How a Catastrophe-Level Magician Lives

After passing through Rahera, the large trade city that was a stopover on the way to the Argen Empire.

The place we arrived at by carriage was a large port city with ships heading to Argen.

After paying the fare, we boarded a large white passenger ship and set sail.

“Urgh…!”
“Bear with it a little longer. We’ll arrive soon.”

I patted Aina’s back as she suffered from seasickness.

Although this was the first time I had been on such a large ship even including my previous life, fortunately I was fine.

I had lived too harsh a life in my previous life to get motion sickness from something like this.

Like magic accompanied by massive earthquakes that shook the ground. Or desperately running around to avoid cracks while feeling the ground shake and collapse in the midst of magic that split and crumbled the earth.

In that situation, it would be strange not to get motion sick.

As a result, I may have unknowingly developed some kind of immunity to this situation.

“Are you feeling very unwell?”
“Yeah… I feel like I’m dying.”
“…”

Is it that bad?

What should I do? I don’t have any useful magic for this situation.

“Hmm.”

I suppose I should think about it.

Lately, I had been contemplating new secret magic like Magical Eye anyway.

Should I say I gained some kind of insight while attending Sepirion Academy’s middle school division?

Apart from that, I consider if there’s any suitable magic system that can be used for the current situation.

“…What’s wrong, Frey? You suddenly stopped talking. If it’s because of me, it’s okay… Urgh!!”
“Wait a moment. I’m thinking.”

One of the reasons I like magic.

It’s because there are many everyday magic spells that are very helpful in daily life, which is included in that reason.

For an ordinary magician, creating a single magic is a very difficult task.

I’m well aware of that myself.

However, strangely enough, I excelled at creating such unique secret magic.

Perhaps it was because in the situation of my previous life where only low-level magic books were given,

I had consistently analyzed the system and method of magic, the principles and logic of how magic is established, by digging into and dissecting a single magic book in an effort to survive.

I think this contributed more significantly to acquired factors rather than my innate talent.

Although being pushed onto the battlefield from a very young age was the cause of this ironic fate.

“Ah, I think this might work.”

As I thought about it, it came to me.

A new magic equation.
Its establishment and formula.

“Calm Relax Condition.”
A magic I just happened to succeed in creating, which somewhat calms the subject’s condition.

Whoosh.

As I placed my hand, which emitted a white light, on Aina’s back, I could visibly see her pale complexion improving considerably.

“…!”
“Do you feel a bit better?”
“Yeah… Thank you. I feel much better thanks to you.”
“That’s good to hear.”

I smiled and turned my gaze to the horizon beyond the sea.

Whoooo-

The sound of smoke billowing from the ship’s funnel echoed.

Soon, we could see the pier on land starting to appear as tiny dots.

The ship we were on arrived at the pier.

Bustling.

“Aina. Be careful.”
“Okay…!”
I cautioned Aina like that, worried it might be dangerous because there were so many people disembarking.

However.

Bump-

“Uh…!”
“Aina!”

Seeing Aina almost fall after being pushed by the crowd disembarking, I instinctively grabbed her hand.

For a moment, I felt the soft skin and touch of a woman for the first time, but now was not the time to leisurely appreciate such things.

“Hold my hand!”
“Okay…!”
We barely managed to cross the wide plank connecting the ship and the land amidst the many people pushing.

“Phew.”
“……”

We were able to stand side by side on land, still holding hands.

“Ah, excuse me.”

Noticing that I had unconsciously grabbed her hand to support her from falling, I immediately let go.

“Mm, it’s okay…”

Then, for some reason, Aina brought the hand I had held to her chest, holding it tightly between her breasts, her face showing a faint blush.

“…Shall we go now?”

…Nod.
“…Yes.”

With her nodding behind me, I took the lead, holding my luggage bag in one hand and heading towards where the carriage station was.

I caught a glimpse of Aina, left alone behind, not following immediately but still in that posture with her head lowered and blushing.

I pretended not to see anything, feeling awkward.

We arrived at a place where we could rent a carriage.

We immediately paid and boarded the carriage.

We could have rested for a while, but at this rate, the day would likely be over before we reached Argen Empire territory.

That’s how far the distance between empires was.

Clop clop clop clop.

We deliberately rented a two-horse carriage because a single-horse carriage wouldn’t be fast enough.

As before, a coachman drove it.

Aina and I rode in the luggage compartment behind.

It wasn’t a luggage compartment before, but here most carriages had attached luggage compartments. And all the regular passenger carriages without luggage compartments were sold out.

We departed for the first time with several strangers in a 6-person carriage luggage compartment that could easily fit six people.

There were a total of 3 carriage users who paid and boarded the luggage compartment with us:

One was an old man with a wooden staff wearing a robe, and the other was a young couple who appeared to be the parents of a young child.

Among them, what caught my eye was none other than the one who looked like the oldest man in this carriage.

“Wow! Mom! Dad! Look over there! The road we came from is quickly getting farther away!”

Since the luggage compartment was open at the back with a canopy, the child excitedly called out to his parents while holding onto the safety railing of a certain height for passenger safety in case of any situation.

The young parents naturally smiled at their child.

“Is that so amazing to you, son?”
“Yes!”
“Heh heh heh. At that age, everything seems amazing, even the most trivial things.”

At the old man’s sudden words, the child smiled innocently and said:

“Yes! But magic is even more amazing! I saw magic before, and that seemed even more amazing!”
“Magic?”
“We had a chance to see magic on our way to the city by chance. That’s what he’s talking about.”

The old man showed interest at the explanation from the man who appeared to be the child’s father.

“Oh, then do you want to become a magician? Child.”
“Yes! I’m going to be a magician when I grow up!”
“Heh heh heh! That’s quite an admirable thought.”

I was quietly watching this conversation while sitting side by side with Aina opposite them.

Then, noticing our gaze, the old man turned to us and spoke:

“Judging by your uniforms, you seem to be students from some academy. It’s a uniform I haven’t seen before. It looks like you’ve come on a long journey from an academy different from here.”
“……”

He had the insight to grasp our identity and actions at a glance.

Just because we were wearing school uniforms, he guessed that we had come from a different academy, not from here.

This meant that the old man knew in depth the appearance and style of uniforms from various academies he was familiar with.

I speculated:

“You seem to be a magician. Are you affiliated with some academy?”
“Heh heh.”
“Wow! Grandpa! Are you a magician?”

Rather, it was the child curious about magicians who reacted from the side.

The young couple also looked a bit surprised.

“…I apologize, sir. I didn’t realize you were such an esteemed magician.”
The old man waved his hand that wasn’t holding the staff a couple of times at the bow from the man who was the child’s father.

“No, no. How could anyone know with my attire like this? It’s not something ordinary people can know originally. Rather, I feel more pleased that you didn’t notice I was a magician, as that was my intention.”

Bow.

At the old man’s considerate tone, the man stepped forward as the family representative and bowed his head even deeper once more.

There were some eccentric individuals among magicians, so ordinary people needed to be careful in their treatment and handling.

Moreover, since such eccentric individuals were often more common among elderly figures who had reached old age, it was important to show the utmost respect to aged magicians.

The old man turned his gaze back to me and spoke:

“By the way, you also seem to have reached a considerable level as a magician at such a young age. Where did you come from?”

Hearing those words, I lowered my gaze for a moment.

‘He grasped my level to some extent just by looking at me once.’

After pondering for a moment at the old man’s words, I decided to reveal the truth as it was.

“…I came from Sepirion Academy in the Orwen Empire. The reason I came here is because my homeland belongs to this Argen Empire.”
“Ho ho, I see. But that’s a bit unfortunate.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, it’s a shame that a talented individual like you went to an academy in another empire instead of our empire’s academy.”
“……”
Just who on earth is this old man?

While I was thinking that, the old man spoke to me again first.

“It seems you’re still at the age of belonging to the middle school division… Why don’t you come back to our empire and enter our Argen Academy, which is in charge of higher education in the Argen Empire, when you reach the age to advance to the high school division? I’ll write you a ‘letter of recommendation’.”
“……”

It seemed the old man was someone deeply involved in a high position at Argen Academy, the empire’s top prestigious institution in charge of higher education in the capital of the Argen Empire.

The very academy that the Imperial Princess was said to enter in a few years.

“Heh heh heh! If possible, I’d like the pretty child next to you to come too. Both of you already show outstanding abilities.”
“……”

It was the moment when, on my academy vacation, I met a completely unexpected person in an unexpected place.

He spoke to me with a wrinkled smile and a subtle look in his eyes:

“If you decide to come now, tuition will be completely free! I’ll even provide full scholarships for a total of 3 years until your academy graduation!”
“…”

Suddenly, what’s with this salesman-like tone full of scammy vibes…?

However, the words that followed next were truly shocking.

“Hmm! It seems this alone isn’t satisfying enough… Alright…! Then how about this?”

Snap! He pointed with just one index finger.

With his eyes shining, he presented one more condition to us at the same time.

“Top-grade magic books…! I’ll provide one each for both of you!”

He was an unidentified old man of advanced age who seemed to understand all too well what young magicians with dreams desire most at this age.