“…Raymond.”
A mumbling voice.
A sound like a buzzing mosquito echoed incessantly in his ear.
‘What is that sound?’
Raymond is my last name, isn’t it?
Who could be calling me so desperately?
“…Raymond. Raymond!!”
No, listening again, it sounded less desperate and more… angry.
As the thought crossed his mind, the mumbling grew louder.
It was a voice that sounded strangely familiar.
Faint from having been heard long ago, but it was definitely a voice that existed in his memory.
And for some reason, that seemingly angry voice felt a little nostalgic.
‘Whose voice was that?’
The next moment.
Smack!
Stars burst before his eyes as Russell shot up. He instinctively shouted.
“Yes, sir!”
Blinking his eyes open, the surrounding scene finally came into view.
In front of him was an old mage who appeared to be middle-aged.
No, a professor.
And a large, green chalkboard.
Young students were scattered around him. It was a scene that definitely existed in his memory.
‘This is…?’
The scene from his student days, when he attended the Academy in the city of Walkerhill.
‘At the very least, this was more than four years ago…’
Before Russell could even come to his senses in his dazed state.
The voice that had woken him shouted once more.
“To fall asleep during my class, even if it’s a supplementary lesson. You’ve got some nerve.”
The professor’s stern gaze scanned him up and down before he uncrossed his arms.
“This is unlike you, but you’ll have to be punished all the same.”
He pointed a finger toward the door.
“Go stand outside until the lecture is over.”
Still unable to grasp the situation, Russell looked around as if seeing an illusion.
He lightly pinched his own cheek.
‘Ouch.’
A stinging sensation shot through his mind.
“Don’t tell me you still think you’re dreaming? I distinctly told you to get out.”
Displeased by the sight, the stern-eyed professor warned him again.
At the sharp voice, which matched his severe eyes, Russell headed out of the classroom.
Even as he did, he couldn’t stop tilting his head in confusion.
‘What is going on?’
I’m sure I was just at a museum.
I thought it might be a dream, but that didn’t seem right.
The tingling sensation on his cheek was definitely real.
‘Illusion magic, then?’
What if one of the many items stored in the museum had been real?
And what if that one item was causing this illusion?
It was a plausible theory, but Russell soon shook his head.
‘No.’
This type of illusion magic typically materializes only what exists in one’s memory.
Therefore, things not remembered in detail are usually rendered vaguely.
But what about the scene before him now?
‘For example, that stain.’
The stain on the floor in the hallway outside the classroom was distinctive, but it wasn’t something he had actively remembered.
He only recalled it because he was seeing it now.
‘In that case—’
Suddenly, a memory flashed through his mind.
Back when he was staring, mesmerized, at the Dragon Heart in the museum, he’d faintly heard someone’s voice at the very end.
For the sake of that myth, I grant you another chance.
The key phrase Russell focused on was ‘another life’.
And then, this sudden scene from the past.
‘I’ve returned to the past?’
Time regression. It was honestly unbelievable.
This kind of magic—
‘No, can this even be called magic?’
Tilting his head, Russell corrected his choice of words.
‘I’ve never heard of such an incomprehensible phenomenon existing.’
But he had no choice but to believe it.
While one could theorize about the results before one’s eyes, denying the results themselves was not a virtue for a mage.
‘I’ve returned to the past.’
By some unknown power, no less.
‘A mysterious power.’
Come to think of it, that wasn’t the only thing he’d heard at the end.
Besides the voice that spoke of another life, there was definitely one more.
‘Hmm.’
Fumbling through his memories, it wasn’t long before Russell recalled the content of that voice.
‘When the heart and the eye meet, another eye shall open. Will it not be a worthy cornerstone for a new myth? Or was it, it shall be?’
It was something along those lines.
‘The heart and the eye.’
The heart must be the Dragonkin’s heart. Then what about the eye?
‘Could it be?’
A thought struck him, and Russell fumbled at his chest—the very spot where he always kept his mother’s keepsake.
But.
‘It’s gone.’
He couldn’t feel the keepsake his mother had left him at all.
Instead, as if in its place, a black band was etched around the middle finger of his left hand, where he had worn the ring.
A tattoo in the shape of a ring, like two black strings twisted together.
‘Just as I thought.’
Just as he’d suspected.
The eye referred to the jewel set in his mother’s keepsake.
No wonder it had looked like a dragon’s eye. Just as Russell instinctively touched the ring-shaped tattoo…
Creeak—
The classroom door opened.
He looked up to see the professor who had sent him out.
‘Professor Hubert.’
He was looking down at Russell.
“This is unlike you. Falling asleep in class.”
Was it to maintain his impartiality as a professor?
He tried not to let his concerned tone show as he added.
“I think we need to have a little chat about today. Can you come to my office during lunch?”
“I… understand.”
Since he hadn’t finished processing his thoughts, Russell simply nodded for now.
Professor Hubert seemed to have more to say, humming briefly, but that was all.
He left with a, “I’ll be waiting, then.” As Russell watched him walk away, he was about to sink back into his thoughts.
“Hey!”
Smack!
The moment Professor Hubert was a safe distance away, a hand suddenly appeared and slapped the back of Russell’s head.
“What the hell was that for—!?”
His thoughts were interrupted again.
More annoyed by the interruption than by the pain or surprise, Russell whipped his head around.
He saw three Academy students, all slightly bigger than him, standing there.
They looked to be seventeen or eighteen.
“Ha! This bastard?”
Was it because Russell had yelled back at him?
Or was it because he didn’t like the glare in Russell’s eyes?
The boy standing in the middle twitched his eyebrow and stepped forward.
He glanced around furtively before turning back to Russell with an unconcealed sneer, growling.
“Follow me to the restroom. Now, you damn bastard.”
Then he and his friends started walking away.
Not before clenching a fist and swinging it, as if to warn of what would happen if Russell didn’t follow.
Russell let out a hollow laugh at the sight.
‘Right. This happened too.’
He didn’t know how he had returned to the past.
But just because he was back in the past didn’t mean he had to live the same life as before.
Doing so would only lead to a repeat of his previous, largely unchanged life, and he had no intention of letting that happen. He was no longer the Russell of the past.
This was the twenty-five-year-old Russell, hardened by several years of failing grades and a few more as a freelancer.
So.
‘I don’t need to grovel before punks like you.’
The moment he made up his mind.
[Mission]
Escape the Bullying.
Teach the three classmates who are bullying you a harsh lesson.
Suddenly, a translucent window of light materialized in the air.
Fwoosh
[Reward]
Lowest-Grade Magic Stone (Edible).
‘Huh?’
*
Was he still half-asleep and seeing things?
If not, then what was this?
The translucent green window before his eyes was enough to make Russell wonder.
A window unlike any he had ever seen in his life.
Mission?
Reward?
According to the text, completing the mission would grant him the reward listed below.
‘But who?’
Moreover, the reward offered was a ‘Lowest-Grade Magic Stone (Edible).’
He could understand the word ‘Lowest-Grade’ attached to the front, as it was used to classify the rank of an object or entity, but—
‘An edible magic stone?’
A magic stone.
Also known as a mana stone, it was, quite literally, a stone containing mana.
‘Of course, I’ve heard that the higher the grade, the purer the mana becomes, bearing less resemblance to an actual stone.’
Even so, the fact remained that their fundamental form was that of a stone or a gem.
And he had never heard of anyone, anywhere on the continent, using magic stones for consumption.
After all, not even the barbarian tribes scattered across the continent would chew on rocks for a meal.
‘Is one of the professors playing a prank on me?’
This wasn’t a prank an ordinary Academy student could pull off.
But if it wasn’t them.
The professors, skilled enough to belong to the Magic Tower, would certainly have the talent for a prank of this scale.
‘Professor Hubert is one of them…’
But Russell quickly dismissed his own speculation.
The more he thought about it, the less sense it made.
‘No matter how bored they were, a professor wouldn’t play this kind of prank on a student.’
Even if there were a reason, they wouldn’t go to such lengths just to prank him.
After all, the him of this era was—
‘A failing student who might not even graduate…’
That was why he was stuck at the Academy during winter break, taking supplementary lessons.
‘Supplementary lessons were held during the break for underachieving students with low grades.’
Why would anyone go to the trouble of pranking such a student?
If he had to guess the time period, it was just before he was supposed to advance to his final year.
It seemed to be the winter break after finishing his third year.
‘So my failing grade hadn’t been confirmed yet.’
By age, he would have just turned eighteen.
In that case, there was still a chance.
‘At this age, I can alleviate this damned curse.’
Even more so than in my past life!
Of course, it would have been better if he were younger. The method Russell knew was more effective at a younger age.
However.
‘I’ve already miraculously returned to the past.’
Wishing for more would be greedy. He indulged in that small hope for a moment.
“What are you doing, not following?”
“You’re not thinking of running away, are you? It’s not like you can hide anywhere but inside the Academy.”
When Russell didn’t follow, two of the three who had been heading to the restroom—the ones flanking the leader—turned and shouted at him.
Their voices snapped Russell out of his reverie, and he slowly nodded.
‘First things first…’
Dealing with those three was the priority.
Mission or no mission.
Reward or no reward.
He had just decided he wouldn’t live like before.