By Zephyria 
The next day.
Herman was back to his usual self. I thought the atmosphere would still be bleak because of the meaningful actions and words he had said yesterday, but it was unexpected.
“We have the same classes in a row this morning.”
“Hmm.”
“We even have physical skills class in the afternoon… Ha. I’m going to be tired.”
Herman talked to me in detail while heading to the lecture hall with me, so I responded appropriately and glanced at his face.
Did he feel better after sleeping well?
It was an unknowable thing.
When I entered the lecture hall, Tom and Zeon, who had entered earlier, turned to us. It was the moment when the two of them were about to gesture for us to come over. Ardian, who was sitting in the next row and reading a book, found me and reacted before those two.
“Ray.”
Then, he approached with a brightly blooming face. He naturally grabbed my hand and kissed the back of it, and at that moment, I felt the attention focused on me. Regardless of that, Ardian, who left a kiss on the back of my hand and looked up at me, smiled brightly while filling his eyes with only me.
“Good morning. Did you sleep well last night?”
Herman’s expression was angry again when he saw that.
I didn’t know why the attention was focused on me, and I didn’t know why this guy was giving me a kiss of reverence and paying the respect of a servant, so my head was full of questions.
“Let go. I’ve never had you as a servant, so why are you paying me the respect of a servant on your own?”
Ardian only let go willingly when I forcibly pulled out my hand because he wasn’t letting go. He smiled shamelessly at my scolding.
“Then will you accept me as your servant?”
“I refuse. The number of heads is enough now.”
It’s tiring if there are too many underlings to manage.
He passed by the guy and moved towards the end seats where Zeon and Tom were sitting. However, Ardian, who had been following behind, subtly pulled me to the seat next to him. Unlike the end seats that could accommodate three or four people, it was a seat in the central row for two.
“Instead of there, can’t we sit together here?”
Ardian, who had sat down first, shook my sleeve and urged. Herman sighed and went to Tom and Zeon’s side.
Even so, the distance wasn’t that wide, so it was practically the next seat.
I also squinted at Ardian, who was whining with the most pitiful face I could muster, but I was too lazy to argue, so I just sat next to him quietly. After all, it was better to keep him close if I wanted to figure out what he was up to.
Just then, Melicsa, who was sitting in the row in front of me, heard something from Clona, who was sitting next to her, and turned to look at me abruptly. She lowered her voice so that no one around could hear and hid her mouth with her hand.
“You guys, by any chance, is it that?”
“…What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“You two, is it this?”
Melicsa wiggled her little finger with a nonchalant face. So, what is that supposed to mean? As I was about to just watch, not knowing what was going on, Ardian, who had been quietly observing, chimed in.
“That’s right.”
…Does this guy even know what that means and just said yes?
I stared intently, but Ardian just smiled and didn’t explain what it meant. He was going to keep it to himself.
Information monopoly, huh?
He was a very shameless and cowardly guy.
Clona, who had been glancing at us with a slightly embarrassed and flushed face, blushed even more.
Then, she whispered something into Melicsa’s ear again, and Melicsa tapped my desk with a lenient expression. For some reason, she looked quite annoyed.
“Don’t worry, friend. I don’t hate homosexuality or anything. Even if the whole world turns against you, I’ll remain your friend.”
“……?”
“They say that love transcends all obstacles such as gender, status, race, borders, time, and so on, right? I’ll cheer you on, so go for it.”
Something… is strange.
I had a feeling I had made a big mistake, so I was about to ask directly what that meant earlier.
But before I could, Sophia opened the door and focused the children, saying that class was about to start.
“I saw you in
Sophia pushed up her round glasses that had slipped down once and then opened her book.
Following her, the children also took out their books and opened them. The sound of paper rustling could be heard here and there. Students who had not brought their books were briefly noisy, asking the students next to them to share.
Sophia, who had waited for the noise to subside, wrote the form of a Magic Circle and the Verbal Magic Magic Phrase on the blackboard and said.
“Today, we’re going to learn Non-Affinity Magic. I’ll teach you the easy ones first, but you’ll have time to use them directly later, so you need to concentrate so you don’t miss anything.”
From today, it seemed that a class would be held where we would finally learn and directly use the types of Magic that we could use in earnest.
“First, shall we learn the Magic Phrase of Mana Detection and Mana Concealment, which are the most widely used and have strong practicality among Non-Affinity Magic? This is actually Magic that you all already know how to use well, and I can’t demonstrate it, so please just listen to the explanation.”
Then, she pointed to the two completed Magic Phrases on the blackboard with chalk.
‘May there be infinite protection on the battlefield for those who devour and crave the opponent.’… This was the general Verbal Magic Magic Phrase of Mana Detection.
‘May you hide and conceal the limits you possess from the enemy and protect them.’… This was the general Verbal Magic Magic Phrase of Mana Concealment.
In addition, the compressed Verbal Magic Magic Phrase of Mana Detection was ‘Reveal,’ and the compressed Verbal Magic Magic Phrase of Mana Concealment was ‘Conceal.’
“These two Magic Phrases were created in the Primordial Era 1310 by an unknown Long-lived Race. The Fiends of Niflheim suddenly went berserk and attacked the village of the Long-lived Race, and as a result, the Long-lived Race was wiped out… These are the Magic of attack and defense that were created during the 2-Year War.”
I stopped half-listening to the class and perked up my ears.
The extinction of the Long-lived Race, huh?
Such a thing must have happened after I died in my previous life. As I was thinking that, Sophia smiled and added.
“Of course, fortunately, it’s not a complete extinction because Raculus, the founder and headmaster of our academy, remains the only survivor of the Long-lived Race.”
The headmaster, who hadn’t even shown his face on the day of the entrance ceremony, was a survivor of the Long-lived Race. This was also an interesting story.
“Anyway, please keep in mind that the fact that the word ‘battlefield’ is included in the Magic Phrase is also due to the reflection of the times at that time. Then, continuing on….”
The class continued a little longer.
After that, I learned a few Non-Affinity Magic other than Mana Detection and Mana Concealment, which were Seawater Resistance, which allows you to breathe in water, and Double Fish Interpretation, a type of translation technology that interprets the language of the other party.
“Okay! That’s all I’m going to teach you today. There’s not much time left, so shall we actually use it now? The Magic we’re going to use today is Double Fish Interpretation! Take the necessary tools from here and give each other feedback with your nearby friends. If you have any difficulties, call me.”
Sophia opened a subspace and took out a Video Orb containing the sounds of languages from other countries. Ardian, who had taken two Video Orbs from there, handed one to me and smiled brightly.
“Then shall we do it? Who wants to go first?”
Without saying anything in particular, I first brought my palm to the Video Orb.
As I had learned from the family of this body, when I infused Mana into the Video Orb, the Video Orb began to operate.
The language flowing out of it was the language of the dwarves.
Even if I didn’t use Double Fish Interpretation separately, I, who had learned the language of the dwarves during Mephisto’s time, could interpret it well in my head, but I activated the Magic as a show.
As if the Magic had been properly activated, the language of the dwarves was translated into Fusark Language, the common language of the empire. Sophia’s task was to say that out loud and let the other person hear it.
“『Hello. The language you are currently hearing is Tatar, which is used by dwarves. I like meat dishes, and among them, I like King So meat dishes the most.』”
The interpretation ended there. I nodded, meaning it was your turn this time. At that, Ardian also activated his Video Orb. The language flowing out of it was welcome to me as well. Because it was Luciferian, which was mainly used by the ancient Demons of Valihard.
After a while, Ardian activated the Magic with Instant Cast, just like I had done.
“『The direct descendants of the Ballyhard Family Demons have been blessed by their ancestor, the demon Lucifer, since around the Genesis Era 975. The Ballyhard Demons, who still retain the thick blood of the demon, have a lifespan as long as the Long-lived Race and a slightly stronger body than humans.』”
Then, he turned to me again as if to pass the turn and smiled, folding his eyes. He could have recited the Magic Phrase as a formality… The way he deliberately used Instant Cast to respond, just like I had done, fueled my competitive spirit.
Was his goal to piss me off?
I narrowed my eyes and turned on the next recording. The ancient language of the Demons, Luciferian. When I interpreted it without using Magic, Ardian, who seemed to find something funny, slightly pulled up the corners of his mouth and turned on the next recording himself.
That was, Runic. It was the mother of Fusark Language, but the language system had changed considerably, so it would be difficult to interpret.
That was because it was a language used by humans ‘hundreds of years ago’ and had been almost completely replaced by Fusark Language and had almost disappeared. I didn’t know the words, but it would be difficult for anyone other than an expert in the field to understand such long sentence structures.
But Ardian interpreted it again without Double Fish Interpretation. As if it wasn’t difficult. Frankly, it was embarrassing.
Did I underestimate the level of education of humans? Or is this guy just outstanding… I don’t know. As I was wondering, Ardian turned to me and smiled quietly with a meaningful expression.
“Ray. Shall we make a bet?”