[V3C11] Friends
Translated by Jodas 3: The Fateful BrothersWhile the Apprentice Mages continued their practice by writing magical formulas on pieces of paper and flowing mana through them, two of them were called to go up to the podium.
“Hmm……I didn’t expect that we would have two people who’d get stuck on mana control training.”
Saying that, Hegelich looked at the two who had gotten stuck on their training—Tia and Ella.
Ella Frank. The girl with braided sand-colored hair and glasses. Tia was not the only one who failed at this mana control practice.
“I’m sorry……” Ella drooped her head with a cloudy expression, and apologized weakly.
Tia spoke to Ella.
“Did your paper fall to shreds as well, Ella?”
“No, I…..I can’t get any mana to come out…….”
In Tia’s case, the moment she let mana flow into the page, the paper would fall apart, but Ella was the opposite: nothing happened at all.
That meant she wasn’t able to pour mana into the page.
Tia recalled their mana evaluation.
That device measured a person’s mana reserves, as long as you simply put your hand on it and poured mana in—It was designed such that the mana would flow so naturally that even an amateur could do it just by thinking about it.
However, Ella had serious difficulty getting the gauge to start at all.
“Oh? Looks like the needle’s not moving at all. Miss Ella, would you mind putting a little more mana into it?”
“Ah, Yes! I’msorryi’msorry……”
She hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but that must also have been because Ella had difficulty emitting mana.
Hegelich inspected the remains of the paper that Tia had destroyed as he spoke.
“Miss Tia pours too much mana out at once. Miss Ella has trouble emitting mana. Such people exist from here to there, but to think there would be two with the exact opposite condition in the same place……”
Imagine you carved words into the dirt, then poured water into them. The water would be your mana, and the words are the magical formula.
Humans can slightly tip their bucket of water so that just enough water pours out.
However, Tia cannot control herself, and all the water dumps out at once, washing away the words on the ground.
Ella, on the other hand, has a lid on her bucket, or something like that.
Tia had worried that this would be the clue that tipped them off as to her identity, but according to Hegelich, there were apparently humans who had similar conditions.
“Miss Röhm, do you have any paper with high mana resistance? Also, can you get some mana conducting ink?”
“I have the paper right here. As for the ink, I’ll have to go back to the preparation room to get some.”
Röhm handed a new sheet of paper to Hegelich, then ran off to get the ink.
Hegelich wrote a magical formula on the paper that was said to have high mana resistance, then handed it to Tia.
“Try doing the same thing with this.”
“Okaaay…………………..Piyo! I did it! Director Hegelich, it glowed!”
The magical formula in Tia’s hands glowed brightly.
“Mhm.” Hegelich grunted, then called over Hütter, who was watching the other students.
“Instructor Hütter. Miss Tia from your class seems to have difficulties controlling her mana output.”
“Ah, yes, yes.” Hütter nodded noncommittally.
“Well, that sort of thing happens every once in a while. Well, I suppose you call this a student’s quirks…….”
“At this rate, her magecraft might cause an explosion. Either have her practice her mana output until the upcoming Magic Battle, or search for another way to deal with the issue. You should have a serious talk and come to a conclusion.”
“Yes, indeed, I believe it would be best to decide this sort of thing with caution, taking the person’s wishes into account. Yes.”
So Mr. Hütter would help me think through the problem together. Tia thought. As expected of Mr. Hütter, he’s so reliable.
At that timing, Röhm returned with a bottle of ink with a mana conducting effect.
Hegelich wrote a magical formula using that ink and passed it to Ella.
Ella took the paper, and placed her finger on the formula with shaking hands.
The formula glowed a faint blue. That glow slowly spread from the spot where her finger made contact.
“………….Thank goodness.”
The sight of Ella whispering in relief as she was on the verge of tears etched itself into Tia’s mind.
The group lesson that day was just about over by the time they were finished with mana control practice.
Those who were quick learners proceeded to practice with longer, more complicated magical formulas, but Tia spent the rest of the class switching between the paper with high mana resistance and the normal paper to practice controlling her mana outflow. Similarly, Ella switched back and forth between the mana conducting ink and the normal ink to practice her output.
However, neither Tia nor Ella were able to make much progress by the time the class ended.
“Pefuu……This is hard…….”
Tia, who’d been sitting alongside Ella at a separate table from everyone else, flopped down on the desk the moment class ended.
Ella tried to cheer Tia up.
“But Tia, it’s taking a little longer for the paper to fall apart now. You’ve definitely improved your mana control a little bit.”
“Pefufu…….mhm……”
If she tried really hard, she could limit the amount of mana she put out, but the next step was even harder.
According to Instructor Röhm, magical formulas were like weaving.
Just as weaving involves moving a thin thread in a complex pattern and tying it until it takes a meaningful form, she needs to weave a thin thread of mana in a meaningful way.
Obviously, Harpies didn’t bother doing such things as weaving. The very idea of weaving something never occurred to them. So it was hard for her to grasp the concept.
(Ella is human, so she at least weaves her hair.)
As she stared curiously at Ella’s braid, she heard a voice ask “Do you have a second?” from behind her.
When she turned around, there stood a boy with straight black hair. He had narrow eyes giving him a snakelike impression—this was Julius Löwenich.
“Looks like you’re having issues with mana control, huh.”
Julius looked at the shreds of paper scattered over the desk.
Ella smiled bitterly.
“It’s amazing that you’re able to succeed at those complex formulas already, Julius…..”
“Even without this practice, I can use most Modern Magecraft, you know.”
That line didn’t sound like a tease or a brag.
He spoke as if he were simply stating the truth—Either that, or it was an essential premise for whatever discussion he was about to start.
“My father drilled it in to me ever since I was young. I’m confident in my mana control techniques…….How about it? Do you want to team up with me?”
Julius looked at both Tia and Ella.
“I can teach you guys how to control your mana. I can help you. Won’t you be friends with me?”
Friends.
At that moment, Tia’s mind went blank.
Her thoughts and emotions all came to an abrupt stop and fell out of her head, leaving only the sound of a sweet young voice.
—Let’s be friends, shall we?
—Aww, how cute. You’re like a little plushie. Look, this one’s my friend as well!
—Hey, why don’t you sing some more, Tia? My cute little birdie.
The blank white space in her mind was painted over with red, red, red.
Julius clearly thought that Tia’s emotionless state was out of shock or something. He defenselessly approached closer to Tia and took one of her hands.
“Here, this can be a token of our friendship. Kuku……It’s a reasonably high-quality bracelet, you could even make a magical device out of it.”
A metal ring was placed around Tia’s arm.
A metal ring with a red stone attached.
—We match, Tia! That’s proof of our friendship!
“………..aaaa”
Tia’s throat shook. The groan that escaped vibrated the air.
“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!”
Tia screamed.
Her teeth bared, her white hair flapping wildly, and her amber eyes gleaming, she jumped at Julius with tremendous force.
Ella screamed “Tia!?” Wren and Sevil stood up from their seats and shouted her name was well. However, none of those voices reached Tia’s ears.
The sweet voice that clung to her ears blocked out all other sounds.
“I hate people like you! Hate! Hate! Hate!”
Collapsed on his back, Julius’ snakelike eyes widened, and he stared in shock.
Tia ripped off the bracelet Julius had placed on her and threw it onto the floor.
“How dare you put something like this on me! I don’t want it! I don’t want it! I don’t want it!” Tia stepped on Julius’ chest with her left foot as he lay on the ground. She had intended to run him through with her talons, but she couldn’t. That was right, her feet were human feet now, covered by boots.
“I don’t want it! I don’t want it! I don’t want it!”
Frustrated and furious, Tia screamed with hissing breaths.
“I don’t want ‘friends’!!”