Shut-in Magician: 056

Shiu went to the guild again early on Water day.

Last night, they had a hard time classifying the herbs since it’d been late, so they asked Shiu to come back to the guild before sending him home.

Chloe was at the reception and she thanked him for yesterday.

The cost of the herbs had been calculated by the staff and she processed his request.

Shiu hadn’t accepted the request form, but dried herbs could be used for urgent requests, so the guild had accepted them. He received a considerable amount of money.

“…… Isn’t this too much?”

“Not at all. We could even offer you a little more. Actually, the doctor told me that he’d like to thank the adventurer who gave the guild this large amount of valuable herbs.”

“I see. But they weren’t that valuable.”

“It’s good to have them in stock during this season, isn’t it? I heard that you even provided materials that could be used for intermediate and advanced medicine too.”

Which meant that he’d made the right choice by not giving them Profisiba.

He had several materials that were used in advanced medicine in his spatial storage, but materials for advanced medicine might stand out too much. It was wise of him not to take them out much.

He had thought that it would be easier to exchange them since this was the Royal Capital, but that wasn’t so.

Medicinal herbs usually bloomed deep in the mountains and the geezer would eat them whenever he got a hangover. Now that I think about it, it’s such a waste.

He left the guild and hurried to school.

He was running late because he was talking with Chloe.

He slid in just before class started, and was happy and laughed because he ‘was late and made it to the classroom just in time,’ like a normal student.

Reigdole said, “You’re so strange.”

Shiu still hadn’t learned anything new from his compulsory classes.

He had already mastered the school library and it was only a matter of time before he read all the books in his record storage, but none of the information there was new to him either.

He also made a few friends, other than Reigdole and Alice, while enjoying his student life. He took requests at the guild in the afternoon, so he at least showed his face in the cafeteria at lunch time.

To begin with, he didn’t know what a student’s life entailed.

Life’s hard.

He thought while attending his fire attribute class.

Students only took classes for attributes that they had.

However, they could take classes for other attributes too. It’s better to take them, Shiu thought.

He even highly recommended this to Reigdole, who hated studying.

Reigdole didn’t have fire attribute magic, but he wasn’t losing anything by learning about it.

It was especially useful for those who hated reading. They could listen to the lectures and see the experiments for themselves.

He also told Alice about this, so she was also taking fire attribute class, even though she didn’t have the attribute.

It was thanks to her that Reigdole was attending class so diligently even though he hated it.

At the beginning, Reigdole would look really sleepy at the beginning of lectures, but he was really excited about practicing magic.

“Like this, there are a variety of fire attacks. By knowing the characteristics of fire magic, a magician without fire attribute could also counter it.”

The teacher praised Reigdole and Alice. They were happy to have students that didn’t have fire attribute after such a long time.

And, people were happy when praised.

Reigdole began to study diligently.

He enthusiastically listened to the disadvantages of fire.

“Sensei! So, you can’t counter the fire if you only just simply pour water on it, right?”

“You’re correct. That’s a good question.”

The teacher explained that people tend to think that fire could be put out with water, but fire caused by fire magic could either be evaporated by water or the water might turn into boiling water depending on how much MP one used.

In fact, it was recommended that one should evade or use a different method to completely extinguish the fire.

“Balance is important. For example, if you have a large amount of MP then you could extinguish fire with water by using water hammer.”

But then that would be a waste of magic. The teacher didn’t say it was a waste, but it would be pointless for people like adventurers to use their MP so vigorously.

It was easy to extinguish fire, and thinking about the easiest and quickest way to do so, allowed the magician to survive.

They were teaching the students how to think like that.

“For example, what would you do if fire spread while you were cooking?”

The teacher asked.

However, their analogy was bad. Only a handful of students in this class were commoners, the rest were all noble children. None of them cooked and they’ve probably never stepped foot into a kitchen before.

Shiu raised his hand as the representative of the commoners.

“I’ll put it out with sand.”

“Yes! How wonderful!”

The teacher clapped.

“There are other ways to put it out too. Can anyone think of them?”

“I’ve heard that putting it out with a water soaked cloth works.”

A boy named Viktor answered. He comes from a knight family rather than a noble one. Since he was from an honourable knight family, this title didn’t last for just a generation, but he gave off a different impression from the other noble kids.

“That’s right. There are a few ways to deal with fire just like that. Don’t overdo it if you don’t have to rely on your magic. If you do use magic, then think about the quickest and easiest way to deal with something. For example…”

They said as they pointed at Reigdole.

“You have earth attribute magic, don’t you? You can also use that.”

“Huh? ….. Oh, I see. Cover it with earth, oh wait, wouldn’t that actually harden the earth?”

“That’s right. A fire barrier could be made if one mastered earth magic.”

“Wow!”

Reigdole had said he wasn’t dissatisfied with his own attribute, but he seemed pretty happy to know that it was useful.

They continued to talk about how to deal with fire for the rest of the lesson. It was a pretty good class.

Basic things were taught in the attribute classes, but they didn’t teach about combining magic, not even in the advanced classes.

According to Matt, combining magic was difficult, so it wasn’t taught until the next grade, when one studied towards their field of expertise.

Shiu was surprised. Did it take a whole year to learn elementary and intermediate work for the attribute classes? He was worried about whether there was actually that much to learn.

Matt saw his face and said, “Do you want to take the test and skip the grade?”

While taking classes, Shiu began talking to children who were noble and those who weren’t because he saw them a lot in class.

He met Viktor and Alestro some time ago.

“Hey, here’s fine, right?”

Viktor and Alestro called out to Shiu and his companions who were sitting near the cafeteria.

Alice and them had afternoon classes, so they were here too. The seats were all taken, but Alestro’s servant pulled some more chairs over.

Here, Alestro had the highest position amongst them.

Therefore, his servant introduced him to them.

“This is Alestro Fedrick-sama. The sixth son of Marquis Fedrick.”

Alice and the others stood up and greeted him as nobles.

Shiu and Reigdole only stood up since they were inside the academy.

Shiu had intended to only raise his hand when they’d said hey, but he was pulled up by Reigdole.

“This is Viktor Rosler-sama. He is the 2^nd son of the Rosler honorary knights and a friend of Alestro-sama.”

There was a considerable gap between their two ranks, but Alestro seemed to be an eccentric amongst nobles. Even now, he wasn’t acting proud and was just nodding coolly.

“I am Emil Scarsh. The 4^th child of the Scarsh House. I am Alestro-sama’s servant.”

Viktor and Emil were both 14 years old, the same age as Cora and the others.

It was hard for 12 year olds to enrol in the Magic Academy, so they were the normal ones.

“Emil’s in class 3. It’s a shame, he was so close to getting placed in our class.”

His laugh made him look more relaxed than cool. In a way, he felt like a noble.

“Anyway, can we sit here?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

Shiu answered too quickly and Reigdole stared at him angrily. Alice smiled wryly and Alestro looked calm.

“I wanted to talk with you guys.”

He smiled and stared at Shiu.

“I heard that you want to research about magic conservation techniques. Would you mind if I also join in?”

His green eyes shone as he grasped Shiu’s hands.