Published at 24th of April 2020 07:21:03 PM
Chapter 23
Under Surveillance
Lynn was visiting the academy’s library for beginner class students . He was preparing for his next lesson .
Sleeya Sensei of Metal Magic class had a tendency to talk fast, and consequently the pace of the class too was, naturally, fast . However this presented Lynn with a problem .
In order to keep up with the class I have to really prepare for each class ahead of time .
The self study room in the library was big, and there were plenty of available desks to sit at .
This library was not only bigger, but it was also equipped with far more facilities than the library in Renryll had .
This was one of the reasons he felt grateful for being able to enter the academy .
Very much unlike the case in Renryll, here he was able to use the library at any time without having to worry about finding a desk .
When Lynn found an empty desk and sat down, someone else sat down right next to him . Without thinking much of it, he looked to see who it was, and right there next to him was Yuven .
What!
Surprised, Lynn looked away quickly .
What is she doing here?
There were countless other desks in the study room .
There wasn’t a likely reason she should want to sit next to him .
He risked a fleeting glance in her direction .
She had one textbook open, but she wasn’t reading . Neither did she seem to want to talk either . Instead she simply sat in her char, arms folded, and watched Lynn patiently .
For a while Lynn feigned ignorance, but eventually he couldn’t stand it anymore and decided to try talking to her .
“Good afternoon” .
Yuven returned the greeting with a smile .
“Afternoon” .
“So… Is there something I can help you with?”
“Oh, no… There’s nothing in particular you can help me with . I just thought to observe you” [1] .
“What! Why?”
Lynn was startled at her choice of words . What did it mean for a girl to observe a boy? It didn’t have any romantic connotations, did it?
“That’s right, I’m going to be observing you, to find out if you’re cheating somehow . I mean it’s just too strange . I’ve been learning for a year longer than you, but despite having only just arrived here you completely outshone me, and got such a good mark . I can only think that you must have cheated somehow” .
Wait, what… So that’s why .
Learning of her motive, Lynn felt dejected . She was merely still hung up on the previous Ring Magic class . It seemed she still hadn’t accepted how it had ended .
“Cheated? I’m not doing anything underhand, let alone cheating” .
“I wonder though . Everyone is saying you’re suspect, and you have a sly look to you” .
“What? A sly look? What even is that?”
“To think that there was such injustice in such an important class… It’s really quite alarming . You know, I value fairness . That’s why I’m going to keep an eye on you . As soon as I find evidence of your cheating I’ll report you straight away” .
“What?” Lynn gasped incredulously . “I don’t think you’ll find any evidence of cheating no matter how much you observe me, because I’m not doing anything wrong . Anyway, all I’m trying to do at the moment is study” .
Was it even possible in the first place to cheat in Ring Magic class? Lynn wondered to himself dubiously .
“If that’s what you say, then fine . Focus on studying,” Yuven said, and after a brief pause added in a stronger tone “but I’ll be here watching you” .
Lynn sighed . It seemed that no matter what he said it wouldn’t make a difference .
“Ok, sure . In that case I’ll just get on with studying” .
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Lynn regathered his thoughts and concentration, and set about studying . For a while Yuven simply watched as he studied, but as she saw the pace at which he read and flipped through the pages, the thought of falling behind him proved an even bigger problem for her, and so she too began studying for class .
—–
“Lynn, over here” .
When he reached Metal Magic class, Theo called out and waved to him . He had saved a seat for Lynn in advance . Nearby were students that got along well with Theo, but aside from the usual bunch there were a few unfamiliar faces lingering .
“The hero’s here!” Theo said cheerily .
“You’re exaggerating” .
Embarrassed, Lynn sat down at the desk .
“I’m not exaggerating at all . You did good” .
“Hey, it was so, so good seeing the look on Yuven’s face . It was twitching beautifully”, someone sitting nearby said with glee .
Since he manifested the Vesper Sword, Lynn found himself unusually flattered and held in higher esteem than ever before . Those who treated him in such a way were the commoner kids .
More so than Yuven herself, they seemed to be more opinionated about the aristocract students in general .
Lynn felt conflicting emotions in regard to his new treatment .
“Lynn, before class… Were you with Yuven?”
“Yeah . She just kind of came up to me . She said ‘you cheated so you could manifest the Vesper Sword’” .
“What the hell? How can she throw about false accusations like that?” Someone said .
“She’s crazy in the head”, Theo said, deadpan .
“Theo, that’s going a bit far”, Lynn objected in a fairly harsh tone .
For some reason even he himself couldn’t understand, he wanted to stick up for her .
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Theo simply shrugged his shoulders .
Suddenly, as if there was no possible way he could hold his excitement any longer, a kid Lynn rarely talked to burst out the question a number of them were likely wanting to ask .
“Hey, by the way, did you already get your invitation to Magulheim?”
“Yeah, it came . Look” .
From his bag, Lynn took out the letter of invitation that had arrived from the Wizard Association this morning . Everyone gasped in admiration when they saw it . Lynn passed it around so that everyone could get a close look . They all jostled with each other as they became impatient waiting for their turn to look .
Some of them were excited just to hold the letter in their hands, while others quibbled at it with remarks such as ‘the paper’s surprisingly cheap-looking’ .
One kid asked him to, eventually, tell them all tales of the hunting party and what it’s like to be part of it .
For the time leading up to the teacher arriving, Lynn savoured the warm sensation of being the center of attention .
—–
Lynn and Theo were inside one of the magic elevators . Lynn was heading to the library, while Theo had something to do at the association, so they were travelling together for half of the journey .
“Hey, Theo” .
“Yeah?”
“Is joining Magulheim really such a huge deal? What really is mulheim anyway?”
“Well… I was curious as well, so I looked into it . Apparently it’s advantageous to be part of Magulheim if you want to conquer [2] the tower” .
“Conquer the tower?”
“Yeah . After graduating from the academy, there are some people who aim for the summit . They set about trying to reach the top, right? They form guilds . I heard Magulheim is one of the stand out guilds, created for that purpose” .
“Really…”
“Some guilds try to scout young talent as early as they can, they even look among the first year students . Out of the guilds that try this, Magulheim are the most successful” .
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“Really now… What about you then, Theo . Don’t you want to join Magulheim?”
“Me? Well, I’m not really interested in the summit” .
“What, really?”
“Yeah . When I graduate I’m going to take over the family business . I came here to learn magic only because magic is useful in the family business . If I become a wizard, I can travel anywhere in the world I like, and to do trade” .
“I see” .
Lynn suddenly felt very lonely . When they graduated, it seemed that they would go their separate ways .
“What about you? What will you do?”
“I… Haven’t decided anything yet” .
“Oh” .
For some reason or other both boys sunk into a long, heavy silence .
However when the elevator was about to reach its destination, Theo spoke up brightly .
“Well then, for now why don’t you just join Magulheim’s hunting party and see what it’s like? In doing that you might find out what it is that you want to do” .
Next time… Chapter 24, ‘An invitation from Kruga’ .
TRANSLATION NOTES
[1] ‘監視’ means observation, or in this case ‘to observe’ . However this is too literal a translation . Therefore I wanted to opt for something like ‘I’m going to be keeping an eye on you’, *but* this didn’t jive well with Lynn’s subsequent apparent confusion at Yuven’s use of the word . He thought for a second that there might be a romantic connotation to it . Now let’s all remember he is very socially inexperienced- he didn’t get a chance to socialise with kids his own age before coming to the tower, which was only 6 months ago at this point . I think it’s a credit to the author’s writing that little details like this reflect the characters’ unique quirks .
In any case, I settled on the literal translation, because it retains the ambiguity of the original Japanese . A natural translation would have rendered the situation impervious to misinterpretation .
[2] ‘攻略’ is the original Japanese, which I’ve decided to translate in this context as ‘conquer’ . This word is often seen in dungeon type scenarios, in which case the natural translation would be ‘to clear the dungeon’, or ‘clear the tower’ . However our magnificent tower here isn’t something as simple as a dungeon that one needs to clear . No, it contains a whole magical society and world, in which are yet unexplored forests, which can only leave one to the assumption that it is an OLD world, with a long, long history . Also, this isn’t a a novel with game type elements .