Diary of a Middle-Aged Sage's Carefree Life in Another World: Volume 3 (eBook)

Kotobuki Yasukiyo (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2024
250 Seiten
J-Novel Club (Verlag)
978-1-7183-7388-4 (ISBN)

Infos

It's been a tumultuous couple of months, but Zelos has wrapped up his job as a private magic tutor and moved into his very own home. Finally, he hopes, he can settle down and live a quiet life...but things might not be that easy.

Not only is there a band of rowdy dwarven builders determined to rope him into helping out with a difficult project-some people with mysterious plans are lurking in the shadows, as are what might just be the toughest foes Zelos has faced yet.

Meanwhile, Zweit and Celestina are back at the Istol Academy of Magic, equipped with all the knowledge they've learned from Zelos over their summer break. How will they stack up against their brother, Croesus, who spent the whole break engrossed in research of his own? And will any of the three siblings get to focus on what they actually want to do at the academy, or will they get caught up in factions, distractions, and more?

Textauszug

Chapter 1: Life without the Old Guy

The Istol Academy of Magic existed to train youngsters from relatively well-off families as mages. Older than the Magic Kingdom of Solistia itself, it was a prestigious school with more than three hundred years of history to its name, and it had earned quite a reputation even overseas, becoming the most famous educational institution. Its vast grounds contained a great many magical research institutes and even a town to help support the lifestyles of its students; it would have been no exaggeration to say it was a proper college town.

Many who aimed to become mages yearned to study at the academy, but its doors were closed to all but a select few. It was a highly competitive school, and your chances to get in hinged on your academic record.

Nowadays, the academy was a mess of different factions; power struggles were constantly erupting out all over the place. If it had been limited to mere clashes of opinions between the students, it would be one thing. But in reality, it was more like a proxy war for the various magical noble families.

The nobles—themselves alumni of the academy—manipulated their children so as to mold the factions to their will. What was more, the nobles scorned and ostracized those who didn’t meet their demands, and they had nothing in their heads but the desire to expand their own influence.

The majority of those nobles were mages who’d received either inherited magic, which was taught to them by previous generations, or special magic that had somehow been genetically passed down to them, generally referred to as bloodline magic. Regardless, the general public thought they were a right nuisance.

While the academy was a place for social interaction, it was also something like a war front where ambitious nobles clashed in their desire for ever more power. And as much as it would’ve been nice for the nobles to keep all of their little plots and conspiracies behind closed doors, their quarrels had the unfortunate tendency to spill over into the general student body as well. Belonging to a faction only made it all the easier to get caught up in those quarrels.

And Celestina now found herself in a position where she would have a hard time staying out of it all.

* * *

Celestina let out a sigh. “This is such a pain. Am I really going to be able to learn anything here?”

She’d only just begun unloading her luggage from the carriage, and she was already complaining, reluctant to accept reality.

She’d just come from being taught by a Great Sage, after all. She could hardly imagine that she’d be able to learn anything new at the academy now.

Over the past two months, she’d learned to actually use magic, and even decipher and improve magic formulas—albeit just the basics. So in her mind, whatever the academy had to offer would inevitably fall short.

“Remember, milady, they say that sighing too much can make you look like an ape. Please keep that in mind.”

“I thought the saying was that it lets the happiness escape?” Whatever the case, she sighed again. “Every day has felt so rewarding lately; I just can’t work up the motivation to go back to this. What does Master expect me to even learn here?”

“Perhaps he is expecting you to do things that you can only do as a student here? Making friends, stealing a horse and riding off into the distance... You know, truly making the most of your youth. Is that not itself a privilege granted to students?”

Calm and matter-of-fact as usual, Miska must’ve been aware that Celestina didn’t have any friends. Well, there was perhaps one individual she could call a friend...but they were a bit of an odd individual.

“Now that I’m back here, I suppose complaining isn’t going to help. I know I’m not going to get anything out of my time here, but I’ll have to just accept it...” Another sigh.

“So you’re finally giving in? More importantly, please carry some of the luggage. I would appreciate whatever tiny bit of help I can get.”

“Miska... Are you saying I’m just a ‘tiny’ bit of help? I can at least carry my own luggage by myself.”

Though she was a little annoyed by her maid’s words, Celestina picked up a largish bag, somehow carried it up the stairs with great difficulty, and eventually arrived at the dormitory.

The academy’s student dormitory was built with something like Roman concrete, and looked almost Gothic in style. As soon as you went through the front entrance, your eyes would be drawn to the rib vault ceiling, which was made up of a framework of crisscrossing arched ribs. To both the left and right were hallways that led to the rooms for the students to live in, while directly in front was a symmetrical double staircase. The architecture wasn’t exactly showy; if you wanted to criticize it, you could say it was plain. But it had a similar vibe to the Solistia family’s second residence, where Celestina lived, so she found it calming.

To the left and right of the building were small spires. They were mainly intended as disciplinary chambers, but they hadn’t seen much use.

This was an old building, so it was where students from merchant or ordinary civilian backgrounds came to live.

“Hey, over there—it’s the failure!”

“Huh? She can’t even use magic. Why’d she bother coming back?”

“Does she still not understand just how worthless she is? Bet she only managed to enroll in the first place due to her family’s connections...”

“She’s part of the ducal family, but her mother was just a mistress, right? Does she not even understand the concept of shame?”

“Yes, she truly is shameless, isn’t she? It would be so much better if she were to simply disappear.”

Those who saw Celestina returning looked at her with expressions of blatant scorn and ridicule. To them, Celestina had brains but no talent; as the daughter of a ducal family, she seemed like a failure who was only there because of her family’s influence, a girl who’d coasted by on favoritism. To these students, who had gotten here by paying massive tuition fees and working themselves to the bone in their studies, the very sight of her was doubtlessly infuriating.

Celestina herself understood that—and so previously, she’d holed herself up inside the academy’s library. While she’d felt bad for those other students, she’d also been desperate to do whatever she could to become capable of using magic.

Of course, all her desperate study had led to disappointing results. But that was in the past now.

Now, she was capable of using magic, and she could even cast some simple spells without the need for an incantation.

But the other students at the academy didn’t know how much she’d changed. Celestina had fought in a horrendous forest where her life had been on the line every day—and she’d survived. At this point, she was already far stronger than the rest of the students at the academy.

“Please do not let their words get to you too much, milady. They are unaware of the person you are now.”

“I know. I’m just surprised I was able to stay in a place like this only two months ago. Honestly, it’s nothing but unpleasant.”

“Perhaps having all that weight removed from your heart has opened up your eyes to notice your surroundings that you weren’t aware of before. And I imagine it will only get harsher from here.”

“I know, Miska. But I’ll show them all—I’ll graduate this academy as a mage who won’t put Master to shame!”

Celestina walked forward, undaunted, her expression filled with determination.

Around her left wrist, the bracelet that her tutor, Zelos, had made for her as a magic conduit gave off a metallic gleam. She was about to raise the curtains on her new life at the academy.

* * *

Two days had passed. Celestina had steeled herself, and she was attending her lectures with the determination to make it through whatever hardships awaited her. But her situation wasn’t about to change that easily.

Socially, it was just like it had been two months ago—she was constantly haunted by looks of scorn and contempt.

Honestly, she was stricken with an urge to just run away from it all. But somehow she was managing to hold herself back and keep attending class.

It was a similar story with the academy’s teachers, who continued to pretend that they couldn’t even see her; they avoided speaking to her unless they absolutely had to. After all, if she blurted out complex questions about the course material, they wouldn’t have a clue how to respond.

Celestina was very much the Achilles’ heel of the teachers. While they appreciated her desire to learn new things, she came at them with difficult questions that they didn’t even know the answers to themselves, making her a real thorn in their sides.

Despite her lack of magic, she’d always had a brilliant mind. That combination made her a nuisance for the teachers to deal with—and so ultimately, they’d ended up just ignoring her.

Considering that their job was to teach, it was a rather questionable attitude. But to them, her brilliance made her truly annoying to deal with. And if they openly recognized that brilliance, it would become all the clearer how...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 31.7.2024
• Reihe/Serie: The Diary of a Middle-Aged Sage's Carefree Life in Another World
• Illustrationen: Kotobuki Yasukiyo
• Übersetzer: Kotobuki Yasukiyo
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• Schlagworte: gamer hero • harem gamelit • Isekai • Light Novel • LitRPG • older protagonist • overpowered main character
• ISBN-10: 1-7183-7388-0 / 1718373880
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7183-7388-4 / 9781718373884