Special Student Class

The special students' classroom was a separate room at the easternmost end of the academic building.

When I pushed the door open, I expected to see rows of desks. Instead, there were only a dozen or so individual research desks, each roughly two meters apart, with gray velvet cloth spread across their surfaces and a small magic item cabinet in the corner. Some students had piled their desks with books, while others had set out strange instruments. One had a potted plant I couldn't identify, its leaves trembling faintly in the sunlight.

There were about a dozen students in all, ranging in age from their teens to their thirties. I found a seat by the window, placed the key Jinas had given me on the corner of the desk, and looked around.

Special students and regular students live in completely different worlds. No fixed classes, just one class meeting a month. The rest of the time, you arrange your own research. Basically, they give you a room and a set of equipment, and you can do whatever you want. If I'd had a place like this when I was holed up in my room in my previous life, I probably would've stayed there playing games until the end of time.

The man next to me stood up.

He was tall, more than half a head taller than me, with a slender build, round glasses, and a bowl cut. He wore an academy robe with every button neatly fastened, and a golden royal crest was pinned to his chest.

The moment he saw me, he froze. Then his eyes lit up behind his lenses.

"Are you the new special student?" His voice was bright, and he nearly knocked over his chair as he stood. "I'm Zanoba Shirone, third prince of the Shirone Kingdom!"

He held out his hand, and I shook it with my right. His grip was so strong that my hand hurt a little.

"Rudeus Greyrat, the new special student."

"Greyrat?" He tilted his head. "A noble from Asura?"

"I used to be. Not anymore."

His gaze fell on my prosthetic hand, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

"This is... a prosthetic hand made with earth magic?!"

He leaned in until his face was almost pressed against my prosthetic hand, examining it from every angle. His eyes were wide behind his glasses, and he muttered things like "mana circuits," "joint precision," and "this connection structure."

His scrutiny made me a little uncomfortable, and I absentmindedly molded something on the velvet cloth with my right hand: a small earth magic figurine, about five centimeters tall, in the likeness of my master, Roxy. It was something I did when I was nervous, a habit I'd picked up back when I was a tutor in the City of Roa. Whenever my fingers couldn't stay still, I'd make a figurine.

Zanoba's gaze was instantly drawn to the little figurine.

His pupils contracted sharply. Then he snatched it up and held it close to his eyes, turning it over and over as his fingers trembled slightly.

"This... this precision..." His voice changed from its earlier enthusiasm to a tone that was almost reverent. "The curves of the joints... the details of the face... Y-you made this?!"

"...Yeah. I just made it without thinking."

"Without thinking?!" His voice rose an octave, and the desk shook. "Do you have any idea how precise this figurine is?! I've spent three years making figurines and hired countless craftsmen, but not one of them could achieve this level of precision! Y-you make figurines too?!"

His reaction startled me. "...Figurines? I've made a few. It used to be a hobby, I guess."

"Oh my, oh my, oh my!" He rummaged through his desk for a few seconds, then pulled out a figurine about thirty centimeters tall and thrust it in front of me. "Look at this! It's a Roxy figurine I got from Pax! I admire this work every day, and every time I do, I discover something new! I've been searching for its creator for years!"

I took it and had a look. At first glance, it was just an ordinary figurine of a magician holding a wand. But on closer inspection, the lines of her robes billowing in the wind were extraordinarily lifelike. One foot was planted forward, her wand stretched out in front of her, and the whole pose was full of movement. Very little skin was exposed, yet it had an attraction I couldn't quite put into words. Viewed from behind, the robes normally wouldn't have concealed the curves of her body, but because her forward step pulled at the fabric, the line of her buttocks was faintly visible.

Then I tried taking the robes apart. Once I separated the front and back, there was a girl underneath wearing nothing but underwear, even covering her chest with her left hand, giving her a divine, goddesslike air. The hand that had been holding the wand remained in its gripping pose on the outer robe I had just removed. That's right, this figurine had three arms. The mechanism allowed it to combine two forms in one, switching between the robed figure and the one wearing only underwear.

This design... I seemed to remember it. A long time ago, when I was a tutor in the Fittoa Territory, I'd casually made it with Master Roxy as the model. I'd sold it to a merchant for money back then. I never expected it to end up in the hands of Shirone's third prince.

"The joints are fixed." I moved my arm around; the problem was obvious at a glance. "Human joints have a ball-and-socket structure and can rotate 360 degrees. Yours are hinged, so they can only swing back and forth. That's why the movements look like a marionette's."

"Yes, yes, yes! That's it!" Zanoba was so excited he nearly smashed the desk. It rocked twice, and the things on it clattered. "I was born strong, so I can't do delicate work. I crush the materials every time. I've hired countless craftsmen, but none of them could achieve this level of precision!"

He suddenly stopped there, his eyes fixed on me behind his lenses.

"Wait... that figurine just now... you made it without thinking..." His voice began to tremble. "And this figurine... was made by the creator of the Roxy figurine... The figurine you just made has exactly the same precision as this work..."

He froze for two seconds. Then, under the gaze of the dozen or so special students in the classroom, Zanoba Shirone, third prince of the Shirone Kingdom, dropped to his knees.

His knees struck the stone floor with a dull thud. He braced both hands on the ground and pressed his forehead against it.

"You're the creator of the Roxy figurine!! I admire your work every day, and every time I do, I discover something new. My respect for you only grows stronger! Please, you must allow me to call you Master!"

"...Get up." His display made me uncomfortable all over. "Don't kneel here..."

"No! Until you agree to take me as your apprentice, Master, I absolutely will not get up!"

A prince is kneeling to me just to learn how to make figurines, and he won't get up unless I agree? If someone posted about this on a forum in my previous life, the replies would probably be, "This guy must have something wrong with his head." But judging by his expression, he's genuinely devout to the bone. Figurines are probably about the same as religious faith to him.

"All right." I sighed. "But you have to teach me how to paint figurines. I made earth magic figurines back in the Fittoa Territory, but I was never any good at coloring them."

"Deal!!"

He sprang up even faster than he'd dropped to his knees. There was no sign that he'd just been bowing with his forehead to the floor, and when he clenched his hand, his fist was as big as my face.

A short young man sat next to Zanoba.

He was half a head shorter than me and lean, with black hair, bright eyes, and a slightly raised chin. Whenever he looked at someone, he always gave the impression of thinking, "None of you are as good as me." A thick stack of manuscripts covered in formulas and magic circle diagrams sat on his desk.

He'd been watching me ever since I sat down.

Finally, he spoke. "Are you the new student who took Fitz out in an instant?"

"...Yeah."

"You used a disruption technique that interrupts the process of mana formation. You're the only person in the entire university who can cast it without chanting." His tone was flat, as though he were stating facts. "I'm Cliff Grimoire, grandson of the pope of the Millis Faith."

He paused, then gave me a smile so confident it made me want to hit him.

"I'm a genius, so let's be friends."

I nearly choked on my own saliva.

What's with this guy? He starts by calling himself a genius and then asks to be friends. If someone posted that on a forum in my previous life, the replies would probably all be, "Blocked, no thanks needed." But people in this world seem more accepting of that kind of introduction.

"...Rudeus Greyrat."

"I know." He opened the manuscript on his desk and pointed to a densely packed section of formulas. "Have you read the theory of wavelength matching in mixed magic? Most people can't learn it because it requires understanding the resonance frequencies of mana from two or more elements at once. But I derived a complete mathematical model."

I leaned over and read a few lines. The formulas were complex, but the chain of logic was astonishingly clear. He'd described the energy loss from opposing fire- and water-element mana with a set of differential equations, and he'd also given the conditions for an optimal solution.

"This..." The more I looked, the more I felt something was off. "What if you added the earth element? Is there a theory for three elements resonating at once?"

His eyes lit up. "You thought of that too? The earth element could act as a stabilizer, locking the opposing frequencies of fire and water within a certain range. In theory, you could make a self-repairing material."

Self-repairing material. The term struck right at a sore point for me. The biggest problem with my prosthetic hand was wear and tear: the mana circuits deteriorated with prolonged use, and repeated movement caused microcracks in the joints. If the material could repair itself...

"Have you experimented with it?" I asked.

"Not yet. I lack someone to carry it out." He looked at me. "The figurine you made shows that your earth magic is highly precise. If you're willing to cooperate, we can give it a try."

I thought about it. "Sure, but I need to finish the special student paperwork first."

"No problem." He closed the manuscript. "There's no need to rush a collaboration between geniuses. A good idea is worth waiting for."

This guy's so full of himself that I want to punch him, but honestly, his formulas really do have substance. Back in the Fittoa Territory, I relied on intuition to use mixed magic, yet he can translate that intuition into formulas with a mathematical model. In my previous life, he'd probably be the kind of genius who could write a post on 2ch at sixteen that would have the whole forum on its knees. He's annoying, but he really is impressive.

The class meeting was short.

Jinas came and went over a few things special students needed to know: attendance at the monthly class meeting was mandatory, the rules for using the research rooms, the need to apply separately for access to the great library's restricted books section, and the availability of university funds to purchase magic items on campus. Then he left. Special students didn't need anyone looking after them.

After the meeting, I returned to my research desk and began sorting through the materials Jinas had given me: research room access permissions, an equipment list, and the amount of funding available. Zanoba leaned over beside me and said something in a low voice.

"Master, that white-haired boy."

The pen in my hand stopped.

"What?"

Zanoba pushed up his round glasses, his expression unusually serious. "He seemed to be watching you the whole time. During the meeting, he passed the door twice, and both times he was looking this way."

I glanced back at the classroom door. The hallway was empty; there was no one there.

White hair, red eyes. That strange sense of familiarity I felt when we passed each other in the hallway still hasn't gone away. Zanoba says he was watching me. Fitz, the university's silent-casting genius, a member of the student council, Princess Ariel's guard. I took him out in an instant during the entrance test, and he left without saying a word.

"Why was he staring at me?"

"I don't know." Zanoba shrugged. "But that boy usually ignores everyone. You won't find anyone else in the entire university who could make him look twice. You've probably caught his interest."

I stared at the empty hallway for a few seconds, then looked away and continued sorting the materials.

"Never mind."