Title: Papers
Text:
Late at night. I am in my study, writing.
—[On the Strategic Application of Knights Through Aerial Descent]—
I. The Concept and Utility of Knightly Aerial Assault
Knightly Aerial Assault is an operational concept wherein a knight is transported to a point above a target via a high-altitude transport, then deployed via free-fall to strike directly at an enemy’s core or key personnel. This offers the following strategic advantages:
- Overcoming the limitations of time and space: Regardless of the advance speed of ground forces, a knight can appear on any battlefield within the Empire’s territory in a matter of hours. This forces an unpredictable threat upon the enemy command structure…
I was writing, with a fountain pen, what could easily become a textbook for Empire Point.
II. Methods of Knightly Assault
—Knightly Aerial Assault must be applied with flexibility. To have every knight descend in a single, standardized fashion is as inefficient as wielding every unique masterwork sword like a simple hammer. The method of descent must be segmented and specialized according to each knight’s individual disposition, talent, unique mana properties, and mission objective.
The methods are diverse. One could, like myself, cut down the enemy in a single moment’s assault, or one could infiltrate silently to disrupt the enemy’s rear.
—To discover the optimal strategy suited to each knight’s specialty and to perfectly execute it in a real combat situation requires, without fail, a systematic, multi-year training program. This is not about simply teaching one how to jump; it is about mastering control over one’s mana and body in a high-altitude environment, and drilling the specialized tactics suited to each archetype.
[Reference Case: Decapitation of Red-Listed Fugitive, Dun Khan]
I put down my pen for a moment and stretched. A pile of applications for the assault training session had accumulated on one side of my desk. Most of the younger, less experienced knights had submitted one. It seemed this recent case had created quite a positive stir.
“You look tired, Sir Knight.”
Lorenzo appeared from between the tall bookshelves of the study. He too looked quite fatigued as he presented a thick stack of papers.
More paper.
Paper, paper, paper. My work these days was drowning in it.
“The theoretical treatise on the ‘Aura Sphere’ is complete.”
I picked up Lorenzo’s paper.
“The mana formulas are incredibly dense.”
It was fascinating. Lorenzo had perfectly organized the flow of mana in the ‘Aura Sphere’ formed by the virus, using intricate mana formulas.
“You’ve worked hard.”
“It was hardly work. I merely translated the concept you created, Sir Knight, into the proper language.”
Lorenzo gave a faint smile.
“Hundreds, even thousands of mana formulas are needed to construct a single technique. They are the methodologies for drawing the circuits. However, many knights move their mana by instinct, without such logic. Like you, Sir Maximillian.”
I listened to his words in silence.
“We scholars call that ‘intuition.’ I have simply transcribed your intuition in a way that is as easy as possible for others to understand.”
Lorenzo adjusted his glasses and spoke.
“Well then, Sir Maximillian. Shall we go out and conduct a test?”
“…Let’s.”
I stepped outside.
Late at night. I stood on the training grounds, grasping a mana stone and infusing it with my power.
In that moment, the mana stone radiated an aura, creating a transparent sphere next to my body.
“According to the calculations, the sphere’s size is determined not by the user’s body surface area, but by the purity of the mana stone and the knight’s own mana capacity.”
Meaning a taller, larger knight would require a bigger, more expensive mana stone.
I nodded in satisfaction.
“Now, where should we submit this paper?”
“If it is a technique for knights to use, then the Imperial Central Mana Graduate School. The magicologists there will analyze the paper.”
The Imperial Central Mana Graduate School. Mages and magicologists seemed similar at a glance, but they were fundamentally different.
Magic is the art of causing a phenomenon by ‘interpreting’ and ‘transmuting’ primordial mana through one’s internal mana circuits. A mage uses their own willpower and imagination as a catalyst, restructuring the mana within their body according to specific formulas and sigils.
In other words, magic is the ‘fusion of mana and the human spirit,’ a deeply personal and internal domain. This is why the Mage Towers deal only in magic.
Magicology, on the other hand, is the academic field that delves into the workings of mana itself. It investigates only the ‘principles of mana.’
That is why the virus within me is closer to magicology. It reacts only to mana itself, communicating to me an ‘intuition’ about the true nature of that pure energy.
“That place is filled with scholars who are practically mad, dedicating their entire lives solely to theory. True magicologists. If we gain their approval, it can be officially published as a ‘theoretical treatise.’”
“I see. In that case.”
I handed Lorenzo a check.
“A bonus.”
“That is unnecessary. What more do I need money for? However… if you would allow me to build a small school in the city you are building, Sir Knight. It would be for the other children who have talent but lack opportunity.”
Lorenzo seemed truly passionate about fostering the next generation.
“Yes. I will see to it.”
“Thank you.”
Lorenzo stood up straight, leaning on his staff. I stood beside him and looked up at the night sky.
We stood there for a moment, simply watching the scenery.
“Lorenzo. The Empire is preparing for war.”
Suddenly, I felt the urge to say these things.
“And I have no intention of avoiding that war. On the contrary… I am going to cleanse a race.”
Lorenzo looked at me with startled eyes. I gave a bitter smile.
“As an intellectual, you may find it utterly unacceptable.”
Lorenzo was silent for a moment before asking.
“Sir Maximillian… do you believe that to be the right thing to do?”
The right thing.
In the face of survival, all other values are meaningless.
A person who chooses death to protect their morals or ethics is worthy of respect, but the stakes that have been placed on the board without our knowledge are far greater than a mere individual’s death.
It is the extinction of humanity.
“Yes. It is right. It will be right for all eternity.”
Lorenzo stared at my conviction. The eyes of the aged genius still held the light of stars.
“Nevertheless, if the day comes when the scholar Lorenzo can no longer justify the actions of the knight Maximillian, when you find it utterly unbearable, then please, tell me honestly. I will explain to you the basis for my righteousness without leaving anything out. In exchange.”
I met his gaze and continued in a low voice.
“On that day, you must believe every word I say.”
Today, there was a special event on my schedule.
A charity event hosted by the Empire’s nobility—but in truth, the charity was a mere pretense. It was a party where society’s leaders, including nobles, knights, mages, politicians, and soldiers, gathered to foster connections.
I had accepted the invitation to attend, but my purpose was not such pointless schmoozing.
Isenheim.
I would root out the ones hiding here.
“We have arrived, Sir Knight.”
I stepped out of the car in my formal knight’s uniform. The guards at the entrance did not even bother to inspect my identification. They took one look at my face and my uniform, then bowed respectfully and opened the way.
Within the mansion’s vast gardens, various charity booths had been set up. It was all arranged to look like a real charity event. The ‘Wounded Veterans Support Foundation,’ the ‘Children’s Rights Protection Group,’ and other such booths were lined up.
I scanned them as I walked further inside.
“Max!”
A familiar voice called out to me. It was Ezel. She ran over, a strange cocktail in one hand.
“You should take better care of your skin. Look at those dark circles—”
“Be quiet and come here. We need to talk.”
Ezel dragged me by the arm to a more secluded corner of the garden.
“I’ve secured a reasonable hypothesis. About the Mind Eaters.”
“Then you should have contacted me sooner.”
“It wasn’t that simple. I’ve been cooped up in the Mage Tower this whole time, running experiments. I might have been found out.”
“What are you talking about?”
Ezel glanced around and whispered.
“It means we might be being watched.”
I paused for a moment. I extended my senses, sweeping them across the party grounds.
There weren’t many people yet. It wasn’t peak time—the evening—after all.
“First, just listen. Act like we’re having a normal conversation.”
I took the cocktail from Ezel and nodded.
Meanwhile, on the 10th floor of the Imperial Central Mana Graduate School. In a place where an entire floor was used as the [Thesis Review Office], a certain scholar had just finished analyzing a paper.
Tap, tap—he squared the edges of the 100-page document, then rose from his seat and stood before the sorting bins.
| Top Tier | High | Upper-Mid | Mid | Lower-Mid | Low | Lowest Tier |
Without hesitation, he dropped it into the ‘Lowest Tier’ bin.
It meant, ‘Not even worth a second look.’
Just as he was dusting off his hands to turn away…
“A newly submitted paper.”
A new thesis was delivered, just in time. It was a rare hardcover edition, wrapped in high-quality cloth.
The scholar asked, “A paper from a noble house?”
Usually, the children of prestigious families favored this kind of flashy packaging. Wanting to look impressive out of youthful vanity. Truly innovative talents, engrossed only in their theories, couldn’t be bothered with such externals.
“Yes. It is a noble house. Look at the name.”
The scholar checked the name. Maximillian von Ebenholz.
「A Proposal for a Knightly Technique from Maximillian Ebenholz: The Aura Sphere」
Knights were generally not experts in handling mana. They were the ones who utilized the theories and techniques created by scholars. Of course, some among them possessed a more scholarly disposition. They were not to be taken lightly.
“Hm.”
As a reviewer, his curiosity was piqued.
The weight of the name ‘Ebenholz’ was a factor.
The scholar opened the first page. He didn’t bother returning to his desk. He stood right there and began to read, assuming it would be over quickly.
Tick. Tock. Tick-tock.
The scholar turned the pages, one by one.
Contrary to his expectations, he was not reading quickly. He realized this was a paper that required time and sincere effort.
Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
Countless scholars and graduate students came and went around him, but he remained rooted to the spot. His eyes were fixed only on the paper.
“….”
Suddenly, he moved, heading for the copy room. He placed the paper on the copier and infused it with mana. The single volume was instantly duplicated into dozens of copies.
The scholar was about to turn and leave, but he paused and counted the copies.
“Ten, twenty, thirty…”
He was estimating demand.
There were hundreds of graduate students residing at the university, but factoring in the floating population of scholars from other nations and the occasional mages who were granted entry…
“Hm…”
He went back into the copy room and made exactly 100 more copies.
The scholar returned to his desk with the stack. At the other desks in the open-plan office, other scholars were engrossed in their own work.
He piled the papers in front of, behind, and beside his own desk like a mountain.
“Ahem.”
Then, he picked up a loudspeaker.
“Announcing the distribution of a theoretical paper on a knightly technique, the ‘Aura Sphere,’ submitted by the 0-year knight, Maximillian of House Ebenholz.”
Most of the scholars seemed uninterested.
“It is a theoretical paper on a technique that concepts the emission of a knight’s aura in a transparent, spherical form by grafting it onto a mana stone.”
He had no desire to give a long-winded explanation either. He didn’t want to waste time.
He immediately sat down and began his analysis of the paper.
The scholar’s focus, concentrating solely on the circuits that composed the technique, the mana formulas that formed the circuits—
“One copy, please.”
Suddenly, another scholar approached. He couldn’t remember the name, but the face was familiar, the expression one of perpetual boredom.
Perhaps he’d come over out of boredom, having no interesting papers to analyze.
“Take it.”
After that, he tried to immerse himself again in the Ebenholz treatise.
He scribbled with his pen on the paper, continuing the endless calculations in his head—
“May I have one?”
A third scholar came and asked.
“Yes. Take one.”
He handed over a copy and tried to focus on the technique again, but it wasn’t long before another came.
“Can I take one?”
The fourth scholar broke his concentration.
The scholar, frowning, finally picked up the loudspeaker again.
“Announcing again. Maximillian’s ‘Aura Sphere.’ Don’t ask, just take one.”
“Yes.”
Only then did the interruptions from the other scholars cease.
He poured all of his focus into the 「Aura Sphere」. It was certainly worth the effort.
Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
How many tens of minutes passed like that?
Or perhaps, how many hours had flowed by?
“….”
He stood up from his seat. No matter how much of a scholar one was, being human, one could not hold back a physiological urge.
He ran to the washroom to relieve himself.
He returned in a flash, not even bothering to wash his hands, but a problem had occurred.
His desk was completely empty.
“Hmph.”
Someone had stolen the paper he had been in the middle of analyzing.
The scholar felt less anger than he did sheer frustration.
“Ahem.”
He picked up the loudspeaker once again.
“Will the individual who illicitly took the paper from Desk 108 please return it. I repeat. I will make as many copies of the paper as you wish, so will the individual who illicitly took the paper from Desk 108 please return it immediately. If you do not return it, you will be subject to the Mana Graduate School’s internal disciplinary procedures…!”