Luke and the youth on the bus.
What people were gathering for was a large carriage called a “bus.”
It was another remarkable experience, and Luke’s eyes sparkled.
“Hey, this carriage… No, is this car heading to the World Tree?”
“Yeah. You can ride this.”
Expressing her gratitude to the youth, Luke boarded the bus following her.
“Kid, do you have money?”
“Of course, you can’t use such facilities without money. How much should I pay?”
“Children are 500 lanes.”
With the kind words of the bus driver, she took out the allowance she had put in her pocket and unfolded a bill with “1000 lanes” written on it, putting it in the square box and receiving the change.
It was also an amazing experience, but Luke suppressed her reaction.
After all, she couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable with the attention focused on her since earlier.
“….”
“….”
It just so happened that Luke and the youth ended up sitting together.
In the end, they took out their earphones, but the surrounding glances still felt sharp.
The young man breathed a sigh of relief, thinking it fortunate that he didn’t get reported and sighed deeply.
“Sorry. It’s because I put my earphones, you… “
“It’s okay. It’s okay.”
In fact, if they had stayed a little longer, they might have been on a prisoner transport bus rather than this bus.
The future ahead was too difficult for a bright student to accept.
“Even though it turned out like this, kid. Shall we introduce ourselves? I’m Marco Albi, a student at Tenegan Academy.”
“I’m Luke Irushira. But, Academy? Then are you a wizard?”
“Well, not exactly… It’s compulsory education up to 2nd class. I don’t particularly plan on becoming a wizard.”
“Classes?”
Luke tilted her head at the unfamiliar term.
Class, class? What determines the level of a wizard is the heart ring, or circle.
But ‘classes,’ that’s strange.
Moreover, she didn’t feel a circle in the youth referred to as Marco.
“Um, Luke? Why are you touching my chest suddenly?”
“Oh, there was a reason for that. Sorry.”
Marco was embarrassed, but he had learned from his cousins on holidays that trying to understand kids only made him more tired.
Kids like Luke had their own worlds…
“Can you explain what ‘classes’ are?”
“Well, it’s a very broad concept… Well, you’ll learn later when you grow up, but classes, you see, refer to the units of magic one can enjoy throughout life.”
“Units of magic one can enjoy?”
Luke was intrigued by the new magical concept.
How did magic evolve 5000 years later?
The young man in front of her was trying to explain it.
She couldn’t help but be excited.
Meanwhile, Marco felt pleased to see Luke listening eagerly.
It felt rewarding to have studied hard.
He thought she was talking more than usual.
“So, classes are the classification of magic. 1st class, 2nd class, 3rd class, 4th class… Classes increase and come with more constraints depending on the effect and scope of magic.”
“Constraints? How so?”
“Well, like paying fines or going to prison… Stuff like that. Because you used magic that wasn’t allowed.”
“You have to pay fines for using magic?”
Luke was shocked.
Living in a world where you pay fines for using magic?
She grasped her head in frustration at this reality.
“This is absurd, it’s magical oppression!”
Startled by Luke suddenly shouting, Marco was surprised and hushed her, saying, “Shh! Your voice is too loud!.”
“Even without making a big fuss, the current gaze is already piercing, causing inconvenience.”
Luke, who quickly controlled her emotions at Marco’s prohibition, apologized with a cough.
“Sorry. I got a little excited for a moment… Hmm, it was because the concept of a magician I had in mind was so different.”
“Well, that could happen….”
If it were Luke’s age group, they tended to harbor vague fantasies about wizards.
Even in places like cartoons or fairy tales, magicians are often depicted quite beautifully.
Soon, Luke looked at Marco as if she couldn’t understand and said,
“Why impose such restrictions? Magic should be a pursuit of freedom.”
“Magic is too powerful for individuals to use freely. Imagine if some lunatic wizard cast a meteor in a city, there would be such risks, right? So, ordinary people cannot use magic beyond Class 3 without special permission.”
“Is that so.”
Luke nodded vaguely.
To be honest, it was something she understood but didn’t want to accept.
“Nevertheless, in cases like police or soldiers on duty, they are allowed up to Class 4 attack magic. Also, if a wizards requests permission in advance for research in a laboratory, it may be allowed under the committee’s judgment.”
“I see. So, ‘classes’ are the units that allow magic based on necessity and hierarchy.”
“That’s right. You summarized it well. You’ll study well in the future.”
Luke brushed off Marco’s praise and got lost in thought.
“It’s so different from what I imagined. The premise of the magic system I know is wrong from the start.”
In a sense, the Circle was the authority and influence that could interfere with the world.
So, the Circle created influence.
But in this world, social influence creates classes.
It’s a strange structure.
In that strange structure, Luke felt interested.
A magic system developed in the opposite direction of the Circle, she wondered how it would work.
“So, who are the beings completely allowed by classes?”
“Well, probably, the President?”
“Um, could be.”
Not knowing what a president was, Luke looked at the young man thinking about trying it someday and smiled faintly.
‘I also dreamt of being a president at that age.’
***
Parting ways with Marco near the World Tree, Luke bid farewell.
“I have to go that way. Well then, goodbye, enjoy your time at the World Tree.”
“The conversation was truly enjoyable. Let’s meet again if fate allows, Marco Albi.”
It was a farewell full of kindness to the young sage.
Waving her arms broadly so Marco could see, Marco waved his arms back and shouted.
“Yeah, Luke Irushi. And don’t forget me when you become president!”
“Of course, if I come back, I’ll definitely treat you well!”
Although she yelled as loud as her fragile voice could, it was uncertain whether Marco, who had already run off into the distance, heard it.
Luke, wishing she could use amplification magic, turned towards the World Tree.
Although she had just heard an explanation about the magic system and classes of this era, it wasn’t a suggestion to give up the Circle.
While Marco didn’t have a Circle, Luke thought that laying the groundwork with her familiar magic system was the first step to learning new magic.
The circle is a kind of insurance.
It’s an act of picking up a weapon in a dungeon where nothing can be known.
Moreover, even though the magic system called a “class” might be a completely new magic system, it didn’t seem like it would conflict or clash with the existing circle method.
It’s just a difference in how mana is handled, ultimately manifesting the will to move mana and trigger the phenomenon called magic.
Instead, the circle technique, which increases the amount of mana a body can handle and its manipulability, would be advantageous, not detrimental.
So, the circle is the circle, and the class is the class; they should be learned separately.
“Alright, shall we get ready?”
As Luke confidently walked into the world tree, she was quickly stopped by a guard.
“Wait, kid. You can’t come in here alone. Don’t you have a guardian?”
Luke nodded her head.
“I came alone. Do I need a guardian?”
“Of course. It’s too dangerous here for a kid like you to come in alone. You can’t enter without a guardian.”
The artificial World Tree is an important facility that supplies mana to the entire city. It’s not a place where unregistered individuals can enter freely, and there are areas with high-pressure mana flow where children cannot wander freely.
However, Luke couldn’t just turn back at this point, so she looked at the guard with urgency in her eyes.
Although Luke herself was unaware that she was using the body of a child.
“But to become a wizard, I must come here. Isn’t there any way? Um… I don’t have much money, but…”
Recalling past experiences of bribing guards, Luke took out all the money she had in her pocket.
It probably wasn’t much, as Yerina had left her only a small allowance, but based on experience, even a little could make a difference.
However, it was perceived differently by the guard.
“…”
With her pointed animal-like ears drooping like a wet puppy, and pulling out bills and coins from her pocket, Luke looked pitiful.
The guard eventually avoided Luke’s gaze.
It was inevitable to think that this child already wanted to become a wizard so badly.
“Alright, do you want to visit as a guest?”
“Yes. Thank you so much! I’m grateful for your kindness!”
“Hmm…”
‘For a water creature, she seems to have read quite a bit.’
‘I’m not sure what kind of water creature she is, perhaps a mixed breed with a lynx? Still, very pretty. If I had a daughter like that, I might have become a doting father.’
Thinking so, he dialed the phone in the guardroom.
***
Luke nervously sat on the guest bench, sipping cocoa from a paper cup.
A cup made of paper, imagine that, in her time, paper was a luxury item.
The era of stripping off animal hide and processing it as much as possible to make it soft and white was the era of paper.
To think that cups were made from such things.
The fact that the paper of this era is incredibly cheap compared to the time she lived in might have been vague due to the abundance of paper and books in Yerina’s house, but seeing it like this brought a fresh feeling.
“Yerina might not be nobility after all.”
Well, if not, what then?
Her kindness was genuine.
Blowing gently on the too-hot cocoa and waiting patiently, Luke was called by the guard.
“Hey, kid.”
“Ha, hot! What’s up? Is it, by any chance, impossible…?”
“Not quite, just need someone sent in from inside. You better stick with that person, got it?”
“Got it! You’ve done me a favor, I’ll repay it later, for sure!”
“Sure. Make sure you become a fine person and fix my fortune.”
The guard, absentmindedly patting Luke’s head, wondered if the kid blushing and mumbling “Uh-huh” while moving her hand away was feeling embarrassed.
“…Huh?”
However, noticing that the amount of cocoa Luke was holding hadn’t decreased much, she asked curiously.
“What’s up, don’t you like cocoa much?”
“No, it’s just too hot, so I’m letting it cool down slowly.”
“Is that so…?”
Apologies, but the call took quite some time.
So, there was no steam rising from the cocoa, and despite a look, it didn’t seem hot, judging by the distinct lack of foam on the dark surface, typical of cooled cocoa…
“That ear definitely leans towards the cat side.”
Luke and the youth on the bus.
What people were gathering for was a large carriage called a “bus.”
It was another remarkable experience, and Luke’s eyes sparkled.
“Hey, this carriage… No, is this car heading to the World Tree?”
“Yeah. You can ride this.”
Expressing her gratitude to the youth, Luke boarded the bus following her.
“Kid, do you have money?”
“Of course, you can’t use such facilities without money. How much should I pay?”
“Children are 500 lanes.”
With the kind words of the bus driver, she took out the allowance she had put in her pocket and unfolded a bill with “1000 lanes” written on it, putting it in the square box and receiving the change.
It was also an amazing experience, but Luke suppressed her reaction.
After all, she couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable with the attention focused on her since earlier.
“….”
“….”
It just so happened that Luke and the youth ended up sitting together.
In the end, they took out their earphones, but the surrounding glances still felt sharp.
The young man breathed a sigh of relief, thinking it fortunate that he didn’t get reported and sighed deeply.
“Sorry. It’s because I put my earphones, you… “
“It’s okay. It’s okay.”
In fact, if they had stayed a little longer, they might have been on a prisoner transport bus rather than this bus.
The future ahead was too difficult for a bright student to accept.
“Even though it turned out like this, kid. Shall we introduce ourselves? I’m Marco Albi, a student at Tenegan Academy.”
“I’m Luke Irushira. But, Academy? Then are you a wizard?”
“Well, not exactly… It’s compulsory education up to 2nd class. I don’t particularly plan on becoming a wizard.”
“Classes?”
Luke tilted her head at the unfamiliar term.
Class, class? What determines the level of a wizard is the heart ring, or circle.
But ‘classes,’ that’s strange.
Moreover, she didn’t feel a circle in the youth referred to as Marco.
“Um, Luke? Why are you touching my chest suddenly?”
“Oh, there was a reason for that. Sorry.”
Marco was embarrassed, but he had learned from his cousins on holidays that trying to understand kids only made him more tired.
Kids like Luke had their own worlds…
“Can you explain what ‘classes’ are?”
“Well, it’s a very broad concept… Well, you’ll learn later when you grow up, but classes, you see, refer to the units of magic one can enjoy throughout life.”
“Units of magic one can enjoy?”
Luke was intrigued by the new magical concept.
How did magic evolve 5000 years later?
The young man in front of her was trying to explain it.
She couldn’t help but be excited.
Meanwhile, Marco felt pleased to see Luke listening eagerly.
It felt rewarding to have studied hard.
He thought she was talking more than usual.
“So, classes are the classification of magic. 1st class, 2nd class, 3rd class, 4th class… Classes increase and come with more constraints depending on the effect and scope of magic.”
“Constraints? How so?”
“Well, like paying fines or going to prison… Stuff like that. Because you used magic that wasn’t allowed.”
“You have to pay fines for using magic?”
Luke was shocked.
Living in a world where you pay fines for using magic?
She grasped her head in frustration at this reality.
“This is absurd, it’s magical oppression!”
Startled by Luke suddenly shouting, Marco was surprised and hushed her, saying, “Shh! Your voice is too loud!.”
“Even without making a big fuss, the current gaze is already piercing, causing inconvenience.”
Luke, who quickly controlled her emotions at Marco’s prohibition, apologized with a cough.
“Sorry. I got a little excited for a moment… Hmm, it was because the concept of a magician I had in mind was so different.”
“Well, that could happen….”
If it were Luke’s age group, they tended to harbor vague fantasies about wizards.
Even in places like cartoons or fairy tales, magicians are often depicted quite beautifully.
Soon, Luke looked at Marco as if she couldn’t understand and said,
“Why impose such restrictions? Magic should be a pursuit of freedom.”
“Magic is too powerful for individuals to use freely. Imagine if some lunatic wizard cast a meteor in a city, there would be such risks, right? So, ordinary people cannot use magic beyond Class 3 without special permission.”
“Is that so.”
Luke nodded vaguely.
To be honest, it was something she understood but didn’t want to accept.
“Nevertheless, in cases like police or soldiers on duty, they are allowed up to Class 4 attack magic. Also, if a wizards requests permission in advance for research in a laboratory, it may be allowed under the committee’s judgment.”
“I see. So, ‘classes’ are the units that allow magic based on necessity and hierarchy.”
“That’s right. You summarized it well. You’ll study well in the future.”
Luke brushed off Marco’s praise and got lost in thought.
“It’s so different from what I imagined. The premise of the magic system I know is wrong from the start.”
In a sense, the Circle was the authority and influence that could interfere with the world.
So, the Circle created influence.
But in this world, social influence creates classes.
It’s a strange structure.
In that strange structure, Luke felt interested.
A magic system developed in the opposite direction of the Circle, she wondered how it would work.
“So, who are the beings completely allowed by classes?”
“Well, probably, the President?”
“Um, could be.”
Not knowing what a president was, Luke looked at the young man thinking about trying it someday and smiled faintly.
‘I also dreamt of being a president at that age.’
***
Parting ways with Marco near the World Tree, Luke bid farewell.
“I have to go that way. Well then, goodbye, enjoy your time at the World Tree.”
“The conversation was truly enjoyable. Let’s meet again if fate allows, Marco Albi.”
It was a farewell full of kindness to the young sage.
Waving her arms broadly so Marco could see, Marco waved his arms back and shouted.
“Yeah, Luke Irushi. And don’t forget me when you become president!”
“Of course, if I come back, I’ll definitely treat you well!”
Although she yelled as loud as her fragile voice could, it was uncertain whether Marco, who had already run off into the distance, heard it.
Luke, wishing she could use amplification magic, turned towards the World Tree.
Although she had just heard an explanation about the magic system and classes of this era, it wasn’t a suggestion to give up the Circle.
While Marco didn’t have a Circle, Luke thought that laying the groundwork with her familiar magic system was the first step to learning new magic.
The circle is a kind of insurance.
It’s an act of picking up a weapon in a dungeon where nothing can be known.
Moreover, even though the magic system called a “class” might be a completely new magic system, it didn’t seem like it would conflict or clash with the existing circle method.
It’s just a difference in how mana is handled, ultimately manifesting the will to move mana and trigger the phenomenon called magic.
Instead, the circle technique, which increases the amount of mana a body can handle and its manipulability, would be advantageous, not detrimental.
So, the circle is the circle, and the class is the class; they should be learned separately.
“Alright, shall we get ready?”
As Luke confidently walked into the world tree, she was quickly stopped by a guard.
“Wait, kid. You can’t come in here alone. Don’t you have a guardian?”
Luke nodded her head.
“I came alone. Do I need a guardian?”
“Of course. It’s too dangerous here for a kid like you to come in alone. You can’t enter without a guardian.”
The artificial World Tree is an important facility that supplies mana to the entire city. It’s not a place where unregistered individuals can enter freely, and there are areas with high-pressure mana flow where children cannot wander freely.
However, Luke couldn’t just turn back at this point, so she looked at the guard with urgency in her eyes.
Although Luke herself was unaware that she was using the body of a child.
“But to become a wizard, I must come here. Isn’t there any way? Um… I don’t have much money, but…”
Recalling past experiences of bribing guards, Luke took out all the money she had in her pocket.
It probably wasn’t much, as Yerina had left her only a small allowance, but based on experience, even a little could make a difference.
However, it was perceived differently by the guard.
“…”
With her pointed animal-like ears drooping like a wet puppy, and pulling out bills and coins from her pocket, Luke looked pitiful.
The guard eventually avoided Luke’s gaze.
It was inevitable to think that this child already wanted to become a wizard so badly.
“Alright, do you want to visit as a guest?”
“Yes. Thank you so much! I’m grateful for your kindness!”
“Hmm…”
‘For a water creature, she seems to have read quite a bit.’
‘I’m not sure what kind of water creature she is, perhaps a mixed breed with a lynx? Still, very pretty. If I had a daughter like that, I might have become a doting father.’
Thinking so, he dialed the phone in the guardroom.
***
Luke nervously sat on the guest bench, sipping cocoa from a paper cup.
A cup made of paper, imagine that, in her time, paper was a luxury item.
The era of stripping off animal hide and processing it as much as possible to make it soft and white was the era of paper.
To think that cups were made from such things.
The fact that the paper of this era is incredibly cheap compared to the time she lived in might have been vague due to the abundance of paper and books in Yerina’s house, but seeing it like this brought a fresh feeling.
“Yerina might not be nobility after all.”
Well, if not, what then?
Her kindness was genuine.
Blowing gently on the too-hot cocoa and waiting patiently, Luke was called by the guard.
“Hey, kid.”
“Ha, hot! What’s up? Is it, by any chance, impossible…?”
“Not quite, just need someone sent in from inside. You better stick with that person, got it?”
“Got it! You’ve done me a favor, I’ll repay it later, for sure!”
“Sure. Make sure you become a fine person and fix my fortune.”
The guard, absentmindedly patting Luke’s head, wondered if the kid blushing and mumbling “Uh-huh” while moving her hand away was feeling embarrassed.
“…Huh?”
However, noticing that the amount of cocoa Luke was holding hadn’t decreased much, she asked curiously.
“What’s up, don’t you like cocoa much?”
“No, it’s just too hot, so I’m letting it cool down slowly.”
“Is that so…?”
Apologies, but the call took quite some time.
So, there was no steam rising from the cocoa, and despite a look, it didn’t seem hot, judging by the distinct lack of foam on the dark surface, typical of cooled cocoa…
“That ear definitely leans towards the cat side.”
