Book 2 Chapter 18

Chapter 42

I was able to return to school around Sunday evening. As soon as I returned, I headed to the dormitory bathroom.

My coat and shoes were a mess with dirt and dust from a nearly three-day journey, but it was nothing compared to Pipi's appearance.

As I poured warm water over Pipi with a washing magical tool, Pipi flapped its wings open and closed, fussing and wiggling its bottom.

"Oh, look how dirty you are. Pipi, how long have you not washed? 200 years?"

"Don't know, don't know, don't know."

Friede said that sun parakeets, which have flames within their bodies, have a body temperature about 5 degrees higher than humans, so they like to bathe in hot water.

While waiting for me, it must have been a luxury it had never enjoyed. At best, it would have only gotten wet in the occasional rainwater.

Not a month, not a year, not ten years, but hundreds of years… My heart felt heavy again for no reason.

"From now on, I'll only give you the best. You know, I'm the heir to a renowned noble family in the Empire. Money just overflows, I tell you."

"Corn, corn, corn."

"Corn? Hey! What's the big deal, I could just buy you an entire field. Hehehe."

"Hehehe, hehehe, hehehe."

"Hahahaha."

"Hahahaha, hahahaha."

"Hahahahahahaha."

"Hahahahahahahahaha, hahahahahahaha."

After exchanging such cunning(?) laughs and splashes of water for a while, I felt a presence outside and returned to the room, wrapping Pipi in a towel.

As soon as I dried it off a bit, it flew around, exploring different parts of the room, then soon landed on the bookshelf and shook off the water as if satisfied.

"Sorry, it's a bit small, isn't it? Just bear with it for about three years. When we return to the mansion, I'll just build you a private greenhouse."

"Greenhouse, greenhouse, greenhouse."

"How about that, wouldn't that be great?"

What good is a high social status for?

Isn't it for splurging generously on occasions like this? After changing into light clothes, I placed Pipi on my head and left the dormitory.

"Curfew will pass soon, so we can't go outside… Let's buy a cage next weekend."

"Now? Now? Now?"

"I need to register you."

The destination was the academic affairs office in the university's main building. There was a procedure to follow to legally keep Pipi at school.

"You're going to… register that as a messenger bird?"

In <Delaiten>, a messenger bird (傳書鳥) refers to a bird used by mages for communication.

Unlike commoners who use pigeons or crows, mages commonly use owls, which have high magical sensitivity.

Therefore, the academic affairs staff member's reaction of looking at Pipi with suspicion was not surprising.

"Even though it looks like this, it has extremely high intelligence. Peach, mimic what this person just said."

Just in case, I decided to change Pipi's name to Peach. I also stated that my name was currently Rain, not Rin.

Pipi, who had landed on the academic affairs table, swayed its head back and forth, moving to a rhythm.

"Oh my, how cute."

The academic affairs staff member covered her mouth with both hands and exclaimed. Rain shook his head.

"Not dancing, mimicry."

"Corn, corn, corn."

"Are you going to be like this?"

"Co-o-orn."

"No, why is this fellow doing this… It's doing this on purpose, you know? It really speaks well."

Then the academic affairs staff member looked at Rain pitifully. His face turned crimson in the unexpected and embarrassing situation.

'Pipi, this rascal, is deliberately making me look like a foolish, doting idiot owner…?'

The staff member smiled contentedly but spoke in a concerned tone.

"Registration is, of course, free, but… wouldn't it be too dangerous?"

"Why?"

"Because if it's just a parrot, it might get eaten by owls. Owls are raptors, after all. And parrots don't have magical sensitivity, so you wouldn't be able to use it properly."

Just then, an owl flew into the academic affairs building. It wasn't a student's, but an owl officially used by the school.

As the owl landed on the table, another academic affairs staff member began to take a letter out of the bamboo tube tied to its ankle.

Meanwhile, the owl glared at Pipi with its large eyes, as if threatening it.

It truly was a raptor; it was at least three times larger than Pipi. Though sun parakeets were also quite a small species among parrots.

Pipi met that impertinent gaze head-on, then spread one wing as if it was unimpressed.

Whoosh!

Then, a fiery arc beautifully bloomed and took shape from the tip of its wing.

At that terrifying heat, the owl was startled, flapped its wings, and flew away, while the academic affairs staff members one by one dropped their jaws.

"A, a parrot can use magic?"

"No, wait… isn't that a sun parakeet?"

"A sun parakeet… that's even more absurd."

It truly was an unbelievable statement. Weren't sun parakeets a mythical species, rumored to have fewer than a hundred individuals even if one scoured both continents?

There was indeed one family in the Empire that systematically bred sun parakeets and passed them down as companion birds to their descendants: the Grand Ducal House of Duren, the Electors of the North, who took the phoenix as their family emblem.

But Duren could only do that because they had been raising sun parakeets since the dawn of the Thersia calendar…

"It is indeed a sun parakeet."

"H-how can this be! Where did you get it?"

As Rain grinned, the staff members' eyes lit up, and their fingers twitched, trying to somehow touch Pipi.

"I just… happened to pick it up in the Red Mountains."

He hadn't lied, no.

The staff members didn't press further. They didn't know what smuggling route he used, but they knew that with the wealth of the Ludwig family, a powerful house in Richland, it was possible to obtain a sun parakeet.

Of course, that was only possible if such a rarity became available for sale…

"With this, there shouldn't be any problem, right?"

"O-of course! But, could I perhaps touch it just a little bit?!"

"Me, me too!"

While Rain filled out the messenger bird registration form, the incomparably cute Pipi, unlike the owl, received a great deal of affection from the staff members.

"Is this all?"

"Yes, you've filled in everything that needed to be entered."

"Come here, Pipi… no, Peach. Let's go."

Truly overwhelming intelligence; Pipi immediately flew and settled on Rain's shoulder. When he glanced at it, it tilted its head adorably.

'Pipi is next to me.'

That fact alone made him grin all the way back to the dormitory.

Though his stamina had increased, perhaps the three-day journey had been demanding. Upon returning to the dormitory, the tension eased, and indeed, travel fatigue washed over him.

He sat at his desk, intending to solve a few math problems, but simply collapsed onto the bed.

"Pipi, turn off the light."

As his consciousness was about to be pulled into darkness, the room grew dim, and a warm object landed beside his face, then flopped over on its side like a human.

Pipi.

Rubbing his face against Pipi's head, he cherished its warmth and fell asleep.

"Good night, Pipi."

"Good night, good night, good night, Rin."

That night was the first night he hadn't slept in the solitude of being alone since waking from his long sleep.

* * *

On Monday morning, he woke up with stiff movements and put on his uniform. The uniforms were maintained by the dormitory caretakers.

From the moment he woke up until he finished getting ready, Pipi was sound asleep on the bed.

It was actually the first time he had seen Pipi sleep longer than himself.

'It must have been tired…'

It probably hadn't had a single day of comfortable rest, always on guard against intruders. For over 200 years. He quietly closed the door without making a sound.

He left the dormitory and headed to Yongnyun Hall. This was because the exam results would be announced in the auditorium.

As he walked, yawning, he encountered an unexpected person in the campus courtyard where cherry blossoms were fluttering.

"Good morning, Rain."

With a tall figure and a kind smile, it was Associate Professor Kyle. He was heading to the main building, but after giving some instructions to his assistant, he approached Rain.

"Your face still shows signs of exam fatigue, are you alright?"

He was slightly puzzled but first bowed his head to show respect as a student. As Professor Kyle smiled gently, the wind blew, and the cherry trees in the courtyard swayed refreshingly.

"If things go well, it might start today. Hmm, I'm greatly looking forward to it."

"What are you referring to?"

"What do you mean? Student council life, of course."

Student council?

Is the student council starting its activities?

He didn't know what that had to do with him, so he felt a bit reluctant, but he nodded anyway. Kyle chuckled.

"You yourself know best that there's no one among your peers who can compare to you, Rain, don't you?"

"…"

"Fortunately, there's a senior who might stimulate you, holding the position of student council president."

"Student council president?"

"Yes. I hope you both become good motivators for each other. It will likely turn out that way. I'm quite good at judging people."

Kyle smiled sweetly, patted Rain's shoulder encouragingly, and then turned away.

'How exciting.'

If my master hadn't had health problems two years ago, and had supervised the exams directly, he would have given that child bonus points too.

'The meeting of such two talents, I'm truly looking forward to it.'

Rain, who had been looking at Kyle's retreating figure with a puzzled expression, tilted his head once before heading towards Yongnyun Hall.

As he entered the auditorium, Logan waved from a seat in the back right. Though the other Chaihak student sitting next to him bit his lip as if in shock.

As he sat in the seat next to him, Logan said in an excited voice.

"To receive S grades in all midterm exams is truly remarkable, Young Master."

"I heard there are three others besides me."

"The important thing is that you got an S grade from that Lillian! Anyway, with this, Young Master might become a first-year student council executive."

"Student council? Come to think of it, Professor Kyle mentioned it earlier, but what does that have to do with me?"

Then Logan tilted his head as if to say 'don't joke around,' and soon began to explain.

"The reason the first-year first-semester midterm exam is important is that only the top-ranked student earns executive qualification from their first year… Most student council presidents follow this route."

The <Delaiten> student council was composed only of the most promising students. Only those who ranked high could become its executives.

The opportunity was only given twice. Only to the top-ranked student in the first-year first-semester midterms and final exams.

If the top-ranked student was already an executive, the opportunity would go to the second-ranked. In this way, the student council had been run with two members per year, for a total of six.

"Is that similar to a club? Do I have to do it?"

"…Don't you know?"

"Hmph, I'm too lazy to add more work."

"It's preposterous to say you won't join! How many students struggle to get into the student council? If you say that, you'll incur public outrage!"

It was the first time Rain had seen Logan this excited since the Mage War, so he blinked with a slightly bewildered expression.

"Oh? Sorry, I guess it was really important."

Not long after that, all students were seated, and President Madelia Page ascended the podium.

Behind her, five assistants entered with giant posters and began to affix them to the wall. Even though magical tools had advanced tremendously, <Delaiten> always adhered to traditional methods for announcing grades.

Soon, the grades were publicly revealed in order of rank, and gasps escaped from various parts of the auditorium. But strangely, only the names of the top 5 were listed on the posters.

"What? My name isn't there."

Gertrude was 8th, Logan 7th, Wybert 6th, and 5th was Lillian Carline. But above that, there were no names. Not a single one.

He also turned his gaze to the lower ranks. Perhaps as many as 33 students had been expelled, as the ranking only went up to 200th place.

At that moment, Madelia Page, who was on the podium, solemnly opened her mouth.

"Silence. From now on, I will call out the names of the top four students, from the top-ranked to the fourth-ranked, of this midterm exam."

Nora Redon.

Crista Warden.

Caden.

Rain Ludwig.

"Students whose names have just been called, please come up to the podium."

Amidst the students' exclamations, three students stood up with their unique individual movements.

Crista was majestically aristocratic, Nora was playful, and Caden, for some reason, moved with an elegance as if melody flowed from each gesture.

As Rain ascended the podium, following the three competitors, Logan gave him a thumbs-up as if cheering him on.

'How strange…'

He had thought it was just a basic level exam, with no particular tension, but now that he was in this situation, his heart was powerfully throbbing.

Was this the feeling of enjoyment?

When he stood on the podium next to the student named Nora, strangely, only the thumping of his own heartbeat echoed in his ears.

"I will now read out the evaluations from the professors who were in charge of assessing your bonus points."

Madelia Page unrolled a scroll.

"The four students above have received S grades in all midterm exams, proving unparalleled excellence in magical skill, comprehension, and knowledge."

"…!"

"However, among this excellence, the highest scores were awarded to students who advanced even further, that is, students who possess the potential to pioneer the future of magic."

Rain tilted his head.

The future of magic? What does that mean? Madelia Page rolled up the scroll.

"What is required of <Delaiten>'s top-ranked student is not just excellence or superiority, but uniqueness. The special quality of being the only gem that shines among countless raw stones!"

"…!"

"The name of the student who possesses the qualification to lead other students with that light, in other words, the student qualified as the top-ranked student is──!"

Professor Kyle, who had been waiting behind the podium with his arms crossed, smiled gently.

"You seem to be in a good mood, Professor Elin."

Then Elin, who had been grinning, instantly erased his smile and deliberately gritted his teeth.

"Not good? I'm in a terrible mood right now. Just imagining how much further that guy will climb already makes me nauseous."

You're still not honest, are you? Your mouth is twitching, Elin.

The two had been rivals, fighting for the top and second spots during their student days at <Delaiten>. Their masters themselves were Skall and Marhena, who formed the two major forces in the magical world at the time.

Elin was naturally Skall's disciple, and Kyle was Marhena's disciple. Ultimately, Kyle won and achieved top honors graduation, but…

"Is that so? You're different from me, then."

"Why?"

"I feel extremely good. I feel as if I'm witnessing a scene that will be heavily reported in the future, in real-time."

"What are you talking about?"

"On that day, right here, for the first time, a new future of magic revealed itself to the world. Would the article title be something like that?"

Madelia Page, who had been scanning the four students with her eyes amidst breathtaking tension, at that moment pointed a finger at one student.

The boy had lustrous black hair.

The boy possessed eyes redder than blood.

The boy was once called by the derogatory nickname 'Young Master of Calamity' (天災) amidst nationwide scorn. That boy's name was.

"──Top-ranked student of the 1388th midterm exam, Rain Ludwig!"