Next Day ~
It was a Saturday morning, and I had just finished my usual morning training.
And now I was sitting on the sofa, eating my breakfast while Irethiel was watching anime, and across the sofa from me was Rose, her brow furrowed.
"Don't stare at me like that; if you want something to eat, you can make it for yourself," I said, pointing her in the direction of the kitchen.
"…."
"… Please don't tell me that the reason you called me to your Dorm room and said there was an emergency was for this?" Rose inquired, her voice irritated.
"Yes, it is an emergency because I want to embed a magical circle on myself before the tournament begins," I replied as I finished eating breakfast, got up from the couch, and headed for the kitchen.
"… Huh?, S-So you want to engrave the magical circle on yourself? And you want my assistance in doing so?" Rose inquired, giving me a skeptical look.
"That's correct; do you have any way of assisting me?" I asked.
"... Argg, I assumed something had happened to master because she wasn't responding to me. So I dashed here as quickly as I could.
But as I get here, I notice that she's engrossed in watching anime, while you, on the other hand, appear to have a death wish," Rose commented as she looked at Irethiel, who ignored her and continued to watch anime.
Irethiel retorted, "If I didn't respond to you, that means I'm busy, and I don't want to be bothered, you idiot fox."
"...."
"Hey Rose, I called you to consult about magic circles, not to listen to your tantrums," I said, staring at her blankly.
"This little bastard," Rose muttered inwardly.
"... Engraving a magic circle on oneself is not the simple task you believe it to be; that technique was lost centuries ago.
And the humans who tried to do so after that all ended up dead," Rose remarked.
"I understand what you're saying, but don't compare me to those idiots who had no idea what they were getting themselves into," I replied.
According to one of the ancient books I read, the key to engraving magic circles is to be adept at deciphering the runic language.
'Of course, no one is better than me at interpreting the language of the runes, because my universal language ability is a total cheat,' I thought to myself.
"... He is self-assured because he is skilled at comprehending. Don't ask any questions, and just let him do whatever he wanted to do," Irethiel said frustratedly, as she couldn't concentrate on watching anime while Rose was yapping.
"…."
"B-But, master, there's a chance he'll fail. And if he is unable to engrave a comprehensive magic circle in one go, he will die, which means you die with him as well," Rose said in a concerned voice.
"... You fool! Do you seriously think that this Devil is a suicidal maniac? He is the type who would trade the lives of everyone on the planet to save his own. And I assume he understands what he is attempting," Irethiel commented.
!?
"...I can't say if what you said is true,...but I can say for certain that I will someday exchange your life to save mine," I said with a smile as I gazed at Irethiel.
Irethiel was rendered speechless when she realized I didn't seem to be joking.
"…."
"A-Alright, you can do whatever you want, I have some rune books about the magic circle in my mansion from when I was examining magic circles, but I found it suicidal and dropped them at the time.
But I believe it will be of some help to you now," Rose said quickly as she noticed Irethiel's expression.
"What are we waiting for then let's go," I said, and walked toward the television where Irethiel was watching anime.
"... You two go by yourselves, I am busy," Irethiel said, returning her attention to the anime.
"…."
Tick!—
I immediately turned off the television and turned toward Irethiel.
!?
"W-What the hell!" Irethiel exclaimed as soon as I switched off the television.
"Let's go, demon; don't make me say it twice, or it won't be pleasant for you," I grinned as I looked at Irethiel.
"…."
"Tsk, it was about to get to an interesting part," Irethiel grumbled as she clicked her tongue.
But she quickly stood up and transformed into a crow, following us out of my dorm room.
As Rose and I exited the dorm building together, many students were perplexedly staring at us.
"...Don't ever call me to your dorm building again because I don't think it's appropriate to see a teacher leaving one of her students' rooms," Rose said grumpily as she felt the eyes of the onlookers' students on her.
But I couldn't help but laugh as I heard her.
"... Sure," I said, and we began walking toward her mansion.
***
We soon arrived at Rose's residence and took our seats in the study room, while Rose herself brought the vast stack of magic circles books she had previously mentioned.
"... When was the last time you used these books?" I inquired after noticing that the books were dusty.
"I'm not sure, maybe a few decades ago or something," Rose shrugged.
I quickly grabbed one of the dusty books and motioned it toward Irethiel before speaking.
"Hey, Irethiel, clean this up for me," I said as I kept my face neutral.
"…."
Meanwhile, Irethiel remained silent as she heard me and simply stared at me, her mouth partially open, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"...Did I hear you correctly?" Irethiel asked in a perplexed voice.
"Yes, you just seem to have too much free time since all you do is watch anime and comment on everyone every day.
So why not do some work now and then?" I nagged.
"...."
!?
"Y-You, Seriously? Give that book to me," Rose extended her hand toward me and asked as she noticed me nagging Irethiel like a mother.
As I handed the book to Rose, I remarked with a chuckle,
"Okay here, I don't care if either one of you cleans that dust anyway."
"...."
Rose quickly summoned her maid and ordered her maid to clean the dust from all of the books.
"... You should have done that sooner," Irethiel said as she looked at Rose.
"T-There are some important research books in here as well, so I didn't want anyone else to touch them, which is why I didn't let the maid clean it before," Rose tried to explain herself.
"…."
I ignored them and began flipping through one of the books; I'm not sure what language it was written in, but it took me longer to comprehend it than the other books.
"...So you can understand books written in any language, huh?" Roselia remarked and she began searching through the stack of books for something.
I decided not to respond to her and kept reading the books quickly because I couldn't find anything useful in the earlier volumes.
All of the books discuss information about various magical circles, but I couldn't find anything about how to implement it into oneself.
"Here— perhaps this is what you're looking for, as there appears to be a magic circle drawn in this scroll," Rose said, handing me a scroll.
"Hmm?"
And after taking the scroll from Rose, I just stood there and looked at it for a while.
A sizable magic circle can be seen on the scroll, but nothing was said about its purpose, so I wasn't sure what it was for.
"…."
"Is that actually it?" Irethiel and Rose both cast me a questioning look as they both focused on me.
"...Yes, this appears to be what I was looking for, but I'm unsure of the magic circle's function or its element," I said.
"It's like playing a gacha, huh?" Commented Rose.
"...What exactly is a gacha?" Irethiel enquired.
"It's like a mystery box; You won't know unless you open them," Rose elaborated.
"Oh, I get it now. So until you imprint that magic circle on yourself correctly, you won't understand what it does, right?" Irethiel asked.
"...Yes, that is correct. But it's a huge gamble because I can't undo it if the element in the scroll turns out to be useless," I said.
"… So? Ares, are you going to take that risk?" Rose asked with intrigue.
"Ares, think carefully about this because you will have to use that magic circle for the rest of your life.
Which option do you like to prefer? you can exit safely if you decide not to engrave that magic circle. Alternatively, you can take a chance and engrave that magic circle in the hopes that, with any luck, you might gain access to a great power," Irethiel said in a dramatic voice as if imitating some show host.
"…."
As soon as I heard her, I had a thought, "I ought to stop letting her watch so much anime."
"... Screw it! I really have nothing to lose. So I'm going to go for it," I declared with positivity.