C210: Ancient Language (1)
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"…How do you know that? The Larsil language has been challenged by many archaeologists, but they never made any progress in its interpretation."
"Because I was successful."
"……."
Casey shut up. She didn't expect that the word "success" would come out so lightly.
"No, no, wait a minute. Then why didn't you announce it until now? The mere announcement of this can cause a great stir in the archaeological community."
"Are you stupid?"
"What?"
"You still don't seem to understand my situation very well. Do you think there is a person who will believe that an unidentified person who can interpret Larsil appeared out of nowhere?"
"But if you show me with your skills……."
"The archaeological community is closely related to the ancient magic school of the Old Tower. In fact, archeology today is not interested in the cultures of people in the past. They are interested in the origins of Relics and the magic that was used in the past."
And the Old Tower is a group whose evils are deeply rooted and do not change easily.
Now it got a little better since they had to compete with the New Tower but the foundation remained.
"I'd rather bite my tongue than hand my research materials to a place where there are still a lot of dissertation scams."
On the other hand, now that he has built his reputation as a teacher of Theon, he had enough capital to step forward because the Tower couldn't touch him recklessly.
"Yes. I see the situation. So are you going to publish all of this?"
"What I do is prove through experiments that this method exists and that it is not false. Of course, I have no intention of telling the details."
"Well, that might be your lifeline. But if you unlock this valuable information, there will be more people aiming for it, right?"
Increasing the amount of mana emitted is a step forward for wizards like a ray of light that comes down to those that couldn't increase their total amount of mana and their rank.
In the world, there are wizards who can no longer develop from their existing skills so they become corrupt and reach out to black magic.
Considering that there are not a few people who have fallen into taboos, the knowledge Rudger possesses is very sweet. That's why it's dangerous. Because fragrant flowers attract all sorts of flying insects.
"Are you sure you'll be okay?"
"It's up to me. Mind your own business."
"Even if people worry about you, you always say that."
"I'm so grateful that you're worried about me, that I'm about to burst into tears."
"You don't like to lose when it comes to words."
"That's enough. I think I'm done with the tea and you're done with your business, so will you leave. It's been a long time."
"What? I still want to ask……."
"Go ahead."
Rudger said so and used wind magic to move Casey's body.
"Huh? Now, wait a minute!"
Perhaps she didn't expect him to use magic here, so Casey couldn't respond.
The wind carried Casey out of the office and threw her into the hallway.
"Ouch!"
Casey, who fell on the floor, frowned and looked back. The door of the teacher's office was closed tightly.
"You have no manners towards a lady."
Casey fiddled with her throbbing butt. Fortunately, it didn't seem to be bruised.
'But I've gained something.'
She took a piece of paper out of her inner pocket. It was originally supposed to be white, but it was dyed blue.
'I never thought you'd use magic at the end. Was it helpful to test his temper?'
Thanks to this, she was thrown out and her butt hurt, but she achieved what she wanted.
'This time, definitely.'
Casey glared at the teacher's office with determination and left.
* * *
At lunchtime Rudger was at a restaurant with his fellow teachers after a long time.
"It's been a long time since we got together and ate together after the festival. Hehe."
"Yeah."
Selina, who sat next to Rudger, said so with a warm smile. Rudger was also pleased to see such a light atmosphere because it had been a long time.
"By the way…… Mr. Bryno doesn't look very well."
Bryno, sitting across from Rudger, looked quite haggard, unlike before the festival. Originally, he was a well-to-do person, but he seemed to be in a lot of trouble.
"Something like that happened."
Bryno answered helplessly.
Selina whispered cautiously from the side when she thought something bad was going on.
"Mr. Rudger. Didn't you hear that?"
"What do you mean?"
Selina's face flushed when Rudger asked, closing his face to hers.
"What happened to Mr. Bryno?"
"Oh, no, I mean……I heard that Mr. Bryno's golem was stolen on the last day of the festival."
"……Ah."
As soon as he heard her, Rudger could only think of the golem melted down in the fight against Quasimodo that he forgot about since he was so busy.
'……I'm sorry Teacher Bryno.'
Unable to tell the truth, Rudger apologized to Bryno from the bottom of his heart.
'I'll give you a present later.'
Merylda opened her mouth as he thought so.
"More than that, I think I haven't seen your face because you've been busy lately Mr. Rudger."
"I've been a little busy."
"I heard you're preparing a study this time."
Merylda said so and winked at Selina, who was spacing out at the intense gaze and she came to her senses.
"E, that's right. I heard it, too. Is it a study for a new magic?"
"It's not new magic. However, it is something that quite a few wizards will be enthusiastic about."
"Oh, I read the official letter."
Bryno, who was half out of his mind, also reacted.
"I heard you're doing research to increase the amount of mana emission……Is that true?"
"Yes."
When Rudger nodded his head honestly, exclamations flowed from the other teachers.
"Is that true? But the amount of mana emissions won't increase easily."
"It is true that there is a clear limit to the current method. What I'm offering is a new path."
"Do you know any new ways?"
"Yes, and I need results that can prove my research based on that, that's why recruiting students but not many applied."
"I guess so. Students won't easily believe it."
In fact, now that the rumor has spread, most of the people didn't believe it.
"I'm going to wait and see."
"Well, then."
Selina spoke with a tense voice.
"Can I…… join you there?"
"You want to join?"
"Yes."
For Selina, it was a courageous action. If she participates in the study, she'll spend more time with Rudger.
"Well done, Selina!"
Merylda also sent a sign to Selina, saying, "Good job."
Rudger stroked his chin slightly as if he was seriously worried about her suggestion.
"Hmm. I appreciate that you said that yourself, but I can't judge recklessly since you're a teacher."
"Ah…"
"I'm thankful for your kind intentions."
Rudger said it out of consideration for Selina, but Selina felt like she was going to cry.
'Oh, what do I do Miss Merylda?'
Selina gave Merylda a look requesting for help, but she shook her head.
Rudger was determined in this respect, and it was unlikely that he could be forced here.
She has no choice but to look for the next opportunity.
"I finished my meal so I'll get up first to see if there are any applicants."
"Mr. Rudger you only ate meat today"
Rudger, who was about to get up, nodded indifferently at Selina's point.
"Yes, well, from now on……I think it's going to be hard to eat meat."
"What?"
"There is such a thing. Then have a good meal."
Rudger said goodbye and got up from his seat.
* * *
About three days have passed since Rudger posted the official letter but the story, which heated up the students' attention on the first day, seemed to have withered a little on the third day.
Most students concluded that this was impossible, even though Rudger was the one doing it but not all of them had that opinion.
Flora Lumos felt her brain spin but she thought Rudger wouldn't do that without a reason. If he even posted an official document, surely there must be some way.
'In addition, the president's permission was stamped on it. Considering her personality, she's not someone who'll just give permission for a false study.'
Maybe the president has seen something else about Rudger's research that others don't know about and she allowed it because she saw the possibility.
'There's a good chance.'
She's been thinking a lot for the past three days, but she finally came to a conclusion.
'It's a loss not to participate. But I'm going because of my curiosity and enthusiasm as a pure wizard…..Because I got help that day. Yes, that's right. I'm just trying to help you with your research because I got help. There is no personal interest.''
Flora, standing in front of the teacher's office, calmly knocked.
"Sir, this is Flora Lumos. I saw the official letter and came to apply."
"Come in."
Flora proudly headed into the teacher's office and saw that there were a lot of applicants inside already.
"What?"
She thought she came first, but there were five more people who came before her.
"You came just in time. I'm glad more people applied than I thought."
Rudger said so and examined the faces of the students.
From left to right there were Aidan, Rene, Erendir von Exilion, Julia Plumhart, Freuden Ulburg and Flora Lumos.
'They are all extraordinary people.'
The six people gathered in the meeting had similar thoughts.
'What? Why is he here?'
'What the hell is he……?'
'Senior is here, too.'
Among them, Aidan was the most excited one.
"Wow. As expected, only prominent people came because of Mr. Rudger's research!'
Aidan's motivation for support is his longing and curiosity for pure magic. Originally, he was going to apply right away on the first day, but Leo stopped him, so he was late to apply secretly on the third day.
'Since my problem is non-attribute magic, I wonder if I can get a clue about this.'
In Rene's case, she had a chronic problem with mana, so she applied with the idea that Rudger might fix it.
'I can't leave my first friend and junior alone!'
Erendir saw that Renee was going, so she followed her just in case. In fact, the real reason was that she didn't want to be left alone, but Erendir had already neatly erased it from her head.
'What did that teacher do to change Sedina's dream? And Sedina……what do you think of me?'
In the case of Julia Plumhart, she became interested in Rudger's research, but the biggest reason was Sedina Rosen.
'I'll watch what you're doing here.'
And lastly, Freuden Ulburg, who has been staring at Rudger since the moment he entered the office with the idea that he wouldn't stand still if he did any nonsense.
Six applicants gathered with such different minds but Rudger was happy because all of them were elites.
"I think everyone knows what research I'm doing since you read the official letter."
"Yes! You said you'd increase the amount of mana released!"
"You're too loud Aidan, lower your voice."
"Yes!"
Rudger already felt like he was having a headache.
"Before we begin, I will ask if everyone can really pledge to follow this study well. If you can't, you can go out."
"I have a question before we start."
"What is it, Erendir?"
"The fact that it increases the amount of mana released……How exactly do you do it?"
"It is a secret. I'll teach you if you want to, but I can't tell you since I haven't received a definite answer yet. However, you can be sure that there are no aftereffects or problems."
"Well, you don't have to worry. I'm going to do it. Isn't that right?"
"Yes, me too."
The rest were all the same.
"I see. Then, each person should write his or her name on the confidentiality pledge. Sedina."
When Rudger called, Sedina, who was waiting in the assistant office, came out and handed out the secret pledges one by one.
She showed a little hesitation when handing it out to Julia last, but she eventually handed it out safely and disappeared back to the assistant office.
Julia stared at Sedina's back as all the students who received the pledge wrote their names on them.
Since it was a pledge with a magical effect, the contract was signed from the moment the name was written.
"I wrote it down. You can explain it now, right?"
Rudger, who had checked all the vows, opened his mouth.
"Once a day you'll take the medicine I make for you."
"Medicine?"
"I said it was medicine, but it's more like a drink made by grinding all kinds of herbs."
"What happens if we drink it? Does drinking it permanently increase our mana emissions?"
"If there was such a comfortable way, anyone would have discovered it. It's the other way around. If you drink it, you will have great resistance when you use magic."
Erendir squinted at the word resistance.
"This resistance is quite high, so even the magic that you guys normally use won't come out with more than 3% of your original strength. We will train in that state."
"Training with our mana suppressed?"
"The training itself will start with the very basics. Mana operation and release, and mana implementation."
"It's surprising because it's more basic than I thought."
Rudger could see that everyone was thinking that way since he used to be like that when he learned from his teacher.
'It may seem easy just to hear about it, but you'll know when you do it.'
How hard and painful it is.
'You'll realize it only when you experience it yourself.'
Although he didn't feel much joy from teaching normally Rudger was sure that he was going to enjoy this.