Another fine lesson today. I had stretched luxuriously and was about to walk out when the vampire's voice stopped me.

["Have you nothing today?"]

"Nothing?"

["Anything at all. Something curious, I mean."]

'Yesterday's tale of clothes and needles was quite interesting. The boy does have a way with words. Might he have another story?'

The vampire, who had spent centuries shut away from the world in a coffin, seemed quite taken with yesterday's story. She was keeping me here like a lonely grandmother.

Well, she could look forward to it all she liked, but not every story I told was interesting. I didn't have anything in particular to talk about, either.

I scratched my head.

"Something curious? Well, then... shall I teach you some magic?"

["Magic?"]

I'd offered because I hadn't expected much interest, but the vampire and the Regressor both perked up. Huh. This much interest was a little daunting.

"Don't get your hopes up. The only magic I can teach is the Military State's standard-issue magic, the kind you learn in secondary school."

'Oh. Tch. And here I thought he meant unique magic.'

The Regressor's interest quickly died. Her standards had risen so high that she apparently had no interest in ordinary techniques used by people like me.

Never mind that, among “them,” she'd be rated “a mediocrity who'd drawn on her talent in advance.” Hmph. A mediocre Regressor carried by lucky encounters and gear. Good luck to her.

By contrast, the vampire's reaction was a thing of beauty. Exemplary, even.

["Y-you can wield magic?!"]

People look up to inspire themselves and down to reassure themselves. For me, down meant a vampire whose only remarkable quality was her suspiciously advanced age.

Ah. My pride was filling up. The theory that modern people were geniuses was real. After all, this ancient vampire truly considered me impressive, as though I were a genius.

My chest swelling, I said,

"Yes. I can use magic."

The Regressor snorted.

'It's standard-issue Military State magic that any dog or cow can learn. Showing off over useless magic like that...'

As if she'd even qualified as a dog or a cow in her first life. Maybe a rat kicked to death by a cow's hind leg?

Just leave already. Why are you still here listening to me?

If she was going to stay for the lesson, I wished she'd take a cue from the vampire. That was the sort of reaction that made explaining things worthwhile.

["Magic is a product of mystery, an arcane art accessible only to sages of profound wisdom! Even I could not wield it, yet a thing like you can?"]

"What do you mean, a thing like me? I may not look it, but I used to hold my head pretty high where I came from."

I might be a criminal in the Military State and reduced to groveling here, but I'd never lost my place at the top of my secondary military school. Even after dropping out, everyone knew the back-alley magician.

Though my reputation had been more clown than sage...

"Besides, I'm not particularly special. Plenty of other people can use magic. Everyone who enters secondary school tries it at least once."

I'd only stated ordinary “common knowledge,” but the vampire looked as shocked as if she'd witnessed the end of the world.

["Everyone... tries it? Magic?"]

"Of course."

["How many of these people are there?"]

"My secondary school had two hundred students per year, and there are ten schools like it... Yes. That makes at least two thousand people who can use magic."

["Two... thousand..."]

The vampire was genuinely astounded.

["Two thousand mages. More than the population of a fair-sized city."]

"These days, two thousand people doesn't even qualify as a city. The population has grown enormously. You'd have to go out to some remote country town to find a place with only two thousand. And I think you've misunderstood."

That was two thousand in a single year group.

Oh, right. They hadn't had the concepts of schools and year groups back then. I'd have to clear up that misunderstanding.

"It's not two thousand magic users in total. There are two thousand thirteen-year-olds attending secondary military school alone. The fourteen-year-olds, a year older, have just as many magic users among them, and the people a year older than those do too..."

["Impossible! Are you saying there are fully a hundred thousand mages?!"]

"Not mages, exactly. People capable of using magic? Only a few of them actually specialize in it."

["Even so, a hundred thousand. A hundred thousand..."]

In the old days, entire countries had often had fewer than a hundred thousand people. No wonder she was surprised. I shrugged.

"Well, that's about the size of it. A thousand years makes this much difference."

Thank you, civilization. Precious history of humanity, you've put me a thousand years ahead of this vampire.

As I was busy preening, a tactless voice interrupted.

"Stop encouraging her misunderstanding. Only a tiny fraction of those people have any talent for magic."

The Regressor had decided to find fault.

Honestly, she'd learned magic herself. Why was she so determined to belittle it? She chided me as though she couldn't bear not to put herself down.

"If you actually asked them to cast something, more than half probably couldn't do it properly. Talent matters more than anything in this field, so plenty of people learn the basics and then abandon it. They're better off spending that time learning combat or strategy."

She seemed to be trying to diminish its value, but unfortunately for her, even that amazed the vampire.

["They have the chance to learn magic, yet abandon it? Is such a thing even conceivable...?"]

"Ah, well. It's a long explanation. Hmm."

This time I stepped in.

"When knowledge becomes more common than stones by the roadside, people start treating it like stones, too."

["Even when learning it would assuredly grant them power?"]

"It means power, too, is a commodity governed by economics. If it isn't valuable, there's no need to acquire it."

["My. What an unusual perspective..."]

"Well, isn't that how the world has changed?"

["Th-then. Might I..."]

At my casual answer, the vampire spoke hesitantly from inside the coffin.

Like someone greedy coveting what she ought not wish for—no, like a timid girl who blamed herself for being greedy merely for wanting something.

["If even someone like me asked to learn... would I be taught?"]

"But aren't you unable to learn magic, Trainee Tyrkanzyaka?"

["I do not mean to use it. I would simply like to learn it once. As others do... at these places called schools."]

"Ah. You want to be a mature student."

People who missed their chance to learn often harbored regrets. To someone living in the modern world, it might not seem like much, but regrets accumulated with the years. I scratched my head.

"To attend school, you'd first have to sort out your resident registration, Trainee Tyrkanzyaka..."

That would be difficult. The Military State was quite strict about resident registration. Well, for someone like the vampire, even securing identification from the strict Military State shouldn't be hard. I shrugged and continued.

"If you want to learn, you don't necessarily need to choose a school. As long as you pay, you can learn perfectly well at a private academy."

["Really?"]

Knowledge had become common, but it wasn't entirely without value, like a stone. The Military State kept a tight grip on level 3 tactical-grade magic and above, but private academies did teach up to level 2 combat-grade magic.

As I shrugged,

["Then might you teach me magic?"]

"Pardon? Me?"

["Indeed. At present, you and Shei are my only windows onto the world."]

Teach magic to a thousand-year-old vampire, the Progenitor whose every deed was recorded in legend? Me?

Ridiculous. I knew theory inside out, but I was hopeless at practice. Despite using my mind reading to pick my magic teacher's thoughts apart, I'd only managed level 0 phenomenon-grade magic and ultimately had to drop out.

This wasn't modesty, either. Magic might not be my specialty, but if she saw me barely managing even level 0 magic, she might begin doubting my abilities. No thought required: I absolutely had to avoid this.

I was just about to refuse.

'Did he say it costs money? No matter. I have more than enough gold...'

Money.

It was always the same. Gold was a metal that blinded people.

An abhorrent prize that perched atop people's heads, made steel stain itself with human blood, then remained aloof and lofty until it moved to another head.

Even respectable people might despise money, but they never shunned it. The same went for someone as serious and thoughtful as me.

Changing my attitude in an instant, I clenched a fist and pressed it to my chest.

"I could certainly teach you as well, Trainee Tyrkanzyaka."

Then I curled my fingers into a circle and gave them a little waggle.

"Ah, but you see. Even as an Instructor, I can't really teach magic for nothing. The higher the level, the higher the security clearance, so I'd need some compensation."

["You want gold?"]

"Not necessarily. Just a token of goodwill. Something to put me in the mood."

My tone was far too transparent. Enough to make the Regressor click her tongue and glare at me. I didn't even need to read her mind. She was probably about to criticize a supposed Military State officer for lining his pockets.

But did she know?

A few centuries ago, under-the-table payments had been “common sense.”

["Gold is a modest request. Very well."]

CREAK.

The coffin lid tilted open. From within, where darkness still seethed, a pitch-black hand floated up with something resting on it.

Wow, really? She was really giving me something?

Sure enough, crisis meant opportunity. The crisis of sharing a space with a thousand-year-old vampire was also an opportunity to fleece a rich old woman who knew nothing of the world!

Desperately hiding my eagerness, I focused on the object the black hand carried. It was... a golden crown that radiated wealth at a glance.

A windfall. I cleared my throat to keep my delight from spilling out.

"Coming out of a coffin like that, it looks just like a burial offering. Ow!"

["Enough of your nonsense."]

That was no reason to throw the crown. What if this precious thing got scratched? Afraid even of leaving fingerprints, I pulled my sleeves over my hands and received it reverently.

Good heavens. That weight. A real crown? If this was all gold, even with prices down a little because of alchemy, how much would it...

... Oh, wait.

Alchemy, a thousand years ago, the technological gap, and that oddly gullible attitude...

Surely not. On the off chance, I examined the golden crown.

Ah, why were bad feelings never wrong?

"This is fake!"

["...?"]

"Come to think of it, this gold predates the Alchemical Revolution, doesn't it? Then it's fake gold! Oh, what am I supposed to do with this!"

The vampire was genuinely bewildered.

["Gold is gold. How can there be fake gold and real gold?"]

"There can. Since a hundred years ago."

["Wh-what? Surely not."]

'Have I... failed to keep up with the times again? Is this that same pattern again...?'

Feeling cheated, I'd considered venting my anger, but reading her thoughts left me too sorry for her to muster the energy. Yes, I'd lost a little money I might have received, but the vampire had effectively lost everything she owned.

At times like this, mind reading was a pity. If only I hadn't known, I could have wrung her dry until she had not a single tear left to shed.

Alas. Such was my lot. Just when I'd thought I might make some money.

"Ordinarily, I'd have to arrest you for counterfeiting gold coins, but there was no knowledge of alchemy at all in your day, Trainee Tyrkanzyaka, so I'll let it slide. Now, look."

I drew a star in the middle of the gold crown with my finger. If it were fully gold, nothing should have happened to my hand, but my finger turned bright red, as though seared with a hot iron.

"For a gold crown, luster and weight. Probably the third and fourth corners. Hmm, the alchemical level really is low, perhaps because it's old alchemy. Even I can undo this."

I tapped the third and fourth corners. Scraping the front and back with my fingernails, I turned it all the way around. One last tap. As I pushed mana along the line, the gold crown began to flow as though melting, its color changing.

What emerged was a dull, ink-dark metal.

Alchemical steel: far more useful than gold, far more common, and cheap. Certainly many times more useful than gold... but as with everything in life, value was not proportional to utility.

I set it on the lectern.

"It's gold made through alchemy. Long ago..."

Wait. However long ago it was, it couldn't have been even half the vampire's age. I corrected myself.

"Not so long ago, someone succeeded at alchemy. They accomplished in reality what had previously existed only in legend: the forbidden art of turning scrap iron into gold. After that, people called alchemists realized that with a little skill, they could make gold out of alchemical steel. They kept making it, and gradually fake gold began circulating throughout the world. It didn't take long for gold owners to notice something was wrong."

Those who owned gold feared this change. Without their doing anything, their fortunes were shrinking as though undergoing successive half-lives. A few who caught wind of it early were outraged and worked to investigate.

"And the moment they discovered the truth, they shut their mouths and began selling off their own gold."

["Why? Rather than punish the alchemists who had made the fake gold?"]

"Because they had to sell it all before anyone else learned their gold was fake. Punishing the alchemists would have let everyone know, wouldn't it?"

["Their own gold was fake. And knowing this, they sold it?"]

"They sold it because they knew."

Only a fool would sit still while the money they'd accumulated evaporated before their eyes. It was only natural.

["But what of those who bought that fake gold believing it real? Surely they did not sit idly by."]

"Correct!"

Such enthusiasm for learning. It made teaching worthwhile. Smiling broadly, I spread both hands.

"What happened next isn't easy to sum up. Buyers raged, sellers denied responsibility, and the two sides fought, quarreled, and went to war. They say it was absolute chaos. One historian reckoned that the blood spilled weighed as much as all the gold that existed at the time. They even gave it a grand name: the Curse of Gold."

Anyway. I waved the alchemical-steel crown about as I continued.

"Simply put, gold is dirt cheap now. Thanks to alchemy, you can't distinguish the real from the fake. To exaggerate a little, it probably costs about as much as a pile of firewood. Sacred gold, consecrated and guaranteed by the Holy See, still has tremendous value... but the Holy See's greatest enemy wouldn't have any of that, would she?"

In other words, most of the vampire's assets were now worth jack shit. Lamenting my own loss, I nevertheless looked at her with pity.

Liquor, salted seafood, or antiques might increase in value if left to age a suitable while. But as was the way of things, leave anything too long and it spoiled. A thousand years had been too long.

After a lengthy pause, the vampire spoke.

["History, and even alchemy... How do you know all this? Could it be..."]

Oh, curious even now. Delighted by her attitude, I nodded emphatically.

"That's right. I learned this at 'school,' too."

["Again!"]

"Not just alchemy, either. Mathematics, biology, natural sciences, foreign languages, magic theory, mechanical engineering, ballistics, and so on. Secondary school teaches all of it."

["What in the world... is this school? A place where talented children gathered from nations around the world seek instruction? A tower of sages, something of that sort?"]

"No? Anyone aged fourteen to seventeen who graduates elementary civic school with good grades can enroll if they want to."

["I-impossible."]

Perhaps deeply shocked, the voice from the coffin had grown quieter. The culture shock must have been rather severe.

Well, in her day, learning anything at all had been reserved for the very highest classes. The path to learning had been narrow, winding, and arduous. It had also been so exclusive that people often reached the end only to despair before a firmly shut door.

Were things better now than they had been then?

"Anyway. You understand now, right? What a shame. Whew. That was exhausting. No class today after all."

["H-hmm. Wait."]

Apparently unable to readily accept the changed world, the vampire finally sought confirmation from the Regressor.

["Shei. Is what he says... true?"]

"... It's all true, yes. But."

'Even if they've learned it, not many people are as proficient as that man. The Military State pursues specialization. Everyone delves deeply into the field that suits them. What's strange is that he knows alchemy and magic while also being strong enough to parry my sword...'

All this overrating me just because I'd deflected that damned blade. Honestly. I couldn't imagine what sort of vermin she'd have treated me like if I hadn't.

Oh, my arm would have been severed. I'd really have been a bug crawling on the ground.

"But it's nowhere near as amazing a place as he makes it sound. Get your hopes up and you'll be sorely disappointed."

The Regressor spoke dismissively. It really was an ordinary place, so I didn't particularly argue.

Still marveling, the vampire voiced a question that had just occurred to her.

["Shei, did you also attend this secondary military school? Were the two of you perhaps fellow students?"]

"No, I only graduated elementary civic school."

["Ah... I see."]

'Hmm. Indeed. Even the way they speak is different. There appears to be quite a gap between them...'

The vampire trailed off apologetically. Detecting the pity hidden in her tone, the Regressor hastily defended herself.

"No! I only stopped at elementary civic school because I grew up in an orphanage and couldn't afford tuition!"

["You poor thing."]

"No! I mean! I had no reason to attend secondary school! I was good enough without it!"

["I understand. Do not worry. I shall do all I can to teach you blood manipulation."]

"That's not what I mean!"

Ah, I hadn't particularly meant to boast, but look how things had turned out. I rubbed beneath my nose and spoke.

"For the record, I had no parents either, but I attended on a scholarship. I was top of my school all the way through secondary military school."

"You shut up!"

"The riper the rice, the lower it bows; the fuller the pouch, the quieter it remains when shaken... If you insist, I shall remain silent."

"How is that shutting up?!"

This was the trouble with uneducated people. Sigh.

I merely sighed quietly as instructed, but even that seemed to displease the Regressor. Fuming, she pulled something out of an unseen space.