In the magic society, there exists the concept of Certified Circles and Unofficial Circles.
For example, when a mage trains and gains enlightenment to awaken, if they reach the 5th Circle, they are referred to as an Unofficial 5th Circle mage.
For this mage to be recognized officially within the magic society, they must publish a thesis organizing their enlightenment.
In other words, a 7th Circle mage is a battle-hardened veteran who has survived through publishing seven such theses, and an 8th Circle mage, eight.
Telma of the Talio Magic Tower was an Unofficial 5th Circle mage who had failed three times to publish her official mage thesis.
The reason was that her enlightenment at the 5th Circle level was considered too shallow and her logic too weak.
Typically, mages face about two thesis failures before succeeding.
Though she was hailed as a genius from a young age and had shown promise within the Magic Tower—achieving the 5th Circle just one year after enrollment—thesis writing was an entirely different matter.
She hadn’t slept more than two hours a day for a month while preparing her fourth thesis.
Every day was a living hell.
Today, as usual, she was in the library, burying her head on the desk, trying to finish her thesis.
“…As mentioned above, if we understand the concept of wind as a continuous space, and the practitioner of magic removes an arbitrary space between the winds… if removed… aaaahhhh! If it’s removed, then it just disappears, you bastards!”
The sound of pounding footsteps echoed rhythmically through the library.
People nearby glanced at Telma but quickly lost interest.
Such scenes were common in any Magic Tower.
“Ugh, it should make logical sense! Why do they ask for evidence on magic that doesn’t even exist in this world? I’m the one who created this magic first! There can’t be any prior research! Damn you all, aaaahhh!”
After screaming for a long while, Telma splashed some water on her face and staggered to her feet.
No matter how much she shouted or cursed, the world wouldn’t change, so she had no choice but to write the thesis.
That meant wandering through the messy library of this Magic Tower, patching together scattered thesis excerpts to insist they were valid evidence.
Telma, dark circles under her eyes reaching her cheekbones, took books from the corners of the library with blurred eyes, read them, and put them back repeatedly.
As she roamed the library, her gaze fell upon a bundle of crumpled papers.
About 40 pages lay on a desk, looking as if they had been left unattended and unmanaged for a long time, a complete mess.
[Research on High-Speed Movement Using Multi-Spatial Mana Placement]…? I’ve never seen this before. Laward Gordem? The name sounds familiar… who was he again? A famous mage? The name sounds like a high Circle mage.’
As Telma’s thoughts drifted that far, she felt her heart pound with anticipation.
Mana, space, and high-speed movement—what a combination.
No wonder this text seemed like it held the information to quench her thirst.
And sure enough.
“Am-azing…! How can someone have such an innovative idea? Wow! They even diagrammed the experimental results like this? This makes it so easy to grasp the data at a glance. So mana has this kind of property? If this is true, then, then…”
Telma hurried back to her seat clutching the bundle, afraid the paper might disappear.
The writing on those pages was like an ancient artifact excavated from a dungeon.
It clearly explained the core missing points of her thesis.
Could her thesis, which had plagued her for a whole month, really be finished in just two hours?
“Uwaaahhhh!”
Telma let out a scream that was somewhere between laughter and crying, clutching the precious old document that had helped her.
For some reason, the ink on the document looked almost fresh, and the paper quality was excellent, but Telma didn’t care about such trivial things now.
If anything, she probably pretended not to notice.
After all, what did it matter whether the document was genuine or not, when her thesis—one that had tormented her for a whole month—was finally complete?
Just to be safe, she clearly cited Laward Gordem as the source in all sentences copied from the document, so there would be no accusations of plagiarism.
Telma respectfully arranged the documents back where they belonged and then took her thesis to find her mentor.
However, the Talio Tower Master had issued a strict order allowing no visitors and was holed up in the research lab.
“Jason, please get the master’s seal on this thesis.”
“Are you sure it’s okay?”
“It’s already the fourth revision. The master knows everything inside anyway. The thesis deadline is soon, so I have to send it quickly.”
“Well, I guess it’s fine. You look confident this time?”
“Heh. I’m not confident. I’m sure it will fail.”
Thus, Telma’s thesis was sent to the Imperial Society of Magic Studies after various makeshift steps.
At that time, no one could have predicted what would happen to Talio Magic Tower, the Tower Master, Telma, and Laward Gordem as a result.
“Alright, here we go again.”
I steadied my breath, holding the wooden sword, then moved my mana.
The key was to delicately manipulate the mana outside my body to find the optimal mana value.
Later, while organizing data from experiments with paper airplanes, I realized what had happened that day.
It was like trying to catch waterfall water with a bucket, waiting beneath the fall.
Of course, the force of the waterfall sent the bucket flying downstream.
Being able to use infinite mana meant that if I handled mana thoughtlessly, near-limitless energy would rush in.
That was why even a simple light magic had created a laser sword.
It felt roughly complete.
I raised my tension to the highest level and exploded my mana, launching my body forward.
Alice, who was watching me indifferently, suddenly came close.
“Ha!”
Three faint lines extended from the wooden sword.
At the edge of perception.
I entrusted my body to the flow of one of those three lines.
It was less a rational movement and more instinctual.
Rather than thrusting, it was closer to shooting the sword strike.
At the same time, Alice’s figure scattered like a mirage.
The line piercing through Alice distorted and vibrated, then suddenly curved sharply to the right.
After all, the line was teaching me everything.
To make rational decisions in this situation would be a luxury.
I swung the sword according to instinct.
Thud!
Alice was nowhere to be seen, but the dull sound of impact filled the training hall.
Once, twice.
After three consecutive sword strikes exchanged like this, the world warped.
The mana around me twisted due to my rapid movements.
“Ugh?”
Just as my body was about to be thrown somewhere again, I felt a firm grip on my arm and was instantly hurled in the opposite direction with a whoosh.
“Ugh.”
Barely, I rolled and got up using the awkward breakfall I’d learned, and at the same moment, the air in the center of the training hall exploded with a bang, the wind scattering in all directions.
“Four.”
“That’s the highest record yet, right?”
Alice nodded.
A faint bead of sweat formed on her forehead from the continuous training.
“How many times do you think it needs to be used consecutively for it to be practical?” I asked.
Alice paused briefly, then asked back,
“How many times exactly?”
“Um… if we base it on a Sword Master Beginner level?”
Without hesitation, Alice answered,
“One.”
“Is that really enough?”
“No… not at first.”
Pointing the wooden sword she was holding at me, she swung it extremely fast.
Shuk, shushushush! The wooden sword relentlessly sliced the air.
But soon, the speed slowed, and the sword flew to the corner of the training hall with a soft thud.
Without further explanation, Alice picked up the sword and started swinging again.
This time, the speed was noticeably slower than before, but intermittently, the sword swung at a lightning pace.
“So, you’re saying to hide it and use it mixed in at unexpected moments?”
Alice nodded as if confirming my guess.
“Speed… eyes… familiar.”
So after getting used to the familiar speed and eyes, occasionally reveal an unfamiliar speed to confuse the opponent?
After repeating training a few times with Alice, I finally began to understand what she meant.
“Let’s take a break.”
Saying that, I went to find Jason, who was sitting dazed in the corner of the training hall.
He had been lost in thought and motionless in the training hall for three days straight now.
I had just returned from organizing theory when I saw him like that.
I thought he might have had some enlightenment, so I asked—but he said no.
He said that watching us move made him feel itchy inside and that’s why he sat there spacing out.
Having felt the same sensation a few days ago, I was just silently watching him.
“Oh, are you done?”
“No, just taking a short break.”
“…Being a Sword Master is really amazing.”
“You mean Alice?”
“Yeah.”
Jason’s eyes kept following Alice, who was resting in her seat.
He had never actually seen a Sword Master during his mercenary days.
But seeing her move like that, it was on a whole different level.
Somehow, his voice sounded a little less confident.
“Jason, your martial arts skills are excellent too.”
“Eh, I’m just winging it. Before awakening mana, I was only a Sword Expert Beginner. Now, I’m even more of a mess.”
It didn’t seem that way to me.
Hadn’t I heard from Butler Apel in the Helpion Duchy?
They said that when enlightenment approaches, falling into a slump can cause a deep mental crisis.
I felt we couldn’t leave it like this.
“Jason, I’m not just flattering you. You look really cool when you train. I also think it’s very practical.”
“Really…?”
“Yes, really.”
“But still… how should I put it? Alice is a maid assigned to assist Laward, right? If a maid is a Sword Master, then I must be garbage.”
No, that’s not true.
That’s just how crazy the Helpion Duchy is.
A Sword Master Beginner maid?
That’s nothing in the Helpion Duchy.
There, Intermediate Sword Masters are the Butler-in-Chief and the Head Cook, and Advanced Sword Masters are the Head Maid.
They even have a 6th Circle mage running the grocery store.
You can’t take such peculiarities as normal in the wider world.
Jason laughed incredulously after hearing my explanation.
“Wow, that’s incredible… So why do they do that?”
“I heard they owe their lives to Duke Helpion. I’m new to the territory, so I don’t know much, but… Alice! Do you know why the Head Maid or Butler-in-Chief work in the Helpion Duchy?”
Huh, is this just my imagination?
For some reason, even under the moonlight, Alice’s eyes seemed to sparkle.
The Alice who had been sitting far away quietly approached us and plopped down beside us.
It was unlike her usual lazy self—this was the first time I saw her full of such eager energy.
“Curious?”
“Y-yeah.”
“Yes.”
Somehow overwhelmed by her energy, we nodded.
“Duke Helpion has many enemies. The Empire hates him. The Head Maid tried to assassinate Duke Helpion after the Demon King was defeated.”
What?
That calm and refined Head Maid was the one who tried to assassinate Duke Helpion?
“Why on earth?”
“The Head Maid is the leader of a massive Assassin Guild. A huge sum of money came into the guild. They gave a full-scale assassination request.”
“Normally, even with huge money, they don’t take assassination requests against such strong opponents.”
“The Special Forces kidnapped her. Took her hostage. She had no choice.”
Wow, seriously.
Those Special Forces are everywhere.
Nothing the Empire does is clean.
“So what happened?”
“The Head Maid successfully infiltrated secretly. She even stabbed him.”
Duke Helpion was stabbed by the Head Maid?
If I think about it, the Head Maid might be an even greater master than I thought…