I Am the Weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings but the Demons Are Obsessed With Me

19 – The Scarlet Scribe

I had resolved to apologize to Professor Plum for my rudeness the day before as soon as I met him. I was fully prepared, even completing deep breaths before the lecture began.

However, I missed the timing because of the sudden deployment of magic.

“Professor─”

“The hush of dawn twilight. The stillness after the curtain call. Silence.”

It was a magic I had never experienced before.

Though it was my first encounter, I could roughly guess the nature of the spell through the small, blood-red sigil drawn by the tips of Plum’s fingers. It was demon kind magic.

Magic that only demon kind from their world of magical energy could use, not with mana but with their own distinct magical power. It was unthinkable to use such magic merely to catch the students’ attention.

The magic was soon released, but it was no longer the right time to interrupt and apologize. Professor Plum’s lecture had already started. Interrupting the flow of the lecture for personal reasons would only serve my own satisfaction.

All I could do was concentrate on the lecture as a student of Plum.

“I intend to teach you the magic of the demon kind,” he announced.

It was a shocking statement, and also a meaningless one.

Professor Plum, a ‘half-human half-demon,’ might be able to use demon kind magic, but that was not the case for most students. Even if they learned about it, it would be nothing more than a way to broaden their scope, without any practical significance.

What I was thinking also came from Professor Plum’s mouth.

“As you all know, humans cannot use the magic of the demon kind. The very source needed to complete the magic is different. The magic of the demon kind, which uses ‘magical power,’ and the magic of humans, which uses ‘mana,’ have evolved independently through completely different processes, following their own principles, structures, and compositions… This is the common knowledge we are aware of.”

And then, with his next statement, he shattered all my expectations.

“From now on, you can discard all that common knowledge. Humans may not be able to use the magic of the demon kind, but they can utilize it.”

Professor Plum activated a spell. Mana intertwined in mid-air, drawing a massive magical circle.

It was a circle more designed for show than for efficiency. Its trajectory was graceful, its form beautiful, and its structure intuitive.

“Each cycle further distinguishes it. Like the north wind of frozen earth, like the frost of dawn. In the poles, everything freezes solid and the perennial snow of Arctic and frozen earth of the North Sea never melt. Cooling.”

‘Cooling,’ a technique under general magic. This miniaturized cooling magic was sometimes used to store the food of the wealthy. Every student listening to this lecture probably knew of this magic.

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Yet, they had no idea that the magic circle forming this spell was so beautiful.

Could it be due to the slight drop in temperature, or perhaps due to the unexpected beauty? A chill ran down their spine.

Professor Plume then ignited another spell.

“Each cycle further mixes it. Like the hot wind of the ocean, like the midday mirage. In the desert, everything withers and dries; the perennial snow of Arctic and frozen earth of the North Sea will melt and scatter. Heating.”

A spell depicted like blood vessels of a creature, drawn in a bloody water form. While it was a demon’s magic they’ve never experienced before –

That imprint was exceedingly familiar.

A shock, like being electrocuted, traveled up their spine and struck their mind. A peculiar certainty dominated their thoughts.

It was, certainly.

Analogous to ‘Cooling.’

“Those who are hot are allowed to remove their outerwear.”

However, it was also completely opposite. Unlike cooling magic converging to a single temperature, the classroom’s temperature was endlessly rising.

Their trusted common knowledge completely crumbled, making them dizzy. Without realizing, they let out a gasp.

Finally, the magic disappeared.

The moment Professor Plume, always keeping that gentle smile, opened her mouth.

“Did I not say at the beginning? Human magic and demon magic are fundamentally different in terms of principles, structures, and components. Now, you can erase the word ‘principle’.”

All thoughts evaporated away.

And a new desire began to fill the now empty mind.

[The Theory of Basic Magic Studies]

[The First Lesson]

[The principle of magic]

The desire to also learn that.

.

.

.

Professor Plume’s lectures were intuitive and clear.

She knew exactly what the students ‘knew’ and ‘might not know’ and was proficient in flexibly bridging the gap. At easy-to-miss points, she adjusted her lecture’s pace to facilitate questioning.

Although learning demon magic is an unfamiliar discipline, it did not feel difficult. Likely, the other students felt the same.

When the lecture was about to conclude…

Professor Plum distributed a piece of bait to everyone.

“There are a total of 7 spells written on the piece of bait I gave you. They are all magic of demons that can only be activated using magic power.”

He examined the bait that Plum had given him. They were all spells he had never seen before.

All the spells used as examples in this lecture were different from the spells written here. Professor Plum continued.

“You might think it’s too much from the first day, but this is your assignment. Please choose one of the demon spells written on the bait, analyze it, and create a corresponding human spell. The due date is at the last lecture time of this semester. On that day, I will have you demonstrate the completed spell in the classroom.”

And he added with a slight smile.

“You might be able to complete other spells quickly if you can complete one spell fully. It’s simple if you understand the tricks and principles. It’s okay to share opinions with other students.”

It was an incredibly difficult task.

But considering it was an assignment given over a semester, it wasn’t too difficult. It was even possible to piggyback on a nearby friend since sharing opinions was allowed.

Of course, looking at the students looking at the bait with sparkling eyes, it didn’t seem like there were any students who would piggyback on others. Wouldn’t they rather hide information and keep each other in check?

“That’s the end of the lecture. Does any student have any more questions?”

Almost all students raised their hands.

He scratched his cheek with a somewhat troubled expression.

“It’s troublesome if too many students have questions. Well, if there are more things you want to know, please put them in the suggestion box and I will refer to them when making the next lecture material. You all worked hard.”

It was a splendid lecture.

But I felt like I had forgotten something…

‘Ah! I have to apologize!’

“Professor–“

“Professor!”

“Professor Plum!”

“Professor Orchid!”

When I tried to call Professor Plum to apologize.

My voice was scattered by countless handshake requests towards Professor Plum. Students who couldn’t wait until the next lecture surrounded Professor Plum with their curiosity.

There was no way I could fit in an apology in this situation…

‘I miss Brown….’

It was somewhat a sad day.

*

The core of the dungeon, which was once a closed mine.

Scarlet was checking the usage logs of the dungeon core there. Because she confirmed an excessive amount of magic consumption from the resource consumption data received from Slug.

Not that she was suspecting Slug. She just thought it was fastest to check herself.

And then, she discovered a peculiar record during her process of restoring the deleted logs.

[Magi conversion for magic casting and maintenance]

[Authorized by: The Four Heavenly Kings, Rain]

[Dungeon Boss Summoning]

[Authorized by: The Four Heavenly Kings, Rain]

Logs recorded approximately one month ago.

She could not understand why such records were left behind. After all, she, Scarlet, was the one who had been delegated the powers of Rain, who had been one of The Four Heavenly Kings.

Furthermore, this dungeon itself was strange.

Although it had been a forbidden dungeon at one time, there were too many collapsed areas. Traces that looked as though they had once melted and then hardened were left on the walls of the dungeon boss’ room. There was a giant magic circle on the floor that seemed different from the magic circles of humans she knew.

She once again checked the logs of the dungeon core.

‘Initiation and maintenance of magic… What kind of magic has been used?’

Quite a bit of magi had been used. This implies that either a large-scale magic was used or a magic where output increased in proportion to the magi was used.

And on top of that, a dungeon boss was summoned. The log suggests that the boss was killed immediately after being summoned for some reason. Either the boss encountered an existence too powerful for it to handle or… perhaps…

‘Was it used… as a sacrifice for the magic?’

If that was the case, it was highly likely to be black magic. A dangerous magic that was mostly prohibited in the underworld because of its wickedness. It’s ‘The Devil’s Power’ to borrow, an uncontrollable force.

The traces of magic circles, which did not belong to either human or devil magic, provided strength to her conjecture.

Black magic cast by using near large-scale magi as a medium and offering a boss-tier sacrifice.

And the ‘previously dead existence’ remaining in the logs.

The conclusion that could be drawn from these facts was something Scarlet found hard to believe.

“Rain… was a succubus?”

The place where Rain was killed by the hero was a dungeon nearby.

If after dying due to a deal with a succubus, Rain’s soul had been linked to the dead for just a moment? With the power of the succubus, tying a dead existence to the earth might not have been too difficult.

And Rain, using his power as one of The Four Heavenly Kings, stole the magic of the dungeon and triggered a new black magic. It’s likely that even the aftereffects of it had the potential to melt the surrounding space, a large-scale magic of a magnitude.

A mighty magic that the dead might have begged the succubus from lingering attachment.

That probably is.

“Resurrection…”

The shock that the person she believed in was a succubus, the fact that the resources of the underworld were recklessly exploited, didn’t matter anymore.

A glimmer of hope suddenly sprung up in Scarlet’s heart.

Of course, it’s a vain hope, an presupposition of a presupposition. There was no guarantee that the large-scale magic created with the power of the succubus was certainly a resurrection. It was unclear whether such a thing was possible. Records of resurrection using the power of the succubus were only part of an ancient legend.

But, what if, just what if, that speculation turned out to be true?

“Laine…”

A place for Laine’s return had to be prepared.

And, Laine had to be found.

By any means necessary.

Absolutely.

…

“Vice Leader Scarlet.”

“Secretary-General.”

“Pardon?”

“Call me Secretary-General. No one dares to act as a substitute for him.”

The day Laine’s traces were discovered.

Scarlet, declaring himself the eternal adjutant to Laine, changed his title to Secretary-General.

He argued it was fitting, given that his role was merely to oversee administrative duties.

“Understood, Secretary-General Scarlet.”

“Please gather all the demons with exceptional tracking abilities. Including those responsible for deception operations against the human realm.”

“I’ll summon them right away.”

A special unit was formed for the purpose of tracking Laine.

The unit was named ‘Raven.’ Officially, its mission was to search for Laine’s corpse.

However, the demons ordered by Scarlet knew better.

They understood that Scarlet sought not a corpse.

After all, no one with such a hopeful voice would earnestly request the retrieval of their loved one’s body.