The Death of the Incompetent Archmage Arkis Aimer, and the Capable Archmage Who Succeeded Him, Draco Tylant
It was the chapter title she pointed at.
'Incompetent...? Me...?'
Everything was incomprehensible.
Pak!
While I stood blankly, something struck my forehead, snapping my head back as I fell.
It was a small red sphere—magic cast by the teacher.
It hit me squarely then vanished.
"To think you're sleeping even in the final class of the term. When will you finally come to your senses?"
Flat on the ground, I stared up at the ceiling.
Tylant's attack—and when I opened my eyes, I was in a classroom.
Filled with people I had never seen in my life.
And the sensations—touch, hearing, everything—were vivid. This wasn't a vision before death.
It was undeniably reality.
And that book—what in the world was it?
The moment I finished thinking, my eyelids grew heavy and my vision blurred.
As if someone had forcibly fed me a sleeping pill, my eyelids trembled, then shut.
'Was it because I was hit by that magic on my forehead just now?'
But that spell was far too weak to affect me...
In the battle against the weight of my eyelids, I lost.
My eyes closed, and I lost consciousness.
"Artel...?"
Kiena shook Artel's shoulder, but he didn't move at all.
"Teacher! Artel won't wake up!"
Startled, Kiena shouted to the homeroom teacher.
"What?"
Seeing Artel suddenly collapse, silence swept through the classroom.
Reji, the teacher in charge of Class 0's basic lessons, was just as shocked as the students.
"Ki... Kiena, Hei! You two, take Artel to the infirmary right now!"
"Y-Yes!"
"Understood!"
They were the two students closest to Artel.
Hei, the boy, hoisted Artel onto his back, and Kiena, the girl, gently placed her hands against Artel's back as if afraid he might slip, then the two hurried out of the classroom.
'...Did I hit him too hard?'
Reji worried that maybe his magic had caused Artel to collapse.
Because of Artel's sudden fainting, the atmosphere became too heavy to resume class.
Ddaeng-! Ddaeng-!
At that moment, the bell announcing the end of class rang.
Reji quickly brightened her expression and wrapped up the lesson.
"Alright, everyone. This concludes the first semester. Enjoy your summer vacation. But remember—not too much playing! You are still beginner magicians who haven't even found your element yet. Magic is founded on knowledge, so spend your break reading various kinds of books!"
With that, class ended. The young students hugged their thick books and chattered their way out of the room.
After all the students left, Reji headed to the infirmary where Artel had been taken.
---
I quietly opened my eyes.
The curtains fluttered softly, and red evening sunlight slipped through the window, falling across my face.
The warmth on my skin had awakened me.
"Artel! You're awake?"
Suddenly, a girl popped up beside my bed like an appearing ghost.
She looked to be a little over ten years old.
Snow-white skin, black eyes, long black hair.
She was the student the teacher had called "Kiena."
"...."
"What? Still not fully awake? Normally you'd jump if I did that."
I ignored Kiena's words and raised my upper body.
My vision didn't blur.
My body definitely felt stable now.
But when I opened my palm, I realized something strange.
"Why is it so small...?"
My hand—
It was small like a young boy's, with pale skin and not a single vein showing on the back.
Not my original hand.
"Are you teasing me? You always say I'm short, but you're not that tall either, you know?"
At the word "small," Kiena, standing beside me, suddenly snapped back defensively.
I turned to look at her.
She flinched.
"...Why are you looking at me so scary like that?"
Chwararak.
At that moment, the curtain around the bed parted on its own and a boy walked in.
He looked the same age as Kiena, a little over ten, but he had a much sturdier build than other kids his age.
He was tall, with black hair and black eyes as well.
"Oh? Artel! You're awake? Kiena, if he woke up, you should've told me right away. I came because I was worried."
"Hei... Artel seems a little strange...."
So the boy's name was Hei.
"Huh? Strange how? He looks fine to me."
"Something... the atmosphere around him changed."
"That's weird. I overheard Teacher Reji and the infirmary teacher talking earlier— they said nothing was wrong with Artel's body."
So that teacher on the platform earlier was Reji?
"Artel! Let's go eat! I'm hungry. The infirmary teacher said it might be a health issue, so you should eat properly!"
Hei grabbed my wrist and tried to pull me to my feet.
But I still couldn't grasp what was happening, and being dragged around irritated me.
"Let go."
Heavy.
But I couldn't break Hei's grip with my strength.
Why?
As I thought it over, I realized the reason.
My body's strength was unbelievably weak.
Rather, it would be more accurate to say I had a body that couldn't exert power at all.
"Kiena! You come too! Let's go eat!"
"Okay!"
And so, led by Hei's grip, I had no choice but to follow behind him out of the infirmary.
At that moment, I saw the mirror hanging on the wall—and felt my eyes tremble.
"Wait..."
"Huh? What's wrong, Artel?"
Reflected in the mirror was a short figure with black hair and black eyes, just like Hei and Kiena.
My hair stuck out messily.
It wasn't me.
Only then did I notice what clothes I was wearing.
A red robe with a flame emblem on the left chest.
Hei and Kiena wore the same clothes.
Clearly a school uniform.
'Wait.... In the classroom earlier—and especially that book, it referred to me in the past tense.'
Now that my mind was clear, things began to line up.
Even the situation that had happened to me.
'I... reincarnated?'
This place unmistakably looked like a Magic Academy.
[To be Continue]