I had breakfast and came to work in a good mood...
"Hmm... Well then, shall I go look for some ruins?"
"I'm absolutely not letting you go this time. Settle this before you leave."
The atmosphere in the lab was unusual. Giuseppe was blocking Doloren's path. Doloren said, "A year ago, you would have just let me go...
You've grown, Giuseppe. Isaac has changed you."
"You can try to make it sound cool, but I'm still not letting you go."
"If it has come to this...!"
Doloren turned her gaze toward the window. Was she really thinking of jumping out from here? I stepped in between the two of them.
"First, everyone calm down and please explain what's going on."
Senior Giuseppe's eyes gleamed.
"Junior! Perfect timing!"
"Damn it. He's here!"
Doloren looked like she was truly about to open the window. F = ma. I quickly locked the window with telekinesis.
Ah.
Doloren was at a loss for words.
"Now, please explain."
Senior Giuseppe sighed and explained the whole story. The incident began last semester, when Doloren was mercilessly rejecting papers that didn't use the 'metric system'.
"There were quite a few people who resisted. So the school head personally held several 'defenses'."
"... Wasn't that less of a thesis defense and more of an attack?"
"You did it too, so what are you talking about..."
"Ah."
Right.
I must not forget the Winterheart territory, the Upperhills Group's source of mana stones. In any case, he said the Magic Tower was damaged in the process of those defenses.
"The Magic Tower can be damaged? I heard it's protected by powerful ancient magic."
They said that's how it was possible to build up to the 49th floor, so if that's been damaged... Maybe I should be running away from the Magic Tower right now.
Slam!
Doloren slammed her hand on the desk and shouted.
"That bastard kept insisting on using gallons, so what was I supposed to do!"
So, in order to protect the metric system, she wiped them all out. 'What should I call something like this?'
Excessive loyalty?
No. That's a term for a subordinate... Should I soften it to something like 'excessive welfare'? I said to Doloren, "I see.
I understand how you feel a hundred times over." I also get infuriated when I see the sign for work being different in each field of science. If it were up to me, I'd just unify it according to what's used in thermodynamics.
Isn't that more intuitive? Anyway, if I get this angry over a mere plus or minus sign, her reaction to something like gallons is understandable. It was righteous anger.
"See! You get it, my disciple!"
Doloren was moved and tried to take my hand. I deftly avoided it and asked, "So, the opponent is beyond recovery, right?"
"Yep!"
Great.
"One piece of trash has been taken out."
"Junior!"
Senior Giuseppe was horrified by my words.
Ahem.
It's a joke, a joke. I said to Giuseppe, "So did you get an official notice to fix the damaged parts from this incident?"
"... It's closer to a claim for compensation and a demand for an alternative."
I read the official document that Senior Giuseppe handed me.
[Overload of the Magic Tower's ancient barrier caused by School Head Doloren's excessive use of magic.]
[As an alternative, it is requested that all future major thesis defenses for the Magic Tower and the Magic Academy be held at the 'Upperhills Dome Stadium'.]
Oh-ho.
I was just wondering how to hold duels for mages, so this is perfect.
"I agree with this. It'll be good promotion for the dome stadium, and the ticket revenue should be quite nice, don't you think?"
Flinch.
Giuseppe was surprised.
"Are you thinking of opening it to the public?"
"Is there a problem with that?"
"... Not really. I was just thinking that some defenses might be a bit too brutal to be shown to the public."
"Then executing criminals in the public square isn't brutal?"
"... Hmm. You have a point."
In a savage era, one must follow savage rules. A duel between mages is quite civilized in comparison. I continued reading the document.
[As a test case, the School of Magical Surveying will be exclusively responsible for reviewing the undergraduate theses of students scheduled for early graduation at the end of this semester.]
"In that case... I suppose I'll have to step up."
As far as I know, thesis verification for undergraduates can only be done by master's students in their early years. Giuseppe said with a dejected face, "I'm sorry for causing you such a troublesome task."
"No, it's fine. I'll do it."
What's the big deal about reviewing undergraduate theses? I just have to watch the kids' talent show for a bit and pass them appropriately, right? ... And if anyone should be sorry, shouldn't it be Doloren, not Giuseppe?
I glanced at Doloren. However, Doloren's expression looked invincible and proud. If I pressed her further, I'd probably just get a response like, 'Why is that the school head's fault?'.
Let's not even start. A hunting dog just needs to bring back the prey. Our school head is not at fault.
I gladly accepted the role of the opponent.
"By the way, Junior, you do know that your sister is graduating early this semester, right?"
"Ah."
I had forgotten. Anna was aiming for early graduation this semester. Nevertheless, preparations for the public demonstration defense proceeded smoothly.
First, to prevent the audience from getting bored, we decided to replace oral presentations with written reviews. Some of my own papers had their verification completed in this abbreviated way, so it wasn't special treatment. Also, any issues with the papers would be prepared as separate handouts on the day of the event.
'If the thesis is well-written, they should pass without needing to go through a demonstration.' Of course, to sell tickets, it would be better to show as many duels as possible. But flashy magic duels are only a secondary goal for me.
Academics always come first. I have no intention whatsoever of nitpicking a well-written paper just to start a fight. I thought I could just filter out the poorly written ones and challenge them, but...
"Haa..."
A deep sigh escaped me as I reviewed the students' submitted theses. Is this really okay? Even though it's an undergraduate thesis, it was painfully obvious that they didn't even properly understand the basic theories of the fields they were trying to discuss.
If you're going to criticize previous research, you should at least understand it properly before you attack it. This isn't even shadowboxing... I handed a paper to Senior Giuseppe next to me.
"Senior, please take a look at this."
Senior Giuseppe glanced over the paper and frowned.
"This... is very problematic. The logical leaps are severe."
"Right? It's not just me being weird, is it?"
Right after, Senior Giuseppe and I tore apart a paper. Unfortunately, we couldn't savor and enjoy it. How can you enjoy something that's so terribly written?
Just then, Doloren chimed in.
"... Aren't your standards too high? Undergraduates are just like cute, talking potatoes."
"Even so, they have to get the basics right. The basics are missing here."
"Really...? By that logic, shouldn't ninety percent of the mages in the Magic Tower be sent back to undergraduate studies?"
Doloren wore a puzzled expression. 'Is that so?' Come to think of it, that seemed to be the case.
The enemies of our school fuss over yards and gallons, and even our allies still cling to things like Caloric. If the mages of the Magic Tower are like this, what could they have possibly learned as undergraduates? 'Should I just give up my expectations for the kids...?'
With a single gesture, I could just pass them all without much fuss. As my heart grew darker, Senior Giuseppe shook his head firmly.
"Junior, place a hand on your heart and think about it. Do you really see no hope for those undergraduates?"
"...!"
Right.
If I give up here, the game is over. If people can't improve, then why do professors even exist in this world? Everyone would just get their doctorates and be done with it.
Smirk. Giuseppe smiled.
"You've realized it, Junior."
"It's thanks to you. Thank you, Senior."
"Hahaha. Oh, it was nothing."
"Hahahaha."
If I go easy on them here, these kids will live their whole lives under the delusion that their skills are good enough. That is not the way of an educator. I picked up a dwarven-made ballpoint pen and wrote a short note.
[All papers require re-examination.]
Afterward, I wrote a letter, meticulously listing the papers the students should reference and the direction for their revisions.
[Read these papers again, supplement your content, and resubmit. If you refuse to comply or fail to make the revisions within the deadline, I will verify it through a demonstration defense.]
Whew.
I almost gave up on being a professor. Watching the scene, Doloren commented briefly.
"Wow... You guys really have no heart."
The day after I sent out the re-examination requests. Anna stormed into our lab.
"O... Brother. What is this?"
"That? It's a request for a demonstration defense."
"Didn't I write my thesis properly? Why did I get this?"
"Hey, little sister. You shouldn't be like that."
Since Anna's work is to revise and supplement my paper, a demonstration is mandatory for her. She can't get a free pass on the thesis writing and skip the demonstration too.
Glare.
Anna glared at me and said, "... Besides, my thesis isn't something that can even have a demonstration defense. How do you judge a statistics theory?"
"Now that I think about it, you're right."
How do I verify a thesis for which a demonstration is ambiguous? I can't very well reenact an experiment of Charles and Jane shooting a hundred fireballs in front of an audience... I asked Doloren what to do in such a case.
"That kind of thing? They just duel with the magic they're most confident in."
"What...?"
"We pretend it's all official now with 'demonstration defenses' and all that, but the essence of this system is the duel."
Doloren's logic was simple. Since the opportunity of magic is open to everyone, the logic is that the stronger side is closer to the truth.
"Is this for real?"
"Yep. I'm not kidding this time."
So...
What I've been diligently preparing for all this time is just a lucky witch trial? Doloren said to me, "You benefited from it too, so you can't act like this now."
"Pardon?"
"Absolute zero. That time, you didn't win with logic. You ended it by forcibly trapping the absolute zero domain, remember?"
"That was...!"
It was an unavoidable decision. If I'd had my way, I would have liked to argue that zero-point energy remains even at absolute zero... But how was I supposed to show that?
The easiest way would be to show that helium remains a liquid even at ultra-low temperatures... But my logic didn't apply inside Doloren's ridiculously contrived isolated system. In that space, it seemed like the concept of a ground state itself didn't exist.
Doloren said, "That's why it's all about momentum."
"He who dominates the opponent's magic dominates the defense."
"...!"
When she put it like that, it sounded kind of profound... It's definitely not because I benefited from it that I'm defending it. Nor is it because my master's degree would be revoked if I pushed back here.
I was captivated by Doloren's words. In a world where you can create magic by paying with logic and mana, what could be fairer than a trial by combat? Next to me, Anna muttered.
"No way..."
"... I can't help it, little sister. I have to make a living too, don't I?"
"If you keep acting like this. Then, I'm going to be serious this time."
It's a bit much for family to be fighting for real...
"You started this, Brother."
"Hmm..."
The ancient protection magic on the Magic Tower. I guess I'll have to ask them to put it on the stadium too.