Chapter 54 - Damn Reincarnation

Nineteen

The summer he turned nineteen.

Outside, the weather was sweltering, but inside Akron, it was pleasantly cool.

Eugene had roughly tied up his overgrown hair. Akron was filled with spells providing conveniences such as air purification and temperature control, but he was probably the only person wearing a thick, furry cloak in this summer heat.

There was no particular reason.

It was just comfortable.

Despite its heavy appearance, the Cloak of Darkness weighed almost nothing. Naturally, it did have weight, but magic was a wonderfully convenient thing.

Even if he could feel its full weight, it would not have bothered him. He had been going about his daily life with heavy sandbags strapped to his body since before he turned ten. Why would the weight of a mere cloak trouble him?

It was not hot, either. The cloak resonated with its owner's sensory system, constantly monitoring the air temperature and his body temperature. Whatever the circumstances, it worked to keep its owner comfortable. That alone was convenient, but what Eugene liked best was the spatial magic built into it.

The extradimensional space, in particular.

Spinning the pen in his hand, Eugene looked down at the desk. He had been working on his paper for hours. Before he knew it, he had filled the page with densely packed writing. He rolled it up carelessly and tossed it into his cloak, then took out a fresh sheet.

“Isn't it about time you went to eat?”

Mer spoke from across the desk. She sat in a chair, swinging her legs with her chin propped in both hands.

“I ate plenty earlier.”

“As if that's anything new. You always eat plenty, Eugene. Aren't you hungry now, too?”

“A little. But I can't go eat now. It'll break my concentration.”

“Liar,” Mer muttered, puffing out her cheeks. Break his concentration? She had been watching Eugene for two years now, and not once had she seen him fail to concentrate.

“Aren't you rushing things?”

“Not really.”

“Since you've decided to write a paper, wouldn't it be better to work calmly and slowly, without leaving even the tiniest mistake... Um... What I mean is, you should be careful, shouldn't you?”

“I'm not rushing, and I'm writing calmly. I don't know about slowly. I always revise, and I can't see any mistakes, at least. In other words, I am being careful.”

Eugene answered while spinning his pen. Mer was not particularly pleased with his response.

“... Ordinary mages, you know, spend decades completing papers that set out their magic.”

“I haven't been learning magic for decades.”

“Exactly! That's why it's incredibly arrogant of you to be writing a paper already! Stop doing something so unnecessary and spend another ten years or so devoting yourself to magic...”

“Our little Mer is so shy.”

Eugene grinned at her. Mer furrowed her brows in disgust and raised two tightly clenched fists in front of him.

“Didn't I tell you to stop crossing the line?”

“I've never crossed any line.”

“‘Our little Mer’! I told you not to call me that. I've lived two hundred years longer than you.”

“Our little Granny Mer is so shy.”

“Should I kill you?”

Mer's shoulders trembled. Still, she did not direct any murderous intent at Eugene. After two years of this teasing, she had grown used to it. Besides, despite what she said, she did not truly dislike the way he treated her.

It was unfamiliar, fascinating, and something she had missed. Among all the mages who had visited Akron over the centuries, not one had treated Mer like a child. There had occasionally been lunatics who dissected Mer and Witch Craft using research as their bullshit excuse, but most mages kept their distance and treated her with stiff deference.

They could hardly do otherwise. Mer was a familiar created by Senya the Wise herself, modeled on her childhood self. She was also the artificial intelligence of Witch Craft, reputed to be the greatest work in the history of magic. Even those who had dissected her had expressed awe toward Mer after experiencing Witch Craft.

Eugene, however, did not.

He had no reason to. Respect for Senya the Wise? He acknowledged that she was an extraordinary mage, but to Eugene, Senya was simply Senya.

“You don't want me to leave?”

“Ugh...”

“See? You don't. I've been coming here for two years now, and I'm practically the only one who visits regularly.”

“Well... That can't be helped.”

Mer unclenched her fists and grumbled.

“The other mages experienced Witch Craft a long time ago.”

Two years had passed since Eugene first entered Akron. He came almost every day, spending half his waking hours in the Hall of Senya.

That was not an astonishing feat. Every mage granted entry to Akron immersed themselves in magic just as diligently as Eugene.

Most of the mages who visited Akron possessed tremendous pride and confidence in their own magic. They sought to refine it into something even more solid and reach the truth.

Wasn't that only natural? In the two hundred years since Mer had come into existence, Akron's visitors had all been tower masters, heads of the Mages' Guild, court mages of Aroth, or members of Aroth's royal family. They were mages born with rare genius who had already proven their gifts.

To them, Witch Craft was magnificent magic left behind by a great predecessor. Eternal Hole, the pinnacle of circle magic. Any mage encountering Witch Craft for the first time could only marvel at its greatness and faint from the shock.

After several such experiences, they devoted time to understanding and investigating Witch Craft. Eventually, however, they realized something.

That truth was still beyond their reach.

From then on, their visits grew less frequent. Witch Craft was magnificent magic, but the archmages who came here had already established their own magical systems. They could not simply imitate it wholesale. Holding on to their admiration and astonishment, drawing inspiration from it... they hoped to perfect their own magic through independent research.

In that respect, Eugene was unusual.

At least, that was how Mer saw it. Was it because he was young, or because he had not yet established his own magic? Or was his thinking flexible? Did he lack the stubbornness typical of a mage? Probably all of the above.

For two years, Eugene had spent half his time in Akron with Witch Craft, without fainting or getting nosebleeds. After spending a long while connected to Witch Craft... he would come out and read the grimoires in the Hall of Senya.

What was the point of watching it like that? He could not understand it anyway. They said a small bird trying to match a stork's stride would tear its legs apart, but the gap between Eugene's level of magic and Witch Craft was not merely that between a small bird and a stork. It exceeded even the difference between an earthworm and a dragon, an insect and a god.

He was setting his sights far too high. He was a young master of the Lionheart family, one of the most prestigious families of all. And not just any young master: he was the first in its history to be adopted into the main family from a collateral branch in recognition of his talent. It seemed obvious that he was intoxicated by his own genius, gazing at a sky he could never reach.

And yet.

Eugene understood Witch Craft. No... Could that be called understanding? Learning. Even after watching Eugene for two years, Mer could not rationally comprehend what he was doing.

“... When you finish that paper, are you really going to leave Aroth?”

“Do you know how many times you've asked me that?”

“Including today, a hundred and thirty-seven.”

“Right. I started writing it about half a year ago... so you've asked roughly once a day.”

“Not twice a day, at least.”

Mer stuck out her lower lip.

“Yes. Honestly, I wish you wouldn't leave Aroth.”

“What would I do here if I stayed?”

“Anything you wanted. I don't know when the Red Tower Master will retire... but if you wanted it, I'm sure he would announce you as his successor without hesitation.”

“I have no desire to become a tower master.”

“What about the court mage corps? Trempel Wizardor wants you, too.”

Trempel Wizardor, Aroth's chief court mage. For about a year, he had been cultivating a closer relationship with Eugene and offering him a position in the court mage corps.

“Crown Prince Honein is well disposed toward you, too. As I see it, his faction will be riding high in Aroth for at least several decades to come.”

“I'm grateful for the crown prince's favor, but that doesn't appeal to me either.”

“You said you can't become the family head anyway, so why do you want to return to the Lionhearts?”

“Do I need some grand reason to go home?”

“Since when were you so attached to home?”

When she first heard about the paper, Mer had thought little of it. Eugene's achievements were astonishing, but establishing them in a paper would be far from easy.

Yet Eugene's growth had far surpassed anything Mer imagined. In the six months since he began writing, he had neatly organized his previously nebulous magical theories and, in the process, advanced his own magic several steps.

“... That paper. Do you really have no intention of publishing it?”

“None.”

Eugene shook his head.

“This paper is for my own satisfaction. Nobody but me can use it anyway. I'm just writing it to organize my magic formula.”

In other words, he did not actually need to write it. She had heard that dozens of times already, too. That was why Mer kept pouting. A paper written purely for personal satisfaction. Since he would not present it to the academic community, there was no need to worry much about its quality.

That did not mean he wrote it carelessly. The paper he had spent half a year writing had also been reviewed by his teacher, Lovellian, the Red Tower Master. Lovellian had been the first to suggest that there was no need to publish it.

[“No mage can reproduce this Ring Flame Formula. Regardless of their understanding or level of magic, reproducing it is physically impossible.”]

Eugene did not use an ordinary circle magic formula.

[“But that doesn't mean the main family's White Flame Formula practitioners can reproduce it either.”]

Eugene replaced circles with the stars of the White Flame Formula.

[“I... did try following this paper myself. But I was stymied from the very beginning. I have neither formed cores nor learned the White Flame Formula. So I tried substituting my circles, but it didn't work as it does for you. Instead, my mana flowed backward.”]

Eternal Hole, from Witch Craft.

Eugene had incorporated Eternal Hole into the circle he constructed using the White Flame Formula.

He had reached four stars in the White Flame Formula.

He formed a single ring from those four stars. Within it, he detonated mana in a chain reaction, just as Hamel had in his previous life. He refined the mana released by those explosions into countless cores and brought them into resonance. The rotating ring of flame held the mana firmly in place, preventing it from escaping.

That was the Ring Flame Formula.

Originally, he had intended to attempt it upon reaching five stars in the White Flame Formula, but his encounter with Witch Craft had brought that time forward. As he handled mana every day while learning magic, his White Flame Formula had advanced as well.

The two years he spent in Aroth had been more than productive. They had been grueling.

He became Lovellian's apprentice. Half his waking hours were spent in Akron, and the other half learning magic from Lovellian.

As befitted an archmage, Lovellian accurately gauged Eugene's level. He taught him nothing about the basics of handling mana, the arrangement of formulas essential to casting magic, or the fine control of mana.

There was no need. Lovellian's judgment was correct. In his previous life, Hamel had become Vermouth's companion with nothing but a crude mana-training method. He had been a leading figure in the war in Helmuth and had been present for the slaying of three Demon Kings.

All while practicing a crude, cheap mana-training method.

Thus, Lovellian taught him only magic: the spells that were truly useful among the countless varieties. He broke down complicated formulas as thoroughly as possible, leaving the arrangement of mana entirely to Eugene.

Once Eugene had established the Ring Flame Formula to some extent and begun writing his paper, Lovellian reviewed it and also took on the task of reworking existing circle spells to suit this unique magic formula.

That was not strictly necessary. The Ring Flame Formula could cast existing circle spells as they were. But if he was going to use a unique magic formula, wouldn't spells modified to suit it be easier to use and more powerful?

“Are you sulking?”

“Why would I sulk?”

“Because I said I'm leaving when you asked me not to.”

“I'm not sulking. What right do I have to stop you? If you want to leave, you can just leave. I've never thought about wanting to go anywhere, but even if I did, I'm a familiar who can't leave Akron.”

The more Mer prattled on, the farther her lower lip stuck out.

“So just go, Eugene. Leave me behind in this dull, boring, quiet place and go. I'm not at all sad to part with you after keeping you entertained for years. I'm not a living human anyway, and I know perfectly well that humans do whatever they please.”

“Do you?”

“Of course I do. I've lived two hundred years longer than you. I'm used to goodbyes. But Eugene, at least tell me before you leave. Don't just disappear without a word like Lady Senya did.”

“All right.”

“You're awfully calm, even after everything I've said. I must have felt this hundreds of times over the past two years, but you're trash, Eugene.”

“Why am I trash?”

“Because that's how I feel. Reasons don't matter. You're simply trash. So infuriating. You're so much younger than me, yet you have no respect for your elders. When an elder tells you something, would it hurt to just say yes?”

Still grumbling, Mer picked up the hat she had set beside her and put it on.

“... Of course... if you really were swayed by what I said and decided not to leave Aroth, I would feel very conflicted. My personality is based on Lady Senya's childhood, so my emotions, words, and actions inevitably contain a child's immaturity.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, of course it is. That's why I say childish things and act stubbornly. Yet even as I do, part of me understands. I feel foolish for saying these irrational things. Lady Senya wouldn't act this way. My behavior feels like an insult to her.”

“... Hmm.”

“So please don't take my words to heart. I'm only being stubborn like a child. You don't need to listen to me. You won't gain anything, and I have nothing to offer you.”

“Probably,” Eugene began, without stopping the pen he was using to scribble out his paper, “the real Lady Senya would've acted just like you.”

“Don't be ridiculous. Lady Senya would never do that.”

“I bet she would.”

“How would you know? You've never even met the real Lady Senya. Don't tell me you're saying that because of the Lady Senya in the fairy tale?”

Mer lifted the brim of her hat to show her face, then stuck her tongue out at him.

“In the end, that's just something someone made up. The Lady Senya I knew wasn't like that.”

“The paper will be finished soon.”

Eugene stuck his tongue out in return.

“If I don't get carried away with unnecessary ambitions, I'll probably finish it before summer ends.”

“So what?”

“Of course I'll come see you before I leave. There's something I've been planning to tell you then.”

“What is it? Are you trying to tease me? I'll kill you.”

“I'll tell you when the time comes.”

Eugene answered with a grin.