The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 25

25. The Great Magician’s Disciple

Staggering into the dormitory, Rain closed the door and slumped against it, sliding down to sit heavily on the floor. He frantically opened 『The Life and Achievements of Archmage Lynn』, searching for the index at the end of the book.

* Tureina

– 91p, 154p, 189p, 268p

“There’s no mention of her falling into dark magic? Was there a reason for her to fall?”

He read all the entries about Tureina on the pages listed in the index, but there was no such information.

[Tureina was a child found by the Rista party in a ruined village in the Lambreus region.]

It was a village that had sunk into a swamp due to the encroachment of the Abyss. How did that kid survive hidden in the attic?

She must have been seven years old then.

She was filthy and whimpering, so I gave her food to shut her up, which was the beginning of it all. After that, she followed me everywhere.

[Lynn recognized Tureina’s magical talent at a glance and took her as a disciple, teaching her magic.]

That’s a fabrication.

I didn’t teach her because of her magical talent.

– Let’s leave this child at a temple in the next city we pass through.

– That would be best, Rista. It’s too dangerous for her to travel with us.

Rista and Friede wanted to leave Tureina at a temple, but… Lynn knew from his days in the slums that if she were handed over to a temple, she wouldn’t have a good life.

The moment she was entrusted to a temple, her future would be decided.

She would either become a nun or, unable to endure the temple life, escape and become a petty thief.

– Hey, people aren’t treated well if they have no value, right?

– ……?

– The truth shall set you free. A famous quote from the first magician, Emitsa Page. Magic is an incredible ability. It gives social value to those who can use it.

I was just planning to teach her a few basic spells. That way, she could work as a court magician somewhere. That was all I had in mind.

– Even if you don’t understand what I’m teaching you, grit your teeth and learn it. Got it?

She learned without complaint.

I gave her the name Tureina at that time.

‘It’s a Dragon Language word meaning ‘learning,’ just hoping she would learn well without giving me a headache.’

As we traveled to the city, Friede laughed, saying, “Lynn seems to have fallen for that kid. He has a thing for little ones,” and Rista asked, with a serious expression, if he really liked younger girls.

– It’s not like that.

I just saw myself in Tureina, back when I was wandering the slums, desperately learning magic after the headmaster took me in.

Whether it was simple empathy or pity… As I taught her, I realized she had considerable talent.

‘That troublemaking brat…….’

Rain clasped his hands behind his head and stared blankly at the ceiling of the dormitory.

‘She followed me around so much.’

We stopped by a city and left her at a temple, but she escaped using the magic I taught her and chased after me to the end.

“Master, Master Lynn……” she would say, never wanting to leave my side.

She had an incredible talent for magic and soon became capable of fighting even the Abyss, but I still wouldn’t let her come to the final battle.

– Master, I want to go too. I want to go and fight with you…… Please, take me with you…….

Come to think of it, I think I told Tureina to wait because I would return. Rain twirled the quill in the air.

“Sigh, what am I going to do with this troublemaker?”

It’s not entirely my fault that I couldn’t return…… I gave her a stepping stone to become a priestess, even though she might have died a nameless death somewhere, so I think I did everything a master should have.

“She should have lived well, eaten well, and ascended to the ranks of a saint before dying. Why did she cause trouble in her later years and get targeted by the Order?”

If she really researched dark magic…….

The fact that she was taught by Archmage Lynn and Friede, and that she had served as a priestess, probably saved her from immediate excommunication and inquisition.

‘According to Sammy, she was treated with leniency because of that and lived a long and healthy life before dying…….’

She supposedly died of old age around the time I was three years old, so why have her books suddenly been placed on the censorship list this year?

“I have no idea.”

Spinning the pen, something suddenly came to mind, and he opened Lynn’s diary. Immediately, the magic butterfly, Ludien, popped out and sat on his head.

Socrafres.

– You can inherit the progress of ‘unique magic’ research from the surrounding environment.

– Progress 37.9% => 39.9%.

It went up!

Even by 2%.

I guess it goes up if I focus and mess someone up with magic. I felt good, but my attention was focused elsewhere.

[My Master, the Coolest in the World]

On the bottom right of page 86, written in the adorable script of the Dragonin Republic language. It was a prank Tureina had pulled in the past.

Above it, a clumsy drawing depicted Lynn hitting Tureina on the head with a pen while teaching magic.

“……”

When Lynn found this, he immediately smacked her on the head, but…… now, Rain silently stared at his disciple’s prank for a long time.

Until the moon rose high in the sky, the starlight shone through the window, and finally, as it faded into twilight, the light of dawn rose.

For a very long time, Rain couldn’t close the diary, just silently looking at the drawing.

* * *

“Today’s lesson is on solving quadratic equations. In middle school, you only found solutions within the range of real numbers, but to advance to 2-star magic, you must learn how to find solutions within the range of complex numbers……”

To utilize each professor’s specialized expertise, adopted a system of mobile classes for advanced subjects. In other words, the person more proficient in the subject leads the class.

‘Wow, this is driving me crazy…….’

I’m trying to attend class to check the progress of modern mathematics, but my eyes keep closing. When I force them open, the images split into two, three, and then merge again.

I can’t fight the sleepiness.

Lynn’s body could handle marching for two days without sleep, but this pampered mage scion’s body is like this after staying up all night.

“……Hmm, it’s already this late. I’ll give you example problems, so solve them by this time tomorrow. Solve them alone, without consulting each other.”

As soon as he received the rice paper distributed by the teaching assistant, he scribbled on it with his quill and then slammed his head on the desk.

“Hey.”

But there was a cheerful voice breaking into his hazy consciousness.

Christa Warden.

I deliberately sat far away from her in mobile classes because she was so noisy, but she still managed to find me here?

“Let’s settle the score from last time right here! A competition to see who can solve this first!”

With his head still on the desk, Rain waved his hand like a zombie, as if telling her to go away.

“I already solved it.”

“What?”

“I said I already solved it. Go away.”

Then it was quiet for a moment.

Fortunately, it seemed she was obediently retreating, but suddenly, he felt a strange pressure under his arm. She was trying to pull out the rice paper.

“Hey, it’ll tear. What are you doing?”

“Give it here! Who do you think you’re messing with!”

With a short sigh, Rain slightly lifted his arm, and Christa snatched the rice paper. Only the answers were written on it, with no solutions shown.

“Look, do you know that the prestige of the Mage family will crumble if you do things so carelessly when it’s not an exam? Let’s compete seriously, a real competition! Hey, are you listening?!”

But Rain didn’t answer. Soon, even the sound of his soft breathing could be heard. Christa crossed her arms, dissatisfied.

“……What were you doing up late all weekend?”

I was so excited to compete as soon as I got this, and I’m the only fool…… Clicking her tongue, Christa sat down in the seat behind Rain.

‘Should I solve it in 2 minutes?’

The break is 10 minutes. If I solve it in 2 minutes, I’ll have time to correct Rain’s answers too.

Christa, the top student, solved the ten example problems in a flash in 1 minute and 37 seconds.

“Ra Berti [Excellent]!”

Satisfied, Christa looked at her own answers and then glanced around, placing Rain’s answer sheet on her desk.

Fortunately, most of the students had returned to their classes.

Hiding a hint of embarrassment with a cough, Christa leaned over the desk and whispered quietly, just loud enough for Rain to hear.

“Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. It’s not like I’m helping you, okay? I’m just trying to protect the prestige of the Mage family.”

“……”

“I can’t let our family suffer because of you. I can’t let that happen.”

Then, Gertrude Panton, who was standing next to her, watching Christa’s actions, narrowed her eyes.

“Watching from the side, it looks like you really like the young master. I must be mistaken, right?”

“?”

“?”

“Hey, do you think I would like someone like him? He’s my rival. I just don’t want to see my rival collapse in a strange place.”

She expected her to be flustered, but Gertrude was surprised and relieved by the unexpectedly serious answer. Nothing strange will happen between them.

Then someone appeared and peeked through the back door. It was a 3rd-year boy with a kind face.

“Miss Christa Warden?”

“?”

“I’m from the student council. Could you spare some time?”

Ah, the student council…… Christa nodded and stood up.

“Do this. Got it?”

“Yes, I’ll do my best since you’ll probably be bedridden with lovesickness if Young Master Rain gets expelled.”

“You, you, you, I’ll kill you when I get back!”

After Christa followed the student council senior out, Gertrude sighed and sat down, solving her own problems.

The time taken was 2 minutes and 58 seconds.

Pushing her own answer sheet aside, Gertrude was about to write the answers and solutions on Rain’s answer sheet when she suddenly stopped.

‘Huh?’

It was so unbelievable that she checked her own answer sheet and Rain’s answer sheet several times, but the reality remained the same.

‘The answers are all the same as mine……?’

Rain clearly slammed his head on the desk as soon as the professor left. The time from when the teaching assistant distributed the rice paper to when the professor left was, at most, 10 seconds.

‘It’s not that difficult of a problem, but he solved it all in 10 seconds? And all in his head?’

* * *

Due to reports of the Rat-Spider Queen appearing on the surface, traffic around the Moss Peak in the Red Mountains was completely blocked.

The Adventurer’s Guild prohibited Rat-Spider hunting until they formed an investigation team with high-ranking adventurers.

Two figures fearlessly entered that area. One was a tall man, and the other was a girl with a petite frame.

“Ugh, after putting so much effort into it for half a year…….”

Both were wearing dark blue robes, and no sane person would wear such colors unless they wanted a hot date with an inquisitor [member of a religious body tasked with suppressing heresy].

Dark blue was the color of the Abyss, and only the sorcerers of the Black Church, who worshiped the Abyss, wore such clothes.

“Ugh, annoying, annoying, annoying!”

Looking at the corpse of the Rat-Spider Queen, the girl stamped her feet and flapped her arms.

“I should have used this to reduce the number of bug-like adventurers and lure out the ‘Children of Gold’!”

Meanwhile, the man walked around the area, touching the ground and the trees dried by the heat of the fire, raising his eyebrows.

“The heat of the flames still remains, and the explosion radius is absurd…… This is at least a 4-star magic. We need to be cautious.”

“What’s the point of being cautious? They say ‘Rem and Bart’s Heart-Pounding Money-Copying Adventure Party’ used a scroll to catch it!”

A scroll is not just a piece of paper with a magic circle drawn on it. It refers to a high-level magical tool with magic power infused into the magic circle.

To put it simply, it allows even ordinary people who are not magicians to use magic just by unfolding the scroll.

However, only a 4-star magician would dare to create one, and even then, it takes a considerable amount of time to make, and the price is not cheap because it is disposable.

“I need to retaliate. I just need to separate their flesh from their bones!”

“That would only give the ‘Children of Gold’ evidence that we are in the south. We can’t ruin the great undertaking that is on track.”

“Then what am I supposed to do when I’m so annoyed! I want to catch someone and kill them! Want to, want to, want to, want to!”

The girl whined like a child and tapped the man with her hand like a hammer, but the man, as if used to his superior’s tantrums, just sighed and pulled his dark blue hood down deeper.

“Since the plan has gone awry, there is something else we need to prioritize over revenge.”

“What! What! What is it!”

“What else could it be? Reporting to Lady Tureina.”