A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special - Chapter 88

Episode 88. Between Summer and Winter (2)

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After finishing their meal, they moved to the party office.
Dezir distributed the semester schedule from his desk to the party members. It was a schedule that would shape their entire life this term, and it would be no exaggeration to say so.
Fram’s face lit up with joy as he carefully reviewed the schedule.
“We’ll be taking three classes together this semester, Dezir!”
As a mage and a swordsman, Dezir and Fram had fundamentally different curricula to master, so they rarely attended the same lectures.
However, among the newly established lectures starting this second semester, there were considerable common courses they both needed to learn. Thanks to this, Dezir and Fram could take many more classes together than they had in the first semester.
Romantika squinted as she examined the schedule.
“Look at this. The Sparring professor had to step down due to illness, and there’s a new one. The name is… Ershenblang Tistathia? By the name, doesn’t seem like a Hebrion native?”
“You’ll know for sure once you hear the accent.”
“Either way, I just hope it’s better than the Magical Engineering professor.”
The Magical Engineering professor was Fuggman.

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The next day, Hebrion Academy’s formal academic schedule began.
Botany class time.
Professor Ketwick, who taught Botany in Alpha Class, was a woman in her late fifties. Her lectures were unbearably dull.
Romantika murmured.
“I bet this semester she’ll focus on mandragora again, right? I don’t see why we need to know about the correlation between the intensity of a mandragora’s scream and abdominal pain relief, but here we are.”
“It’ll come in handy someday.”
Dezir replied.

History class time.
Professor Kevin, who taught History, was a young man. He had a straight nose and wore sharply angular glasses. He always demanded an enormous volume of assignments from his students. It seemed he believed History was the most important subject of all.
“That professor must think we only attend his class and no other lectures.”
Romantika shoved history texts into her locker while making her assessment. In fact, she hadn’t spoken positively of a single lecture so far.
“And the next class is Rune Language. I have to sit through another one of those marathon lectures.”
Romantika let out a sigh deep enough to shake the earth.
Professor Benquick, who taught Rune Language, was known for extending his lectures well beyond the scheduled time.
But when the Rune Language lecture actually began, it was anything but boring—it was absolutely fantastic. Professor Benquick was a man in his late sixties with thick glasses perched on his nose, and he had ended that day’s lecture a full ten minutes earlier than usual.
The hallway erupted in student cheers.
Romantika spoke with a delighted smile.
“Well, stranger things have happened. Professor Benquick ending class early. Why did he let us out so soon?”
“Did something good happen to him?”
As they vaguely speculated on the reason, Azest spoke.
“I think the reason is you, Dezir.”
“Me?”
“I mean, that’s because—”
“That professor is a commoner just like you are.”
A voice cut between them. It was a tall student with heavy brows. He wore a coat tinged with blue light, a symbol of the Blue Moon Party.
First-year Single Ranker ranked third: Doneta Hadun. His tone was distinctly sarcastic.
“Commoners have such a primitive mindset—they think that if someone else does well, they do too. You’re all parasites feeding off each other’s success. Don’t you agree?”
Just as Romantika began to frown and open her mouth in response, Dezir turned his head away sharply.
“Just ignore him.”
A conversation with Doneta was nothing compared to the Magical Engineering lecture that was about to begin.
The moment Dezir’s group entered the lecture hall, all eyes focused on them.
Most of the stares were cold. A significant number of the Single Rankers from the first and second years were members of the Blue Moon Party, who maintained a hostile relationship with Dezir’s party.
The relationship between Dezir’s party and the Blue Moon Party had deteriorated further since Azest’s defection.
Fuggman, the faculty advisor of the Blue Moon Party, was a man who despised commoners. With both the Promotion Exam and the incident of Azest’s defection piling up, he viewed Dezir, a commoner by birth, with even greater contempt.
Fuggman’s spitefulness seemed worse than last semester.
That day’s lesson was to devise a circuit for deploying 1st Circle Magic using a 6th Grade Mana Stone.
Dezir completed the circuit faster than anyone else, and in a method superior to what Fuggman had proposed, yet Fuggman deducted points from him nonetheless. The reason was that Dezir had used a method not taught in class.
It was hard to make sense of, but Dezir didn’t let it trouble him. Getting worked up over it now would only exhaust him, and besides, that lecture grade hardly mattered to him.
“What’s next?”
“Magic Theory.”
“Professor Bridgette is teaching that one, isn’t she?”
After lunch ended, Dezir, Azest, and Romantika—minus Fram—made their way to the lecture hall where Magic Theory was being held.
“What fine weather for studying Magic Theory today.”
Professor Bridgette, who taught Magic Theory, possessed an unhurried grace that never wavered. As a 5th Circle Mage, her lectures surpassed any other Magic Theory course at Hebrion Academy.
Unlike other classes that emphasized theory yet droned on endlessly, she valued practical application and made the material genuinely easy to understand. And it was dense with knowledge.
Once her explanation was complete, Bridgette turned to address the students.
“Now, you’ll practice modifying spells you already know. Form groups of three and evaluate each other’s magical calculations. Today’s lecture material will be reflected in your final evaluation.”
The group dispersed, and each student began practicing their magic.
Bridgette moved busily through the classroom, helping students properly unfold their spells and assessing how they’d executed each one.
After the lecture ended, Bridgette approached Dezir.
“Come to my office for a moment, would you?”
“Of course.”
Dezir was momentarily taken aback by her sudden summons, but he nodded and complied at once.

Bridgette’s office was lined with neatly arranged books, giving it the feel of a library.
Dezir and Bridgette sat across from each other at a table, on which two steaming teacups had been placed.
“Dezir, do you remember when we first met?”
“Of course, Professor.”
Dezir nodded readily.
“The Royal Library, where citizens of the empire were freely permitted to visit. You were reading there. I still haven’t forgotten the sight of you—so young, yet endlessly hungry for knowledge, absorbed completely in your books.”
“It was my only place to learn. And those were difficult times for me.”
At his words, Bridgette let out a bitter smile.
“I was heartbroken watching you struggle to learn despite your passion, confined to such limited circumstances. So I recommended you to Hebrion Academy.”
As Bridgette looked back on the past, Dezir nodded.
Without her help, admission to Hebrion Academy would have been impossible for him from the start.
Though Dezir possessed basic talent, it was through her guidance that he’d manifested his 1st Circle, and her letter of recommendation that had secured his place at the academy.
Bridgette was his benefactor.
“Dezir, you truly exceeded my every expectation. I never imagined you’d reach this far.”
As she spoke, Bridgette’s expression gradually darkened.
“You saved so many people abroad this time. I’m genuinely proud of you. But…… I wish you’d value yourself a little more.”
Dezir found himself unable to respond to her words.
“I understand the circumstances couldn’t be helped. But no matter how noble the cause of saving others, I believe it’s dangerous to sacrifice yourself so readily.”
She spoke to him in a tone both gentle and tinged with concern.
“You’ve heard these words enough times already, I’m sure. But don’t forget that so many people care about you. You understand what I’m saying, don’t you?”
“……Yes, Professor.”
“Good. Go on now.”
With their conversation concluded, a smile returned to her face.

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