Chapter 53
“You definitely have talent.”
Karnarov said after looking over the notebook I’d submitted along with the borrowed book.
Half the notebook was already filled with black writing.
“I’m not fooled by words like that.”
“If you take it that way even when I say something nice, there’s nothing I can say.”
“You say that, but you’re going to give me more assignments anyway.”
“You ask the obvious. If one possesses talent, is it not only right that one should devote oneself to honing it?”
Karnarov’s office.
[Basic Magic Circle Studies], Chapter 6.
[The Mathematics of Barriers]
Understanding that section and solving its practice problems had been the assignment Karnarov gave me the other day.
“I’ve finished grading. I added comments to questions 16, 24, 35, and 68, so read them later and solve them again.”
The hardest problems I’d been unsure about.
Problems requiring creativity, ones even the Magic Square Mathematician couldn’t solve.
A sheet of memo paper had been attached to each, covered in dense comments.
“It should help.”
It probably will.
“But the part I don’t understand is barrier magic.”
“There’s nothing for me to teach you about barrier magic. If I meddle, I’ll only throw you off the path.”
Since I was studying properly on my own, I took it to mean I should break through the obstacle myself and keep going.
Talking in such roundabout ways was a talent in itself.
“I’ll demonstrate it for now. You should be able to get the hang of it from this much.”
Then Karnarov chanted a spell and deployed a localized barrier.
It was a barrier spell using basic casting and the bare minimum of mana.
Even so, the barrier unfolded cleanly and stably.
He had given it a blue color so it would be visible, and added several other properties.
It probably consumed far less mana than mine, too.
“It didn’t turn out like that when I did it.”
The Magic Square Mathematician was going in circles.
Seeing the model answer gave me a rough idea of how to do it, which was terrifying.
“That’s your assignment to solve. Now, you may leave.”
Karnarov gave his wand a single wave, and the barrier vanished without a trace.
Then he dismissed me.
I decided to make a quiet escape.
If I dawdled, he might give me another assignment.
“Ah, wait.”
Karnarov stopped me from leaving with a gesture of his raised hand.
“Yes?”
“Could you get me just one of these notebooks? The paper quality is quite good.”
“That wouldn’t be difficult, but what do I get in return?”
“I’ll compensate you.”
“But what are you using it for…”
“Just a simple gift. All the liquor I was going to present has disappeared—”
I cut him off.
I couldn’t let him say any more.
“I’ll get it for you.”
That hit me where it hurt.
It had probably been Adrian who took it.
Adrian had drunk it all, and a considerable portion of it had become my mana.
In other words, my karma had piled up, and with Karnarov’s investigative skills, there was a real risk I’d be found out.
I’d have to get him about ten good notebooks later.
* * *
Lately, we’d been experiencing the power of air conditioning and the limits of fans at the same time.
“It’s humid…and hot…”
After coming back from class, we practically camped out in front of the fan.
But at this point, something seemed strange.
“No, but there’s no temperature control at all? That’s weird!”
My hair kept sticking to my skin, so I tied it up.
Even after pouring water over my body, I kept getting hotter.
Reinhardt’s summers seemed similar to Korea’s.
But it really was strange.
The faculty building wasn’t cool, but it was bearable.
The dormitory was unusually hot.
“I heard there’s a temperature-control magic tool in the dormitory building…but apparently it broke…”
“…What?”
“They said repairs might take until the middle of summer…”
At this rate, an air conditioner wasn’t optional; it was essential!
Aris and I were both sensitive to heat, which made it even worse.
“Gaaah, let’s just hurry up and install it! Come on, Aris!”
“So, what do I need to do?”
Aris had experienced the power of the fan and decided to take an active part in my project.
It was nice to see Aris roll up her sleeves and eagerly try to help.
I opened the storage room and showed her the parts.
Two very large air conditioners and an outdoor unit.
Wires, drain pipes, and a high-capacity power strip for drawing power from another outlet as well appeared.
There was even a toolbox for installing everything properly.
Aris stopped short.
“…A little complicated, huh?”
“Not just a little!! You mean all of this was for a single thing!?”
It was a bit much compared to a fan.
“Oh, and be careful around outlets. There’s always something resembling electrical magic active nearby.”
I taught her the basic rules for handling electricity.
Such as not touching exposed wires and never letting water get in.
Though I wondered whether Aris would understand.
“Hmm! It feels similar to handling mana imbued with an attribute!”
She seemed to have understood it in a slightly different way.
“Then shall we get started?”
“Umm…can’t we just make do with that magic tool?”
“Where do you think you’re running off to?”
“Ugh.”
I caught Aris as she began inching away.
The money I’d spent buying that air conditioner set.
And my time and effort.
I couldn’t give up here.
“Well…if we keep at it, we’ll finish today, right!”
“I’ll handle all the difficult parts anyway, so just lend me a hand.”
Aris nodded.
She seemed to have steeled herself anew.
“But there’s a problem.”
“Huh? Didn’t you say there was no problem?”
“The installation itself isn’t a problem.”
“Then what is the problem…”
“We have to drill a hole in the wall.”
“…Huh?”
Aris asked back with a dumbfounded look.
* * *
I continued with a dull, pedantic explanation.
The loss and exchange of heat, a passage for the drainpipe, and all the other reasons we needed to drill a hole in the wall.
“So you’re saying we have to drill a hole?”
“Yep. We can restore it with magic afterward.”
“Hmm…Linia could probably fix it somehow…”
“Huh? She can?”
I had just been planning to use elemental magic to somehow make sure I wasn’t caught.
But Aris, you’d reached the point where you were willing to let drilling a hole in the wall slide, too.
Even if there was a reason for it.
Even I was feeling a slight pang of guilt.
“More importantly, how are you going to hide it from the people who come to clean?”
“I’ll cover it with a barrier and obscure their perception.”
If I only had to hide the hole, it would be a small-scale barrier, and one mana potion would be enough.
Of course, the farther away from the barrier one got, the more mana it consumed.
“In Code, Domain.”
I deployed a small barrier as a test.
“When did you learn that too? It should normally be in a second-year textbook…”
“The upperclassmen taught me.”
“…Huh? You knew some upperclassmen?”
Of course, I had learned it through somewhat forceful methods.
I’d taught the upperclassmen how to deal with an enemy wielding a blunt weapon, too.
The upperclassmen accepted my teachings with cries of joy.
Most of them fainted because they were too happy, but that sort of thing wasn’t important.
It was a true exchange where we filled in each other’s shortcomings.
Isn’t this what a proper senior-junior relationship should be?
“Still, I can’t use this.”
I hadn’t learned it properly, so it had far too many gaps.
I’d only tried using it just now.
“If you want to learn it properly, there should be books in the library.”
“Hmm?”
“Was the book called Reinforced Casting? If you ask the professor, won’t he issue you a permit?”
Aris said she had also learned as far as In Code.
Surely Karnarov would issue a permit if I asked him.
I didn’t have anything else to do until I learned basic magic, anyway.
But.
‘Hmm. I see. You want a permit. In that case, work through Chapter 4 and have it checked during the next Magical Repair class.’
Hmm….
“I’ll go later.”
I couldn’t add more assignments when the final exams weren’t even over yet.
But the air conditioner was something I had to do now.
I took my wand and aimed at a suitable spot.
Unfortunately, I had no tool capable of making a hole in the sturdy wall, so I had no choice but to resort to magic.
“W-wait a second! How are you going to make the hole!? If you use a mana bullet, that’ll just be an accident!!”
Ah.
Right.
No matter how low-powered the penetrating spell, a mana bullet still relied on physical force.
It wouldn’t make a clean hole.
“Then shall we take care of the other things first?”
I couldn’t put it off.
I removed the packaging from the outdoor unit that had been sitting in the storage room.
Then I moved it onto the terrace.
The models I’d brought from the modern world came in two types: standing and wall-mounted.
I planned to install one in the living room and one in the bedroom.
I intended to finish both today.
Whether you die or I do, let’s give it a shot.
* * *
“Gaaah…”
Installing the wall-mounted air conditioner was a real pain in the ass.
There was more than one hole to make in the wall.
And since any noise risked exposing the construction, setting up a localized barrier to block it was extremely grueling.
‘I think my barrier proficiency has gone up, though.’
“Ugh…we somehow got everything mounted. But it’s really going to blow cool air from here!?”
She looked ready to kill me if it didn’t.
“Of course.”
“Then that’s a relief….”
“But first, we need to drill the hole.”
“So it comes back to that after all.”
I wonder if there’s some way to make only a clean hole.
“Hmm…if the material were a little softer, maybe we could learn a cutting spell…”
“Isn’t that an offensive spell?”
“Ah.”
At last, Aris’s brain had melted from the heat and labor.
There was no way a dangerous spell like that would be in the first-year-only library.
“Then what do we do…”
Just then, an idea flashed through my mind.
“…But wasn’t it a mistake to try to solve this with magic in the first place?”
“Huh? We can’t use anything but magic, can we? Even Yumia has nothing but that monstrous physical ability…”
“No, there’s one more.”
A card I hadn’t used.
But I had been practicing it steadily.
Its basic range and firepower were inferior to magic attacks.
But its basic offensive and cutting power were unrivaled.
A sword appeared in my right hand.
Tier 2.
My beloved weapon—one I’d grown attached to, and whose quality was better than any sword I’d used on Earth.
Blue aura suffused it.
“W-Whaaaaaat!??”