Became the Unjust Contract Slave of the Archamage's Book - Chapter 1

“Finally, my master has appeared. You have read me.”

The Archmage’s Legacy, the Book of Truth.

Binair Dalheim, a dropout from the Magic Tower of Elfenbein, accidentally discovers the Book of Truth.

“I will awaken your magical talent. In return, complete me.”

The dropout boy, whose dormant talent is awakened, begins his journey to retrieve the Book of Truth as requested.

 

Episode 1: The Century of Magic

The first mage, Dekypleio, proclaimed a single principle to the world.

“Magic is a mirror of the true world.”

The world was groaning under the sudden appearance of monsters.

Monsters appeared indiscriminately in markets, streets, forests, and castles, attacking people.

The armies and knights were powerless against this new threat and suffered defeat.

The leaders of each nation gathered their forces in the capital to expel the monsters.

Most people living in towns, both large and small, were unable to respond to the unexpected disaster.

They either died, fled for their lives, or fought against the monsters only to become their prey.

Many people died until the Archmage Dekypleio saved them.

The power to ignite flames, freeze rivers, move mountains, and summon lightning.

People revered this power and named it magic.

Dekypleio established the Magic Tower, Elfenbein, and began to train future generations.

They started to be called mages, meaning “warriors who wield magic.”

Time passed, and as the empire reached its thousandth year, people lived in the Age of Magic.

*  *  *

In the classroom of the Magic Tower of Elfenbein, students who had yet to shed their naivety sat huddled like a flock of chicks in a characteristically restless atmosphere of their age.

The man standing at the podium passionately lectured the students on the basics of magic.

Some followed the lesson enthusiastically, while others were more engrossed in secretly passing notes to friends.

However, there was one student who did not belong to either group.

A gray-haired boy with a bored expression was staring at a vague point, neither at the blackboard nor his desk.

His unfocused eyes showed he was not paying attention to the lesson.

“…Binaeril Dalheim, come forward.”

The boy looked up at the voice calling his name.

When he raised his gaze, he saw the face of a stern middle-aged man.

The man’s expression was one of unbearable frustration, with no intention of hiding his displeasure any longer.

Binaeril rose from his seat perceptively. On the podium was a lesson cube used as a teaching aid.

He felt the eyes of the classroom on him as he moved languidly.

“Did you listen properly? Break the egg inside the cube.”

The professor clicked his tongue and repeated the instruction.

The cube designed for the lesson contained magic that absorbed external shocks.

No matter how hard you hit it or applied force from outside, you could not break the egg inside.

The task was to use magic to crush the egg with internal force. This was the first test to be officially incorporated into Elfenbein’s curriculum.

Binaeril glanced at the students, then looked at the cube.

He opened his palm toward the cube and closed his eyes.

Silence filled the classroom.

“Hoo.”

Binaeril used his imagination. He imagined the egg inside his palm gently breaking. He repeated this image, making it more vivid each time.

The final trigger was an incantation, a word that matched the image he had visualized.

“Break.”

As soon as he heard Dalhaim’s incantation, the professor’s face hardened with a grim expression.

“…….”

Nothing happened.

The professor, as if he had been waiting for this moment, took a step forward. Ignoring him, Dalhaim chanted again.

He steadied his mind and clarified the image, chanting the same trigger word, but the result was the same.

The egg did not budge, as if it were made of solid material.

Frustratingly so.

Professor Freud’s voice dripped with blatant sarcasm.

“Can’t do it?”

“No, sir.”

“Do you know why you failed? It’s because of your arrogance. The arrogance of changing the spells refined and settled by senior magicians on your own whim. How can you not have learned a single thing in three years?”

The professor’s harsh words spread blatant mockery among the students.

Binaeril knew it too. Imagination, willpower, and precise incantation—these were the three elements that made up magic.

It wasn’t that Binaeril was stupid and had forgotten the incantation for a first-tier destruction spell.

But even if he did it correctly, it wouldn’t work anyway.

He had recited the proper incantation dozens, if not hundreds of times. No matter what he did, the spell did not activate.

If it didn’t work this way or that way, Binair decided to use a more economical spell.

“…I’m sorry.”

Contrary to his thoughts, Binaeril bowed his head. Professor Freud would not care about his circumstances anyway.

“Click, you two watch. Gospelt Louis!”

“Yes.”

“Try it instead.”

Gospelt, who had been standing with his hands behind his back at the rear of the classroom, confidently walked to the podium.

He had graduated from the junior classes to the senior ones within a month of entering the academy.

He was also Professor Freud’s top disciple, the student closest to being appointed as this year’s magician.

And lastly, he was Binaeril’s classmate.

Gospelt, who attended as a teaching assistant, stood on the podium and glanced at Binaeril.

He threw a cold sneer at Binaeril, unnoticed by the professor, then assumed a similar pose.

“Power of magic, break the enemy before me!”

He chanted the exact spell, and the egg inside the cube cracked with a splitting sound.

“Well done.”

Professor Freud calling Gospelt forward was purely his malicious pleasure.

He wanted to show Binaeril, ‘Look at your peer, see how useless you are.’

The intention was so obvious that Binaeril feigned a suitably apologetic expression.

Whether Gospelt split an egg or the entire tower, it was none of his concern.

Binaeril’s only interest was why he couldn’t use magic.

“Both of you, return to your seats.”

As Binaeril returned to his seat, the professor’s voice targeted him in the ongoing explanation.

“Did you all see? This is the importance of precise incantation. It’s no coincidence that extraordinary memory and understanding are virtues of a magician.”

Bullshit. Extraordinary memory and understanding weren’t required for memorizing a few lines of spells.

In Binaeril’s view, what a magician needed was stupidity.

The stupidity to believe in such nonsensical power without any doubt.

The innocent belief that what they imagined would truly come to pass.

Binaeril thought he lacked that.

He was a person endowed with the exact opposite talent, the talent to doubt and question everything.

And for becoming a magician, that was closer to a curse.

Gospelt Louis and Dalhaim. The difference between the top student of their entering class and the perennial junior might be just that.

“That’s all for today’s lesson. On your way out, collect a cube from the teaching assistant. If you succeed in breaking the egg with a destructive spell, you will be evaluated and may be enrolled in Elfenbine’s senior curriculum. Everyone remembers, right?”

As the session ended, the students left the classroom in groups.

“Binaeril Dalhaim.”

Professor Freud, who was organizing the teaching materials, called him.

“Yes?”

“Come closer.”

Up close, Professor Freud’s expression appeared even more irritable and harsh.

Binaeril realized it was his first time seeing the professor’s face this close.

“Three years since you entered, and you haven’t managed to cast even a basic spell, have you?”

“…No.”

“In contrast, you score perfectly on theory exams. That alone won’t be enough. Honestly, there’s no precedent for a student like you in Elfenbine.”

Binaeril knew it was absurd for a young professor in his sixth year of appointment to talk about precedents.

But from experience, he knew it wasn’t wise to add unnecessary comments at times like this.

He simply lowered his gaze and half-listened to Professor Freud’s nagging.

This reaction only aggravated the professor’s temper.

Professor Freud frowned deeply.

“Haven’t you had enough? You have no talent for magic. Wouldn’t it be better to give up and help your parents back home?”

Binaeril barely suppressed a surge of emotion.

He had no place to return to. His father back home struggled to even look at his son.

Their entire communication was limited to the annual letters with Elfenbine’s tuition fees.

Binaeril would not return home until much later.

However.

Professor Freud’s words were not a suggestion but a clear expulsion recommendation.

Binaeril let out a silent sigh.

Remaining silent wouldn’t end the nagging.

“Respected Professor, according to the tower’s rules, all students have the right to continue their studies as long as they desire.”

“What?”

Professor Freud was stunned by Binaeril’s audacity to mention rules before a professor.

“There are many students with lower grades and less talent than me. Are you suggesting that all such students, including myself, should be expelled from Elfenbine?”

“You insolent brat. There’s no other student who has been as slow despite spending as much time as you!”

Professor Freud started to argue irrationally. Dalhaim was not a fool.

“Bilmany.”

“?”

“Chichen, Ariel, Ulik, Bandireo.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“They are students, including myself, who failed your class last semester. Some are retaking the same class this semester. Are you saying these remarks are reserved for me alone due to your personal feelings?”

Professor Freud’s face turned even more severe.

“You are truly an arrogant kid. Do you realize who you’re being so insolent to?”

“If there is no valid reason for my expulsion, I will consider your words unheard. See you next week.”

Without waiting for a response, Dalhaim turned and left the classroom.

A nervous thud sounded from behind him. It didn’t matter. Dalhaim didn’t pay any attention and left the place.

After leaving the building and walking for a while, he finally let out a sigh.

“Haa….”

Professor Freud was a highly respected figure with a strong voice in faculty meetings due to his significant research achievements.

There were even frequent rumors about him being considered for the next dean.

If someone like him recommended expulsion, it wouldn’t just end as a simple threat.

“Should I really consider dropping out?”

Though he hated the idea more than anything, Binaeril often wondered if he was foolish for staying at Elfenbine.

Since his first year, his relationship with the professors had been deteriorating, but this was the first time the conflict had been so overt.

Dalhaim fidgeted with the cube he received for the assignment, thinking he wouldn’t get any sleep tonight.

“Maybe I should take a walk before going back.”

Regret for responding too emotionally came belatedly.

Binaeril tried hard not to sink into deep self-reproach, shaking his head.

As he shifted his gaze, he took in the exotic campus filled with various wonders and magic.

It was a scene befitting the reputation of the world’s only institution for magical studies.

Dalhaim liked this space. Not the people, but the place.

Taking a leisurely walk through the serene campus was one of his few hobbies.

Students chattered in groups as they headed back to the dormitories.

Binaeril looked around the expansive campus, appreciating the harmonious chaos of buildings and people.

‘It’s truly amazing that all this space is contained within a narrow tower.’

Elfenbine was not a specific geographic name.

It referred to a narrow, tall tower whose top could not be seen no matter how high you looked.

Inside that narrow tower was a completely different world, an expansive space that defied physical explanation.

No magician in the world could create such a mysterious and inexplicable space.

Except for the Archmage Dekypleio, the builder of the tower.

As his thoughts reached this point, Dalhaim once again reflected on the teachings of the Archmage Dekypleio.

“Magic is the power to turn imagination into reality…”

Deep in thought, Binaeril pondered his beliefs and doubts.

Doubting and believing. Believing and doubting.

Time passed quickly.

When he snapped out of his reverie, Binaeril found himself standing in front of the Grand Library.

“I should borrow the textbooks needed for the next class.”

Binaeril entered the Grand Library.

That day, the book he discovered there would change Binaeril’s life forever.