In A Noble Magic Academy, The Only Spell I Know Is Scan

"And if you take the differential and multiply it by X2 ..."

"You getting any of this?" Helena asked.

"Of course." Melia nodded, "I've studied for this day for years."

"You studied to be ready to study? Are you even hearing yourself?"

"Well if you don't understand it, then feels free to admit it."

"I mean, I think my parents taught this to me before but uhhh...math isn't my strong suit."

"I'm more of a social studies kind of girl."

"I'm more of a 'give me any action please' kind of girl."

"Aporia shall never see a day of peace with you in charge."

"You say that like Aporia is a peaceful place."

"Well it is on the surface."

"Yeah. On the surface."

"If you wanted to get rid of a rat infestation then you could always lay out some traps." Melia giggled.

"Yeah it's hard to do some rat extermination when the rats contribute to the economy." Helena sighed.

"Helena! Can you tell me how-"

"Ψ(x, t) = 1 1/√2 (e^{−iE0t/h}ψ_{0}(x) + e^{−iE1t/h}ψ_1(x))."

Their math teacher blinked and slowly moved on to the next question.

"So you do know math." Melia smirked.

"I knew THAT one."

"Well do you know the next one?"

"Not unless the teacher makes me answer it."

"Better make yourself look busy then. Don't want them to separate us again."

"I mean, at this point does that even matter?"

"True." Melia nodded, "This is one convenient magic you've learned. What did you call it?"

"Drone." Helena replied, "This spell is what allows us to speak from across the room."

"And you learned it from a blind elf? Sounds like quite the adventure."

"Spirit of a blind elf but yeah. Roko adventures are fun."

"Perhaps I should join you on one such adventure at some point."

"Please do bestie! It's a whirlwind from start to end."

"I'd love to. But would your friends be okay with me coming along?"

"Oh you don't even have to ask but if we can if you really want to."

"And so, are you all okay with Melia tagging along in our next adventure?" Helena grinned confidently.

"I thought she wanted to stay in Memoria Auspice because she worked so hard to get here." Momo noted.

"Well, I've more or less caught up with the curriculum." Melia explained, "And if I don't experience one of these 'Roko Adventures' at least once, I'd feel like I'm missing out on something big."

"Well, I don't have any objections." Kaguya smiled, "The more the merrier."

"Well we did fight together back at the Oarbine Mansion." Momo grinned, "So I know you can take care of yourself! No worries here."

"I'd love to have more company!" Corissa beamed, "I can handle cooking a meal for another person or two."

"W-We'll help with the cooking." Kaguya said, "I'd feel horrible if we just left all the cooking to you."

"I don't think it's that much of a problem but if you really want to, I'll appreciate it." Corissa replied.

"Then that's all done and dusted!" Helena declared proudly.

"Hey, what about our opinions?" Roland frowned.

"What, you've got some complaints?" Helena scoffed.

"Yeah because I'm the one who has to protect you all! And what does Melia even offer that we don't have already?"

"I'll bring Roswell with me." Melia said.

"Alright, you're in." Roland gave a thumbs up.

"Pleasure to be working with you?" Roswell chuckled at his strange acceptance.

"Why'd Roswell matter?" Helena frowned.

"Because I NEED someone to talk to about guy stuff." Roland moaned, "Varis can't talk, Mikado might as well be mute and don't get me STARTED on Roko."

"I mean...fair I guess?" Helena shrugged.

"Speaking of Roko, where is he?" Melia asked, "I figured we'd need to get his acceptance before we can really say it's set in stone."

"Roko's busy helping Eresh and Aida start their woodworking business." Corissa giggled.

"Or rather, he's busying helping Eresh set up Aida's woodworking business." Kaguya added, "Aida's still split on the idea."

"I didn't know Roko was a businessman." Melia blinked.

"Well I think he was a mathematician before or something so I guess that translates into business pretty well." Momo shrugged.

"I don't actually know Roko that well." Melia admitted, "I know he saved me and all but I never really spoke at length with him. Can you tell me what he's like?"

"Of course!" Helena grinned, "It's a requisite to like Roko to join this group."

"No it isn't." Roland called.

"Roland's an exception."

"I'm not an exception. I'm exceptional." Roland said as he smugly flexed his muscle.

"Anyway, I'm sure you already have an impression of Roko." Momo said, "Awkward. Cranky. Kind of a grouch."

"Emotionless. Uncaring. Blunt." Kaguya nodded.

"Pedantic. Petty. Secretive." Helena added.

And then there was a silence. A silence that lasted longer than anyone expected.

"So...is there a redeeming factor here or..." Melia blinked.

"Well that's where we go to our resident Roko expert!" Helena grinned, "Corissa?"

"Why am I the expert?!" Corissa yelped, her face growing a shade flushed, "I mean...Roko can seem mean...and stubborn...and never listens to anything you say..."

Another silence.

"Are you sure you actually like the guy?" Melia frowned.

"B-But he's a good person deep down inside!" Corissa quickly said, "And he shows that with action more than anything else!"

"Yeah you just have to dig down a little bit." Helena said teasingly.

"Deep enough to bury a body maybe." Roland scoffed.

"Look, it's not like I don't trust the guy." Melia said, "I just don't know a lot about him."

"Well, you already know Roko's biggest secret." Momo nodded.

"That he's from another world?"

"Yep!"

"That's supposed to be a secret?"

"Well...it's kind of an open secret I guess?" Kaguya laughed awkwardly.

"What kind of world is Roko from then?" Melia asked curiously.

"From what I've gathered, not that much different from ours." Helena answered, "I mean, there seems to be some big differences but people live and die pretty much the same. They also have phones, just a bit different from ours. Oh, I think he's said his world's more peaceful than ours though."

"And there are no magic or gods." Momo added.

"Nor kings or elves." Kaguya said.

…

"So nothing like our world then?" Melia asked.

"I mean when you put it that way..." Helena laughed.

"Honestly, I expected fellow princesses like you to be more keen about these things." Melia said.

"Well look, it's just how Roko is like!" Helena said, "You'll understand once you meet him."

"I have already met him." Melia sighed, "And the more I learn about him, the scarier he sounds."

"I mean, that's a fair reaction to Roko." Momo chuckled.

"I have to ask though, are you sure you want to join us?" Kaguya asked, "I know that you can but are you sure you want to? Being in Memoria Auspice was your dream after all."

"Yeah but now that I'm here, I can find other things to do." Melia answered nonchalantly, "And Helena been keeping me very up to date on all of your adventures."

"You're completely up to date?"

"That's right."

"Damn, all those stories and you're still nervous about Roko?" Momo chuckled.

"Hearing about someone and meeting someone are completely different things!" Melia protested, "Like, what if he wants me to train first before I can join?!"

"You're plenty strong already." Helena patted her friend on the back, "Plus, Roko already saw what you can do back in the mansion. He already knows how strong you are."

"That was a year ago! What if I can't keep up?! What if he puts me through a rigorous training program?!"

"I WISH he'd do that to me so it's probably not going to happen to you." Momo grinned.

"Roko's not going to force you to do anything you don't want to do." Kaguya laughed softly, "Me and Mikado aren't looking to get stronger and Roko respects that decision and still allows us to help out in other ways."

"Really?" Melia blinked.

"Roko's not a tyrant. He's more likely to try and help you more than force you to help him."

"And he's damn good at helping others." Momo nodded, "I've never been stronger!"

"I've learned so much following him!" Helena added, "Though you already knew that."

"Same here." Kaguya chuckled, "Though I've been more in self study than the rest of you."

"Hmmm..."

Melia glanced towards Corissa, clearly expecting her to add in her experiences.

"I've...greatly admired Roko's abilities for a while now." Corissa laughed awkwardly, "I've been trying to catch up with everyone and Roko's been a great help in discovering myself."

"So you see?" Helena wrapped an arm around Melia's shoulders, "Whatever your dream is, Roko can help."

"Dream huh?" Melia mused.

"Speaking of, what is your dream now that you're here in Memoria Auspice?" Momo asked, "Maybe Roko can help."

"I dunno..." Melia frowned, "Would Roko even care?"

"Of course he will! He cares about my dream!"

"To become the strongest?"

"Well..." Momo chuckled, "That's one of them sure. But I actually have...a more difficult dream."

"Do tell." Helena said, "I don't think you've ever talked about this with us."

"Well to put it simply, my sword style's incomplete. In order to finish it, I must find out the truth about my country's guardian figure."

"Is that right?" Kaguya blinked, "I don't think I've ever heard of this."

"It's a bit of a royal secret." Momo smiled, "I'm probably the only one who considers my swordstyle to be incomplete actually."

"You told Roko this?" Helena asked.

"Sure did. Though this is kind of a me problem."

"Same here." Kaguya said, "My dream, my mission, is to build a more peaceful Fuyuki. That's why I've been researching more sustainable farming methods."

"So that's why you've been doing so much research on your own." Momo nodded, "No wonder you don't have time for training."

"Mikado and I aren't that strong to begin with so I don't think any amount of training will help." Kaguya smiled.

"Aw, I'm sure Roko could do something about that if you wanted." Helena said, finally moving off from Melia's shoulders, "But if you don't want to, that's cool too."

"What about you?" Momo asked, "What's your dream?"

"Ain't got one!" Helena proclaimed proudly, "I'm just here to see cool things and be a nuisance!"

"Helena wants to learn how to be a good leader." Melia spoke up, "The political field in Aporia is a landmine with various powerful organizations and she wants to learn how to take them all down."

"I didn't know things were that serious in Aporia." Momo said as Helena looked away shyly, "Why did you never tell us?"

"The same reason you never told us about your dream." Helena replied, "Because it's my mission to complete."

"Haha. Well, if you ever need help with that, I'll be glad to lend a hand." Momo smiled, "Fighting for justice is one of the things my teacher always told me to strive for."

"I'll certainly keep that in mind." Helena said, returning with her own smile, "I'd like to try and squash these roaches on my own but it might help if I can just swing your name around a little."

"That's all right with me." Momo gave a thumbs up.

"And that leaves you once again." Melia said, turning to the ever shy Corissa, "Are you going to say you don't have a dream either?"

"Well..." Corissa said with a bit of a forced smile, "I'm learning the best I can from Roko about how to interact with people and...quite a lot of things frankly. But...there is one thing I hope I can do one day."

"What's that?" Helena asked curiously.

"I want to find the refugees of my old village and introduce Varis to them." Corissa said, turning to look at her faithful stalwart knight, "When my village was destroyed, the refugees were taken to a nearby town for safety as other countries came in to provide relief and resolve the issue. From there I was adopted and separated from Varis for a long time. It was a really lonely time for me but I can't imagine what it must've been like for Varis. So I want to find all the refugees from my old village and show Varis that there are still people around that remember him. That he's not alone in the world. Maybe then he'll be willing to talk again."

"Awww..." The girls all said together, touched by the princess' kindliness, "That's so sweet."

"I-It's not that big a deal." Corissa said, suddenly embarrassed, "I haven't been able to find any so far but we have been traveling pretty far from my village so they probably aren't quite that spread out yet."

"Well, it's very cute." Helena nodded, "I almost want to cheer for you and Varis."

"W-What do you mean?" Corissa blushed, looking away bashfully.

"Shame I'm getting paid to push for Roko."

"Wait what?" Corissa said, looking back up.

"Anyway, how about you Melia?" Helena turned back to her old friend, "You got an idea for a dream yet?"

"Well..." Melia sighed, "I want to do right by my family but...I don't have a specific dream like you all."

"Hey, that's fine. Roko doesn't have a dream either."

"He doesn't?" Melia frowned.

"Well if he has one, he certainly hasn't talked about it." Kaguya crossed her arms.

"We still don't know if he wants to return to his old world or not." Momo added, "Though he is trying to learn magic so maybe he doesn't want to?"

"Roko's secretive like that." Helena nodded, "Unless...Corissa?"

"I'm starting to see why I'm considered the expert now..." Corissa sighed.

"So does he have a dream?" Melia asked.

"Not to my knowledge."

"Then...does he have a hobby or something?"

"Ummm..." Corissa blinked, "H-Helping people? I guess?"

"That's not a hobby."

"I-I know that, it's just...he said that...umm...saving people can't be his reason for living so it's his hobby instead?"

"How does that work?"

"I dunno, it made sense when he said it..."

"So the only things he's doing right now is trying to learn magic and helping people?" Melia raised an eyebrow, "If I didn't know him already, I'd ask if such a 'too good to be true' person can really be trusted."

"It's kind of a bit late for us to start distrusting him." Momo chuckled, "But in his defense, who can he really go to for help if he wanted to go home?"

"That's true." Kaguya mused, "His bet bet would be to find someone who can cast spatial magic but that's a really dangerous form of magic. You can create pocket spaces, redirect the movements of anything to anywhere you want, even isolate people and locations from the rest of the world but it can also collapse at any point if it wasn't made well enough and cause immense damage. It's really scary magic that not just anyone can practice in case it rips apart the fabric of reality."

"And it can't just be any normal spatial mage either." Helena nodded, "This is hopping dimensions we're talking about. We can't just ask any old mage that makes a bag of holding or something. As rare as even those are. They'd need to be able to do some crazy stuff like isolating entire forest or campus. And be well versed in spatial theory on top of that to even begin to know what they're talking about."

"Where are we going to find someone who can warp spaces like that?" Melia frowned.

...

"Um..." Corissa blinked.