Extra

All the children from the northeast district of the Celsius territory flocked to my school. The number was a staggering one hundred and fifty. Every morning, children came in droves to the school where I was.

I wasn’t an enthusiastic teacher, but I was a capable one. Using mind reading, I determined their aptitudes, interests, and levels of understanding. Then, with a few tips and magical tools, I stimulated their mana. Children who gained something from this would awaken their mana sense and take one step closer to becoming a mage.

Eight days since I descended to the lower realm.

Out of one hundred and fifty, forty-three had awakened their mana sense.

And one had even mastered the control of mana.

“Oh, you who have stepped onto the great path of magic! You who have earned the right to climb the stairs of knowledge! Today, I feel boundless joy at the birth of a junior! With your brilliant intellect, pluck the shining stars of knowledge and scatter them across this world!”

The old man, his face filled with emotion, placed a high conical hat on the child’s head. The hat, shaped like the top of a tall spire, was proof that the child had just become a mage. The child, still looking incredulous, received an apprentice staff and a cheap magic tome.

That child was now undeniably one of the chosen.

A different being from the other children who had studied together.

I allowed them to hold the investiture ceremony in the school’s courtyard. They asked me to host, but I hated such bothersome work and wouldn’t know how anyway. I left it to an experienced mage and busied myself with new tasks.

“You who have newly awakened your mana sense must be very happy. A new color has been added to the world, and you could enjoy simply watching how that discovery moves. Enjoy it while you can, but remember. Mana sensing is just taking your first steps.”

I sent the dropouts home. Left were the children who had awakened their mana sense. For those who had already surpassed the basics, I began a lesson for their second awakening.

“The reason why mana sensing is easier than mana control is simple. Mana control requires your own mana.”

This was also why I, despite possessing perfect theoretical knowledge and the indirect mana sensing ability through mind reading, couldn’t use proper magic.

“No matter how excellent a machine is, if you lack the strength, you can’t properly control it. Magic is similar. Even using magical tools requires starter mana, and as the scale of the magic increases, the mana required also increases. Of course, the same logic applies in reverse. Even commoners without mana can easily use minor magical tools that produce phenomenon-level magic.”

The Magical Federation had plenty of such magical tools. I clapped my hands, and the housekeeper brought out a pile of magical tools.

Mana lamps, mana furnaces, ice crystals, resonating crystal balls, and so on. Many phenomenon-level magical tools that even ordinary people could use due to their extremely low startup mana. I roughly laid out the magical tools and said,

“If you have learned mana sensing, you will also sense the wavelengths of mana changing with your actions. By repeatedly observing the flow of mana within the magical tools, you will eventually learn mana control intuitively. That child who became a mage also realized mana control on their way home while looking at a mana lamp in the pitch-black darkness.”

I had told the child to do that, but I didn’t expect them to immediately realize control after doing so. Even if I was the catalyst, that child was bordering on genius.

What about the children gathered here? Except for one, they wouldn’t even dream of awakening before I left. Well, if they work harder after mana sensing becomes a part of their daily lives, they might control it. But that’s a story out of my hands.

“Try it. Concentrate on the mana, and sense how it flows. Mana’s movements have a purpose. If you carefully observe it, someday you will also be able to control mana in that way.”

“Yes!”

The children shouted energetically and rushed to grab the magical tools. They bickered to get their hands on the magical tools they liked. The housekeeper sighed at the thought of cleaning up later, while a large child snatched an ice crystal from a skinny child.

“Give it back!”

“Ah!”

The skinny child screamed and tumbled. Attention focused on them. The large child was grinning, but when he saw my gaze, he hurriedly explained.

“No! This was originally mine!”

I answered reflexively.

“That’s mine, you thief. Do you even know what it’s worth?”

I wouldn’t forgive him stealing my belongings, even if he was briefly my student. The child waved his hands dismissively at my cold reply.

“Ah! No, it’s not like that! I called dibs first, but *that* one just outright stole it!”

“Ugh…”

The gaunt child clutched his head, glaring at the larger boy with a sharp look. There was desperation in his spiteful gaze.

But the bigger boy just scoffed.

“What are you looking at? *Outsider*.”

Outsider. Unaffiliated with any school district, a forsaken child.

School districts are communities of parents who can afford tuition. Those who aspire to be mages pool their money, build academies, hire instructors, and receive tutelage.

There are levels even to the financial power of parents. If some contribute more than others, those who contribute more inevitably object. Naturally, parents with similar wealth gather to form school districts, and over time, these districts become increasingly stratified.

And at the very bottom of the hierarchy…

Those who can’t even afford to hire a teacher become ‘Outsiders,’ excluded from all education.

The terminal station of the uneducated. If there is no mage in the family, or even a technician capable of using magical tools, or if they lack the will to teach their children due to their own lack of education, they will eventually become Outsiders.

Doomed to a life devoid of knowledge or magic. Beyond redemption.

Ahead lies the yearning for magic, behind, the fear of falling into Outsider status. These two emotions are the forces that have turned the Magic Federation into a nation of magic.

“Why is an Outsider here?”

“Can’t even afford tuition.”

“Are they eavesdropping on the class? This academy is filled with students from many districts, so…”

“We wouldn’t even notice them sneaking in, would we?”

The educated children were shrewd and quick to calculate. They quickly realized what had happened, and cautiously distanced themselves from the Outsider.

It was then that the exposed Outsider gritted his teeth.

Trudging forward, I held the cards in both hands and stared straight at the Outsider, asking,

“Can you sense magical power?”

The Outsider noticed me and quickly replied.

“Y-yes…”

“Left hand or right hand. Which holds my enchanted tool?”

“L-left.”

“The answer is both. Liar.”

I opened both fists, revealing the clover cards and spoke. The Outsider looked defeated.

“Good effort… but a thin lie is soon exposed.”

To choose the left without hesitation? To simply bet one’s fate on a 50% chance? The decisiveness, the quick mind… not bad.

But that’s not enough.

I knelt down in front of the boy. He looked at me with an unfulfilled and wanting gaze but was soon to be frightened away.

In my eyes, there was no mercy, no warmth.

“Kid. I don’t care whether you listen to my lectures or not. To me, everyone here is just a simple folk anyway.”

Cold, but true. The children nodded without disappointment. For an exalted mage (in training) from the Floating City like myself, teaching children in the Lower Realms is merely an act of charity.

“But I only gathered the children who succeeded in magic detection. To give a lecture that suits them. This is not a place for you.”

“Why…!”

Sensing that he would be expelled if he remained, the Outsider shouted desperately.

“I hear you teach at the academy without expecting anything in return. Then, surely I can listen too! What is it that I lack? Or are you simply not confident in teaching *me*?!”

*Somehow, I need to get into those lectures! Rely on pity? He’s not the type for that! Provoke him. It’s risky, but if I miss this chance, my future is… gone!*

…Ho-ho. He’s trying to provoke me to get into my class?

Lacking in book learning, but rich in experience, it seems. Perhaps from being shuffled around in the non-ranked sector. Quite cunning, indeed. But listen here…

“The students at the academy study magic for anywhere from three to seven years. They master the fundamentals of language, mathematics, geometry, and history. And they practice magic every chance they get.”

Utterly unmoved by his childish baiting. As coldly as possible, stripping away all emotion. Speaking only the facts, in a voice that chills to the bone.

“My lectures are top-tier. But attending them won’t bridge a three-to-seven-year gap. If it could, why bother with consistent training? Why bother with reading? Magic is an honest discipline. It manifests phenomena proportionate to the mana invested. Have you invested that much time?”

“I, I have…!”

“Your circumstances were unfavorable? Time was scarce? Circumstances and time are part of what shapes you. If that’s the case, then you should have revealed a talent that surpasses even all of this.”

To an outsider, I must seem like a miracle. A mage descended from the floating city, impartially teaching in a remote district. He must have clung to the fantasy that someone like me, engaged in what amounts to volunteer work, might take him under my wing…

But this miracle, who seems to be a teacher, is now presenting him with a harsh and cold reality. Denying the faint hope residing in the heart of this outsider.

“My stay is limited to about a month. Awakening you within that time is impossible. I do not attempt the impossible.”

“Ah…!”

“Listen if you wish. Though it will be of no help to you.”

“Ugh…!”

Tears well up in the outsider’s eyes. Abandoned by the Magic Federation, and now abandoned by me. Writhing in despair, sorrow, and wretchedness, he could no longer remain here.

My words were nothing but the truth. Staying here would do him no good.

“aaah!!”

The outsider screamed like a cornered animal and bolted from the academy. He didn’t even bother putting on his shoes, haphazardly kicking them aside as he ran barefoot across the icy ground. His feet must be freezing, but could it compare to the chill in his heart?

Amid the snickers echoing through the academy – the kind of sounds that suggested, *Oh, so the outsider got caught sneaking in and got what was coming to him* – I summoned the housekeeper.

“Housekeeper.”

“Yes?”

“He left his shoes behind. Please return them to him.”

“Excuse me? Me? Alone, on a day like this?”

“Surely you’re capable of that.”

*He’s being so unkind. To an unfamiliar extent. But, if he were truly cruel, he wouldn’t be sending me.*

The housekeeper looked back and forth between me and the academy doors, muttering with a touch of pity.

“Would it be alright if I offered him some comfort too?”

“Do as you see fit.”

“I’ll be back!”

The housekeeper hurried after the outsider. I watched her go for a moment, then, sensing the gaze of the students, spoke.

“Have you all finished your practice? Can the magical tools be collected?”

“Ah, no, not yet!”

The commotion caused by the outsider was quickly forgotten. The children refocused on their magical tool training. Before long, they would either completely forget this incident or gossip about it, turning it into playful banter.

The northern wind was as cold as ever. I shut the door that the housekeeper had left ajar.