The Academy Regressor is Obsessed

“……”
“……”

Awkwardness lingered in the room. The cool and composed Ena she usually showed was nowhere to be seen; she seemed to be constantly aware of Asel’s gaze, covering her exposed cleavage and glancing at Asel. Asel tried his best not to stare at her and repeatedly lit and extinguished magical power for no reason.

Magical power ejected in the form of threads draws a skein in the air. Threads of magical power moving without any nature transformation. Asel tried to erase his thoughts by manipulating them flexibly. Fortunately, as he did so, the destructive scene he had seen earlier somewhat subsided.

‘…So there was a mole there.’

It came back to mind. Asel grimaced and began to operate the magical threads more actively. What kind of imagination was he having about his heavenly master who had saved him? He felt like he would drown in self-loathing and shame.

Although he had memories of a past life, Asel’s physical and mental age were no different from someone who had just become an adult. Until now, he had been so immersed in magic that he hadn’t noticed, but he clearly had sexual desires. Due to his thirst for knowledge about magic, the level was a bit lower than others. It was ready to explode explosively at any time if given the opportunity like this.

However, he wondered if it was appropriate for the subject to be Ena. It was an act of disrespect that went beyond impropriety to rudeness. Asel quickly controlled his emotions and desires, and turned to look at Ena with a calm mind. Ena flinched at his gaze.

“You’re beautiful, Master. You should dress like that usually.”
“…Are you saying I should dress like this all the time?”
“I’m sorry……”

He spoke up unnecessarily and only made the atmosphere strange. Asel cleared his throat and extinguished all the magical threads he had been tightly wrapping.

“But I mean it when I say you’re beautiful.”
“…Thank you. I wasn’t sure if it would suit me since I haven’t worn a dress since I was young, but if you like it, I’m happy too. Although the exposure is a bit bothersome.”

Ena said this and subtly removed the hand covering her chest. Asel’s gaze almost moved there for a moment, but for him who had already shaken off his troubles, it wasn’t difficult to overcome desire. He leaned back against the backrest and laughed softly.

A faint disappointment mixed into Ena’s expression at that reaction. A tiny emotion that even she herself didn’t notice, let alone Asel. She didn’t notice the emotion that had just settled in and hadn’t even sprouted yet.

“Do you know how the coming of age ceremony proceeds?”

Ena asked, tilting her head. Asel recalled the contents written in the letter and nodded.

“Yes. We just enjoy ourselves, then the elders come and bring out magical tools, and it ends when I choose one of them, right?”
“That’s right. The items coming out today are all in good condition. I checked them separately yesterday.”

He thought that shouldn’t be allowed, but Ena was strictly speaking one of the elders of the Witch Association. She just hadn’t directly taken the position. Her seat was still vacant. It was a point that showed how special and cherished she was by the Witch Association. For someone like her, it wouldn’t have been too difficult to know about the magical tool items for the coming of age ceremony that were kept strictly confidential.

‘I heard the elders have a great interest in me.’

Although 8 years had passed since Asel joined the Witch Association, he had never directly met the elders yet. Since he couldn’t attend last year’s coming of age ceremony due to personal circumstances, today was the first day he would see their faces. According to Irina, they were all eccentric old people. He couldn’t guess how they would react.

Still, it would work out somehow. They wouldn’t cause a disturbance at a gathering meant for celebration, so there was no need to worry too much. Asel thought this and waited until the event started. Not long after, one of the maids knocked on the door of the waiting room.

“Mr. Asel, you need to get ready now.”

Following her words, Asel left the waiting room with Ena and moved towards the banquet hall.

“The others have all arrived already. When you’re ready, you can enter through that door.”

The maid said, pointing to an ornate door that was firmly closed. Asel told her he understood, then turned to Ena and held out his hand.

“Shall we go?”
“Yes.”

Ena smiled faintly and took Asel’s hand. Asel pushed open the door with magic, then walked on the red carpet laid on the floor. At the same time, he stepped into the banquet hall adorned with gold and marble. The magicians of the Witch Association who had gathered in advance to welcome the two greeted them, and Asel glanced at Bell who was mischievously whistling, then stopped at the end of the carpet.

Then he turned to Ena and knelt on one knee.

A ritual to show respect to the master who had taught him until he became an adult. Asel lightly kissed the back of Ena’s hand and brought it to his forehead. Feeling the warmth of her skin, he murmured:

“Thank you for everything you’ve given me until this moment.”

Ena didn’t answer. Instead, she smiled and gently embraced Asel’s head. Originally, it was the formal procedure of the ritual to praise the disciple with all sorts of flowery words, but Ena lightly ignored this. However, no one frowned. Ena’s love for her disciple was already famous in the Witch Association. They giggled and congratulated the two.

“Thank you for coming to me.”

That was enough. Ena stroked Asel’s nape once, then carefully let him go. Asel smiled bitterly and stood up.

With that, the entrance procedure for the coming of age ceremony was completed. Then the magicians who had only been laughing until now, but remained silent, all opened their mouths at once.

“Get married!”
“No, marry me! Think about the age difference with Ena!”
“He’s mine, you bitches! Asel! Now that you’re an adult, you don’t have to hold back, right? Right?”
“Come here! I’ll treat you well!”

Asel smiled bitterly at their half-joking, half-serious remarks. On the other hand, Ena glared at them with cold eyes. A gaze that made it seem like it wouldn’t be strange if someone died right away. That gaze was directed straight at the magician who mentioned the age difference.

“Eek.”

She hid behind the wall with a pale face. Ena sparked lightning at her fingertips, but cancelled the magic after seeing Asel’s face.

There was no need to act up at a good occasion. Punishment could come later; for now, it was important to enjoy time with Asel. Thinking this, she led Asel by the hand and casually remarked as they passed:

“Age doesn’t matter.”
“…? That’s true.”

Although he wondered what she was suddenly talking about, Asel agreed with her words for now. Fortunately, Ena seemed pleased with that answer and downed a cocktail she normally wouldn’t drink. Asel also grabbed and drank a glass of whiskey that was flying through the air.

“Play some music!”

In the distance, Bell could be seen shouting while standing on a table holding a bottle of alcohol. She seemed to be the type to secretly enjoy this kind of atmosphere. Fortunately, it seemed she wasn’t walking around in cat form even at the banquet. Instead, perhaps she had changed her vocal cords to those of another creature, as her voice resounded throughout the banquet hall.

In sync with her shout, cheerful music filled the hall. A magician handling musical formulas had directly manifested a score to play music remotely. Asel chuckled, thinking that the music spreading without instruments sounded like the speakers he had seen in his past life memories.

Come to think of it, he hadn’t had any new memories surface since seeing his past life memories when he was young. Even the memories he saw then were incomplete, so he couldn’t know what his name was in his past life or what kind of background he had. He had only received a few scenes and memories.

‘Like how I recalled memories by taking drugs, do I need a specific trigger to recall new memories?’

He couldn’t tell. And it’s not like he could take drugs either. In the end, he had no choice but to try various other methods.

‘For now, should I look for a few more books related to past lives?’

He had already searched all the libraries in Wiheim. But there were still no notable results. It seemed he would have to look into ancient texts, even interpreting them directly. Since there were a few ancient books in their original language at the Academy, it seemed best to start with those.

‘I’ll be living in the library at the Academy too.’

Somehow seeing his future clearly, Asel smiled bitterly and took a sip of whiskey.

At that moment, Irina approached Asel’s side with a pipe in her mouth. She exhaled smoke into the air and casually put her arm around Asel’s shoulder.

“Congratulations on becoming an adult. I feel like I’ve known you since you were a baby, but you didn’t die and even made it to the coming of age ceremony.”
“Didn’t we see each other at the adult celebration party last time?”
“That’s different. A magician of the Witch Association officially becomes an adult only after going through this coming of age ceremony. That party was nothing.”
“So the party that Master personally held for me was nothing. I didn’t know this.”
“…When you put it that way, it makes me sound like trash.”

Irina mumbled this while chewing her lips, then opened her mouth towards Ena who was sticking close to Asel’s side.

“Are you a leech? Because of you, other sexually active magicians can’t even approach Asel.”
“Be quiet.”
“You’re only cold to me. Show me that female expression you show Asel. Aren’t we close?”
“……”
“Okay, I’ll shut up.”

Irina immediately turned her head away upon seeing Ena’s face growing colder.

Bell running around like a dog was reflected in Irina’s green eyes. Her voice became slightly serious.

“By the way, Ena, there will be a meeting of the Alliance soon. All great magicians must attend.”
“I know.”
“If you know, that’s fine.”

The conversation ended there. Irina completely withdrew her serious tone and grinned as she roughly messed up Asel’s hair.

“I’m going. Congratulations on becoming an adult, and call me if you need any help.”
“Oh, I have something right now.”
“Huh?”

Asel immediately responded to what she had said out of courtesy. Irina tilted her head with a disgruntled expression, then soon chuckled and wiggled her pipe.

“What is it? Something I can help with right away?”
“Well… I think it would be better to show you directly rather than explain verbally. Could I borrow your pipe?”
“This? It’s not such a good item for non-smokers.”
“I just need to use it briefly.”

When he said this with a serious expression, it was hard to refuse. Irina shrugged her shoulders and handed the pipe she was holding to Asel. Asel carefully observed the pipe he received.

“There’s no special magic engraved on it.”
“Of course not. It’s just a simple tobacco pipe. Thanks to careful management, there’s not a single stain on it.”
“Did you only use smoke formulas with tobacco smoke?”
“That’s right. But why?”
“I needed to know.”

Asel answered like that and lightly bit the pipe to inhale the tobacco smoke. Ena, who was standing beside him with an expression of disbelief, was startled and grabbed Asel’s hand.

“No smoking. You’ll end up like Irina.”
“What am I, you bitch.”

Irina looked at Ena with an incredulous expression, then turned to Asel, who was frowning due to the tobacco smoke, and spoke.

“It’s strong, right? It’s just right for me. I’ve been smoking for so long that anything less doesn’t satisfy me.”
“Cough, cough!”

Instead of answering, Asel kept coughing while exhaling the tobacco smoke. Irina giggled and took the pipe back from Asel.

“That’s why you shouldn’t suddenly smoke.”
“I needed, cough, to get some advice, ahem.”
“Advice?”

Just as Irina expressed her doubt and tilted her head, Asel snapped his fingers while looking at the smoke he had exhaled. Then the smoke that was disappearing into the air stopped in place and changed its form. The smoke gathered to form a round sphere, then stretched out to create a shape like a spear.

Seeing this, the smile disappeared from Irina’s face. She looked at Asel with an expression full of shock and her lips trembled.

“Hey, you……”
“I imitated the formula you use by observing it. However, there are still many lacking parts, so I’d like to hear your advice about my magic. After all, you handle smoke formulas well.”
“…You say you imitated the formula by observing it?”

Irina, seeing Asel’s genius directly with her own eyes for the first time, couldn’t believe it at first.

Smoke magic. A unique magic that allows free manipulation of smoke as a specific medium. A high-level technique that took even Irina 3 years from grasping the concept to first using the magic.

That magic was imitated exactly by a magician who didn’t even know the concept, just by observing the formula.

“Oh my fucking god.”

Irina cursed, feeling as if her husband had been stolen.