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Royal Academy, Room 207 (Kyle POV)

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I looked out the hallway windows to my side to see a beautiful sunny day outside and a light yawn inadvertently left my mouth as I slowly made my way over to the classroom. I was a little light on sleep today since I stayed up last night trying to make sure Aria was ok, but I don’t think I helped much. Ever since we finished hanging out with Alain and Lillian yesterday, she’s been a little fried in the head.

She was barely able to talk last night and got flustered everytime I tried to talk or even enter the room. It seemed like she was on edge the whole night too, but I think it might have been my fault. I bought a small hair clip for her yesterday when we were shopping with Alain and Lillian in an accessory shop because it was the first time I’d ever seen her do anything even close to hanging out with friends and I knew that in order to make any progress in curing her social anxiety, I would need to make sure yesterday had a lasting impression on her.

From what I saw while we were hanging out yesterday, I was pretty sure that she was having at least a bit of fun, so I thought that buying her a small gift as a reminder of the fun she had yesterday would be a good strategy to trick her brain into associating fun with hanging out yesterday, and consequently, Alain and Lillian too.

I was racking my head when we went shopping yesterday thinking about what I could buy, since, it had to be something she would use often enough to actually be an effective reminder, it couldn’t be too much of a burden on my wallet either since we were already a bit strapped on cash, and most importantly, it couldn’t be too suspicious. It had to be something I could reasonably give her as a present. Eventually, I figured that a cheap accessory or something like that would be perfect and I managed to secretly convince Lillian to inconspicuously bring us into an accessory shop while we were shopping. After that, Lillian kept Aria busy while I looked around the store and found a nice, simple-looking hair clip that wasn’t too pricey. I bought it and gave it to her after Lillian signaled to me that she was alone, and we all went home a little after that. Aria nearly gave me a heart attack too when we were walking home and she randomly asked why I bought the hair clip for her. I just came up with some random excuse while putting my best smile on, and I thought she was onto me for a second there, but it looked like she bought it.

Anyway, I feel a little guilty now though because when I silently peeked into her room last night to check if she was ok, she was just sitting in her bed, completely silent and hugging her knees while staring blankly at the hair clip I bought her as her face was burning up. I bought her the hair clip as a small keepsake, but it looks like I underestimated exactly how crippling her social anxiety was because instead of reminding her about how much fun we had with Alain and Lillian yesterday, it was just triggering a prolonged anxiety attack or something like that. And this morning it was even worse. I woke up to make breakfast and she was just sitting in the living room wearing the hair clip while looking like a disheveled mess with bloodshot eyes and bags under her eyes like she barely got any sleep yesterday. She ate breakfast as fast as she could and tried to make a break for it by telling me she was leaving for work, but I stopped her before she went outside. After double checking to see if she was ok, it seemed like she got over some of the anxiety by herself last night, at least enough to talk to me a bit again, but I wasn’t about to let her walk out of the house looking like a ghoul, so I cleaned her up a bit and fixed her hair. She curled up again and refused to make eye contact with me while I was cleaning her up, but when I tried to take away the hair clip, she immediately resisted, so I just left it on. Anyway, she seemed normal enough afterward to go to work after I was done, so I just handed her lunchbox over and sent her on her way.

So now, thanks to my great idea, I’ve probably made it harder for Aria to open up and I’m late to class too because of the time I wasted cleaning her up earlier, since, of course, everything nice I do has to eventually end up screwing me over some way, doesn’t it? Well, whatever, I guess I’ll just have to burn that bridge when I get to it.

I let out a sigh as I stopped in front of the door to room 207 and opened it before stepping into the room. The sight of everyone talking to each other in their seats met my eyes as I walked in and they all turned to stare at me while I walked over to my desk, pulled out the chair, and took a seat.

“Hey, everyone.” (Kyle)

I put my satchel down and leaned over on top of my table while stretching my arms out with a blissful sigh as Mari yelled at me.

“You’re late, Ky! Class was supposed to start fifteen minutes ago!” (Mari)

“Yeah, sorry about that I had to do something.” (Kyle)

I got up and rummaged through my bag to look for alchemy materials as I pulled out the first few stones I could find, a few ice elemental monster cores. I threw them on the table and rubbed my eyes before calling out to the class.

“Uh… anyway, I guess we can just go over some more ice element circles today or something. We already did a couple basic ones last week, right? So I guess we can do some more advanced ones today. Any questions?” (Kyle)

I got up off the table and looked around at the room as I saw Sophie swiftly raise her hand and call out with a curious glint in her eyes.

“Professor Kyle, what are the differences between the magic circles we studied last week and the more advanced ones we’ll be studying today?” (Sophie)

“Eh? Well, uh… they’ll have more lines in them.” (Kyle)

“Is that it? Is there a change in mana density or the flow of the magic circle?” (Sophie)

“Seriously Sophie, why even ask at this point? Do you really think Ky knows the answer to any of that?” (Zane)

“Hey, come on, don’t say that. Professor Kyle might be a little bit… ok, very unreliable when it comes to his knowledge of the specifics, but at least the magic circles always work if we draw them the way he does, and hey, maybe he even knows something about what Sophie’s asking this time.” (Halbert)

Halbert looked over at me with an expectant smile, but unfortunately, his trust was misplaced as I averted my eyes from his blinding aura of kindness and turned to Sophie with tears in my eyes from letting Halbert down.

“Sorry, but I have no idea.” (Kyle)

“See, I told you.” (Zane)

“Haha…” (Halbert)

“Ok, got it. I guess I’ll just have to analyze these myself later too.” (Sophie)

Zane sighed and shook his head as Halbert gave a dry laugh with a slightly disappointed face while Sophie wrote something down in her notebook with a passionate smile on her face.

“You know what? How about we just start class.” (Kyle)

I walked up the board and picked a random ice magic circle that was around a second level spell before picking up a piece of chalk. A complicated magic circle took its form in a few seconds as the chalk in my hand flew around the board and I grabbed a monster core before going to the corner of the room to get the large bucket that I’ve been using to catch all the ice bits after I learned my lesson last time. Back when I was running around fighting all the time, I never really thought about anything that happened after I used a magic circle except whether or not it hurt the enemy, but the last time we studied after an ice element magic circle in class, I got ice bits everywhere and had to clean it all off the floor afterward. So my genius solution was to just use a bucket to catch any side products from the magic circles and toss it all out after class. I put the bucket below the magic circle on the board and held the monster core up to the circle to activate it.

“【Frozen Snare】, single cast, activate.” (Kyle)

An icy blue light shone from the magic circle on the board as soon my words left my mouth and a chunk of ice encased my hand after the magic circle activated. After a moment, I shook my hand and broke free as a few chunks of ice fell into the bucket with a loud clunk.

“Alright, there you go. This magic circle is more or less around the level of a second circle ice spell, and it’s meant to be used as a trap because once it’s activated it’ll try and encase anything touching it in a layer of ice. So ideally you could set it up on the ground and set it off when an enemy steps on it, or even draw it on the palm of a glove with a few channels to connect it to a monster core and activate it when you grab something to freeze whatever you’re grabbing. Well, that is as long as you don’t mind getting your hands a little cold like I did.” (Kyle)

I placed the monster core back onto the table and rubbed my hands together while breathing on them to warm them up a bit as everyone looked over with curious expressions on their faces. The sound of pens scratching against paper resounded through the room and I moved the half-full bucket of ice chunks back over to the corner of the room before taking a seat at my table. Sophie was the first to run up to the board to inspect the magic circle as I deflated backward into my chair. I pushed the monster cores on the table towards her direction before flopping down on top of the table with a yawn while watching everyone else slowly walk up to the board.

“Alright, here’s some monster cores if you guys want to experiment, just be careful with what you freeze, and make sure you catch all the ice in the bucket. As for me... well, I’m a little tired today, so I’ll just be taking a little nap. Do me a favor and wake me when it’s time for lunch will you?” (Kyle)

I closed my eyes as everyone turned to me with awkward expressions, and I was beginning to drift off into sleep when a light impact on my side and Mari’s yelling brought me back to my senses. I opened my eyes to see Mari standing in front of me with an angry face as she held her fist up while Reina stood behind her with an awkward smile on her face.

“I don’t care how tired you are, Ky! You’re the professor, so do your job! What am I even paying you for if you’re just gonna come here and sleep!” (Mari)

“Eh? They can just wake me up if they need anything, and it’s not like I do much after I give them a circle to study anyway. Usually, it’s just them copying down the magic circle then experimenting with it by themselves while I sit and read a book or something in the corner. So cut me a break this time. I’ll only be sleeping until lunch, so I’ll be awake for the rest of class. It’ll be fine.” (Kyle)

I waved my hand at Mari as she stood there like she wanted to say something back, but she just shut her mouth after a moment and let out a sigh as she shook her head in disappointment while Reina tried to comfort her.

“What’s wrong, Mari?” (Kyle)

“Nothing, I’m just realizing how little you’ve actually been doing as a professor.” (Mari)

“Well, Professor Kyle already wrote a magic circle on the board for us to study, and he seems like he’s really tired today, so how about we let him rest for a bit, Aunt Mari?” (Reina)

Mari stared at Reina for a moment, who was smiling at her, before staring at me for a bit and letting out another sigh.

“Alright, fine. You can take a small nap until lunch, but just this time, alright? You’re lucky that Reina’s nice enough to plead for a lazy professor like you.” (Mari)

Mari turned around and walked back to her seat with a disappointed look on her face as I turned to Reina with a grin before extending my hand out and gently patting her head.

“Thanks, Reina.” (Kyle)

I closed my eyes as I heard Reina let out a soft whimper and mumble some incoherent gibberish, but I ignored it as the sound of everyone chatting softly in the background slowly lulled me to sleep.

***

Some light shaking woke me up as I heard the sound of Sophie calling my name.

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“Professor Kyle, wake up. It’s lunchtime.” (Sophie)

I got up and let out a yawn before groggily rubbing my eyes open to see Sophie standing in front of me.

“Alright, I’m up, I’m up. Thanks, Sophie.” (Kyle)

“No problem.” (Sophie)

Sophie turned around and walked over to Mari and Reina to have lunch as the sound of the door opening caught my attention. I looked over and saw Halbert, Regnis, and Zane walk into the room holding their lunch from the school cafeteria before Zane called out to me.

“Ky, you’re finally up. Come on, let’s have lunch.” (Zane)

“Sure.” (Kyle)

I stretched a bit before reaching over to my satchel to pull out my lunchbox as Halbert, Regnis, and Zane sat down at their seats and waited for me. A few moments passed as I pulled my chair over and sat down in front of them while they all opened their wrapped sandwiches and started eating. After taking a seat, I placed my lunchbox onto the table and opened it up as Zane took a bite out his sandwich before taking a swig of his juice.

“Bleh. Man, these sandwiches really are tasteless.” (Zane)

“Yeah… It’s not the greatest. But hey, at least it’s cheap.” (Halbert)

“Just man up and eat it. It’s not tasty, but it’s enough to fill our stomachs, isn’t it?” (Regnis)

“Well, if the school lunch is so bad, why don’t you just bring in your own.” (Kyle)

“Well, we live in the school dorms, so none of us have the luxury to have someone make us lunch every day like you, Ky.” (Zane)

Zane peered over at my lunch with an envious look on his face before taking another bite of his sandwich with tears in his eyes.

“If you don’t have anyone to make you lunch, just make it yourself like I do.” (Kyle)

“Wait, you make these yourself?” (Zane)

“Yeah, every day in the morning before I come to class. Who do you think made these?” (Kyle)

“Eh? I always thought someone else made these for you too, Professor Kyle.” (Halbert)

“Well, there is someone else that I live with, but uh… when it comes to cooking... let’s just say that terrible wouldn’t even begin to describe it. Anyway, like I said you can just make your lunches yourself if the school ones are so bad. I’m not saying you need to cook, but I’m sure all of you are at least capable of putting together a sandwich or two.” (Kyle)

“Hmm, I never thought about that. Well, I could probably make a decent sandwich, but I’ll be honest, I don’t really want to. It seems like a drag to go buy all the ingredients, and I’d rather just sleep in during the mornings instead of waking up early, and stomach this stuff later. At the very least, it’s edible.” (Zane)

“I would make lunch for everyone in the morning if I could, but my schedule’s pretty packed usually, and I’m busy most mornings. So I can’t really take out the time to make us lunch.” (Halbert)

Halbert gave me a sheepish smile and helplessly scratched his head while Zane finished his sandwich with an unenthusiastic face.

Huh, I thought for sure Halbert would say something along the lines of ‘don’t worry guys, I’ll make everyone lunch from now on because that’s what friends do’ since he’s the designated nice guy who seems like he would go out of his way for anyone even remotely acquainted with him, but I guess he has other things to do too. Well if he’s not the one making lunch, I guess Regnis is left out of the trio, but I highly doubt he’s going to do it considering his whole bootleg Goku and Vegeta dynamic with Halbert.

I started taking a sip of water as I looked over at Regnis to see him crossing his arms with his eyes closed like he was thinking about something, and a moment passed before he cleared his throat and turned to Halbert and Zane.

“Well since Halbert’s so useless he can’t even take ten minutes out of his day to make sandwiches, I guess I’ll just have to pick up the slack and make lunch for us all.” (Regnis)

Wait, what?

I immediately coughed up a bit of water as Regnis looked away from us with an embarrassed frown while Zane thanked him with a carefree grin and Halbert turned to him with an apologetic one.

“Oh, cool. Thanks, Regnis.” (Zane)

“Sorry, Regnis. I guess we’ll have to rely on you again. Thanks.” (Halbert)

“Eh?” (Kyle)

“What’s wrong, Ky?” (Zane)

The trio looked over at me in confusion and I gestured them to stop before turning to Halbert and Regnis.

“Wait, wait, wait. Hold up. I thought you two had the whole rivalry thing going on. What happened to ‘I’m only here for one reason, to get stronger, strong enough to surpass a certain man’ when you introduced yourself?” (Kyle)

Zane started laughing at my impression of Regnis and Halbert let out a light chuckle as Regnis had an embarrassed look on his face.

“Let me tell you a secret, Ky. Regnis might look like he’s a jerk on the surface, but ever since we’ve been kids, he’s always been helping us out. He’s really a nice guy who always looks out for everyone, he’s just too shy to show it.” (Zane)

“S-Shut up! I’m not like I’m specifically looking out for you two. I’m just trying to make my lunches better, and making lunch for you two is just something extra to make sure that you’re both on the same level as me, since beating you two wouldn’t count as much if I had a huge advantage like better nutrition.” (Regnis)

“Yeah, yeah. It’s ok, you don’t need to tell us the truth, Regnis. We already know, so thanks, buddy!” (Zane)

Ah, I see. Thought I had him all figured out as the cardboard cutout rival with an inferiority complex, but it looks like he’s really just an edgy tsundere. Well, I guess his act was good enough to fool me at first, so he got me there at least.

Regnis looked away from Halbert and Zane with an embarrassed blush on his face and crossed his arms again as I turned towards him with an understanding smile.

“I see, never thought you’d be such a tsundere, Regnis.” (Kyle)

I let out a light-hearted laugh and reorganized the trio’s relationship dynamic in my head as they all turned to me with confused looks on their faces again.

“What’s a tsundere?” (Zane)

“Oh. Sorry, I guess a little, uh, ‘hometown dialect’ slipped out there. You see, back where I’m from, a tsundere is someone who always acts like they don’t care about you even though they really do on the inside, and they usually say things along like lines of ‘I had nothing else better to do’ or ‘I just made it for you because it was an extra,’ when they really did it for your sake, but were too shy to say it outright.” (Kyle)

Zane started laughing hysterically after I told him what a tsundere was, and he pointed to Regnis as he could barely stop laughing.

“I’ve never heard someone so accurately describe Regnis! I guess he really is just a big tsundere!” (Zane)

“Yeah… the description really is uncanny... Well, I guess I learned something new today.” (Halbert)

“I’m not a tsundere or whatever! My goal is to surpass Halbert fair and square, and it won’t count if he’s at a disadvantage, alright?” (Regnis)

A few more minutes passed as we teased Regnis a bit before we finally finished lunch and it was about time to start class again. I put away my now empty lunchbox and walked back up to the front of the room as I gathered everyone’s attention.

“Alright, I guess we should start class again. So, what did you guys learn about the magic circle?” (Kyle)

I looked around the room and saw Sophie’s hand shoot up instantly with a passionate look in her eyes. I let out a sigh and got out of my seat as I pulled out a notebook and pen from my satchel and brought my chair with me to the corner of the room.

“Alright, just come up here and tell us what you’ve got, Sophie.” (Kyle)

Sophie immediately got up and sprinted to the front of the classroom with her notebook in her hands before stopping in front of the magic circle on the board and beginning her lecture.

“Well, after analyzing it a bit, I’ve learned that this magic circle in particular,【Frozen Snare】, has a more complex design like you mentioned before, but as such, it also requires a higher quantity of mana and therefore, higher mana density to function, especially in these areas, indicated in this diagram I’ve drawn.” (Sophie)

I scribbled down some quick notes on Sophie’s explanation of the magic circle in my notebook while Sophie opened her notebook to reveal a small copy of the magic circle on the board with a few circles and arrows pointing to certain parts. She showed it off to the rest of the class with a beaming smile on her face and pointed to the important parts of it while giving her explanation.

“You see, the circled parts have about double the mana density of the previous ice element magic circle we studied last week, Ice Shard, while the parts with an arrow pointing to them have about the same level of mana density. However while the differences in the mana density might lead you to believe that the mana flow might fluctuate in some areas, it’s actually very smooth and the flow is unimpeded in most parts of the circle. The only problem area I could find is a small point at one of the super-high-density areas in the middle where the mana tends to build up, but I believe that’s where the mana from the monster core is converted into actual ice, so it would make sense for it to have a higher mana density. That’s all I have on the design of the magic circle so far, but I do have some theories about the different functions of the sub-designs in the circle.” (Sophie)

Sophie turned towards me with an expectant look in her eyes like she was waiting for me to give her some praise before she started talking about her theories and I finished writing down what she said in my ‘research notebook’ for my lesson plans next year before giving her a smile.

“Alright, good job, Sophie. That’s some nice analysis of the magic circle there. Anybody have any questions?” (Kyle)

I looked around the room to see Halbert and Regnis writing down things in their notebooks, while Zane was just fumbling around with his pen and Reina had an awkward smile on her face as she was consoling Mari, who was facepalming as she shook her head.

“It seems there aren’t any questions from the class, so would you please elaborate on what your theories are, Sophie? Also, send me a copy of that diagram later if you can so I can, uh... grade it for you.” (Kyle)

“Alright, so as I was saying, for the first sub-design on the top left of the magic circle, my theory is that it functions as the indicator for what form the ice takes. You see, when we compare it to the previous magic circle, Ice Shard, you can see that many of the sub-designs are similar or the same, but this one on the top left is one of the few sub-designs that has changed. I’m not completely sure if this hypothesis is correct, however, if I had another ice elemental magic circle around the same level, I could cross-reference them and maybe even figure out what some of the other ones do, Professor Kyle.” (Sophie)

“Uh, sure. Give me a second and I’ll draw you another one.” (Kyle)

Sophie turned to me again with another expectant look on her face and I stopped writing in my notebook as I picked another random ice elemental magic circle.

Which one should I draw? Well, I mean she’s right about that symbol because when you change it the ice will make different shapes, but if I tell her that outright, I’ll probably have to actually teach the rest of the class something else, so I should probably just give her a magic circle to study that has to do with the shape of the ice. Uh… oh, I got it. It’s a little more complex than what we’ve been doing, but how about【Frost Blade】. I’m sure that Sophie will figure it out by the end of the day like she does with every other magic circle we study anyway. Her talent and intuition for alchemy are leagues above mine, to the point where it’s borderline scary. At this rate, I’ll run out of things to teach her after a few months. Hmm, maybe we should have some more practical training so I don’t have to constantly throw magic circles at Sophie and watch her process them within a few hours. Regnis was asking about practical uses for magic circles last time anyway, so maybe some controlled combat might be in order. I guess we could go out of the city and practice on some monsters. I’m sure that there are a few weak ones like slimes or something in the forests nearby. Actually, I can probably just drop by the guild and ask them about the safe areas for beginner adventurers too, since the safe areas usually just have weak monsters.

I walked over and picked up a monster core from my desk as Sophie took a seat before taking a piece of chalk off the chalkboard, drawing another magic circle right next to the【Frozen Snare】circle, and activating it.

“【Frost Blade】, single cast, activate.” (Kyle)

An icy blue shone out from the chalkboard again as moments later the monster core in my hands was completely used up and a longsword made of ice emerged from the magic circle. It felt cold to the touch as I held it in my hands and I swung it around slowly a few times to test out the weight as a nostalgic, yet frighteningly familiar feeling rushed into me through my hand gripping the sword.

Man, how long has it been since I held a sword? I almost forgot how natural it felt to be gripping one. Looks like my days of fighting and killing might be over, but the memories stay forever, huh? Well, they can haunt me all they want, but I’m technically retired now, so I’m too lazy to go fight. And hopefully, I’ll never have to experience that feeling of cutting into another person again... but, hey, if I need to, I can at least cut some inanimate objects, can’t I?

A feeling of melancholy flooded my senses as I stared blankly at the sword in my hands for a moment before I threw the piece of chalk I was holding into the air and swung the ice sword in my hands. My thousand year old muscle memory kicked in and I unconsciously used a good portion of my strength to slice the chalk cleanly into two pieces as the edge of the ice blade cut through the air following the same utterly refined motion that I had used a real blade for countless times in the past. A strong wind blasted through the room from the pure air pressure of my swing as the blade of ice in my hands instantly shattered into bits after making contact with the chalk and a burst of tiny ice crystals covered the floor. I came back to my senses after I heard the two pieces of chalk hit the ground, and I looked around at the mess on the floor surrounding me as I held the now bladeless hilt of the ice sword.

Ah, crap. I used too much strength, didn’t I? Well, I guess I’m on cleanup duty again then… Maybe I should invest in a tarp too.

I let out a sigh and turned back to the class to see everyone staring in astonishment as I sheepishly smiled and scratched my head.

“So, uh, that was【Frost Blade】and it makes, well, a blade of ice as you saw. It’s around the level of fourth circle ice magic, and it’s a legitimate weapon so it’s a bit dangerous, but it seems I used a bit too much force when I tried to show off how sharp it can be and accidentally broke the blade. Sorry about that. Anyway, I hope this magic circle helps you prove your theory, Sophie. I tried to pick one that was related to the shape of ice changing. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go grab a broom to clean up this mess. You guys can start studying the magic circle while I’m gone, just be careful not to hurt yourselves.” (Kyle)

I gave a dry laugh and dropped the sword hilt made of ice in my hands into the bucket before leaving the room to go get a broom as I took a deep breath and calmed down the urge to fight and kill that was beginning to bubble up again after so long.