Chapter 11
“Even elves with exceptional aptitude need time to get close to them.”
The birds that had flown off my shoulder landed on her shoulder.
I didn’t show it, but I was quite surprised.
‘What the hell kind of mana is this…’
It wasn’t very dense, but the flow of mana was huge and abundant.
And that mana extended beyond her body.
It felt as if there were almost no boundary between natural mana and her personal mana.
Are all professors just monsters?
Her gaze turned to Aris.
“But they just sat on that child’s shoulder. They don’t recognize her as a different species.”
“Yumia?”
“That’s right. It only recognizes her as a larger friend of the same species. Of course, it seems like there’s more to it than that, though…”
Her winged robe fluttered.
She looked my way and smiled kindly.
Somehow, even my heart felt warmed.
“Ah, introductions are late. My name is Shilariel. I’m the professor of botany here at Reinhart. You may call me Professor Silla.”
“P-Professor Silla. How can I get close to those children?”
“These children? They’re shy, so it’s hard to become close right away, but… it seems you have some talent too.”
The red one was poking around Aris.
Then it fluttered over and landed on Aris’s blond hair, chirping away.
“W-what!?”
“I’ve never seen a student with such aptitude here since I started teaching. If you have the time, would you care to join me for tea?”
“Hmm… if there’s something tasty, then sure?”
Honestly, I’d eaten way too many sweets yesterday.
And I don’t really like tea all that much.
“Heh-heh, I’ve never had complaints about my botany department’s refreshments… Very well. I’ll prepare the finest. How about that?”
“Well, if that’s the case.”
Silla smiled brightly and beckoned us to follow.
As we went into the East Forest, more birds peered our way.
After walking a little farther, we came upon a small hut.
“This is my office. I also use it as my residence.”
When Silla opened the hut door, sure enough.
The air was filled with the fresh scent of well-kept wood and greenery.
A living room and kitchen.
The table was covered with all sorts of papers, but since she said she was a professor, she was probably researching something.
The second floor was used as living quarters, and in the living room...
She led us to the dining table.
Aris and I sat side by side in the seats we were shown to, and she sat across from us.
“…Hm? I don’t see Fiola.”
“Pardon?”
“Normally my guardian spirit pours the tea, but I can’t see where it’s gone. I guess I’ll have to pour it myself.”
I voiced one of the thoughts I’d been holding since earlier.
“…You’re awfully relaxed?”
Karnarov always gave the impression he was being chased by something, but Silla was the exact opposite.
It felt like seeing a science professor and a humanities professor back in college.
“Heh-heh. That’s right. Come to think of it, was this year’s first-year class under that Karnarov?”
Silla laughed, covering her mouth.
“But he’s really outstanding. Genuinely passionate, and he never stops researching. If he can be taught properly, he’ll be a help.”
“Is that so? He seemed a bit petty to me.”
I thought of the homework I’d been given this time.
My plan to slack off by cheating on the homework and getting by on what I’d brought with me had gone up in smoke in an instant.
Students are supposed to have fun.
I may not be a student, but at least my body is, so I should get to have some fun.
Therefore, Karnarov is my enemy. Mm-hmm.
“Heh-heh. That side of him does exist.”
She smiled as she poured the tea and brought out the refreshments.
The refreshments were scone-like bread and cookies, and when I bit into one, the fruit inside burst with sweetness.
I don’t like raisin bread, but this was delicious.
The cookies were definitely good enough to stand up to a modern bakery.
“Wow! This is really good!”
“Please give me more.”
We polished off three scones right there in our seats.
Silla looked at us with a satisfied expression.
“Any other questions?”
“Questions...? Ah.”
“Go on.”
“Am I allowed to come in here?”
“Hm? That’s an interesting question. This forest is open to anyone, though.”
“Last time, though, the alarm went off.”
When I made my getaway, the alarm sounded and all the guards came chasing after me!
When I said that, Silla burst out laughing.
“Hahaha! Ah, so that alarm was you! I got a request for backup, so I sent a spirit, but after that I heard nothing, and Fiola was just slacking off.”
But why had I never seen that guardian spirit?
“Anyway, to answer your question, if you take the right route, the East Forest won’t set off the alarm.”
“Huh?”
Then I could’ve left without being caught!
So I wouldn’t have had to sacrifice my nose just to skip cleaning the bathroom!
“In the first place, the East Forest is called the Forest of Beginners. It’s the perfect place for first-years to practice magic.”
“I see. Do you have a map?”
“Are you thinking of coming here again?”
“If I need to.”
“Well, I don’t mind.”
“You don’t mind? Isn’t the forest dangerous?”
Aris asked Silla.
“That’s right. There are no magic beasts in the East Forest, so no matter where Aris goes, it’s completely safe.”
Silla answered with a smile.
“And upperclassmen who’ve learned a fair bit of magic too, if they know the route well.”
“I-is that so?”
“Indeed. Though I do chase them out when upperclassmen come here as just the two of them, a man and a woman. They were doing weird things, you know...”
“Oh, I should come watch later.”
“Haha. I won’t mind if you watch until the spirit on patrol chases them out.”
“Could you please not...”
Aris gave me a glare, but I didn’t even blink.
I should crack open a pack of ramen and watch from a tree later.
I unfolded the map.
…Huh?
The cave is on the route.
What the heck. I could’ve gotten out without being noticed.
“Are you interested in that cave? I had kept a close eye on it too.”
“Is there something there?”
Had she noticed there was an entrance to this cave?
But the answer she gave was different from what I expected.
“Since about last year, I think. The mana flow was strange, but it was an astonishingly unremarkable cave.”
“…Huh?”
“I investigated everything, but there was nothing. Every now and then, strange men and women would...”
“P-please stop talking about that...!”
“All right. All right.”
Aris blushed.
I lost myself in thought.
…So I can’t get across from this side?
No.
Then again, I’d crossed it before.
Then does that mean only I can cross it?
“More than that, I’m more interested in your aptitude. A talent loved by both mana and nature.”
I flinched slightly.
I’d heard that kind of thing a lot back in the training camp days.
They’d say I had outstanding talent thanks to my many traits.
Honestly, those kinds of words felt like empty praise.
What use is talent if you don’t have ability?
But the professors here were different.
“Now then. If you have that much aptitude, shall I teach you something interesting?”
They taught me one thing after another as they said those things.
“The personal mana inside your body is called personal mana because it can use magic derived from you—but—”
She rose from her seat, opened the hut door, and stepped outside.
With a gesture telling us to follow, Aris and I went out into the forest too.
“People often don’t know why natural mana is called natural mana.”
She tore open a packet she had in her pocket.
“Take one of these seeds.”
A round, pea-shaped seed dropped into my palm.
Aris stared at the seed in my hand.
Silla said in a gentle voice.
“Try infusing it with natural mana.”
Pop, pop.
When I infused mana into it, the seed sprang up.
Then a faint sprout emerged, growing to about 3 centimeters.
“As expected, you handle it well. Natural mana is also mana that can control plants like this.”
Silla approached a place where ornamental plants had been densely planted to form a hedge.
Then she manipulated the natural mana around it.
The densely packed plants moved aside.
“Wow...”
“If you handle it well, you can do this too.”
She flicked a few seeds with her fingers.
And all the surrounding natural mana converged there.
—BOOM!!
With a sound like a bomb going off, vines rapidly grew to form a wall.
“The seed I gave you is a Magic Vine. If you handle it properly, you can use it like this.”
I focused natural mana.
I could get it to sprout and form vines, but anything beyond that turned into a weird, tangled mess.
And after a little time passed, it turned black and hardened.
“Ugh. No good.”
“Heh-heh, you need practice. With less personal mana, your control over natural mana can also be weaker.”
She handed me a paper bag.
“I’ll give you a bagful. If you succeed in making it bloom and bear fruit, you could even be self-sufficient.”
“Oh. Thanks.”
Well, taking it for now was a good thing.
I turned my hand behind my back and stashed it in my inventory.
“Try steaming them sometimes; they’re tasty. I worked hard to breed them so they’d taste similar to ordinary beans.”
What?!
Food can be duplicated.
Of course, I hate bean rice, so I’d only eat it when I really have nothing else.
If people lived on beans alone, there’d be a riot.
“Of course, that was just the preface to catch your interest; the main point comes later.”
After handing me the bag of beans, she came up to me.
“Have you ever felt like you didn’t have enough personal mana?”
“Hmm...”
A little.
Still, there are ways to increase it.
“Well, basic attack magic, at least...”
“Well, you probably won’t be lacking right now. Still, wouldn’t it be nice to have a way to increase it in the long run?”
“Of course.”
“Then draw this magic circle on the ground. Stand on it, and just like you did with the seed earlier, focus natural mana into your body.”
…Isn’t that just breathing cultivation, isn’t it?
Still, the fact that it didn’t cost money made it very nice.
She handed me a stiff sheet of paper.
“If you do it steadily for just three hours a day for a month, you should see results. Specifically, with talent like yours... even so, it should increase by at least 50 percent.”
...What?
That’s monstrous!
I immediately looked at the paper.
A complex magic circle was drawn on it.
“Gyaaah.”
My inner mathematician spun in circles trying to decipher it.
I immediately looked away.
Seeing my reaction, she smiled faintly and said,
“The advantage of this method is that, because your personal mana grows along with the amount of mana you possess, its efficiency won’t drop as long as your talent can keep up.”
Barely processing the flood of information, I suddenly got curious and asked,
“…Why are you going this far for me?”
From another use for natural mana to a mana-increasing method comparable to elixirs.
“Why are you asking that?”
Her tone made it seem as though she couldn’t understand why I was asking.
“Well, to answer that...”
Though she trailed off, her answer was firm.
“Because you’re a student of Reinhart.”
…I see.
This really is a good place.
Then I might as well be shameless about it.
“Any recommendations for a good place to gather mana?”
“Hmm... the East Forest is probably the best place for now.”
“There’s somewhere else?”
“The West Forest. That’s the best place to gather mana. But...”
“I heard from my older brother that the West Forest is incredibly dangerous!”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. You shouldn’t approach the West Forest until you’re a third-year. No, honestly, even after that, it’s best not to go there except for class.”
Silla explained calmly.
“There are magic beasts there... and more than anything, because the ferocious and cruel King of Wings is there. Since the spirits fear the King of Wings and hide away, I never go there either.”
“You heard that, right?”
Aris looked me in the eye.
Her eyes were full of worry that I might actually go.
No, do you think I go around causing trouble like that?
***
“Woo! Still, I’ve got to at least give it a try!”
That night, I was in the West Forest.