The Woman Found the Will I Wrote

4 – Affinity 3

There were three common themes in magic books.

Conceptualization, materialization, application.

Conceptualization is the stage of thinking up the magic you want to manifest.

Materialization is the stage of using mana to manifest the magic that you’ve conceptualized.

‘Finally, application is the stage of customizing the magic to suit you.’

At this point, I had reached the final stage, application.

‘Understanding magic itself is not difficult.’

To be honest, it wasn’t difficult at all; in fact, it was excessively easy.

I could understand how it worked without having to see what the principle was.

So I quickly passed the basic stage of conceptualization and materialization and moved on to the application stage.

I was in the process of transforming the acquired magics into forms most suitable for me.

‘In fact, it seems different from the original magic.’

Like Theseus’s ship.

Changing the formulas to suit my taste, and modifying the changed formulas to flow well together,

The original magic formulas I learned disappeared and new magics I created popped up.

More efficient and effective magics.

Although I wanted to continue modifying to generate more efficient magics…

“Young master, it is time for you to prepare to go to school.”

Since it has gotten bright outside, I had no choice but to stop my research.

If possible, I would have preferred to declare a refusal to go to school and devote myself to the study.

‘But then I won’t be able to aim for the top spot, so I guess this is good enough.’

Although regrettable, I decided to stop here and dust off my hands.

* * *

Unlike the academy’s slogan that everyone is equal under education…

In the academy, the lineage and talent of each student determined their value.

‘Even on Earth, where there’s no such thing as class, they create their own ranks to play around.’

In a place where actual classes like nobility and commoners exist, the boundaries are inevitably more distinct.

I sigh, watching the nobles around me gather and speak.

A tidy-looking female student in uniform approaches me with a soft voice.

“Do you have a moment?”

Wondering what it is, I tilt my head and she continues with a friendly smile.

“It’s a bit awkward to speak here, can we talk in the hallway for a moment?”

To put it frankly, after spending the night with research, I didn’t particularly want to follow her.

However, I felt as if I were missing something peculiar, so I nodded.

‘And above all, she seems familiar.’

Although I don’t recall her appearance.

Her actions and unique aura felt as if they were from a novel, so I thought it would be good to check.

So, I follow her to the hallway, and she begins to speak with calm smiles.

“Oh, it’s nothing big, just a few things to ask about the upcoming exam.”

“What is it?”

“The professor said that they’ll judge our actual situation assessment ability with a practical test this time, so I’m asking because…”

Why did she have to drag me to the hallway to ask something she could’ve asked in class?

It seems like she needs some time to get to the point.

As I gradually harden my face, listening to her useless talk, the nameless girl checks her surroundings, then.

“… You know, what do you think about that commoner girl, Lumi?”

Finally, she brings up the main point.

Upon hearing that, considering that she felt the need to emphasize ‘commoner’ when talking about Lumi, I realized she must have brought it up for a negative reason, so I responded pretending to agree.

“It’s quite annoying.”

Had it been Darren, he would have spoken in such a manner, so I said this.

She is delighted by my answer and subtly attaches herself to me.

It seemed like she was getting close to me to increase her intimacy, but… I wasn’t particularly thrilled, maybe because I was sleepy.

“Right? I don’t understand why she keeps climbing up without knowing her place as a commoner. It’s dirty how she flaunts her little talent.”

Speaking as a reader, Lumi never flaunted. If she was cautious, it was just caution.

It irked me to see her badmouthing the female protagonist in front of me, but I bit back, not wanting to mess things up.

At that moment, I noticed a snake-shaped tattoo on her hand.

‘A snake?’

After a brief ponder on the familiar tattoo, the answer comes to my mind shortly after.

‘A believer.’

Yes, a tattoo the believers of Cheonshin have.

I was able to realize who she was the moment I found that.

‘Interrogation expert Ariel. One of the fanatics who believe in Cheonshin.’

No wonder she felt strangely familiar, it was her.

I secretly smiled to myself, thinking that I never expected her to reach out first.

“It seems like it could be useful if used well.”

Judging by Ariel’s reaction, it seemed like I too, was no different than them, hating Lumi.

Of course, this was only expected. They had figured out Dern’s previous actions through his specific information network.

Probably they decided that they couldn’t help hating Lumi.

Once I realized this fact, I fell into thoughts on how to use it.

“Clearly, at the next test, Ariel used the nobility to trap Lumi and inflict a big wound.”

They just wanted Lumi to be unhappy; they didn’t want “death”.

They had moved in the direction of inflicting wounds but sparing life itself.

Hence, Lumi, who was injured like this, would eventually fall into a deep quagmire because he couldn’t overcome the hardships that came from the injury.

“A deep quagmire.”

Whether to ignore it for my valedictorian or to intervene, I was thinking when,

Ariel takes one step closer and speaks.

“So I’m saying … Can you help me during the test? I think I can definitely succeed if you, Dern, help me.”

“Plan?”

“It’s hard to detail… but one thing’s for sure that you’ll also like what we get out of it.”

Regardless of whether help Lumi or not, to just stand in a position where I can intervene anytime,

pretending to contemplate for a moment before nodding.

Ariel looked quite satisfied and asked me to take good care of him.

“Idiot.”

I just laughed at Ariel and nodded.

* * * * *

After Ariel’s proposal to me, nothing really special happened.

I guess they excluded me, the outsider in their plan, thinking that I could be a variable.

Truthfully, didn’t matter what happened so, I dismissed the thoughts and decided to review what I’ve done so far.

“I’ve maxed out my magical mastery first.”

*-*

[Magic Mastery Lv: 10 (Max)]

– You have reached the maximum level.

You will advance when you meet special conditions.

*-*

It easily went up to level 5, but from level 6, it didn’t rise well, so I remember struggling.

I was very pleased with the fact that I could level it up to the maximum.

Then I looked at what I had achieved next.

“Next, I’ve learned all the lower magic overall, and I’ve even succeeded in modifying the ones that I can use frequently.”

With just this, I was sure even in this exam, I could get a very high score and was laughing satisfiedly when,

Suddenly, I felt someone in front of me fidgeting and looking out for me.

Looking forward, I saw Lumi cautiously putting the recovery potion I gave him on the desk.

“…?”

I looked at Lumi,

and Lumi pointed at the 90% remaining recovery potion and hurriedly started talking.

“Eo, I’ve kept this to give back…”

There was no need for him to return it, per se.

Upon hearing Lumi’s words, I held my silence, then gestured for him to take it back.

“I don’t need it.”

“I… thought it only made sense to give it back to you because it’s really expensive…”

At his words, I let out a hollow laugh.

From Lumi’s perspective, I was nothing more than scum attempting to rape him.

The very act of trying to give back such an expensive recovery potion was incomprehensible to me.

I thought such behavior was very like Lumi, and soon gave up, saying,

“Do as you please.”

At those words, Lumi looked relieved, carefully placing the recovery potion back before taking a deep breath and saying,

“The reason I’m returning this to you… is because I have no intention of forgiving you.”

An expected sentiment. It’s admirable that he didn’t attempt to kill me out of rage.

I nodded at what seemed overly kind for the so-called exhausted heroine, and Lumi laid a crumpled piece of paper on my desk.

“And I’m definitely going to pay you back for what I drank. Hold onto this…”

Curious, I looked down to see a loan certificate on the piece of paper.

Looking at it, I didn’t know how to respond.

In contrast to what was in my head, Lumi seemed quite pleased with herself for having given back the recovery potion.

Then, with a suddenly sober expression, she quickly returned to her seat.