I Was a Dropout Who Couldn’t Use Magic for 16 Years, but Then I Remembered My Past Life as a Scientist and Became OP in Another World - Chapter 9

“Dinner in my room?”

I couldn’t help but ask for clarification.

“Yes, Carla will bring it to your room. Lord Dawson has requested that you take tonight’s dinner in your own quarters.”

“Ah, I see.”

I nodded in understanding.

Gail, the butler, stood just outside the door, looking down at me with his usual emotionless eyes.

“This is an important occasion for Johann and the Narazario family. I hope you understand.”

“I do. Johann is precious to me, too. I’ll stay quietly in my room.”

“Very well.”

Without a sound, Gail gently closed the door and left.

I sat down on the bed, letting out a small sigh.

So much for getting dressed up, I thought.

I understood what they were getting at.

Having the incompetent eldest son at such an important dinner would probably ruin the cheerful mood. And frankly, I’d rather not be there, enduring awkward glances while trying to eat.

But that’s the conclusion Yoichi Yamada could come to easily.

Ronnie F. Narazario couldn’t help but think otherwise.

If only I had been a little more talented.

Maybe I couldn’t be as brilliant as Johann, but if I had at least been average, I could have joined the family for meals without feeling so out of place.

I lay down on the bed and, surprisingly, realized how tired I was.

I woke up this morning, pored over magic books with Johann’s help, ran into Lady Fiolette at the entrance, went to the shrine, and met a spirit. No wonder I was exhausted.

Wait, what was that third event? How could I list meeting Fiolette and encountering a spirit side by side like it was normal? The guy who was fretting over the laws of physics this morning now has a date set to meet with a being of legend? If I handed this in as a journal entry, my teacher would throw my diary back in my face.

I rolled over on the bed.

The spirit had said that the current world had only scratched the surface of magic, leaving much undiscovered. That was frustrating, he said.

If that was true, it was great news for me.

There’s nothing more thrilling to a scientist than a subject with untapped potential. Even though it was a spirit that had said so, the relationship between gravity and magic power, the origin of water conjuration, and the principles behind the other elements—there was so much to discover.

The path ahead was long.

Even if I spent my whole life as Ronnie unraveling it, I might not finish…

But that’s exactly why it’s worth it. Science is about… incremental progress.

Patience is key…

――――。

――――。

〇

I awoke to the faint sound of someone talking in the distance.

When I opened my eyes, the room was pitch dark, and through the window, I could see stars twinkling in the night sky.

“So I ended up falling asleep after all… Hm? What time is it?”

Still groggy, I dragged myself out of bed and turned on the light.

That’s when I noticed a tray of dinner on the desk.

“Carla must have brought it. Sorry to have kept you waiting.”

I grabbed the somewhat dried-out bread on the tray and washed it down with water.

Judging by the silence and the fact that the other rooms were dark, it was probably around two or three in the morning. Since I had fallen asleep around dinnertime, I must have slept for at least five hours.

Back in my previous world, waking up in the middle of the night meant watching TV until I dozed off again, but in this world, there’s nothing to do at this hour.

That’s when I remembered what had woken me up in the first place.

I had heard voices, hadn’t I?

I peeked into the hallway. The corridor was pitch black, with no signs of anyone being awake.

I returned to my room and then opened the window that faced the backyard.

—

“…”

“…”

The voices seemed to be coming from outside. But the tall grass and trees blocked my view, so I couldn’t see anyone.

For context, my room was somewhat isolated from the other family members’ rooms, located at the far end of the second floor. It was the only room facing the backyard, apart from a few servants’ quarters.

“Who could be talking at this time of night…? Oh, wait. It must be those two.”

That’s when I remembered that Johann and Marduk had planned to spar in the backyard tonight.

“Johann wouldn’t be happy if he found out I was watching, but honestly, I’m curious.”

A duel between a skilled knight and the boy hailed as a prodigy.

A firsthand demonstration of magic not found in any books.

It’s not something I’d get the chance to see often.

I wanted to see it. I had to see it.

Deciding that it was worth staying up a little longer, I resolved to sneak a peek at their secret duel.

—

“I see you came.”

Johann was the first to speak, addressing Marduk as he approached with a weary look.

“…I was hoping you’d changed your mind. It really isn’t proper to be up at this hour.”

“Hehe, I was too excited to sleep.”

Beneath the starry sky, the two were bathed in the soft moonlight filtering through the tree branches.

Johann ground his heel into the earth, testing his footing.

“Well, let’s get this started and over with. If anyone sees us, I’ll be in trouble too.”

“Indeed. Just to reiterate, this is a one-time deal. No encores.”

“I’m not that persistent. As long as you give it your all.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

I had snuck out the backdoor, hiding behind a large rock a few meters away. Their conversation was just barely audible, and the darkness made it difficult to make out their figures. It wasn’t the best setup for observing magic, but getting caught would be a problem for both of them, so I had to make do.

“The rules are simple: knockout or surrender. Since we don’t want to make any noise, no swordplay. Also, no excessive damage to the trees in the garden. Violating these rules will result in an automatic disqualification.”

Marduk unsheathed his sword and set it against a nearby tree. Johann followed suit.

“No swordplay is fine, but… It’s not like you’ll intentionally lose by breaking the rules early, right?”

“If that would satisfy you, I wouldn’t have agreed to this match in the first place.”

“Fair enough.”

“Let’s begin when the moon emerges from behind that cloud.”

“Got it.”

Looking up, I saw thick clouds slowly covering the full moon, plunging the area into near-total darkness.

—

“…”

The silence became so tense that I feared my own swallow might be heard.

The only sound was the faint rustling of the leaves in the wind.

Looking back toward the estate, about 20 meters away, I could see the dark silhouette of the mansion. No lights were on. From here, I could spot the far-right window of my room on the second floor. I marveled at how I had been able to hear their faint voices earlier.

A gust of wind brushed past my feet, speeding up the movement of the clouds above. The moon began peeking out from behind the cloud cover.

—

“…”

“…”

I could feel the tension in the air as both Johann and Marduk tensed their bodies.

The moment the moonlight hit the backyard, both of them kicked off the ground at almost the same time.

I still couldn’t see their figures clearly, but the difference in their shadows gave me enough to go by.

Johann made the first move.

As he lunged forward, his right hand glowed faintly with magic power. The brief flash of light—much more noticeable in the darkness—quickly transformed into a water sphere that shot toward Marduk’s head.

And it wasn’t just one; three water projectiles in total were sent flying at him.

Marduk, who had jumped backward as soon as the match began, dodged Johann’s attack with minimal movement, clearly anticipating the first strike. The water orbs hit the trees and ground, evaporating into the air as splashes of water.

Marduk barely glanced at the aftermath.

In that moment, Johann was already launching his next attack.

This time, he jumped upwards.

A 12-year-old boy shouldn’t be able to jump that high on his own, but Johann leaped about two meters into the air, executing a spinning kick toward Marduk’s head.

But Marduk ducked, dodging the kick with perfect timing, as if he had predicted the move.

“—!”

Johann, surprised that his attack had missed, almost let out a sound.

But he was now mid-air, and recovering from a missed attack would take time.

Though Marduk had focused on dodging so far, he saw his chance.

From his crouched position, he struck out with a palm aimed directly at Johann’s exposed abdomen.

“Pardon me.”

The dull, heavy sound of impact echoed as Johann’s body was sent flying backward.

“Gah…!”

He must have flown at least five meters.

Johann crashed into a tree at the edge of the backyard, letting out a groan. A few of the leaves overhead rained down from the impact.

I instinctively stood up, worried that he might have broken a bone.

But Marduk, the one who had delivered the blow, sounded genuinely impressed.

“Well done, Johann-sama…!”

“…Thanks.”

Johann slowly twisted his neck and stood up, replying to the compliment. Judging by his recovery, the impact hadn’t been as severe as it looked.

“Deploying water magic behind your back to cushion the blow—impressive reaction time. And your leap using the second water spell was equally commendable.”

“We’re still in the middle of a match. Save your comments for afterward.”

“Of course.”

With that short exchange, the two of them resumed their fighting stances.

Relieved that Johann was okay, I replayed Marduk’s words in my head.

Johann had cushioned the impact by deploying water magic behind his back. From my angle, I hadn’t been able to see it, but it seemed he had used water magic as a cushion when he hit the tree.

He had also used it to launch himself into the air earlier, boosting his jump with water magic under his feet.

It seemed I wasn’t entirely wrong when I had asked if magic could be cast from places other than the palm. Johann had been oddly hesitant to answer me back then, and I wondered now if he had been trying to downplay his abilities for my sake.

In any case, I had just witnessed a far more advanced and practical use of magic than anything I had read about in books.

Just that alone made sneaking out worth it.

—

“I’m coming.”

Marduk rushed toward Johann, who still seemed somewhat slowed by the earlier impact.

Johann retaliated by firing off another round of water magic, but Marduk dodged it effortlessly. When Marduk was just two steps away, he swung his right hand upward in an underhanded strike.

Of course, his fist didn’t connect.

However, a flash of light enveloped his hand, and once again, a dull, heavy sound reverberated through the air.

This time, Johann was lifted off the ground as if struck by an invisible force.

A moment later, the tree branches above them swayed violently as if disturbed by a gust of wind.

—

Ah, I see. He’s a wind magic user.

I finally understood.

Wind magic was still uncharted territory in my research, but I knew it involved manipulating the air. My current hypothesis was that it leveraged differences in temperature, but Marduk’s attack just now clearly went beyond that.

Instead of simply creating wind, it felt as though he had struck Johann with a compressed mass of air.

—

A direct blow to the jaw.

Even to the untrained eye, it was a hit severe enough to cause concern for brain damage.

If I’d been in Johann’s place, the memories I’d regained from my past life would have been knocked right out of me again.

—

“Hm?”

Marduk seemed perplexed by what he saw.

Johann, who should have been in front of him, had vanished. In front of him was only the tree Johann had been flung into earlier. Marduk glanced around, unsure of when he had lost track of his opponent.

And then, a much louder, heavier sound echoed through the backyard.

In that moment, Johann, who had been missing, landed on the ground.

I realized then that Johann had leapt up into the tree’s branches after being hit. He had used the momentum from his previous attack to launch himself back down, delivering a counter strike imbued with wind magic.

Marduk staggered as Johann’s blow connected with the top of his head.

“—!”

“Finally, I landed a hit!”

Johann, clutching his bruised jaw, shouted gleefully.

“…Truly impressive…!”

While I couldn’t see Marduk’s face clearly from my hiding spot, I could hear the admiration in his voice, even through the pain.