Jane jumped out the window before I could even launch my weapons.
It was a good call. Since I couldn’t destroy this building, I couldn’t aim for her through the walls.
“Menosorpo.”
I manifested the rune and followed after her.
Jane, who was escaping using ‘Flight,’ looked back at me and widened her eyes.
“Fr, Frondier! When did you learn flight magic?”
“……”
Come to think of it, Jane doesn’t know that I can fly. It seems she thought she could just escape through the window if things went south.
“Teacher! If you’re not the Headmaster’s enemy, please explain the situation! I’ll help too!”
“Then at least tell me what’s going on! I don’t want to fight you, Teacher!”
“You say that while bringing dozens of weapons with you!”
Hmm. I have nothing to say to that. It’s been a while since I’ve been speechless.
“How did you even notice in the first place! Frondier!”
“……I just happened to know.”
Perhaps the start of the discrepancy was thanks to ‘Sixth Sense.’ It was a discrepancy that disappeared in an instant, though.
Still, thanks to that, I noticed the inconsistency at some point while talking with my classmates.
If I hadn’t paid attention to that feeling when entering the school gate, even I would have continued to forget about Osprey’s existence.
“……Just happened to know, the highest level of magic so easily……”
“So it was magic after all!”
“Ah! You used leading questions! Frondier!”
……Did I?
Should I say yes?
‘At this rate, we’ll just be playing tag endlessly.’
Me, chasing without any intention of attacking seriously, and Jane, running away with the same feeling.
It may look like I’m overpowering Jane because of the chase, but that’s not the case.
If Jane were to respond seriously, even I wouldn’t be able to remain unscathed.
My flight isn’t the same magic as Jane’s; it’s just me controlling my body like I would control an object weaving within the Menosorpo domain.
Therefore, there’s a slight difference depending on control, but I’m not faster than Jane.
‘Jane has no intention of running away completely. If she did, I would go back to the Headmaster’s office and continue what I was doing.’
Whatever is in the Headmaster’s office, it’s clear that Jane was trying to stop me from going in. Or maybe it’s okay to go into the Headmaster’s office, but I shouldn’t try anything inside.
So Jane can’t completely get away from me either. She’s in a difficult situation just like me. Especially since neither of us wants to hurt each other.
‘But.’
I know about Jane, and Jane doesn’t know much about me.
At this moment, I have more information than Jane.
‘I can spread it at this distance.’
I narrowed the range of Menosorpo around me. My flight stopped for a moment as I couldn’t escape outside of this.
“Di, Did you give up? Frondier?”
Jane looked back at me and slightly misunderstood.
Menosorpo
Expansion Open
Void Weaving
Offensive and defensive
Net
Just like how I caught Mei, I reached out and expanded Menosorpo again. At the same time, the offensive and defensive formations spread out gradually according to the range.
“……!”
Jane’s eyes widened as she entered the range where the formation was being created.
The formation instantly engulfed Jane─
Spatial magic 1st form
Instantaneous
Chant 1 sentence
‘I am the one who takes the first step.’
Technique complete
Blink
Jane’s mouth twitched, and she pointed her finger to the right. In that instant, she moved to the right, completely out of the range of the formation.
It wasn’t that she flew quickly or leaped; she literally transcended space and arrived there.
“……!”
I watched the scene with my mouth open. I couldn’t help but be surprised.
Boom!
While the airborne formation fell and made a heavy sound on the floor, I stared blankly at Jane.
Jane used spatial magic. And she did it with just one finger.
In this world, the difficulty of magic is determined by how far it is from human understanding.
Things like fire, water, and wind, which are easily seen and felt in everyday life, are that much easier to create with magic.
On the other hand, even basic lightning is a little more difficult because it’s not something you see easily.
By the same principle, something like teleporting from one place to another in an instant boasts an enormous difficulty, no matter how short the distance.
That’s because it’s beyond the scope of ordinary people’s understanding.
There’s a reason why the transfer method of Manggot, where Selena is, or the conditions of Indus’ portal are so complicated.
Manggot has opened a path that can be reached in advance to transfer, and even that can only be done one way.
Indus’ portal can also only go to pre-set areas, and even that uses a very precisely crafted rune.
Since it’s engraved as a tattoo on the palm of your hand, it’s almost impossible to draw it impromptu.
In other words, whether it’s Manggot or Indus, the reason they can use spatial movement is because they’ve changed the way spatial movement works to make it easier to understand.
The portal is something that forcibly attaches the coordinates here to the coordinates there, and Manggot’s transfer is like moving through a hotline connected to one individual.
If magic like the spatial movement that Jane just showed, where you can move anywhere you want at will, was commonplace, things like portals, gates, or Manggot’s unique transfer method would all be completely useless.
“What was that? Frondier. You surprised me!”
I looked at Jane, who was still flustered, and realized that it wasn’t an act at all.
No matter how skilled a mage Jane is, there’s no way the Jane I know could do this kind of magic. And with just one finger and one line of chanting.
“……Teacher, are you really Teacher Jane?”
I asked, raising my guard. I looked at Jane with hostility close to killing intent.
Acting that surpasses my Sixth Sense. I joked about it, but I started to think it might really be the case.
The level of martial prowess Jane just showed is close to the Zodiacs. No, she would easily surpass some of them.
“Oh my, you’re really trying to see me as an enemy.”
Jane hardened her expression as if saddened. I thought we had been treating each other half-jokingly until now.
But if I’m being played by something completely different that just looks like Jane, I might already be in the enemy’s hands.
As I slowly raised my mana with that tension, Jane shook her head.
“Okay. Stop it. I’ll tell you everything. It’s really hard to convey sincerity. At this rate, one of us will die.”
Saying that, Jane calmed her mana. She slowly descended to the ground as if to release even the flight magic.
……There must be a reason for her to be so defenseless. I also descended to the ground. We completely dispelled our mana and looked at each other.
Jane let out a small sigh and then said to me,
“Osprey.”
“……!”
“You wanted to hear that name, right?”
“……So, was it Teacher who made him disappear?”
“No. No way. I don’t even know who he is.”
She doesn’t know who he is?
Does that mean Jane is also within the influence of Osprey’s disappearance?
I thought Jane was someone who knew about this anomaly like me, but am I still the only one who noticed it?
“……Then how do you know that name? The name of someone you don’t know.”
“……Because, you see.”
Jane lowered her eyes as if she really didn’t like it.
“There was a letter in my room. A letter written by someone named Osprey.”
“……A letter?”
Osprey left a letter in Jane’s room. Then it seems Osprey did predict this situation would happen.
“It seems Teacher Jane had unexpectedly gained a lot of trust from the Headmaster.”
“……Ah, really. Conversation with someone who doesn’t understand is so difficult.”
Jane muttered something incomprehensible at my words.
“I’ll explain again, Frondier. I don’t know who Osprey is. So even if he trusted me, I don’t know if that’s true or not. Him sending a letter to my room doesn’t mean that. He naturally left the letter where he needed to leave it, and it just so happened that I was theowner of that room.”
“……?”
I tilted my head, not understanding what Jane was saying.
Rather than not understanding what she was saying, I felt like she was repeating the obvious.
‘Osprey left the letter where he needed to leave it, and it just so happened that Jane is the owner of that room?’
The place where Osprey needed to leave the letter.
If he didn’t specifically send the letter to Jane, where would he have left it? A place where anyone could check it in case something happened to him.
……Ah.
“……I see. So that’s how it happened.”
Jane smiled bitterly at my words.
“Right.”
And Jane recited the same conclusion I had reached.
“Osprey left the letter in the Headmaster’s office. And I checked it.”
That is,
“The current Headmaster of Constel is me.”
And then, as if she couldn’t quite believe it herself, she tilted her head.
“That’s how it’s set up, I guess.”