CHAPTER 248: TRUE DISCIPLE (3)

0% It was a letter.

A letter stamped with the Philiut Empire’s seal, and it was obvious what would be inside.

I opened the letter.

“.......”

I take back what I said.

Something completely unexpected was contained inside.

“What’s this picture?”

“A picture of Rosemary doing a headstand.”

So why was this in here.

Akasha staggered over and just flopped straight onto my bed. Seems I was going to have to wash my pillow case tomorrow. I read the letter with my nose plugged because I felt like I was getting drunk as well.

“Hmm.”

Gilach, who was after Klais Hasfeldt, had raided my lab. Rosemary had opposed him but decided that it wasn’t going to work so she fled to the Empire and got captured. There were also other things written besides that, but....

It was as expected.

“Weird, I thought you’d be angry.”

Akasha asked with narrowed eyes from her position on the bed.

“Me?”

“Yeah.”

“Why would I get angry about something like this?”

“A comrade stabbed you in the back. Are you really not angry?”

Well.

[...That bastard wants to die that badly, does he.]

Did this count as being angry or not?

‘Aether’ definitely seemed pissed.

I wasn’t.

“I was expecting things to turn out like this.”

Crossing my legs the other way, I continued.

“Summer Heaven’s actions come as no surprise. He had his issues with me so he would’ve searched my room as soon as I was gone, and Rosemary would’ve had no choice but to run.”

I anticipated as much, so that was why Rosemary had been told to make a teleportation circle heading to the Empire.

Akasha let out a surprised noise.

“Oho. My research-obsessed sister saw that far ahead? Isn’t that interesting.”

“Even an idiot could have predicted this move.”

I heard something flinch inside.

[Aha, I see what you mean.]

There was nothing to worry or be cautious about. It was interesting that Vermel and Rosemary had joined hands, but that was all.

[For the record, Vermel is exempt from the contract because he’s my friend, not yours.]

Yeah, of course.

It was assumed when I first made the offer that only those who couldn’t distinguish between ‘me’ or ‘Aether’–such as Freyr or Yufiel–would be eligible ‘strike’ candidates.

Now that there were two strikes, there just needed to be one more person. ‘Aether’ groaned as if she also knew this.

Even someone as clueless about human relationships as ‘Aether’ wasn’t a complete idiot.

The target of the checkmate was just too obvious.

[...Damn it.]

‘Aether’ snapped at me, sort-of-but-not-really begging me to give back control over the body outside of class time if possible. She was being like this because of feeling threatened.

Whatever, she could do as she wanted.

I didn’t have anything else planned, anyway.

“Akasha.”

“.......”

“Akasha?”

This fucker, she fell asleep already.

I decided to leave the broken desk to tomorrow-me and go to sleep for next class.

I handed over the control. Aether carefully pushed Akasha over and lay down. She grimaced at the smell of alcohol, but it was no match for her exhaustion.

Aether passed out while staring up at the ceiling.

**The next day.

The torrential rain that had begun falling from early morning turned into a water cannon and crashed onto Iliad.

Even Iliad Academy which had been on relatively higher ground was gradually being submerged. The excellent sewage system was handling it somehow, but there was still something precarious about it.

While the facility managers were moving busily, students got to school and headed to their classes.

“Aughhh....”

Yufiel didn’t sleep well last night.

She hadn’t been able to close her eyes because of her heart beating like she had had a liter of coffee.

It probably wasn’t because of the lightning strikes throughout the night.

“I can, I can still learn more.”

Last night, things had gotten awkward with Miss Asteya.

Yet she had still been forgiving of her. She didn’t question her supporting Beasts and said she’d still continue tutoring.

Yufiel was grateful to Miss Asteya.

In order to repay her kindness, she had to attend class diligently even in rainy seasons like this. Yufiel got an energy drink from the vending machine to chase away the drowsiness, and it seemed to energize her some.

Shaaaa.

The drops of rain grew even bigger. As soon as Yufiel arrived in class, she watered the plant and closed the blackout curtains. She turned on the lights and even washed the blackboard eraser for the grad assistant.

Before long, the students showed up one by one, followed by Professor Asteya.

“I’ll take attendance.”

It was time for class.

When it was her turn, Yufiel answered confidently. Her eyes met Miss Asteya’s briefly.

She wanted to be favored even more. She wanted to stand out. That was how she would be able to repay the kindness she received.

Tap.

Putting down the attendance, Asteya put her hands in her pockets and walked back and forth past the desk.

“Today, we’re going to pick up where we left off and talk about symmetry and conservation law.”

And as the lesson started, Yufiel focused as best as she could. She nodded at what she knew, and raised her hand right away and asked when it was something she didn’t know. She desperately paid attention so as to make her tuition worthwhile..

The closer it got to the end of the lecture, the more she was able to learn.

“...And so, this is called Noether’s theorem.”

Where there was symmetry, there were quantities that were conserved.... Was how Yufiel understood it.

“If there’s time symmetry, energy is conserved, and if there’s translational symmetry, linear momentum is conserved. When there’s rotational symmetry, angular momentum is conserved. In this way, you can find the physical quantity that is conserved using Noether charge and parameters.”

It was very difficult.

Her note-taking hand became urgent.

“This concept will be very important for your midterm assignment so you must learn this theorem.”

To be honest, she didn’t understand everything.

Should she memorize it...?

“Don’t think about just memorizing because you don’t understand. Ask more questions if you don’t know and learn it thoroughly in this class.”

She was going to have to ask.

It was as Yufiel was about to raise her hand.

“Excuse me, Miss.”

Another student beat her to it.

Her waist-length burgundy hair was fine like silk, and there was intellect in haggard-looking gold eyes.

It was the Golden-Eyed elf girl, Leninya.

“I learned about the correlation between Elementals and magic elements in another class. Does it have anything to do with this theorem?”

“It... does.”

The correlation between Elementals and magic elements, was it.

Yufiel carefully went over what she learned in a different course.

The more magic elements in an environment, the higher the chances of there being an Elemental nearby. Expressing that with probability density function was what they learned in unit two of ‘General Theory of Element Magic’. She remembered it because they had learned it not long ago.

But that and what they learned now were related?

Yufiel just couldn’t see the connection.

The focus naturally went to Leninya.

“I feel that if there isn’t a certain magic element in the world, then a corresponding Elemental doesn’t exist.”

“Right, because we can’t find any Light or Dark Elementals, can we?”

“Then if the reason that Golden-Eyed can’t use magic is.......”

Leninya hesitated a moment before continuing.

“If it’s because there’s no relevant Elemental King, and so the symmetry of magic elements was lost.......”

“...Young lady.”

Asteya let out a small exclamation.

“You got it exactly right.”

Then she began writing out a complicated formula on the board.

“There’s a related theory that’s used in this way. You don’t have to understand; I’m not telling you to.”

“Is there really a theory like that?”

“Yes, there’s this magic element supersymmetry theory or something, and it’s quite neat theoretically-speaking.”

Asteya patted Leninya on the shoulder.

“I mentioned earlier that the symmetry of time travel led to conservation of energy, right? It’s the same thing. If there’s continuous symmetry of Elemental movement, then magic elements are conserved.”

If there was an Elemental that protected Golden-Eyeds nearby...

Then Golden-Eyeds would also be able to use magic without mana grass.

It was simple yet complicated, vague yet clear.

“It’s actually because of this that the relationship between symmetry and conservation is important.”

It was as if her head had suddenly cleared.

Whether it was Yufiel, Leninya, or some other student...

An ‘ah’ burst from someone’s mouth.

**There was an unexpected genius in the class.

My attention was now all on this girl named Leninya.

Perhaps it was because we were the same kind. I was a Golden-Eyed, and so was she, so I felt a connection.

Noether’s theorem combined with theoretical Elemental Magic. This itself was a concept I came up with.

But to think that Leninya had the same question as soon as I told them about Noether’s theorem!

“This is....”

Tempting.

I really, really wanted to have a student like this.

I wanted to adopt her as my pupil and raise her preciously.

“Young lady, um....”

“Yes, Miss.”

“Would you like to have lunch with me today? It’ll be my treat.”

Before I knew it, I was making this offer to her. Leninya nodded like a doll without changing her expression.

“I’d like that.”

Leninya was flapping her ears up and down slightly.

Good, I was following the same method that my advisor had used to reel me in.

Starting with asking ‘What’s your name?’ to a student who asked insightful questions, I succeeded up to the ‘Do you want to eat together?’ part.

Now I just needed to naturally recruit her as an undergrad intern like going through a pyramid scheme.

“Miss.”

“Please call me Leninya.”

“...Of course, Leninya.”

I even spoke casually to appear friendly.

There wasn’t much difference in age in terms of appearance, anyway. She should feel comfortable right away if I treat her like a younger sibling, right? I was sure she would.

I asked gently.

“What would you like to eat?”