Subject Runes - V1 Chapter 18-19

Chapter 18: New Magic — Pulse Laser

After school, we came to the magic training building to test Marl’s new spell. Since a magic defense shield was deployed across the academy, we could not actually test-fire magic unless we went outside the school grounds. Still, if the magic tool failed to function at all, heading outside would be a complete waste of time, so we were here to perform the bare minimum operation check first.

Cain could not use magic, so he skipped out by saying, “I’m going to do some quests.” That left the usual four of us, minus Cain. I also wanted to check the condition of Selene’s magic tool, so I tried to invite her too, but for some reason, I could not find her no matter where I looked. Come to think of it, on days when there were no club events, I rarely saw her around the academy after school.

Where does she always go?

“MarI, activate Lightning the same way you always do. But I changed the magic circle quite a bit, so it’s basically a different spell now. Use the spell name Pulse Laser.”

“Got it.”

Marl began her chant. Unlike fire-attribute magic, light-attribute magic, whether it was Lightning or Cure, had spells that sounded rhythmic and strangely cheerful. Maybe it only sounded that way because Marl was the one chanting, or maybe light-attribute incantations were simply brighter by nature. Now that I thought about it, dark magic chants had sounded gloomy in their own way too. I really wanted to know what the spells actually said.

I hope I can understand them soon.

【…◎▼】Pulse Laser

A magic circle unfolded at Marl’s fingertip, then scattered the instant the spell activated.

“It worked!”

The magic defense shield automatically erased it. In other words, the spell had reached the exact moment of activation, which proved that the magic tool had functioned properly.

“Next, let’s go outside the city and actually fire it.”

Just as we were about to leave the training building, another group of students entered the room. It was Hardin. A crowd of upper-class students followed behind him, so they had probably come here for magic training too.

“Hmph. It’s you lot. What are you doing here?”

Hardin looked down on us with that same condescending stare, as if he had already forgotten what happened the last time he messed with us. I had no reason to explain anything to this guy, so I answered casually.

“Magic training. What about it?”

“Lower-class monkeys like you? You can barely use magic properly. This is a waste of time. Move.”

His mouth was so damn nasty that we all glared at him, and one of the male students standing behind him asked a question. Judging by the lines on his uniform, he was probably an upper-year student from the high nobility.

“Who are these people?”

“They are the rude fools I told you about before. They refuse to understand their position before us high-ranking nobles.”

“Ah, so these are the ones.”

The upper-year student looked at us with open contempt.

“Starting today, you are forbidden from using this place.”

“What did you say?”

Dan shouted without thinking, furious at the arrogant attitude of someone abusing his privileged status.

“I see. They really are rude. They seem to have gotten carried away just because this is the academy, but they do not even know how to speak to their betters. Throw them out.”

The moment he said that, the male student’s entourage surrounded us, forced us out of the room, and shut the door behind us. From inside the room, Hardin’s voice came through.

“I will inform the school not to grant you permission to use this place. You are an eyesore, so never come back.”

“Those upper-class bastards are always looking down on us. I can’t stand it.”

“It doesn’t sit right with me either, but fighting them here would not solve anything.”

“We were leaving the training building anyway, but it still pisses me off.”

We were about to leave the academy with expressions full of frustration when Sasha-senpai called out to us.

“Everyone, did something happen?”

We told her about the trouble with Hardin and the others.

“That upper-year student is probably Howard Sealing, a third-year. He’s the son of Count Sealing, and he’s a pure-blooded aristocrat supremacist who judges everything by family rank. Well, he’s the type you see all the time.”

“…That is a type you see all the time?”

“The upper class is packed with people like that. The club president and I are the unusual ones.”

“The club president is in the upper class too?”

“Yes. Believe it or not, he is technically the son of a viscount. More importantly, where are all of you going?”

“We’re going outside the city to test Marl’s new spell.”

“The one you gave her during the birthday party, right? Can I come with you?”

“Of course.”

The city where the Blonmarch count family’s castle stood was surrounded by tall defensive walls, with one gate each to the north, south, east, and west. The eastern gate, which connected to the main road, was used most often, but today we headed for the northern gate.

There were too many people along the main road, making it too dangerous for magic practice. Once we left through the northern gate leading toward the mountain region, however, the land opened into a rough wilderness with fewer people around, so we could blast magic without worrying too much.

As we walked north from the city center, old buildings that looked ready to collapse began to stand out. The people’s clothing also started to look shabby.

“This area is the slums. Public order is bad here, so it’s better not to get too close.”

Beggar children sidled up to us and stared with hungry, pleading eyes. The adults understood that we were children of nobles and never tried to approach, but they kept a sharp eye on the children, watching like predators for any chance to grab whatever scraps might fall their way.

“The Blonmarch territory is still one of the better places. Other territories in the kingdom are in much worse condition. The more the lords and nobles drown themselves in luxury, the more the common people starve. Some die of hunger, some are attacked by bandits, some are enslaved, and everything is just miserable.”

Back in my home, the Ferrum knight territory, the people were starving too. The land had been devastated by repeated civil wars, and the subjects had suffered under war expenses and conscription. Their dissatisfaction had piled up badly. The Ferrum family was definitely not wallowing in luxury, but to the common people, all nobles looked the same, so the risk of rebellion was not small.

That was why the harassment from the upper class made me angry, but from the perspective of the common people, it was nothing more than “nobles fighting among themselves.” We were all the same breed to them. With memories of my previous life, I could not help thinking this might have been what it felt like on the eve of the French Revolution.

“If this keeps up, won’t the people rebel?”

“Yes. That scares me too, but we also have to stay alert for an invasion from the Blomine Empire. If the nobles keep wasting everything on luxury until their territories lose their vitality, they won’t even be able to fight. And yet the nobles with inland territories are the least concerned about the imperial threat. Or maybe they are pretending not to notice…”

The Blomine Empire. Originally a small country on the frontier, it had invaded neighboring nations one after another, gradually expanding its territory until it rose into the greatest power on the continent. I had heard that the empire’s hand of invasion was now reaching toward the Argent Kingdom too. It was the perfect definition of trouble both within and without.

After we left the city through the northern gate, we decided to test-fire the new spell toward the jagged rocky ground and dead-tree wilderness spread out before us.

“MarI, fire the spell the same way you did earlier.”

“Got it.”

Just as Marl began her chant, a shock ran through my head.

ZA, ZA ZA ZA… ZA, ZAZA.

A sudden dizziness and ringing in my ears struck me. The scenery in front of me warped, and static echoed inside my skull. I remembered this phenomenon. It was the same thing that happened during my baptism when I was five. But before I could do anything, I collapsed to the ground and lost consciousness.

“Azoth! Azoth!”

When I came to, Neon’s face was close to mine as she peered down at me. She looked extremely worried.

“Good morning, Neon.”

“What are you talking about? You suddenly collapsed. Are you okay?”

…Right. I remembered now. I had collapsed during Marl’s magic experiment. I sprang up and asked Neon a question.

“How long was I out?”

“About five minutes. More importantly, how do you feel?”

“I’m fine, Neon. More importantly, I heard that static noise inside my head.”

“What?”

“It might mean I can obtain rapid chanting for light-attribute magic.”

Neon and I both clenched our fists without thinking. Marl tilted her head in confusion.

“What are you two talking about?”

“No, nothing. Anyway, what happened with the experiment?”

“It activated properly.”

“Good. So the experiment worked. Marl, sorry, but can you fire the spell one more time?”

“Sure.”

Marl began chanting again, and I focused every nerve in my body so I would not miss even the smallest fraction of her incantation.

“…Huh? What the hell is this spell?”

The magic Marl activated struck a dead tree ahead with a sharp, dry crack, scattering wood fragments everywhere. It was exactly what I had imagined. It was truly a pulse laser. Normally, this would have been the moment where we celebrated the experiment’s success and got excited, but my head was panicking over something completely different.

Yes. I was shocked by the spell Marl had chanted. I could not believe the incantation was something like this.

Chapter 19: Pretty Power

“Azoth, did you hear the spell?”

Neon asked me.

“Y-Yeah. I heard it. I think I probably caught all of it.”

“All of it? Even with fire-attribute magic, you only understood a tiny part of the spell. But you understood the entire light-attribute chant?”

Neon looked like she could not believe it and kept pressing me for confirmation.

“Hey, what do you mean you understood the spell?”

Sasha-senpai asked Neon.

“It means he figured out the spell that allows rapid chanting, like with fire-attribute magic.”

“What?!”

Everyone cried out in shock.

“Azoth, does that mean I can use that rapid chanting too?”

Marl stared at me with sparkling eyes full of expectation. When I saw that, I instinctively looked away. If possible, I did not want to chant this spell. Could we just pretend none of this had happened?

I struggled with myself, but Marl’s expectant gaze kept blocking every escape route I had. In the end, I steeled myself.

“Fine. Then chant exactly as I say.”

And then I recited the incantation for the light-attribute magic spell Lightning.

【Paprika, poprika, pikarun-run, with miracle light, sparkle, flutter, charm up: Light-Attribute Magic Pulse Laser】

“That is the original incantation. Now repeat after me.”

“Okay, I’ll try!”

【Paprika, poprika, pikarun-run, with miracle light, sparkle, flutter, charm up】

Marl’s pronunciation was far from perfect Japanese, if this could even be called Japanese, but as she continued chanting, an immense amount of magic power began gathering at her fingertip.

Zzzzzzz…

The magic circle gradually swelled while letting out a low-frequency groan, and its power was clearly on another level from before. Then, at the end of the incantation, she declared the spell name, and the magic activated.

【Light-Attribute Beginner Magic: Pulse Laser】

Paaaaaaaaaang!

In that instant, the upper half of a dead tree was blown away with an especially loud crack and burst into flames. The lower half that remained started burning too.

“What the hell is with that destructive power?”

“Is that really the same spell as Lightning, the magic used for illumination?”

“So this is the power of a full chant…”

Everyone around me was stunned into silence, but I had lost something more important than words. I had lost my dignity. The power was certainly incredible. The experiment was a huge success. But that chant hurt way too much. No, as a magic incantation, it was orthodox in a certain sense. It was not wrong at all. But to put it simply, it belonged to a completely different genre.

I looked at Marl, who was overjoyed, and felt genuinely sorry for her. Think about it. Marl was already sixteen. At sixteen, she looked like a grown woman, yet magic would not activate unless she chanted something that sounded like a magical girl transformation scene. And worse, this humiliation would continue for the rest of her life.

Even if she became a mother, even if she became an old woman, she would have to chant this every time she used Lightning. It was a living hell. The only blessing in all this misfortune was that Marl did not know Japanese. Ignorance was bliss, exactly as the saying went. But I understood everything, so I felt too sorry for her to look her in the face.

“Azoth, let me practice one more time!”

Marl asked innocently with glittering eyes. But after having something gouged clean out of me, I no longer had the guts to grant her wish.

“Today is a bit… R-Right! Maybe I can figure out the spell for another magic too. Why don’t we try Cure next?”

“Oh, you’re right. I’ll do it, I’ll do it!”

I thought I had successfully redirected Marl, but I would regret it almost immediately afterward.

…No good. Cure was awful too. What the hell was wrong with light-attribute magic?

“How was it? Hey, hurry and teach me the spell.”

Marl pleaded with me, wearing an innocent face like a little girl.

“Hey, hey, hurry up.”

Faced with Marl’s expectant smile, I had nowhere left to run. Damn it. And so, I made up my mind.

“My mental strength is already at its limit. This is the last one for today, so make sure you don’t miss a single word. Here goes.”

“Okay!”

【Cure, cure, curerin, medi, medi, medicine, with pretty power, become Nightingale♥️: Light-Attribute Beginner Magic Cure】

“Go ahead.”

【Cure, cure, curerin, medi, medi, medicine, with pretty power, become Nightingale♥️: Light-Attribute Beginner Magic Cure】

The moment that magic activated, a huge magic circle appeared above our heads. Then a pure light, so clean it felt like it washed the heart itself, poured down and gently wrapped around our bodies, granting us healing power.

“W-W-W-What the hell is this Cure?”

“Ahh… It feels like even my heart is being healed.”

“Marl looks like a goddess…”

“So this is the full-chant version of Cure… If Marl polishes this broken Japanese pronunciation a little more, she should be able to produce healing power equivalent to an entire platoon of healers all by herself. But even this could not heal my worn-down soul… Gah.”

On the way back, while I trudged along, everyone walked ahead of me, happily making noise.

“Do my water magic and wind magic too, please.”

“That’s right, Azoth. It’s unfair that only Marl gets this. Water. Water, damn it. Give me water!”

Sasha-senpai and Dan pestered me, and it was annoying.

“Azoth only gives me special treatment, right? Hehe.”

Marl hummed happily, making Dan and Sasha-senpai jealous. But the one who took the most damage from Marl’s words was Neon. She came up beside me with an obviously displeased look and stomped on my foot with all her strength.

“Hmph!”

“Owwwwww!”

“See you tomorrow.”

After seeing off Marl and Sasha-senpai, we were about to return to the boys’ dorm when I noticed one man and one woman heading toward the girls’ dorm. To my shock, they were Selene and the student council president, Sulfur Blonmarch.

Dan noticed the two of them as well and whispered into my ear.

“Hey, Azoth, is that…”

“Why are those two together…?”

My heart filled with unease.