“Now then, I’d like you to redraw the magic circle.”
When Balbrea said this, I checked the material of the rooftop floor. Conveniently, a large seamless rock was placed. The magic circle was drawn on top of it.
“It’s a large rock floor. It’s pitch black, but was it carved out?”
When I asked, Balbrea slightly lowered her chin.
“It’s a rock called black eye stone. When conducting magic circle experiments, we need to redraw many times. So we use this rock, which reflects like a mirror when polished.”
“I see. So, it’s okay to use this rock, right?”
“The rock? Of course it’s fine to use it.”
After confirming with Balbrea, who nodded slightly while affirming, I decided to start redrawing the magic circle right away.
I knelt down on one knee to lower my posture and placed the palm of one hand on the rock surface.
Then, while infusing magical power, I opened my mouth.
“Stone Surface Operation Processing.”
Immediately after I muttered this, the surface rippled like water, and the drawn magic circle disappeared into the rock. Then, blue light ran across the rock surface. After the blue light passed, a groove about one centimeter wide was cleanly carved. It looked like a mystery circle video created with poor image editing.
Remembering videos I had seen in my previous life, I engraved the magic for the wall of flames into the magic circle.
The magic circle was completed in a matter of seconds, and I stood up.
“…It looks good. Now, can someone infuse it with magical power?”
When I turned around saying this, I saw Balbrea’s face with wide eyes. Balbrea, who had been frozen as if time had stopped, immediately coughed and glanced sideways behind her when she noticed my gaze.
“Cameron, give it a try.”
Suddenly told this, Cameron turned to face Balbrea with his eyes wide open like saucers.
“Uh, um… if I’m not mistaken, that just now was… a spell without incantation…”
“Cameron.”
Balbrea’s stern voice scolded Cameron, who seemed unable to hide his shock at my incantation-less magic.
“Ah, y-yes… well then…”
Still confused, Cameron quickly moved in front of the magic circle. He then placed his hand on the edge of the circle and began to channel magical power into it.
As expected of a senior instructor, he seemed to be quick at channeling magic.
“Ah, just to let you know, I use the spell name as a trigger condition when casting magic. The spell name is ‘Fire Wall.'”
After informing us, Cameron made a troubled face, took a deep breath, and slowly opened his mouth.
“…Fire Wall.”
The moment he spoke the words, flames erupted in front of Cameron. The fire rose with explosive force, instantly reaching a height of over a hundred meters.
Looking up at the roaring flames, I muttered to myself.
“…Since I limited it to the magic circle’s range, this is more of a pillar than a wall. I should have either lifted it first and then spread it sideways, or changed the concept to rotate it to cover the sky.”
As I was pondering various considerations, Cameron stood up and looked at me.
“Um, excuse me…!? The fire won’t stop! Even though I’m not channeling magic anymore…!”
Cameron reported in a panic, and Balbrea also looked at the magic circle with a puzzled expression.
“A failure?”
When asked that, I shook my head.
“No, that’s not it. The effect is simply still ongoing. It seems Cameron channeled too much magical power.”
Hearing my answer, Cameron waved both hands while breaking out in a cold sweat.
“No way… I only channeled the minimum amount of magic necessary to activate the magic circle, just like usual!”
Cameron tried to defend himself, but he didn’t seem to realize that was precisely the cause.
“That amount of magic is too much. I apologize for forgetting to explain, but compared to the magic efficiency of the previous circle, this magic circle activates with one-tenth of the magical power. In other words, you ended up channeling ten times the necessary amount of magic for activation.”
As I explained, Cameron’s eyes widened, and he let out a voiceless gasp.
Smiling wryly at the sight of him opening and closing his mouth while looking at me, I turned to the pillar of flame to reassure him.
“For now, I’ll extinguish it.”
Saying that, I cast my spell.
“Freezing.”
The moment I muttered those words, a miniature blizzard whirled up. In an instant, a white wall appeared before our eyes. The pillar of flame was quickly engulfed, and the vigorously burning flames turned into ice particles dancing in the air.
I gazed at this fantastic sight, thinking it looked like diamond dust.
Then, Balbrea, who was standing next to me, opened his mouth and said one thing.
“…I see. So this is… a senior instructor from Fidic Academy.”
[SIDE: Balbrea]
I had received several world-changing shocks in just one day.
All of them were due to the magician named Aoi, but the person in question didn’t seem to mind at all.
She simply explained knowledge about magic circles matter-of-factly and redrew the magic circle without incantation.
Moreover, she did it using magic I had never seen before.
Then there was the pillar of flame that emerged from the magic circle. Although our academy once had a senior fire instructor, I had never seen such a fire pillar.
And then there was Aoi’s magic that easily extinguished it.
Each of these would be considered top-secret information of utmost importance by any country.
If she were willing to disclose even one of these, I would be willing to hand over part of Maple Leaf’s research results.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
“So, will you teach me about Maple Leaf’s magic and human body knowledge?”
Aoi asked me such a thing while tilting her head, as I was thinking about various things. her attitude was completely calm, implicitly conveying that the grand magic just now was nothing special to Aoi.
The gap was so stark that I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
“Kuh, hahaha…! After being shown all this, I can’t say we won’t give anything in return. Tell me what you need, and I’ll disclose them one by one.”
“Thank you very much.”
When I conceded, Aoi simply expressed her gratitude. I returned her smile and turned my whole body to face her.
“However, I’d like you to provide us with knowledge about magic circles as well. Oh, and I’d also like you to teach us about that incantation-less magic we just saw. What do you say?”
I stated this as if it were natural. Normally, this wouldn’t even be a negotiation.
They had already demonstrated their superiority with magic circles. So, Aoi already held the initiative in deciding what information to exchange.
Therefore, from Aoi’s perspective, she could simply demand that Maple Leaf disclose its secrets first. Sadly, since Maple Leaf’s knowledge of magic circles is completely inferior to Fidic Academy’s, we’re not in a position to assert ourselves in the negotiation.
At the very least, I wanted to show confidence that we were superior in healing magic and knowledge of the human body, hoping to extract even a little knowledge from Aoi.
I don’t know how Aoi interpreted my intentions, but he nodded expressionlessly.
“That’s fine. Then, since our time is limited today, I’ll explain about incantation omission and magic circles.”
Aoi easily agreed to the negotiation.
I was taken aback and blinked in surprise.
“…That’s very kind of you, but are you sure?”
Those words escaped my mouth before I could stop them. This time, it was Aoi’s turn to blink in surprise, and then she slightly raised the corners of her mouth as if she finally understood the meaning.
“It’s alright. My goal is to raise the world’s magical standards.”
“Magical standards…”
I repeated those words in my mouth as if ruminating on their meaning.
I had thought her reason was for personal magical research, but apparently that wasn’t the case. If so, her ideology was completely different from Crown-Windsor, who was said to be magic-obsessed.
“…Then, do you intend to travel to other countries as well, learning and teaching magical knowledge and techniques?”
After saying that, I reconsidered it as a foolish question and remembered an even more important matter to ask instead.
“No, wait… Aoi. How many countries have you visited before Maple Leaf? Surely that magic circle and incantation-less magic aren’t secrets from other countries, are they?”
As I asked this question, I shuddered at my own imagination.
If this was after she had already visited other major countries like Maple Leaf, it would mean we were already lagging behind other nations. And not just by a small margin, but by an extraordinary technological gap.
I waited anxiously for Aoi’s answer.
However, Aoi’s response was simple.
“No, this country is the first.”
“…I see.”
I responded, feeling perplexed. Judging from our previous conversations and the atmosphere, there was likely no lie in Aoi’s words just now.
But if that’s the case, the next concern is Fidic Academy.
It’s the only magic academy that receives both human and economic support from various countries, but its location is clearly within the territory of the Verted Kingdom.
It’s problematic enough that a single academy possesses such abnormal magic, but it would be a huge issue if the Verted Kingdom were monopolizing this magic.
There’s no doubt that the world’s military balance would be greatly disrupted.
Thinking that far, I remembered Aoi’s goal.
“…Aoi. About the goal you mentioned earlier, you said it was to raise the world’s magical standards, right? So, if we were to visit Fidic Academy, would we be taught about new magic as well?”
When I asked for confirmation, Aoi nodded in affirmation.
If that’s true, we should send talented magicians to Fidic Academy.
No, perhaps I should go myself.
It might seem odd to study abroad at my age, but that could be interesting in its own way. I’ll make arrangements to hand over the position of academy director to Cameron.
I found myself unconsciously smiling as I contemplated the future.
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