Chapter 5: An Unexpected Blow

Dragon Era 640

「Fire.」

Until recently, even a spell this short would have produced a blaze big enough to swallow a whole house. To shrink it down to the size of a palm, I needed at least two verses.

But the flame that spilled out from the page of the book I held wrapped the damp lump of clay at just the right size and, in an instant, turned it into a brick.

「...Yeah. This is even handier than I thought.」

Drawn in the book are a perfect circle and a heptagram magic circle. They act like a limiter—capping the power to roughly the book’s size and making the duration end in practically an instant.
The pages hold various magic circles to swap in depending on use. Not having to draw a circle every single time was far more comfortable than I’d expected.

「All right, done!」

I turned the page and selected the pentagram magic circle.

「Fall slowly.」

I’m good at flight magic, so I didn’t need a circle for this—but I wanted to test its effect, so I used it anyway. As the circle flared, a sense of buoyancy wrapped my body, and I jumped off the roof.

「...Whoa!?」

All at once I began falling at nearly my usual speed, and a scream tore out of me.
An instant before I would have slammed into the hard ground, soft branch‑leaves caught me in their boughs.

「...What are you doing?」

Pushing through the leaves with a rustle, Nina looked down at me with a chilly stare.

「Sorry—didn’t slow me as much as I thought. Thanks for the save.」

The circle’s diameter was probably too small. To support my body, it may need to be large enough to encompass my whole frame.

Using a magic circle does stabilize an effect, but the downside is you don’t know how strong it will be until you actually try it.

「Sensei—did you finish it!?」

Perhaps drawn by the thud of my fall, Rin and the other students came over—and widened their eyes at what stood there.
What I had built was a three‑story schoolhouse and residence made of white brick.

The first floor has a dining hall and kitchen, with student rooms in a row.
The second floor holds classrooms and labs for lessons.
And on the third floor are the teachers’ rooms and a library... though we don’t have many books to shelve yet.

「It’s huge, Aniki!」

The red‑haired boy looking up and letting out a breath of admiration was one of the Sword Clan—Tsurugibe Yutaka.
He’s Ataka’s son and Asaka’s grandson—making him, from Yuuki’s perspective, her nephew’s great‑grandson.
He turns fifteen this year. Still short, but solidly built; despite a mischievous face, he’s surprisingly composed.

「I mean—Sensei, isn’t this like, a bit too big—?」

Beside him, an elf called Light Blue drawled her impression.
She’s apparently Violet‑san’s junior—a still‑young Warden of the Forest.
True to her name, the light‑blue flower in her hair suited the striking beauty of her face, but her words and manner were oddly frivolous for that look.

As she pointed out, even allowing for three stories, the schoolhouse was built considerably larger than ordinary buildings.

「S‑sen‑sei, th‑this… c‑could it be—」

Ruful forced out the words in a trembling, halting voice.
Judging by looks alone, she’s an adorable girl of about ten.
But her height is five meters. She’s a child of the giants who came as an exchange student a few years ago.

「Obviously it’s for you! And don’t start crying over every little thing!」

Shouting at the top of her tiny lungs beside her was Tia.
In the opposite way from Ruful, she looks like a woman of about twenty at a glance.
But the pixie’s body—with insect‑like wings on her back—is small enough to fit in a human palm.
She’s feisty despite her size and often yells at Ruful until the giant girl cries.

Counting Rin, these five will be the team we run this university with.

「Yeah. Well, it’s not just for Ruful—my real form’s pretty big too.」

Until now, Ruful alone had been forced to peer in from outside the classroom windows, but with this building she can study with us.

「Is it actually strong enough?」

At some point Nina had come to my side and asked in an offhand way.

「Of course. I built it so it won’t budge even with me on top of it.」

Unlike the single‑story elementary school, the university is multi‑floored. If someone were to punch through a floor, it would be a disaster, so I did the math carefully.

「Mind if I test it?」

As she spoke, Nina raised a finger sharply. Trees immediately sprouted around her.

「...Go ahead, I guess.」

It should be fine.
Even so, unease nagged at me as, right before my eyes, a volley of wooden bolts slammed into the school’s wall.

「...Tch. Tougher than I thought.」

Nina muttered in a tone just short of a click of the tongue.
The wall, as it turned out, was unharmed.
The solid bricks didn’t have so much as a scratch, and I let out a sigh of relief.

I tested this one properly—it’s fine. The key was caring about the materials from the start. If you cast while it’s still clay, the durability is completely different.

Patting the wall, I said, in high spirits.
It’s similar to when we made paper from Behemoth hide.
Harden it while it’s still clay, then heat‑fire it, and the magically created strength gets embedded within the brick. After multiple failed attempts at brick construction, this was the method I arrived at.

「Sounds fun! I wanna try too!」

No sooner had Rin spoken than a torrent of water came pelting down like bullets.

「H‑Hey—!」

That’s way too strong!
At the rattle of water hammering the brick roof like a machine gun, I couldn’t help shrinking back.
Only a few seconds passed, but it felt like minutes—

「Oh... yes!」

I couldn’t help cheering at the schoolhouse, which had held its shape without collapsing.

「Heeey, Sensei. Can I try too?」
「...Sure, but go easy.」

Light Blue gave my sleeve a little tug; I nodded.
I already knew the strengths of all four students well.
Their magic shouldn’t have the sheer output that Nina’s or Rin’s does.

「I knooow—」

With an easy smile, Light Blue thrust out her hand toward the building.

「Invisible and formless, shaker of leaves, maiden of the free wind—run to where I point, become a giant’s arm, and smite that one!」

With Light Blue’s spell, a ferocious gale howled.

「This isn’t even full power!」

Ruful hastily cupped Tia in a big hand as the pixie shrieked, about to be blown away.
With a boom like a cannon firing, the school’s walls vibrated.
It was strong enough to drag not only Tia but even me bodily off balance.
Even so, the building withstood it.

「Hey! Trying to crush it!?」
「S‑sorry… I thought you were gonna get blown off…」
「Mmm, no good after all—」

Unbothered by Tia yelling at Ruful, Light Blue pouted in frustration.

「Then I’ll go next, Aniki.」

As he spoke, Yutaka let the handful of gathered pebbles clatter in both hands.

「Go ahead.」

If a Sword Clan member actually slashed it with a sword it would probably break, but he knows better than that.
Without any sign of self‑enhancement, Yutaka simply raised the pebbles and shouted.

「Fly—shatter!」

Shatter!?

The pebbles shot like meteors and slammed into the school’s wall.
Compared to Rin’s water, these stone pellets were incomparably harder and heavier.
At the ringing crack of impact, I found myself flinching.

「As expected of you, Aniki!」

Yutaka looked at the shattered debris and smiled brightly.

「My magic didn’t leave a single scratch.」

All of the fragments were from the pebbles Yutaka had launched.

「We’ve done water, wind, and earth—so next is fire.」

Picking up one of the fragments, Tia stuck it into the wall of the school.

「...Tia, what are you doing?」
「What do you think? Isn’t it obvious?」

The stone scraped, leaving a white mark on the surface of the wall, and with it the little pixie drew a neat circle.
From there she drew out a conduit line and extended it all the way to my feet.

「Thou who stretchest forth a tongue of flame, who wearest a robe of red, who bearest keen horns, who holdest wise wit—O fire dragon, proudest and mightiest of all—」
「Hey, that’s cheating!」

Tia laid a hand flat on my foot as she chanted, and I shouted at her.
That spell uses my power.

「Wield that breath—and burn it to nothing!」

A massive fireball bloomed within the magic circle and slammed straight into the school’s wall.

「Did that do it!?」
「Don’t do that!」

Tia stared into the billowing blast smoke.
I’d resisted, so hardly any of my power was actually used—but even so the smoke was tremendous. With that much force, even this building wouldn’t—

「Impressive.」

Nina let out a voice of admiration—a rare, pure compliment from her.

「Not a scratch.」

When the smoke cleared, sure enough, the school stood exactly as she’d said—without a single piece missing.

「Tch… fine. You’re up next.」
「I‑I’m fine… Sensei made a big, unbreakable house for me…」

Prompted by Tia, Ruful shook her head.

Yeah. As you can see, the toughness is guaranteed. Use it without worry.
「Okay!」

When I said that, the giant girl broke into a happy smile.

「All right—let’s decide rooms first.」
「Me fi‑irst!」
「Ah—w‑wait, Tia—」

Beating her wings, Tia was the first to dart into the building, with Ruful lumbering after her on her huge body.

Her massive frame stumbled—over nothing at all.

Her head slammed squarely into the wall… and shattered what had withstood all those spells into pieces. With an earth‑shaking crash the room’s interior was laid bare, and as brick fragments pattered down, I could only stare in a daze.

「...Not bad.」

Tia’s words alone rang hollow in the air.