The next morning. I headed to the Magic Tower's common dining hall with my roommate, Liam. Breakfast was bread and sausage.
It didn't taste bad. Liam swallowed his sausage with a grin.
"Usually, my head feels like it's about to split open every morning, so I don't have an appetite... but even that's completely gone. Thank you, Isaac."
"Oh, it was nothing."
"I should tell the people from the Healing Magic School, too."
"... Why them?"
"I've been getting help from them for the past year, but they couldn't solve it."
"Ah."
A chill ran down my spine. This absolutely could not get out.
Abruptly.
I grabbed Liam's hand.
"What... what's this all of a sudden?"
"Don't ever tell anyone that your headache is gone."
"Why?"
Is he really asking because he doesn't know? I stared intently at Liam's face. The only emotion in his eyes was 'surprise.'
There was nothing else.
Good heavens...
This pure soul... A fool who only knows research...
An idiot...
"Liam. How long have you been at the Magic Tower?"
"One semester."
"One semester..."
A semester is half a year. With that much time, it's plausible he hasn't yet learned to read the political currents within the Magic Tower. I take back the 'idiot' comment.
He's probably just a little slow on the uptake. 'I was like that back then, too...'
"Listen carefully, Liam."
"Yes."
"What do you think will happen if you go around saying, 'My headache was solved thanks to Isaac'?"
"Hmm... wouldn't they be happy?"
I shook my head and said, "That's not it."
"Then what?"
"That school will think I'm overstepping my bounds and encroaching on their territory."
"No way. That can't be true."
How can he be this clueless!
"Liam. You were receiving treatment for your headache for free, weren't you?"
"Gasp. That's right. How did you know?"
"Where would a graduate student get the money for treatment?"
"Ah."
Even in this world, graduate students are usually short on money. That's because any mage who wants to earn money has already gone off to a guild, the army, or to tutor for a noble family. It's just like on Earth.
I said to Liam, "In exchange for free treatment, that school was probably writing a paper on your case."
"That's true. Huh? Ah! So that's what it was!"
Liam's eyes widened. It seems he finally understands.
"Then... they won't be entirely happy that my headache is gone. Since it means... they'll have to rewrite their paper."
"You finally understand."
"Even so, would they really blame you for something like this, Isaac? It wasn't intentional."
Munch, munch.
Liam chewed his sausage, oblivious. A truly naive fellow to the very end. First Giuseppe, now Liam.
I don't know why all the graduate students around me are so soft. Could it be that all graduate students in this world are like this? No... that can't be right.
A graduate program is a jungle where schemes and trickery run rampant. The clumsy cannot survive. I leaned toward Liam so that those around us couldn't hear.
"I don't like being the center of attention."
Freeze.
Liam's hand, holding his fork, stopped mid-air. I continued, "And if the fact that I cured your headache becomes known, I think I would be very sad."
"..."
"..."
Did my seriousness get through to him? Liam looked flustered for a moment, then nodded grimly with a look of profound realization.
"... If that's what you wish, Isaac."
"I understand. I won't say a word about yesterday."
After breakfast, Liam parted ways with Isaac and wandered through the Magic Tower alone.
"Just what has that fellow Isaac been through..."
Did he get close to a truly awful professor at the Magic Academy? Or was there some unspeakable circumstance in his childhood? Just as Isaac had fixed the mana lamp, Liam wanted to be of help to him.
"But there's no obvious way..."
Just then, someone appeared before Liam. It was the floor leader, Elara.
"Liam! You said you have a hard time in the mornings because of your headache, how are you out and about?"
"..."
At Elara's words, Liam's body stiffened like a stone. Isaac's words echoed in Liam's mind. 'Don't ever tell anyone that your headache is gone.'
What was that saying? If you tell someone not to think of an elephant, all they can think of is an elephant? Liam was about to lose his mind.
Liam's body moved stiffly, like a jointed doll.
"Th-that's right! It's just... well... my condition... suddenly! Got much better! Hahaha!"
A drop of cold sweat trickled down Liam's temple. Anyone could see he was hiding something. Elara's smile vanished.
Her eyes gleamed sharply. Elara took a step closer, as if to block Liam's path.
"Liam, your headache is gone."
"...!"
"What a joyous occasion. But who on earth solved it? The Healing Magic School wasn't making much progress... Alchemy?"
"..."
"..."
Liam's expression remained placid. 'Not that one?' Elara tilted her head.
She reeled off other names.
"Ancient Magic School, Herbal Magic School, Black Magic Defense School..."
"..."
But Liam's expression didn't change.
"Who could it be? It couldn't have been your roommate who just arrived yesterday, could it?"
"!!"
"What... really?"
Elara's eyes went wide.
"Did Isaac really cure your headache?"
"No, it's just... really...."
Liam was on the verge of tears.
"Please, keep it a secret, Elara. I'll do anything."
"... You're already a slave, what are you talking about."
"Ah."
A graduate student is a slave, and a slave is someone's property. A piece of property cannot own anything. Liam had nothing to give Elara.
And so, Liam had no choice but to confess everything to Elara. Elara stood there, silently watching as Liam, with a dazed expression, staggered on his way. Liam's confession was shocking.
He said Isaac hadn't laid a single hand on him. He hadn't even used healing spells directly. Instead, he had 'repaired' the flaw in the mana lamp without any incantation or catalyst.
That alone had cured the headache.
"... He's insane."
Modifying a magical device made by another person must be done with extreme caution. There were cartloads of mages who, not knowing this, rushed in and ended up on the streets due to a rebound. Moreover, Liam's headache was known among those who knew as an 'incurable illness.'
'A problem that even the best healing mages and alchemists in the Magic Tower couldn't find the cause of... a new student, and a new student from a non-mainstream school at that, solved it in a single night?' It seems a proper rookie has arrived for the first time in a long while.
'If so, couldn't he handle that request too?' A certain request came to Elara's mind.
'That one'—the one they had jumped at without a second thought because of the massive reward, only to fail and end up having to pay a penalty.
'With Isaac, it might be possible...!' If so, Elara's school would be exempt from the penalty, and Isaac's school's financial situation would become 'very' comfortable. A faint smile spread across her lips.
Elara moved at once. Towards the laboratory of the 'School of Magical Surveying' in the Magic Tower's annex.
Drained from the morning's events, I fled to the laboratory. My own space really is the best. Giuseppe greeted me warmly and began our 'first lab meeting.'
First up was selecting a research topic. Giuseppe said, "Well, Isaac, what kind of research do you want to do from now on?" Giuseppe's eyes sparkled.
"A genius like you must have some incredible research plan, right?"
"..."
I broke out in a cold sweat internally. 'What research plan? I don't even know what his major was as an undergraduate.'
They might as well have given me the memories of this body before I was reincarnated. I don't even know where this Isaac fellow came from or what he was doing. 'All I know is that he was a war orphan who wandered the world after graduating from the Magic Academy...'
I'll have to improvise here. I looked Giuseppe straight in the eye and spoke.
"For the first year of my master's course, I want to learn from and assist with your research, senior."
This is the easiest way. Senior Giuseppe has already paved the road. All I have to do is follow.
There couldn't be a more comfortable research plan.
"So please, senior, tell me about your research."
Giuseppe was speechless for a moment. He cleared his throat once as if to hide his excitement and spoke in a trembling voice.
"Isaac... you are truly warm-hearted..."
"Not at all, senior."
"However, it's impossible. Isaac, you cannot continue my research."
"Why not?"
Senior Giuseppe shook his head and gave a bitter smile.
"This is research with no money and no future."
"That's fine."
I'm used to such paths. I did something similar in my previous life.
"No! It's fine for me, but I can't let you waste your time on such a pie-in-the-sky endeavor. You are meant for greater things."
Giuseppe flatly refused my proposal. He says I can't because it's like chasing clouds... Is that something to say to a particle physics major who used to chase electron clouds?
I asked Giuseppe back, "Then, in this school, are there any other research topics besides that one?"
"Well... there aren't, really. You'll have to find a new one yourself."
A heavy silence fell over the laboratory. It was at that very moment.
Knock. Knock.
A careful knocking sound broke the silence. Senior Giuseppe and I turned toward the door at the same time. Peeking through the crack in the door, the floor leader Elara cautiously poked her head in.
"Um... Senior Giuseppe. And fellow student Isaac. I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have something to discuss with you."
In that moment, Giuseppe's demeanor changed completely.
"Come in."
"Yes."
Was Giuseppe always someone who spoke with such gravity? Elara came inside, carefully placed a bundle of parchment on the desk, and said, "The two of you, by any chance... were you looking for research that makes money?"