Chapter 89: Why Top Students Have Twice the Success When Courting Girls

Ruby was a physics teacher, and the news spread through the entire academy with astonishing speed. For students who had grown up learning only magic, it was as though a new world had suddenly been flung open before them. In everyday life, Ruby could explain, one by one, many phenomena that magic could not account for.

“What? You don’t understand what physics means? Then you’re terribly stupid. See this apple in my hand? It’s going to hit you on the head because of gravity. What? You don’t know what gravity is? Then why don’t you come listen to the wonderful physics class?”

In this way, through a sort of almost cultlike word of mouth, by the time the second Friday rolled around, the self-study classroom was already packed to the rafters. Those who could not find seats stood, and those who could not get inside crowded into the corridor.

“Students, I am very glad you’re interested in science, but please remember that you are here to learn magic. Keep your focus on magic.”

Looking at the many students below the platform, Ruby could not help feeling that he had done something rather strange. He felt he ought to rein himself in a little. In this world, one person obsessed with science was enough. They were here to study magic, after all. If, at the end of the term, when the students went home to their parents, those parents discovered their children had learned all manner of physics, they might well come and strangle him.

Ruby’s lectures had nothing to do with magic at all, yet they helped the students understand many unknown things.

“Teacher Ruby, I have a question. You say the continent we live on is round—do you have proof?”

Not everyone who came to listen was a student overflowing with curiosity. At this moment, Swart, sitting beside Teacher White Feather, spoke up. Another teacher in the academy drawing more attention than he did was intolerable, and White Feather, the teacher he had long admired, had also come with bright interest to listen. That made him feel he had to do something. The knowledge Ruby spoke of did make sense, but it could not be ruled out that he was merely tossing out random talk to leave students awed and confused, thereby achieving his own aim of being the center of attention.

“To be precise, it’s a planet, but you don’t yet have that concept, so you haven’t given the world you live on a proper name. As for proof: if the planet beneath your feet were flat, the sea’s horizon would not be curved. Those of you who have been to the coast should have seen ships sailing in from the distance. Those of you who still do not understand can simply simulate it with water orb magic.”

“But... you cannot prove those two things are connected.”

Swart was left blinking in confusion by Ruby’s words, but he still pressed on.

“Then let me give you another example. You all know the saying that the higher you stand, the farther you see, right? If a planet were flat, then so long as nothing blocked your view, no matter how high you stood, the distance you could see would always be the same. Teacher Swart, if you can find a perfectly flat planet, you may try testing whether my words are true.”

Ruby went on to explain at length more arguments for the world being round. After hearing him out, Swart no longer questioned it. Ruby’s words were reasoned and well-founded; if he kept making trouble, then it would be his own fault.

“Ruby, I have a question too!”

Eve, seated in the first row, stood up decisively. She herself had once reasoned at home that the continent was round, starting from the matter of the sea horizon. And now Ruby was saying the same thing—could they be thinking alike? The pink-haired girl felt an inexplicable surge of happiness. Still, she had many more questions to ask if she was to see where Ruby’s learning ended.

“Go ahead.”

“Well then, why do the sky and the seawater look blue?”

If Eve could still do her utmost to verify the claim that the continent was round, she was entirely helpless when it came to the sky and the sea. If Ruby could answer even these, then he truly would be invincible.

“The sky appears blue because of an optical phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering. The details are too profound for you, so I won’t go into them. If you’re truly interested, you can come to my office after class.”

Ruby only gave the opening and then stopped. It was not laziness; it was just that speaking of particles and light waves would only leave him with a roomful of blank faces.

“As for the sea, put simply, it’s because water absorbs part of sunlight’s colors...”

“Wait, wait, hold on. Sunlight has color?”

Eve interrupted him in astonishment, because his answer had once again gone beyond the common understanding of this otherworldly people. Everyone knew sunlight was a good thing; to say that light itself had color was incomprehensible. The church’s sacred light, at least, was visibly white—but sunlight and sacred light were two different things.

“The colors of sunlight are the colors of the rainbow you’ve all seen. That’s easy enough to verify.”

Ruby nodded and took out a transparent glass object, placing it on the lectern. Just then, a shaft of sunlight happened to stream into the classroom, and after passing through the glass, the students all saw a projection of seven colors.

“That should be a little easier to understand. Sunlight is made up of seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and violet. The seven colors differ in wavelength... or let’s just talk about penetration. Light with stronger penetration is more easily absorbed by water molecules. In the end, only violet and blue remain, and the human eye is not sensitive to violet, so it naturally sees blue instead. That is why seawater is blue.”

“Oh! Ohhh!”

Every word Ruby said was plain human speech, yet in Eve’s eyes and those of the students it sounded like some kind of sorcery. Faced with Ruby saying so many things, Eve unconsciously began to clap. Not many of the other students truly understood it, but in a state of awe they clapped along as well, and soon the whole classroom thundered with applause.

Self-study class had originally lasted the whole day. The students were willing to listen, and Ruby was willing to teach. Before they knew it, it was time for dismissal. Though they very much wanted to keep hearing Ruby speak of strange bits of knowledge, the knowledge of Earth was too vast to exhaust in a day; they could only agree to continue next week. Though it was the academy’s most idle self-study class, it had unexpectedly become the most crowded course of all.

“What is it, Eve?”

After the lecture ended, Ruby noticed a small pink figure trailing after him in secret. That pink hair was easy enough to recognize; there was only one person in the whole school with hair of that color.

“Didn’t you say that if we were interested, we could come to your office and ask questions?”

Eve had now completely taken Ruby as a treasure. For all these years, she had never met anyone who truly shared her spirit. Now there was exactly one such person in the world, and she naturally had to keep a firm eye on him.

“I just said it offhand. I didn’t expect anyone to really be interested. Aren’t you afraid your brain won’t be able to keep up?”

Ruby was still somewhat puzzled. The students were indeed interested in physics, but only in its most basic aspects; the knowledge that followed was, to put it mildly, brain-melting. He did not recommend that students learn such things. As he had said before, magic was the thing they truly needed.

“No. Actually, I’ve been interested in these things since I was little. These are all things I made myself.”

Eve followed Ruby all the way to his office, then tossed a great many homemade devices onto his desk.

“Is this a telescope? You can actually make something like this?”

Ruby picked up the device that Bart had once dismissed as worthless and examined it, then sincerely praised it. When a farsight spell could solve the problem with ease, yet one was willing to spend time and effort making such a device, it seemed this little girl truly was interested in science.

“Do you know? This is amazing, isn’t it? But my father said it was no better than magic. It really made me furious.”

Her own handmade device had been recognized! Unlike the flattery of her family, Eve could tell that Ruby’s praise was genuine, and the smile on the pink-haired girl’s face grew even brighter.

In the hours that followed, Ruby taught Eve a great deal of orthodox physics. They even made do with some dry rations for their meal. Eve’s devotion to science exceeded Ruby’s expectations. For a wealthy young lady to be willing to gnaw on dry provisions with him—should he call her foolish or adorable?

“Miss Eve, forgive my asking, but is your surname Einstein?”

Ruby was astonished by the scientific talent Eve displayed. She understood the moment he explained something simple, and even when it became a little difficult, she grasped it at a touch. He was certain that if someone like her were placed on Earth, she would absolutely become a figure on the level of Newton or Einstein. It was a pity she had been born into another world. If she were given more basic physics, perhaps in a few decades she could even tinker out nuclear weapons on her own.

“No, my surname is Starnight.”