The Tale of Gerald Vader, the Heretic Knight’s Rampage Through Another World
Twina’s ability to materialize on her own is practically essential for entering the Knight Academy.
Of course, the method itself came to mind immediately.
The magic spell ‘Exposure’.
The ‘Exposure Talisman’, now an absolute necessity in Twina’s life, is precisely that—a talisman imbued with the magic spell ‘Exposure’.
This talisman’s original purpose was as a combat support item to grant ‘substance’ to spectral monsters like wraiths, allowing attacks to penetrate them. Naturally, the original magic exists.
In other words, if Twina mastered this magic, the problem would be solved.
It was, well, a case of ‘the answer was right under my nose’.
We concluded that the dungeon core’s fragment living at the academy must have used this magic to maintain its physical form.
After all, this magic is the quickest way to materialize a spirit form.
Even though we’ve identified the direction for materialization, things rarely go smoothly—that’s just how the world works.
What I mean is, right now, Twina cannot use ‘magic’.
Of course, as a dungeon’s fragment—essentially a god in this world—she possesses immense magical power.
She also wields the overwhelmingly powerful ability known as ‘Sword Creation’.
But those powers and ‘magic’ are entirely different things.
In this world—at least in the Kingdom of Silvazard—magic refers to the ‘technique’ humans use to convert the magical power within their bodies into various forms of energy.
This means that to wield magic, one must acquire systematic knowledge about it.
For example, the physical enhancement abilities that knights like me and Alissa use routinely are also a form of magic.
While this involves training to strengthen magical power through practice, it is only possible because the fundamental knowledge of magic is rigorously drilled into us from childhood through classroom study.
Conversely, it is only natural that Twina, who lacks this basic magical knowledge, cannot use any power besides ‘Sword Creation’.
Incidentally, mastering the ‘Exposure’ magic requires not only foundational magical knowledge but also a grimoire.
Fortunately, I’ve already purchased one from the capital’s magic goods shop.
This support magic is practically essential for venturing into dungeons infested with undead, so finding it available at most town magic goods shops was a stroke of luck.
So, Twina is currently cramming like crazy to hammer the fundamentals of magic into her head…
Sitting at her desk next to mine, Twina was reading the magic textbook ‘Easy Magic Basics 1: Even Goblins Can Understand’ with bloodshot eyes when she quickly gave up.
“Aaaaaahhhhh!! My brain is about to explodeoooooooo!!!!”
Scratching her head in near-madness, Twina screamed some meme-like gibberish.
Well, this world doesn’t really have memes or anything like that, but putting that aside… is this girl really okay?
Seriously, we’re only a little over ten pages in, right?
Honestly…
“Listen, Twina. To master the ‘Exposure’ magic, you absolutely must fully grasp this basic text first.”
“I know that, I know it…! But… ugh, is this what human wisdom is? It’s too difficult…!”
Somehow it’s turned into this weird, god-like scene praising humanity, but this is stuff I did when I was ten, you know?
Well, strictly speaking, I studied it reluctantly once at ten, then really drilled it into my head at twelve when my past life memories returned.
Still, Twina probably hasn’t studied magic at all until now.
So I can kinda understand why reading textbooks meant for upper elementary school kids in my past life feels like having her brain wrung out like a rag.
…What about me, you ask?
Well, after I remembered my past life, studying magic felt like nothing but a reward.
I mean, it’s magic, right?
It’s pure romance to begin with, and once you master it, you can shoot fire or ice from your fingertips and gain superhuman physical abilities?
Of course I’d forget to eat or sleep and just study.
Still, I know my case is an exception among exceptions.
That’s precisely why I squeeze in time between my own training and studying to help her with hers.
“Haa, fine… What part don’t you understand?”
“This part. Where it says ‘When magical power is released…’ What does ‘released’ mean?”
Twina pointed at a section of the textbook with a thoroughly perplexed expression.
Ah, I see.
This is the classic case of not understanding the fundamental terminology.
It’s true that concepts and terms like these are things you’d naturally learn by the time you’re old enough to understand if you were born into a knightly or noble family, so even beginner textbooks don’t provide proper explanations.
But the explanation itself isn’t difficult.
“Ah, here. ‘Excitation’ basically refers to the state right before casting magic, when the magic power is activated. Take Twina, for example. Right before you use the power of ‘Sword Creation,’ your magic-charged hand gets a little warm or glows, right? That sensation.”
At least, that’s the sensation I get when I use the power of ‘Sword Creation.’
I wondered if that would get the point across… when suddenly.
“I see…! So the excited state of magic power is this sensation, huh?”
“Huh?”
Suddenly, Twina’s eyes widened with a “Kwaa!” and she thrust one hand up triumphantly.
No way, is this girl planning to generate a sword right here!?
Wait, a flash of light is bursting from her hand!?
At this scale, it’s gotta be a super-giant sword nearly 10 meters long!
“Hey, Twina! Are you trying to destroy this room!?”
I frantically grabbed her arm, somehow stopping the sword’s creation.
Seriously…
Does this goddess not know the meaning of restraint!?
“Well… I was just so happy my understanding of magic advanced, I got a little carried away, I suppose.”
“I get the feeling, but please show some restraint.”
“…Ahem. By the way, Gerald. If we stay like this… well, my materialization might start to fade.”
Twina’s cough and bashful voice snapped me back to reality.
I’d been so flustered I hadn’t noticed until now, but I was holding her arm in a position that felt like I was hugging her.
Our faces were close enough our noses could touch, and depending on how you looked at it, it seemed like I was restraining her arms to attack her… that kind of situation.
The unexpectedly delicate feel of her wrist.
This definitely wasn’t good.
“Ah, sorry.”
I hurriedly let go and sat back down in my chair.
Phew… That was close.
“…We’ll continue this after I master the ‘Exposure’ magic, okay?”
“……Yeah, yeah.”
……Yeah, yeah.
Still, it seemed she had grasped the concept from that.
“Hmm, hmm… Understanding the concept of ‘Excitation’ has made the basic structures of other spell patterns clearer too… So the essence of magic is the ‘Circle’. Defining an area enclosed by circles and circulating magical power within it creates phenomena—that’s magic. Controlling that flow and determining the resulting phenomena is the spell structure using the magical language—”
“…………”
In stark contrast to earlier, Twina now wore a serious expression as she silently progressed through the textbook.
Watching her profile, I let out a sigh of relief.
Phew…
At this rate, she should be able to grasp the fundamentals of magic at least by right before enrollment.