Book 1 Chapter 12
Episode 11
“Not admitted as the top student, isn't something wrong with this?!”
Bellewyn, the mansion of the Ludwig family.
Ellyn Ludwig, who had received the notification from the Magic Realm, banged on the table and flew into a rage.
As a professor at Delighten, she had briefly visited the mansion for some necessary documents but was fully dressed for travel as she had to return to school.
“Isn't it obvious that Page got involved? They're jealous of Rein's genius!”
It was incomprehensible.
Rein had applied through the regular admission process. But why was he registered as a successful candidate from an additional exam?
The letter only stated, "[You have passed through an additional exam]," so the full story was unknown.
“Why would the Page family be jealous of Rein, young lady? Admitting a good student would be beneficial for them too.”
When Rein's mother, Brim, tilted her head and asked, Ellyn scoffed.
“Well, that human's daughter became disab─”
“─Ellyn.”
But when Cayvan cut her off coldly, she immediately fell silent.
“If there had been any problem, Margrave Page would have informed me. Or Rein would have contacted us.”
It was certainly an incomprehensible situation, but there wasn't much to worry about. What mattered now was that he had been admitted.
‘Admission, admission…’
You'd better be a little nervous, Rein.
That school is where the most promising talents from all over the Empire gather. From those like you, a member of a magical lineage, to the disciples of the Eight Great Academies…
‘No, perhaps for you, it wouldn't be about being nervous, but rather never having a dull moment?’
Cayvan smiled contentedly.
Because you were born with a more intense craving for knowledge than anyone else in this world.
* * *
The school delivered a fresh shock from the very first day of the opening ceremony. There were three sources of confusion on the first day alone.
After the opening ceremony, he received the class placement handout and moved to the first-year undergraduate building, Yongmyeongwan (Dragon's Slumber Hall).
The pure white structure was shaped like a dragon lying prostrate on the ground, seeking slumber, and the worship of dragons, absolute life forms, was the same for witches and mages in the Republic who handled sorcery.
For Karanden, the Black Sun who created magic, was also the creator of the dragon race.
Walking through the corridor where the green spring sunlight poured in obliquely, he arrived at the third classroom.
[Cheonggang]
After comparing "Cheonggang" written on the handout with the "Cheonggang" on the nameplate, he slowly opened the back door.
The classroom structure was simple yet beautiful.
Desks were arranged in four terraced rows, and the chairs and pedestals had elegant curves.
Curtains hanging from the arched windows on the left side of the classroom billowed in the flower-scented spring breeze.
Up to this point, there was no problem.
The problem was the very last seat in the left row facing the window, and shortly after sitting there, the first confusion arrived.
“Heaven is truly indifferent. It seems they intend to make you compete with this recommended student, Chrysta Worden, from the start of the semester.”
As soon as his eyes met with the grinning, toad-like fellow, a sigh escaped him first.
“To roughly translate what Miss Chrysta said, it would be something like, ‘I’m truly happy to sit with you.’”
The one who said that was a female student with a playful impression and her hair elegantly braided.
He had seen this person at the Seoga Council as well. To confirm, his eyes naturally went to her name tag.
[Gertrude Fenton]
The Viscountcy of Fenton was a magical family in the East that served the Worden family. Each magical lineage had two or three subordinate families.
“Mm-hmm, of course I’m happy. So happy I could dance. Because I can humble this fellow's arrogant nose from day one.”
As the fresh spring breeze shook the curtains by the window, the scent of memories tickled his nose like pollen.
When was it, Frede once asked if he wanted to go to school.
He replied no.
He was already a Glados (4-star) mage, so there was nothing to learn by going. He replied that it would only be a waste of time.
- “Idiot, school isn’t just a place to learn academics.”
- “Then what do you learn?”
- “People.”
Really?
So, it's a place where you have to learn about this kind of toad-like fellow? Do you really have to learn that?
As he swallowed a despairing groan, the second confusion arrived. However, this one was closer to enjoyment than embarrassment.
As the front door, accessible only to professors and lecturers, creaked open, the pupils of the other students' eyes widened in shock.
A broad-shouldered, burly man walked silently and assertively to stand on the podium.
He seemed more suited to earning a living through martial arts than magic, and hushed gasps escaped from here and there.
“Is this real? A gorilla?”
“Ha… Is our homeroom teacher a gorilla?”
Is he a famous person?
He glanced at Chrysta, and surprisingly, there was a glimmer of tension in her eyes too.
“What kind of man is he?”
“You don't know Owen? He's a professor at the University Department of Delighten who's famous for being stingy with grades.”
F grades, which largely contributed to expulsion or being held back, were said to be handed out to students whenever he felt like it.
“Hmm…”
Owen scanned each student sitting in the classroom, then suddenly made a face as if he carried all the world's misfortunes and firmly pinched his cheek.
“These monkeys with nothing but shit in their heads are the students I have to guide for a year. How dare I speak and you bow your heads?”
A piece of chalk, lifted by telekinesis, struck the forehead of a poor victim sitting in the front row, and a dull thud echoed.
In the silence, all the students immediately straightened their backs.
“Is this situation funny? Is it entertaining? You know nothing. You think everything's over just because you've come to college? Do you think you'll become a court mage for a great noble or build your own magic tower and live lavishly?”
“…!”
“Throw such illusions to the dogs. If you lot become that, I'll call you ‘Master.’ You're still rookies, and there's a mountain of things to learn. Are there any here from the Eight Great Academies?”
Then three people, including Hyuvelle, raised their hands. Owen let out a sigh as if the sky had fallen.
“The shittiest things in this school are you idiots from the Eight Great Academies. The bizarre formulas and confidence you've brought from your academies are beyond help. Are there any from the magical lineages?”
When the boy and Chrysta raised their hands side by side, Owen made a face as if he was about to cry.
“This is truly intolerable. Look at those arrogant faces that know nothing of the struggles of the world. Go back home, learn how to dress yourselves, and then come back.”
Owen insulted all the students in this manner, and the boy couldn't help but show considerable respect for his linguistic ability.
He wondered why a man with such unprecedented talent for rhetoric didn't join a religion and became a mage instead.
Even if it wasn't a cult or heretical religion, he would have made quite a bit of money if he had become a priest.
“My job for the next year is to raise you into at least usable mages. You, who are worse than monkeys. Those who can't keep up will be mercilessly left behind.”
No one opened their mouths.
They were all probably scared, but Owen seemed to have trained himself to find fault in any situation.
“No answer? Am I scary?”
“No, sir!”
“Then does that mean I'm easy to deal with? Very well. We'll have a test today. The team that comes in last will be deemed unfit and immediately expelled.”
Expulsion?
Was it that easy to get expelled?
Owen turned around and quickly drew a magic circle on the blackboard, then began filling it with runes.
Presenting a magic circle and runes is like presenting a math problem.
Meaning, the formula to solve it and the method of solution are up to them.
“The time limit is 20 minutes. Solve this problem starting now.”
Owen sneered.
“To those who can't solve it within the time limit, or those who solve it last, I will give the promised expulsion.”
As the students just blinked, Owen burst into anger.
“Why are you just staring blankly? The test has already begun! Form pairs, two per team! Even monkeys can solve a 2-star magic spell if they put their heads together, can't they?”
At that, the students hurriedly took out their writing tools and began copying the magic circle onto rice paper. Chrysta was no different.
She was truly diligent.
Her eyes were so intent on examining the magic circle that it felt burdensome to even speak to her.
‘The form of the magic circle is a double-layered fan shape. The runes used are Jeung (蒸) and Seo (逝)…’
Imbuing the wind attribute with the characteristics 'Jeung (蒸): Spreading as steam' and 'Seo (逝): Going and disappearing.'
‘The formula that must be used to manifest this magic is…’
Magic typically had three methods of use. One was written calculation with hand seals, and mental calculation.
If mental calculation was the realm of geniuses, written calculation was the realm of ordinary talents; even a dullard could use up to 2-star magic if they solved it with written calculation.
Of course, it would take several times longer.
As if she had finally finished thinking, Chrysta spoke.
“Help me. I’m going to build the basic equation with matrices and then find the answer with a cubic function.”
“Matrices here? It seems you prefer living harder than it looks.”
“Why don't you pick up a brush instead of babbling with your mouth?”
Chrysta felt less diligent in her studies and more desperate.
She constantly said, 'I must reach the pinnacle,' and later, he heard that she was a person who devoted herself to her studies with an immense sense of mission.
Chrysta Worden was said to be born as the third daughter of Margrave Worden.
The Worden family rose to the position of a magical lineage after producing the 2nd Sage Riot Worden, but for the past 100 years, it had been on a decline, failing to produce any suitable talent.
The Eight Great Academies often ridiculed them, saying things like the Worden family was finished, or that there were now only four magical lineages in the Empire.
It was said that Chrysta was born amidst such misfortunes of the family.
Because her two older sisters were not just ordinary but dull, Margrave Worden was said to be staking everything on Chrysta.
“…”
At the time, he couldn't discern what she carried on her shoulders from her hand gestures as she wrote numbers on the rice paper with a brush.
But it was true that in her desperate heart, he saw a reflection of his past self, Rin.
How desperate he was when taken in by the academy. Not wanting to be abandoned again.
And wanting to repay them.
If he truly became a magnificent mage, and thus spread the academy's name far and wide, it would be a repayment to his aunt.
So he worked hard.
Truly, truly hard.
In that diligence, there was not a single speck of regret.
“What are you looking at? Have you found the answer for the function yet?”
“Here.”
“Good, then now…!”
The third confusion must have arrived around that time.
The wind blew in through the window, and the curtains billowed strongly.
The wind also swept over the desk, bending the rice paper that was fixed by a magic circle this way and that…
Soon the paper tore with a rip, and the magic circle, which only needed its last number filled in, was split.
“W-the wind…?”
Chrysta's breathing became ragged, clearly showing her embarrassment.
“This magic circle can't be used now. I have to start over, from the beginning…”
Written calculation is performed with a brush imbued with magical power, and if this magical circuit is physically broken, the magic will not activate properly.
Damage to the paper, as in this case, was a typical example.
Bell Sidious. Four petals rose above his irises, and his vision turned red.
He read the remnants of magical power infused in the wind. He let out a low sigh.
Hyuvelle, was it?
Playing a childish prank.
He glanced at Hyuvelle, who was sitting at the far end. The Lohwinum Academy was the Academy of Wind.
Their secret technique was Musungmusae (Silent and Colorless).
An academy secret art where the sound and color produced by magic disappear. Because the traces of magic vanish, even skilled mages couldn't detect the presence of the cast spell.
During times of upheaval, battle mages from the Lohwinum Academy mainly carried out assassination and disruption missions.
This time… perhaps he controlled the wind, aiming for when the spring storm, with petals swirling in the schoolyard, would blow.
As if she couldn't know that, Chrysta frantically tried to take the boy's rice paper.
“Rice paper, give me yours! We have to do it quickly. There's no time!”
She had to redraw the magic circle, inscribe the runes, and fill in the mathematical equation.
Now there were 8 minutes left.
Even if she had used 12 minutes, the solution process was already in her head, so 8 minutes, within 8 minutes, somehow…
She must be thinking that.
Perhaps due to the frustration of bad luck, the girl who had seemed so spirited was now on the verge of tears.
He couldn't count how many times she had sighed just today.
And in that tearful face, he once again saw a reflection of the desperate Rin of the past.
This isn't helping her. My score also depends on it, so I'm just putting in a bit of effort.
He reiterated that to himself.
Then he grabbed Chrysta's hand as she reached for the rice paper.
“It's impossible. You'll never finish it in time with your method, not even if you die.”
“What?”
“Giving up quickly is also an answer.”
“You─”
“─If you're going to do it that way, that is.”
He picked up the brush. And with a single stroke.
Elegant and perfect curves, almost artistic.
The practiced sensation from drawing thousands upon thousands of times swiftly rendered the magic circle and runes onto the rice paper.
“If you panic this easily just because an opponent broke some magic, you won't be able to be a mage anywhere, will you?”
“…!”
“Remember this well. To become a powerful mage, you must remain calm in any situation.”
In the world he lived as Rin, not even 8 minutes were given.
The decisive moment in a match was always every single second.
If you were even a little late? The word "expulsion" couldn't even be used as a joke. The result was only death.
“This time, I'll lead, so you provide support. Just don't hold me back.”