Carla-sensei's Magic Classroom

For some reason, the low table had been cleared away and replaced with a desk and chair like you'd find in a school.

Carla's outfit had also changed. A black pencil skirt with a white blouse. Her hair was tied up, and she wore glasses without lenses.

Admittedly, even though she was wearing stockings, she wasn't wearing shoes.

"Um… why did you change clothes?"

There was even a whiteboard, markers, and a pointer prepared as props.

"It's my hobby."

"It's Ria's hobby."

Their voices overlapped in unison, and Sei was struck speechless.

Huh? Do they do erotic roleplay with cosplay?

Since they said they were married, Ria would be playing the student. And then she'd seduce Carla-sensei?

Sei's mind was invaded by pink fantasies.

Meanwhile, Ria was lying around in the corner of the living room. Didn't she have work to do?

"Is it okay to leave the shop unattended?"

"I'll call out if someone comes. Having my cute Carla alone with a student would be a bit problematic. Until I'm confident in your self-control, I'll be staying here."

Even for Sei, a pregnant married woman and female teacher was a bit much to handle, but was Ria the type who'd be into that? … She probably was.

"Let us begin then. First, regarding the basics of magic — until about 2000 years ago, people believed in six elemental magics. Light and darkness, earth, water, fire, and wind — the six elements."

Ooh, that's very fantasy-like.

"However, in modern times, this has been almost completely rejected. Light and fire are the same — manifestations of energy. Earth is solid, water is fluid, wind is gas, and darkness is nothingness."

The fantasy feeling diminished a bit.

"However, due to years of accumulated knowledge, the formulas for actually casting magic are divided into six elements, so it's fine to remember it as six elements. Please recall this when using more advanced magic."

I'm sorry, I'm already lost.

"Just write it in your notebook. You'll understand naturally through practice."

"Yes."

He marked it with the red pen he'd been given.

"Now, the important things for actually using magic are the three skills: Magic Perception, Magic Manipulation, and Formula Construction."

Magic Perception was the ability to sense one's own magic power or the magic power in one's surroundings. Magic Manipulation was, literally, the ability to move that power.

And Formula Construction was the ability to actually manifest magic. The four methods — incantation, magic circles, magical tools, and constructing formulas in one's mind — were largely covered by this.

"First, let's try a simple Magic Perception exercise. Please stand."

Following instructions, Sei stood up, and Carla positioned herself beside him.

"Bend your knees slightly, keep your back straight, and focus on the area about three centimeters below your navel."

That was the part called the tanden in Earth terms.

"Try to imagine warming it, or cooling it. Concentrating your power there works too."

"… Ah, it feels kind of warm…"

"Now, try to circulate that warmth through your body."

This too, he could vaguely understand.

"Unlike Earth, Nears has a lot of magic power. It's pretty easy, isn't it?"

"Most people can succeed up to Magic Manipulation. But at the next stage, Formula Construction, most people stumble."

Saying this, Carla raised her index finger.

"Fire, upon my fingertip, faintly, ignite."

And a small flame was born.

"Oooh～"

"That was Formula Construction through incantation. By pouring magic power in at the end, the fire manifested according to the formula."

When the magic power supply stopped, the flame disappeared.

"By the way, using more kanji makes it more effective. They're ideographic characters, after all."

Ria added while munching loudly on rice crackers. She was scratching her butt.

After that, Carla explained what other types of magic existed besides the six elemental magics.

Necromancy, healing magic, mental magic, spacetime magic, infinite magic, void magic, and so on.

Among these, infinite magic was formerly called creation magic, but apparently the name changed about 2000 years ago as well.

She also said that these were just categorized for convenience, and in reality, healing magic could be replicated with water magic or spacetime magic.

And currently, no one could use void magic.

"Even gods can't use it?"

"They cannot. The only one in history who could was a hero summoned 3000 years ago. He was quickly sent to another world, so there was no one to carry on his legacy."

"To explain what kind of magic it is — it's magic that deals with the state before this universe existed. That much is known."

Are we talking about before the Big Bang? That's completely beyond me.

The lecture was over, and Ria and Sei came to that white space again.

"Don't worry. This time it's magic training, so I won't do anything reckless enough to kill you."

I-I'm not scared or anything!

"First, sense your magic, manipulate it, gather it in your palm, and release it. Saying something like 'release' at the moment you let go is effective."

When Sei did as instructed, he could indeed feel a formless force being released from his palm, causing the air to ripple.

"Looks like you have more talent for magic. Alright, keep repeating that until you think you can't anymore."

Whether because he was happy to be able to use magic even for something simple, Sei repeated it over and over.

After a while, he started feeling sick. It was similar to nausea.

"That's called MP sickness. It happens when you use magic power close to your limit. Once you get used to it, you'll be able to use it right up to your actual limit, but for now, you've probably hit your limit even with about ten percent remaining."

At those words, Sei finally remembered.

Universal Appraisal. The power he'd obtained through negotiation with the god. He hadn't been using it until now.

He used Appraisal on himself. His magic power value had dropped to about ten percent of full.

Ria touched Sei's back. Magic power flowed into him from there. The nausea disappeared, and his condition returned to normal.

"Good, now try it again without speaking, just thinking in your head. Until you reach your limit."

Sei obeyed Ria's demon-like words.

Apparently, using magic power truly to the limit causes you to faint.

Staring at the white space, Sei sat up groggily.

"Oh, you're awake."

"Um, how long was I unconscious?"

"About six hours. Your magic power has recovered, right?"

"Why didn't you transfer magic power to me this time?"

"Because you won't develop self-recovery ability that way. If you repeatedly use magic power until you faint, your magic power recovery rate and maximum capacity will increase."

In the end, magic training was Spartan too.

On Earth, Sei had liked physical education class and found sitting in a chair painful, but here, he missed the desk and chair. Long live Carla-sensei.

"Well, if I abuse the body and mind too much, they'll break. I won't make you do much more magic practice today."

Saying this, Ria produced a fireball from her palm and launched it at a target that had appeared at some point.

Only a faint scorch mark appeared, and the target was still there.

"If you can use fire magic to hit the target, we're done for today. Give it a try."

From then on, with breaks in between, Sei spent several hours creating fireballs and trying to hit the target.

Creating a fireball wasn't difficult — but hitting the target was.

Ria sat and watched. Apparently, she wasn't going to give any advice.

After experiencing his second blackout from a failed adjustment, Sei suddenly had an idea.

Carla had used an incantation to create that small flame. If he worked with the incantation, couldn't he hit the target more easily?

He created a fireball. He could already do this without incantation, just by thinking.

"Be guided."

The fireball was released, and it curved according to Sei's will, striking the target dead-on.

"Yes!"

"Hmm, you really do have more talent for magic… Despite your low intelligence."

He wished she wouldn't say that.

Among Sei's stats, the highest was mental fortitude, and the lowest was intelligence.

"Maybe it's just that Carla and I are good teachers?"

That might be true, but it kind of ruined everything.

Returning home through the mirror, it wasn't even evening yet.

In terms of how it felt, several days seemed to have passed, but truly, the power of the gods was tremendous.

"You're probably a bit tired. Get some sleep until dinner."

Indeed, the fatigue hadn't faded in that space. Nodding, he returned to his room and collapsed onto the futon.

Peaceful sleep enveloped Sei, and tranquility arrived.

In the dim darkness, his shoulder was shaken and Sei woke up.

"Wake up. We're having a welcome party for you."

Prompted by Ria, Sei stood up and went outside through the back door.

The sun had already set. The sound of hammering metal was sparse.

Sei was led to what was said to be the largest tavern in the village.

Dwarves. Dwarves everywhere he looked. Even the staff were dwarves.

"Everyone, thanks for gathering. Let me introduce my new apprentice. This is Sei. He has the tenacity to not die, so please take care of him."

What kind of introduction is that, he thought, but the dwarves all raised their cups in unison. Actually, some of them were already drinking.

"Here, have a drink."

Being told this by a dwarf, Sei was troubled.

"Um, I'm still 15 years old."

"Don't worry. In most countries in this world, 15 is adulthood. And since you won't die from acute alcohol poisoning, go ahead and drink."

Well, if he wasn't going to die from it.

Sei gulped down the strong alcohol that burned his throat.

Carla was in the kitchen helping with the cooking, smiling warmly. As expected, pregnant women don't drink.

Being made to drink strong alcohol over and over, Sei quickly got drunk. Come to think of it, he should have received various resistances, but was there no alcohol resistance?

He checked his status. There wasn't. Why not?

"Alright, try drinking this next."

What Ria offered him was an alcohol as red as blood. With a bring-it-on attitude at this point, Sei downed it in one go.

It felt like his body exploded.

Hot. The liquid circulated through his entire body, a sensation of his cells being rewritten.

And Sei experienced his second death of the day.