How a Catastrophe-Level Magician Lives

The first day ended earlier than expected in the morning since it was the entrance ceremony.

On the way back to the dormitory assigned as the place to stay for a while.

“……”

I was sensing someone’s presence following behind me.

I turned around sharply to look at the person following.

It was a female student with doll-like features, light blue hair, and pale yellow eyes.

“Why have you been following me since earlier?”

To my question, the girl who had stopped walking just like me answered.

“What was it? That magic from earlier.”
“What?”

She looks at me silently with a curious gaze, seemingly usually quiet.

“What magic?”

I asked back.

Then she clarified her question to me.

“You know, the magic you used on me on the way to school this morning.”
“You mean Friction Decline?”
“Yes.”

As she nodded lightly in affirmation, I frowned and said.

“You already know well what magic it was.”
At those words, she shook her head with her eyes closed.

Soon, she opened her closed eyes and said to me.

“To be precise, I mean the silent casting you used when casting that magic. You used some other magic, didn’t you?”
“……”
This time, I refrained from speaking for a moment.

What she seemed to be noticing and talking about was another magic I had used when casting silently, namely, the Magical Eye.

“…Sorry, but I have no reason to tell you.”
“Well, even what you just told me is a taboo question among magicians.”
“If you know, don’t try to approach me slyly.”
“……”

As she spoke, she had already taken a few steps closer to me without me noticing.

At that, I finally let out a sigh.

“Haah, what are you so curious about? It’s just magic used by a first-year middle school student.”

In fact, I knew well that it wasn’t like that, but it was a measure to deliberately divert her interest.

However, she didn’t seem like the type to back down so easily.

“My name is Aina.”
“What?”

It’s not that I didn’t hear her. It’s just that the atmosphere suddenly felt out of place in this situation, with her suddenly telling me her name.

“My name is Aina von Frost.”
“……”

The middle name ‘von’.
Here in the Orwen Empire, unlike our Argen Empire, nobles used ‘von’ in their middle name.

Well, I can understand and accept the cultural differences between countries.

But why is she suddenly telling me her full name and introducing herself to me?

“…Free von Betelgeuse.”
“Yes, Free. I’ll remember it. I’ll remember.”

…I also revealed my name since it’s not proper etiquette among nobles.

However, that’s that and this is this.

“Stop prying into other people’s magic and just go your own way quietly now. You’re bothering me.”
“…!”
For some reason, she seemed greatly shocked by the last words, her eyes widening.

Why is she acting like that?

“Am I… bothering you?”

Ah, was it because of that?

“…Phew, I was a bit harsh. But it’s really troublesome, so I’d appreciate it if you’d just give up and go now. I have no intention of revealing my magic to someone I don’t know.”
“…But we’re not strangers.”
“What do you mean by that?”

As I looked at her incredulously, the girl who had introduced herself as Aina answered me.

“My name, Aina. Your name, Free.”
“……”

She pointed at herself with her finger when saying her name, and now she’s pointing at me with that same finger when saying my name.

I could only marvel at this incomprehensible eccentric behavior.

Ah, I’ve gotten involved with the wrong person.
I thought.

“Please just go… Stop bothering me.”
“…I don’t want to.”

In the end, she persistently followed me all the way to the front gate of the boys’ dormitory.

Aina von Frost.

She was truly a troublesome woman.

That day, I somehow managed to shake her off and prevent her from following me further. But the next day, and the day after that, she stubbornly kept following me every time.

Especially on the way back from school without fail.

“…Hey.”
“Yes.”
“If I tell you… will you go away?”
“Yes.”
“……”

Alright.
I give up.

If it’s to get rid of this leech-like woman, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to tell her what kind of magic it was.

Well, it’s not like I was going to explain in detail about the activation principles to the extent of demonstrating the Magical Eye magic. As they say, it’s darkest under the lamp. I intended to reveal only one representative ability, omitting the detailed aspects of the ability.

“…Sigh. The name of that magic is Magical Eye. Literally meaning the eye of magic.”
“Mm-hmm.”

Finally, as I started to talk, her eyes lit up brightly, and for the first time, her previously expressionless face showed a slight change.

“The effect of the magic is the ability to shorten the silent casting speed by almost half. There, is that enough now? If you understand, please just go.”
“Yes. So. How do you use it?”
“……”

You’re really pushing it, aren’t you?
I tell you a little, and you slyly try to get all the core details? I’ve never seen such a thief-like person.

I was dumbfounded.

“…Don’t push it. I think it’s already more than enough to be grateful for telling you this much.”
“Yes. Thank you. I’m grateful. So tell me more. In detail.”
“…”

I’m speechless.

How can a fellow magician be so shameless?

Isn’t this harassment at this point? What kind of laws does this empire have that they don’t arrest and leave alone a woman with this kind of personality?

I couldn’t understand.

But what I understand even less is this annoying, troublesome woman who follows behind me like a stalker no matter what I say or how much I try to ignore her.

Then a good idea came to my mind.

“…Alright. I’ll tell you. But in exchange.”
“In exchange?”
“Prepare a magic that is equivalent, worthy of exchanging with this magic.”
“……”

Phew, this should make her back off. That’s what I thought for a moment.

Swish─.

“?”

For some reason.
Aina started rummaging through her bag, even putting her book bag down on the ground.

Then,

“Ah… here it is.”

What she took out of her book bag was a mysterious magic book.

A book with an unknown brown cover.

Shwoop.

“This, I’ll give it to you.”
“……”

I carefully looked down at the book she held out to me with one hand.

Then I took it without saying a word.

Flutter-.

In that brown-covered magic book I opened with both hands.

On the first page, it was written like this:

[Most Efficient Mana Training Method I], it said.

It was an advanced magic book,
Not easily obtainable in the market.

And it was volume 1.

“If you tell me everything about that Magical Eye magic, I’ll give you the next volume, volume 2, and the one after that, volume 3.”
“…You’ll give them to me?”
“Yes. I’ve already mastered them, so I don’t need them anymore. And they’re copies anyway.”

She says she’ll give them to me, not just lend them.

And if I just tell her about one magic, she’ll give me the next volume and the one after that without hesitation. A total of 3 volumes of advanced-level magic books, not just one.

Although they were copies, they weren’t much different from the originals. In fact, if you use preservation magic well, they could be used just like the originals. It meant that it was possible to learn from the magic books and sell them.

Even what I received from the head of House Phoenix was just a copy on loan.

The original is probably elsewhere or likely in the possession of the family head.

Unless it’s the original, copies usually can’t be reproduced into other copies except in special cases.

This is because indiscriminate copying and leaking has been taboo under imperial law for a very long time.

This was a common, unwritten rule across the entire continent, not just the empire. The reason was probably because numerous crimes could occur, or in the worst case, people who might attempt to cause wars or rebellions could appear in large numbers. It seemed like an intention to prevent power from being concentrated in one place.

Violating this would result in life imprisonment at best, or immediate execution.

Therefore, only after following proper procedures and registering with the country, paying a registration tax, and receiving permission from the country, could one make copies of the original according to the number designated by the country based on the grade of the magic book.

Most of the magic books that many magicians read and learn from are just copies of the original.

I, too, had only been learning magic from these copies until now.

The originals are probably kept in the grimoires of those who possess them.

Grimoires could also serve as storage for magic books, whether they were originals or copies.

Then…
What this means is…

“…You, did you take this out of your grimoire in advance today with the intention of giving it to me? For the purpose of trading for my magic?”
“Yes.”

What a meticulous level of preparation to the point of being astounding.

I was truly amazed.
To the point where I was dumbfounded in front of her for a while.

At that moment, Aina spoke to me again.

“So? What are you going to do?”
“……”

Of course, my answer was already decided.
OK, I’d say…
In terms of value, it’s like exchanging a total of 3 volumes of advanced magic books for just one somewhat special magic created from low-level magic books.
I didn’t think it was such a one-sided loss.
My strength didn’t lie solely in that Magical Eye.
Above all, for me who was currently building up magical power only with low-level mana training books, this was a timely lifeline.
I had thought of some countermeasures when making the deal, and after spending a few days together, I had somewhat grasped her tendencies.
Although I couldn’t be hasty to be certain, at least based on my subjective evaluation of what I felt, she didn’t seem like someone who would suddenly turn against me or cause harm.

“…Alright. Including the next volumes of this magic book you have in the deal. I’ll explain in detail about the activation principles of this magic I possess.”

What I’m going to reveal is a derivative grade of Magical Eye, which is slightly inferior in performance compared to the original magic. But this should be enough. After all, it will be able to shorten the silent casting speed by about one-third compared to others.

“Okay. I got it. But that magic. Is there no separate magic book for it?”
“That’s right. That’s why I’m going to tell you directly by word of mouth. Originally, I’ve been careful not to write it down separately to prevent leakage of this magic.”
“…Don’t tell me, that magic. Did you create it?”

Nod.

When I nodded silently in affirmation without saying anything, her eyes widened slightly in surprise, her mouth opening a little.

If she, who seemed somewhat clumsy in expressing emotions, showed such a surprised expression, it must be proof that she was quite surprised inside.

Usually, creating magic from nothing at this age was such a remarkable achievement that there were almost no records of it.

That’s how valuable my original magic was, independently developed and created.

The original Magical Eye was my special arcane magic with enough value to be highly coveted if others knew about it.

A magic I had independently created in my previous life while learning only low-level magic books and through war.

Now I’m in a situation where I’m also learning advanced magic books. I’m about to learn another one from what I’ve received from her.

Just like when I developed the Magical Eye that was almost within grasp. I had been vaguely conceiving some magic lately.

However, I couldn’t even guarantee myself when the conception of that idea would become clear in my mind, so I had decided not to have any unnecessary expectations.

So, to Aina von Frost in front of me, who was frozen with her mouth slightly open.

I decided to teach and transmit on the spot, by word of mouth, the Magical Eye of the derivative stage, which shows one grade lower performance than my original arcane magic, the original Magical Eye.

That’s how valuable this advanced magic book I received from her, and the rest of the magic books I’m planning to receive, were.

Because for me, who was currently absorbing mana from the external atmosphere with just low-level training books without a proper mana training method, it was exactly what I absolutely needed to obtain.
That might be why the family head easily provided me with that advanced magic book series, Essential Reading on Multi-Magic. After all, it couldn’t be used freely without magical power. He had calculated all of that.

It was the moment I obtained in my hands an advanced mana training book that I hadn’t even been able to glimpse in my previous life.

To the extent that I chose to bear the potential leakage of my arcane magic.

However, I also had one precautionary method prepared for that.

I soon said.

“Then, let’s make a contract.”
“…A contract?”

Aina tilted her head with a suspicious expression at these incomprehensible words.