Chapter 21
Chapter 21: Paper Academy
Honestly, I hate this world.
Being dragged into a medieval fantasy just because I'm good at games—I don't think that's something a person deserves to go through.
On top of that, what makes me even more furious is that the values held here are a little different from the universal human values I knew.
Take the concept of Transcendence, for example.
For swordsmen, those who reach Sword Master or higher. For mages, those who reach Grand Mage of the 7th Circle or higher—they break free from the limits of the flesh, so hygiene, meals, and sleep all become unnecessary. Lifespans easily stretch by hundreds of years.
What do those with power do? Obviously, they rule, and reshape the world however they please.
So in this world, sanitation and culinary development are terribly behind. That's the kind of world I was dropped into.
There were villages with no concept of a toilet—only communal outhouses—and as for cooking, the idea barely stretched beyond I caught a deer, grilled it, and it was delicious.
I was born into that kind of world with a talent for magic. Even as an orphan, I was able to grasp the concept of mana from a young age, and at the age of three, I became the apprentice of a Master…. Lidia Grand Mage.
"You. You're not from this world, are you? How fascinating…?"
Poking at my three-year-old cheeks, my master grinned.
I'm confident those eyes were exactly the same as a mad scientist's staring at an interesting test subject.
And then eighteen years passed in terms of physical age. As for my mental age…. I don't know. How many years did I spend locked inside Master's mobile lab…?
Anyway, during that time, I did nothing but study magic.
The Four Elemental Magics and Buff Magic.
Magic that shifts the manifestation point.
And Spatial Magic, which I'm told I have a talent for—all of it, up to the very end of the 6th Circle, learned and stacked one by one.
"My beloved apprentice. Yujin. What you say is so fascinating. Every time I hear it, it sends a thrill through me. To think this world might be a model garden…. Haah. There's still so much to research. Ah. Magic? Yes. I should teach you."
Saying this, Master bestowed magic upon me without reserve.
Master was a bit of an odd person, but as a mage she was far beyond top-tier—a Transcendent—so there was much to learn.
"If this world truly is a model garden, as you say, then there must be an ending…. In that case, wouldn't killing that one eliminate the connection and open a bypass back to the world you lived in?"
Master's reasoning seemed plausible, and from then on, I set myself a goal as a mage.
Kill all Demons, see the end of the dungeon, and return to the modern world.
And so, when I had learned everything within human capacity inside Master's mobile lab, I requested a meeting with her.
"You don't know the path to Transcendence?"
"No. I do not. How did you, Master, first step into Transcendence?"
"Conversely, the fact that you don't know is what I find stranger…. In the words you taught me—'wild'? Is that right?"
"It's a little humiliating, but that's roughly correct."
Master crossed her arms and thought for a moment, then nodded with an aha.
"Aha. I see. It might be because my beloved apprentice has far too much talent and doesn't know what it means not to know something."
"Pardon?"
"According to the setting of this model garden, you said you're the 'Sage' class—the one who helps the Hero defeat the Demon King, yes?"
"Yes. That's correct."
"So your mana affinity is uncannily high. Honestly, I'd wager that no mage has ever matched your level of talent. For example—being compatible with all Four Elements at once, or being able to learn both Light Magic and Dark Magic simply by willing it…. In other words, you are a being 'built that way.'"
"Yes."
"But Transcendence cannot be reached through completeness."
"What…. does that mean?"
"Exactly what it says. Among those with talent, only a handful of extraordinary ones get filtered through a sieve—and then filtered again—before they earn the chance to step into Transcendence. And the price is a deficiency in humanity."
"Humanity?"
At my question, Master draws two V-signs with both hands.
Her adorable round oval black sunglasses and red-fabric cheongsam embroidered with golden dragons flutter gently. Those, too, were things she made after taking a liking to them through conversations with me.
"That's right. My beloved apprentice. In the case of this great Master, Lidia Grand Mage—I could not forgive the idea of time and space controlling me. So I threw myself entirely into wanting to reverse time, manage space, and in the end, I was able to grasp the concept of spacetime. That's why, purely in terms of Elemental Magic, you outshine me in talent."
"……."
"But our apprentice is too well-rounded to feel a wall as a wall, and on top of that, you're not particularly obsessed with Transcendence, are you? Which Element you want to break through with, or whether you want to break through with Spatial Magic…. How can you take your first step into Transcendence when you haven't even realized your own desires?"
"I see. I lack desire…."
"That's right. If magic isn't the barrier, and your only obsession is wanting to hunt down every last Demon and slaughter them—then a Transcendence like Demon Slaughterer is also possible. With your talent, you will surely, by any path, reach Transcendence. Don't worry. Think long."
"Yes. Master."
Master's words pierced straight through my chest with razor sharpness.
I have no desire I want to fulfil in this world.
There's no guarantee that slaughtering Demons to my heart's content will return me to the modern world.
Magic is the same. The Four Elements were just given to me, and I have no particular wish to do anything special with Spatial Magic.
A mage with talent but lacking in desire. That is me, Yujin Kalintz.
But then.
"Master! This is delicious!"
"Mister, come eat too!"
By raising those two young ones, watching them grow, cooking with the ingredients I found, and sharing meals together—I was able to knock ever so slightly on the door of Transcendence.
"Well, well."
Life is long, and you never know where it will take you.
It was a day when Master's peculiar advice cut deep into my heart.
.
.
.
.
The next day. A meeting of our "Demeter Dungeon Special Conquest Unit"—aka the Special Unit—was held.
Attendees: myself, Yuna, Silen, and Full-time Faculty Professor Daisy—four people in total.
Rather than reporting the meeting notes to Professor Daisy alone, I thought it better to hold the meeting together, so I called her in and served dishes made from the ingredients gathered in the Demeter Dungeon.
Ah. The 5th Floor Boss, the Ice Ent, had dropped Ice Peach Leaves.
Simply put—whether dropped into hot water or plain water, the leaves alone were enough to create a sweet, cool, and refreshingly crisp iced tea. A magical leaf. What's more, it didn't matter how polluted or murky the water was—it would forcibly purify it—so concerns about drinking water had eased somewhat going forward.
Professor Daisy's eyes lit up the moment she saw the dishes.
"Magnificent. Such delicious bar snacks—I mean, dishes. And dried fish jerky made from Frozen Fish that you can't stop once you've had one bite—I mean, preserved food! And peaches that would make a brilliant wine—I mean, beverages!"
"You can speak freely. That I should make everything into bar snacks and brew some wine, yes?"
"Ahem! As if I would say such a thing. I am Full-time Faculty Professor Daisy Swordcraft."
"Yes, yes. Anyway, as written in the report, our kids cleared up to the 5th Floor. And as also written in the report, a bit of a problem has come up."
"The party balance issue. It's simply unreasonable for two melee fighters to run through a Snowfield Zone."
"Yes. I am a Culinary Researcher, and it's true I have some buffing capability…. But if the ingredients themselves are this scarce, I can't be of much help. This cinnamon tea is about my limit for now."
"So what you're saying is—you want to find out whether there's a student in Demeter who can fill the rear support role."
"That's right. Do you have any students to recommend?"
At my words, Daisy made a troubled expression. Then she glanced over at Yuna and Silen.
Ah. She wants the kids to step out for a moment.
"Yuna. Silen. You both did excellent work on this conquest."
"Ahem!"
"Mm-hmm."
"I have something to discuss with Professor Daisy for a moment, so take this and wait in the next room."
"Ehehe-hem!"
"Mm-hm-hmm!"
Puffing up their chests and grinning at my praise, Yuna and Silen beamed.
I grabbed a handful of cookies—flour biscuits stuffed with peach jam—and handed them over separately, then pointed to the other room.
“Go eat plenty, you two. The adults need to talk.”
Once the kids had withdrawn, Professor Daisy let out a long sigh and opened her mouth.
"The truth is. Demeter only has the Department of Swordsmanship. Strictly speaking, all other departments are nominal."
"Pardon? As far as I know, an academy cannot even be established without a minimum of three departments…."
At my words, Professor Daisy let out a sigh and pressed a hand to her head.
"Yes. That's the standard, isn't it. But you know, don't you? The world doesn't run on standards…."
"May I hear the truth of the matter?"
"This academy. It's actually a family-run operation."
Good grief.
The very first word of the truth made me uneasy.
"When you say family-run…."
"That is to say. The principal borrowed the names of relatives who had obtained a 'Department of Archery Professor Appointment Certificate' and a 'Department of Rogue Professor Appointment Certificate,' then roped in a starry-eyed new graduate professor who had earned a 'Department of Swordsmanship Professor Appointment Certificate,' and that's how it was founded."
"Don't tell me that starry-eyed new graduate's name was…."
"Dai…zy…. Sword…craft…."
Professor Daisy bows her head deeply.
So you were the one who got played too, huh.—I fixed Daisy with a lukewarm stare, and she buried her face in both hands and bowed her head low.
"An academy generates national subsidies just by being established, you see. In the end, I was the only one with a proper curriculum, and I tried my best to guide the students, but…. There's simply been no staffing. And…."
"Why didn't you report it to the Empire?"
"I was planning to once I'd gathered a bit more evidence. But I was so busy teaching students I could only sleep three hours a night, so evidence-gathering fell behind too…. I was so furious with nowhere to vent it that I couldn't survive the week without at least a drink on the weekends—and then it was back to Monday again…."
She's been thoroughly played and thoroughly tangled up, truly.
"Anyway, to get to the point—are you saying that aside from Yuna and Silen, everyone in Demeter is melee?"
"That's…how it stands. I'm sorry. For being so incompetent…."
No. I think Daisy has done more than enough.
"Then I suppose I must assume there's no way to fill the rear support?"
"Well, that…. It's not that there's absolutely nothing. I think it would be quite a grueling path, but…."
"Really? What kind of method is there?"
"Bringing a student over from another academy."
Is this Demeter Academy or the Marine Fortress…?
"No—doesn't that seem strange? Who on earth would come to a Demeter like this…. Should we just kidnap someone? Go out onto the street, find a student who looks talented, kidnap them, and hand them a 'Congratulations on enrolling in Demeter'…?"
"Ah, no. Not anything illegal like that…. It's recruiting students who want to transfer to Demeter or participate together in dungeon exploration. Even if they're students, they're adventurers who conquer dungeons. That kind of cooperative framework is set up quite flexibly."
Ah, so that's how it works.
"The problem is, I don't think there'd be a student who'd come to this wretched Grand Dungeon…."
"But I don't think it's entirely impossible, either. The best approach would be to issue an official challenge to another school, win, and then publicize the academy."
So in other words—send Yuna and Silen charging into another academy, smash their signboard in half, and poach their students?
"Would there be an academy or student suitable for that?"
"Well…. I think there should be. There's actually one academy—and one student—that I have in mind. Supposedly a master of spirit arts, and apparently well-regarded within their academy too."
"Which academy, and who?"
"Rudra Academy's Student Council President, Hyacinth."
Ah.
That brown-bread-roll-haired young lady of indisputably ordinary origins pretending to be a noble…?
The idea is to beat her down—or rather, defeat her and get a transfer application signed?
Hmm.
Well, now….
Not bad.