Chapter 2:?Magic and Magecraft

The sound of the bell echoed in the classroom that was still in a commotion. Leticiel rubbed her eyes while lifting her head. She had been sleeping relatively soundly since she was tired from all the events from this morning. She then began to stretch without a single care to her surroundings.

“U-um.. Good morning, Drossel.”

The girl sitting next to Leticiel called out to her.

She had brown hair in loose braids and lovely orange eyes. Leticiel’s mind wandered to the fact that although they had spoken multiple times during the lecture, she had never heard the girl’s name.

“..Could you tell me your name?”

“Y-yes! It’s Mirandalette Lulu Wald!”

Leticiel’s question caused the girl.. or rather, Mirandalette, to flinch.?I didn’t eat or drink anything weird this morning though,?Leticiel wondered as she gazed at the clock on the wall.

“What is the next class?”

“Eh.. It should be Practical Magic Studies at the Magic Training Field.”

“..I see.”

When she heard the phrase ‘Practical Magic Studies’, Leticiel was reminded of the first thing she had seen in the previous class, that wretched Magic Formula.

A class about using Magic in a practical setting would most likely entail practice using that same Magic Formula. To Leticiel, the thing she had seen was nothing more than a failure of a formula, but perhaps studying it was common sense for this academy.

However, a pure sense of curiosity sprang forth from Leticiel’s heart; she wanted to see the result of that artistically horrible formula.

“By ‘Magic Training Field’, you meant we will have to move elsewhere, right?”

“Huh..? U-um.. Drossel.. Are you attending the Practical Magic Studies class..?”

“Oh my, of course I am. It’s a class after all, right?”

After neatly placing back her textbook and stationary into her bag, Leticiel stood up. At this, Mirandalette’s round eyes got even rounder; however, as the word ‘student’ referred to one who took classes, Leticiel thought that as a student, her participation in class was natural.

“What’s wrong? Let’s go together.”

“Heh..? O-okay!”

Mirandalette chased after Leticiel out of the classroom.

Getting out to the hallway was easy, but beyond that, Leticiel had no idea how to get to the Magic Training Field. While thinking about where she should go, Leticiel decided to just start walking first. But, she was stopped by someone pulling on sleeve.

When she looked over her shoulder, Leticiel saw Mirandalette making an indescribably complicated face.?Why is she making that face?

[Leticel while still in her walking animation looked back at mirandalette grabbing her left sleeve with her thumb and index finger while slightly leaning forward making a baffled/annoyed face]

“Mirandalette, what is this hand?”

“..This is the ‘Magic-Training-Field-is-not-that-way’ hand..”

“..I just happened to forget, okay?”

“Alright..”

While having that sort of unproductive exchange, Leticiel walked along the hallway with Mirandalette.

Mirandalette was not as afraid of Leticiel as she was in the morning. Although she was still acting timidly, Mirandalette was able to answer and even smile when Leticiel spoke to her. On the other hand, Leticiel still acted like she had left her amiability in her previous life.

Eventually, the two arrived before one of the two buildings next to the school. The one on the left that they were facing was the Magic Training Field, which would be used for the next class. The building across from it was the Swordplay Training Hall.

Everyone in Elementary 2 had already assembled inside the field. Naturally, Christa and Rochefort were among them.

The moment Leticiel’s figure entered her sight, Christa flashed her usual flower-blooming smile. For the people who only knew this face of hers, even if they had seen the Hannya face she had shown during the second period, they would not think that it was the same girl.

On the other hand, when Rochefort noticed Leticiel, he stared daggers at her momentarily before looking away with a scoff.?Unlike Christa, it doesn’t seem like he’s two-faced.?While observing people she had no interest in, Leticiel set foot onto the Magic Training Field’s soil.

Shortly after, the bell marking the start of class rang and the teacher in charge of the class entered with a large burlap sack in hand.

“Oka—y, the class will now begi—n.”

He then dropped the burlap onto the ground and gave a strange signal. His eyes opened wide when he saw that Leticiel was among the students.

“..Miss Drossel, are you attending this class?”

“Oh my, is it such a problem for me to be attending this class?”

“..No, if you put it like that, there’s no problem.”

Drossel’s unusual response prevented the teacher from saying anything further. He then looked away from her and turned his attention back to the rest of the students.

“Oka—y, I want to measure the Elemental Ratings of everyone’s Magic Power toda—y. Since you don’t have any Magic Power, please have a seat over there and observe, Miss Drossel.”

After hearing that statement, Leticiel finally realized the meaning behind the words from Mirandalette and the teacher.

These two people knew that Drossel had no Magic Power, so the fact that she was attending this class in the first place was strange to them. Additionally, the fact that no one else was observing meant that the only person that was without Magic Power in the class was Leticiel.

With her head hanging, Leticiel followed the teacher’s instruction and sat down on the bench at the end of the field.

The girl on the bench hugged herself as she started to tremble.

The teacher and the rest of the class thought that Drossel was enduring the humiliation of being left out due to her own incompetence. While the teacher’s eyes were filled with pity, the students looked at her with contempt and scorn, as usual.

The students firmly believed that what she had done earlier was simply a fluke. However, once again, they were very far from the truth.

“..Fufuu, fufufu.. fufufufufu..”

Leticiel was trembling while hugging herself as she was trying her best to contain her laughter. The thing that was bubbling up from within her was neither humiliation nor sadness. It was a sense of excitement and joy to the point that she wanted to start dancing while laughing out loud right at this moment.

“Ahaha.. It’s no wonder that this body’s Phenomenon Interference power and its function as a Medium were so horrifyingly high. Ufufufu..”

Because the bench she was sitting on was some distance away, Leticiel’s muttering didn’t reach the class.

The declaration that she had no Magic Power had greatly moved Leticiel. For Magecraft, as long as there was Mana in the environment, its power could be invoked semipermanently. However, it still had one shortcoming, and that was Magic Power.

Almost everyone was born with Magic Power. However, it didn’t have any special properties like allowing you to wield strange powers. It was simply a neutral force that circulated within the body like blood.

However, Magecraft practitioners needed to absorb Mana in order for their bodies to act as a medium for the process of transforming phenomena. Magic Power would hinder Mana absorption with the inhibition rate increasing alongside the practitioner’s Magic Power. Back in her era, there were many people who focused on physical means of combat because their high Magic Power prevented them from using Magecraft in battle.

It was only natural. If they couldn’t use Magecraft, their only option would have been to hone their skills in another way to fight.

‘Magic Powerless’ was the term used to refer to those who held no Magic Power at all. Back in Leticiel’s old world, they were extremely scarce and were regarded as the greatest treasures.

In terms of how rare they were, there would be one in a hundred thousand. Even people with extremely low Magic Power were as rare as one in a few ten thousands.

Magic Powerless were the most desirable personnel for every country. Prominent powers would even go to the point of taking the loved ones of a Magic Powerless hostage in order to have them restrain or dominate other countries for them.

It was also only natural. The fact that they had no Magic Power also meant that there was nothing to hinder the invocation of Magecraft.. in other words, they would be able to utilize Magecraft more freely than people with Magic Power.

When she was a princess, Leticiel had almost no Magic Power. It was why she was called the kingdom’s greatest treasure, as well as why she was able to reach the title of the Greatest Mage.

Now that she had been reborn, her current incarnation was a Magic Powerless. It was no exaggeration to say that her current body was born to use Magecraft. Drossel’s body had an abnormal level of Phenomenon Interference power; as absorbing a vast amount of Mana hadn’t strained it at all. Leticiel had wondered earlier why her current body’s capability as a Mage was so high. In hindsight, being a Magic Powerless was the answer.

Without the Magic Power that would hinder the influx of Mana, her body could absorb as much Mana as she wished. In other words, this body could use whatever Magecraft it wanted to, whenever it wanted to. Because of this, whenever Leticiel’s inner thoughts became unstable, this trigger-happy body would readily formulate a Magecraft based on her emotions. It was the reason that a Magic Powerless’ Magecraft would run rampant until they consciously calmed themselves down. Leticiel decided to ignore this problem for now.

“..Haa, what a wondrous thing.”

Leticiel fell back onto the bench and looked up at the sky as her expression loosened into a smile. Thinking about the fact that she would be able to use Magecraft freely from now on, she couldn’t help but feel overjoyed. But she pulled herself together and returned to her original position, and began to observe the class.

Leticiel remembered that the teacher had talked about measuring the Elemental Ratings of the students’ Magic Power today. However, she had no idea what he would use to do that.?Is it something to examine their Magecraft’s aptitude? Or is it something to ascertain which Elements they’re strong or weak at?

“Oka—y, I want everyone to hold this to measure your Elemental Ratings.”

It seemed the explanation had finished while Leticiel was doing her solo skit. The teacher then proceeded to call everyone’s names one by one.

There were a massive amount of palm-sized ice crystals in the burlap sack he had brought. Having that much must have meant that they were consumables.

Leticiel started to pay close attention to the class. She observed a boy gripping an ice crystal with both hands after receiving it from the teacher.

The crystal immediately shone red for a few seconds before disappearing without a sound. Although she couldn’t understand what had happened as she was seated far away, Leticiel noted that the boy was making a delighted face which revealed the result.

Leticiel kept watching attentively as the students’ names got called one by one until the last student’s measurement had concluded. Though to tell the truth, she didn’t care about Christa and Rochefort’s results, and chose to not pay attention during their measurement.

“Let’s see—, it looks like the average Magic Power Rating is between 50 and 60. Unexpectedly, there were five people here with Ratings over 100 this yea—r. This is very promising.”

There were four people, with Christa and Rochefort among them, standing side by side before the other students.. although Christa was the only girl among them.

While the teacher praised the group as prodigies, their classmates started applauding to congratulate them with eyes full of envy and vexation.

The teacher’s delighted face and the classmates’ envious eyes left Leticiel’s mouth wide open.

Unlike the other students, she wasn’t envious of the group’s Magic Power. But rather, Leticiel was puzzled as to why their classmates would be so envious of their high Magic Power.

Magic Power consisted of something called Elements. There were a total of eight Elements: Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Lightning, Light, Dark, and Void.

The first seven Elements were also referred to as the Elemental System. Void wasn’t included as it had the broadest definition out of all the Elements, encompassing Systems such as the Body Strengthening System or the Space System. The Magecraft Leticiel used earlier to fix the carriage was also from the Void Element.

Furthermore, Magic Power also had something called Magic Power Rating relating to the Elements. Just as its name implied, it was the basis of how strong a person’s Magic Power was for an Element. For example, someone with a high Fire Element Rating would find it difficult to use Magecraft from the Fire Element.

For Mages, these values are better the lower they are. Why are they that happy about having Magic Power Ratings?over 100?

It was no exaggeration to say that if any Elemental Rating was over 100, it would be impossible to use any Magecraft from that Element. With a Magic Power Rating that high, the resistance would be too great and Mana couldn’t be absorbed at all.

Leticiel was only able to agree with the teacher that it was unusual. It was truly unusual. People with extremely low Magic Power and people with extremely high Magic Power were both in the minority. Because of that, both prodigies and incompetents were rare.

“It was truly surprising. These two students have over 100 in the Fire, Water and Wind Elements..”

Leticiel unconsciously pulled on her cheek as she couldn’t find any words to describe the unfathomable scene unfolding before her.

The teacher continued talking, leaving behind an absentminded Leticiel who was already beyond the point of being surprised.

“Moreover, Miss Christa has almost 300 in the extremely rare Light Element, while His Highness Rochefort has over 100 in every Element. Everyone should know this already, but it’s difficult to use High Rank Magic if your average Magic Power Rating is below 100. Not to mention you need your Rating to be over 300 to be able to use Superior Rank Magic on your own. I’ve never seen Magicians in the making with this much potential before..!”

Christa’s and Rochefort’s cases were certainly rare; however, it was in a bad way.

Having Magic Power Rating over 100 in every Element meant that he couldn’t use Magecraft in any Element. Rather than calling him a Mage in the making, it was more fitting to call him the enemy of the God of Magecraft. Even Leticiel had never seen anyone like this until now.

In addition, the age Leticiel lived in was an age where Healing Magic.. in other words, the Light Element, was useful to all. That was why people with high Light Elemental Rating.. which meant they couldn’t defend themselves, were rare.

(..Don’t tell me, ‘Magic’ and ‘Magecraft’ are different things..?)

Leticiel arrived at that conclusion; it was the only way to explain the scene before her.

If ‘Magecraft’ was widespread in this country, rather than being this delighted, they would be in despair as their life as a Mage had ended.

In that case, what in the world is this ‘Magic’ technique they’re learning? People with low Magic Power are looked down on while people with high Magic Power are praised. It’s the complete opposite of ‘Magecraft’. What in the world is this ‘Magic’..

“Oka—y everyone, please spend the rest of the the class trying to use Magi—c.”

The teacher’s usual slurred speech pulled Leticiel back to reality and she returned her gaze to the class in a fluster. Letting her mind wander whenever she didn’t understand something was one of her bad habits. If she didn’t understand something, then it was better to just simply study it, and the students practicing Magic were the perfect opportunity.

A cheerful air enveloped the class as the students responded enthusiastically to the teacher’s instructions.

The teacher then distributed the stack of papers he was carrying. While staring at that scene, Leticiel suddenly stood up from the bench.

“Excuse me.”

“..Miss Drossel? Is there anything I can help you with?”

“Can you give me one of those handouts too?”

“..Hah? Uh, what would a Magic Powerless like you do with a Formula?”

Just like Leticiel thought, Sorcery.. or rather, the thing called Magic Formula in this country was written on that paper.

“Oh my. As a teacher, are you going to go as far as extinguishing a student’s curiosity? What I would do with it would be for me to decide afterwards, right?”

“..Indeed. Here you go.”

After receiving the handout from the teacher, Leticiel promptly returned to the bench. She unfolded it and traced her eyes across the letters and shapes written on it.

“..Ahh, it’s the thing I saw earlier.”

Written on the paper was a Basic Fire Formula. And of course, it was the one from the last class before Leticiel had corrected it, that shitty Formula.

However, there was some text written below the Formula that caught her eyes. It read, ‘O Magical Flame that flows through my body. Become a Hellfire that burns everything to nothingness. Converge at this hand and engulf my enemy.’?..What in the world is this embarrassing sentence..?

“Oka—y, everyone please memorize this Basic Formula, then try using Magic by chanting the script written below i—t.”

The teacher began to explain the details to the students. Apparently, that embarrassing sentence was a chant for using Magic.

The concept of chanting was more or less present in Magecraft. Due to the fact that the effects of Magecraft were controlled by the practitioner’s imagination, people who were bad at visualizing would use chants to assist them in forming a mental image.

Of course, their chants would not be as long and as embarrassing. While the exact chant would differ slightly from person to person, it would generally be something short and concise like ‘O Flame, gather.’

“Then let’s try using Magic now. Does anyone want to go first?”

“Here! I’ll go first!”

The person who raised his hand was Rochefort. After receiving the teacher’s permission, he stepped forward and turned around to look at Christa, as if he wanted to show something cool to the girl he liked.

Rochefort then stretched out his right hand forward and started to loudly chant while glancing at the piece of paper in his left hand.

“O Magical Flame that flows through my body! Become a Hellfire that burns everything to nothingness. Converge at this hand and engulf my enemy!!”

“..”

A ball of fire appeared from Rochefort’s hand after he finished the chant. The ball then flew straight toward the target standing before him and hit it dead-center.

Poof!

Leticiel wanted to praise herself for not falling onto the ground after hearing that weak and pathetic sound.

When she looked at the target, she could only see that the center had been slightly charred. Leticiel could only stare in amazement at that pathetic level of power. Even a Basic Formula for Magecraft would have resulted in an explosion twice as powerful.

“Phew..”

“How magnificent, Your Highness! Without any training, you were able to hit the center, and with exceptional power, to add!”

“No, no, it wasn’t that amazing!”

Leticiel’s confusion was further deepened when the teacher praised that level of Magic as ‘exceptional’, along with Rochefort’s elated expression.

From Leticiel’s point of view, the attack was gaudy, yet the result was plain. Worst yet was its power; she couldn’t fathom why it would be praiseworthy.?Wait, he did hit the center of the target. Maybe his control was worth praising.

The chant was more embarrassing than she thought. She didn’t have as much of a problem when reading it; however, when she heard it with her own two ears, it was embarrassing to the point that she wanted to faint in agony.

(What did my late husband call this kind of thing again.. oh right, ‘chuunibyou’.)

While still agonizing over that point, Leticiel continued her analysis of ‘Magic’.

It seemed that unlike ‘Magecraft’ which took in Mana from the environment, ‘Magic’ was a technique that used Magic Power within humans as the fuel to alter phenomenon.

If Magic didn’t rely on Mana, then having high Magic Power wouldn’t be a bad thing at all. Or rather, having high Magic Power would mean that the amount of fuel they could use would be greater. It was no wonder that they would rejoice over that fact.

However, from Leticiel’s perspective, the poor efficiency of this technique still astonished her. Magic that relied on the Magic Power that was decided by birth, or Magecraft that used the endless supply of Mana in the atmosphere. It was clear as day which technique would be easier to use.

However, that formula’s Magic Power efficiency was rather poor. If they were limited to their own power, the formula should have been simplified even further to lower the consumption of Magic Power. And yet, this country’s Magic Formulas had somehow become so convoluted.

At the current level of consumption, highly-destructive Magic would just be a pipe dream. Leticiel had no idea how they would even apply Magic this weak for battle.

“Oka—y, well then, who wants to go ne—xt?”

“Here! I’ll go!”

“No! I’m next!”

“Wait a moment! Give me your turn!”

And just like that, the students quickly took their turn. Naturally, each and every one of them boldly recited the embarrassing speech that chipped away at Leticiel’s sanity, bit by bit.

Back in the previous era, Leticiel and her husband had played around a few times by pretending to be chuunibyou. The scene before her was forcing Leticiel to recall her dark past, and she could only groan in anguish.

On the surface, Leticiel was showing her usual expressionless face. However, inside her head, she could only wish for this class to quickly end.

After an unknown amount of time had passed, the Practical Magic Studies class finally came to an end and her classmates stopped firing their magic.

While staring somewhere beyond those classmates, a dry smile appeared on Leticiel’s haggard face.

After trying out the Basic Fire Formula, the rest of the class had been spent on trying out Magic from the other Elements. However, as each of the other Elements had an equally embarrassing chant, Leticiel’s mind had simply ceased to function halfway through the class.

Sitting alone at the corner of the training field was the Ice Demon with a refreshing smile on her face, as if she had achieved enlightenment. Witnessing this scene caused the class to whisper to each other that she had gone insane.

In reality, they weren’t far off the mark in some ways.

“U-uum.. Drossel..? Are you okay?”

As the students left the Magic Training Field one by one, only Mirandalette was worried about Leticiel.

With her head still in the clouds, Leticiel suddenly thought about becoming friends with Mirandalette, even though she had no interest in other people since her transmigration.

“Yes.. I’m fine. But, it’s really strange. Even though I couldn’t use Magic Power at all, why am I feeling this worn out..?”

“That’s.. really strange, isn’t it..?”

“Say, Mirandalette. Don’t you feel embarrassed having to chant those kinds of phrases when you use Magic?”

“The chants? Well, it’s embarrassing, but.. No, it’s really embarrassing, but..! You can’t use Magic without chanting them, so I can only try my best to endure it..”

”Right.. I don’t really get it but, my condolences?”

“Why did you just arbitrarily kill me off?

Leticiel’s eyes unconsciously wandered as Mirandalette was staring at her reproachfully. It seemed that even if Leticiel’s emotions didn’t show on her face, they would come out through her eyes instead.

“..What’s the next class?”

“Next class is..”

“Ah, you! The silver-haired girl over there!!”

While Mirandalette was still speaking, a voice appeared from somewhere. Leticiel had no idea who that person was calling, but she was sure that she had nothing to do with it.

“It’s you, yes you! Please don’t ignore me! Miss Drossel!”

Leticiel came to a stop when she heard her name. It seemed the voice was calling for her.

When she looked in the direction of the voice, there were two men running toward Leticiel. One of them was the short and plump middle-aged teacher with a shiny head.. or rather, it was the first period History teacher, and the other person was the second period Magic Formula teacher.

“Good afternoon. What do you..”

“You! The Duke’s daughter, Drossel Noa Filiaregis! Please come with us for a moment!!”

The plump out-of-breath teacher grabbed Leticiel’s arm and began to run with dreadful vigor. It seemed that she had no say in the matter. Mirandalette, who was left behind, stood dumbfounded at the sudden turn of events.

The students in the hallway were taken aback at the sight of the two teachers passing by with the Ice Demon in tow. Thinking that she was to finally receive the educational guidance she deserved, the students once again came to their own conclusions and sneered at her.

As for Leticiel, she was forcefully dragged through the school by the two teachers until they stood before a single door.

There was a plate hanging on the door, which had the words ‘Large Conference Room’ written on it. Leticiel had a passing thought that if there was a large conference room, then there would also be a small conference room as well.

“Huff.. huff..W-we, we’re here..!”

“Indeed we are. I don’t think you had to be in such a hurry though.”

“You’re.. thinking like that, right now..! Why are you putting on such a nonchalant air!!”

“..Difference in experience?”

“Difference in experience between a sheltered, 16-year-old noble daughter and a man in his thirties!?”

The plump teacher shouted with his head in his hands. The Magic Formula teacher was also looking at Leticiel with mixed feelings.

While they were running, Leticiel suspected that she didn’t have the stamina for it and secretly invoked a Body Strengthening Magecraft. That was why even though she had been led by the two teachers who were running with all they had, she was neither tired nor out of breath.

Back in that age of war, stories about a ten-year-old girl being stronger than an old man in his forties was a normal thing. Leticiel had no idea why he would be that surprised.

“Anyway, are we going to go inside? Um.. Mister Sparkly.”

“Who are you calling Mister Sparkly! It’s Valtorana. Mister Valtorana!!”

The plump middle-aged teacher yelled at the top of his lungs. Leticiel didn’t know the teacher’s name, so she just said what was on her mind, but it seemed to have angered him.

While Leticiel was at a loss as to what face she should be making, Valtorana opened the door and entered with a crestfallen and disheartened look, as if he had suppressed his anger.

“..Could you tell me your name too?”

Leticiel asked the remaining Formula Studies teacher.

“..Miss Drossel, you don’t remember it?”

“I don’t.”

“Is that so.. My name is Raven.”

“I got it, Mister Raven.”

Going through the opened door by Sparkly.. or rather, Valtorana, Leticiel entered the Large Conference Room.

A large amount of people were gathered inside the conference room. Male and female, young and old, it was a diverse group of people. Perhaps they were all teachers of this academy.

“..Finally.”

The man sitting on the innermost seat calmly opened his mouth. He had dark golden hair and deep blue eyes overflowing with vitality. His rugged face and firm muscles gave the appearance of an athletic person.

“..Um, you’re the person from this morning.”

That man was certainly the person who Leticiel asked about where she should go this morning. Those frank words unintentionally escaped her mouth.

“Oh.. You’re talking like that to me, the head of Lucrezia Academy.”

“Oh my, I wasn’t aware of that. My apologies.”

“Didn’t we meet during the entrance ceremony? Are you saying you’ve already forgotten?”

“That’s right, I probably forgot about it right away since I had no interest in it.”

Leticiel’s aloof manner caused laughter to burst out within the conference room. Unlike the laughter from the other students that was filled with scorn, this one was a gentle laugh filled with relief.

“Kukuku.. Your behavior is different, but it’s still the usual my-way-or-the-highway attitude.”

“Oh, thank you.”

“That was not a compliment.. Well, fine. I’m Lucas Do Horac-->>

next page