Episode 16 – Paper Birds (2)

Paper Birds (2)

“Alright~! The paper birds have flown out the window~”

The paper birds disappeared into the distant sky. The retinas of the seniors watching them turned blue, as if they were trying to leave traces of the paper birds in their eyes by filling their optic nerves with mana.

Of course, I just sat there.

“There are a total of 100, and of course, these paper birds were also made with magic formulas!”

Asillen tapped her wristwatch, tap-tap.

“It’s 9:25 now, so catch them from 9:30 to 1:00! You’ll get 1CP for catching exactly one bird, no more, no less. However, depending on which bird you catch, bonus CPs will be added!”

The difficulty of the birds was marked on the blackboard.

The smaller the size, the fainter the trace left when flying, the higher it seemed.

Here, ‘Traces’ refer to the ‘traces of mana’. Because everything made of mana inevitably leaves a trace.

“The seven hardest birds to catch are a bonus of 1.5CP. The next hardest ones have bonus points of less than 1CP!”

The seniors were about to get up from their seats.

“Listen to the end~ I have to explain the second class, too.”

They sat back down.

“In the second class, from 1:10 to 3:00, you will observe the magic formula of the caught paper bird and write a report. Depending on the completeness, up to 3 points of CP will be given! Do you understand?”

Asillen looked around at the students.

“……I.”

Then someone raised their hand. It was a somewhat timid-looking man.

“We are, uh, 127 people, ma’am.”

“I know~”

“Then, inevitably, the students who can’t catch a bird-”

“They will naturally fail.”

Asillen cut off the student’s words. It was a voice of contempt.

“There are too many of you, 127. The college board is not a learning process, it’s a stage to prove what you’ve learned.”

She muttered a bit coldly, then smiled brightly again.

“But! If you can’t catch it, you can borrow a paper bird~ I’ll allow you to steal or snatch it until 1 o’clock! However, if you submit the same magic formula of the paper bird, I will only give points to the one with higher completeness.”

In other words, if two people analyze bird A, they don’t give points to both, but only to the better one.

If you can’t catch a paper bird, you fail.

“Well, it’s been 30 minutes now!”

Asillen shouted in a bright voice.

“Start!”

At that moment, everyone ran outside.

I was swept away without realizing it.

* * *

“……What am I supposed to do.”

I’m walking down the street looking at the sky. I think I’ve been moving outside for about 30 minutes, but I can’t see a single paper bird.

How far could they have flown in 10 minutes.

“There were turkeys too, weren’t there.”

Turkeys, pheasants, peacocks, pelicans, I’m sure there were big ones like that.

“Can’t seem to find any, what a wild goose chase.”

I scratched the back of my neck.

Probably, the task is not to chase with bare body and bare eyes like me.

Paper birds naturally operate with mana. The intention of the examiner would be to detect that mana or to track the mana path left on the path.

I can’t do it.

I never received proper training. I’ve never been taught to develop mana affinity.

Abilities related to mana are extremely important for prior learning.

“…Where should I go?”

Before I knew it, I was outside the main entrance of the Endex.

This is the street known as the ‘Magic Market’. It’s filled with shops selling herbs, textbooks, and artifacts.

“Huh?”

Suddenly, I stopped in front of a sign.

[Artifact Shop: Thrice Manaology].

Items and machines related to mana are usually called ‘artifacts’, and this is a shop that specializes in handling them.

I stretched my neck to look beyond the glass window.

There were many items like mana spectrometers, disassemblers, catalysts, but an artifact that looked like a monocle caught my eye the most.

Suddenly—— Asillen’s words echoed in my ears.

-Of course, you can get help from tools. But, the help of tools is limited, isn’t it?

The help of tools.

I casually opened the door.

“Excuse me. Is anyone there?”

Then, the owner appeared from behind the counter. He was an old man in a suit, but he was robust. He raised his eyebrows as he wiped a prism with a white handkerchief.

I pointed to the monocle.

“What is this? A mana microscope?”

The owner shook his head.

“It’s much better than that. It’s called a magic optical microscope, almost at the level of an artifact. The model is SZX-9500.”

Artifact level, huh. That’s a tempting phrase.

“With this, can I see magic formulas?”

“Exaggerating a bit, you can even see mana particles.”

“Hmm.”

I nodded my head. With this, I could find something like a paper bird right away….

Suddenly, a current flowed through my brain.

Zing- My fingers trembled.

“…Can I touch this?”

Then, the owner silently looked at my name tag.

“Shion Ascal. Are you an Endex student?”

“Ah, yes. I’m in class. College board.”

“Hmm. You must be in the same grade as the young lady.”

“Young lady….”

“I’m talking about Miss Layla.”

“….”

Only then did I look at the wall of the artifact shop. The patterns embroidered on the wallpaper itself were the symbol of the Hilton family.

“This is a Hilton brand.”

“That’s right. Are you close with the young lady?”

“…We’re not close.”

Layla was an incredibly wealthy person before and after regression, but I didn’t particularly want to get close.

“Then you can’t.”

“We’re close. I almost lost a finger because of her.”

The owner showed a small smile.

“Then touch it gently. That tiny thing is 300,000 Ren. It’s such a sensitive artifact that it can easily break.”

“…300,000.”

300,000 Ren.

The amount of money that can receive various high-end treatments including cancer treatment for a year without any worries.

I suddenly thought it was very unreasonable and shitty, but the world is originally shitty. It doesn’t change by complaining. Rather, it’s just treated like a fool.

“It’s expensive.”

Anyway, can I ‘remember’ such an expensive and complex artifact?

Let’s try it first.

I swallowed my saliva with the magic optical microscope SZX-9500 on my palm.

I murmured quietly.

“…Memorize.”

Suddenly, the muscles inside my chest contracted strongly. The vision almost completely faded. My waist naturally bent.

“Khuh…….”

Trembling, I opened the “Notepad”.

[85 / 100]

■ Diary

■ Memory

└Perion

└Heart

└Latinel I

└Untitled

Capacity history within the last 24 hours: +8

The capacity was exactly 70%, filled up to 70%, and more than half of the mana was consumed, but somehow, I remembered.

I returned the magic microscope and bowed my head.

“……Thank you.”

“What’s there to thank for. You only touched it.”

It made sense when I heard it.

* * *

I went back to the street.

My heart still ached a bit, but there was no time to rest.

I slowly lifted my head. In that posture of looking up at the sky, I closed my eyes.

“Haah……”

A deep breath that relaxed my whole body.

Then, I summoned the SZX-9500 to my naked eye.

[——Load]

For a moment, my entire eyeball felt like it was burning. It felt like a cold needle was poking at my retina.

I opened my eyes again.

“……”

For a moment, I was at a loss for words.

It wasn’t the world I knew.

Had the “memory” I summoned into my eyes dyed my vision like a microscope?

What I saw became clearer, and I could see things I couldn’t see before.

“……Is that it?”

The streaks of mana strewn across the high sky. The traces left by a hundred paper birds are imprinted on my retina.

Their colors, textures, and clarity are all different. Faint or bold, warm or blue, white or dark.

Among them, there is a particularly thin and pale white band that seems to crumble if I hold it in my hand.

I followed it.

I circled the streets through the magic market of the Index, climbed up the steep road with difficulty.

I reached the back mountain of the Endex site.

I stood at the entrance and observed the scenery. I zoomed in on where the ‘band’ led.

The 「SZX-9500」 instantly magnified hundreds of times, piercing the other side. A vast wide-angle view was captured at a glance.

“I found it.”

A huge tree with countless branches, and a very small paper bird sitting on it. A sparrow-like creature.

I quickly held my breath.

Bending down, I moved forward quietly.

* * *

……I walked up the mountain path as if I were sleepwalking for several tens of minutes.

——Chirp chirp.

Before I knew it, I heard the sound of a sparrow from a tree that had gotten closer. It was within sight even with the naked eye.

This should do it.

I picked up a pebble from the ground.

Chirp chirp——

Just as the sparrow chirped and flapped its wings, I took advantage of the opportunity and threw the pebble.

Thud-

The creature, hit in the head, fainted and fell to the base of the tree.

“Phew.”

After nearly an hour, I straightened up. I approached, rubbing my stiff back, and picked up the sparrow.

“……That was easy.”

Surprisingly easy. Although there was almost no mana left in the retina, and I had sweated so much from moving quietly that I was on the verge of dehydration.

I turned around with the paper bird in one hand.

Just as I was about to go down the way I came up.

-It’s up here, right?

-Yes, just follow.

There were guys approaching this way.

A gang all too familiar.

“……Huh? What’s that guy doing there?”

The guys looked up at me from the bottom of the mountain path, and I looked down at them.

The guy in the front, literally blocking my path, was Elise for some reason. Behind her were Kain and Asher, standing like bodyguards.

“That bastard…”

Kain spotted me. More precisely, the sparrow in my hand.

“Did you come to find this?”

I asked, showing the sparrow. Elise didn’t answer. Instead, Asher took a step forward.

“Oh~ right, right. Rat. I came to find that, but there’s no one around?”

He smirked, creaking his neck from side to side as he added.

“The person in charge definitely said it’s okay to steal or snatch. You heard it too, right?”

“Yeah. I heard.”

“That’s a relief.”

Whatever you do at the college board is legal. They say students die every year from competition.

“……”

I just glanced at Elise. She was still serene, gazing at me with her emotionless eyes, her contempt hidden.

I was in a quandary.

Should I fight?

Or should I run away?

Either way, both seem impossible. I’m almost out of mana now.

“What are you doing? Are you scared? Why are you just standing there?”

Asher asked, chuckling.

Then, an idea popped into my head.

“……Hmm.”

It seemed like a pretty ingenious idea. If it works as I think.

I focused my eyes on the paper bird in my palm. I squeezed out the last remaining mana and summoned the 「SZX-9500」.

“Kuh.”

My vision briefly changed again, accompanied by pain.

The magic formula engraved inside the sparrow was revealed. It was very small, but countless lines and shapes of mana were tangled inside.

I remembered it clearly. I meticulously captured the very minor parts of the formula, and even the flow of mana circulating the circuit, into the 「Notepad」 as if taking a picture.

“What are you going to do? Will you get beaten, or will you just give it up?”

Asher cursed. I ignored him. Because Asher is a lackey. Because the real noble among those bastards is someone else.

Elise.

I looked at her and went down the mountain path.

“Hey buddy~ Why are you like this~ I don’t like beating kids~”

“Wow~ That bastard really seems to want to fight”

Asher and Kain loosened up. The two of them cracked their necks, shoulders, and fingers in turn, took off their outerwear, loosened their watches, and prepared to fight with all sorts of nonsense.

“Here you go.”

I offered the paper bird to Elise.

Let’s go peacefully, peacefully.

“……?”

Elise slightly furrowed her brow. Kain and Asher blinked their eyes with dumbfounded expressions.

“Take it. What’s the big deal?”

Despite my urging, Elise just stared at the paper bird. As if she was suspicious of something.

“Why? You were going to rob me anyway. I’m just giving it to you.”

I tried to put the paper bird directly into Elise’s hand, but-

“Has this crazy bastard lost his mind?”

Kain suddenly grabbed me by the collar. My body was lifted into the air, and the paper bird fell to the ground. It was quite a powerful grip.

I was slightly out of breath.

No, I was seriously out of breath.

“You moronic bastard, who do you think you’re touching-”

“That’s enough. He’s giving it. It’s not fake. I don’t know how he found it, but he did.”

Elise twisted her lips expressionlessly. Kain immediately let go of me.

“Cough.”

As soon as my feet touched the ground, I was gasping for breath. Kain pushed my shoulder.

“Hey, prick. Know your place. Before you end up crippled.”

“Ah, my throat hurts.”

I rubbed my throat and looked at Elise. The paper bird was already in her hand.

“You, make sure you use it. Because I gave it to you.”

I earnestly requested Elise. Sincerely, I hope you get to use it.

But this woman, instead of thanking me, squinted her eyes as if it was ridiculous.

“A psychological victory, huh. How petty. Just like you.”

Then she turned around gracefully. Like she was dancing a waltz.

“Ah~ what a waste. I was looking forward to beating the shit out of Shion.”

“You should know that you’re alive thanks to Elise.”

Asher and Kain followed Elise, chattering away.

“……Those bastards are always following Elise.”

I licked my lips as I watched their retreating figures.

I did ask Elise, but in fact, it doesn’t really matter who submits that paper bird.

Whoever submits it will get zero points.

Even if their eyes are good, they can’t be better than my 「Magic Microscope: SZX-9500」.