The Academy Regressor is Obsessed

[In fact, black magic is similar to the act of unleashing one’s own thoughts and ideologies into this world created by God. That’s why it was rejected by the church, branded as heresy, and expelled from the society of fellow magicians. Of course, being shunned by magicians is due to the fault of black magicians, but if the church hadn’t rejected us in the first place, we wouldn’t have gone astray.]

The preface of the book, full of excuses, is lightly skipped. But no matter how many pages are turned, the black magician’s lamentations don’t end.

It’s unclear how much resentment he had, but he curses magicians, curses the church, and even lumps in other black magicians to curse. He seems to have suffered a lot in his lifetime.

That’s not to say the author of the grimoire lived a clean life. It was obvious just from the fact that the book he cherished is now in Asel’s hands. He was probably subjugated after being caught conducting research on citizens.

So Asel didn’t feel particularly sympathetic. He just quickly flips through the book to the middle part, frowning.

[He has an overwhelmingly narcissistic personality. And he blames others to a teeth-grinding degree. He’s exactly the type of person I dislike.]

Aleph, opened out of boredom, evaluated the author of the grimoire. Asel smiled slightly and agreed with her words.

Fortunately, past the middle part, there was a detailed explanation about black magic. Although it was quite long, summarizing it wasn’t too difficult.

The lightning formula converts the magic power in the core into lightning. It’s magic that carefully controls the form, ejection speed, direction, power, etc. through formulas. Other magics weren’t much different. First, learn the formula, realize its uniqueness, become an archmage and awaken the imagery, then release it.

But black magic was the opposite. First, you had to awaken the imagery to some extent before you could use basic black magic.

To draw a boundary between the world and oneself, that line had to be clearer than anything else. Imagery was the most basic foundation for this.

“Hmm.”

Of course, Asel could handle the magics in the grimoire lightly. When he tried activating it as a test, it manifested without any hindrance.

[First Precept]
[I stand alone in the world]

Crack!

The moment the formula was activated, a black mass that sprang out of thin air opened its maw wide and chewed and swallowed the air. Then, as if nothing had happened, it dissipated into smoke. Asel withdrew his outstretched hand and clenched and unclenched his fist while letting out a sigh.

The consumption of magic power was alarming. It’s probably a side effect of forcibly using magic derived from the imagery of the black magician who wrote the grimoire. The price of imitating the imagery took half of the magic power in the core. Despite having significantly less power than high-level lightning formula magic, the amount it takes is greedy.

In this state, it would be difficult to use in actual combat. In the end, you’d need to awaken the imagery to some extent before you could properly handle black magic.

[Master, it’s time.]

Just then, Aleph suddenly spoke. Asel glanced at the clock placed in the corner of the table and got up.

“It’s already this time.”

[Have a good day.]

Asel turned off Aleph’s consciousness while hearing her farewell. Then he changed into clothes suitable for activity, taking off his shirt, and left the dormitory. After walking a bit, he saw Elena sitting on a bench. Asel approached her from behind, tapped her shoulder, and said:

“I’m here.”
“Ah, Asel!”

Elena turned her head back and smiled brightly. Asel leaned his upper body on the bench and relaxed.

“You didn’t wait long, did you?”
“No! I just got here too! More importantly, is your neck okay?”
“Ah, my neck……”

Asel smiled bitterly and scratched the traces where fangs had pierced.

The incident at the clock tower a week ago. Fortunately, they weren’t discovered by others, so there was no need for disciplinary action, but what happened with Elena that day was still vividly imprinted in Asel’s mind.

How long Elena’s blood-drinking act continued, when she had licked up all the blood smeared on her mouth, Asel’s face was much paler than hers. The floor was also soaked with blood.

If Elena hadn’t urgently given him a blood transfusion, Asel would have collapsed from anemia on the spot.

“It’s fine. My body is okay too.”

Fortunately, the blood that had been drained had long since been regenerated by his body. There were still traces left on his neck that hadn’t completely faded, but it wasn’t very noticeable, so there was no real problem. It could be covered even just wearing the Academy uniform.

“That’s a relief.”

Elena giggled and got up from the bench. Her unique sweet scent wafted over.

“Then let’s go today too! Three laps today!”
“…That’s one more lap than yesterday.”
“You’ve gained stamina. So we have to do one more lap.”

Elena stood on the walking path, tapping her feet as if telling him to hurry. Asel smiled bitterly and stood beside her.

The three wishes Asel had to grant in return for borrowing Elena’s money.

One of them was used for blood-drinking. And another was used for running together every morning and going to school together. Thanks to this, she only had one wish left. They were decreasing at a faster rate than expected.

It was a good thing for Asel. Elena… judging by her bright expression, it seemed she had used her wishes quite satisfactorily by her own standards.

Whether she’s so happy to see his face every morning, or just happy to have someone to run with, he wasn’t sure, but honestly, it didn’t matter either way. It was enough that he could fill up his lacking stamina like this. Although he couldn’t keep up with Elena’s pace, he felt satisfied as he felt his stamina building up day by day.

“Get ready……”

Elena looked at Asel and smiled mischievously.

“Start!”

“I feel like I’m going to die……”
“What now?”

Selene sat on the sofa, swinging her legs and making all sorts of disgruntled expressions. Asel sipped his coffee while indulging her complaints.

“No, the role I’ve been assigned. Isn’t there too much physical activity? There’s a scene where I’m swinging a knife, and scenes where I’m running around. I’m supposed to be an evil young lady. Why am I moving around so enthusiastically! I should be ordering servants around!”
“That’s disparaging nobility.”
“Bullshit!”

Selene swung her leg and kicked Asel’s shin with her toes. A shield that manifested as if it were natural deflected her attack. Several more exchanges followed, but Selene couldn’t even touch Asel’s body.

“Get rid of this!”
“I can’t do that, young lady. If we use that method, Her Highness the Princess will execute us.”

As Asel read the script in a stiff tone, Selene pouted and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

After regular classes ended, it was club time. The drama club room was busy preparing for the performance to be held right before the final exams after the midterms. The two people who were cast as the villain couple solely based on their appearance recited the script content they had memorized while facing each other. Both being magicians, their memorization skills were outstanding.

“Be quiet, Marcel. Don’t you know that if we fail this time, we’re already dead? Don’t try to stop me.”
“Young lady, let’s kill that damned commoner girl instead of Her Highness. It’s because of her that our plan failed in the first place. I’ll hire an assassin to cut her throat, and you can act as if you’re cleaning up the mess.”
“Oh ho! That’s a great idea, Marcel. Come to my chambers tonight. I’ll reward you.”
“Thank you, young lady. Hahaha!”
“Ohohohoho!”
“…What are you two doing?”

Suddenly, Saya appeared, her hair tied up for ease of movement. She looked down at the two with a dubious expression while wiping sweat from her face with a towel. Selene rolled only her eyes to stare at Saya’s chest, beaded with sweat.

“Oh, the injustice! Why wasn’t I given such monstrous breasts! Where did my mother’s genes go!”
“…What are you saying suddenly? Have you gone mad?”
“Leave her be. She says her brain melted from moving too much.”
“Oh, the injustice!”

Saya looked down at the unhinged Selene with disgusted eyes, then sighed deeply and sat next to Asel. She kept a slight distance, perhaps worried about the smell of sweat. Although not as much as Selene, she also had quite a lot of physical activity in her assigned role.

Asel had less compared to the two. So for now, with the stage still far off, he was focusing on reading the script to improve his emotional line and understanding of the character, rather than moving around to match them.

“Is it going well?”

Saya asked. Asel smiled bitterly and shook his head.

“He’s a noble man steeped in authority. It’s too far from who I am. Honestly, I’m not getting immersed well.”
“There’s still a lot of time until the performance. Take it slow. I’m doing the same.”
“Yeah,”

Asel took a sip of coffee, then put down the script and leaned back on the sofa.

“More importantly, how’s the merchant group doing these days? Is it going well?”
“We’re always the same. Selling reserved items, investing, supplying ingredients… It’s not that busy. So please visit anytime if you need anything.”
“Thanks for saying that, at least.”
“I’m serious. I’m even thinking of doing it for free, so please come whenever you want.”

Saya said that, then as if something suddenly occurred to her, she turned to Asel and continued:

“Come to think of it, we recently brought in a new product. It was popular in the neighboring kingdom, and we managed to bring it to the Empire with an exclusive contract. The response has been really good. We’ve already made hundreds of gold in net profit.”
“Hmm… Is that so? Is it a magical tool?”
“No, it’s a board game.”
“…A board game?”

A familiar term to Asel, who had memories of his past life, suddenly popped up. He slightly furrowed his brow and tilted his head to the side. At that moment, Selene suddenly spoke up.

“By board game, do you mean that thing where several people sit around and do various things with dice?”
“Yes, that’s right. You know it well?”
“I saw seniors playing it briefly when I was at the magic tower. But they all looked boring without exception. That became a huge hit?”
“The newly released board game has simple magic added to it. Thanks to that, the immersion has greatly increased, and its popularity has risen along with it.”
“Oh… They added magic, you say?”

Selene’s eyes sparkled as she raised her upper body.

“What’s the game’s name?”

Saya answered with a faint smile.

“The Game of Life.”