Sword, Magic and Academic Society

"I, under the tutelage of Master Dew, shall master the art of mana operation, and become a mage that vanquishes all foes — and obstacles — to oblivion with wind magic! That which embodies the essence of wind, and be someone in tune with it— I aspire to be the Great Sorcerer of the Wind!”

A silence ensued following my declaration. Not in awe, but a puzzling ‘Huh, what's that guy talking about‘ sort of silence.

“Ahahaha! Sounds good actually, Wind Sorcerer! Isn't wind like that blow whoosh? Seriously great. Go for it!”

Except Parch-san, who truly seemed to be having his fill as he burst into laughter.

Master Dew scratched his head and asked, “Well, your life, your choice. But I'm really wondering, how are you going to defeat the enemy with your… wind?”

I replied with the basics of wind magic I know about to him.

“Of course, it has to be a wind blade. You hurl a blade of wind which cuts through the opponent.”

“What the heck is a wind blade? Why would wind have cutting properties?”

…Right. I think the explanation in novels was—

“The key to it lies in the vacuum— oh, it’s a state without air, between. You can cut through the opponent by sending a vacuum blade.”

“Wind in the absence of air? Whatever, what matters is you can't so easily create that vacuum with mana operation. Let's suppose you managed to, how does the absence of wind give rise to cutting property?”

…Right, again.

Indeed, I've heard that if a person was suddenly exposed to the vacuum of outer space without pressurization, their body would expand and rupture in an instant. The human body, especially its fluids, was constantly being compressed by about one atmosphere of pressure from the air, balancing the force that tried to expand it outward.

Imagine taking a snack bag to the summit of Mount Fuji— it would inflate for the same reason.

"Everything in this world is constantly being pressurized by air. You might not feel it since your body has always been accustomed to this force, but that force is tremendously powerful. If the air suddenly disappears, the force trying to push outward goes haywire, leading to explosion or expansion through the evaporation of internal fluids, ultimately resulting in disconnection or functional destruction… theoretically."

By the time I finished with my explanation, everyone gave me a ‘What a pitiful child, suffering from illness at such a young age’ look. Unfortunately, it wasn't a place to discuss scientific stuff like the robust structure needed to create a pressurized space like the one in outer space.

Alright, time for level 3 wind magic stuff to increase its value. I hurriedly supplemented it.

"Oh, and there's also a straightforward magic called Hurricane! It replicates the powerful winds of a storm! With increased power, it could overturn not only humans but also magic vehicles or even destroy buildings!"

Dante-san made a sharp comment when I explained.

"So… winds strong enough to destroy buildings? It's a bit hard to imagine honestly… but it does sound powerful, in words. However if one is capable of causing a phenomenon to this extent with their mana operation, they might as well use body-strengthening magic which is more efficient if you ask me.”

…Dante-san was also right.

Seeing is believing. However, since this Kingdom hadn’t experienced any storms, they probably were unable to imagine what winds were capable of.

You know what, scratch that. I wasn’t here to debate over efficiency or whatever! I'm here to just talk about creating a phenomenon through mana that I always longed for!

“Ahaha! Isn't it fine though? Every kid has their own version of fantasies. I’ll wait for the day you can freely fly in the sky with the power of the wind. Do teach me when that moment comes, alright? Pfft, hahaha!”

“Fuhahaha! You know what, count me in as well. I’ll call you my master then! And don't you think wind can also cause skirts to flip up? What a pervert! Hahaha!”

“ “Pfft” ”

Damn them… Just count your days, you lot, I’d definitely blast you with a ‘Serves you right’ ending!

In desperation, I mustered up my mana and started stirring the air around me. I was imagining the level 4 magic, Tornado.

“Haaaa!”

When the wind surged up, everyone immediately stopped laughing.

“...Goodness. You managed to do that with just one look at Dew-san?”

“Half-assed… He's just pushing it out instead of maintaining it. Hey, brat! Drop the pace or you're gonna run out of mana!”

So that's how it is, I need to maintain the mana circulation. I could feel my mana rapidly depleting.

I raised my left hand and tried to pull the usual mana compression in an attempt to create a loop where my right hand was releasing mana while my left hand was bringing in the mana.

But that was a failure. Emission-type magic was different from body-strengthening. While the latter kept the mana in a closed loop, the former was basically about releasing your mana outside. The moment it was out, most of it would disperse.

But not yet, I wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully if I didn't show them the terror of the wind.

I squeezed out the last ounce of my strength and released all that mana at once— while also losing my conscience at the same time.

◆

The surging waves of wind flutter the mantle of Knight Order members, disturbing even the bangs of Dew before scattering away.

Allen collapsed where he was. Dante heaved a sigh as he watched everything unfolding.

“Just by watching you, he managed to stir up the wind and ended up exhausting all of his mana, huh? This is… His mana manipulation skill is truly leagues above others.”

On the other hand, Dew's face was twisted with a ferocious grin.

“Don't be fooled by his naive thoughts. He did try to manage the circulation upon hearing my words. But talk about absurdity, who in the right mind tries to absorb and release mana at the same time? Frankly, his talent is incomparable to mine. Once he learns scouting magic, even I can't imagine the heights he will reach.”

Dew's words dumbfounded everyone present there. They were well aware of the incomparable talent Commander Dew Owiel had in scouting magic and mana manipulation, after all.

“...... I'm really glad I didn't miss out on this. ‘Blow away obstacles with the power of the wind’ he says, huh? I really can't stop laughing…… Though this might be the only time we can do so.”

Parch's face expressed unbridled joy.

◆

Let's return to the External Magic Research Club.

“I’ve found my path as a mage. It's a late start compared to you all, but I’ll be regularly training here from now on and aim to be a Mage.”

My conviction-filled words stunned not just Al and Dol, but all the members present. I presume they all must have known about my lack of talent for emission magic.

Kukuku, but the days of my lamentation were over. I had once again pleaded to Dew-san to accept me as his disciple as soon as I was out of my stupor, which he accepted.

So, I have been helping him out in his work while learning about external mana manipulation. It was finally my dream come true, though the training was honestly bone-crushing.

Just last weekend, after I repeatedly ignored Master Dew’s order to train my hearing while focusing solely on mana circulation training, he snapped out and threw me down a dark cave heavily infested with bloodsucking bat monsters with nothing but a wooden sword in the name of investigation. Boy, was it the toughest twelve hours of my life to find the exit.

Seriously, didn't he ever stop to think what if I had died?

Well, I realized the importance of scouting magic — enhanced hearing — after being thrown into that perilous training.

It wasn't just about its usefulness. I probably wouldn't have cared much— but I realized that the core aspects of this magic, maintaining a connection with the mana outside your body, had a direct connection with my wind magic that I aspire to master. Sure enough, the predecessors’ teachings couldn't be ignored, huh?

“For real? I expect nothing less from you! What kind of magic is it?”

“My magic utilizes external mana operation— Wind Magic! In tune with the wind, this is my Mage’s path!”

“...And here you begin with your cryptic nonsense again. Long story short, you can cause wind by manipulating your mana, right? What's the purpose of that?”

“Fufu, just wait and watch. This is the result of my month-long grueling training.”

After saying that, I loosened my body. Everyone watched with bated breath.

"Haaaah!"

Mana swirled following my shout.

I was now capable of creating a surge of wind in a radius of 5m with a wind speed of 8m/s while keeping most of my mana in this one month.

“ “Kyaaaa!” ”

A scream echoed from the group of girls who were looking at my performance with bated breath. The wind I caused had flipped their skirts.

The braided girl that Dol had pointed out to earlier, my fan — I mean, I didn’t particularly mean anything with it — was wearing a striking, purple——

I suddenly noticed a gaze on me and looked up to see that girl glaring at me with her tearful eyes. Ack!

“I, I'm sorry! It wasn't on purpos—”

“Scum!”

Leaving behind a word that I couldn't possibly wash off, the girl ran away from the place.

◆

This was the start of Allen’s journey as Mage.

Nevertheless, what could have been a monumental topic— his newfounded research topic over (no) attribute magic which expanded on the conventional scouting magic and created brand new possibilities for anyone to use 'wind magic', gained no traction.

When the words about the minor incident were out among students, some pervert-minded male students immediately came in droves to join the Emission Magic Club. However, as they realized the level of expertise needed to do what Allen did, 'Flipping skirts with the wind', they secretly began to extol Allen as the 'Flip Master'.

If that wasn't enough, some of the needlessly talented but perverted male students even sorted out all the necessary mana conversion principles required to reach the level of flipping skirts, and dubbed it as 'Allen's Theory'.

In a heartbeat, Allen's research was labeled as the pursuit of his lust.

The only people who had different opinions were Fey and Jeu who burst out in laughter when these rumors made their way to their ears. They started wearing even more short skirts deliberately and loitered around wherever he would be. On the other hand, his reputation among the girls — when he had just started gaining popularity and there was also talk about establishing his fan club — plummeted to rock bottom.

Perhaps that was a milder way to put it. Ever since then, like the old saying similar to scare tactics, a precedent was set where whenever someone's skirt would be flipped by wind— the infamy would fall on Allen's head.

T/N - Alright, didn’t see it coming. I’m surprised they didn’t labelled scouting magic as a whole as a pervert’s work xD.

E/N - Well, I’m not a fan of the MC being mocked when he should be praised for his discoveries/innovations but this is that type of novel after all. Though, Fey and Jeu wearing more skirts around Allen to mess with him was a nice touch.