Conveying Passion

The campus was chilly that morning, with the cold of winter that had begun settling down in the Elendir Institute of Magic. The Sun was buried behind clouds in the sky, leaving a frosty, dull atmosphere that bore heavily on the excitement and the hype of the students, even if it failed to dampen their jubilation for the Magic Contest.

After the Opening Ceremony concluded, the students dispersed to various classes and facilities for their first class of the semester.

Out of all the classes that Cæ had for his very first period, it was magiconomics.

The study of the flow of magicapita from demand to supply. It was the only non-magic-oriented elective that he had selected, dealing in theory, and no practicals were even tangentially related to casting magic.

And yet, it was one he was very serious about, despite not being all that personally thrilled about it the way he would have been about magic. The study of the flow of magicapita was closely linked to the reason he sought to destroy the world order, and it was absolutely needed to understand exactly what the end goal looked like.

STEP

He walked into a largely empty lecture hall, with no more than twelve students from the senior program seated in the first few benches in the lecture hall. They stole a glance at him as he entered the classroom, remaining conscious of him even after he entered the lecture hall and took his place in the second row behind a handful of young women, who exchanged unintelligible whispers with each other.

Cæ ignored them as he pulled out a textbook from his little bag.

[Magiconomics-101]

Skimming through the first few pages, he couldn't help but frown at all the equations and the mathematics that he found himself gazing at. Of course, he hadn't entered the course with a naive idea that this would be a particularly simple and effortless course; it was a vast and diverse field with a lot of information and sophistication.

Still, he had hoped that it wouldn't be as uninviting as it was.

CLACK

The door to the lecture hall opened as the professor walked in.

A jolly old man who appeared to be in a hurry waddled in and placed a briefcase, patting his beige coat and hastily combing his messy white hair, as he directed a tired but amicable grin to his students. "Ah, I'm sorry for being late. Traversing this magicademy can be quite challenging when you don't have magic."

Several students raised an eyebrow with a hint of surprise, even if they were tactful to not say anything insulting to his face.

"Hoho, you don't have to be that surprised," he beamed with a hint of pride as he caught his breath. "My name is Verlix Melnourne, and I am one of the very few non-mage professors who have the privilege of teaching in this fine institution. Now then…"

He glanced at the students with an encouraging smile. "It seems we have hit double digits this year, very nice!"

Cæ raised an eyebrow. "Professor Verlix, does that mean that fewer than ten students apply for magiconomics each year?"

He fell into thought, stirring with pursed lips and a nod. "That tends to be the norm. For understandable reasons, of course. Students in this institution have the opportunity to be great and powerful mages of significant repute and importance. Why would they pay attention to a non-magic field like magiconomics, which brings us to my favorite part!"

His tone grew delighted. "Which is asking all of you why all of you have chosen magiconomics!"

The students raised an eyebrow with a hint of intrigue.

"Well, it's interesting, isn't it?" he peered at his students with a gaze of intrigue and curiosity as he walked across their benches. "Why—when you have all these options of spectacular and godly magic, from the perspective of someone who can't use magic at all—would you choose something that is entirely devoid of any magic? Especially when you have the opportunity to master true power and wield it as your own."

He gestured to one of the girls sitting at one end of the tables in the front row. "Let's start with you, my dear. Why don't you tell all of us why you have chosen magiconomics in the first place?"

The teenage girl, no older than eighteen years old, grew startled at the question. "Uh… well, I don't think it's a particularly good reason… so…"

Her little voice trailed off inaudibly as she slunk in her seat, the light skin of her cheeks growing red as she became the center of attention.

"Hahaha, ah, my child, there is no such thing as a bad reason to study magiconomics!" the old professor jovially encouraged her. "I for one started learning magiconomics because my university at the time actually made a mistake and accidentally registered me for magiconomics instead of sociology, hahaha!"

The students did a double-take at the story as their eyes widened with surprise. That was one hell of a reason to study magiconomics or any subject, for that matter. It was surprising that one could go very far down a field that they had accidentally stumbled into as a mistake.

And yet, he was a professor for the Senior Program at none other than the Elendir Institute of Magic.

It was a highly prestigious position in the education and academic industry.

This was no ordinary man, Cæ knew that.

"…I chose magiconomics because I miss school," the young girl admitted with a shy expression. "Magic is fun, but it's also very scary and tiring. I miss the days when classes were about sitting down and reading and listening. I miss the calm."

Cæ considered the reason with a slight stir.

It wasn't a reason he could relate to, but everyone had their preferences. He, for one, was so glad to be done with boring classes that he needed to grind through to get a good grade so that he could get a decent career.

"Well, isn't that a splendid reason!" the professor marveled. "Indeed, you with elite talent are blessed with a lot. You are blessed with the talent for godly power! However, with that blessing comes a burden, and with that blessing, you tend to lose much that you never even knew you cared for. I think anybody can resonate with a desire for some calm and peace, my dear girl."

The young senior student smiled warmly at the professor as he praised her with a sincerity in his jovial tone.

"Well, now it's your turn," he turned to the young lady sitting beside her. "We'll go over everybody one by one."

Cæ listened with faint disinterest as they cited their varying reasons.

"I wanted to understand how the magiconomy works so that I can have a better understanding of what my career as a mage looks like."

"Ah, how thoughtful and insightful!" Professor Verlix nodded with an appreciative smile. "Indeed, understanding the magiconomy will be of great utility to your understanding of what path is best to choose and what path isn't."

"I thought it would be an easy credit…"

"Hahaha! That's quite amusing, I'm afraid I might have to disappoint you, my dear boy."

"I intend to get deep into industrial magic as a magineer, and understanding magiconomics will be very useful."

"Oho! A sophisticated planning industrialist in the making indeed."

Professor Verlix paid attention to detail and made sure to put a positive spin on each response he got. At long last, he reached the last of twelve students, the only one in the second row of benches.

"And what might your name be, good man?"

The students raised an eyebrow at his innocent tone.

Did he truly not know who Cæ was?

After everything that had happened, not a single person was unfamiliar with who he was, or so they thought.

"Cæ."

His tone had a calm intensity to it.

"Simply Cæ."

The professor's expression grew curious. "Well, isn't that a curious name. Not to mention ironic. Cash is attending a magiconomics course. Hahaha!"

The jovial old professor laughed heartily at his own silly joke.

And yet, the students remained quiet.

It wasn't that they didn't find the humor amusing.

It was just that…

One of the girls caught a glance of him from the corner of her eye, making eye contact with his eerie left eye, blending with the sclera of his eye.

She immediately recoiled from him.

Cæ had a generally positive image and reputation in the magicademy.

However, most students found him unapproachable and intimidating.

Not just because of the menacing scars that ran across his face and neck, or the dichromatic, eerie gray eyes.

But also because of the way he comported himself.

There was a calm intensity to him.

A composed weight to his presence.

The professor took half a minute to compose himself from his own little joke, before finally returning to Cæ, wiping a tear from his eye. "Alright, 'Cash,' do share with us the reason you joined this course."

Cæ simply gazed at him with a stoic gaze as his eyes grew hazy with thought.

"…If I had to put it simply," he remarked with a low tone. "It would be to…"

His voice gained a hint of intensity to it.

"…to understand why this world is broken," he continued with a solemn expression, "and to understand how to fix it."

The air grew heavy.

A faint hint of tension tingled in the atmosphere.

For once, Professor Verlix didn't try to spin it into some sort of humorous framing, which made the mood even more serious.

"'To understand why the world is broken,' is it?" the professor fell into thought. "And what makes you think the world is broken?"

Cæ didn't even bother humoring that question with an answer.

His chilling gaze remained fixed on the old professor in silence.

"Hohoho…" Professor Verlix's laugh was mirthless. "What I mean to say is that what makes you think this world ever broke? Who knows? Perhaps…"

His jovial smile grew knowing as his tone gained a hint of composure.

"Perhaps this world is functioning exactly as intended."

Cæ's eyes sharpened at those words.

For a moment, the professor almost seemed like a different person, before his jovial side returned.

"Food for thought, young man." He tapped the side of his head. "Food for thought. Now…!"

He turned about, grabbing a marker and immediately getting to writing on the board before Cæ could even inquire what he meant by that.

[Magiconomics]

"Alright, now that we have gotten our introductions out of the way, let us get to the main course!" the professor mirthfully mused. "Magiconomics is a broad field of the humanities and the social sciences, and to a certain extent, magical sciences. And today, we will begin with the most basic of introductions to this field. Ah…"

A flicker of disdain for the books on the table.

"Close those textbooks, tsk tsk. It appears that Headmistress Lenolia has not heeded my advice to get rid of them entirely."

The students frowned.

"Professor, how can we study magiconomics without the textbooks?"

"Ah, come now, there are endless resources at your disposal. In this day and age of information, the only reason one does not learn is because one does not want to," the professor remarked with a chuckle. "And other lifeless clinical textbooks will make anybody who sets eyes on them not want to. You see…"

He turned towards all of his students. "They don't convey what makes economics most interesting and fun. They don't convey the source of our passions for this subject. It's truly unfortunate. And that is what I aim to do today. I aim to convey to you the fun of magiconomics!"