Tou No Madoushi

“What did you say? You’re interested in an aristocrat girl?”

Shadiff stopped what he was doing and turned to look at Lynn with a look of amazement on his face .

“Give it up Lynn, quit before you’ve even started . Chasing after one of them would be nothing but a waste of time” .

Lynn grumbled something vague in response, neither accepting or refuting Shadiff’s words, as he busied his hands with the work of connecting the wiring of the machine in front of him .

They were both, at that moment, in Contrivance Magic cla.s.s together .

“There’s such a thing as living within one’s means, you know . I’ve been around for awhile now, and I’ve seen countless people attempt to reach for things out of their grasp . Each and every one of them ended up unhappy” .

Lynn felt himself getting irritated, but when he spoke next he did his best to keep his voice level and normal . He didn’t want his response to sound like a direct objection .

“But if you become a wizard, your social status doesn’t matter anymore, whether you were a slave or an aristocrat . Theo said so” .

“Listen here, Lynn . That’s what you call ‘being polite’ [1] . You’re a slave by origin . Even if we suppose, somehow, you were set to marry someone like her, all of her relatives would object to the wedding and prevent it from going through . You could even become ostracized from society” .

“It’s not like we’re talking about marrying each other or something,” Lynn said as he shrugged his shoulders, “but the thing is she often quarrels with Theo . You know I’m always with Theo, right? So even if I don’t want to see her, I have to sometimes . And there are times when she talks to me too, or depending on the situation even touches my hand . I know that she isn’t interested in me at all though…”

“I see . That does sound troublesome” .

Shadiff crossed his arms as he contemplated the issue . Lynn laughed through his nose quietly . It was thanks to Shadiff’s quirky personality that he met Lynn’s hopeless heart troubles seriously, offering sincere advice .

It must be that he’s so bad at dealing with practical things like this . [2] that he’s been stuck repeating years for so long .

Lynn had become close with Shadiff through Contrivance Magic cla.s.s . It was common for a lot of the work to be completed in groups of two, but because Theo had quit early on Lynn had partnered up with Shadiff .

While he was a little afraid of Shadiff at first, Lynn quickly realized that the man was just simply quite a bit older than him, but thanks to that fact he was very worldly, and Lynn was able to learn a lot about society and the wider world from his stories .

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Despite having the unkempt appearance of a recluse or hermit, he was actually a rather cheerful person to be around, and Lynn enjoyed hanging out with him .

Instead of being bothered whenever Lynn talked to him with total disregard for their age difference, he instead seemed to prefer being treated as an equal . [3]

Lynn loved hearing the kind of stories that only adults could offer, as they had the life experience a child like himself lacked .

Still though…

After thinking about Shadiff and how he had become good friends with him, Lynn turned his attention back to the work in hand . He let out a sigh .

“It can be soul sucking work, can’t it”, he said .

The cla.s.ses primarily consisted of putting together machines according to design specifications that were handed to them, but the process was very intricate and before long became quite tedious .

At first he enjoyed putting together these machines and contraptions as he followed design specifications, he even found it satisfying in fact, but he had now begun to grow weary of the monotonous work .

That Contrivance Magic was a field that had enjoyed rapid development and soaring popularity in recent years seemed to be true .

However the basics of Contrivance Magic cla.s.s was more of less a black baito [4] .

They received monetary compensation for their work, and were able to study things which would benefit them in the future, but that compensation wasn’t very much, and the breadth of knowledge that they actually acquired in their studies was narrow .

The commission system saw them paid for the number of machines they built, but if you were to convert the time it took to complete an average project, and calculate one’s annual pay, it was clear that they were underpaid for the hours they put in .

Working just inside cla.s.s hours, or even outside of cla.s.s, it was simply impossible to earn one million Legika in a year .

As soon as Theo worked that much out, he exclaimed “I can’t put up with this”, and stopped attending lessons without permission . Lynn took it as a lesson in how the world works .

Shadiff had simply reasoned “It’s only natural for it to be like this, it is what you call a black baito after all, so it’s to be expected” .

“I guess so…” .

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“It’s true that intelligent Wizards who work in this field- on high floors mind you- of the tower earn a lot, but it’s a field that has a big disparity in pay . It really depends on your technical skill and knowledge . The industry is often structured with multi layered sub contracts . Those at the top of the game, with the knowledge, skill and experience, get all the good work, but for the bottom feeders the pay is miserable, but most people can only snag the low rate gigs, which have subcontract upon subcontract, so by the time the money gets to your pocket you haven’t been paid enough for your time . It’s the pits . It’s not a reliable way to secure a future for yourself, even if you’ve learned to read a design specification like this” .

“Why do you take this cla.s.s even though you know all that?”

“Why, because I’m up to my neck in debt, of course! I’ve been enrolled in this academy for 20 years, and I’ve been paying for all of my tution through these years with a scholarship, but at this point it’s impossible for me to even pay the interest on it . I negotiated with them about some kind of repayment, and the result of that is, well… Taking this cla.s.s . They seem to be lacking enough people who are both literate in magic and are willing to do this kind of low paid work . I’m getting by by the skin of my teeth by filling this kind of niche, otherwise they would have sold me off” .

Lynn let out a sound of disbelief, shocked . “Haa” [5] .

Was there any significant meaning to being enrolled for that length of time?

If he had lost will and decided to give up becoming a wizard before he got so deep into debt, surely he would have been able to lead a better life than this, Lynn thought .

“Well anyway, cla.s.ses that claim you can earn while attending are by and large black baito . Staying clear of them is the wisest thing you could do, really” .

“Ok . Me and Theo intend to officially drop out of this cla.s.s after this term anyway . In its place we’ll just take a paid cla.s.s” .

“That’s a good decision . Or so I’d like to say, but in fact there’s a catch . If you take too many of those paid cla.s.ses, your loan size will swell up and you’ll no longer be able to feed yourself with just any regular ol’ job . And not only that, but as you climb the floors of the tower, your tuition fees will scale up as you ascend . To get a high enough wage to live you’ll have to risk your life aiming to reach the summit . That’s where the wizards with talent are separated from the ones without . The ones with talent climb to the very top and settle into well paid jobs, and often gain great political power . On the other hand, the ones who don’t have talent end up unable to progress due to the debt they acc.u.mulate, and in the end are sold off as slaves, or in some cases perhaps end up remaining in the corners of the tower- like me- just being used and marking time . Students from the aristocracy, or those that come from money, can just get their families to shoulder their debts . Even so… Even those people often meet with misfortune some way or another, if they try to go too far” .

“So in other words… It’s best to take only the free cla.s.ses, save wherever possible on unnecessary fees, and graduate that way” .

As Lynn said this, Shadiff crossed his arms again and a troubled expression came over his face .

“That’s about the sum of it . Certainly, if you were to graduate taking only free cla.s.ses, you’d be under a lot less pressure from loan repayments . But… There’s yet another catch . Well I guess as you continue living here in the tower you’ll come to understand for yourself, little by little . Anyhow, if you’re going to live in this tower, you’ve got to really think carefully about how you go about things . Especially you, Lynn, because you have no relatives” .

His explanation seemed to end there . Frowning, he said “I don’t feel so good today” .

He had been busy with wiring . The standard procedure was to channel magic to connect the different wires, but he seemed to be struggling to produce much magic . Taking over, Lynn poured his magic into the wiring .

“Sorry, Lynn” .

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“Don’t mention it” .

“When you get to my age, channeling magic takes it out of you . Even something as simple as this can give me a hard time . Well it’s probably my fault for not taking my studies seriously” .

His face looked tired . No matter how much bravado he showed, he couldn’t hide the wasted months and years, nor the slow but steady march of decline in his aging body .

“If you took the academy more seriously, surely you wouldn’t have ended up like this” .

Certainly, there may have been a part of me that was… Frivolous . But that isn’t the real problem here . I didn’t have any natural talent to begin with” .

Shadiff let out a sigh, and fixed his gaze on something far away .

“You know, there was a point when I managed to make it to the advanced cla.s.ses . I met someone there who I could never best, no matter what I did . He was in the same cla.s.s as me, and I thought he was a prodigy . But it turned out he couldn’t make it past the 200th floor . He wasn’t special after all . In the eyes of the true geniuses, the true prodigies, the wizards with real talent, me and him must have looked like nothing more than water fleas, or ants . After I saw the distance between us and them, I lost my drive I suppose . I went into a cycle of dropping cla.s.ses, repeating years, and now my life is spent doing nothing more than desperately clinging to Allfrid” .

“Why do you care about being in Allfrid so much? In Renryll you could have lived comfortably without taking on huge debts” .

“I want to see with my own eyes . The face of someone who would one day achieve what me and my cla.s.smate couldn’t, to reach the summit and become a dweller of the sky . So Renryll’s no good, but in Allfrid some information from the upper stratum does make its way down here- not much, but some . I have to cling on to Allfrid” .

Lynn smiled bitterly, and said “You’re crazy you know” .

While he was definitely amazed at how Shadiff had managed to make such a mess of his life, there was a part of him that admired his resilience .

“So, have you found anyone who you think will reach the 1000th floor?”

“I have” .

“You have?”

“Someone called ‘Dorias’ . He’s still just a young wizard apprentice, but I tell you he’s the most talented apprentice the tower’s seen for 20 years . Remember his name” .

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“How do you figure out if an apprentice has… Talent? How do you even know something like that?”

“Lynn, don’t underestimate me . When it comes to people, I’ve seen thousands- as well as the fates they went on to meet . Now I can look at a face, and more or less tell straight away . Like, this one can sc.r.a.pe 200 at a push, or this one might make 300” .

Lynn felt himself drawn in to the topic . Shadiff spoke with a certain confidence behind his words . He might really have the power of insight to see through to a wizard’s potential- or limit, for that matter . Lynn decided to put to Shadiff something that he’d been wanting to ask for a while .

“Then what about me? How much talent do I have? I wonder… Do I have the potential to become something like a genius?”

Shadiff gave him a quick look before resuming his work .

“Afraid not . I can’t feel any talent from you . Even if you worked really hard without ever slacking off, you won’t make it past floor 100 . Maybe if you’re blessed with good luck, you could get to floor 200 . That’ll be your limit” .

Having said that much, Shadiff suddenly stopped what he was doing and looked at Lynn with an expression of compa.s.sion .

“I’m telling you this for your own good . Get away from this tower as quickly as you can . Before you end up like me” .

Lynn decided to take his words with a grain of salt .

Next time… Chapter 20, ‘The Magulheim Scout’ .

TRANSLATION NOTES

[1] ‘建前’, or ‘tatemae’, is the j.a.panese idea of putting on a sort of mask (not literally) in that you hide your true thoughts in front of other people . Most of the time this simply means being socially tactful, and although the j.a.panese have a word for it, it’s certainly not a social idea unique to j.a.pan . I’ve translated it as ‘being polite’ in this instance .

[2] Lynn simply reflected on Shadiff’s characteristic quirk of being clever yet at times surprisingly impractical, or lacking of a kind of common sense . In this case, it’s amusing that Shadiff is taking Lynn seriously while most people would simply laugh at the idea of a slave boy even talking about an aristocrat girl .

[3] j.a.panese culture sees age as something to be respected, more so than any western country . Usually younger people speak politely to older people, and older people speak ‘down’ to younger people- this isn’t necessarily rude, but it’s a transparent respect system ingrained in the language itself . Shadiff is jaded and disillusioned with a lot of life and society, but perhaps more so than that the reason he enjoys young Lynn talking to him as an equal instead of a superior is likely because he’s wise . This is purely a personal opinion I’ll now offer, but the wiser a person is, I find the less ego they usually have .

[4] A ‘ブラックバイト’, or ‘black baito’, is a job that is severely underpaid . Often the ones taking such a job would be in difficult or strange circ.u.mstances .

[5] j.a.panese sometimes express shock and disbelief with a release of air that sounds something like ‘haaaa’ . I thought it added flavour to keep it in instead of subst.i.tuting it to a more familiar western remark .

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