The Distant Trail Of Ciara Badvia

The Saria Magic Academy
Part 3: The Eccentric Faculty Member

THE BEGINNING OF ACADEMY LIFE

Tyril spent the whole morning in Forster’s lab.

Not only did she clean up the broken cup, but she also dried the books dampened by the spilled tea and even tidied up the room a bit. Before she knew it, an hour had passed by easily. But she’d at least already decided on a considerable portion of her curriculum by then.

Forster began writing something then casually handed it over to Tyril—a list of courses, chosen one-sidedly. “You should take the courses listed here.”

“Oh, that reminds me; my roommate also wrote down the classes she recommended I take.”

She took out the paper she’d received from Misty and passed it on to Forster. He snorted lightly and gave her a mocking look, but after a quick glance, he immediately returned the paper to Tyril and muttered, “It seems you have a good roommate.”

Tyril didn’t immediately understand what he meant until she slowly compared the two sheets of paper given to her—the contents were nearly identical.

“The curriculum your roommate made is almost perfect,” he admitted. “However, there’s one more course I’d like you to take. While it isn’t necessary for your major, the understanding you’ll gain from it will be a useful foundation for Applied Magics.”

“Understood.” Tyril nodded obediently.

“Some of the courses I have are in there, too,” Dyne said, smiling. “So I’ll see you then.”

“I’m looking forward to it!” The words slipped out on their own, but Tyril meant it. In this new, unknown world she stepped into, it was reassuring to know someone who knew more than her, even if only a little bit. She hadn’t expected that to brighten her tone up so much.

Forster had one more thing to say: visit the laboratory at least once a day. “Of course. That’s perfectly fine,” she answered without much thought.

Tyril looked up and realized then that it was already past noon. Her first lecture, according to what Forster wrote, was scheduled for the afternoon. Dyne remarked that it was already the middle of lunch break, so she needed to have lunch somewhere soon and began leaving the laboratory in a hurry.

“Thank you very much for everything. And, um, please take care of me in the future.” Tyril bowed deeply.

Forster remained his usual stern self, only nodding briefly and saying nothing. Dyne, on the other hand, waved his hand and said, “Professor Forster will handle the registration of your curriculum in the office. It’ll be tough from here on, but let’s do our best.”

As she closed the door and stepped outside, a woman in her forties coincidentally entered the adjacent lab and fixed a surprised gaze at the student leaving the room. Wondering whether she did something wrong, Tyril nervously nodded slightly and quickly slipped past her.

She later told Dyne about the encounter, and he laughed, saying that the woman was simply stunned that there’d been a student in Forster’s laboratory. Tyril was half-relieved and half-worried about the reputation of the professor they studied under. Stories about him, however, were for another time.

*****

Tyril purchased a hot sandwich from one of the small stalls facing the schoolyard, then satisfied her hunger on a bench in a less crowded path.

With the exemption of the grumpy Forster, the people she’d encountered so far were friendly and approachable. She wasn’t so optimistic as to think that everyone was like that, though.

Being in a place where everything and everyone was unfamiliar was terribly exhausting on its own. Even though more than half of the lunch break had passed, Tyril struggled to spend the remaining time alone. After finishing the sandwich, she headed to the classroom where the lecture was going to take place—no one had arrived yet—and found a chair to sit down on.

Her eyes fell on the clock tower outside; it seemed there were still almost twenty minutes left before break ended.

In the end, she sat idly and wasted time. So there’s a place where I can be alone like this… She was so caught off guard that she almost drifted off to sleep.

Tyril tried to keep herself up, but all she had on hand to keep herself busy were the curriculums Misty and Forster had written down for her. The upcoming lecture was called Introduction to Spiritology, but whatever it meant, she had no idea. Even if she could grasp the subject by the tips of her imagination, that didn’t mean she could do more than that.

Time passed by as she sat in a daze. More and more students gradually opened the door and filled up the classroom. Although, there weren’t enough attendees to fill every seat, and no one sat next to Tyril who put herself in the front row.

When the bell at the top of the clock tower rang, a professor entered the classroom.

The professor of Introduction to Spiritology was a red-haired, youthful-looking man in his forties. It seemed Forster had already taken care of the registration of her curriculum—the professor entered the classroom and immediately noticed Tyril’s presence and addressed her directly, saying that he’d already heard of her transfer. “Joining in midway won’t be easy, but hang in there,” he added.

While Tyril was happy to receive such kind words, it also drew the attention of everyone in the classroom. She turned red up to her ears and ducked her head.

*****

Despite majoring in Applied Magics, her first academy lecture was a theoretical one.

Tyril spread out the thick notebook she received from the academy and, with a cheap charcoal pencil, diligently jotted down the contents of the lecture as the professor spoke. She’d never attended a class before, but she’d read descriptions of it in books with a school setting that she read at home. Imitating those scenes amused her, and she couldn’t help but grin while observing the earnest professor.

Half the lecture, in fact, flew over her head. Yet before she knew it, her notebook was filled with writing up to the fifth page. It held more information than anyone else’s notebooks, even though it was far from organized.

The immense mental load that her mind had never been subjected to before, combined with the surreal feeling akin to having stepped into a world from a book, left Tyril out of focus and lacking awareness by the end. It took her several minutes before it dawned on her that the lecture had already concluded.

She gradually got hold of herself, and in that time, the professor had already gone and the students were busy packing up and leaving. The sound of the bell, which finished ringing long ago, echoed distantly in her head. The classroom was empty by the time she was out of her daze.

“Oh, I should go too…”

Tyril quickly gathered her belongings and departed the classroom. Her next destination: the Third Magic Research Lab in the Second Academy Building.

To first get there, though, Tyril had to leave the current building for now, run along the path, and find herself a campus map, leaving her without a moment to catch her breath.

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MTL Note: Really considering changing Applied Magics to Practical Magic. I admit I didn’t really think that one through.

For more from the author, visit:

Narou: https://mypage.syosetu.com/1258514/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/inui_takafumi

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Last revisions: 25/08/23

Glossary:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_D4XF1ID8j7zti3pG-fqtcd0h0T9aZHK_CXsCrr5gwY/edit?usp=sharing

Revisions:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jS9QeSLaJfl6P_-Gl-zAY0dnKPep3or9fUl-HPukc9g/edit?usp=sharing