The classroom was on the sixth floor of the tower. It was sealed by a wooden door that opened onto a beautiful, simple room in shades of gray. The walls and the floor were made of brick, though nicely hidden under a large carpet that covered about eighty percent of the room's diameter.
Several other carpets were displayed as decoration on the walls, also teaching the students about the faces of the illustrious founders of the school. I entered after receiving permission from a feminine, pleasantly soft voice. As soon as I stepped into the room, I was stunned by its beauty, glowing with the reddish-yellow light of candles lit along the walls and above our heads.
Facing me, sitting at the center of the room, was a young woman—the same one I had once seen sketched by one of my classmates. She was surrounded by a small group of thirty students seated around her, all gathered before what seemed to be a frozen flame... at least, I think so, because it didn't move and looked as if it had been frozen in time. Its blazing brilliance was undeniably divine, but no flicker or fluctuation seemed to come from this creation.
I also noticed the presence of some kind of giant sphere of varying diameters resting in the hollow of a sort of hand formed by the flame, as if it had once been alive. And it was around this that the teacher and her thirty or so students were seated, staring at me.
"So, are you coming in or not?" she asked, pulling me out of my contemplative daydream.
I took a few steps toward the center of the room to join them. As the rules demanded, I left my shoes at the door and walked barefoot. I also had to sit not on a bench, but either on a cushion or on the carpet, or on a stool covered with cotton, or on a fine armchair that looked as soft as a princess of Baghdad's mattress. The other students had already made themselves comfortable, so I did the same, sitting beside a boy on one of the armchairs. Just as I expected, it was divinely soft.
"Aaaaah," I sighed as the other two also took their places.
"Good. Here are the last three who were meant to join our class. Igor has been accepted by Shahid Zaviel after the recommendation of the Great Shahid Nemours. Show him the respect he deserves as your comrade," the professor said, gesturing toward me.
At her words, I noticed muffled laughter and chuckles from some of my future classmates. But honestly, given my past in this school, I had been expecting something like this from the start. I wasn't about to get angry and ruin my dream for so little. Let them laugh as much as they want—he who laughs last will sleep with the other guy's girlfriend, hahahahaha.
"Oh," said the Shahid, as if suddenly remembering something, "note that he is also a Homo sapiens, meaning he does not come from our world." She added this, shocking the entire class.
The mocking and indifferent looks of my classmates vanished in an instant, replaced by astonishment and stupefaction. It took me a superhuman effort to hide the little joyful smile beating in my heart. Listen well and realize I come from a world a thousand times more advanced than yours, you losers, hahahaha—that's what I wanted to shout at them. But in the end, I held back, like everyone else, so the professor could continue with the introductions.
Well, for the others anyway—because I already knew Kael and Seraphina, since we'd been roommates for… a good night now.
"As for the other two, they are Seraphina Nokiss and Kael Nokiss. They will both be joining the class starting today and... it seems they are twins," the professor said in a doubtful tone, tilting her head and stroking her chin.
"Yeah, I'm the older sister, but my brother is indeed my twin, hahaha," the young woman said, raising her hand with her usual detached tone.
But faced with the surprise of everyone else, her brother—who radiated a calmer, more thoughtful aura—added the tail end of a clarification.
"Fraternal twins, to be more precise."
"Ah."
Some students sighed in relief, and I could understand why: the twins looked nothing alike. In fact, I myself hadn't even known they were twins, so I was undoubtedly the most confused of all.
"What do you mean they're twins? That's impossible," I murmured, my face twisted in disgust and horror.
"Nothing is impossible. Fraternal twins exist," replied my classmate sitting next to me, having noticed my pale expression.
"But… I saw them having sex not long ago this morning," I whispered to her.
"So what?" she replied bluntly. "Twins sleep together—it's known." She added this while looking me straight in the eyes.
Shocked by her words, I had no time to react before my attention was drawn to a beautiful red-haired girl with long curly hair, sitting on the sofa taking notes. She was the spitting image of my dear classmate. Our eyes almost met when she turned her head after catching me staring, and at that moment, I understood.
It's not them who are abnormal—it's me.
After all, the majority is the truth, isn't it? So I shut my mouth and focused on my class. This was my very first magic lesson, and I was eager to see how it would turn out. I had often dreamed of being in a school of magic where I could learn to cast fireballs and split the earth with lightning, but never in my life had I thought that dream would actually come true. I know plenty of people who would give anything to be in my place, so there was no way I was going to let this beautiful day—bound to go down in history—be ruined by weird, perverse twins without measure or limit.
"Very well."
The teacher clapped her hands to gather our attention. Then she picked up the wand resting on her lap before addressing us.
"Let's get back to the lesson. We had already gone a little ahead, but we'll return to the beginning so that the newcomers can catch up," she said, despite the unspoken complaints of some. "Come now, remember that this class exists for those who know nothing about witchcraft. It would be unfair not to bring everyone up to speed."
The teacher immediately raised her wand in her right hand and tossed her cape back with her left. Oh—did I forget to introduce her? Let's make it quick: she's really cute.
"What is witchcraft?" she asked.
One single question was enough to capture all of my attention like never before in my life. I don't think I had ever been so focused on a lesson, and although the teacher's gentle voice and lovely face had something to do with it, the subject itself was hardly lacking in passion. No, I was excited like a flea.
"Magic is, in reality, a language. A tongue—the language of the phenomena that surround us and that compose us. In other words, the language of the world, of the universe, of creation, of existence and non-existence. It is a language that allows us to touch phenomena, in the sense that it lets us manipulate or summon them at will."
At that moment, I raised my hand.
"Yes, Igor, you have a question?"
"Uh… shouldn't you be talking about ether or chakra first?" I asked, because at this rate I was already lost.
It's well-known: the basis of magic is some weird energy flowing through the world, one that only a few arrogant idiots can manipulate—until some spineless fool shows up to put them in their place, impress the girls, and build a harem. That's the ABCs of the whole thing. So what was this nonsense about manipulating what doesn't even exist?
"Say," the teacher began, adjusting her glasses, "you're not making fun of Fairy Queue, are you?"
"Exactly—I mean, if you're starting by explaining this energy… huh? Did you just say Fairy Queue? You know that masterpiece?" I asked in shock.
"Masterpiece?" she repeated, before letting out a nearly forced little smile. "Ah, so you weren't mocking my favorite manga. Good. I have trouble keeping my cool when it comes to Fairy Queue, especially Ezra the Red."
"Holy shit."
At first I was shocked to hear the name of a famous manga from my old world here, but then I remembered that old Zaviel had shown me a whole bunch of manga from my world, copied line for line by the travelers who came here before me. The bastards left nothing for anyone else. And even if this is another world, shouldn't copyright still apply? Anyway, there were more important matters at hand, even if it was depressing to see there wasn't much room left for me.
"That's an interesting point you raised," she continued. "Because, unlike Terraland in FQ, such an energy does not exist in this world. Witchcraft here is not based on controlling any kind of energy, but rather on one's knowledge and understanding in relation to the phenomenon they wish to manipulate. For that, three steps are required—though depending on your mastery, it can sometimes be reduced to two."
The teacher then rose from her stool and touched the crystal with her wand, making it shine.
"First, there is the study of the phenomenon—or more precisely, its study through the mystical or magical language. This means learning every letter and symbol of this language so you can give precise orders to the phenomena you want to summon."
As she spoke and explained, the students' gazes alternated between her mouth and the crystal, from which strange, almost unreadable writings appeared.
"What you see here is an order I gave. But as you can see, it is just an order. Nothing happens—and that's normal. Simply giving the order is not enough. You must also know it—both in its inert version without reaction, and in its final version, the way it is executed. Once that is done…"
She struck the crystal again with her wand, and the strange writings transformed into flickering flames.
"The second step is then complete. And afterwards, through hard and rigorous practice, you will be able to master the spell you summon and use it as you wish. This too depends on visualizing the order of execution. Like this one."
She struck the crystal a third time, and the little flame morphed into a skull.
"There you go. That's the essence of magic. But don't go thinking it's that easy for you. You'll find out soon enough once we enter the depths of this discipline."
"Madam?" asked a boy I recognized—it was the chubby one whose name I'd forgotten, the same one I had caught sketching the Shahid earlier in class.
"Yes?"
"So, if I understand correctly, it's enough to know and understand the occult language, and then through that language, give an order to the phenomena, which will execute it based on our visualization of the magic—is that right?"
"Eeeeh… more or less. To put it simply, imagine you want to manipulate fire. The mystical language gives you a way to address the phenomenon of fire itself. It is not, however, a personification of the phenomenon. Rather, this language ensures that fire will obey your command, in the manner you imagine it in your head, based on your understanding of the order you give. So if you don't know what you're saying, nothing will happen."
"Ah… I see. But then how do we go from three steps to two?"
"Well… that we'll save for another time. We'll have the chance to come back to it later. For now, you only need to understand the basics of magic. With that in mind, let's open this course with the three great principles of witchcraft. Chapter One: The Study of the Mystical Language."
With a flick of her hand, she put her cape back in place and returned to her seat. A certain boldness seemed to radiate from her despite her timid air and her top-student face. I saw her trembling more than asserting herself… though only a little.
"Now, let's start again from the beginning. What is witchcraft?"