Chapter 22 – At Perezford School
Theodore-sama, over here.”
Grace, who was sitting on a couch, patted her thigh lightly while smiling happily at me.
“Ah…sure.”
I laid down slowly. Grace was giving me a lap pillow.
Grace cheerfully began to clean my ears with an earpick she took out. As for me, I became absent-minded.
“Please tell me if it hurts, okay?”
“Yeah. It feels perfect.”
It appeared that Grace had been quite starved for some skinship ever since we returned from descending into the Labyrinth. In other words, after her Released State went away, events like these occurred a bit, so her reactions to that vanished.
…We still weren’t in a •• relationship.
Age was age after all. However, Grace appeared to not know of these things, since she wasn’t omniscient.
…It was hopeless, and useless, to play the gentleman with no intentions of premarital s.e.x, since that wasn’t the case. First of all, I couldn’t help but feel that we wouldn’t be able to stop if we were to cross the line.
After considering the future, it would only become a scandal if that happened right now.
A ten-year-old shouldn’t read too much into these things…Erm. The memories and common sense of a past life were both good and bad…
For now, the changes in my body were fine…but if I were to grow up a bit more, it would be uncertain…Let’s do our best to solidify my foundation until then.
“Now that I think about it, isn’t tomorrow the day Theodore-sama goes to school?”
Grace said that, as if recalling the information she had received from Perezford School.
“Yeah, the course on Life Magic?”
“Yes.”
Or more precisely, lectures and short courses.
Although Life Magic courses were conducted year-round, the general curriculum rotated, so you had to wait for a cycle to end in order to attend a lecture from the beginning.
When the next day arrived, I went to the School.
I was currently in a room that reminded me of a college lecture hall.
Looking down towards the teacher’s desk, it was the same layout…of having the students’ seats arranged in a radial pattern along the stairs. Perhaps I should say it was compact, since it wasn’t a wide room.
n.o.bles weren’t allowed inside lectures for attendants and servants. It would be fine to bring Grace along to School if she wanted to learn something, but she would be refused if she asked.
I had yet to find something I wanted to learn that was worth paying the high tuition fee, even though Life Magic was convenient; the one who said it would be a waste if she couldn’t check her compatibility with it, after my teaching her, was Grace.
Well, certainly…the disposition of a Dhampir’s Mana was different from that of regular humans, and even if their Mana supply was high, the issue was more along the lines of whether they could memorise that magic. Not being able to use Life Magic, even after paying for tuition, would be problematic. I thought that moving about discretely like this wasn’t wrong, though it was troublesome…
With that said, right now, Grace was pa.s.sing the time by embroidering in a waiting room next to this lecture room.
I should say that the facilities around here were meant for the education of n.o.bles.
Although Perezford didn’t acknowledge lectures for servants, attendants, and escorts, it was capable of handling the selfishness of n.o.bles, at least. Well…presently, the Mercury Shadow was concealed in Grace’s shadow as a bodyguard, so it was perfect. It was within a range where it could rush forth immediately.
Looking around, I looked at all of the students present. Although generally, you should understand that with this atmosphere, one’s personal appearance, behaviour, and way of speaking was that of a n.o.ble…the ratio of attendees was three n.o.bles to five civilians, and it was said, that…out of both, two were unknown. In short, the percentage of n.o.bles in this head count was high.
Although the townsfolk tended to think that Life Magic was used because of its convenience, in reality, even low to high ranking n.o.bles had a demand for it. This, as a result, was tied to the subjects of the attendees’ lectures.
It didn’t mean that there were scientific ideas and proof in regards to heredity though…Magicians with backing tried to curry favor with influential people like n.o.bles and wealthy Merchants by forming relations, and amongst n.o.bles, there were quite a bit of people that had talent as Magicians.
That was why it was natural for there to be a lot of n.o.ble’s children who wanted to try and learn Magic. Among them, their reasons for trying to learn Life Magic…well, there were a few.
For example, the motives of people who couldn’t afford the tuition, like those with the ranks of Knight, Baronet, and the like, were pretty straightforward.
Those guys would sc.r.a.pe up the school fees, no matter what, in order to gain the means and t.i.tles for a successful life…but there were also a lot of cases where their houses didn’t have enough people to help out. There were also people who tried to improve their skills in Life Magic to make their daily lives more convenient.
The children of wealthy n.o.bles were a separate matter. Perhaps there were people who considered leaving their houses in order to not be an heir, and in regards to learning Mana Control and Element Conversion, learning Life Magic was regarded as more important.
My case was just…that it was convenient to learn Life Magic. You could lighten the weight of baggage even as you descended the Labyrinth.
I always remembered to prioritise Attack Magic and Magic, which could be used in labyrinth searches, and conversely, one needed to be mindful of the order of learning things.
“Regarding important magic lectures, if you were to attend one, then it would be Life Magic!? Why must someone like me learn such trivial Magic at this hour! Such a thing should be learned by commoners!”
“Everyone knows well of T-Talcott-sama’s talent! However, this is Maurice-sama’s wish!”
“Aah, so noisy! Don’t make me bring my father into this!”
One of the corners of the cla.s.sroom became noisy…Well. It seems there were some n.o.ble’s children who didn’t understand the importance of Life Magic. .
Servants and attendants desperately soothed the angry n.o.ble child with a flushed face. He was a n.o.ble around 14-15 years old.
Maurice and Talcott. Huh? Didn’t they belong to the house of Count Cardiff…I wonder?
Although Maurice had territory in a district as a central government official…it seemed that he left its management to a retainer. I had heard rumors that his son, Talcott, was a ruffian who had quite the talent in the field of Magic, and that his dad gave him free reign. I had heard various other things as well, but…well, that wasn’t something to worry over.
Anyone from n.o.ble society was capable of gossiping after all. Even if it was in the central region or its surrounding regions, many rumours spread, even to the ears of illegitimate children. Scandals in particular.
For now, I had caught wind of nothing good about the parents and children of the Cardiff House. I was under the impression that other people also looked at their scandalous behaviour with cold eyes.
Hah…I recalled the behavior of those two idiotic animals from my house. Since it was a Count’s house that was similar to mine, I thought it was…quite unpleasant.
Other guys sneered at me, but rather than being unable to laugh at what they thought about me, they were unable to witness any spectacles at all. For now, it seemed that the story had been settled in a way that increased the lectures of other types of Magic.
The disturbance calmed down some time after Ashley entered the cla.s.sroom .
The timing was quite right. I, too, wanted it to end before it became an unsightly scene.
“Ah, Theodore-sama, good morning.”
“Good morning, Ashley-sama.”
Ashley found me when she scanned the cla.s.sroom, beamed with joy, approached, and then sat next to me.
“Today is Theodore-sama’s first lecture, right?”
“I only have plans to take lectures on Life Magic after all.”
Though, it was still fine to take lessons on hand-to-hand combat with Rossetta as a good example for those who wanted to try it. Unfortunately, she specialized in lectures on Healing Magic, and I felt that Ashley would be under her care no matter what she did.
“Now that I think about it, how did you acquire Healing Magic?”
“From the memo that Theodore-sama gave me. I’ve already perfected the beginner level.”
“That’s perfect then.”
“Well, it’s because I’m indebted to Theodore-sama.”
That was what Ashley said, but to be able to use beginner Healing Magic immediately with just that memo and a simple lecture, as I thought, she was talented.
Although she had understood how to acquire Healing Magic…Ashley was an unexpectedly brilliant user of Healing Magic.
“I’ve been thinking that, after I improve my memorization of Life Magic, I should be able to cast it without any chants.”
“Yeah, you might be able to.”
It would be good if she could become a suitable disciple for Rossetta, and even learn Support Magic…It didn’t have to be hand-to-hand combat.
“Ah, sensei has arrived.”
Looking towards the front as Ashley said this, an old professor entered the cla.s.sroom. Well then, Life Magic, huh? I wonder what kind of cla.s.s it will be.