Chapter 48
As soon as I finished speaking, the mood in the meeting room sank heavily.
“Desertification of the Empire... That certainly could have become a serious problem.”
Senior Gaios muttered, rubbing his chin.
“More importantly, isn’t the biggest problem the existence of an outside faction harboring ill will toward Elterion Academy and the Belhart Empire?”
The laughter vanished from Senior Miriel’s voice.
“Looks like we finally have an agenda to propose under the Four Seasons Council’s name.”
The president muttered, pressing a hand to their forehead.
...Ah.
I think I brought this up for nothing.
I was starting to regret it. The meeting that could have ended quickly looked like it was about to become very long.
Sure enough, the seniors all began pouring out countermeasures.
“We need to strengthen the verification procedures for items brought into the academy from outside. The current system, which lets them pass with nothing more than a simple report, is dangerous. We need regulations for that...”
“No, regulations alone won’t be enough. At that rate, we’ll be too late, Miriel. We need to inspect them ourselves.”
“What, are you suggesting we organize some kind of patrol force, Sir Gaios?”
“If necessary, then we should. During times when outsiders frequently enter and leave the academy, the students themselves could step up and...”
“This isn’t something we can solve by thoughtlessly making the students suffer. To get to the root of the problem, we need to trace back who the sponsor is.”
“Hmm, do you think that’s possible? Even the president might have trouble with that.”
“As it happens, I hear the Imperial Mage Corps has begun a full-scale investigation. So the student council should cooperate as well...”
Tiresome, boring words poured forth.
Wow, just listening to this is giving me a headache.
On top of that, if even one of the things being discussed now gets put into practice, won’t I be summoned all over the place again?
Under the pretext of being a magic consultant or a magitech consultant.
Absolutely not.
Protect my small, precious lazy life at all costs.
“Excuse me.”
No sooner had I tentatively raised my hand than the seniors, who had been engaged in a heated debate, all turned their gazes toward me at once.
“Isn’t everything you’re talking about right now terribly inefficient?”
It’s not like you’re going to do any of this yourselves.
Well, I suppose they’d patrol once in a while.
“It may be somewhat inefficient. But in the end, safety is what matters most.”
The president admonished me gently.
Yet their eyes were sparkling with interest.
“Or perhaps, Lunaris, do you have some other efficient method in mind?”
They said it as though they expected me to have thought of an idea.
“Preventing incidents is important, of course.”
I continued, barely suppressing a yawn.
“But if the other side is determined to act, we can’t prevent an incident from happening, can we?”
Besides, this is the world of <The Academy’s Grit Mage>.
Starting next year, when Kyle enrolls, this academy will be rife with all sorts of incidents, accidents, and unfair twists.
So I’d rather act on the assumption that something has already gone wrong.
This is a world where the plot is always out to get us, after all.
“It was a magic golem this time, but who knows what form the next incident will take or how it will happen... I don’t think we can solve this by simply running people ragged.”
“Go on. That’s an interesting idea.”
The president said, staring intently at me with their chin propped on one hand.
“In short, we need a way to minimize the damage.”
“Hmm, is there such a method?”
Senior Gaios asked, uncrossing his arms.
“Well, if someone barges in openly wielding a sword, there’s not much we can do about that...”
I continued with a shrug.
“But when it comes to magical terrorism, I think the professors in the Magic and Magitech Departments could handle it somehow if they put in a little effort.”
The key here was that the ‘professors’ would be the ones working hard. Not me.
No, come to think of it, shouldn’t the professors be the ones protecting the academy?
Why does a mere student like me have to work myself to the bone while being treated as the academy’s guardian-god cheat code—a click-to-win character?
“For example, we could put up a mana barrier around the entire academy.”
“A mana barrier?”
Senior Miriel asked, blinking.
“What principle would it operate on, exactly?”
“Well, the principle itself is simple.”
It’s nothing special—it’s the concept of biometric identification.
Like using personal data—iris patterns, faces, and fingerprints—as passwords.
Of course, this world doesn’t have biotechnology advanced enough for that.
But this is a world where ‘magic’ exists.
It’s a place where magitech has replaced science.
“I want to make use of the fact that every individual’s mana properties differ slightly.”
Beyond simply whether someone is suited to learning magic of a certain attribute or school,
this ‘theory of mana individuality’ is what defines an individual’s unique nature as well.
As it happens, the mana-based communications system I’m developing also uses this principle in place of phone numbers.
In the long term, I’d need to research technology that converts natural mana into codes so that even non-mages could use magical tools, but that isn’t something to think about right now.
“So, we collect all the mana codes of the academy’s members...”
“W-wait. Just a moment, Lunaris.”
Senior Miriel interrupted me with a flustered expression.
“What you just said... I’m hearing it for the first time. You aren’t just making things up as you go, are you?”
“Um, if you’re asking whether what’s obvious is really obvious, I’m not sure how I’m supposed to answer...”
More importantly, wasn’t this one of the basics of the basics you first heard when learning magic?
“Looks like you dozed off a little during your general magic lectures too, Senior Miriel.”
Suddenly, I began to feel a strange sense of kinship with that haughty, prickly villainess senior.
She was starting to seem surprisingly human.
“W-who do you take me for—someone like you?!”
Nodding off wasn’t exactly something to be ashamed of, though.
“Lunaris, what you’re describing right now—is it the theory of mana individuality?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Looks like the president hadn’t dozed off and had actually paid close attention in class.
“If that’s what you mean, it isn’t merely some basic-of-the-basics material. It’s one of the advanced research topics that fourth-years might tackle only in their graduation theses.”
...Huh?
“Isn’t this something they teach in the academy’s theory classes?”
I definitely remember hearing about it...?
“Apparently, you took your theory classes in a dream instead of a classroom. Very Lunaris.”
The president let out a small laugh and shook their head.
“Anyway, then what?”
“Well—continuing, after putting up the mana barrier, we register everyone’s mana in the academy.”
“That way, the moment some foreign mana that hasn’t been registered manifests, we can notice it immediately.”
“If we make it strict enough, we could even prevent magic itself from being used. And if that’s difficult, we could at least know when, where, and by whom it was used.”
The seniors nodded, mulling over my words.
“I’m just someone who swings a sword, so I don’t know much about it, but that certainly sounds like a good idea.”
“What if someone inside the academy whose mana has been registered causes an incident? I don’t think it could stop that.”
“That’s why I said at the beginning, President. We can’t prevent incidents from occurring, but we can stop them from escalating.”
In the end, mana was basically personal information.
“In other words, we could identify the culprit who caused the incident.”
“Hmm, not bad...”
“I think it sounds good.”
The seniors all nodded at once in response to my words.
“Come to think of it, setting up a barrier large enough to cover the entire academy would be quite a task. Do you have any ideas about that?”
“I don’t know about that part.”
Aren’t you asking too much of a freshman who’s only been at the academy for three months?
But I could at least point you toward experts in the field.
“Wouldn’t Dean Raymond, the great Archmage, be able to find a way somehow? Besides, quite a few of the new temporary instructors this time are from the Mage Tower.”
Imagining the dean, professors, and instructors working themselves ragged in my place, the corners of my mouth rose on their own.
Now that I thought about it, the Four Seasons Council wasn’t so bad.
If I played my cards right, I might be able to make legitimate use of the academy’s faculty and staff for the core episodes of the novel.
*
I was back to peaceful daily life.
A cozy bed and soft comfort pillow waited for me.
In the mornings, I lightly twisted the maids’ wrists.
Sometimes, when I felt like it, I attended lectures.
And every once in a while, I spent time with Claire, Senior Estelle, and Her Highness the Princess.
Those days continued.
To top it all off, when Dean Raymond became the person in overall charge of constructing the mana barrier and declared Thursday lectures suspended indefinitely, I was enjoying days as sweet as honey.
As expected, leaving bothersome work to someone else was the best.
-Knock, knock.
...Ah, here we go again.
Monday came around again after the weekend.
As always, this day began with Ms. Odette knocking on my door.
Half-asleep, I rubbed my eyes with a groan.
Ugh, I’d already had a bizarre dream during the night, so it didn’t even feel as though I’d slept.
Come to think of it, do maids ever get tired?
How many consecutive wins was it now...
Ten? Twenty?
Anyway, once it got to the point that I couldn’t count them even using all my fingers and toes, counting became too much of a hassle, so I stopped.
Lying in bed, I casually waved a finger at the door.
Mmm... Kanttapia, abracadabra...
...Huh?
“What’s going on? Why isn’t this working?”
Magic wasn’t manifesting properly.
When I tried to gather mana at my fingertips, it scattered like grains of sand.
While I was flustered, the door opened (by force), and a fully armed maid battalion led by Ms. Odette came looking for me.
“Good morning, Miss Lunaris.”
Ms. Odette usually showed almost no change in expression, but today the corners of her mouth were noticeably raised.
“We have some news today. The construction of the mana barrier was completed approximately five hours ago.”
“...Oh, really? That was faster than I expected.”
“When the barrier was being designed, we made one request of the professors.”
“...?”
“We asked whether they could restrict Miss Lunaris from using magic between 7:00 and 9:00 every morning.”
“...!”
An incredulous laugh escaped me.
No way... They actually abused it like this?
“What a shame. Apparently it doesn’t work on me.”
I subtly threatened her by lifting the sofa beside me with telekinesis.
“I never expected to be able to seal all your magic, Miss.”
But the threat didn’t faze Ms. Odette in the slightest.
“If it has been weakened even a little, that is sufficient.”
“...”
“You appear to be feeling rather inconvenienced.”
Using magic was certainly a great deal more difficult.
As if my body had become soggy cotton that had absorbed water.
But still.
As long as I could still use magic, this level was no problem at all.
“Ms. Odette, I see you’ve forgotten who suggested installing that mana barrier.”
“Of course I know. It was a proposal from the Four Seasons Council.”
Ms. Odette’s smile deepened.
“You dug your own grave, Miss Lunaris.”
I slowly rose from the bed and rolled my shoulders.
“But do you really think I made that suggestion without knowing this might happen?”
“...!”
Using telekinesis, I twisted space and squeezed out mana.
As expected, it hadn’t stopped me from using the mana of nature.
Well, controlling the mana of nature was practically the same as controlling all mana, after all.
The instant I scrawled a magic circle as though drawing a picture, Ms. Odette’s expression stiffened.
“Formation D! Everyone, use your full strength to subdue Miss Lunaris!”
“If you thought something this minor could stop me from sleeping in, you were sorely mistaken.”
Soon, the sound of explosions mingled with the maids’ screams.
“What’s going on? What happened?”
“Just when things seemed to have quieted down lately, she’s at it again?”
“Knights, help Luna... No, wait. Support the maids. Make sure Luna wakes up so she doesn’t skip class.”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
It was a lively and raucous morning for the first time in a while.