W-what was going on?
Why was someone holding something against my head like a gun?
Oh, was I supposed to knock before coming in? Then that really was my fault.
But seeing Glintstone Sorcery at such close range, its radiance as dazzling as the brightest star in the night sky, the first thing I felt in that instant was not the threat of death, but...
"It's beautiful," I said without thinking.
"Hmm?" A soft, questioning note came from beyond the light, and the sorcery's radiance abruptly vanished.
For a moment, my vision plunged into darkness.
At the same time, I came back to my senses. "Ah, I'm so sorry for barging in without knocking."
"...Oh, a Tarnished. What an unusual visitor." Her voice was gentle, like a stream flowing through the mountains as winter gave way to spring, with none of its earlier bone-chilling coldness. "I overreacted just now as well. Please forgive me."
"No, no, I was the one who forgot my manners. I got too excited after dealing with the monster." I apologized repeatedly as my eyes gradually adjusted to the dim surroundings.
Ah, it was Master Sellen! Master Sellen, in the flesh!
Just as in the game, my teacher stood in the crude basement before me, wearing an azure robe with two red sashes draped over her shoulders, embroidered with golden patterns... Honestly, they looked a little like the red sashes the students on gate duty used to wear back at my elementary school.
On her, however, they perfectly balanced the otherwise chilly colors, making her look especially elegant and graceful.
If not for the enormous sculpted mask on her head, she would have been quite a beauty.
Of course, the sculpture's features were exquisitely beautiful, and her actual face in the game had a quiet beauty of its own.
Still, anyone meeting her for the first time would have thought she was a weirdo.
I asked cautiously, "Excuse me, are you Master Sellen?"
She gave a little laugh, as lovely as clear spring water splashing onto pebbles. "My name is indeed Sellen, and I was once a teacher at the Academy of Raya Lucaria. How did you learn of this place, Tarnished?"
Uh, I couldn't exactly say I'd found her using memories of a game from another world. She'd think I was an idiot. Though this useless Tarnished only had ten intelligence anyway, which wasn't exactly high.
"I happened to pass by the ruins and wanted to look for treasure inside. That's how I stumbled upon you." Well, well, lies came to me pretty easily too~
"Hehe, I see." Master Sellen turned and leaned against the long table as she spoke. "Since you know my name, I assume you've heard the rumors about me as well! The 'heretical witch' banished from the Academy of Raya Lucaria."
Her voice was still just as gentle, yet I felt that icy chill once again. "Then allow me to ask, Tarnished: what, exactly, brings you here?"
"I want to learn sorcery!"
"Huh?"
"I want to learn sorcery, Master!"
"...Wait, wait." Master Sellen was unexpectedly thrown off balance, and it was kind of cute~
She asked me again, "Not that I wish to advertise it, but I was expelled from the most renowned academy of sorcery in these lands. I am the so-called 'heretical witch' everyone goes out of their way to avoid."
But I remained utterly earnest. "I want to learn Glintstone Sorcery from you, Master Sellen!"
"..."
Master Sellen fell silent for a long time. Perhaps I really had moved her. From beneath the sculpted mask came an amused sigh tinged with resignation. "You're an odd one too. You ought to choose your teacher carefully."
My gaze must have been resolute enough, without the slightest hint of second thoughts.
Master Sellen looked me up and down once more, then nodded slightly. "As expected of a Tarnished, a warrior of what was once one of the strongest armies in the Lands Between-you do possess the most basic aptitude... I am willing to take you as my apprentice."
"Wonderful!"
"But!" Master Sellen's tone changed. "I won't be taking a gentle approach to teaching. Now that you've agreed, don't come to regret it!"
"Of course, Master Sellen. I'd like to start with the most basic spell, Glintstone Pebble." Having just dealt with the Mad Pumpkin Head soldier, I had plenty of runes. Time to get learning.
Master Sellen walked to the bookshelf on one side of the basement, selecting books as she remarked, "I've heard that you Tarnished pursue power, but I never expected such eagerness to learn... Very well, take out your staff."
"Huh?"
"Huh...? What are you doing?"
My teacher, ready to begin her lesson with a book and staff in hand, and I, with runes gathering in my palm, stared at each other.
Hmm?
"So in this world, I can't just buy sorcery skills with runes?" I asked, as though waking from a dream.
"How could it possibly be that simple, you foolish apprentice! Glintstone Sorcery is among the most ancient and magnificent forms of sorcery! It originated in the vast, majestic stars of the cosmos, where the fate of every one of us resides! Powerful astrologers can even read their own futures in the stars!..." Abandoning her gentle demeanor entirely, Master Sellen picked up her glintstone staff and jabbed me hard in the head.
"Ow, that hurts, Master."
"...And Glintstone Sorcery is the miraculous magical power our sorcerous forebears manifested through glintstone, fragments of stars, after comprehending a mere fraction of the power contained within the stars of the cosmos!... Do you understand even a little now?"
Her torrent of lecturing was like an endless tide, pushing me out of the ocean of sorcery and washing me onto the beach.
The useless Tarnished with ten intelligence had crashed.
All I could do was weep. "I know I was wrong. I'm sorry."
"If we were at the academy, I would insist on finding you several books on the origins of glintstone and the history of the stars, and making you study them thoroughly." Master Sellen seemed somewhat downcast and disappointed.
"Hontō ni sumimasen! (I'm really very sorry!)"
...If I still couldn't get her to calm down, I'd have to bring out the Japanese art of bowing in apology.
"What strange thing are you saying? Is that a language from beyond the fog?" Master Sellen sounded slightly puzzled, then returned to her earlier gentleness. "Never mind, never mind. Nothing can be achieved in a single leap. Remember that too, my apprentice."
"Yes!"
"Go find a glintstone staff. Once you've brought it here, I can teach you."
"I'll get right on it! I won't disappoint you this time!"
Sellen shook her head helplessly, then turned away and casually set the books in her hands on the table.
"Oh, Master Sellen, I have another question." I remembered my other reason for coming here.
"Let me hear it."
"Do you know any sorcery that lets you transform?"
"Yes, that's merely a little trick of the demi-humans, often used to ambush prey. Of course, rumor has it Queen Marika is quite fond of that sorcery too, and often uses it for pranks." Master Sellen asked casually, though there was a distinct trace of displeasure in her tone, "Why? Do you wish to learn it?"
I shook my head. "A friend of mine used that sorcery and now can't change back. How can it be undone?"
Master Sellen pondered for a moment, then said slowly, "Generally speaking, a caster can naturally undo their own sorcery... But, my apprentice, you must understand that sorcery is rooted in our hearts..."
"Huh? Didn't you just say it was rooted in the stars of the cosmos, Master?"
"That's a different matter. Oh, if I could return to the academy, I'd have to give you some proper remedial lessons!" A chill emanated from Master Sellen again.
So she had a Spartan streak too?
-Fine, I'd better shut up.
"Returning to your question," my teacher continued, "as I just said, if he can't change back, perhaps the problem isn't with the sorcery. Perhaps he himself doesn't want to change back?"