NOVPUB“Ugh...”
Flora pressed her forehead and slowly opened her eyes.
‘What...?’
She’d passed out after seeing something—but in between, it felt like she’d had a dream.
A nostalgic, tender dream.
The feeling of her body being embraced by a gentle warmth...
It was like being held again in the arms of her late mother, who was no longer in this world.
Only belatedly did Flora realize she was lying on a sofa.
Rustle.
“Ah.”
As she slowly raised her upper body, she noticed a coat draped over her had slipped off.
A black frock coat with golden embroidery.
She knew that coat all too well—it was unmistakable.
“Th-this is...”
“You’re awake?”
At the sound of the voice, her head turned reflexively.
There, seated at his desk and reading a thesis paper, was Ludger Cherish.
Instead of his usual coat, he wore a crisp white shirt and a black vest.
His long bangs were brushed slightly back, exposing a clear forehead. Beneath it, his nose looked like it had been carved with care by a master sculptor.
His usual sharp gaze was softened by rimless glasses, giving him an air of refined intellect.
Just that alone made him feel like an entirely different person.
“Um, so... what exactly happened?”
Flora couldn't recall why she had fainted, nor what had happened just before it.
In response to her confusion, Ludger looked up and fixed his gaze on her.
“You don’t remember?”
“Huh? Remember what?”
“I showed you a spell.”
Only then did Flora recall what he was referring to.
Right—Ludger had shown her something, and the intense sensation she’d experienced for the first time had caused her to faint.
“R-right, that’s right! Professor, that thing was—!”
Flora tried to rise from the sofa to press him further, but her legs gave out beneath her and she collapsed back down.
“Just stay seated. Looks like you haven’t recovered from the shock of fainting.”
“How long was I out?”
“Not long. About thirty minutes.”
“Thirty minutes...”
At least there was still time before class. Thank goodness.
No, wait—what am I thinking?
Flora shook her head and glared at Ludger with the intensity of someone about to devour him.
“What was that spell?!”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean the one you showed me right before I passed out!”
“Ah, that one.”
Ludger responded flatly, as if it was nothing of consequence.
“I saw it once before. It just happened to come to mind, so I recreated it. It’s called a <Klein Bottle>.”
“A Klein Bottle? That kind of magic exists?!”
“It’s not exactly practical. It’s more of an experiment.”
“That was an experiment?!”
Flora trembled, her lips quivering in disbelief.
Others might have just seen it as a strangely-shaped formation.
But the more one understood about magic, the more one realized what the Klein Bottle truly was.
That was innovation.
To elevate a spell formation bound to three dimensions into something beyond—that wasn’t just a technique. It was a revolution.
She had seen it with her own eyes, and she still doubted what she’d seen.
And the effect it had on Flora had gone even further.
“Exactly.”
But Ludger responded without much care, cutting her off as if it were obvious.
“It was an experiment. To see how far a formation made from mana—derived from the nature of mana itself—could be realized.”
“You call that incredible thing just an experiment? Professor, you—”
What kind of magic are you even trying to create?
Flora couldn’t bring herself to ask.
She simply couldn’t fathom what kind of magic Ludger was aiming for.
“Hm.”
Ludger stroked his chin at her sharp reaction.
The reason he had constructed a Klein Bottle using a spell formation was due to his ongoing curiosity about the true nature of mana.
Does mana exist as a purely material substance?
If so, does it follow physical laws completely?
The answer was no.
From the moment it’s expressed through a spell, mana already transcended physical laws.
Magic is the embodiment of the mystical. And mana, the force that makes magic possible, is—
—the very essence of the unknown.
If mana exists, then space can be transcended.
There were people he remembered who had pushed even further.
And what led him to attempt proving that hypothesis was this very formation in the shape of a Klein Bottle.
A structure capable of extending into a fourth dimension beyond three.
A step beyond the Möbius strip made of a single surface.
The Klein Bottle was inside-out and outside-in.
A form of infinite circulation.
And this proves one hypothesis: Mana can not only transcend space—it can interfere with dimensions beyond it.
But this Klein Bottle formation served only as a demonstration of that hypothesis.
He still lacked the research to apply it to other forms of magic.
“In any case, it’s a relief you woke up.”
“Huh?”
Now that she thought about it, she’d passed out in his research lab—so how did she end up in the office?
“Did you carry me here yourself?”
“I couldn’t just leave a student passed out in a research lab.”
“Then...”
How did you move me?
The image of Ludger lifting her up in a princess carry rose unbidden in her mind.
Her face instantly flushed red.
“T-that’s...!”
“Flora Lumos. Are your eyes and nose okay?”
“...Huh?”
Why the sudden question?
Before she could ask, Ludger continued.
“You perceive magic through different senses, don’t you?”
“......!”
Flora froze in shock.
Ludger had immediately seen through her secret—something no one else had ever noticed.
“H-how...?”
“I saw it.”
“You saw it?”
“Every time you observed my magic, your pupils dilated significantly. From that, I deduced you weren’t watching the spell itself—but the secondary effects it produced.”
“......”
I did that?
Flora couldn’t believe Ludger had caught on to something even she hadn’t realized.
He saw her pupils dilate?
What kind of absurd observation skills did this man have?
“And every time you witnessed a new spell, your fingertips trembled. That’s a reflexive response when experiencing pleasure—not shock, but euphoria.”
“......!”
“Also, you should really fix that habit of twitching your nose. I assume you perceive magic through smell, but flaring your nostrils so obviously is—”
“Kyaaaa!!”
Flora screamed, unable to take it anymore.
Ludger stared at her with a completely baffled expression.
“Why are you screaming?”
“Y-you said ‘nostrils’ to a lady! How can you be so indecent?!”
“I was just pointing out your habits. Be grateful it was me who noticed. You’d better be careful not to let others find out.”
“This is... seriously the worst...” 𝚗ovp𝚞b.𝚌om
Flora muttered as if thoroughly disgusted.
Ludger sighed and rose from his seat, walking calmly toward her.
“D-don’t come near me! You pervert!”
“I don’t know what kind of misunderstanding you’re having...”
Ludger reached out and pulled the frock coat off her shoulders.
Flap!
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
Ludger shook out his frock coat a few times in the air, then neatly hung it on the coat rack.
“Judging by how loudly you’re yelling, it seems your body has recovered. Time for you to leave.”
“Huh?”
“Did you not hear me say, ‘Leave’?”
What the— Is that seriously it? Just like that?
Flora looked at him with lingering suspicion and asked,
“Aren’t you curious?”
“About what?”
“My unique constitution.”
“You mean the way you perceive magic through different senses?”
“...Yes.”
There was no point hiding it now. Flora nodded honestly.
Synesthesia of Mana.
Flora had been born with not one, but two enhanced senses.
Any other magician would’ve lost their mind over such an unbelievable trait.
That’s why Flora asked the question with a note of worry in her voice.
“Not at all.”
But Ludger was different.
He answered with firm indifference.
“Huh?”
“I don’t care that you have that kind of trait. If that’s what you are, then so be it.”
“What... does that mean...”
“Just don’t go around telling others about it. Magicians—when confronted with something they don’t understand—can become very dangerous.”
From Ludger’s tone, Flora could sense something deeper.
He spoke as if he already knew about her synesthetic mana perception.
“In the worst case, someone could abduct you and use you for experimentation.”
“......”
Gulp.
At Ludger’s serious warning, Flora swallowed hard.
And at the same time, a thought crept into her mind.
Why does he sound so calm about this? Has he met someone like me before?
That’s how it felt.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t act like someone who had already seen and understood so much.
“Professor... have you met someone else like me before? Someone with a similar constitution?”
“......”
Ludger didn’t answer.
He simply lifted his hand and pointed to the faculty room door.
The meaning was clear: It’s time for you to go.
Flora’s eyebrows twitched at the gesture, but she didn’t press him.
Just for a moment, Ludger’s face had carried a faint trace of sorrow.
And so she couldn't bring herself to ask more. She had no choice but to leave the room.
He knew. Professor Ludger has met someone else like me.
Then... who was it?
No, more importantly—how did Ludger know that revealing her trait could be dangerous?
And that subtle expression he made at the end...
Were they someone close to him?
If so, that would explain Ludger’s reaction.
Someone he knew with a similar ability had been harmed.
Then who was it? A man? A woman?
And if it was a woman... what kind of relationship did they have?
No!
Flora shook her head sharply.
If she dwelled on this, it would only tie her heart up in more knots.
Right. I’ll just let it go for today.
Just as she reached that conclusion, a sudden realization hit her.
Wait—didn’t I never actually receive a reward for the points?
All Ludger had done was show her that Klein Bottle formation. He hadn’t given her anything else.
And that was because she fainted, of course.
Flora glanced back at the office door.
If I go back in now and ask for a reward...
Wouldn’t that be kind of pathetic?
Ugh. I’m such an idiot. Why did I get so distracted and forget the most important thing!?
She felt like tearing out her own hair in frustration.
But what was done was done.
She had no choice but to walk away with regret clinging to her heels.
Just then, someone approached with light, hurried footsteps from a distance.
No—more precisely, toward Ludger’s office.
“Huh? You are...?”
“Eh?”
Clutched in her arms was an old book. The girl walking with cautious steps had an unusual shade of ash-gray hair.
Her name... was Rine, wasn’t it?
I remember now.
Flora, who rarely paid attention to others, had committed a few unique classmates to memory—and Rine was one of them.
She’d had some kind of clash with a noble student at the beginning of the semester, hadn’t she?
But that was easy to forget when she was now seen getting along with the Third Princess—a commoner girl no less.
On top of that, her striking beauty made her unforgettable even to those who tried not to care.
“Ah, you’re...”
Rine also recognized Flora and stopped in her tracks.
Of course she knew Flora Lumos.
If you asked who was the most famous second-year at Seorn, the answer would undoubtedly be her.
The daughter of Duke Lumos, with a stunning appearance and innate magical talent.
A senior with a clear path before her—unlike herself, whose mana was unaligned, her origins unknown.
But why was someone like her standing in front of Ludger’s office?
“......”
“......”
The two of them stared at each other in silence.
They both took Ludger’s class, but beyond /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ that, they’d never had any contact.
Still, Flora couldn’t help but wonder why Rine had come here, especially with that carefully cradled book.
And Rine, in turn, was just as puzzled as to why a proud upperclassman like Flora would be lingering outside Ludger’s door.
In the tense, awkward silence, it was Flora who moved first.
“Hmph.”
With a dismissive sniff, she passed Rine as if she didn’t care at all.
Rine stared at Flora’s retreating back, then reminded herself of why she’d come here in the first place.
Ah, right. The book!
She had finished reading the book on non-attributed mana—and had come to return it to its owner, Ludger.
As Rine thought of this, she stopped in front of the faculty room door and swallowed nervously.
She took a deep breath and reached to knock—
“Come in. The door’s open.”
Ludger’s voice called out from inside.
