I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 801 - Side Story 74: Sealing Magic (2)

Eric Willow thought he was dreaming. He had no choice but to think so. Not only was that bizarre fingertip part of a goddess, but just seeing it meant he had received baptism?

Even if you wrote fiction this way, you'd be criticized for it not making sense. However, Rudger's expression was too calm. Literally like someone speaking the truth as it is.

"No, really? That can't be...But, my eyes are in this condition..."

Eric tried to deny those words, but thinking of his eyes being so perfectly fine, he couldn't just ignore reality.

It was the first time he had seen the world so refreshingly and clearly. The energy of his magic eyes, which had always run wild on its own, was now quiet. It was a power that had continued to rampage like a child with infinite stamina no matter how much energy it consumed. This being the first time it happened, Eric couldn't grasp how he should react.

'Besides, this isn't simply the power of the magic eyes becoming quiet. More precisely, the power of the magic eyes is being suppressed by some force.'

The goddess's baptism that Rudger mentioned must be this. An unknown, mysterious power was residing in his eyes, suppressing the power of the magic eyes.

It was like a tiger entering a cage of constantly barking and rampaging wild dogs.

'Wait. If it's a power more dangerous than the magic eyes, what do I do?'

The power injected from outside was ultimately not Eric's own. The moment this power went out of control contrary to his will, there was a high possibility it would become far more dangerous than the magic eyes.

"I can guess what you're thinking. You don't need to worry about that part."

Because emotions showed on his face, Rudger guessed what worries Eric had and reassured him.

"Didn't I tell you? That it's a gift and baptism. That power won't interfere with or harm you. At least compared to other gods, that goddess knows humans well enough to know how to control herself." 

"I see."

Eric nodded at Rudger's words. He didn't think these were just empty words to reassure him. From the point where Rudger helped suppress his magic eyes, Eric had no choice but to completely trust Rudger's words.

Though he didn't show it outwardly, Eric's trust toward Rudger had already reached maximum level.

Eric was confident he would believe it even if Rudger was actually an archmage who only exists in legends.

"No, wait. You said 'gods'?"

Eric realized he had heard a word that shouldn't be passed over. Not god, but 'gods'?

Although the Holy Kingdom of Bretus had fallen and the Lumensis Order was on the path of decline, the faith that existed in the world was ultimately Lumensis.

The common perception was that gods other than Lumensis were false gods, or meaningless lumps of faith imitating gods.

As Eric, who had directly seen part of that god even if just a small portion, knew that perception was wrong. But the statement that there were multiple gods was quite hard to accept.

"There are many gods you don't know of. They all lost their names in the distant past, so people today just don't remember them." 

"...I see." 

"The one who gave you baptism is a goddess who loved humans more than anyone. However, hmm... As I said, the problem was that this love was far too excessive for humans."

Eric recalled the union Rudger had mentioned. Something about being unknowingly drawn to become one with the goddess?

'Somehow, just judging by the image, when you say goddess, it seems like she'd be a beauty with a very benevolent and warm impression.'

But looking at Rudger's slightly uncomfortable reaction, it seemed that wasn't the case.

Indeed, if she had the form of such a beautiful woman, there's no way he would have gotten goosebumps all over his body just from seeing a fingertip for a moment.

"...Well, she's fine from a distance. From a distance, that is."

Since Rudger was someone who had seen that goddess up close more than anyone, he could only explain it this way.

Whatever the case, it was true that she had helped Eric.

'In the past, she would have recklessly poured out baptism indiscriminately, but I suppose it's fortunate that she's learned how to control herself.'

Rudger had contributed the most to making that happen.

The decisive trigger was probably the Silver Sun disappearance case, which remains an unsolved case now.

Silver Sun was once a mafia crime organization that ruled over a city. They spread their influence throughout Leathervelk and had no qualms about doing dirty work and committing atrocities.

However, in just one day, an incident occurred where everyone from the organization boss to the members all disappeared. The Silver Sun disappearance case. It was such a sudden situation that even the Empire's Night Crawler Knights got involved to investigate the case, but they couldn't find the culprit.

There were no traces of magic, no traces of battle. There was no blood or bodies to say they died, but saying they ran away was also full of parts that didn't make sense logically.

Why would a crime organization that feared nothing in the world abandon everything they had and run away?

What was even more mysterious was that there were no witness accounts of them fleeing. As long as they were people, and as long as it was an organization with many members, if they moved somewhere, there should have been at least some traces, but they couldn't find even that.

That's why citizens reacted with schadenfreude to their disappearance, while also harboring some fear due to the unknown elements.

So that incident was classified as an unsolved case and also as an urban legend.

'It was the result of me completely pushing all the organization members onto the goddess.'

It had been a kind of deal. At that time, during a magic duel, there was an incident where the seal weakened due to mana depletion.

When the goddess tried to come out on her own at that time, Rudger sent her back to where she was through a deal.

Offering Silver Sun was partly because he was angry at the time, but also because he had made a deal with the goddess, so he offered them as a kind of sacrifice and gift.

There would be no better gift than humans for a goddess who loved humans.

Having newly obtained humans that way, the goddess seemed to have observed and studied humans in more detail in her own way from the world beyond.

The fact that she gave Eric a gift that wasn't excessive was surely the product of that.

"In any case, you can be at ease. Rather, thanks to that, it can be seen that it will be easier for you to control your magic eyes during future lessons."

Rudger took out the lesson materials he had prepared in advance from the shadows and handed them to Eric.

Eric naturally accepted them. He had now reached the stage where he wasn't surprised seeing Rudger freely take out objects from thin air.

"Eric. Why do you think magic eyes occur?" 

"Magic eyes, I understand they occur when one possesses mana from the fetal stage and it lodges in a part of the body." 

"Right. Children who inherit a mage's bloodline have an especially high probability of that. Originally, mana naturally melts into the body, but with a faint probability, it lodges much more in specific parts of the body."

For example, there are cases where mana lodges especially heavily in the hands, and cases where it lodges heavily in the legs.

This mana in hands and feet, or most of the body, ultimately doesn't stay pooled for long and spreads evenly throughout the fetus's entire body following circulation.

However, there were a few body parts where mana peculiarly tended to remain.

"The brain and heart, eyes, and also the mouth."

The heart is basically the part that stores the most mana. As a result, children with a lot of mana accumulated in their hearts innately possess more mana compared to other mages.

However, people don't call such things a special constitution or magic heart (魔心). The case of the brain is the same. When a lot of mana accumulates in the brain, one's understanding of magic opens up and their perspective on viewing the world changes.

The brain that communicates with the outside opens openly and gains a kind of spiritual enlightenment.

But people don't call that magic brain either.

The reason the most representatively designated case is magic eyes is because of this. The mana contained in the eyes develops in a peculiar direction, automatically activating strange powers that aren't magic.

"If there's anything similar to magic eyes, it would be those born with the power of spirit speech due to mana pooling heavily in the tongue."

In fact, Rudger had met a mage of spirit speech. He had carved magical tattoos around his mouth to control his ability. In other words, in the case of spirit speech, control is possible more easily than magic eyes.

"Magic eyes are an unknown power dwelling in your window to view the world, that is, your eyes. That's why it's difficult to control when the magic eyes run wild. A spirit speech mage can close their mouth and the magic won't activate. When necessary, they can always keep their mouth shut. But eyes are different. Because it's nearly impossible to give up sight for a lifetime, which is one of the most important five senses for humans."

Living with eyes closed for life to suppress the magic eyes was rather an act that would wear down one's own mind.

Eric didn't want to go that far either.

"In history, those who had magic eyes too excessive for them commonly ran wild, intoxicated by their own power."

For example, a person with magic eyes of ignition that burned what they saw with their eyes met their end with both eyeballs burning and their brain melting, unable to control their power.

Another owner of magic eyes had their mind go insane from excessive magic eye power and dug out both eyes with their own hands.

They didn't call this constitution magic eyes for nothing. As powerful as it was, it bestowed endless hardships and trials on the user. The end of those who couldn't overcome it was never good.

In that sense, he was lucky. The magic eye ability manifested quite late, acquired rather than innate, and even that was passed without major problems due to Elisa Willow's quick action.

"Suppressing the magic eyes means using the sealing magic I mentioned. It's a method of using sealing magic in multiple layers to confine the power, then utilizing the magic eye power while only releasing certain stages of the seal when needed."

Rudger displayed a magical formula in the air using mana.

"This is the sealing magic I use." 

"Do I need to master that?" 

"No. This is sealing magic made tailored to me, so it's different from the method of suppressing eyes. In the case of this magic, it suppresses this side."

Rudger tapped his head with his finger.

"The sealing magic to suppress your magic eyes must be modified to suit you. This process definitely won't end overnight." 

"And naturally, the period will be shortened with my active participation." 

"Good that you're quick-witted. Depending on your efforts, this process will be shortened much more. Looking at it somewhat optimistically, it won't even take 3 months. However, that process might be quite harsh because we'll have to constantly touch upon the power of your magic eyes."

Rudger warned Eric.

"Perhaps the magic eyes could run wild and cause an even more serious situation. Rather, it might be better to endure as you are now, having received the goddess's baptism, with the artifact I gave you." 

"But even this ultimately won't last forever. Am I right?" 

"Right. Still, it will easily last 10 years, no, 20 years into the future. As long as you're careful."

Would he risk the danger of running wild and improve the sealing magic to suppress the magic eyes? Or would he choose the relatively safe path to reduce risk?

"In the past, I might have just chosen to go the safe and long route."

Eric gazed out the window. He was looking beyond the warm scenery of the courtyard, but in reality, he was looking at a more distant past.

"But after receiving baptism today and seeing the world with my bare eyes without artifacts...I realized how much loss I've been suffering until now."

Eric lightly rubbed his eye sockets with his hand. In the past, he would have cursed them as damned eyeballs and gripped them harshly with his hand, but now it was different.

"If I can only escape from this detestable power, I'll definitely do it. I want to live a life where I'm not controlled by power, but where I wield it."

Eric earnestly requested Rudger with upright will. Please let him learn the sealing magic.

And Rudger always gave the same answer to students who displayed such strong will.

"Excellent."

Having finished his first lesson with Eric, Rudger walked through the courtyard to return to his lodging. While walking, Rudger briefly stopped his steps and stared at a tree trunk.

-Caw.

A single jet-black crow was sitting on the branch, looking down at him.

The crow that made eye contact with Rudger flew up, and immediately after, a neatly folded piece of paper fell at the spot where Rudger was.

Rudger caught the falling paper and unfolded it to check its contents. He folded the paper, then set it on fire, burning it without leaving even ashes.

The direction of his steps heading to the lodging changed.

Rudger's entire body, having reached a place with no people, was dyed with shadows and disappeared like a mirage.

The place where he reappeared was a bar in Leathervelk, a city adjacent to Theon.

The bar's door had a [CLOSED] sign, but Rudger didn't care and entered inside. A woman was sitting with her back turned at the bar table of the quiet bar with no customers.

Without turning around, she said.

"Is your teaching work at Theon, going rewardingly?" 

"For the current Emperor to come here without even leading her guard. The future of the nation is truly worrisome."

The Empress, Aileen von Exilion, turned to look at Rudger, with a bewitching smile.