Genius Wizard Conceals His Origins

T/N: Edited 10/28/24.

Those dashing to the forefront of magic studies are commonly referred to as magic scholars for convenience, but if you look closely, you would find that those so-called magic scholars are unexpectedly clearly divided into two groups.

Theoretical magic scholars and experimental magic scholars.

Although both aim to advance magic studies, it’s impossible for water and oil to mix without boundaries.

It’s an inevitable phenomenon that they end up looking at each other like a chicken looking at a cow or a cow looking at a chicken.

However, there was a new group that scholars from both factions commonly despised.

They were the ‘fake theoretical magic scholars.’

“I can’t listen to the nonsense of a theorist.”

In the words of the man next to me, they were theorists.

Ironically, I noticed his existence when he stood up to leave his seat.

At first, I was so focused on savoring the meat on the plate, but now, I was so busy eavesdropping on the debate from the nearby table that I didn’t even know who was sitting next to me.

“Don’t you think so, friend?”

Only then did my eyes meet those of the man next to me.

Friend?

When I pointed to my chest with my finger, asking if he was talking to me, he nodded his head.

I had no memory of befriending a Federation youth with such a complacent impression, so I decided to think that he had a habit of uniformly referring to third-person masculine nouns as ‘friend’.

Anyway, since he asked, I had to answer.

“I don’t think it’s a topic to jump to conclusions about.”

“Hmm. That’s a lukewarm answer. Could it be that you’re the same kind as them?”

It was hard to ignore what he said.

‘Fake theoretical magic scholars’ literally refers to those who pretend to be intellectuals with just the theories they’ve picked up.

They have not the slightest desire for exploration or knowledge, and they envy the honor and status of the scholars in the magic studies world; they truly are fake scholars.

There would be many who take issue with my gray hair. There’s no impact from slandering innate characteristics.

But I can’t overlook someone disparaging my desire for magical exploration.

That’s almost the same as slandering Benjamin, who took me as his disciple.

I slowly stood up from my seat.

“…Are you asking if I’m a ‘theorist’?”

“Yeah.”

“If you’re asking if I dream of becoming a theoretical magic scholar, that’s correct. But I have never looked down on magic studies for a single moment.”

“Is light a wave or a particle?”

Ignoring my words, he suddenly asked me the same question that was put up for debate.

“I think it’s a particle.”

“Why?”

The particle nature of light.

In the old days, it was treated as orthodoxy, but in the current magic studies world, if you say that without evidence, it would probably be considered a joke.

That’s because light as a wave had been proven, even if those ‘intellectual youths’ over there were untrustworthy.

But the man in front of me continued speaking with utmost confidence.

“Experiments are telling us, aren’t they? Light is suspicious.”

“What?”

“Have you heard the news of Thomson’s discovery of a new particle?”

Thomson.

It was a name I couldn’t forget.

The letter that made me decide to cross the sea… because he was the proponent of that amazing discovery.

I nodded.

“In his experiment, Thomson used light to separate a new particle.”

“……”

“That’s not all.”

The man smiled and looked at me.

As if saying, ‘Why don’t you continue this time?’

It felt strange to be tested in a different way than with Benjamin, but it wasn’t unpleasant.

I didn’t hide my interest in magic studies, and I engaged in debates and studies from the standpoint of a scholar.

The current situation vaguely resembled the scene I had dreamed of.

Also, I could tell which experiment the young man in front of me wanted me to mention.

Benjamin focused more on building my academic foundation than directly teaching me magic studies, but occasionally, he would throw out bits of trivia related to magic studies.

The story of a certain experiment was one of them.

“You mean the Michelson-Morley experiment *1.”

The moment the wave nature of light was proven, people thought that waves like sound are always transmitted through a medium, so light would be the same.

To prove the existence of a medium named aether, two magic scholars devised a sophisticated apparatus and conducted an experiment.

And failed.

There was no aether *1.

But ironically, the failure brought about even greater value.

It was a wave without a medium.

It further solidified the notion that light was somewhat strange.

As if it seemed to be the correct answer, the man nodded with a satisfied expression.

“I like theorists like you.”

“……”

“I want to hear your sincere answer. Particle or wave. What do you think?”

He asked.

After a moment of silence, I opened my mouth.

“Can’t it be both?”

“…BWAHAHAHAHA! I thought you were a moderately interesting fellow, but you turned out to be a very interesting one.”

He leaned forward and whispered in a voice only I could hear.

“That university student over there, he’s wearing the uniform of the Frauzen Federal University of Magic, but they’re probably not his own. The university doesn’t accept guys who are busy pretending to know with just the knowledge they’ve picked up.”

“……”

“How old are you?”

“19.”

“We’re the same age.”

As if he had heard everything he wanted to, the man opened the restaurant door with a large motion.

“I’m Werner. Someone who dreams of becoming an experimental magic scholar who will lead the most dangerous experiments someday. Gray-haired friend. Let’s meet again at the University of Magic!”

And with that final declaration, he abruptly left.

What was that?

It felt like a storm had just swept through.

Because the name Werner gave me a strange feeling of déjà vu, I was tilting my head and tidying up the tableware when I realized one thing.

He had a rather loud voice from the moment he jumped up from his seat.

And in the ensuing discourse with me, the conversation went on in a loud voice.

So it was only natural that the pride of the leader of the ‘Intellectual Youths,’ who not only had to hear the derogatory term ‘theorist’ but also witnessed a debate on the same topic of a higher level right next to him, was hurt.

Moreover, he was seated at the same table as the female student he seemed to have his heart set on, so that said it all.

“You there, gray hair…”

A trembling voice.

When I glanced at the owner of the voice, even the hand holding the tableware was trembling, and there was uncontrollable anger in his eyes.

Clank.

He put down the tableware and shouted.

“Follow me to the square. It’s a duel!”

Three years ago, a memory that has become hazy. A time when I was not yet accustomed to the air in the storage room.

At that time, I was focusing on learning the Frauvian language.

I used encyclopedias and tried to memorize blindly, but plays were the most effective.

Since the use of language itself is the transmission of thoughts, I remember that word acquisition was fastest when learned in the context of a story.

I encountered a total of six plays.

Four tragedies and two comedies.

Since plays themselves were not very popular in the empire and grew as a literary form in the Federation, the plays were imbued with wide and diverse scenery. In the midst of that, there was one element that appeared in all six works, regardless of joy or sorrow.

It was none other than duels.

If their opinions differed even slightly, a duel would occur.

Just because of a trivial misunderstanding, there’d be immediate gunfire.

I couldn’t understand why the people of the Federation loved such an excessively radical avenue for resolving conflicts.

Of course, it must have been the result of the influence of playwrights who wanted to make the flow of the play intense, so naturally, people wouldn’t be constantly engaging in duels.

In other words, I never dreamed that someone would challenge me to a duel.

…And a magic scholar-style duel at that, which I had never heard of.

As luck would have it, the restaurant was directly adjacent to the boulevard that led straight to the square.

“Let’s go to the square.”

“……”

Whether it was misfortune or fortune, after walking for a few minutes from the restaurant, we found ourselves face to face with the largest square in Frauzen.

Lapien Square.

Magnificent statues and fountains. A lively shopping district. People happily chatting and laughing.

Leaving all of that behind and having to confront a man filled with anger was truly a tragedy.

He stopped in his tracks.

Then, the six henchmen also stood their ground behind him and began to glare at me.

The only small comfort was the secretary female student who stood beside me with her mouth shut, appealing that she was an outsider, but all of them were antagonizing me.

Come to think of it, I still didn’t know that man’s name.

“Evarist Dumas.”

“…Eugene.”

The next moment, he held up a grimoire and positioned himself with a stance.

I was standing there blankly, just watching his antics, but he must not have liked it, so Evarist complained.

“Don’t tell me you don’t even know the etiquette of a magic duel?”

“It’s more surprising that you know such a thing…”

“I am an undergraduate student at the Frauzen Federal University of Magic! It’s wrong not to know the magic duels with a long history and tradition. Tsk. You have a grimoire, right? Hold it in your left hand.”

Then he took a bizarre stance again and glared at me.

How should I put it? It would have been cool if magic was still part of occult superstition.

Does he sincerely think that’s cool?

Not only did Werner’s theory of faking academic credentials gain credibility, but I started to suspect that the books this man had read were not magic studies books but collections of delusions by fringe scholars.

From the side, not the front or back, a voice mixed with a sigh was heard.

“That’s enough. It’s unsightly.”

It was the voice of the female student.

T/N

The Michelson–Morley experiment was conducted to check whether light, as a wave, needed a medium (hypothetically called the luminiferous aether) to propagate. A Michelson interferometer was used. This device splits a beam of light into two perpendicular paths, reflects the beams back to a common point, and measures the interference pattern created. Long story short, there was no significant variation in the speed of light that would indicate the presence of aether.