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Chapter 10
“That doesn’t matter anymore.”
For the first time, Chelsea opened her mouth.
Her voice carried no highs or lows, as if it contained not a shred of emotion.
But in contrast to that flat tone, her eyes were still blazing like fire.
‘Anyone could see it still matters to her a lot.’
“R-Really? Haha. Well, that’s a relief then.”
At that, silence once again settled over the room.
A heavy, chilly silence.
In the end, I leaned toward the girl who had just forced an awkward laugh and whispered quietly,
“Hey.”
“That magic class group project test… did I do something?”
“Huh?”
She looked at me with eyes filled with both fear and confusion.
“I mean, if I did something wrong, I need to at least know what it was…”
Suddenly, a voice—not hers—cut in.
“Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me.”
“…?”
“Caymon, you’re really shameless. How can you even ask that? Don’t tell me you actually forgot? Or are you just trying to mess with people?”
“M-Merlin, d-don’t…”
“Forget it, Elaine. If he’s gonna play dumb, then let’s spell it out for him—so everyone knows.”
The girl’s tone was firm as she continued her explanation.
“During the last magic class test, Chelsea, Elaine, and Caymon—you three were in the same group. But then this Caymon suddenly ditched in the middle of the exam, saying he wanted to ‘teach Kyle a lesson.’”
What? Me?
“Because of that, Chelsea’s entire group got marked as failed, and all of them received an F.”
“M-Merlin…”
Ah, so that’s why.
That must be the reason I was kicked out in the middle of that class.
“What? And now you’re asking what happened during magic class? Seriously, what kind of twisted joke is that? Even if you had no shame, that’s just…”
“Merlin, it’s fine now. That’s all in the past. Chelsea herself said it doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Elaine! You nearly lost your scholarship over that incident!”
“Th-That’s…”
The atmosphere was growing colder by the second.
Of course, from Caymon Baird’s standpoint, there was no excuse for what had happened.
Anyone could see it was entirely his fault.
It’s not like I could explain that I wasn’t the same person as the Caymon from back then.
Wait.
‘Hold on—was that when he ditched the exam to go and attack the princess?’
Which then led to suspension, expulsion from his family, and eventual disappearance.
If things had gone that way, I’d never even be facing these people right now.
‘No, that’s not the important part.’
What mattered now was to keep my head down.
“So, about what happened before, I—”
“Haa…”
Just then, Chelsea, who had been silently glaring at me this whole time, let out a deep sigh.
“Forget it. That’s already in the past.”
“Chelsea! Why are you—”
“The groups are already set. There’s no changing them. You know the professor’s style—he’ll never allow it.”
“W-Well, that’s true…”
“Caymon Baird.”
“Huh?”
Chelsea fixed me with an unflinching stare.
“Last time during the quiz, you handed in a blank sheet, didn’t you?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“……”
At my blunt admission, Chelsea shook her head slightly, then spoke again in her cold, flat tone.
“Whatever the reason was for what you did back then, whether you handed in a blank paper, or whether you had the gall to show your face here today—I honestly don’t care.”
Then, her voice grew even frostier as she went on.
“But if, for some incomprehensible reason, you drag us down again this time… If our grades suffer even slightly because of you…”
“……”
“…then I will use every means at my disposal to make sure you pay the price.”
Her lips pressed tight, Chelsea glared straight at me.
“Got it?”
“……”
“I said, do you understand?!”
“Y-Yeah. I get it.”
“Good. Then that’s that.”
Chelsea’s eyes looked as if she might actually kill me on the spot.
“R-Right.”
Elaine stepped in with an awkward expression to ease the tension.
“Good call, Chelsea. Anyway, since Caymon’s on our team, it’ll actually be a huge help! I mean, his magic skills are supposed to be top of the year. Isn’t that right, Merlin?”
“Tch. As annoying as it is, I can’t deny his magic talent.”
What? Me?
Top of the year in magic?
‘What kind of ridiculous setup is this supposed to be now?’
“Exactly! If we sync properly with Caymon, we might even have a shot at first place.”
“……”
Guys, I think you’re making a huge mistake here.
Because the guy sitting in front of you wearing Caymon Baird’s face is a total newbie who’s never even touched magic.
“With Caymon backing us up, our formation is basically locked in. He can take rear guard and handle firepower.”
“Then our front line can fight more aggressively.”
“Yeah, with strong offensive magic covering us from behind, the vanguard has it easy!”
“R-Right. I was worried since I was the only mage, but now this actually works out well.”
“Yep. The professor’s known for picking dungeons with unnecessarily tough monsters. This way, the risk of injury or worse goes way down…”
“H-Hold on!”
Unable to take it anymore, I raised my hand. Everyone’s eyes turned toward me.
“S-So, um…”
“Yes?”
“I mean, just hypothetically—of course I’d never let it happen—but if, by some one-in-a-million chance, I messed up casting a spell, or couldn’t get it off in time… then what?”
At that, Chelsea’s face twisted in anger.
“Caymon, listen carefully!”
She shot to her feet.
“Last time it was just magic class, so the worst was our grades dropping. But this is Dungeon Studies! If you slack off, the people relying on you to cover them could get seriously hurt! They could die. Do you get that?”
“P-Please calm down, Chelsea.”
Elaine forced a smile, trying to smooth things over.
“Th-That won’t happen. There haven’t been any casualties these past three years.”
“Yeah, yeah. And the last accident only happened because someone in the party suddenly fainted mid-run. That was a freak event. It’s not like Caymon would deliberately cause something like that.”
“Exactly. No matter what, he’s still human…”
And at that moment—
Ding dong dang dong.
The bell rang through the academy, marking the end of class.
“Phew…”
Scrape.
“Looks like that’s enough for today’s meeting. Let’s wrap it up here. See you all next time.”
Without another glance back, Chelsea walked straight out of the classroom.
“Alright, next meeting we’ll hash out the formation properly!”
The big guy, Royce, got up with that, too.
“Hey, Chelsea! Don’t just leave alone—wait up!”
“See you next time, Caymon.”
Merlin hurried after Chelsea, while Elaine, still trembling with unease, left me with a nervous farewell.
Then—
Shuffle.
The other group members, who had barely spoken a word and just kept glancing my way, quietly packed up and slipped out as well.
Before long, the classroom was completely empty.
Left alone, I sat there surrounded by shadows.
“……”
So, basically—
If the mage fails to do his part, people can die.
And the mage… is me.
“Haha… well, that’s…”
What do they take me for?
As if I’d want to get anyone killed on purpose?
It’s not like I’m really Caymon Baird.
There’s no way that would happen. No way.
Of course, if an accident really did happen…
“Well, it wasn’t intentional, you guys.”
The truth is—I really can’t use magic.
Back at the dorm, I flopped onto my bed and muttered to myself.
“So… Caymon Baird was supposed to have incredible magical talent?”
I tore at my hair in frustration at this completely new, unheard-of setting.
Why the hell did the author decide to give such a background to some extra who gets kicked out of the story early?
“Sigh… seriously…”
Grumbling and sighing, I eventually rolled onto my back.
Staring at the familiar old ceiling, the heat in my head began to cool.
“…Well, actually, in a way, this makes sense.”
If he was one of the academy’s biggest troublemakers, someone who constantly clashed with the protagonist Kyle and even attacked Princess Francia…
“There’s no way he could’ve been weak.”
Of course he would’ve needed enough strength to bully others and stir up chaos.
“That’s what built his whole reputation. Damn it.”
Thinking it through, maybe it was only natural for Caymon Baird to have been some kind of magical prodigy.
The real problem was…
“Right now, I don’t know the first thing about magic.”
Not that I hadn’t tried.
Like anyone who dreams big in a fantasy world, I’d once been fascinated by the idea of magic—the pinnacle of all power.
But…
“What the hell am I supposed to do when none of it makes any sense?”
Equations, formulas, symbols—it was like math, or physics, or even some entirely new discipline. I gave up fast.
What, start completely from scratch?
That’s like telling me to go back and relearn the alphabet, numbers, and basic arithmetic.
“How the hell am I supposed to… huh?”
Wait. Hold on.
Let me think this through again.
‘Caymon Baird is the top mage of his year.’
That means this body already has immense talent and potential.
Reaching that level would’ve taken tremendous effort.
And right now… I’m the one occupying this body.
“…Oh?”
Suddenly, a ding echoed in my head.
“Then what if I seriously learn magic properly from the ground up? What happens?”
It was such a simple shift in perspective.
Yet the meaning behind it was anything but simple.
At the very least, this body itself would still remember.
Magic as a discipline.
Which means…
“If I start over from the beginning, I should be able to catch up quickly.”
Yes—that was the answer.
The muddle in my head cleared, as if I had just unlocked some great secret of the world.
So how should I study magic fundamentals?
“Isn’t it obvious?”
Do you know how many fantasy novels I’ve read?
This is one of the most basic, clichéd setups out there.
The privilege of someone possessing a prodigy’s body.
This body—or more precisely, this brain, Caymon Baird’s brain.
‘If Caymon was truly a genius, then his mind must be extraordinary as well.’
So if I barge into the library and start learning the most basic magical formulas… my brain should just absorb and process it all automatically, right?
“Once I finish the basics, I’ll be able to use real magic too.”
Heh. Now it finally feels like I’ve entered a fantasy novel.
This is the classic isekai setup, isn’t it?
“Alright. Let’s give this a try!”
