My name is Abel, and I’m a mage who reincarnated two hundred years into the future. In my day, those with Amber Eyes like me were heavily discriminated against. One day, I decided that I’d had enough of that treatment, and developed reincarnation magic to send myself to my ideal world in the future. In that regard, I succeeded, and found myself waking up in a peaceful world. Even now, I was having another calm day at Arthlia Academy of Magecraft, one of the nation’s most distinguished magecraft schools.
“In other words, Ashen and Obsidian Eye magecraft have different—special—properties, more than other magecraft types. There are very few people in the world who possess these eyes, and in all of modern magecraft, the demand and importance of these eyes is the highest,” our teacher explained from his podium, with his bulbous nose and usual monotonous voice.
He didn’t care about students falling behind, and insisted on speeding through class without giving students a chance to catch up. As such, all the students were frantically doing everything they could to not fall behind, trying to write down every last word he said. They didn’t even have a chance to talk to each other.
Hm. No matter how many times I’ve sat through his lecture, I’ve yet to get used to how boring and rudimentary it is.
“Dammit! His lecture hasn’t slowed down even a little. It’s too fast!”
“Yeah, but the high level of this class is proof that Arthlia Academy of Magecraft is a gathering of elites.”
Hm. Our teacher’s ridiculous, but so are the students. Just because he was talking quickly, without any regard for his students, didn’t make any part of his class “high level.” The students seemed to be misunderstanding that. Up until recently, I’d probably sigh and think, “good grief,” but this class had become a convenient way to kill time. As such, I didn’t really feel too strongly about it.
“Whoa, look. Abel’s reading a weird book again.”
“No way... It’s so thick! How many pages are in there?!”
It seemed that the other students in the class had become distracted by what I was doing and had begun to fuss over it. I was currently trying to work on one of the assignments that Emerson had given me.
“Heh heh. It’s a loss to humanity if your precious time is wasted on that garbage class, Abel. That’s why I will give you some work to do.”
I’ve gotta say, Emerson is useful every now and then. After a series of events, I’d become Emerson’s student for Modern Magecraft. Though it was hard for me to admit, Emerson’s knowledge of Regalia development was far superior to mine. The most efficient way to learn Modern Magecraft was to stay under his tutelage for the time being. I’d decided that it was most logical for me to learn from him.
“Rrgh! Rrghh!”
Seeing me so blatantly ignore his lecture infuriated our bulbous-nosed professor, but he didn’t call me out on it. Most likely, Emerson had said something behind the scenes to make it so nobody would disturb my self-study. Though it felt like this professor would call me out at any minute, he did his best to hold himself back, and instead began furiously writing magecraft equations on the board.
“Pay attention, please, Mr. Abel! Try solving this problem!”
I see. Since he can’t directly tell me off, he’s using a roundabout way to try and punish me for ignoring his lecture. It doesn’t seem like this problem’s anything that’s covered within the range of his class.
I’d already more or less grasped the curriculum of the school, and if I remembered correctly, the problem he was giving me was from the fifth-year classes. In other words, he’d given me a problem from the most advanced classes the school had to offer.
“Uh, do you understand the meaning of the magecraft equation he just wrote?”
“No... Not a single clue.”
The others in the class seemed to have caught onto the difficulty of the problem and were left stunned.
“It seems that Professor Emerson is giving you special treatment, Mr. Abel, but I don’t think you deserve it whatsoever! A lowly commoner like you doesn’t belong here at the sacred grounds of Arthlia Academy!” the bulbous-nosed professor said, irate.
Hm. As I thought, he’s getting angry over Emerson allowing for my self-study in his own class. Even though Emerson holds a high position in the academy, he’s far from being well-liked.
“Hmph. It seems that you lack respect towards your professors. I’ll thoroughly educate you on how to treat your betters!”
Good grief. Does he actually think I can’t solve this? He’s really underestimating me. All in all, this almost made me feel nostalgic. Recently, the number of people who’d been berating me as a commoner had significantly decreased. I guess I don’t have a choice. It’s a little annoying, but I’ll play along with this farce.
“Does this about do it, Professor?”
“Urk!”
The bulbous-nosed professor bit his lip in frustration as I quickly solved the problem and dusted the chalk off my hands.
“Also, there was a little bit of a contradiction in the original problem you wrote, so I fixed it for you. Perhaps since this material is something that won’t be covered for some time, you haven’t had time to brush up on it yet, Professor?”
“Wha...”
Hearing me point out his mistakes made the bulbous-nosed professor’s face pale, a sign of his quickly crumbling composure. Hm. I know I was the one who did this to him, but I might’ve gone too far. But also, this might result in him leaving me alone from now on. It was a small sacrifice on the way to a more comfortable life at the school.
“Dammit! How is he always so perfect?!”
“Don’t get so worked up about it. He’s special. It’s a waste of time to try and compare yourself to him.”
Hm. It seems like even the really obstinate classmates who didn’t want to accept me and admonished me as having “Inferior Eyes” have begun changing their tune. I turned to look out the window.
I guess it makes sense that things have changed. I enrolled in the spring, and now summer and fall have passed.
My first day of school here had been graced by cherry blossom petals falling, but now, the trees were completely barren, creating a lonely atmosphere. It’d already been almost a year since I started here. After this much time, it only made sense for interpersonal relationships to change as well.
“Look at that!” someone said, pointing out the window.
“Whoa! It’s snow! Snooow!”
“It’s snowing so hard!”
Good grief. Even though they’re children of nobility, they’re all still just children—just teenagers. Seeing the snow had apparently made them very excited.
“Be quiet, please, students! Direct your attention to my lecture!” our teacher’s yell echoed across the room.
This was yet another ordinary day in the books.