The Witch of Calamity

05

There were many things Cecil had expected to happen after beginning her life at the Yuslan Royal Magic Academy however none of them included waking up in the medical ward with a sleeping blonde laying at her bedside. She sighed as her hands subconsciously began to pet Rei on the head. Of course this just had to happen in her very first Magic Theory class with Professor Estain and now she was sure the school would charge her for the destruction of a classroom and the medical payment for all the students involved.

"Master, why did you send me here?" Cecil lamented as she tried to piece together the day's events.

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"Welcome everyone to your first lesson in Magic Theory, normally I would spend some time on icebreakers but I'll skip that and jump right into the lesson," Professor Estain's expressionless voice betrayed the excited look in his eyes. "Can anyone tell me the different parts of a sigil and how to differentiate higher grade spells from lower grade spells?"

So far the class had been rather dull to Cecil however she had noticed that the girl who had asked if the new curriculum was mandatory furiously taking notes. Most of the material Professor Estain was currently covering was the basics of magic and casting with some additional information like how different casting types were developed alongside the discovery of new magic elements. However when Professor Estain suddenly smirked the room suddenly felt cold and oppressive.

"Since most of you seem to have a good grasp of the basics I want to ask you a question and I want each of you to answer to the best of your ability," the Professor's tone was light and cheerful but the mischievous smirk he kept reminded Cecil of her master. "What is magic?"

"Magic is the ability to channel and control mana through spells that harness the higher powers of our plain and the plains connecting to our own in order to impose our will on the world." Avalon was the first to speak with the textbook defenition of magic.

Hayze spoke next with a bit more freedom in her defenition, "Magic is the pursuit of knowledge and power."

"I like that answer," Professor Estain nodded, "Eliiot what do you think magic is?"

"Magic is using the natural orders of the world to interfere with our plain," Melody's answer was barely audible but seemed to satisfy the Professor since he broke out into a grin.

"Good good, next!"

"Magic is a tool to showcase your power and prove that you stand above others," Finlied scoffed.

"Magic is magic?" Rei was still confused by the question and her answer elicited a few chuckles from the students.

"Magic is the illusion of creation and destruction but in reality it reflects our nature," Adam quoted something his older sister had once told him when he was a child.

"Amazing that's close! Now Rosenthal tell me you're thoughts," Professor Estain was impressed with Adam's response and moved the attention to Cecil who was thinking back to when she had asked her master the same question.

"There are really only two ways to think about what magic is. To almost everyone magic is juat simply a tool that we use to influence the world in impossible ways and to those along the same line of thought probably realize that it's not mana influencing the world but our own minds and souls that are. Yet at the root of it all magic is really only one thing, a tool for killing in the most efficent way possible."

Cecil at first failed to understand her master's words but after training with adventurers and accompanying her master for work she had come to unserstand them. There were those who considered magic some kind of miracle bestowed from the heavens and ignored the reality of their craft, those kinds were simply people who could cast magic. The other kind were real casters who understood that magic wasn't some wonderful phenomenon, they were the ones who you could truly call powerful casters. In that regard Cecil agreed with Finlied but even still magic was something filled with wonder and amazement no matter how many times she saw it.