The Magic Academy's Physicist

Chapter 236: The First Class (2)

“Let’s get started on the lesson.”

The students’ hearts dropped at those words.

“Huh?”

“Professor?”

The panicking students all checked the time.

The current time was 8:10 a.m.

Iliad’s first period started at 9.

Hence, this time could be used freely at the discretion of the homeroom teacher.

Even so, it was an unspoken rule that one did not proceed with lessons.

And since Aether had shattered this rule like glass–

It was to be expected that disgruntlement would bleed into the students’ faces.

Still, that didn’t stop Aether. Despite the sounds of protest bursting from here and there, she picked up the chalk and ran with it like a train with malfunctioning brakes.

[Mathemagics]“This is the subject I’m teaching: Mathemagics.”

As its name suggested, it was a theoretical subject.

For Aether who was hiding that she was a Golden-Eyed, it was highly fortunate that she wasn’t teaching a practical subject. All she needed to do was scribble a few formulas and class would be done.

“In this subject, you will learn the math necessary for magic–geometry, mathematical analysis, algebra, representation theory, etc. If you don’t have a good understanding of these, you will experience difficulty when using high-level spells or constructing complicated scrolls.”

That was no secret. Who didn’t know this?

Although the number of bored students was increasing by the minute, that wasn’t her problem.

“Any questions so far?”

After all that talking, Aether paused and asked.

She hadn’t expected any questions, but a female student thankfully raised her hand.

“Will it be okay even if you’re born with little mana if you learn math properly? By that I mean... is it possible to use high-level magic in real combat with just a small amount of mana?”

Aether was secretly impressed by the rather normal question.

“...That’s a good question.”

How to operate magic efficiently with a limited amount of mana was an area that she used to research like crazy.

And because of that research, she was able to fire Ultimate-level spells freely with only a few puffs of mana grass.

So of course she knew the answer.

“It’s possible. You can activate a scroll with an Ultimate Magic with even pea-sized mana.”

“Is that true...?”

“Yes, we call this area of study ‘optimization’. This is normally something that’s learned in grad school, but.......”

The eyes of the student who had asked the question sparkled.

She hadn’t seen her before.

Her hair was a fresh apple mint green, and her eyes were a clear blue like the ocean surrounding Iliad. It was hilarious how she was the only one holding a writing utensil and taking notes.

But it wasn’t funny, because it was the ones like her who later became professors.

Not that it matter, of course, as the world was going to end within a year or two. The girl wasn’t going to be able to achieve her dream of becoming a mage.

Yes, it wasn’t going to hurt to tell her this much as a farewell gift.

The chalk drew across the board with a drrr.

“But as it has been a while, let’s talk about optimization. Starting with the undergrad level, the simple things.......”

Then as she began writing down a few alphabets and formulas, the eyes of the elf girl watching her gleamed unusually.

It was something she had learned as well.

Looking at the series of equations that Professor Asteya was scribbling, Lotte smiled with satisfaction.

“So if you use partial integrals here, interesting terms can be observed. Here, if you take a good look at this part, you can tell that you can use the divergence theorem of the integral.......”

Calculus of variables.

A theory dealing with infinite-dimensional calculus, it was something that had to be learned in order to know how to optimize functions.

Lotte learned that from Aether. She had also tried to learn on her own, of course, but there had been so many things that she couldn’t understand.

She first came to learn and understand it properly at the beginning of March when Aether became her tutor.

And now, the lesson that she had heard back then was being replayed before her eyes once more.

“If you get to this point, this is the final equation you get. With this one equation, you can start to think about optimizing a series of systems.”

Lotte smiled.

She really was clumsy at hiding it.

Everything from the way she taught the lesson to the way she wrote certain letters was the exact copy of Aether.

Now she could only think of her as the same person.

Completely convinced, Lotte glanced over at the seat next to her.

A girl with aquamarine blue eyes and white hair.

Now she could piece everything together. The girl who was letting out sigh after sigh next to her was Aether’s younger twin sister.

Akasha, who she had first met during summer break of last year.

A fearsome Golden-Eyed who emitted a sharp killing intent and killed Fenrir, a Calamity, in one strike.

And so Lotte had even thought that Akasha could be a Cataclysm.

Although she hadn’t fully resolved that doubt, she decided to not think about it any longer. She said she’d trust Aether, so why couldn’t she do the same with her twin sister?

Surprisingly, she didn’t sense that same chill from Akasha like last time.

“Miss, why is it like that over there?”

“Where, here?”

“A bit further down, I mean. Yes, there.”

While she was occupied, an elf sitting in the left corner continued to ask questions.

Lotte had met that elf before.

Yufiel Vierbein.

A member of the High Elf family watching over the World Tree.

“I don’t get why the equation just disappears there.”

“You see the integral over here? I used the divergence theorem. Thinking that the surface went to infinity, it has been written off as 0.”

“Ah....”

Some students were shooting her sharp ‘why do you keep asking’ looks, but Lotte looked at Yufiel with pride.

It was like seeing her old self who used to ask questions to Aether.

“I understand. Thank you!”

“Alright. Any other questions?”

No one besides Yufiel asked questions.

Lotte knew the whole thing so she didn’t need to hear except to reminisce about the times with Aether, and the rest were on the verge of falling asleep.

“If there aren’t any, we’ll move on.”

In the end, the class went the full three hours until 11.

The problem was that there were another two hours of classes after this.

Besides that, they had to take an afternoon elective based on the results of their course selection. It was basically a hardcore schedule from the first day.

But it didn’t end there.

“Write about a two-page essay on what you learned today. The deadline.... by next week.”

At that, the students who were asleep jerked awake in shock.

An assignment bomb from the first class.

Lotte had no problem, and neither did Yufiel who had been diligently taking notes. But the rest of them desperately scribbled away to take down what was on the blackboard.

“I’ll erase the board.”

“N-no! Don’t!”

Aether and Akasha left the classroom first while a grad student who suddenly appeared erased the board.

Or they tried.

Lotte quickly got up from her desk and chased after the two.

They were walking right next to each other.

The height, the physique...

They were so identical that she wondered if they could be doppelgängers.

“Akasha!”

Lotte shouted with certainty.

And the white-haired girl turned around just like that.

“.......”

It must’ve been out of reflex.

The white-haired girl clenched her eyes shut and fled immediately. Professor Asteya–that is, Aether–also sped up and turned the corner.

“Why are they running....”

They ran off like they’d done something wrong.

Especially Aether.

There were rumors of her being a Beast going around, yet she was pretending to be someone else instead of explaining herself to her.

It would be nice if she at least gave a hint.

Lotte returned to the classroom with a sigh.

“Saliere.”

That was when Vermel called her.

In that moment, something curious flashed across Lotte’s mind.

“Oh, right. You guys!”

Vermel and Freyr had been at the scene of the ‘Steam Rain’ incident.

Of course she could ask about Aether’s whereabouts, although they wouldn’t be able to talk much since they had to get ready for the next period.

Let’s see, what should she ask first?

With Lotte pondering in front of him, Vermel spoke first.

“You, me, Freyr–do you want to work on the assignment together?”

They took a breather and shared a bottle of water while they were at it.

Even as she kept drinking, the thirst wouldn’t go away. Her throat burned like she’d swallowed a hot chunk of potato.

“I’ve never talked so long in my life.”

“That’s not the issue right now, sis.”

Akasha’s eyes were flickering yellow like a dandelion.

“Ah, shit. I think we’ve been caught.”

She had let her guard down for a moment after stepping out of the classroom when Lotte called Akasha’s name. And Akasha had turned around.

“Hah, damn it.”

Aether knew this as well, sighing like she was blowing out smoke.

“Why would you turn around?”

“I-I did it without thinking.”

It was a critical blow.

At this rate, they might have to rethink their plan of dropping an atomic bomb on the World Tree.

“It’ll be your fault if things go wrong.”

“Wait, why’s it my fault?”

“Because if you get caught first, then I’ll be caught as well.”

“In my opinion, you were caught first by that red-haired brat.”

“I don’t think so.”

Akasha chuckled.

“Or by that beastkin or the elf, especially since those two were there when you were exposed, no?”

“One fainted, and the other is weak-minded so we just need to shut them up properly.”

“Then....”

A simulation ran in Akasha’s head.

She could see what Aether was thinking.

“Since I gave an assignment from the first day, the diligent Saliere will be off on her own and the elf will likely waste time doing something pointless.”

“Aha, I see. So you mean we should first separate the three and divide and conquer, right?”

“You know your stuff.”

“People think the same, so.”

“Good.”

“Good.”

“I don’t have to tell you, right?”

“You don’t have to tell me.”

The two looked at each other and nodded.

They needed to hunt down the prey before things got worse.

The corner of Akasha’s lips subtly curled upwards.