After the introductional greetings, Claude, the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and the Chief Royal Court Physician, Bruno, the Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy and the President of the University, and Falma, the Dean of the Faculty of Comprehensive Medicine stand on the stage as they draw the attention from the new students.
The height of the podium is unsuitable to Falma because of his unique child-like circumstances, but Falma doesn’t care as he tippy toes behind it. Falma smiles at the corner of the auditorium as he gazes upon Ellen, who’s anxiously watching over him while finding something else to do. Ellen appeared to realize that Falma is acting normally.
“Nice to meet you everyone. My name is Falma de Médicis, a court pharmacist who has been appointed as the Dean of the Faculty as of this year.“
“At the moment, the Saint-Fleuve Imperial Medical University is undergoing a restructuring of the curriculum and the consolidation of the faculties, and it is about to be reborn into a world-class medical and pharmaceutical education system with emphasize on research.“
Falma noticed that the young male chief of staff was staring at him on the stage, but he continued talking to everyone without looking at him. He had a premonition that he didn’t want to know about the young man’s story.
“Each drug you research has the potential to heal patients with the same illness all around the world. Medications have the power to heal people, along with the interactions that occur between them and the human body. It is called a biochemical reaction. It is necessary to understand the reaction and comprehend the phenomenon which occurs within the living body from a bird’s eye vantage view. Please ensure to work closely with medical professionals from all the faculties and appropriately utilize them during your studies. I will teach you how to handle them thoroughly, specifically…“
Just as usual, Falma instructional speech became quite long winded, so Ellen signaled at Falma. Falma is so passionate about the subject of pharmacy that his instructions usually stretched out for quite some time. The students saw Bruno’s gesture sign for them to “sit down” and continued to listen.
Falma’s speech is never-ending. But the students listen attentively. The students from outside of the Faculty of Comprehensive Medicine were moved by Falma’s shortened speech and became surprised how much of a scholar he is, especially for those who wanted to transfer into the Faculty of Comprehensive Medicine. They appeared one after another.
On the other hand, some people were tired of the lengthy speech he gave.
“Professor Falma. It’s a precious introductional discussion, but the rest should be saved for the lecture.“
Bruno finally interrupted him forcibly. Falma scratches his head while reflecting upon his mistake due to his total absorption of his speech.
“Please excuse me. It appears my speech has over extended. Going forward, please make the best use of your time studying at our university. I am part of the first-year common curriculum. I’ll be teaching the introduction to basic medicine, and second-year specialty in biological-medical pharmacy. I will be in charge of the five lectures in addition to special lectures, so I am looking forward to being there with you and at the practical training.“
Falma’s lectures held in the large auditorium also included the compulsory subjects common to all faculties.
The liberal arts course is conducted in the 1st and 2nd years’ courses, while specialized courses are focused on the 3rd and 4th years
Medical practices will be for the 5th year, and the qualification for the 1st and 2nd grade pharmacists after the 5th year [1]. The school’s admission is permitted starting from the age of 14. The tuition was planned to be paid by the empire, with the condition that the student’s free tuition will be worked off as a medical worker within the empire for five years.
“All my lectures in the first year are compulsory, so if you don’t take them for credits, you will not be promoted to become professional.“
The first comprehensive guidance for the new semester is over, as the *ringing* *ringing* bell sounds from the central clock tower play the melodious tones. From the open window, the trickling sound of a stream in the garden and the chirping of birds could be heard. Within the magnificent office assigned Falma as the dean and professor, the professor’s secretary and Ellen were having a conversation with each other.
“I was surprised that I was being used as a greeting person in front of all the teachers and students.“
“I’m used to the greeting of my students. Ellen is surprisingly ill, as she’s always been the courageous one.“
“Ho, relieve me of such duty.“
Falma chuckles. In his previous life, he had been in charge of lectures for many years, and even if he was told that he was not part of the school’s board, he would give the impression that he would be one of the faculties.
“Did you teach somewhere before?“
Zoe de Dunois [2] brings over the tea set, and asks Falma in surprise. She is quite a fine looking secretary for the professor that was just hired during this semester, which Falma evaluated to be intelligent and attentive during her hiring interview. She has long light blue hair that is tied with a corsage, with the appearance of an elegant lady in her stand-up collar and bustle-style dress.
“I’ve never been a professor before.“
He was an associate professor, but he didn’t add it to his statement. Zoe tilts her neck as she contemplates the meaning of his statement.
“Aah, he’s a little unique. He’s far from being a typical human.“
Ellen further confused the statement with her own statement.
While the three are resting and enjoying their tea, they hear the knocking sound from the outside of the professor’s office.
“I’m sorry for the sudden visit, but I’m Emmerich Bauer [3].“
“Please come in.“
“Please excuse me.“
Emmerich enters the professor’s office and sits on the couch, then takes a deep breath before beginning
“To my Dean of the Faculty of Comprehensive Medicine. I’m here to request you to accept my dropout application.”
“Eh? Drop out? Already?“
Ellen’s glasses slipped off her face as if to ask the meaning of his request.
“It’s a harsh request. Couldn’t you decline the acceptance before taking the exam or prior to enrolling?“
While Falma being understanding, he rejected Emmerich’s request.
“I worried about it to this very day and want to end it. I don’t have time, so I’ve decided.“
“If you really want to quit, you have to write an explanation letter when submitting during a faculty meeting. I don’t know whether or not it will be accepted. Until you change your mind on the matter, your request is rejected.“
“So that’s how it is. It was my mistake on the selected career choice as my decided reasoning. I should have carefully determined who wrote this textbook. I would like to visit your brother and study personally under him.“
Emmerich has decided that Falma could not be the one that wrote this textbook. So he assumed that it was Palle, whose name was mentioned as a co-author, was the main author. It was discussed openly. But Falma asked him calmly, without offending him.
“So that means you don’t think I was the one to write it. Isn’t that so?“
“No, I didn’t mean to say such a thing.“
Although his statement was being arrogant but not to cause friction with his brother, Palle, the strong affirmative could be detected within his green eyes. Falma is only 12 years old, so he probably doesn’t seem to have a good academic background.
“My brother is not a teacher unfortunately. He’s a good pharmacist, but he only just became a first-class pharmacist six months ago. If it’s okay with you, I’ll accept your application.“
Falma dips his pen into the inkwell, signs it, and gives him a piece of advice.
“Wait a minute. You, Falma-kun, can’t be serious in accepting it because he said you don’t like like a professor?“
Ellen defended Falma in dismay as she listened to the conversation.
“Ellen, it’s okay. It’s his decided path, and I’m merely helping him as a faculty member. I don’t know if his approved application will be accepted, but if he felt discouraged because of me, I’ll talk to the faculty.“
Falma halted Ellen.
Emmerich is certainly good in his studies, but he doesn’t want to learn if he’s forced into it. This is where he’s reluctant to study, as he already decided ahead. Besides, while reviewing the information shown by Zoe, he is already a first-class pharmacist in a foreign country. When he returns to Kunimoto [4], he will have plenty of his work.
(What did he mean when he was trying to get into the university but he didn’t have time for it?)
Falma was a little anxious.
“Then it’s best for me not to further say anything else. I believe it’s better not to judge other people by their appearances.“
Emmerich heard Ellen’s declaration and sensed something was going on with Ellen while turning to face her, who is very well-known on campus and among the students as Bruno’s most trusted disciple, as she defended Falma zealously. Then he came to a conclusion.
“So then, if you don’t mind what I’m about to propose. How about I give you some guidance, through a divine art match?“
“Why would I even want to measure your abilities using divine art?“
Falma discussed with him about his intention in establishing the Faculty of Comprehensive Pharmacy. It’s going to be a faculty where one can learn without using divine art. He wonders why wouldn’t a professor apply his skill in comparison to his divine art. So then he inquired.
But Emmerich stubbornly shakes his head.
“A good pharmacist is based on how good of a divine art user you are. This is common sense. If you can’t accept it, I can’t help you understand it.“
“You…Do you even know what you’re saying?“
Ellen reproached Emmerich. It is considered a disgrace to an adult aristocrat by rejecting a divine art match, as he attempted to escape from a serious situation.
He was trying to humiliate the underage Falma as if he’s still a child through the insinuation. Besides, according to conventional wisdom, a good pharmacist is always an indicator of a good magician.
“If you want to drop out, I won’t stop, so it’s fine with me.“
Falma took off his coat and vest as he stood up.
“Ms. Zoe. Can you tell the office to rent the arena for us?“
“At this moment? So it’s used for that purpose.“
“Consider it as a private lesson.“
“I’m just being considerate. But, would you like me to request a team of divine art barrier casters to be presented from the current collective of divine art users and have the campus doctor stands by for first aid as well?“
Zoe became anxious and asked, but Falma was confident.
“What is the divine art barrier casting team from the collective for?“
“That’s what it means. It’s a team that casts a protective barrier that keeps the gallery from being damaged. You should always be prepared.“
Ellen preached to Falma. Emmerich’s power is expected to be extreme. She indicated that if they destroy any equipment or structure on campus, the incurred costs will be charged to the parties involved from the divine art battle so things should be protected.
“If so, please do provide the preparation for the event.“
“Please go easy. He is afterall the youngest professor of the empire as expected, so better steel myself.“
Emmerich made a satisfied face, probably because the flow of things developed just the way he wanted it to.
“The ‘I’m not foolish enough to be called a teacher’ was an old saying [5]. Since you’re leaving the school, you don’t have to say anything that bothers you deep down in your heart.“
Falma declared his stance and pushed Emmerich’s belittlement back.
“But, the only thing that’s deep down in my heart is my desire to go home.“
Falma left the room as his back faced Emmerich.
…━━…━━…━━…
An active overlapping transparent divine barrier encompasses the entire battle arena.
Falma and Emmerich face one another as they enter the blue dome barrier.
“Let me thank you for being my practicing partner.“
Emmerich smiles with smirk. Falma performs his warmup exercise by stretching his arms..
Both then pulled out their staves, but Emmerich disassembled his long staff into two-halves at the center. He appeared to be dual-staff user. Falma doesn’t show any particular anxious behavior when he sees the actions before him. He simply wields his own staff lightly.
“Let’s come to an agreement with the divine art battle. There is no time limit. The winner is declared either when the opponent gives up his wand and shows his intention to surrender, if the referee stops the battle, or when someone becomes incapacitated.“
The management staff that oversees the outdoor arena confirms the rules of the battle with the one with the referee’s armband. Bruno forewarned him that in the unlikely case where there was no referee, the challengers would kill one another, so he would always have one presented during a divine art match.
“I understood the rules.“
Falma nodded his head and clearly acknowledged.
The rules of the match are the same as the divine art practical training experienced between Ellen and Palle.
“Let the match begin!“
Emmerich chanted the activation sequence the moment the referee announced the start of the match.
“[Suffocation Space] (Ersticken des Bereichs)” [6]
“[Sacred Tornado] (Heilige Tornado)”
Simultaneous chants were made from both of the half-staves. Both are wind-based divine arts. The language of the divine art’s chanting was not from the Saint Fleuve Empire, but it was a known language from the Kingdom of Prussia.
“Hoo, so he’s able to chant with two staves at the same time. Now that’s rare.“
“That’s a unique staff wielder.“
The teachers that are watching the match commented with praises of admiration.
It appears to be a tactic that utilizes a suffocation technique to reap the opponent’s consciousness while landing directly hits using the tornado, but the suffocation technique is useless against Falma. The referee was blown completely away from the match ground and far across the arena. The power of the tornado was tremendous, but Falma pretended to be blown away, as he leaped off the ground and scattered around while positioning himself in mid air.
Falma only has one staff, but its craftsmanship is from the maker within the Imperial City. Even though he doesn’t have a staff, he still has his employee ID card in his chest pocket to cast his floating magic.
Falma’s body is gently wrapped by a layer of wind.
“The length of the wind spell is a long one…! Is it from the effect of Emmerich’s tornado?“
“That’s not it The professor is apparently using his own wind spell.“
The gallery noticed that Emmerich’s technique was not working against Falma and shouted out.
“Let me ask you something.“
Falma’s voice projected down from mid air and echoed throughout the entire arena.
“What attributes do you think I have?“
Falma raised up his index finger as he inquired while looking down. Then immediately after that,
“[Water Sledgehammer] (l’énorme marteau d’eau)”
Falma drew a perfect circle using the tip of his staff, and waved off a high water pressure attack at Emmerich in a form of a summoned water column.
“Kuu! I decided that your attribute is water based!“
Emmerich gives up his offensive tactic and performs quick movements to avoid it, but Falma completely predicts Emmerich’s movements, following up with his water column manipulation while slowly descending, and seals off the escape route at the last moment. Emmerich has no choice but to attempt an evasion like a small animal targeted by a bird of prey. The arena was severely damaged, with a small crater made by Falma’s frontal attack.
“Such an immense water pressure…! It destroys the arena even though reinforced barriers were used…Was the water sledgehammer a god-tier skill?“
The presented teachers came to see the match conversed with one another.
“Unfortunately no. Professor Falma’s spell casting is considered as low-volume at best, but the result was just that powerful…“
Even though the chanting doesn’t need to be voiced out loudly, the spell can still be casted just by muttering, and the divine skill will be activated. However, when the chanting of the spell is poorly pronounced, the power of divine art generally diminishes.
“So that’s the power of activation chanting by merely whispering…“
The witnessing gallery couldn’t keep up with the eccentric divine art usage and became tumultuous.
Emmerich attempted his counterattack while dodging the attack from the air, and he realized that Falma was merely threatening him.
“I didn’t mean to make a guessing game of your skills, professor!“
“I don’t think you did.“
Falma landed softly on the ground.
From Falma’s perspective, he could see Emmerich had become more vigilant based on his light landing as though he escaped from gravity.
“If you’re trying to prevent injuring me from this divine art match per our mutual agreement, I must object. Come and kill me.“
Falma was surprised to hear Emmerich’s declaration, as he is both a teacher and was a Japanese who hesitated to strike back even when being struck by a student.
“That’s right. So then, don’t hesitate.“
Emmerich braced himself for a moment as Falma glanced at his eyes.
Falma whispered something and created a single piece of ice shard at his fingertips.
The grain duplicates into two and then to four.
“Are those ice blades?“
Emmerich also recognized the basic technique of the water attributes. It is a technique to slash the target with 16 ice blades. However, Falma invocation for the duplication did not end but exploded exponentially. There are already countless blades floating all around Falma.
If one is hit by all of these blades, one can’t escape the brutality of the sheer quantity! He wonders if Emmerich felt the same way, as the smirk from Emmerich’s face already disappeared.
Falma slowly pointed his finger at Emmerich, and in a horrifying fashion, he slowly flicked it lightly at the target.
“This is such an immeasurable technique…It’s no longer a divine art…“
Emmerich swallowed his saliva and screamed out loud as the incoming attack gave no leeway for any attempt of an evasion with such densed bombardment.
The ice blades aimed at Emmerich traveled at such a tremendous velocity at the moment of launching.
“Need to escape…“
The protective wind barrier that was surrounding Emmerich was completely obliterated before it was formed. When he recognized that he would be dead, all the blades stopped a few millimeters from Emmerich. If he makes a slight movement, he will die instantly.
“[Ice Prison] (Capture de Glace)”
“Waaaaaaah!“
Emmerich was immobilized and restrained within a huge block of ice.
Falma struck out his staff as if he was striking a billard shot.
“[Tempestuous Storm] (la tempête en colère)”
“Wha !?“
A greater fear was all over Emmerich’s face.
After all, the opponent who was thought to be a water-type divine art user also released a wind-type magic. The ice block completely shattered and disintegrated shortly before the launching the wind attack, but it did not give Emmerich enough to make an escape. A wind blast slams into Emmerich and robs him of his vision.
Then Emmerich heard a following terrifying phrase.
“[Blazing Inferno] (Enfer de brûlure)”
Falma surrounded the frightened Emmerich in a circle of ferocious blazing detonation in quick succession. Emmerich immediately invokes a strong wind to be drawn in and manages to blow off the flames in the attempt to extinguish the fire. However, he was under further attack.
“[Heavenly Condemnation] (la conviction du ciel)”
The flaming hails pours down like rain from above, which is the highest level spell casting of earth attribute. This time around, Emmerich receives a barrage of fire from the attack. Emmerich endures the severe pain and tries to blow the attack away using the wind, but he seems to have noticed that his own divine power is rapidly diminishing.
Emmerich’s guardian deity is a medicinal deity.
When he goes against Falma, his power resonates with Falma as his divine power was robbed.
“Haah…my divine power…why is…“
“What wrong?“
Emmerich finally realized what he knew about Falma so far, as if he had seen through everything about Falma.
“I should have been in a better physical condition.“
As long as Emmerich’s guardian deity is a medicinal deity, he cannot expect to beat Falma. The more Emmerich tries to use his divine art, the more he needs the blessing of a guardian deity.
Any prayer to the god of medicine is nothing short of supporting and empowering Falma. Falma originally had a large amount of divine power that was out of the standard, and was able to utilize his medical staff for about an hour, but Emmerich quickly ran out of divine power from within his body. However, it was clear from the figures recorded on the divine power meter assessed at the time of admission that Emmerich would be one with the best god’s blessing on campus.
“Now, let’s ask the same question once again. What are my attributes?“
Falma asked the resting Emmerich, who was breathing raggedly upon his shoulders without the capacity to even cast any more of his divine art. Emmerich was upset and couldn’t answer, probably because Falma casted all four types of divine art’s attributes with accurate chanting.
The audience gradually began to notice Falma’s abnormality in his divine arts. This is because there is no divine art user that can use all attributes. Emmerich was fearfully quivering, without any words to utter. He must have been slammed with a nauseating feeling of fainting.
“At first, when I launched an attack with water, you claimed ‘It’s water attribute.’“
Emmerich’s lips quivered, but he couldn’t refute.
“But you were deceived.“
Falma was merely disguising the other divine art attributes creating and erasing matter.
The flame attribute was the creation of explosive substances and combustibles.
The wind attribute was a created vacuum through the creation and erasing a huge ice block, lowering the atmospheric pressure and forming a maelstrom.
The earth attribute was the creation of material, dropping the created ores.
He made it to appear as if he invoked the chanting of the various divine arts.
However, Emmerich didn’t know about that acknowledges him as a sage.
“Professor Falma, could it be…you can use all divine art attributes?“
“That’s not entirely correct.“
Falma chuckled while obscuring the truth.
“That’s a lie…You could indeed use all the attributes. So what attributes are the correct answers to your question?“
“You still couldn’t understand? That’s what I want you to comprehend before going home. No matter where you live or what you’ve become after leaving this university, don’t take things lightly in the light of conventional wisdom.“
Falma uses his staff to draw a straight partitioning line with in front of Emmerich, who was cornered at the edge of the stage.
Then, the arena’s boundary edge (the barrier) suddenly disappeared and Emmerich fell out of the arena.
“If you want to achieve something grand, then help as many people as possible.“
Emmerich is considered to have no further will to fight, because he was both out of the arena and stunned as well as he has already let go of his staff.
“Fu, Professor Falma de Médicis wins…!“
The referee declares the decision, and Falma holds up his staff.
“I will accept your withdrawal notice, and I will consult with the faculty committee about your withdrawal, so is it fine?“
Falma takes out the piece of signed parchment from his pocket and shows it to Emmerich once again.
“Even if you accept my resignation…this can’t be a good thing.“
Emmerich shakes his head and begs Falma with a murky tone of voice.
“I want to learn from you, and I was wrong…Professor Falma. Please forgive me for being rude to you.“
Falma listened to Emmerich’s sincerity, created a flammable substance, and burned the resignation notice with gladness.
“The private lesson is over. The following subsequent lessons will be in the classroom.“
The divine art user team is dismissed, and the blue hue dome disintegrated into fine mist.
Emmerich stands up and lowers his head until Falma’s presence no longer visible from the arena.
Footnotes:
[1] This is on par with modern day medical and pharmaceutical fields. Although, some managed to get into internship in the 4th year for medical, and 3rd year for pharmaceutical. Got a few of those bright friends of mine. Yep..quite envious.
[2] The closest European name I can derive is Zoe (Zoey) de Dunois. Let me know if you have something else.
[3] エメリッヒ・バウアー is a bit tough. The closest name I can depict through various European’s name searches is Emmerich Bauer.
[4] I’m taking the name as is. There’s no country or area with the name of Kunimot, and Kunimoto is a surname.
[5] An Asian idiom between teacher and disciples, where the teacher cannot claim to be a teacher when he/she cannot teach the students. Ah, I love my sifu’s old teaching.
[6] My German is bad, so, someone please help me with this one. My wife says it’s “Area of Suffocation”, similar to the removal of all the breathable air. Japanese direct translation is “Suffocation Space”. Similar in meaning, but it can be explained in different ways.
After the introductional greetings, Claude, the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and the Chief Royal Court Physician, Bruno, the Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy and the President of the University, and Falma, the Dean of the Faculty of Comprehensive Medicine stand on the stage as they draw the attention from the new students.
The height of the podium is unsuitable to Falma because of his unique child-like circumstances, but Falma doesn’t care as he tippy toes behind it. Falma smiles at the corner of the auditorium as he gazes upon Ellen, who’s anxiously watching over him while finding something else to do. Ellen appeared to realize that Falma is acting normally.
“Nice to meet you everyone. My name is Falma de Médicis, a court pharmacist who has been appointed as the Dean of the Faculty as of this year.“
“At the moment, the Saint-Fleuve Imperial Medical University is undergoing a restructuring of the curriculum and the consolidation of the faculties, and it is about to be reborn into a world-class medical and pharmaceutical education system with emphasize on research.“
Falma noticed that the young male chief of staff was staring at him on the stage, but he continued talking to everyone without looking at him. He had a premonition that he didn’t want to know about the young man’s story.
“Each drug you research has the potential to heal patients with the same illness all around the world. Medications have the power to heal people, along with the interactions that occur between them and the human body. It is called a biochemical reaction. It is necessary to understand the reaction and comprehend the phenomenon which occurs within the living body from a bird’s eye vantage view. Please ensure to work closely with medical professionals from all the faculties and appropriately utilize them during your studies. I will teach you how to handle them thoroughly, specifically…“
Just as usual, Falma instructional speech became quite long winded, so Ellen signaled at Falma. Falma is so passionate about the subject of pharmacy that his instructions usually stretched out for quite some time. The students saw Bruno’s gesture sign for them to “sit down” and continued to listen.
Falma’s speech is never-ending. But the students listen attentively. The students from outside of the Faculty of Comprehensive Medicine were moved by Falma’s shortened speech and became surprised how much of a scholar he is, especially for those who wanted to transfer into the Faculty of Comprehensive Medicine. They appeared one after another.
On the other hand, some people were tired of the lengthy speech he gave.
“Professor Falma. It’s a precious introductional discussion, but the rest should be saved for the lecture.“
Bruno finally interrupted him forcibly. Falma scratches his head while reflecting upon his mistake due to his total absorption of his speech.
“Please excuse me. It appears my speech has over extended. Going forward, please make the best use of your time studying at our university. I am part of the first-year common curriculum. I’ll be teaching the introduction to basic medicine, and second-year specialty in biological-medical pharmacy. I will be in charge of the five lectures in addition to special lectures, so I am looking forward to being there with you and at the practical training.“
Falma’s lectures held in the large auditorium also included the compulsory subjects common to all faculties.
The liberal arts course is conducted in the 1st and 2nd years’ courses, while specialized courses are focused on the 3rd and 4th years
Medical practices will be for the 5th year, and the qualification for the 1st and 2nd grade pharmacists after the 5th year [1]. The school’s admission is permitted starting from the age of 14. The tuition was planned to be paid by the empire, with the condition that the student’s free tuition will be worked off as a medical worker within the empire for five years.
“All my lectures in the first year are compulsory, so if you don’t take them for credits, you will not be promoted to become professional.“
The first comprehensive guidance for the new semester is over, as the *ringing* *ringing* bell sounds from the central clock tower play the melodious tones. From the open window, the trickling sound of a stream in the garden and the chirping of birds could be heard. Within the magnificent office assigned Falma as the dean and professor, the professor’s secretary and Ellen were having a conversation with each other.
“I was surprised that I was being used as a greeting person in front of all the teachers and students.“
“I’m used to the greeting of my students. Ellen is surprisingly ill, as she’s always been the courageous one.“
“Ho, relieve me of such duty.“
Falma chuckles. In his previous life, he had been in charge of lectures for many years, and even if he was told that he was not part of the school’s board, he would give the impression that he would be one of the faculties.
“Did you teach somewhere before?“
Zoe de Dunois [2] brings over the tea set, and asks Falma in surprise. She is quite a fine looking secretary for the professor that was just hired during this semester, which Falma evaluated to be intelligent and attentive during her hiring interview. She has long light blue hair that is tied with a corsage, with the appearance of an elegant lady in her stand-up collar and bustle-style dress.
“I’ve never been a professor before.“
He was an associate professor, but he didn’t add it to his statement. Zoe tilts her neck as she contemplates the meaning of his statement.
“Aah, he’s a little unique. He’s far from being a typical human.“
Ellen further confused the statement with her own statement.
While the three are resting and enjoying their tea, they hear the knocking sound from the outside of the professor’s office.
“I’m sorry for the sudden visit, but I’m Emmerich Bauer [3].“
“Please come in.“
“Please excuse me.“
Emmerich enters the professor’s office and sits on the couch, then takes a deep breath before beginning
“To my Dean of the Faculty of Comprehensive Medicine. I’m here to request you to accept my dropout application.”
“Eh? Drop out? Already?“
Ellen’s glasses slipped off her face as if to ask the meaning of his request.
“It’s a harsh request. Couldn’t you decline the acceptance before taking the exam or prior to enrolling?“
While Falma being understanding, he rejected Emmerich’s request.
“I worried about it to this very day and want to end it. I don’t have time, so I’ve decided.“
“If you really want to quit, you have to write an explanation letter when submitting during a faculty meeting. I don’t know whether or not it will be accepted. Until you change your mind on the matter, your request is rejected.“
“So that’s how it is. It was my mistake on the selected career choice as my decided reasoning. I should have carefully determined who wrote this textbook. I would like to visit your brother and study personally under him.“
Emmerich has decided that Falma could not be the one that wrote this textbook. So he assumed that it was Palle, whose name was mentioned as a co-author, was the main author. It was discussed openly. But Falma asked him calmly, without offending him.
“So that means you don’t think I was the one to write it. Isn’t that so?“
“No, I didn’t mean to say such a thing.“
Although his statement was being arrogant but not to cause friction with his brother, Palle, the strong affirmative could be detected within his green eyes. Falma is only 12 years old, so he probably doesn’t seem to have a good academic background.
“My brother is not a teacher unfortunately. He’s a good pharmacist, but he only just became a first-class pharmacist six months ago. If it’s okay with you, I’ll accept your application.“
Falma dips his pen into the inkwell, signs it, and gives him a piece of advice.
“Wait a minute. You, Falma-kun, can’t be serious in accepting it because he said you don’t like like a professor?“
Ellen defended Falma in dismay as she listened to the conversation.
“Ellen, it’s okay. It’s his decided path, and I’m merely helping him as a faculty member. I don’t know if his approved application will be accepted, but if he felt discouraged because of me, I’ll talk to the faculty.“
Falma halted Ellen.
Emmerich is certainly good in his studies, but he doesn’t want to learn if he’s forced into it. This is where he’s reluctant to study, as he already decided ahead. Besides, while reviewing the information shown by Zoe, he is already a first-class pharmacist in a foreign country. When he returns to Kunimoto [4], he will have plenty of his work.
(What did he mean when he was trying to get into the university but he didn’t have time for it?)
Falma was a little anxious.
“Then it’s best for me not to further say anything else. I believe it’s better not to judge other people by their appearances.“
Emmerich heard Ellen’s declaration and sensed something was going on with Ellen while turning to face her, who is very well-known on campus and among the students as Bruno’s most trusted disciple, as she defended Falma zealously. Then he came to a conclusion.
“So then, if you don’t mind what I’m about to propose. How about I give you some guidance, through a divine art match?“
“Why would I even want to measure your abilities using divine art?“
Falma discussed with him about his intention in establishing the Faculty of Comprehensive Pharmacy. It’s going to be a faculty where one can learn without using divine art. He wonders why wouldn’t a professor apply his skill in comparison to his divine art. So then he inquired.
But Emmerich stubbornly shakes his head.
“A good pharmacist is based on how good of a divine art user you are. This is common sense. If you can’t accept it, I can’t help you understand it.“
“You…Do you even know what you’re saying?“
Ellen reproached Emmerich. It is considered a disgrace to an adult aristocrat by rejecting a divine art match, as he attempted to escape from a serious situation.
He was trying to humiliate the underage Falma as if he’s still a child through the insinuation. Besides, according to conventional wisdom, a good pharmacist is always an indicator of a good magician.
“If you want to drop out, I won’t stop, so it’s fine with me.“
Falma took off his coat and vest as he stood up.
“Ms. Zoe. Can you tell the office to rent the arena for us?“
“At this moment? So it’s used for that purpose.“
“Consider it as a private lesson.“
“I’m just being considerate. But, would you like me to request a team of divine art barrier casters to be presented from the current collective of divine art users and have the campus doctor stands by for first aid as well?“
Zoe became anxious and asked, but Falma was confident.
“What is the divine art barrier casting team from the collective for?“
“That’s what it means. It’s a team that casts a protective barrier that keeps the gallery from being damaged. You should always be prepared.“
Ellen preached to Falma. Emmerich’s power is expected to be extreme. She indicated that if they destroy any equipment or structure on campus, the incurred costs will be charged to the parties involved from the divine art battle so things should be protected.
“If so, please do provide the preparation for the event.“
“Please go easy. He is afterall the youngest professor of the empire as expected, so better steel myself.“
Emmerich made a satisfied face, probably because the flow of things developed just the way he wanted it to.
“The ‘I’m not foolish enough to be called a teacher’ was an old saying [5]. Since you’re leaving the school, you don’t have to say anything that bothers you deep down in your heart.“
Falma declared his stance and pushed Emmerich’s belittlement back.
“But, the only thing that’s deep down in my heart is my desire to go home.“
Falma left the room as his back faced Emmerich.
…━━…━━…━━…
An active overlapping transparent divine barrier encompasses the entire battle arena.
Falma and Emmerich face one another as they enter the blue dome barrier.
“Let me thank you for being my practicing partner.“
Emmerich smiles with smirk. Falma performs his warmup exercise by stretching his arms..
Both then pulled out their staves, but Emmerich disassembled his long staff into two-halves at the center. He appeared to be dual-staff user. Falma doesn’t show any particular anxious behavior when he sees the actions before him. He simply wields his own staff lightly.
“Let’s come to an agreement with the divine art battle. There is no time limit. The winner is declared either when the opponent gives up his wand and shows his intention to surrender, if the referee stops the battle, or when someone becomes incapacitated.“
The management staff that oversees the outdoor arena confirms the rules of the battle with the one with the referee’s armband. Bruno forewarned him that in the unlikely case where there was no referee, the challengers would kill one another, so he would always have one presented during a divine art match.
“I understood the rules.“
Falma nodded his head and clearly acknowledged.
The rules of the match are the same as the divine art practical training experienced between Ellen and Palle.
“Let the match begin!“
Emmerich chanted the activation sequence the moment the referee announced the start of the match.
“[Suffocation Space] (Ersticken des Bereichs)” [6]
“[Sacred Tornado] (Heilige Tornado)”
Simultaneous chants were made from both of the half-staves. Both are wind-based divine arts. The language of the divine art’s chanting was not from the Saint Fleuve Empire, but it was a known language from the Kingdom of Prussia.
“Hoo, so he’s able to chant with two staves at the same time. Now that’s rare.“
“That’s a unique staff wielder.“
The teachers that are watching the match commented with praises of admiration.
It appears to be a tactic that utilizes a suffocation technique to reap the opponent’s consciousness while landing directly hits using the tornado, but the suffocation technique is useless against Falma. The referee was blown completely away from the match ground and far across the arena. The power of the tornado was tremendous, but Falma pretended to be blown away, as he leaped off the ground and scattered around while positioning himself in mid air.
Falma only has one staff, but its craftsmanship is from the maker within the Imperial City. Even though he doesn’t have a staff, he still has his employee ID card in his chest pocket to cast his floating magic.
Falma’s body is gently wrapped by a layer of wind.
“The length of the wind spell is a long one…! Is it from the effect of Emmerich’s tornado?“
“That’s not it The professor is apparently using his own wind spell.“
The gallery noticed that Emmerich’s technique was not working against Falma and shouted out.
“Let me ask you something.“
Falma’s voice projected down from mid air and echoed throughout the entire arena.
“What attributes do you think I have?“
Falma raised up his index finger as he inquired while looking down. Then immediately after that,
“[Water Sledgehammer] (l’énorme marteau d’eau)”
Falma drew a perfect circle using the tip of his staff, and waved off a high water pressure attack at Emmerich in a form of a summoned water column.
“Kuu! I decided that your attribute is water based!“
Emmerich gives up his offensive tactic and performs quick movements to avoid it, but Falma completely predicts Emmerich’s movements, following up with his water column manipulation while slowly descending, and seals off the escape route at the last moment. Emmerich has no choice but to attempt an evasion like a small animal targeted by a bird of prey. The arena was severely damaged, with a small crater made by Falma’s frontal attack.
“Such an immense water pressure…! It destroys the arena even though reinforced barriers were used…Was the water sledgehammer a god-tier skill?“
The presented teachers came to see the match conversed with one another.
“Unfortunately no. Professor Falma’s spell casting is considered as low-volume at best, but the result was just that powerful…“
Even though the chanting doesn’t need to be voiced out loudly, the spell can still be casted just by muttering, and the divine skill will be activated. However, when the chanting of the spell is poorly pronounced, the power of divine art generally diminishes.
“So that’s the power of activation chanting by merely whispering…“
The witnessing gallery couldn’t keep up with the eccentric divine art usage and became tumultuous.
Emmerich attempted his counterattack while dodging the attack from the air, and he realized that Falma was merely threatening him.
“I didn’t mean to make a guessing game of your skills, professor!“
“I don’t think you did.“
Falma landed softly on the ground.
From Falma’s perspective, he could see Emmerich had become more vigilant based on his light landing as though he escaped from gravity.
“If you’re trying to prevent injuring me from this divine art match per our mutual agreement, I must object. Come and kill me.“
Falma was surprised to hear Emmerich’s declaration, as he is both a teacher and was a Japanese who hesitated to strike back even when being struck by a student.
“That’s right. So then, don’t hesitate.“
Emmerich braced himself for a moment as Falma glanced at his eyes.
Falma whispered something and created a single piece of ice shard at his fingertips.
The grain duplicates into two and then to four.
“Are those ice blades?“
Emmerich also recognized the basic technique of the water attributes. It is a technique to slash the target with 16 ice blades. However, Falma invocation for the duplication did not end but exploded exponentially. There are already countless blades floating all around Falma.
If one is hit by all of these blades, one can’t escape the brutality of the sheer quantity! He wonders if Emmerich felt the same way, as the smirk from Emmerich’s face already disappeared.
Falma slowly pointed his finger at Emmerich, and in a horrifying fashion, he slowly flicked it lightly at the target.
“This is such an immeasurable technique…It’s no longer a divine art…“
Emmerich swallowed his saliva and screamed out loud as the incoming attack gave no leeway for any attempt of an evasion with such densed bombardment.
The ice blades aimed at Emmerich traveled at such a tremendous velocity at the moment of launching.
“Need to escape…“
The protective wind barrier that was surrounding Emmerich was completely obliterated before it was formed. When he recognized that he would be dead, all the blades stopped a few millimeters from Emmerich. If he makes a slight movement, he will die instantly.
“[Ice Prison] (Capture de Glace)”
“Waaaaaaah!“
Emmerich was immobilized and restrained within a huge block of ice.
Falma struck out his staff as if he was striking a billard shot.
“[Tempestuous Storm] (la tempête en colère)”
“Wha !?“
A greater fear was all over Emmerich’s face.
After all, the opponent who was thought to be a water-type divine art user also released a wind-type magic. The ice block completely shattered and disintegrated shortly before the launching the wind attack, but it did not give Emmerich enough to make an escape. A wind blast slams into Emmerich and robs him of his vision.
Then Emmerich heard a following terrifying phrase.
“[Blazing Inferno] (Enfer de brûlure)”
Falma surrounded the frightened Emmerich in a circle of ferocious blazing detonation in quick succession. Emmerich immediately invokes a strong wind to be drawn in and manages to blow off the flames in the attempt to extinguish the fire. However, he was under further attack.
“[Heavenly Condemnation] (la conviction du ciel)”
The flaming hails pours down like rain from above, which is the highest level spell casting of earth attribute. This time around, Emmerich receives a barrage of fire from the attack. Emmerich endures the severe pain and tries to blow the attack away using the wind, but he seems to have noticed that his own divine power is rapidly diminishing.
Emmerich’s guardian deity is a medicinal deity.
When he goes against Falma, his power resonates with Falma as his divine power was robbed.
“Haah…my divine power…why is…“
“What wrong?“
Emmerich finally realized what he knew about Falma so far, as if he had seen through everything about Falma.
“I should have been in a better physical condition.“
As long as Emmerich’s guardian deity is a medicinal deity, he cannot expect to beat Falma. The more Emmerich tries to use his divine art, the more he needs the blessing of a guardian deity.
Any prayer to the god of medicine is nothing short of supporting and empowering Falma. Falma originally had a large amount of divine power that was out of the standard, and was able to utilize his medical staff for about an hour, but Emmerich quickly ran out of divine power from within his body. However, it was clear from the figures recorded on the divine power meter assessed at the time of admission that Emmerich would be one with the best god’s blessing on campus.
“Now, let’s ask the same question once again. What are my attributes?“
Falma asked the resting Emmerich, who was breathing raggedly upon his shoulders without the capacity to even cast any more of his divine art. Emmerich was upset and couldn’t answer, probably because Falma casted all four types of divine art’s attributes with accurate chanting.
The audience gradually began to notice Falma’s abnormality in his divine arts. This is because there is no divine art user that can use all attributes. Emmerich was fearfully quivering, without any words to utter. He must have been slammed with a nauseating feeling of fainting.
“At first, when I launched an attack with water, you claimed ‘It’s water attribute.’“
Emmerich’s lips quivered, but he couldn’t refute.
“But you were deceived.“
Falma was merely disguising the other divine art attributes creating and erasing matter.
The flame attribute was the creation of explosive substances and combustibles.
The wind attribute was a created vacuum through the creation and erasing a huge ice block, lowering the atmospheric pressure and forming a maelstrom.
The earth attribute was the creation of material, dropping the created ores.
He made it to appear as if he invoked the chanting of the various divine arts.
However, Emmerich didn’t know about that acknowledges him as a sage.
“Professor Falma, could it be…you can use all divine art attributes?“
“That’s not entirely correct.“
Falma chuckled while obscuring the truth.
“That’s a lie…You could indeed use all the attributes. So what attributes are the correct answers to your question?“
“You still couldn’t understand? That’s what I want you to comprehend before going home. No matter where you live or what you’ve become after leaving this university, don’t take things lightly in the light of conventional wisdom.“
Falma uses his staff to draw a straight partitioning line with in front of Emmerich, who was cornered at the edge of the stage.
Then, the arena’s boundary edge (the barrier) suddenly disappeared and Emmerich fell out of the arena.
“If you want to achieve something grand, then help as many people as possible.“
Emmerich is considered to have no further will to fight, because he was both out of the arena and stunned as well as he has already let go of his staff.
“Fu, Professor Falma de Médicis wins…!“
The referee declares the decision, and Falma holds up his staff.
“I will accept your withdrawal notice, and I will consult with the faculty committee about your withdrawal, so is it fine?“
Falma takes out the piece of signed parchment from his pocket and shows it to Emmerich once again.
“Even if you accept my resignation…this can’t be a good thing.“
Emmerich shakes his head and begs Falma with a murky tone of voice.
“I want to learn from you, and I was wrong…Professor Falma. Please forgive me for being rude to you.“
Falma listened to Emmerich’s sincerity, created a flammable substance, and burned the resignation notice with gladness.
“The private lesson is over. The following subsequent lessons will be in the classroom.“
The divine art user team is dismissed, and the blue hue dome disintegrated into fine mist.
Emmerich stands up and lowers his head until Falma’s presence no longer visible from the arena.
Footnotes:
[1] This is on par with modern day medical and pharmaceutical fields. Although, some managed to get into internship in the 4th year for medical, and 3rd year for pharmaceutical. Got a few of those bright friends of mine. Yep..quite envious.
[2] The closest European name I can derive is Zoe (Zoey) de Dunois. Let me know if you have something else.
[3] エメリッヒ・バウアー is a bit tough. The closest name I can depict through various European’s name searches is Emmerich Bauer.
[4] I’m taking the name as is. There’s no country or area with the name of Kunimot, and Kunimoto is a surname.
[5] An Asian idiom between teacher and disciples, where the teacher cannot claim to be a teacher when he/she cannot teach the students. Ah, I love my sifu’s old teaching.
[6] My German is bad, so, someone please help me with this one. My wife says it’s “Area of Suffocation”, similar to the removal of all the breathable air. Japanese direct translation is “Suffocation Space”. Similar in meaning, but it can be explained in different ways.
