Carla-sensei and the Cursed Necklace

I cast the spell and look in the mirror.

"...That's amazing."

I couldn't help saying it aloud.

Because—my blond hair, or rather Kuzutos's, had changed to a slightly darker shade.

"【Disguise】. A spell that changes the target's appearance according to how much magic power it consumes."

I heard applause.

"It's an obscure spell, even among support magic, and not many people know about it. But you knew it well."

Carla-sensei said, clapping as she tilted her head.

"Yes, well. I read about it in a book and was interested..."

"Hmm. It's generally the sort of spell you wouldn't find in commercially available grimoires."

Carla-sensei's tone suggested she was somewhat suspicious of me.

Sorry, but of course I hadn't actually learned about it from a book...

【Disguise】 was a so-called character-creation spell.

In 'Last Arcanum,' you could change your character's appearance to some extent. The 【Disguise】 spell was what you needed to do that.

But this spell was really unpopular.

For starters, in the game, you couldn't make any major changes to the protagonist's appearance. At most, you could change their eye color, hair color, or hairstyle.

And no idiot would go out of their way to teach the protagonist a niche spell that only changed their appearance, giving up offensive magic useful for battles and progression.

And so, this 【Disguise】 spell...

"Huh? Who'd use a spell like that? lol"

"You put 【Disguise】 in your build? lol Hey, are you some kind of pervert? lol"

Thus, this poor support spell was ignored by the vast majority of players.

It was one of the foremost so-called joke spells, something you'd only ever see in a joke playthrough.

I was a fairly serious player, so of course I knew it existed, but I never once used it.

—However.

When Carla-sensei told me not to learn combat magic and to study support magic instead, this spell suddenly crossed my mind.

Of course, from a common-sense perspective, being able to change your hair color a little was hardly useful. It would be far smarter to study combat magic.

But I had a hunch.

If what happened from here on followed the same course as 'Last Arcanum'... suddenly,

I found myself thinking, "Wait, isn't this spell incredibly useful?"

For example, in 'Last Arcanum,' there was an event where an enemy organization attacked the academy while you were there. Basically, it had one of those clichéd chuunibyo scenarios every middle or high schooler fantasizes about: "There's a terrorist attack at school?!"

In the game, I happily watched protagonist Sieg-kun fight the enemy organization that had infiltrated the academy.

The protagonist looked cool as he mowed down the attackers.

But don't forget.

As we learn later, students were among the casualties of that academy attack.

—That's right.

This was obviously dangerous.

This was a world where all sorts of lunatics roamed around.

No matter how much I stopped acting like "Kuzutos" and blended in as a mob character, the danger wouldn't change.

But what if I could use this spell when that happened???

I could instantly change my hair to black and alter my appearance.

After that, it was simple.

I could use this spell to pose as a black-haired, black-eyed mob, run around the academy screaming to my heart's content while the protagonist and the terrorists battled it out, then clap and cheer once Sieg-kun had finally taken the terrorists down.

From Carla-sensei's reaction, 【Disguise】 was a fairly obscure spell in this world, too.

There was almost no chance I'd be found out.

The perfect crime.

This was amazing. Perfect.

"All right!"

My dreams were taking flight.

At the prospect of an unexpected future, I grew excited and clenched my fist.

"I'm glad it worked out, after all."

"...Yeah, I'm really glad."

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

Had I misheard?

Just now, Carla-sensei had dropped her stern expression and seemed incredibly relieved—

"...N-no! Ahem. My dear disciple, you must learn that there are uses for magic like this beyond fighting!"

"Y-yes."

No, no. I must have been seeing things.

There was no way Carla-sensei would suddenly get so casual with me, who wasn't even the protagonist.

So, while Carla-sensei was making little victory fist pumps, I asked her what she thought of the spell I'd learned.

♦♦♦♦♦♦

"Yes, it's excellent. It will return to normal over time, though—"

Carla-sensei said, nodding.

When I looked in the mirror, my hair had returned to its original color.

"But as a spell, it works just fine."

"So there don't seem to be any problems?"

"The only thing left is precision. Right now, you can only change part of the color, but if you improve the precision a little, I think you could even change your hairstyle...and things like that."

"I see. Thank you for today's lesson."

I said that and bowed.

After receiving her assessment of my spell, and with some time having passed, I was about to take my leave of Carla-sensei.

Just then.

Carla-sensei, looking grave, suddenly spoke.

"Come to think of it, my dear disciple—Ultos. Well..."

Carla-sensei fidgeted, looking awkward.

"There is something I need to tell you."

"Huh? Is there something wrong with my spell?"

"Ah, no, your spell this time was excellent. That's not it... It's about me..."

Having said that much, Carla-sensei took a deep breath, as if she'd steeled herself.

"I've decided to go to the royal capital."

"...Ah, I see."

I hadn't expected that.

But I immediately understood: it was already that time.

The academy.

In other words, she'd been invited to the academy, where the original story began.

For now, she was a wandering mage who wasn't officially affiliated with any institution.

She researched whatever she pleased and occasionally taught magic in noble households. You could say it was kind of like part-time work.

But that kind of life had one drawback.

Namely, the quality of her students.

Well, to be blunt, noble children were a mixed bag.

Some had incredible talent and went on to shine in the original story, while others were landmines like Kuzutos—grinning smugly without making any effort, then flying into a rage and firing their teacher the moment they were told they lacked talent.

In other words, not being affiliated with an official institution as a mage was quite the gamble.

Incidentally, in the original story, Carla-sensei was so fed up with Kuzutos's outrageous behavior and poor character that she decided to join the academy.

"But, Sensei, you stayed with us all this time. It's not like I tried to make you stay."

If anything, I was grateful.

Hearing that, Carla-sensei smiled. "Hehe." Her cold gaze softened a little.

"...There was someone I couldn't help but worry about. A reckless child who sought strength to the very limits of their ability without thinking of the consequences... Someone I couldn't bear to watch, yet couldn't help being curious about. So I stayed a little longer."

"Huh?"

Carla-sensei was gazing into the distance, trying to create a touching atmosphere, but I couldn't help being speechless.

...What kind of dangerous person was that?

"Sought strength to the very limits of their ability without thinking of the consequences."

What a terrifying person.

What kind of barbarian was that?

Apparently, Carla-sensei had found someone quite...eccentric, or rather, quite a piece of work, without me knowing.

"I see... So there was someone like that..."

"Yes. That child really is a handful."

"Hahaha..."

Please, don't let that person be anyone close to me.

If I ran into some incomprehensible dangerous individual like that, I would waste no time using my authority as the future lord to kick them out of the territory.

Thinking that, I calmed myself down.

Still, though.

Carla-sensei going to the academy wasn't a bad thing. It meant the story was proceeding as it had in the original.

I felt like the Lyon incident had taken the story pretty far off course, but somehow it seemed to be back on track.

"I'm sure that child is grateful to you, too."

I had no idea what that lunatic thought, but I wanted Sensei to leave for the royal capital with good memories of the Randall territory, so I smiled and offered some encouraging words.

"Huh? D-do you think so?"

For some reason, Carla-sensei looked a little happy, so I figured that was probably the right thing to say.

"Yes, I do. Of course."

♦♦♦♦

"Still, I'm going to miss you. You're leaving so suddenly."

I was saying my final goodbyes to Carla-sensei in front of the hut's door.

Then,

"Well... I've never had a disciple before," Carla-sensei said, sounding a little hesitant.

Well, it was probably her intimidating presence...

She wasn't a bad person—if anything, she was pretty scatterbrained—but her looks, or rather her overwhelming aura, kept any disciples from approaching her.

"So, my dear disciple. Well... Would you accept this?"

She held out a blue necklace.

It had a simple design, with a small blue gemstone in the center.

"I-it's a beautiful necklace."

I had to say that.

A beautiful woman—one so composed she rarely showed interest in anyone—was giving me a necklace.

"Mages have a custom like this. The master gives a gift to their disciple."

The beautiful woman said, smiling shyly.

The sight of her, usually unsmiling, slightly furrowing her brows as she bashfully held out the necklace was terribly cute.

But still.

Seeing the necklace she offered, my face went pale.

I knew.

I knew it was something terrifying.

A necklace made by Carla-sensei.

Among 'Last Arcanum' players, it was known by another name:

One of the most insane items in the story, notorious for bringing misfortune.

—Commonly known as 'Carla-sensei and the Cursed Necklace.'

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Carla-sensei

→ She used the kind of indirect, nice-sounding phrasing you often see in manga to create a lovely atmosphere, but the protagonist didn't get it. She probably has every right to cry.

Protagonist

→ Barbarian.