My sensory system rebooted through a bitter taste carrying a freezing draft that rushed straight to my brain; this was a mana recovery potion.
I slowly opened my eyes. My vision took a few seconds to refocus. The first scene to strike my eyes was the carved stone ceiling, but the observation angle was somewhat anomalous. It seemed I could only see half the sky (actually the ceiling), not to mention my nape and cervical vertebrae were not touching the ground. Instead, they were being supported by an incredibly soft and warm surface.
I shifted my eyes slightly. Raven-black hair cascaded down, and sparkling above were sapphire blue eyes staring wide open at me. Beside her was Kanade with her coral-orange feline ears drooping in worry, her hands still holding an empty glass vial.
Data processing complete. I was resting my head on Eldest Lady Aiselin's lap. "Wait, isn't this me experiencing the legendary sensation of a lap pillow?"
I immediately sprang up, quickly taking a step back and bowing.
"Please forgive my discourtesy, My Lady."
[POV Shift: Aiselin]
"Zero? Are you alright? Zero!"
I panicked, catching his collapsing body. Stripped of his usual, annoyingly composed shell, right now he was just a thirteen-year-old boy with deep dark circles under his eyes, pale and exhausted.
"Wait a moment! I'll go get the emerald potion; Sir Zero's mana is depleted!" Kanade exclaimed hastily, then frantically ran toward the corner of the storage room.
Left alone, I realized the real trouble. The weight of an unconscious person was much heavier than I thought. With physical strength accustomed only to sitting in the library and focusing on mana, my arms began to tremble. I slowly bent my knees, intending to temporarily lay Zero down on the cold dirt floor.
But just as his nape was about to touch the ground, my hands stopped.
Leaving a hired worker on the ground was a matter of course. But leaving someone who had just shattered all my magical prejudices, a teacher who had enlightened me to the truth, to roll around down there? I could not treat my teacher so ungratefully.
"It is just a slight variation in etiquette," I convinced myself.
I took a deep breath, carefully adjusting my sitting posture, pulling my legs in, and gently placing Zero's head to rest on my lap. The pride of an eldest lady was temporarily tucked away, making room for gratitude.
Kanade rushed over, panting, quickly parting Zero's lips and pouring in the mana recovery potion.
Less than a minute later, his eyelashes fluttered. And the moment he became aware of the situation, this tutor's first action was to spring up as fast as a machine, standing bolt upright and apologizing to me.
[POV Shift: Zero]
I maintained my bowing posture, waiting for a reprimand or an annoyed attitude from the haughty eldest lady. After all, encroaching upon a noble's personal space was an incredibly severe offense.
Aiselin waved her hand slightly, her gaze darting elsewhere to hide a flash of fluster. "It is fine. You were completely unconscious at the time anyway. Reprimanding a patient who has just woken up is not the style of the Shirakawa family."
"I am incredibly grateful for My Lady's magnanimity," I bowed my head, maintaining the most standard etiquette possible.
The suffocating atmosphere was quickly broken when Kanade stepped forward. Her coral-orange feline ears stood straight up, full of determination.
"Aiselin, I know you are very strong, I definitely cannot win against you. But shall we still have a match? I really want to try applying the novel theories that Sir Zero has imparted."
Aiselin stood up, smiling and nodding, her usual haughty aura immediately returning. "Alright. I also want to test your learning progress and algorithm absorption capability, Kanade."
"Then I request permission to yield the space for you two ladies to perform," I said, taking steps back toward the stone bench at the edge of the training ground, initiating observation mode.
The match took place, and the result perfectly matched the data I had predicted in my head. Kanade was overwhelmed by Aiselin in every aspect, from mana capacity to casting speed. However, the bright spot of the match occurred at the 3.6-minute mark.
Kanade had truly grasped the coordinate assignment magic technique. Standing opposite Aiselin, she attacked continuously but simultaneously and silently established a mana anchor point right behind her opponent's back. A sharp Wind Blade magic unexpectedly formed from the blind spot and slashed straight forward.
It was an excellent execution, completely transcending traditional linear magical thinking.
But Aiselin was truly a monster. Her reaction speed far exceeded normal standards. Without needing to turn her head, an ice shield was immediately erected exactly along the interception trajectory, completely and thoroughly neutralizing Kanade's Wind Blade. Right after came a chain of continuous counterattacks, forcing her opponent into a corner and blockading all spatial movement.
Just a few seconds later, Kanade had to surrender as dozens of ice arrows hovered around her, locking down every escape route. The match ended with the absolute systemic control of the Shirakawa family's Eldest Daughter.
I slowly walked back near the center of the training ground, clapping lightly. The rhythmic sound echoed in the quiet space, drawing the attention of the two young women.
"An excellent empirical test, my ladies." I smiled, bowing slightly. "Kanade, your operation to establish a mana anchor point in the visual blind spot applied the technique I taught very well."
Kanade rubbed her hands together lightly, her coral-orange feline ears twitching. "I understand. But the time from assigning the coordinates to forming the Wind Blade was still a bit too long, wasn't it, Sir Zero? I felt that when gathering mana, the surrounding air currents were agitated too much."
"To be precise, there was a delay of about 1.36 seconds." I nodded in confirmation. "That duration was enough for Lady Aiselin to sense it. Next time, you can try compressing the wind current before assigning the coordinates to minimize the activation time."
I shifted my gaze to Aiselin. The eldest lady was standing there, the ice arrows around her gradually dissolving into beautiful, tiny particles of light under the evening sun.
"Lady Aiselin, your capabilities are truly too perfect; I have no comments to make."
Aiselin lightly tossed her raven-black hair, her sapphire blue eyes shining with pride. "Of course. Your spatial equations are indeed very useful, Zero, but that magic you used to teleport in front of me, what was it? I saw a stream of darkness; logically, if you were teleporting, you should have used light magic, right?"
I let out a light laugh at Lady Aiselin's question and began to explain my own ideas regarding light teleportation magic, as well as the reason why I used the darkness element instead of light (explaining the principles discussed in Chapter 19).
Afterward, we continued to linger on the training ground, passionately discussing more about spatial structures and novel magical theorems. The sparring session concluded in a brilliantly glowing sunset.
End of Chapter 22.
End of Volume 2.