NOVPUB"Flora Lumos. What exactly brings you here?"
At Ludger's question, Flora hesitated, struggling to answer.
The truth was, there was something she wanted to ask about what had happened the other day.
Whether he was the one who secretly used that strange magic.
‘But how am I supposed to say that?’
The only evidence she had was the scent.
And that scent wasn’t something just anyone could pick up—it was unique, one only Flora Lumos could perceive.
It was the smell that gave it away.
But no matter what, she couldn’t bring herself to say that.
"Ah, um, so..."
Come to think of it, why had Ludger been there that night in the first place?
And what was the real identity of the vial he had been carrying?
There were many things she wanted to ask, but at the same time, another thought crossed her mind.
‘Now, after all this time?’
Thinking back, she wasn’t particularly close to Ludger. In fact, their relationship could be considered bad.
Ludger himself might not understand why, but Flora still hadn’t forgotten the humiliation she suffered during their very first class.
It had all been the result of her own shortcomings, and even her later attempt at revenge had failed miserably.
Yes.
To her, Ludger Cherish was simply a man worth challenging—a rare rival for a genius like herself.
Flora fiddled with the hem of her uniform skirt.
‘Yeah, that’s right. Get it together, Flora Lumos. Whether Professor Ludger is sick or not, that’s none of my business, right?’
While Flora was busy sorting through her thoughts, Ludger simply stood there, silently observing her.
Ahem.
Flora cleared her throat softly and looked up at Ludger.
“......”
But without meaning to, her eyes drifted to the side.
Now that she had resolved to meet his gaze, she found herself feeling embarrassed.
‘W-What is that look...?’
Ludger was merely gazing at her normally, but to the one being looked at, it felt anything but ordinary.
Ludger was the kind of man who looked like a fashion magazine spread just by standing still with his mouth shut. His sharp features and quiet gaze exuded charisma.
Anyone who received a stare like that from him would naturally shrink back.
There was something in that unwavering, intense gaze that made it hard to hold eye contact /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ for more than three seconds.
It felt like being in the presence of something more noble than even a nobleman.
"Do you have nothing to say?"
From Ludger’s perspective, it was more than a little baffling to find a student blocking his path early in the morning on his way to work.
Especially a student who might have seen something she wasn’t supposed to.
‘Could she have seen it? Is she planning to use it to blackmail me?’
Ludger’s gaze naturally took on a hint of caution.
Unaware of this, Flora only grew more flustered under the heat of Ludger’s increasingly intense gaze.
In the end, after much hesitation, Flora was forced to bring up her real purpose.
"I heard you’re recruiting a teaching assistant."
In truth, she hadn’t come here about the assistant position at all. She’d wanted to ask about what she saw that night—but just couldn’t get the words out.
So, as a way to divert the topic, she feigned nonchalance and brought up the matter of the teaching assistant instead.
Besides, when Ludger had recruited one before, it had piqued her interest.
"I did, indeed."
Ludger nodded, acknowledging her words.
"But what about it?"
"Um, well..."
Flora clenched her small fist tightly and gathered her courage.
"I-I could, you know, help out as an assistant or something?"
"......."
She raised one hand and placed it on her chest as she spoke.
For a moment, Ludger wondered if he had misheard her.
"...What did you just say?"
"I-I said I could help with your assistant work." 𝓃ℴ𝓋𝓹𝓊𝓫.𝒸𝓸𝓂
"So, you're saying you want to be my assistant?"
"No! That’s not it!"
Flora immediately protested.
Becoming his assistant? That was an entirely different matter.
"It’s not?"
"I’m just saying I could help out with the work! I’m not becoming your assistant!"
"Is that so."
"What’s with that flat reaction? I made the effort to come here and say it myself..."
Flora pouted slightly.
Still, considering she was the top second-year student and had personally come to offer help, any other instructor would’ve leapt at the chance to shake her hand and thank her.
But Ludger’s reaction was lukewarm at best—as if he saw this sort of thing all the time.
"I—I’m actually really talented in magic, you know?"
"I know."
"You kno—wait, if you know that, why are you acting like this?"
"Because I don’t need another assistant at the moment."
"What?"
Flora’s eyes widened as if she’d just misheard something.
Her long, deep-blue hair swayed slightly with the shift in her emotions.
"What do you mean by that...?"
"Exactly what I said. I’ve already selected one assistant, and I don’t need another right now."
"But I wasn’t trying to be an assistant—"
"Even if you're just helping with the assistant’s work, it’s the same thing. More importantly, I look for something beyond magical skill when choosing assistants. I explained that in class, didn’t I?"
"That’s... true..."
Ludger didn’t select assistants based purely on magical talent or family background.
It all came down to character.
How diligent they were, and how well they fulfilled their role.
That was the standard Ludger had set. And to evaluate that, he said he would conduct a simple interview.
Flora looked slightly stunned—she hadn’t expected her bold offer to be rejected so firmly.
She bit her lower lip and lowered her head.
Then, Ludger’s voice rang gently in her ear.
"Still, I appreciate the sentiment."
"Huh?"
Flora quickly raised her head.
"W-What do you mean?"
"You were trying to help, weren’t you?"
"Wh-What?! No, I wasn’t! Y-You’re completely mistaken!"
"......."
What on earth is wrong with her?
Ludger decided to let it go with the maturity befitting an adult, thinking that student emotions were difficult to grasp.
"Then let’s leave it at that."
"I’m telling you, that’s not what I meant!"
"If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going inside now."
"No! There’s one more thing!"
"One more?"
What now?
If it was something trivial again, Ludger was ready to offer some sharp words.
He fixed his gaze on Flora with that mindset, and despite pouting, she began to gather her mana.
"You said it before, didn’t you, Professor Ludger? That if anyone understood your magic, they should come see you."
In the last class, Ludger had demonstrated Coordinate Designation Magic to the students.
And he had said:
Anyone who could properly analyze and even imitate his magic would be considered to have completed the assignment—and would receive extra points.
A lot of them, too.
But that was only if someone could truly replicate the magic he had shown.
And now, this student in front of him claimed she could?
"Watch."
With that, Flora spoke and formed a small droplet of water in the space between herself and Ludger.
And she didn’t stop there. Tiny ice crystals began to form on the ceiling, and wind gusted down the hallway from the opposite side.
Ludger’s eyes flickered with a subtle gleam.
Yes. That was definitely the <Coordinate Designation Spell> he had demonstrated in class.
It wasn’t as polished or elegant as what he had shown.
It was rough, and the effects were faint at best.
But the core structure was unmistakably the same as the one he had presented.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
"She really pulled it off."
"Well, I am a genius."
As Ludger acknowledged her success without hesitation, Flora’s nose lifted all on its own.
"What is it you want? Are you here to claim the bonus points I promised back then?"
"At first, I thought getting the points would be enough."
"But?"
Flora realized it wouldn’t be satisfying.
And along the way, her mind had shifted.
"I want a different reward—something equivalent to the points."
"A different reward, you say."
"Yes. That’s right."
Her request was bold, but she had every right to make it.
Ludger considered it for a moment, then gave a short nod.
"Fine."
"Really?"
She blinked wide-eyed. She hadn’t expected him to agree so readily—it had just been something she blurted out.
Of course, she had her own reasoning behind it.
She couldn’t just come out and say show me another magic, nor could she demand to be told a secret.
But what if she left the choice up to Ludger?
He had boldly claimed that anyone who replicated his magic would receive a substantial bonus.
If she asked for something equivalent, Ludger would feel obligated to find a reward matching the value of those points.
‘Professor Ludger is surprisingly uptight. A man like that wouldn’t give anything weird.’
From everything she’d seen of Ludger Cherish, he was a man who never went back on his word.
Cold and stern, often blunt with his words, but deeply rooted in conviction.
You could call it a sense of principle.
A man like him wouldn’t make empty boasts just to show off.
"Come in."
Ludger said, opening the faculty office door.
"Huh? What?"
"I said, come in."
"......"
Flora swallowed hard.
Was she really about to go inside the faculty office... just the two of them?
For a moment, an impish thought crossed her mind, but she shook her head violently to clear it away.
‘Get a grip. He just told you to come in, that’s all. Stop being ridiculous!’
Nodding in reply, she followed Ludger into the room.
The inner office... how should she put it? It felt overwhelmingly Ludger.
Still. Orderly.
Everything was neatly arranged, and there was an oddly calming atmosphere to the space.
The pleasant scent of polished wood mingled with ink and paper.
Soft light gently illuminated the room.
So this is Professor Ludger’s private space...
"This way."
He guided her to a door set into one of the side walls of the office.
It was his personal research lab—a space reserved for his magic experiments and studies, and where assistants occasionally stayed.
Ludger opened the door and stepped inside first. Flora followed.
It’s huge.
That was Flora’s first impression upon seeing the research room.
Most teachers had research spaces of similar size, but Ludger’s felt bigger.
That was because there was hardly any clutter taking up the space.
He really is ex-military, huh.
Aside from the essential books, documents, and materials he needed, he had kept the room free of everything else.
A long chalkboard along one wall was covered in dense magical diagrams and theoretical scribbles drawn with enchanted chalk.
What is he researching...?
Most of it was just excerpts copied from papers or books—things Flora recognized herself.
But then her eyes landed on a single diagram at the edge of the board, and her feet stopped moving on their own.
What is that...?
It wasn’t that the array gave her some sudden burst of inspiration.
But the thing she was looking at now... this was different.
A diagram? No... a spell formation?
But it didn’t look like a spell array either.
In principle, spell formations were three-dimensional constructions drawn in the air with mana, composed of planes and lines.
They varied wildly depending on the magic, but most were ornate or elegant in some way.
Yet the thing Ludger had drawn looked far too strange.
A plain cube.
So simple you could draw it with your eyes closed.
But inside that cube... there was another cube. And all the corners were connected by lines.
Was it just doodled? No. That’s definitely not just a drawing.
Just as she was about to move closer and inspect it further, Ludger spoke.
"I thought about what to give you. I promised a substantial reward myself, so if you’re asking for something equivalent, I need to give or show you something that matches."
Flora turned to look at him.
It seemed he had already made up his mind.
"The Coordinate Designation Spell I showed you. As you felt and used it yourself, it’s a technique that allows the user to mathematically calculate coordinates and cast magic at a distance. You anchor the mana in midair and trigger another spell at that fixed point."
Of course, not every student would understand even if he explained it like that.
And in truth, Flora Lumos was one of them.
The only reason she could replicate it at all was that she had mimicked the process she saw with her own eyes—and her natural talent had made it possible.
"A student like you, though... I think you’re ready to see this."
With those words, Ludger began drawing a formation in front of him.
But it was unlike any spell formation Flora had ever seen.
W-What is that?
She involuntarily shuddered.
He wasn’t drawing segment by segment to build a shape.
No—it was a single continuous line.
It traced elegant curves, formed surfaces, then pierced through its own structures.
And when it was finally complete, what stood before her was something far beyond a magic array.
It wasn’t just a spell—it was a revolution.
Basic spell formations were 3D diagrams drawn with mana suspended in air.
But what Ludger just showed her...
Was something the Earth called a “Klein Bottle.”
A spell—a formation—that hinted at a dimension beyond the third.
"......!"
And in that moment, Flora’s synesthesia activated.
A transcendental sensation beyond the limits of the human senses.
The instant it struck her through sight and smell, the overwhelming impact knocked her unconscious on the spot.
