By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 6 - Chapter 1.1

Chapter 4 Side Story 1: Meanwhile 1

While Ryoma was having a leisurely journey in the carriage, classes were underway at the academy in the royal capital.

“Class will now begin,” the teacher said, and proceeded to read indifferently from a textbook. It was a dull and repetitive class. The students listened in silence. One of those students was Eliaria. She sat up straight, looked right at the podium where the teacher stood, and listened to the lecture. But on the inside, she found it tedious to endure.

■ ■ ■

When class ended that morning, Eliaria left her seat and hurried to the magic training ground in one corner of the schoolhouse. Students could practice there independently, but it was seldom used outside of classes. In other words, it wasn’t a popular spot. Eliaria sat on a bench off to the side of the training ground, ate the lunch she had prepared in advance, and killed time by practicing magic until lunch break was over. After class that afternoon, she would return to her room in the dorms. She had already been at the academy for about a month, and this was the routine she’d settled into.

Elia stopped casting magic and sighed. “I’ve only been here for a month, but I don’t know how much more boredom I can take,” she thought to herself. “I never expected classes to be quite this tedious.”

This academy taught about culture and various fundamentals for first-years through third-years, then taught more specific knowledge and skills for the fourth-years through sixth-years. After graduation, graduates could become disciples or enter training courses for whichever field they wished to pursue.

Elia had only just enrolled, so her classes taught the most fundamental of the fundamentals. They provided basic lessons about national history, geography, math, magic, and swordsmanship for the purpose of physical education. If they were all nobles, then the first-years’ classes taught the students nothing that they wouldn’t have learned before enrolling.

As such, Elia found the classes too simple. Her grades were good, but she felt no sense of accomplishment. Not only that, but none of the forty or so other students in the class ever talked to her. This wasn’t because they were trying to ignore her or bully her, of course, but because they were intimidated. She was from the duke’s family and possessed high magical energy, so they were scared to associate with her more than necessary.

Elia was aware that she was being avoided, so she didn’t go out of her way to try and speak with them either. Some of the students would likely have personalities that were incompatible with her anyway, but she didn’t want to force anyone else to talk with her either. Even if they were afraid of her, they would be unable to reject her approaches, and Elia didn’t want to form relationships that way. As a result, she made no friends throughout her first month at the academy. Her time there was spent bored and lonely.

“I knew things would be like this, even before I got here, but still...” Elia said, sighing yet again.

“What’s wrong?” someone suddenly said to her.

“Huh?!” Elia gasped. She didn’t know when this woman got here, but she was standing behind her. Elia turned around, and she was surprised by who she saw. “Oh, you’re from Count Wildan’s family.” Elia bowed.

“My apologies. I’m Michelle, Count Wildan’s eldest daughter. I didn’t realize you were the daughter of Duke Jamil when I saw you from behind. Excuse my rudeness.”

Michelle Wildan was a count’s daughter, but nothing about her was especially feminine. Her hair was cut too short to reach her shoulders, and she was wearing pants meant for men alongside a shirt meant for women. She carried a big, plain black bag on her person, simply for its practicality. Her face was androgynous as well, and it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume she was cross-dressing as a man.

“You’ve done nothing rude,” Elia said. “Our status doesn’t matter here. And I’ve been trying not to draw attention to who I am, so I don’t blame you for not knowing.”

This academy purported to pay no mind to the social standing of its students, so nobles and commoners alike were supposed to wear the same uniforms. There were, however, no restrictions when it came to accessories. Many students from noble families would wear gaudy golden hair clips, armlets encrusted with jewels, and other such accessories. The extravagance of these items was how they showed off the wealth of their families.

But Elia didn’t wear any flashy accessories. That meant that her uniform reflected the intended ideals of the academy, but it also meant that Michelle saw her as a commoner at first.

“Thank you,” Michelle said.

“May I address you by first name, Michelle?” Elia asked with a smile. She didn’t sense the same evasiveness that she did from the other students, but she wanted to test how comfortable Michelle was.

“Of course, my lady.”

“Call me Elia, please. As I said, our status doesn’t matter here.”

Michelle giggled. “Elia, then. Hopefully, you’ll ignore whatever else I say that could be offensive, then. I’m getting tired of watching my words.”

“That’s fine, of course. It’d make me happier if you spoke freely.”

“Uh-huh. So, like I asked before, is something wrong?”

“No, nothing in particular. It’s just, you know how the classes here are.”

“Oh, I know how you feel. I’m just pretending to take classes at this point. And if you don’t get involved in any of these silly cliques, you hardly have anyone to talk to during breaks either.”

“Oh, is that so? I thought you were popular, Michelle.”

“Haha, maybe back when I first enrolled. Some girls got the wrong idea from my uniform, but I just dress like this because it’s easiest. When they learned I wasn’t cross-dressing, most of them lost interest and ditched me. But it’s not like I’m that social anyway. I avoid people because they can be a bother, which as it turns out, leaves you with nobody to talk to.”

“I see. Is that why you came here?”

“No, I’m here for an experiment,” Michelle said and took a piece of paper out of her bag. A magic circle was drawn upon it in pencil.

“A magic circle? Are you an alchemist?”

Michelle went wide-eyed at that question for a moment, but then smiled her biggest smile yet. “Unfortunately not. I’m studying a subject called magic circle science.”

“Magic circle science?”

Magic circle science was an extremely minor field of study that began from alchemy circles, which would glow when magical energy was sent through them. It involved research into why magic circles reacted in that way, and whether that phenomenon could be utilized for something.

After Michelle explained this, Elia looked curiously at the magic circle on the paper. “I’ve never heard of such studies before.”

“It branched off from alchemy, and not much has ever come of it, so it’s a field of study that’s in decline. I came to this academy because I heard there was a teacher who taught magic circle science, but that teacher apparently quit last year, so I’ve been forced to study it on my own. I’ve got time on my hands anyway.”

“Is that so?”

“It sure is. Can I ask you something, Elia?”

“What?”

“You know how magic circles are often used in alchemy, right? There’s a lot of misinformation about it out there, saying that it’s not magic circles that they need, but sketchy drugs or live sacrifices. And it seems like you don’t have any distaste for alchemy,” Michelle said. It sounded to Elia like she was implying something about alchemy. Worried about what Elia might think, Michelle spoke further. “I don’t have anything in particular against alchemy. If anything, I’d say I’m interested in it.”

“Are you?”

“Magic circle science came about from the circles used in alchemy, so I would have to have some interest in alchemy as well. There’s nothing weird about that, is there? I hate all those hustlers who use alchemy to scam people, but I don’t think all alchemists are scam artists. Much like with magic circle science, there are real alchemists that’ve been researching the subject for ages and it’s just that nothing’s come of it. That’s what I think.”

Hearing that was somewhat of a relief to Elia. “Is that so?” she said.

“If you could teach me any alchemy, I’d like that, actually.”

But Elia was not an alchemist. She had some knowledge of it thanks to her relationship with Ryoma, but not enough to teach someone else. And while Elia had nothing against Michelle, she was hesitant to introduce Ryoma to somebody she just met.

“I’m sorry but I just happen to have met an alchemist before. I don’t know any alchemy,” Elia said, rejecting her request.

Michelle knew better than to insist any further. She gave up on asking and began to prepare for her experiment. She set the piece of paper on the floor, took some pink powder out of her bag, put it in some ink, and began to stir it.

“Michelle, what’s that?”

“The ink’s just regular ink. The powder is some crushed up fire-elemental and non-elemental magic crystals mixed together. Unlike the magic circles in alchemy, the ones in magic circle science can’t take magical energy by themselves. You need to put magic crystal powder in ink and draw the circles with that.”

“What makes it different?”

“All I know is that the elements of the magic crystals change the effects, and that the ratio of those magic crystals relative to each other changes the strength of the effects. For example, sending magical energy through a circle drawn with ink containing fire magic crystals will generate fire. The strength of that fire can differ depending on the ink mixture, so the fire can be controlled via the magic circle. I know the design of the circles isn’t just arbitrary either, you have to draw particular crests inside them, but I don’t know much about how that works.”

“What do you mean?”

“The crest that you use changes the reaction and efficiency of the magic circle, but I don’t know which crests are most efficient. So all I can do is test a bunch of different magic circles and see which ones work best. That means I need a ton of magic crystals, which means I need funding for my research. Which is why I haven’t gotten a lot of research done.”

“I see. Why are you doing this research?”

“Because it seems interesting. Not a lot of other people are researching it, so there should be a lot to discover. So I want to be the one to discover it and do something useful with my time. And while I may be the daughter of a count, the Wildan family has been made up of researchers for generations, so my family gets it. They say I should research whatever I want to research, and they provide a decent amount of funding for me,” Michelle said. She reminded Elia of Ryoma. Then Michelle drew a magic circle with the ink and said, “I don’t know exactly what this will do, so stand back a little.”

Elia quickly distanced herself from the magic circle. Once she was far enough away, Michelle sent magical energy into the circle, making it glow red. Michelle hurried away from the magic circle, and five seconds later, a few small fireballs burst from it. They sounded like firecrackers.

“Very interesting—Hm?” Michelle said, hearing two people yelp. One was Elia, but the other was a fox girl who had just entered the training ground. “Sounds like I startled you. Sorry about that.”

“This is a training ground, loud noises are normal here,” the fox girl said. “It looks like I’m interrupting something. My apologies.”

“Oh, it’s fine. You’re Miyabi, aren’t you?”

“You’re in my class, aren’t you?” Elia asked.

“I’m honored that the daughters of Count Wildan and Duke Jamil recognize me,” Miyabi said. She tried to be somewhat more polite than usual when talking to nobles.

“There’s no need for that; we’re all equals here. Are you going to do some training, Miyabi?”

“There was actually something I wanted to tell you.”

“Me?”

“Yes, I have a message for you from an acquaintance. That’s what I’m here for today.”

Miyabi didn’t want anyone to hear that this message was from a man and start any rumors, so she spent the month waiting for a chance to speak with Elia alone. And Elia did come to the training ground alone for the past month, but on this one day, Michelle was there too. That caused Miyabi to panic a little, but she remained calm enough to reply appropriately.

“A message for me?”

“Yes. Do you know someone by the name Ryoma?”

“It’s from Ryoma?!”

Ryoma wanted to set up a chance for Elia and Miyabi to become friends, but thought that whether they become friends should be left up to them. That’s why he didn’t tell Elia anything about Miyabi. He figured that since they both knew him, they would at least have something in common to discuss either way. But at the same time, Ryoma also wanted to mess with Elia a little by surprising her.

“Sounds like you do know him,” Miyabi said.

“Yes, but how do you know about him?”

“I met him through my father, and when I told him I was going to the academy, he asked me to relay a message to you.”

“I see.”

“Is this Ryoma person someone you know, Elia?” Michelle asked.

“Yes. He’s a little strange, but he’s a friend of mine.”

“He certainly is strange; no arguments here,” Miyabi muttered.

“Huh,” Michelle said, somewhat curious to know what he was like.

“So what did Ryoma want to tell me?” Elia asked.

“That he wishes you luck. And that’s pretty much it. It sounded like he was worried about you.”

From that, Elia got a general sense of what Ryoma was thinking. He didn’t need Miyabi to send that message for him, as he could have just sent a letter to her. That meant that he remembered how she told him about her lack of friends during their last meeting in Gimul, and he deliberately created a situation where she would meet Miyabi. Elia had it all figured out.

“Thanks for the message. Miyabi, I feel like we may have been destined to meet. Would you like to be friends?”

“Are you sure? You’d be fine with calling me a friend?”

“Status means nothing here. Besides, I’d hate to spend all my time at the academy on my lonesome.”

“Well, I’m happy to be friends with you, then.”

“Mind if I join the group?” Michelle asked. “I don’t have many friends either.”

Miyabi smiled and welcomed Michelle too. Soon after they shook hands, the lunch break ended. Then they returned to their classrooms and endured their tedious afternoon classes. But maybe they would enjoy this day a little more than usual.