The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 71

71. The Great Magician of the Warrior Party Reincarnated – Episode 71

“So, what do you think? Do you think I could get a decent evaluation with this?”

Kassena Page, who had been working on a magic scroll based on a specific theme, asked with a slightly nervous expression a week before the final exam.

Lein, who had been skimming through the parchment with an intrigued look, shrugged.

“I don’t know.”

“Ah, is it no good after all?”

“I don’t know.”

“Hey! Give me a straight answer!”

Kassena’s shrill voice was enough to make one’s head spin. Lein shook his head with a soft sigh.

“That’s not an answer I can give you.”

“Then who can?!”

“The magic can.”

Kassena tilted her head, wondering if he was joking, but Lein’s face was utterly devoid of playfulness.

“Someone who taught me magic once told me: Magic is about imbuing your heart into a magic circle.”

Instead, the emotion that welled up in his eyes resembled a sad smile… I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but it seemed like a feeling close to longing.

“Imbue your heart? Into magic?”

The very foundation of magic is a discipline that pursues reason. Emotion is an impurity that must be excluded. But to imbue one’s heart?

“I couldn’t understand it either, and I still don’t, but when I actually try it, it fits surprisingly well.”

“What does?”

“If you imbue your heart into magic, the magic will answer that heart, they said.”

At that moment, Lein’s voice sounded dreamy, as if walking down a path thickly covered with fallen leaves during a long autumn, and at the same time, it seemed painfully bitter.

Then, when Lein chuckled, the scenery that had inexplicably been drawn in my heart disappeared. I felt a strange sense of loss.

“So don’t ask me, ask the young lady’s magic directly. Then the magic will answer you.”

* * *

“A trapezoid… you can implement that as a scroll?”

Even the president, Madelia Page, had to look at her daughter with a slightly bewildered gaze. Head Professor Marchena narrowed his eyes.

“A trapezoid, you say? What confidence.”

“If my humble disciple may venture a guess, she seems to be trying to implement telekinesis [the ability to move objects with the mind].”

“Do you think I don’t know that a trapezoid is a magic circle for telekinesis, Kyle, you numbskull! I bet Madelia’s daughter is the only one who chose telekinesis for this exam.”

“Perhaps only twice in the long history of Delaiten [the magic academy].”

Telekinesis is a representative non-attribute magic that does not belong to the eight attributes of magic.

It is famous for being easy to learn the basics but extremely difficult to master, so most people simply learn the entry level and give up.

Gertrude, who had finished bickering with Krista, opened her mouth while watching the same screen.

“Isn’t it true that you can do almost anything if you just know how to handle the power at the entry level?”

“That’s right. Spending time researching other attributes rather than telekinesis is also a way to increase one’s value as a magician.”

There is a big difference between simply casting magic and implementing magic with a scroll.

If you want to understand it easily, know that the caster must have considerable proficiency in that magic attribute to create it as a scroll.

The reason why many people were impressed when Krista perfectly captured the magic of her bloodline limit in a scroll was because of that.

“While the four major elements and the four minor elements all use runes belonging to the formulaic Lutiachen [a system of runes], telekinesis alone uses the amplifying Delbyshirts [another system of runes], which is one of the reasons why it is difficult.”

“Then there could have been a way to compromise with an attribute with a lower difficulty. Is it the pride of a noble family?”

From the moment you go beyond the entry level, the difficulty of telekinesis increases dramatically, so even if it is 1-star magic, it was questionable whether it could be properly implemented as a scroll.

*Hmph*, Krista crossed her arms arrogantly and smiled as if it wasn’t so bad.

“Taking a gamble here, that girl must hate losing so much.”

Krista is a heroine who has been sincerely devoted to the study of magic since she was six years old.

Perhaps that’s why she couldn’t help but like those who sincerely confronted magic like herself.

Looking at her master smiling, Gertrude shook her head as if she couldn’t help it.

“You should change the habit of showing goodwill to your competitors so easily.”

“Co-competitor? Get real! That girl is no match for me! Who do you think I am? I’m the genius Krista Warden!”

“Hmm~ Does that mean you’ll never let Lein be taken away by Kassena?”

Then the female students who were eavesdropping on this story covered their mouths, and the male students whistled. Immediately, Krista’s hand blade [a chopping motion] was planted on Gertrude’s head.

“I’ve been too lenient with you lately, haven’t I?”

“Heeing…” Gertrude rubbed her swollen crown and teared up. While those who had finished the exam were enjoying such leisure.

“……”

In the middle of the battlefield, Kassena, who was in the eye of the storm, felt a sense of tension in which her heartbeat was clearly audible.

‘Surely, I’m still lacking a lot….’

Lein, will I ever be able to study magic with you by your side and talk like that? Perhaps this will be the first hurdle to overcome in order to do so.

“A trapezoid… I’m not sure because my learning is short, but what kind of magic is this?”

It was then that one of the judges showed interest. It was an old man with a bent back, leaning on the ground with a cane.

“Th-this is!”

Perhaps because of the tension, her voice soared high for a moment and then cracked. It was an embarrassing moment, but perhaps because of that, three or four more judges came.

“It’s a magic circle of telekinesis!”

The Page family, like the elector families [families with the right to elect a ruler], was a great noble belonging to the first class, so they had to use informal speech to anyone except the elector family.

“Telekinesis?”

“It’s super convenient! Even if it’s hard to move, you can do anything with this power!”

“Oh, would you like to show us?”

Kassena cleared her throat and calmed her mind, then began to draw the letters of the gods in the air with her fingertips.

The light created from her fingertips remained as an afterimage, beautifully flickering in the air.

“Oh, ooh, oooo?!!!”

From the judges as well as the audience, exclamations of admiration poured out for the beautiful and unique bloodline limit [a magical ability unique to a family lineage].

The shape of the magic circle is a trapezoid.

The rune to be engraved is Ju (呪) [a Japanese character], and the mathematical formula used for interpretation is a cubic equation.

“……!”

Madelia’s eyes, who had been watching her daughter with worry, widened greatly. Surprised murmurs are heard here and there.

“She used it at high speed…!”

“Magic belonging to the advanced grade of 1-star magic…!”

“No, it seems great, but isn’t it just using the bloodline limit…?”

Madelia shook her head.

Even with the bloodline limit of the Page family, such a fast casting is impossible if the understanding of the magic is low.

And that’s not just 1-star magic, it’s advanced 1-star magic that uses cubic equations?

‘To this level in just two months…?’

Kassena, who was panting with a slightly flushed face, grabbed the rune that was shining in the air, and a colorless and transparent sphere floated in front of her, rotating on its own.

‘So what exactly is that magic?’

The judges voiced the question that Madelia had in her heart. Kassena immediately answered with a nervous expression.

“This sphere is the core of telekinesis. When you want to do something with telekinesis, you can put your hand on it and think about what you want.”

When Kassena put her hand on the sphere, a brush that was placed there suddenly floated up. Then the parchment floated up, and the mobile chair moved slightly to the side.

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

After finishing the explanation with a slightly excited expression, the judges only exchanged glances in the cold silence.

It certainly looks convenient.

It looks convenient, but doesn’t it seem too trivial to be called the magic of a scroll?

Just as she was about to close her eyes tightly in despair, oh… a middle-aged man wearing an expensive-looking magician’s robe glared fiercely.

“I see… I know why you used the rune of Ju (呪) for telekinesis.”

Ju (呪) is one of the dual runes that has the dual meaning of ‘wish’ and ‘curse’. The reason why it requires a cubic equation even though it is 1-star magic is because of its unique properties.

“Did you build the foundation of magic with the ‘wish’ property, and use the ‘curse’ property to capture the sustainability of magic…? Am I understanding correctly?”

The most important feature to pay attention to in curse-type magic is sustainability.

Unlike magic that inflicts great damage at once, curses are magic that must inflict damage continuously.

Kassena nodded with a surprised expression that he recognized it.

“I tried various efforts to take advantage of the strengths of telekinesis, but due to the limitations of 1-star magic, the power of telekinesis was either too strong and the duration was short, or too weak and only the duration was long.”

There, Lein did not immediately teach the correct answer. Instead, he only gave this hint.

– If you can only use 1-star magic, shouldn’t you use dual runes?

Whatever Lein taught, it always led to the correct answer. This time too.

“What I found there was this Ju (呪)! With this rune, the strength of telekinesis can be as much as needed in real life, and the duration can be about four hundred uses!”

Then, as if they had received a lesson, the magicians sparkled their eyes and murmured.

“Oh, is that so?”

“Four hundred times… I didn’t know the rune of Ju (呪) suited telekinetic magic so well.”

“To produce the same effect as 2-star magic with just one rune, it’s more amazing than I thought?”

In the center of the murmurs, Kassena cleared her throat with a shy expression and added this.

“This is just my short thought, but telekinesis is not just a ‘convenient power’. It is a ‘necessary power’ for people who have difficulty in life….”

Perhaps because it was a word that came from her own desperate experience, Kassena’s shy explanation had something that touched people’s hearts.

“So, I wanted to make a scroll that could really help those people. I’m still lacking a lot….”

And when she gave a pure smile as if she was embarrassed at the end, a silence as if the world had stopped overwhelmed the hall.

It was a fragment of the truth that Atlante taught Lynn and Lein passed on to Kassena: magic is about imbuing one’s heart.

Did the magic answer that heart? As if to fill the moment of silence, a tremendous commotion erupted.

“Can I have one right away? A whopping four hundred times!”

“Give me one too. When I get to my age, sometimes my back hurts so much that it’s hard to get up in the morning, so it would be very helpful.”

“It would be perfect to leave one for my mother. Give me one too.”

There were as many as seven orders that came in instantly from judges from all walks of life.

Kassena blinked her eyes in confusion, as if she couldn’t believe this tremendous favor.

Looking down at the sight, Lein was unknowingly smiling with satisfaction.

‘It’s a natural result. If you really look at it strictly, you can also be said to be one of Lynn’s disciples.’

Of course, she is the most lacking among those disciples right now, but anyway.

Head Professor Marchena as well as Vice Professor Kyle were smiling.

“Madelia had a fun vessel hidden away.”

“I agree. It’s still lacking, but if it grows, it will definitely become an interesting magician. A really, really interesting magician.”

Ah, the golden generation. It’s not just that there are students with outstanding talent. So many students with excellent mindsets have gathered like this.

I’m so excited.

What form will magic take in the era when these children are the mainstay?

“Kassenaaaaaaaaaaa───!”

At that time, a shameful cry exploded from the VIP room and shook the hall.

It was Yuren Page.

Despite the restraint of his vassals, the man was waving his hand wildly towards Kassena, shedding tears of emotion.

“Wh-what, what are you doing?! Really!”

Kassena turned her head away as if she didn’t know such a person, and concentrated on drawing a magic circle on the parchment.

“…….”

In such a commotion, Madelia Page could not control the tears that burst out and had to cover her eyes with one hand.

– Your Excellency, I am very sorry to say this, but the young lady will no longer be able to walk for the rest of her life…….

– I told you I wouldn’t learn magic! What’s the point of learning it? A disabled magician? I hate that!

– I can’t teach you anything. Her will is too stubborn… I’m sorry.

The memories that flashed through her ears for a moment were fragments of despair, fragments of sadness, and pieces of tears.

That’s how it was, surely that’s how it was…….

What I see in front of me now is… so dazzling that it’s hard to see…….

– Your Excellency, is it okay if I make Kassena walk?

I’ve said it and thought about it so many times, but I really owe you an unpayable debt. A debt that is not enough to repay for a lifetime…….