I Became a Munchkin Spirit Sorcerer at the Academy

1 – The hierarchical relationship between a third-rate villain and sorcery

“Those of you following the path of sorcery must always remember the fundamentals of magic. Magic is the power to cause miracles using mana. Therefore, you who are learning magic must always be aware of your own strength…”

An old professor teaching from a simple wooden platform.

He’s explaining what sorcery is, and the basic attitude required of those who take on the profession of sorcery. But it’s completely irrelevant to me.

Because I’m a dropout who can’t even properly use basic magic.

“Haaah.”

My brain screams that it’s lacking oxygen, so I let out a small yawn, but I’m careful not to be too obvious about it.

If I catch that professor’s attention, it will certainly lead to a bothersome farce.

“You must always have the basic magical techniques embedded in your mind. The judgement and insight to store techniques in your brain and pull them out when needed. The basic mindset a sorcerer must have, to be able to cast magic calmly anywhere on the battlefield. To become a composed sorcerer who can wield magic anywhere…”

“…How boring.”

The students sitting in front row are all pricking up their ears and listening attentively to the professor.

Some are diligently taking notes, while others have their eyes wide open trying to imprint the professor’s image into their minds.

But no matter how much they listen to the old professor’s words, I can’t suddenly gain the ability to use magic when my magical talent is practically zero.

I’m just taking these mandatory classes to avoid getting expelled.

It’s simply to avoid falling behind in this goddamn world.

That’s all.

After some time passed, the professor briefly glanced at the clock then gently closed his book.

He put all his teaching materials into his bag, then said to the students:

“That concludes today’s lesson. Study properly so you’re prepared for next class. Next class we’ll cover the relationship between sorcery and mana. Thank you.”

“Thank you for your hard work!”

“Thanks for the lesson, Professor!”

“Thank you!”

“…Right.”

Voices of admiration coming from all over.

Somewhere, a disappointed voice lamented the end of class, but I’m just grateful this hellish lecture is over.

Thud.

I promptly get up from my seat and head for the exit.

Numerous students’ gazes stab into me, but I completely ignore them.

Or at least pretend to.

The original owner of this goddamn body was always someone who attracted people’s attention, and in the worst way.

“Look at him…”

“Ha! What nerve to show up to class? If I were him I’d have dropped out long ago and gone back to the family!”

“Ignore him. I heard he’s on the verge of being disowned by his family. Teehee.”

“To think the eldest son of the famous Artur family of sorcerers would have such low magical aptitude…”

“It’s just karma. Getting punished for breaking things in anger and bullying weaker kids when he can’t even use magic himself.”

Whisper whisper.

Contempt, disregard, ridicule, hostility.

Countless negative emotions begin prickling my skin.

Grit.

I clench my fist tightly once.

I wanted to yell at them, but my position in the academy was lower than a cockroach’s, so I decided to just ignore them.

“An incompetent half-wit who can’t even become a sorcerer. How arrogant.”

Thwack.

After the last mocking words I hurriedly walked to the door, opened it, and went outside.

“Phew.”

I let out a cold, weary sigh.

The clumps of carbon dioxide expelled from my mouth flew up into the sky.

Soon after, the unpleasant cold rushed in.

Winter had ended but the frigid air still remained in places.

Flowers and grass just beginning to sprout, insects just starting to awaken.

I walked down a scenic path lined with trees on both sides, heading to a secluded area where no one went.

An abandoned building where no one went anymore – in the past it was one of the academy buildings but now it was a relic of the old days waiting to be demolished.

The run-down, collapsing building strangely felt similar to me, giving me an inexplicable sense of kinship.

I felt more at ease in this dilapidated building than I did in the pristine, brightly lit place I’d just been in.

It almost felt like my mind was deteriorating more and more.

Contrasting with the crumbling building were the bright flower buds just beginning to bloom.

Gazing at the disjointed scenery, I paused in my steps briefly to think.

Entering my field of vision were towering Gothic-style buildings piercing the sky.

“No matter how many times I see it, I just can’t get used to it.”

The place I exist in now is a perfect alternate world…or more precisely, a typical fantasy novel world.

A generic mass-produced academy novel about a protagonist who enrolls in an academy, meets various heroines, and overcomes countless hardships and trials.

After overcoming all the villains, the protagonist marries the heroines and establishes his own household, living happily ever after as the novel concludes.

And I am the third-rate villain used as a stepping stone for the protagonist’s growth, the protagonist’s abusive older stepbrother who tyrannizes the protagonist before finally getting killed by him – a disposable extra villain.

“Dammit.”

Harvey Artur.

That was me right now.

******

The place I’m in right now is called Norrington, hailed as the kingdom’s top academy.

Living up to its reputation as the kingdom’s top academy, Norrington Academy gathered geniuses and talents from all regions, an academy where they would embark on the path of sorcery and knighthood.

And the one I’m possessing, Harvey Artur, was a second year student at Norrington Academy and a notorious troublemaker.

He bullied weaker students, hurled verbal abuse at his fiancée – it was just the basics of how awful he was.

After a year of tormenting others, when Harvey advanced to his second year, his younger half-brother Orphe Artur enrolled in the academy.

Harvey had always been jealous of Orphe even before he entered the academy, and started tyrannizing Orphe from then on.

When things didn’t go as Harvey wanted, he tried to kill Orphe, but of course he ends up getting killed instead – the epitome of a disposable extra villain.

In the novel, Orphe regretfully kills me, shedding tears while mourning me, but with the help of the heroines he escapes my shadow and moves on to the next chapter.

Harvey Artur existed solely as a tool to facilitate the protagonist’s growth by dying.

“I can’t die like this.”

But it’s so unfair I can’t croak like this.

It’s absurd enough getting sucked into a novel, but having to live a life on borrowed time according to a predetermined fate?

Don’t make me laugh. I will survive wickedly.

I will survive and definitely return to my original world.

I don’t have the slightest desire to live in a world like this.

“Let’s think about this.”

I furiously rack my brains to survive.

I have one week left. After one week, Orphe and the heroines will enroll in the academy.

The story will begin from that entrance ceremony as the turning point.

I had to do something during that one week.

I read the entire novel, so I know the form this alternate world takes.

I know what trials Orphe goes through, when each villain appears in the novel.

To state it more clearly, I know everything about what fortuitous encounters and fortunes Orphe will obtain ahead of time.

One might think, why don’t I just obtain those potions and fortunes before Orphe does then? But there was one fatal flaw in that idea:

Firstly, the fact that I’m possessing Harvey Artur’s body.

Secondly, the fact that magic is indispensable in this world.

With my nearly non-existent talent for magic, any potions or fortunes I obtained would be useless.

It would be more efficient to just let Orphe obtain the fortunes like in the original novel.

A stark difference starting from 10 versus starting from 1. Multiplying 10 by 10 gives 100, but multiplying 1 by 10 still only gives 10.

In other words, no matter how much I greedily monopolized potions and fortunes alone, it would be useless. Letting Orphe take them was a much better plan.

Then what method should I use to survive here?

The answer is simple.

I stretch out my right hand forward and close my eyes.

Then I hold the words arising in my mind in my mouth.

“Sorcery, curse, bind.”

Swish swish.

Something begins crawling up my body through the simple activation words.

It felt like insects crawling up me, making me shudder involuntarily, but soon that something settled on the back of my hand.

“I managed this much…”

Then the power tore through my skin to manifest externally, coiling around my entire arm like a black rubber band.

As if it were a living organism.

As the creepy feeling settled on the back of my hand, I smiled in satisfaction.

Honestly, I didn’t think I’d succeed, I really didn’t expect it to work so easily on the first try.

Harvey is disconnected from magic, but he is talented in other things.

After the novel concluded, the author posted character profiles as a side story.

In that profile, Harvey had no talent for magic but did have talent in this power.

Good enough.

I just believed those words and tried to awaken this power, I really didn’t think it would succeed so easily.

“Phew…”

After catching my breath, I held out my right hand like a gun and focused on the flower that just bloomed within my field of vision.

For an instant, I restrict the air entering my lungs.

Only the sound of my heartbeat rings in my ears, all my senses focused on my hand.

The crackling power screams for me to quickly send it out.

And I slowly utter the activation word held in my mouth.

“Release.”

As I chant the activation word again, an eerie power rapidly drains from my right hand.

The power manifests through my right hand, then soon shoots towards the targeted spot and begins seeping in.

Jet-black thin paper-like darkness coiled around the flower, and the flower that had just bloomed could not withstand the pressure of the curse, wilting completely.

“…The power seems decent?”

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My whole body shook from having my power drained, but this level was decent as self-defense.

Crack crack.

The jet-black power completely bent the waist of the flower before disappearing without a trace from this world.

As if it had never existed in this world to begin with.

‘Not bad.’

The power I just used was a type of curse, walking a different path from magic – a vestige from ancient times that has completely disappeared from this era.

The power used by ancient practitioners, arts to seal and slay yokai.

If magic was born from the hostility between humans, then the power I’m using now was born to protect humans from yokai.

Sorcery.

It was the power used by the villains who threatened the protagonist’s party, and the true identity of the power I just used.