The Academy Regressor is Obsessed

The dormitory move-in took place 3 days before the entrance ceremony.

This was only for students entering Wiesel. Students assigned to other dormitories had already finished moving in long ago. This was because they had students with lower grades move in first, so Asel had to receive quite a lot of attention while moving his belongings into the dormitory.

“Is that him? The one who ran around like a mad dog during the exam?”
“That’s Grace. He’s the magician Grace was looking for.”
“Why was she looking for him?”
“Don’t you know? Because he’s handsome?”

Most of the gazes were quite favorable. But there were also some that weren’t. Mainly new students using the Fiolen dormitory, one level below Wiesel. Eyes filled with wariness rather than curiosity. Asel detected this too, but didn’t bother to react to each one.

He had no intention of doing anything unless they approached him first. He didn’t want to get involved in troublesome matters before even attending the entrance ceremony. Thinking this, Asel ignored others’ interest and stacked his belongings neatly in his room.

He stored the casual clothes he brought in the wardrobe and rearranged furniture like the bed and desk to his liking. He also replaced the curtains with ones he brought from Wiheim, and converted an empty room into a research lab.

Although he had no intention of making potions or magical tools, he needed to create and test magic, so he applied protective magic to the walls and ceiling overall. He placed the notebook he usually recorded magic in on the research desk and stuck papers with formulas drawn on them to the wall. He organized magic books on the bookshelf by type for easy selection.

Since it’s better to avoid exposing magic research, he laid shadow magic on the windows. With this, no one would be able to look inside from the outside unless Asel wanted them to. He nodded with satisfaction and left the research lab.

He had hoped Evelyn could come with him if possible, but unfortunately, Evelyn was going through an extremely busy period recently. She had discovered she had talent in magical engineering by chance and started studying it properly.

It was the result of her efforts to find what her talent was finally bearing fruit.

It was a good thing. Asel plopped down on the bed, recalling Evelyn’s face as she said she would show him loads of magical tools she made herself when she returned. At that moment, someone knocked on Asel’s door.

“Are you there? This is the head maid.”

She revealed her identity before Asel could even figure it out. Asel sprang up from his seat and opened the dormitory door.

The first thing that caught his eye was black bobbed hair that came down to her shoulders. Her face had a slightly sharp impression like a cat, and solemnity was dripping from her expression. It didn’t match at all with the cute maid uniform she was wearing.

After only seeing free-spirited maids like Haley and Evelyn, seeing such a serious maid gave him a new feeling.

“Pleased to meet you for the first time, Young Master Asel. I am Lacey, the head maid managing the Wiesel dormitory.”

She greeted him, slightly lifting the hem of her skirt. Asel responded with a smile.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Asel.”
“There’s no need for you to use honorifics with me. Please feel free to speak comfortably.”

Although Lacey said this, Asel sighed with a lukewarm expression.

The Academy dormitories are divided into 4 sections for each grade level.

Wiesel, where top-performing students stay. Fiolen, for students who aren’t as good but still in the upper ranks, Gale for middle ranks, and Wimble for lower ranks. Although the spaces where each grade stays are different in the north, south, east, and west, it seemed all dormitories consisted of 4 sections.

Among them, Wiesel is used not only by top students but also by people of noble birth. As a result, many of the maids managing the dormitory are from noble families. It’s true that it’s burdensome when such a person tells you to speak comfortably first.

So Asel brushed it off and asked her business.

“I’ll do so when I get used to it. By the way, what brings you here?”
“There’s no big reason. I just wanted to see the new students staying in Wiesel. The previous head maid I worked with used to do this.”
“Did you work in another dormitory?”
“Yes. I originally worked in the second-year Wiesel. Thanks to the Chancellor’s favor, I’ve been appointed as head maid of the first-year Wiesel from this year.”

In short, it meant she had been promoted. Perhaps she’s not only of noble birth but also skilled.

“So I’m trying to approach my work with a sense of responsibility. If you have anything you want to order or ask of the maids, please press the button next to your bed. If you have something to say to me, press the button twice. Ah, we cannot fulfill sexual requests. The moment you demand such things, you’ll be expelled immediately.”
“…I had no intention of doing so.”
“Is that so? But since some people have actually ordered maids to satisfy their desires in the past, we’ve been making sure to notify this since last year. Please understand.”

Lacey said this while slightly bowing her head. Asel nodded with a disgruntled expression.

“Then I’ll be going now. I hope you have a happy Academy life.”
“Yes. Take care.”

She showed a soft smile to Asel who was seeing her off, then walked down the corridor with elegant steps. Since she had visited Asel’s room last, as it was at the end of the corridor, she didn’t visit any other rooms again. She went down to the first floor and returned to the head maid’s office.

Asel only entered his room when her figure was no longer visible. He closed the door and sat on the bed, slightly opening the closed window.

Asel’s hair fluttered in the incoming breeze. Perhaps as evidence that spring was approaching, the scent of flowers wafted strongly on the wind. The weather was clear, and the sun was pleasantly warm. He used to go for walks often on days like this, but without Ena who always accompanied him, he didn’t feel particularly inclined to do so.

Thinking about Ena, he suddenly remembered what she had said just before he left for the dormitory.

-I’ll be leaving Wiheim for a while. Demon worshippers have been running rampant recently, so I think I need to look around a few places.
-Ah… Then when will you be back?
-I’ll be back before the vacation. Or I could come visit the Academy myself.
-It’s not dangerous, is it?
-It’s not, so don’t worry. I’ll write letters often. Make sure to reply right away.

After saying that, Ena had briefly kissed Asel’s forehead. It was the maximum expression of affection for a disciple she wouldn’t see for quite a long time. Asel smiled bitterly, recalling Ena’s face as she cleared her throat as if embarrassed at the time.

Sending letters can be done through the messenger bird. The metal-bodied pigeon he brought from Wiheim. Asel glanced at it rolling around on the desk and closed the window.

It’s just a lump of scrap metal for now without magical power injected, but once it drinks magical power, it’s a magical engineering machine capable of quickly moving to its destination. It was an item that operated differently from magical tools.

He wanted to take it apart and examine it, but if it broke while doing so, he would lose the means to send letters to Ena. That had to be avoided at all costs.

‘I’ll send one after the entrance ceremony ends… and usually send one on weekends, I guess.’

Once a week should be enough. Any more than that would be inconvenient for Master too.

Thinking this, Asel changed into the student uniform he had been issued in advance.

An outfit consisting simply of black pants, a shirt, tie, and black coat. He liked how simple it was.

Moreover, it even had magic applied to absorb external impacts to some extent, so it seemed it could be used as battle gear without much issue.

‘I guess there’s no need to buy armor or helmets from the blacksmith.’

So that’s why there were only weapons on display at the blacksmith I stopped by to sell the dagger. Asel loosened his tie a bit more, hung only his coat on the hanger, and turned his thoughts.

There were 3 days left until the entrance ceremony. Until then, he was free to act as he pleased without much concern. As long as he didn’t cause trouble, there wouldn’t be any particular restrictions. Asel pondered how to use this period, then decided to visit the library in the Academy.

It would be good to do magic research alone in the lab, but his curiosity about how the Academy library was structured was bubbling up. He had heard that they intentionally left some ancient books untranslated for students or crammed all sorts of books in there. As a magician, he couldn’t resist.

‘A magician without curiosity is a corpse.’

Asel got up, recalling the proverb he often heard in Wiheim.

He left the coat he had taken off hanging, not bothering to put it on. The weather wasn’t that cold, so just wearing a shirt was warm enough.

The library was in the basement of the Academy’s main building. Asel headed straight there as soon as he left the dormitory. New students who had been assigned dormitories earlier than Asel glanced at him, but Asel’s interest was already directed towards the library. Their reactions were too lukewarm to divert the attention of a magician once it had been sparked.

‘It would be good to first peruse the magic books donated by the magic towers, then read books related to magical engineering theory, magical power academic theory, and formula calculation organization.’

There was still a mountain of things to read after that. Asel arrived at the Academy’s main building with a smile on his face from anticipation. Entry was easily possible. The personal information of new students had already been uploaded to the Academy. He could pass through simply by showing his face at the main gate. Asel quickly moved through the open door.

There weren’t many people in the Academy’s main building. Only a few assistant professors and teaching assistants that Asel had seen running around with Plum were sparsely visible.

Asel greeted them as he went down to the basement. Soon, a wooden door welcomed him. Asel immediately opened the door and entered the library. At the same time, the unique paper scent of books tickled his nose.

“Oh…”

Asel exclaimed in admiration as he took in the view of the library. A repository of knowledge that didn’t lose out even compared to Wiheim’s public library or the Witch Association’s archives was spread out here.

Dozens of bookshelves stretching high enough to reach the ceiling. Walls densely packed full of books and magic circles rotating while drawing geometric patterns. Magic books returning to their places on their own and elementals settled here and there.

It surpassed even Wiheim’s library in size. How much time would it take to look around all of this? Asel felt his heart pounding with excitement as he began to properly walk through the library interior.

First, he gathered magic books on flame magic and ice magic and found a seat. To use ice magic more freely and smoothly, he needed to perfectly understand the theory behind these two magics first.

The flame magic Asel used had completely different characteristics from general flame magic.

Flame magic handled by the Ignis Magic Tower simply uses only the magician’s magical power as fuel. They employ formulas that pre-heat magical power and release it explosively.

On the other hand, the flame magic Asel learned could use not only the magician’s magical power, but also external magical power resources, sparks, temperature, and even specific concepts as fuel.

Also, unlike general flame magicians whose magic becomes weaker as they use it more due to the heat in their magical power decreasing, the Witch Association’s flame magic doesn’t decrease in power even when used to the limit. It was possible to project the same power as when the flames were strongest at the beginning.

It wasn’t without drawbacks. No matter how extremely the Ignis Magic Tower’s flame formulas are used, they don’t greatly affect the magician. But when the Witch Association’s flame formulas are used to the extreme, they use even the magician as fuel, instantly reducing them to ashes.

‘It means it could lead to suicide if you’re not careful.’

That’s why it was important to maintain balance. If you accidentally let the formula run wild, even the magician themselves would be devoured by the flames.

As it was unique magic that greatly increased destructive power by sacrificing stability, the price for not handling it properly was large.

Of course, this was a risk Asel wouldn’t experience. He lit flames in his hand as he continued reading the magic book about flame magic. Although of the same branch, it was completely different flame magic. Still, as he read, he was able to accumulate some knowledge.

How much time had passed like that?

Just as he was starting to get an accurate sense of ice-natured magical power and flame-natured magical power, the library librarian approached Asel and spoke.

“Um, excuse me…”
“…?”
“It’s, it’s the library closing time… Could you please leave soon…”
“Ah.”

Has it already become that time? He was so focused on reading that he didn’t know how much time had passed.

Asel apologized to her, then returned all the books he had brought to their original places.

‘Simultaneous manifestation of magical power existing at opposite extremes. I’ve roughly grasped the idea, so all that’s left is to establish the concept by rereading the magic books I brought from the Witch Association, and test it through magical power fusion theory.’

Results were already about to come out even though it hadn’t been long since he started pondering ice magic. Asel would realize his own talent at times like this and smile bitterly.

What kind of life would he have lived if he hadn’t awakened this talent and kept rotting in the slums? Perhaps even at this moment, he might have been caught by Gerbil and tortured as an experimental subject. The more he thought about it, the more his feelings of gratitude towards Ena grew. He smiled as he stroked his forehead where Ena had last kissed him with his finger.

“Should I write a letter when I get back?”

He was going to write after the entrance ceremony, but he might as well write right away while thinking about it. Asel stretched out to loosen his stiff body.

As he shifted his gaze, the bookshelf containing novels caught his eye. After confirming the title of one of them, Asel slightly furrowed his brow.

’50 Ways to Train Her, huh. What a noisy book title.’

Just as Asel was thinking this and about to turn his head away, he saw someone swiftly take that book. He naturally checked who had taken the book without thinking.

Ash-gray hair that came down to her waist. A girl with impressive golden eyes resembling a bird of prey and slightly drooping eyes.

It was a familiar face. The magician who had used sex magic while acting together with a man named Paul during the entrance exam.

“Ah.”

Asel unconsciously let out a voice with realization. At the same time, she was startled and turned to look at Asel.

“…?!”
“……”

Their gazes met in mid-air. Selene immediately hid the book she was holding behind her back.

She knew well that it was already too late.