If anyone asked what Konrad liked most about his second life, it would have had to be magic.
Especially learning a new rune or entire spells.
Not that it was easy. He used to hate the programming-like nature of it with a passion. But once he understood the basics and followed a rigid structure, he could do anything.
When he had the mana and the time, at least.
Early on, it was a struggle with his shot-glass-sized essence pool. Later, too, until he figured out how to recharge his mana faster, he couldn't practice that much.
But after that, he was free to do whatever—as long as he had the time.
Which was never.
Even before he got the title of Halaima's duke, he was always busy with anything but magic.
It was almost like a rare reward when he could find a quiet corner and memorise new runes.
To this day, he learned about a hundred of them, but it was more than enough.
Unlike programming on a computer, he could import his imagination as a tool here, too.
Without that, illusion magic would have been impossible. It helped a lot with other types as well. This was how he could create different spells using the very same runes and syntax.
He had enough talent and mana to get away with basic runes and still be on a mage's level.
Until today.
That time-trap the Demon Lord sketched up used seventy different runes.
Fifty of which Konrad had never heard before.
And the syntax? It used multi-level formulae and logic he didn't know existed.
To cast that single spell, he would have had to learn half of what he did in total up until now.
But that wasn't the real issue here. Konrad was eager to beat that challenge.
Except for the one thing that made him love learning new magic so much.
He could not practice.
Back in Kasserlane, he'd drill a rune or a complete syntax until he got everything right. He only spent a fraction of his time memorising everything. Two-thirds went to experimentation.
But there he could recover all his mana in a single day, and he had plenty.
Here, he had no way to do that.
The spell, had he done it right the first try, would have used half his reserves. So, looking at the page full of the complex and the unknown, he couldn't help but feel overwhelmed.
"Is this even optimised at all?" he moaned after two hours.
By that time, he couldn't even look straight anymore.
"Optimised for what?" Midori-kun scoffed. "I told you, it's an experimental syntax; a theory. Once I know it works, I can optimise it. But how would I know if I can't even try it here?!"
"Well, yeah. That's my problem, too. Are all these runes necessary?" Konrad asked.
He made a list of everything unknown, which alone took up half the time so far.
"This and that and those two are safety measures," the kid said, looking over his notes. "You can believe me when I tell you—you want to be very careful when you're messing with time."
Yeah, when it came from an unwilling time-traveler, he'd better take it to heart.
"I'm sure I could compress it into something simple, like a three-level loop. But not before I figure out which circuit affects what. First, I have to leave everything separate," Midori said.
"How could you even write up something this complex?" Konrad scowled. "From observing?!"
The schoolboy sighed—and was that a shiver?—before taking the paper from him.
"I've spent almost a week inside that void. Believe me, child, I had enough time to analyze it."
"A week?!"
The way he remembered, it felt like an eternity to him, too. But he had no benchmark, only a hunch. It was more likely he'd break out of there after a few hours.
"And that's only what I have measured. It wasn't the first thing that came to mind."
If that was true, and he came to Japan three months ago—
How long must Kaede have spent in there?!
"Anyway, this rune is only a more efficient version of this, and that one is a wildcard."
After another hour of dry explanation, Konrad was at his limit.
It was already dark outside, and his brain couldn't take in any more.
Not without some practical experimentation. No, anything physical could have helped.
"Let's take out the trash," he suggested, half brain-dead. The four bags they'd gathered so far still waited in a corner. "We'll need more bags, too. Any convenience store nearby?"
Midori-kun took a glance at his phone and made a weird face.
"There is one, but—"
"Fine, let's go," Konrad grunted before he could finish.
He wanted out. Move his legs. Take in some fresh air.
Not to look at any more runes for a while.
If he thought about how many ways he could mess that spell up, he wanted to throw up.
He grabbed two heavy bags and was out of the flat before Midori-kun could even protest.
"Come on, it won't take long," he promised. "Don't you want to sleep in a clean home, too? And your bags are lighter, only energy drink cans. How much of that stuff did you drink?!"
The kid struggled to keep up, moving with the carefulness of the elderly.
It must have been strange to become so young again after two hundred years.
For Konrad, too, becoming a baby straight from his deathbed was jarring. His new body wasn't that different from the old one, but due to circumstances, he felt much stronger now.
But that took a lot of getting used to.
"One or two a day," Midori-kun mumbled, hauling his own trash bags over his shoulder.
It was hard not to lecture him about how unhealthy these drinks were at his age.
It was even harder to remind himself that he wasn't an actual kid.
"I searched for coffee beans, but these also keep me up at night without being sour. I got a lot of research done in my short time here," the schoolboy claimed. Was he bragging?
"Yeah, a lot of skipping school, too," Konrad reminded him. "And no cleaning whatsoever."
"School's irrelevant," Midori-kun scoffed. "I'm only going because that insufferable dragon made me. As advanced as this world is, they teach so much useless crap in there."
Whether he figured it out himself or heard from his classmates, Konrad couldn't agree more.
"Thank you," he snorted. "It was always like this, and I never knew why."
In the meantime, they found the garbage collection point.
"This way," the kid waved once they got rid of the first haul. Konrad didn't even have time to think about how Kaede forced him into school. "It's not the best time for shopping, but—"
The store was right across the street from the Demon Lord's castle.
"Irasshaimase," a familiar voice greeted them as soon as the door opened, and—
Recognizing Kaede wearing a green apron and grinning ear to ear made Konrad freeze.
"You can't be serious," he grunted.
What were the odds? Yesterday, he'd run into her at the Karaoke place. Today, in the first shop he walked into. No, there was no way this happened by chance.
"Told you it's the worst timing," Midori-kun whispered. "Let's grab what we need and go."