie found it a bit cute and looked at Murmur, only to be startled. Murmur had already grabbed her overheated horns with both hands and crouched down, folding her body in half.
“Ugh…”
‘It’s not that she can’t control the flow, but her mana is overflowing from her body. To have so much mana that her vessel can’t contain it…’
Aiaie swallowed hard. In the eyes of the genius mage, Murmur was an incredibly tempting ‘gem.’
She’s polite, does what she’s told, can replicate perfectly even as an elementary student, and has a perfect aptitude with overflowing mana.
“Murmur, why aren’t you answering?”
“Pro-professor…”
“Come see me after class. Understood? You have a lot to learn from me.”
Murmur gulped. Overwhelmed by the terrifying ‘charisma’ emanating from Aiaie, she pitifully breathed in and finally shook her head.
“Did you say no?”
“Mu-Murmur…! I-I want to play a bit more!”
At the adorable voice, Aiaie couldn’t help but chuckle and pinch Murmur’s soft cheeks.
“Come see me after class!”
* * *
『Murmur』
【Health 100 Mana 100 Hunger 0 Stress 55】
I’m doomed. I’m doomed.
『A new event has been confirmed!』
《Private Tutoring with Professor Aiaie Hekati》
《Time: After School》
I’m busy running around the academy after school to trigger events, and now I’m stuck with remedial lessons from Professor Aiaie Hekati!
In Legend of Academy, ‘remedial lesson events’ are notorious for being inefficient! In the early game, you need to meet as many characters as possible to trigger events, right?!
“Ugh…”
From Esme’s reaction to the other kids’ comments, no matter how I think about it, I’ve been marked, right? The probability of getting this event, where favorability drops sharply, is supposed to be really low, so how did this happen?
“Murmur… don’t panic…”
I comforted myself while stroking my horns, which were starting to heat up again.
The situation isn’t completely dire. Even during ‘Ironman’ playthroughs where you can’t save and load, there are always situations where things don’t go as planned.
In those times, I always relied on locations where good events would pop up consistently. The downside is that the chance of meeting other characters is lower, so you might miss out on events, but that shouldn’t be a problem here.
Since Nicasia is always around, the morning schedule is fixed to having meals together, right? Being with Nicasia will naturally attract other characters, so it shouldn’t be an issue.
“Then…”
I clenched my small fist and made a decision.
“…Let’s go meet the Demon God.”
The Demon God, who always loves demons, will surely help solve all these troublesome problems in one go!
