#594 Shaymiri Impossible

I was just daydreaming about how good the tomato tasted when we stopped walking.

Is this the special class they were talking about?

They’re only sitting at their desks under the open blue sky. 

This is the class that produces the mainland’s strongest warriors?

It looks too idyllic to me!

I want to ask them questions for hours, but if I press on too much, they’ll find out I am an outsider.

For now, I’ll bate my breath and see what happens.

Since I’m pretending to be a student here, I should also take a seat.

“Um, may I come in?”

“Y-Yeah, sure?”

Yes! I managed to secure a seat!

It doesn’t look like it’s determined who gets to sit where.

I’m going to pretend to be a student, take the class, and steal all the secrets to raising heroes.

“Um, excuse me, but that’s my seat...!”

“Shh! I’ll give you half the space, so just sit there!”

There’s a lot of noise around me, but I’m trying to ignore those and behave myself!

Infiltrators shouldn’t stand out; they should assimilate into their surroundings.

...Ah.

Ritheseus is already here.

He’s sitting in the front seat to my left.

Heh, I never dreamed that I would manage to follow him from the Demon Isle and infiltrate this farm.

The one you fought to the death with is sitting right behind you.

Now, let’s see what kind of lesson we can learn here.

I just hope I won’t be let down.

“Sensei’s coming!”

Oh, the teaching staff? I wonder what kind of person they are.

Since this is an open-air classroom with no walls or a roof, I can see the person from far away walking toward us. 

They were too far to identify at first, but as they got closer...

...Hm?

What is this unearthly atmosphere I sense?

And then, when they get close enough, I finally recognize...a ghastly person.

Dried up like a mummy, reduced to bones and skin, walking in a priest’s robe.

“Sensei’s here. Everyone, stand up.”

Everyone stands up in unison.

“Bow. Take your seat.”

Why is everyone acting so normally?

A dense miasma surrounds what looks like a corpse moving on its own.

Isn’t that a Lifeless King, the most fearsome existence in the world?

Guooooooooh!

The miasma is making me short of breath!

At this rate, I will run out of oxygen and pass out.

But I must endure! If I faint here, I will lose my reputation as Demon Isle’s strongest!

No matter what it takes, I will show them I can maintain consciousness in this noxious miasma!

“I’m happy to see that everyone’s present today.”

The Lifeless King is going to teach this class?

What is going on?! 

These people seriously can’t be taking lessons from a Lifeless King!

“Before we begin, I have an announcement to make. Ritheseus, who was recently absent due to external matters, has returned safely. He’s going to attend classes with everyone again starting today.”

Ritheseus must be an extraordinary student if he got a special mention like that.

“The reason he went out was regarding a newly discovered group of demons. There was a friendly competition in the land that has come to be known as Demon Isle, and Ritheseus participated in it. He won all four matches.”

The rest of the class oohs in amazement.

Ugh, this is humiliating...

“This is the result of his relentless hard work. It feels nice to see your hard work pay off, right? Let’s do our best in class today so everyone can also experience that.”

That’s it?

That’s all he had to say about Ritheseus beating the best of the best on our island?!

As the person on the losing end, I would’ve appreciated something more like, “He obliterated the Demon Isle’s troops!”

It’s a complicated feeling, I know!

“Today, we’ll be learning more about magic. How about we start by talking about the demon race’s alchemy magic?”

After the small intermission, the Lifeless King starts his lecture for the day!

...I’ve heard that Lifeless Kings are skilled mages or high priests who willingly turned themselves into undead while retaining their knowledge and intelligence so that if they continue to live for several hundred years, they will be far wiser than the human race.

If you take a lesson from a Lifeless King, doesn’t that mean you’ll receive the best wisdom there is?

“Ahem, the most important thing in alchemy is chanting. Many of you probably think chanting is useless, leaves you full of openings, something only amateurs do on the field, and so on.” 

T-True...!

“Many people now think that chanting is meaningless. However, this is not the only truth. We must think deeply about the role of chanting, especially when it comes to alchemy.”

I’m starting to lose myself in this lesson.

“Alchemy is a system that causes various phenomena by borrowing the power of the gods and spirits that live at the core of this world. To make fire, you must borrow the power of fire spirits. To make wind blow, you must borrow the power of wind spirits. Anything more than that, and you must make a wish to a higher being, such as an elder spirit or a god.”

“Make a wish?”

“Correct. In the first place, spirits and gods are higher beings than mankind. Therefore, the only way for mankind to command the divine spirits is to wish to them.”

“So that’s why they chant.”

“Mm. Well said. Who was that? ...Ah, of course, it was you, Ritheseus.”

I can feel a sense of unity in this class.

The students would ask questions in the middle of the Lifeless King’s lecture in the most welcoming atmosphere.

“Chanting is a prayer of hope to the spirit or deity from whom you are about to cast the spell. It is a set of phrases to worship the god or spirit and request their assistance.”

“So that’s why they chant for so long...!”

“These days, people consider chanting useless and try to get rid of them. When you ask someone for something, the least you can do is be polite, no matter whether you are dealing with a human or a higher being. The words, please, thank you, if you don’t mind, and many of their variations convey the same meaning to the spirits when you chant.”

Therefore, if you omit to chant, it’s like imperatively ordering the spirits without showing any courtesy.

If it were a human being, they would definitely feel offended.

There are magic spells that abridge chanting, but they are invariably less effective than those chanted in full, and can be very dangerous.

“Therefore, chanting with heartfelt gratitude to the spirit is the shortcut to becoming strong. And so, in order to chant flawlessly, we will start with vocal exercises to improve our articulation.”

“YES, SENSEI!”

The Lifeless King clears his throat.

“A, e, i, o, u.”

“A, E, I, O, U!”

“Cat, cot, cut.”

“CAT, COT, CUT!”

“Lalala, nanana, tatata, dadada.”

“LALALA, NANANA, TATATA, DADADA!”

“Six thick thistle sticks.”

“SIX THICK THITHLE STICKS!”

Someone messed up.

“What are the rules of magic?”

“FIRST IS HEALTH, SECOND IS MANNERS!”

“What about the third?”

“ON THE FARM!!!”

“Well done, class. Now, remember, you should always train your articulation so that you can perform spell chanting on the spur of the moment. A solid foundation is the most important in doing anything.”

Hmm, it may seem obvious at first glance, but it’s important.

Alchemy works by communion with divine beings, and if they are displeased, the magic is rendered null.

There are mages on the island who dismiss chanting as a waste of time and prefer to skip it, but that doesn’t make them look any cooler in the slightest.

It’s simply not polite to supernatural beings.

“That’s enough of the basics, let’s move on to the application. But before we proceed, I have a question.”

“Yes?”

“Who are you?”

The immortal pointed his finger at me, no doubt.

This is bad.

The fact that I was in an open-air classroom made it half as scary, but if the same thing had happened deep in a dungeon, my heart would’ve stopped then and there out of extreme terror.

“Se...”

“Hm?”

“SENSEI FINALLY SAID ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!”

The students are in an uproar.

“Right? Everyone else was curious, right???” 

“If a new face suddenly showed up and pretended to blend in with the rest, it’d make anyone curious!”

“Not to mention, she’s pretty, and that makes her stand out even more!”

“Still, nobody said anything because the atmosphere was too tense!”

“But then came Sensei, who boldly asked her like it was nothing! He really is our elder! Wicked strong too!”

“Soooo mesmerizing and plain cool!”

On the contrary, the undead king is bewildered by his students’ excitement.

And my cover? Busted.

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the 'rules of magic' part is a reference to a commercial done by a fishing gear company. it's like their catchphrase or something