The Academy Regressor is Obsessed

In the room after everyone had left, Asel and Ena chatted for a while, then went to bed as the moon began to wane.

There was a somewhat awkward situation since there was only one bedroom, but they agreed that Asel would sleep on the living room sofa.

Though it was called a sofa, it was the highest quality provided by the Academy. It was more than sufficient not only for sleeping but even for frolicking on. Originally, Asel had often slept on the sofa many times while reviewing research materials in the living room. There was no reason to be reluctant now.

“But this is your room, shouldn’t I be the one sleeping in the living room?”
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it and sleep comfortably.”

Though Ena showed an apologetic expression, Asel’s attitude was firm. So Ena had no choice but to stagger onto Asel’s bed and lie down. She pulled the blanket over herself, turned to the side, and buried her face in the pillow.

“…”

As she did so, Asel’s scent wafted faintly. His traces were deeply imbued in the blanket, pillow, and every part of the bed. Ena unconsciously indulged in that fragrance and curled her body into a ball.

It felt as if she was being embraced by Asel. Though Ena, who often hugged him normally, knew how comfortable his embrace was, she had never been tightly embraced on a bed. As such, her imagination began to run wild.

Ah, Asel, no matter what, isn’t this a bit much? Why are you paying attention to such things between us? No, but still… If you don’t like it, push me away. It’s not that I don’t like it… It’s just embarrassing. I like it. Huaah…! I don’t dislike it either…! Then isn’t it okay? That’s true, but…! Ugh…!

“Asel…! No…!”
“Yes? Did you call me?”
“Eek!”

Ena returned to reality from her fantasy at Asel’s sudden voice. She jumped up on the bed like a fish leaping, then panted as she saw Asel’s face peeking through the door crack. Asel showed a wry expression looking at her.

“Um… I’m sorry. I seem to have startled you.”
“N-No! I’m the one who’s more sorry!”
“…? What are you sorry for?”
“Th-There’s something like that. More importantly, wh-why did you come?”

Ena asked that while trying to hide her embarrassment and heightened emotions. Asel answered while scratching his cheek.

“I came to tell you not to press the button next to the bed, but… I suddenly heard my name.”
“Oh, I-I see? Got it. I won’t press it.”
“Yes. Then sleep well.”
“O-Okay. Good night.”

Asel bowed his head to Ena’s greeting and left the room. After confirming that his presence had moved away, Ena let out a sigh of relief and plopped down on the bed. Then she organized her excited emotions as quickly as possible, took a deep breath, and lay down in a proper posture.

Due to needless fantasies, all sleepiness had fled. To fall asleep as quickly as possible, she erased stray thoughts and counted sheep running in her head. As she did so, the image of Asel tending to the sheep naturally came to mind. Perhaps because she was buried in his scent, the sheep’s appearance soon changed to Ena herself.

“…!”

Her eyes snapped open. Her cheeks were flushed red, and the scent rising from the shirt she was wearing momentarily dazed her mind. The smell became more intense with every stagger.

“Ugh…”

In the end, she spent a long time lying awake through the night, and was only able to fall asleep after directly casting a sleep magic spell.

In her dream that night, Asel appeared waiting for her on the bed.

Right after visiting the bedroom, instead of going to sleep immediately, Asel entered the study and turned on the light.

The dark study brightened as light entered. Asel briefly scanned the various formula papers hung on the wall, then supplemented the shadow magic hung on the window. Then the slightly blurry shadow turned pitch black and covered the window.

Shadow magic had the characteristic of becoming more powerful in dark places. So when the surroundings suddenly brightened like this, there was the drawback of the magic’s output decreasing. It was a bothersome aspect for using in actual combat, but for practical aspects like this, it wasn’t a big problem as long as it was supplemented.

Asel looked at the darkened window, then sat down in a chair.

“…It’s a bit cold.”

The season was already entering spring. Though it had been quite warm for a while, remnants of winter still remained. But that feeling had long since disappeared.

However, it was still chilly at dawn. Though the biting cold had disappeared, the air was still cold and the blowing wind was sharp. Even without opening the window, its effects entered the room.

Magic was cast in the bedroom to maintain an optimal environment unaffected by outside influences, but not in the study. Except for defensive formulas, it was exposed to the external environment without other magic installed.

This was Asel’s intention.

A slightly cold environment helps brain function more than a warm one. Now was a convenient time to create such an environment without the need for magic. So he didn’t use any magic.

Probably not until summer would he install magic here.

Thinking such idle thoughts, Asel placed Aleph on the desk. Then he placed his hand on the worn cover and slowly poured in magical power.

At the point past midnight, Aleph’s activity amount was probably reset.

As if to prove this, though Aleph greedily craved Asel’s magical power, it wasn’t as excessive as before. It wasn’t without burden to Asel, but still, magical power entered Aleph to an extent that didn’t need much concern.

[Aleph revival.]

Not long after that state, Aleph opened its eyes while opening a blank page. Asel spoke while pouring cold water into the cup on the desk.

“So it was right that it resets after midnight. Fortunately, it’s not 24 hours after the point when the activity amount ran out.”

[Did I not explain that to you?]

“You just said what you had to say and disappeared then.”

[Ah.]

Drinking the cold water activated his mind despite it being dawn. Asel tore off a few papers hung on the wall and placed them on the desk.

[Then I’ll give you a proper explanation on this occasion. Currently, the total time I can be active is 30 minutes, and the longer you use me, the longer this time will become.]

“You weren’t even there for 30 minutes yesterday.”

[That’s because I used most of the absorbed magical power to register and remember your magical power. It’s not like that now. This Aleph is in perfect condition now. Ask me anything.]

“Well, alright. Let me ask some things I’m curious about before experimenting.”

Asel continued speaking while classifying the formulas written on the papers by type.

“First, the Thunder of Praise. Can I consume this right away? Or do I need to go through specific conditions like with Lightning Grass?”

[You can drink it as is. However, if you consume it in a high place on a day when lightning is pouring like rain, you can gain more lightning energy by resonating with naturally occurring lightning. It’s not a method recommended for ordinary people, but for a lightning magician, this way can be more helpful.]

“Hmm… Is that so?”

[Yes. Moreover, Thunder of Praise has the additional effect of cleanly healing all wounds or diseases in your body the moment you drink it. So in the past, it was quite a sought-after elixir. However, after the only person who could make it passed away, it seems to have been forgotten and isn’t well-known now.]

“It heals wounds? There weren’t any formulas or magic like that.”

[It’s probably an effect occurring due to unicorn horn powder being among the ingredients needed for production. It’s more in the realm of alchemy than formulas or magic.]

Unicorn. A word referring to the divine beast commonly called a unicorn. It wasn’t a creature that could be easily seen either now or in the past, and because it was an animal that liked pure and innocent people, its recognition was much higher than other divine beasts.

This recognition applied even among other divine beasts, and there were stories that if you killed a unicorn, other divine beasts would chase the killer to the ends of the earth and tear them to shreds. There were even actual records of this.

Nevertheless, there were still many people trying to find unicorns. This is because there’s a legend that drinking unicorn blood grants eternal life.

Not just the blood, but other body parts also tended to be beneficial to humans, so the value of unicorns was at a level that truly transcended imagination. Even just the hair that occasionally comes up for auction fetches prices approaching hundreds of thousands of gold coins.

If that’s the case for just the hair, what would the value of unicorn horn powder be? Asel couldn’t even dare to guess the value of the elixir placed on the desk.

‘…Should I sell it?’

Asel thought that for a moment, but soon shook his head and carefully stored Thunder of Praise in a drawer.

There was no reason to sell something that helps with circle ascension. If money was lacking it would be different, but thanks to Ena and Weiheim’s support, life was only abundant. If he wasn’t going to quit the path of a magician, it was right to keep this and consume it where lightning strikes.

More than that, a day when lightning pours like rain. What Aleph said didn’t seem to just mean a day with a lot of thunder. Asel asked Aleph about this fact, and Aleph agreed.

[In the west of the continent, there’s a region called ‘Carved Cliff’ in the Kingdom of Bischof. When summer comes, lightning strikes non-stop for several months at the top of that cliff. The people of Bischof Kingdom realize summer has started by watching that lightning spectacle.]

“Bischof Kingdom… That’s where the Hargelin family is.”

[They’re one of the representative noble families of the kingdom. It’s also a family that has produced many warriors thanks to their innate superhuman strength.]

“Should I visit once during the break?”

Asel muttered that, then poured magical power into the formulas he had finished distributing. Then various patterns and lights floated above each formula.

It meant they were operating normally. He nodded and turned off all the activated formulas.

The experiment preparation was complete. Asel placed Aleph on a fixed stand and plastered all sorts of defensive formulas on the study and his body in case of any unexpected situations. Aleph watched the scene and asked.

[May I ask what you’re trying to do, Master?]

“Go ahead and ask.”

[What are you trying to do?]

“I want to check if you can be helpful in combat too.”

[It’s possible. However, the magic you can use is limited to lightning formulas according to your aptitude.]

“Who said my aptitude is only for lightning magic?”

[Pardon?]

Aleph expressed doubt, and Asel smiled as he poured fire-natured magical power into Aleph.

[You had dual attributes? This is surprising.]

Next, he poured in magical power that had undergone nature changes to water flow, wind, ice, earth, shadow, etc. in order.

[Oh my. Master, something is strange. It seems a mistake occurred in the process of reading the magical power.]

“I don’t think it’s a mistake?”

[Then does this mean all of this is your magical power? Is that even possible? Even historically, multi-attribute holders could basically use no more than three types of magic. But this…]

Asel burst out laughing at Aleph’s words.

Though it was just simple sentences without a face or voice, somehow he felt he knew what emotion Aleph was feeling. Since he had only manifested lightning-natured magical power when first touching her, it wasn’t unreasonable for her to be surprised.

Asel asked while finally inputting his pure, fluid magical power.

“How is it?”

Aleph was silent for a moment, then soon answered in large letters.

[I’m blown away.]

Asel burst out laughing at that cheap expression.