[V3C24] A Pretty Boy’s Worries
Translated by Jodas 3: The Fateful BrothersAfter finishing Röhm’s private lesson and leaving the Guidance Office, Wren began to wander the halls of the First Spire: White Smoke aimlessly.
If he really wanted to learn more about the inscription magic that Röhm had suggested, then he should have been headed for the Library Office. However, Wren stayed put, unable to decide whether he wanted to learn inscription magic or not.
(Just what are the advantages of inscription magic? ……Is it just that you don’t need an incantation so you could use it silently? Honestly, that doesn’t really sound like that much of an advantage to me…..)
Especially considering that inscription magic had to be activated immediately after writing the formula down, that part was hard to overlook.
According to Röhm, it sounded like you only had about a minute after finishing the formula to pour mana in and activate it. That made it almost impossible to use when it mattered. Wren’s honest opinion is that this drawback just about disqualified it.
There was a type of magic that took the fundamentals of inscription magic and made it usable no matter how much time had passed, and that would be the magical devices of the modern era.
Despite being a form of Classical Magecraft, inscription magic formed the basis of modern imbuement magic.
(Basically, inscription magic feels like a worse version of Modern Magecraft that works with chanting and magical devices…….)
It’s said that inscription magic is taught as a foundational part of both the Classical and Modern Schools. However, none of those people would ever try to use inscription magic in a magic battle.
Incantations are simpler, and far more powerful, so that much is obvious.
(I’d like to see something that you can only do with inscription magic. You know…… it would be cool if you could be like yeah, it’s inconvenient, but in a time like this, it’s just the right thing! or something like that.)
Wren couldn’t envision what that ‘time like this’ would look like at all.
As he walked and stewed in his thoughts, he saw a familiar person leaning against the wall on the other side of the hallway.
A snake-like boy with straight black hair and wearing a heavy robe — Julius Löwenich.
The same boy who had earlier tried to make friends with Tia and earned a kick to the chest as a result.
“Kuku…… Wren Bayer. With mana reserves like yours, I bet you’re feeling lost as to your path forward as a mage.”
“What’s it to you?” Wren bristled belligerently, but Julius smiled thinly as he continued.
“If you follow my advice, I can help you raise your mana reserves. I bet you can get to the level of a novice mage in less than a year. How about it? Don’t you feel like joining my faction?”
That sure was an attractive proposal.
However, Wren just stuck his tongue out at him. It was bad manners, but a pretty boy was pretty no matter what he did, so it was fine.
“You know, I got to the site for the entrance exam pretty early on. I made sure to memorize the applicant’s numbers.”
Wren glared at Julius and pressed him in a low voice.
“Right after your number, there were two guys who looked like mercenaries. Two middle-aged men with brown and blond hair. You hired them, didn’t you?”
The man who talked to Tia first and tried to steal their keys, and his partner.
Neither of those two ended up passing the exam. Wren had deduced that it was because they were simply working for money, for the purpose of letting their client, Julius, pass.
Julius only laughed to Wren’s pointed question. He seemed to be enjoying it.
“Ku, ku, ku, looks like I underestimated you, Wren Bayer. You’re surprisingly perceptive.”
“……We were attacked by the mercenaries you hired.”
“Kuku, it’s not against the rules of the exam, is it?”
“So you’re asking me to just forget about the entrance exam and act like your friend? Don’t give me that shit!”
Even as Wren laid his anger bare, Julius didn’t lose his confident composure, and instead stuck out his hand with a ring between his fingers.
“You don’t need to be my friend. I only desire people to share knowledge and to strengthen the standing of Modern mages. You only need to think of it as something like an alliance for that purpose.”
The ring in Julius’ hand sparkled. Wren had heard the rumors that he had formed a contract with a greater spirit and that said spirit resided inside his ring.
A contract with a greater spirit was something that could only be done if you had the talent and mana reserves to qualify as an advanced mage.
That Julius could do that meant he was a truly excellent mage. If Wren joined his faction, he would be able to grow his mana reserves and learn to use all sorts of magecraft.
…… But that didn’t interest him.
“If I’m going to be building an alliance, I’d start with someone I actually like. You’re out of the question.”
Wren shuffled past Julius, then walked out of the First Spire.
The feeling of I hit him with a badass one-liner! competed with a slight twinge of guilt in his chest.
(Did I go a little too far there? Maybe I should be like Rose or Oliver and confidently try my best to make friends anyways……. No, wait, can you even call those two adults ‘confident’? Is ‘confident’ right? Wouldn’t ‘blockheaded’ fit better?)
As he shuffled away, Wren grumbled under his breath.
Considering that they would soon have to work together for the magic battle against the Extermination Office, it wasn’t a good idea to push Julius away like that.
(But still, when someone says ‘I’ll teach you’ with a condescending look like that, it just rubs me the wrong way…….)
Walking outside while holding on to these conflicting feelings, Wren took a deep breath.
He felt like changing the air in his body gave his spirits a little boost.
(If I get Julius to teach me attack magic, it might come in handy in a fight…… but with my mana reserves, I could only let out one or two spells that hit like wet farts before I run out of mana……)
How would he use the inscription magic that Röhm suggested in a magic battle?
If he saw an actual magic battle in progress, would that help him envision it?
With that in mind, Wren’s feet carried him towards the Second Spire: Golden Needle.
In the training grounds he passed along the way, he saw mages from the Extermination and Protection Offices practicing with various weapons.
The ones engaged in sparring matches were could be divided into two roughly equal halves: those who fought with weapons like swords and spears imbued with mana, and those who fought by slinging fire, lighting, and such.
The techniques of the former imbued the metal composing their weapons with mana in what was referred to as imbuement magic. Especially popular was what was called ‘magic swords.’
When a weapon was imbued with mana it would be effective even in magic battles where physical attacks were nullified.
Compared to the types of magecraft that flung fire or lightning, imbuement magic was notable for its low mana cost. In that sense, Wren felt it might be useful for someone with low mana reserves like him.
(But, while magic swords are cool, it’s not really realistic for me to start learning both swordsmanship and magic right now and make it in time……)
As an example, he thought of Sevil.
Wren had tried to hold the curved sword that Sevil swung around like it was nothing, but it was rather heavy for him.
Not that he ever thought he could, but he would never be able to swing it around like Sevil did.
Aside from Sevil, when Wren thought of swordsmen around him, his roommate Gerald came to mind.
The boy with long bangs. He always woke up early in the morning to go train with his sword.
(But I’ve never actually seen him swinging that sword, huh…..)
Actually, he wondered how well Gerald would do in a fight — as he thought that, he caught sight of that same Gerald in front of him. Wren waved his hand in big, sweeping motions.
“He~y! Gerald! What are you doing here?”
Called by Wren, Gerald jumped in place and screeched to a halt. Wren ran up to his side as quick as he could.
The Apprentice Mage Gerald Anker was in his mid-teens, a little older than Wren was.
He always hid his eyes beneath his long bangs and walked with his head hung low.
Rather than a robe, he wore clothes with thin sleeves that were easy to move around in. At the moment he was not carrying his sword, but instead held a long wooden box in his hands.
Now that he thought about it, Wren hadn’t seen Gerald walking around with his sword at all since the entrance exam.
Whereas Sevil always brought her curved sword to class with her and rested it against her seat, Gerald only ever took it out for his morning practice.
Gerald lowered his face as if to shy away from Wren’s gaze.
“……I’m helping out the Management Office. They asked me to bring this to the Extermination Office, so…..”
“Oh? Since you’re a swordsman and all, I assumed you were training with the Protection Office or the Extermination Office.”
“………”
He didn’t respond. It wasn’t that he was ignoring Wren out of spite; it felt more like he just didn’t know what to say in response.
The conversation wouldn’t go forward at this rate, so Wren tried to direct the conversation to a different topic.
“Since you’re helping out the Management Office, are you looking to work as a magical device artisan?”
“No……I haven’t made up my mind yet.”
I’m in the same boat, Wren sympathized with him, but he also felt a bit of worry.
Most people who came to the Wedge Tower did so with a clear goal in mind, and compared to them, Wren felt somewhat inferior.
He wondered what circumstances brought Gerald to the Wedge Tower. Maybe he should try and broach the subject.
“You’re a swordsman, right Gerald? Are you not interested in magic swords? You know, Sevil’s been going to the Protection Office to learn how to use magic swords. How about trying it out with her? Do you want me to ask Sevil if you can?”
“……Please stop. I don’t want to talk about that……”
Rather than simply being bothered by Wren’s insistence, he fiercely rejected the topic.
It seemed that Wren’s suggestion was troubling to Gerald in some way.
Wow, this will be hard to talk about……. Wren worried, so he decided to change the subject.
“By the way, that box is the thing the Management Office made, right? What’s inside?” “……Apparently it’s a weapon.”
“Isn’t it heavy to carry it by yourself? I’ll help.”
“No, with just this much……I’ll be fine.”
After saying that, Gerald bowed his head once, then headed for the Second Spire: Golden Needle.
Not wanting to be left behind, Wren followed alongside Gerald.
“Actually, I wanted to watch some training at the Golden Needle. Let’s go together!”
“…….Whatever.”
His response was ambivalent, but it didn’t feel like he was strongly rejecting it, so Wren kept walking alongside Gerald.
The two of them were roommates, after all. It would be nice if they could talk to each other a little more naturally.
“You know, I talked to Ms. Röhm and she suggested I try out inscription magic, but I just can’t make up my mind about it. Like, remember that thing we did with writing magical formulas in class this morning? Apparently you can use actual magic that way.”
“……Sounds like it would be hard to use in battle. No one has the time to start writing things down on the battlefield.”
Gerald mumbled his response, but Wren’s face lit up.
He didn’t expect to get such a proper response.
“Yes! That! That’s it! I want to be at least a little helpful in the magic battle we have upcoming against the Extermination Office, you know? But how would I do that with inscription magic? That was my exact question!”
“…….Maybe you could use it as a trap?”
“Yeah, I also thought of that. But traps work best when you lay them beforehand, right? But since you have to activate inscription magic the moment you write it, you can’t set anything up in advance.”
As they talked, Wren’s spirits lifted.
He’d always wanted to have a roommate he could talk strategy like this with.
Gerald didn’t respond to him immediately, and would occasionally fall silent, but it was not because he was ignoring him, but because he was thinking, trying to choose his words carefully.
At that point, Gerald came to a stop.
He was looking at an expansive training ground in front of the Second Spire.
The eyes beneath his bangs watched the swords and spears colliding with defensive barriers with fearsome attentiveness.
Seeing the sharpness of his gaze, Wren shuddered a bit.