"Did you hear? Shadow showed up on the island yesterday."
"What? Seriously?"
"Hurry up and tell us, why did Shadow appear?"
"I heard..."
...
"Heh... hahaha..."
Sitting in the corner of the classroom and listening to the discussions around him, Cid had not meant to laugh, but he still ended up laughing out loud.
"What are you laughing at? You're laughing way too hard."
Asagi Aiba, sitting beside him, looked at Cid curiously.
She felt she knew him fairly well. After all, he was one of the few friends she had known for a whole year.
Sure, this friend of hers did strange things from time to time. He never paid attention in magic class, had zero interest in socializing, acted nothing like a noble despite being one, and treated her like an information source. But no matter what, he usually kept a calm, indifferent expression on his face. This was the first time she had ever seen him unable to hold back his laughter, so of course she was curious.
"I'm not laughing at anythi... no, actually, there is something. Asagi, have you heard what they're saying about Shadow appearing here yesterday?"
He had been about to brush Asagi Aiba off like usual, but then it hit him that there was no reason to hide this from her.
On the contrary, he needed to use Asagi Aiba to find out the latest news. If even someone as well informed as her acknowledged it, then the news of Shadow's appearance had already spread all over Itogami Island at the very least, if not the entire world. So he changed course immediately.
"So that's what you were laughing about. Yeah, it is pretty funny, but was it really funny enough to make you laugh like that? Wait, how did you even know about it? I haven't told you yet!"
A puzzled look appeared on Asagi Aiba's face, and then she quickly caught on.
Cid was always the one asking her for information, but this time she had not even mentioned it yet, and he already knew.
"It's because... wait, what did you say? Funny?"
Cid ignored the second half of what Asagi Aiba said. That was just his useful tool getting carried away again. What he cared about was the word funny. Was what happened yesterday really that funny?
"...You don't even know what you're laughing about?"
"Shadow showing up is funny? Was I supposed to laugh?"
The two stared at each other, both completely lost about what the other was talking about. In the end, Asagi Aiba decided the information they had received was probably different, so she pulled up a page on her computer.
"What we heard might not be the same. Just look at the news the Gigafloat Management Corporation released today."
Cid leaned closer to the screen.
"Last night, the world wanted criminal Shadow broke into the Keystone Gate and caused a massive explosion in an attempt to destroy Itogami Island, but was ultimately driven back by the heroic guards..."
Cid stopped reading right there.
Making things up was one thing, but this was ridiculous.
"See? Pretty funny, right?"
After showing him the article, Asagi Aiba said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Are the Gigafloat Management Corporation's PR people idiots? They actually dared to publish something like this. What's even more ridiculous is that a lot of people actually believe it."
Noticing that Cid was still silent, Asagi Aiba thought for a moment, then seemed to suddenly realize something and continued.
"Cid, I'm guessing the version you heard was not that the guards drove Shadow back, but that after the Fourth Primogenitor lost to Shadow, Shadow left on his own. Right?"
Asagi Aiba narrowed her eyes and looked at Cid suspiciously.
That look finally snapped him back to attention.
It was a very familiar look. Whenever someone suspected he was hiding something, they always looked at him like that.
It really was suspicious. He, a mob character, did not know the version already spreading everywhere, yet he did know something that could practically be called confidential.
"Yeah. My sister told me."
Calmly and skillfully, Cid dumped the blame onto his sister, then began reflecting on himself. Had he been getting a little too careless lately?
"Oh..."
After hearing his explanation, Asagi Aiba immediately understood. At the same time, she found it funny that she had just briefly suspected Cid might have some secret identity.
"I had no idea you and your sister were that close. She even tells you stuff like that. I'm honestly jealous."
"Yeah... ha, haha, my sister and I do have a pretty good relationship... I think."
Thinking about how he and Claire usually interacted, Cid could not help sounding a little uncertain by the end.
"Since you already know the truth behind the explosion, want to watch the video of Shadow fighting the Fourth Primogenitor? It took me a lot of effort to get it."
A lot of effort? Are you sure you did not just hack into the Gigafloat Management Corporation's system and copy it?
Seeing the smug look on Asagi Aiba's face, Cid grumbled inwardly, but on the surface he put on an eager smile.
He was still very curious how well the cameras had captured it. If bad filming lowered the Eminence in Shadow's prestige, then next time he made an entrance, he would just destroy the cameras first.
"Yeah, of course I do."
"Heh, wait a second. Rossweisse-chan is here."
At some point, Rossweisse had already walked up to the podium. She did not look too good, though. She seemed drained and listless, to the point that it was a little worrying.
"Just send it to me. You know I'm not really interested in Rossweisse-chan's cla..."
"Students, some of you may already know this, but just to be safe, we will not be covering magic today. Instead, we will be discussing the notice Netheril released this morning regarding the Magic Intellectual Property Protection Act."
"I'm very interested. Asagi, let's watch it together later. For now, we should focus on class."
"Uh..."
Watching Cid suddenly become full of energy the moment Rossweisse mentioned Netheril, Asagi Aiba let out a confused sound.
"Cid, are you interested in Netheril?"
"Shh, shh, shh... pay attention in class."
Hearing that, Asagi Aiba became even more certain that Cid was very interested in Netheril, so she turned her attention back to Rossweisse.
After all, whether it was the profession Rossweisse showed on the surface or the real profession she kept hidden, both could be classified as a type of spellcaster.
And for any spellcaster, Netheril was something impossible to ignore.
As everyone knew, one of the titles of the Netheril Emperor, Roland Augustus, was God of Magic. His full title was God of All Arcane Truth.
...
"...
Unless it is being used on a world battlefield, anyone who uses Netheril's official spell formulas without Netheril's permission will be sued in Netheril's Supreme Court...
If the defendant refuses to appear in court or refuses to comply with the court's ruling, Netheril will employ special measures to defend its lawful rights and interests.
That concludes the notice issued by Netheril this morning.
Students, does anyone have any questions?"
After reading it aloud in a listless voice, Rossweisse let the class discuss it freely.
The students below were all stunned.
Which made sense. Even someone like Cid, who knew almost nothing about the magic world, understood what this meant.
When Netheril was first established, it had released a huge amount of upgraded foundational magic knowledge covering the major magic systems. Along with that, it had even included a book called How to Replace Basic Formulas in Large Scale Magic.
These upgraded foundational formulas were not only simpler than the originals, but also more efficient and more powerful. Before long, they had been adopted by major powers everywhere, replacing the old foundational formulas inside large scale magic.
It was not as if no one had ever questioned why Netheril was being so generous.
But once people saw that replacing the foundational formulas made their magic a full thirty percent stronger, even those suspicious of Netheril had no choice but to follow along. The pressure from everyone else upgrading their formulas forced them into the same race.
Now they finally understood why Netheril had been so generous.
Netheril was trying to take their money.
No, this was even faster than robbery.
By now, nearly every major force had already replaced their old, outdated foundational formulas with Netheril's more advanced upgraded versions.
In other words, if Netheril really intended to enforce this, then every major power only had three options. Either pay up obediently, switch all their formulas back to the old versions, or somehow achieve what Netheril had done and redesign foundational magic themselves.
The last two options were hardly worth considering.
You might think modifying foundational formulas sounds simple, but the truth was that no matter how large or profound a spell was, it was still built from foundational formulas.
Switching back would be asking for disaster.
Using Netheril's formulas consumed less Magical Power than the original versions while producing even greater power. What kind of force would be foolish enough to weaken its own magical strength by thirty percent just to save money?
No wonder Rossweisse looked completely defeated, and the magic students below sat there in stunned silence as if their brains had just been struck blank.
"Rossweisse-sensei, I want to ask something. What exactly are the 'special measures' Netheril mentioned? Are they serious?"
Faced with the situation, the students quickly recovered. As expected of children from powerful families, the first idea that popped into their minds was figuring out how to avoid paying.
"Uh... I actually have a case here. After Netheril released the notice for the Magic Intellectual Property Protection Act, Norse Mythology was the first to step forward and declare that Netheril's behavior was unreasonable and that they would not accept such a law.
Half an hour later, Netheril released a series of anti Norse magic spheres for sale, including anti Rune and anti Gandr types. They also leaked a design blueprint for a spell that could break the Norse barrier.
Not long after that, Norse Mythology announced that they accepted Netheril's Magic Intellectual Property Protection Act. They also stated that their barrier had encountered some issues and needed urgent replacement, and asked all factions to stay away from the Norse barrier region during that time.
Heh... hehehe... so what if they have a God of Magic. Treating magical knowledge like a money making tool... what kind of followers of the God of Magic are they? Doesn't the God of Magic control his own followers?"
The further Rossweisse spoke, the darker her expression became. By the end, she sounded exactly like someone bitterly complaining about grapes she could not reach.
Which made sense. Her homeland had just been forced to pay up by another faction. Anyone would be furious.
"Rossweisse-chan, I want to ask what Netheril's charging standard is."
After hearing the lesson from Norse Mythology, the students understood that avoiding the payment was impossible. So they shifted to asking how much it would cost. If the price was not too outrageous, they would rather just pay it.
"Individual mages must obtain a corresponding usage license by paying fees according to their rank and the spells they use. The lowest level license costs five hundred thousand zeni per month. The higher the level, the higher the price. After reaching a certain level, the fee is calculated as a percentage of the user's income or spending.
Large scale spells that cannot be cast by a single person and the magical research expenses of various factions will be calculated separately."
Rossweisse's voice trembled as she spoke. She looked like she was about to faint.
As an S rank mage, she would be paying the highest fixed tier.
"Hiss..."
Hearing that, every mage in the room sucked in a cold breath.
I'm very sorry, Rossweisse-sensei. Even I did not expect those former terrorists, now Netheril attack mages and witches, to have laid this trap a whole year ago. If I had known earlier, I definitely would not have opened the library to them.
But now... what is done is done. Just treat it like spending money in a game to get stronger. I will pray that the amount you have to pay is not too high.
While everyone else was still shocked by the news, Cid quietly prayed for Rossweisse from the back of the classroom.