Several days after the audience with the King, a Civil Official contacted me to have a brief discussion about my rewards.
And like that, I got permission to browse the forbidden texts.
With this, I could browse almost all of the prohibited books.
A portion of the records could only be viewed by His Majesty the King and the Prime Minister. So I couldn't browse through them.
The only books I wanted to read were ones about medicinal herbs, so there weren't any problems in that department.
There was more information about my other reward, the magic lecture.
The Civil Official told me, "If there's anything else you want to learn, please don't hesitate to tell me," while we were talking, so I got carried away and asked him about various things.
Can I learn this? Can also take this? As a result of me asking about various things, the Civil Official made the smart move of giving me documents about what lectures I could take.
All lectures were briefly explained in the documents he handed me.
It was hard for me to decide on what to take on the spot, so we decided that I would take the documents home and choose which lectures I would like to attend, before contacting the Civil Official again.
I returned to the Research Institute from the royal palace, and looked over the documents after finishing my work.
The lectures weren't only about magic; there were also lectures on: the history of Slantania Kingdom, the situations in the surrounding areas, the economy, manners and so on. There were a variety of subjects.
There were a lot of lectures I wanted to take, after thinking about the things that could happen afterwards.
Well, I thought that it would be better to know different things, rather than be ignorant, if I did plan to leave the royal palace in the future.
While I was choosing which lectures I would like, with a pen and note in one hand at the corner of the laboratory, the Director came up next to me.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm choosing my lectures."
"Lectures?"
"I'm talking about my reward. The Civil Official told me that there were other lectures I could take besides magic."
"Hoh."
He listened until there and took one of the sheets from my hand.
"These are like the lectures you could take at the academy."
"Really?"
According to the Director, the lectures on the documents that the Civil Official gave me could all be taken at the Royal Academy.
Aside from the compulsory lectures, there were also elective lectures at the academy, and you could pick whichever electives you liked.
To test him, I asked him what compulsory lectures were available, and it turned out that most the lectures I wanted to take were compulsory ones.
With the memo in one hand, I nodded, and then he softly took the memo from me.
"These are the lectures you're thinking of taking?"
"Yes."
"Hmm. There's quite a lot of lectures on here," he said, startled.
I wrote down the lectures I wanted to take for the time being, but if I took all of them, how many hours a day would I need?
Even if I took them on different days, my Japanese intuition told me that most of my week would be filled with lectures.
"I can't take them all, can I?"
"Why not?"
"If I take all those lectures then I can't do my work……"
It was impossible to work and take all the lectures I wanted to take unless I had 36 hours per day.
There were only 24 hours in a day, even in this world.
While I was crestfallen from having to choose from the list I had written, the Director said something unexpected.
"Are you talking about your work at the Research Institute?"
"Yes."
"You can just do it when you're not working."
"Excuse me?"
The Director explained to the stupefied me.
Originally, everyone at the Research Institute had graduated from the Royal Academy, and therefore held a certain amount of knowledge.
On the other hand, I knew more about natural sciences than they did, but because I wasn't someone from this world, I didn't know much about things unique to this world.
I was currently working as a researcher as a special case, but if I planned to continue working here in the future then it would be better for me to have the same foundation as the Academy graduates.
"Either way, your research has come to a halt recently, hasn't it?"
"Yes, well……"
Yes.
As the Director said, the results of my research had not been good these days.
I was trying to create a potion with higher effects than is available now.
At the beginning I created potions with my 50% increase.
HP and MP potions had not been improved for a long time.
Advanced HP Potions were too expensive, and there was low demand, so research for improvement were on hold.
Then a highly effective potion appeared, using the same ingredients and formula as before, which lit the research spirit within the researchers.
At that exact time, monster subjugation had risen, and more people were demanding potions with greater effects.
All the researchers pulled their heads together and tried to find the reason behind my highly effective potion, but they came up with nothing.
They continued to make no progress, and the majority of the researchers returned to their own research.
However, some people were still determined to find the method behind developing a highly effective potion, and did not give up.
I was a part of that group.
The cause had always been a mystery, but finally I got a lead when I was appraised at the Court Mage Division.
My magic power seemed different from those of this world's.
When I heard that, I thought that the potions were probably highly effective because of my magic power.
I felt my mind clear upon finding the cause, but felt disappointed that my research had returned back to the starting point.
My magic being the cause meant that when other people made the potion using the same ingredients and the same method, they would get the same result as they always did.
Which meant that in order to make a more effective potion, they would have to use different ingredients and find a different way to make it.
While we were researching the cause, our research came to a halt, so we started investigating new ingredients.
We collected information on medicinal herbs that were only distributed at a certain area, and drugs that were originally made in that area. We also read old documents.
I also went to the royal palace library often, and read books on medicinal herbs.
It was to the point that I thought I read all the books related to medicinal herbs, even the ones that the other researchers were reading.
Even so, I couldn't find any hints.
No, well, I did find some, but most of them turned out to be false leads.
That's why it's exactly like the Director said, my research had been halted.
This time, I got permission to browse the prohibited books, so I was hoping to find what I'd been looking for.
"The new things you learn might give you ideas for research. Isn't it a good opportunity for you?"
"You're right."
The Director had a point.
The reason he said this was because it turned out that the cause was my magic this time.
The researchers had also tried very hard to find the cause of the potions, and they sometimes questioned whether magic power was the cause.
However, concentrating magic into potion-making was more difficult for people to wrap their heads around compared to just using magic.
Even those who were trained probably didn't know if it was dependant upon magic power or not.
Because of that, they could only confirm a little about magic power, and immediately judged that magic power made no difference.
Since this was the Medicinal Herb Research Institute, the researchers here were more interested in medicinal herbs and recipes than magic power. I also didn't know more about magic than those around me, so if they told me something, I didn't dig any further.
If I had more knowledge, I would have noticed the matter and would probably have gotten to the bottom of it sooner.
Knowledge was important, after all.
My research has returned to the starting point, but by learning more about this world, I might be able to find something that I overlooked before.
If I thought like that, then taking lectures was also a part of my job.
"Just take the lectures you want to take; they're your hard-earned reward after all," the Director said while smiling, and I nodded and smiled back at him.
My lectures began a few days after I submitted the list of lectures I wanted to take to the Civil Official.
Some of the lectures didn't take long to prepare, so I started with the ones that were available.
The first lecture was a lecture about magic.
My tutors and I would be meeting in a room prepared in the royal palace.
When I first heard this, I thought that it would be troublesome to go to the royal palace every morning, but they had prepared a carriage for me to use.
I entered the room that the maid guided me to, prepared and waited for my tutor, and after a while, there was a knock on the door.
I was surprised at who had entered.
"Good morning."
"Good morning. Mhm……"
The person who smiled and entered the room was the Court Mage Division's Head Magician.
Today's lecture was about magic, so I had heard that the tutor was someone from the Court Mage Division, but I wasn't told that it would the Head Mage himself.
"I'm the tutor in charge of the mage lecture, Yuuri Dreves."
"Mhm…… You're the Court Mage Division's Head Magician, aren't you?"
"Yes."
I inadvertently confirmed that he was, without a doubt, the Head Magician that I had met the other day.
"You'll be in charge of this lecture, Head Magician? Aren't you busy with work?"
"It's fine."
The Head Magician was smiling, but was it really alright?
When I was watching the Captain of the 3rd Knight Order work, I got the feeling that there was a lot of paperwork involved.
The Captain also said that unlike the other knights, he had more paperwork to fill out so it was hard for him to find time to train.
Did that mean that the Court Mage Division had less paperwork than the Knight Order?
"Are you not satisfied with me?" the Head Magician asked me with a sad look on his face while I was worrying.
"No, that wasn't what I meant……"
No, I wasn't dissatisfied or anything.
Rather, I was feeling apologetic.
This lecture was catered to me, who was a complete amateur at magic. The contents of the lecture would be the basics of basics. I didn't think it was something that the Head Magician should teach me.
It was the same content taught to the first years at the academy. If I had to compare it, this was like a university professor teaching a middle school child.
That's why it was better for me to be taught by a normal Court Mage, who had more spare time, than the Head Magician, who was busy.
I immediately gave my reply to the Head Magician, who was waiting sadly, and he looked relieved.
"If it's something like that then there's no problem. And also, this situation isn't something that I can entrust to someone else."
"This situation?"
"Yes. About that, I have a favour to ask you."
"Yes?"
"I want to examine your magic, Sei-sama."
He nodded when I repeated his question back to him, and gave me an explanation.
First, my magic power was different from the magic of those in this world, so he wanted to study it in detail at the Court Mage Division.
Besides demon subjugation, the Court Mage Division also conducted magic research, and the Head Magician was also involved in this.
The Head Magician found my magic to be an extremely interesting thing.
The story about my potions having a higher effect than the ones made by others had reached his ears, and he thought that my magic was the cause of this.
Therefore, he wanted to investigate whether my magic was the cause, or if it was something else.
I also wanted to know if my magic influenced my potion-making, so I didn't mind that a specialist wanted to study it.
Another reason was because the Head Magician was personally interested in my magic, so he didn't want to leave this matter to other people.
According to the Head Magician, everything concerning the abilities of the【Saint】was a national secret, and there were hardly any detailed records on the past Saints.
The reason why there was hardly any record of them was also unknown.
That meant that the control of information was very strict when it came to the Saint.
The same was also true for my magic power. The upper stratums concluded that the fewer people who knew about this investigation, the better.
Thus, the Head Magician would personally be investigating my magic.
Besides, they concluded that it was only right because in this Kingdom, the Head Magician was the person with the most magic knowledge.
There was nothing special about the investigation; he was just going to observe my magic-use during the lecture.
If it was just that much then I guess it was fine.
He thanked me with a wonderful smile when I consented.
After the Head Magician explained the reasons why he was teaching me, the lecture began.
The first few days were about the foundations of magic; he taught me what magic power was and how magic power in the body was used.
The Head Magician's lectures were very easy to understand.
Him having more knowledge in magic than anyone in the Court Mage Division wasn't just for show.
He understood a lot about magic, but he was probably smart to begin with.
Because he's so good at teaching.
"Do you have anything you don't understand?"
"No, it's fine."
He asked if I had any questions after his explanation, but I didn't have any.
"Now then, you're probably sick of listening to lectures, so should we practice a little?"
"Okay."
"Sei-sama, since you can already use magic, I think that you should also be able to feel the magic from within your body. However, understanding the magic inside of your body is the basics of magic, so let's start from there."
The Head Magician continued to explain practical skills.
When I heard his explanation, I realised that it was the same method that I had learnt from Jude when I was making potions: sending magic power to someone else.
"Um, this……"
"What's wrong?"
"Is this the skill that allows you to send magic power to someone?"
"Ah, so you know about it. Yes it is."
I was right.
When I told him that someone had taught me to do this at the Research Institute, he nodded.
"Someone has sent you their magic before, haven't they? Then have you ever sent magic power to someone?"
"No. He only helped me feel the magic power."
"Really? Then, let's try sending your magic power today."
Jude was the one who did this at the Research Institute, but now I was the one performing it. My partner for this was, of course, the Head Magician.
There was only me and him in this room.
We faced each other and put our palms together.
Huh? Isn't this a bit close?
I felt the distance between us was slightly closer when we faced each other.
I was right. When I looked up from our palms, I was surprised that a beautiful face was closer to me than I had expected.
The Head Magician also looked up.
He'd noticed that I was staring at him.
Ah, this is hopeless.
Just having his beautiful face there is highly destructive.
Needless to say, when it came to the heads of divisions……
I was getting nervous and my chest hurt.
"What's wrong?"
The Head Magician smiled and tilted his head. I shook my head and answered.
"Nothing……"
Calm down.
Let's only think about sending magic for now.
I returned my eyes to our palms and distanced myself a little from the Head Magician while pretending to adjust my posture.
I took a deep breath and concentrated my magic power into my right hand.
After that, I released magic power from my palm the same way I did while making potions.
The magic power should have been flowing to the Head Magician.
"Can you feel it?"
"Yes. It's a little bit weak but it's flowing to me. Can you send a little more?"
"I'll try."
It seemed that the amount I used for making potions wasn't enough.
I imagined pushing magic out of my body, and this time I released more magic power than usual.
"Oh."
I heard the Head Magician's mutter and raised my eyes. He had a broad smile on his face, different from his usual gentle smile.
"Head Magician?"
"Ah, I'm sorry. It's a bit interesting."
"Interesting……?"
"Yes. Your magic is definitely different from ours."
When I called out to him in a voice different from my usual one, the Head Magician's expression returned to normal.
Maybe because of his well-featured face and the fact that I saw the smile just now, his smile looked like it was a mask pasted on his face,
Was that the cause?
I looked at him dubiously, but he responded by explaining magic power to me.
Although I also heard this during the lecture, magic was different between individuals.
It wasn't just the attributes.
It was hard to describe, but there was something that was intrinsically different.
However, the difference was so small that only half the people in the Mage Division could feel it.
Of course, the Head Magician could feel it.
On the other hand, my magic power was so different that it was obvious.
I'd thought so.
I had holy magic, but he also felt something different about it. The Head Magician said, "This might be something unique to those who come from a different world."
"Is my magic also the reason for higher efficiency in things like potions?"
"Well…… It's unclear at this stage."
"I see."
I'd tried asking the question I wanted to know the most, but it seemed that I wouldn't get the answer I wanted so easily.
That's too bad.
Well, the investigation only started today with the practical lesson, so it couldn't be helped.
It'll probably become clear sooner or later, so let's take our time investigating.
After that, the Head Magician told me various things, such as how to feel magic power while sending it to other people.
Translator: Blushy
Editor: Polar Bear