From Class A to Class J.
Academy freshmen were divided into ten classes.
And Kawin was assigned as number thirty in Class J.
Which meant dead last out of 300.
Because he had taken the longest to pass the entrance exam.
“Hmm.”
Yet not a trace of gloom could be found in Kawin's expression.
Last place?
That did not matter in the slightest.
He had not come to the Academy to play the ranking game in the first place.
Fight without rest.
And find the grimoire.
For Kawin, these two things mattered most.
That was why the disgraceful name ‘Dead-Battery Bug’ was no problem at all.
“Look over there.”
“That's Kawin, right?”
“With that pasty-white pretty face, he's so damn annoying.”
“Wipe your drool before you talk. And why are your cheeks all red?”
“Maybe it's the hair, but he stands out even from far away.”
“Dead-Battery Bug bastard. I heard he got into a scrap with the Druids on the very first day?”
“Last on the entrance exam, but first in room assignment…….”
“What the hell is he?”
Since he had passed Valeria's test, the eyes on him had changed subtly.
But the freshmen's whispering did not register with Kawin.
He was simply appreciating the beautiful sculptures before his eyes.
‘Seeing is a good thing.’
The Academy overflowed with all kinds of paintings and sculptures.
Some made with magic.
Some woven stitch by stitch by an artisan's hands.
All of them delighted Kawin.
Months had passed since he had opened his eyes, but beautiful art was always a joy and a thrill, no matter when he looked at it.
“Looks like you like this painting too?”
A freshman approached Kawin's side.
Blond hair of a deeper shade than Kawin's.
And a large cat mask.
The most conspicuous presence in this Academy.
“Frasel.”
“Oh my. You know my name?”
At the feigned surprise, Kawin smiled coldly.
“It'd be stranger not to recognize someone walking around in a mask that big. Besides, I hear you're imperial.”
“That's right. But I'd rather you didn't think of me as too special. We're all sons and daughters of our great Emperor, aren't we?”
Kawin closed his eyes for a moment.
And focused on the senses of his nose and ears.
‘Irregular breathing. A slight increase in the smell of sweat.’
Frasel was lying.
Unlike what she said, did she think of herself as special?
Whatever it was, one thing was certain: she was someone he could not trust.
Lying from the very first greeting.
‘Pulling tricks right out of the gate.’
Without the slightest inkling of Kawin's thoughts, her gaze returned to the painting.
“This painting. I like it too, so I come to look at it sometimes. It was the fiercest and largest battle in the war against the ‘Iron Empire.’”
A large painting filling an entire wall.
In it were dozens of Swordmasters and mages.
“Doesn't just looking at it make your heart swell? Every time I look at this painting, I feel my blood running hot.”
An elated voice flowed from beyond the cat mask.
The youngest Imperial Princess, speaking of the Empire's history in a voice full of emotion.
Anyone else would have flushed and agreed, but unfortunately, that did not apply to Kawin.
Once again, no sincerity could be felt.
‘Every time she opens her mouth, it's a big ol' lie.’
Kawin nodded with a dry face.
“I don't especially like this painting. I just noticed a lot of mages in it.”
“Really? Are you looking for someone?”
“Hmm.”
The Archmage Dharma.
He had looked for a long time in case he could find some trace of him.
But nowhere in the painting could a mage using ‘Lightning’ be seen.
The same was true of the other paintings on the wall.
‘Just from the energy in the grimoire, I can tell for sure. Dharma would definitely have been a great strength to the Empire.’
Was it simply an omission?
Or a deliberate ‘deletion’?
He had his suspicions, but the Kawin of the present had no way to confirm them.
“Huh? It's Frasel.”
“That guy is…… Kawin?”
“What are they doing standing together?”
“First and last standing side by side, that's kind of funny.”
At the chatter, Frasel promptly turned and went over to the students.
Kawin, on the other hand, walked off without even turning his head.
“The reason I came to Tesca? For the Empire and His Majesty the Emperor, of course.”
Frasel's voice came from behind him.
As expected, there was no sincerity in it.
***
Gulp.
Gulp.
The sound of swallowing could be heard all around.
Should it be called true to form for Tesca Academy?
From the day after the entrance ceremony, a stage had been set for the freshmen to trade blows.
[1st Regular Challenge]
Across the green expanse filling their view, sparring grounds the size of sports fields stretched out endlessly.
Above each sparring ground floated a large number made with magic.
“This is…….”
Walther trailed off in a tense voice.
Their own battlefield, where they would trade countless blows until the day they graduated.
Separate from the regular subjects, anyone who failed to accumulate Challenge points could not guarantee even graduation, let alone the top spot.
A nasty system where one's worth could only be recognized by stepping on an opponent to climb up.
That was Tesca's educational policy.
“Welcome to the sparring grounds.”
Not even the usual staff or teaching assistants were there.
Before the three hundred stood only one person.
Even at a glance, this was someone armed with ‘fairness.’
A center part split exactly five to five, perfectly balanced without a hair out of place.
Sleekly combed black hair fell knife-straight to both shoulders.
The white outfit, matched top to bottom unlike the students' uniforms, stood out as well.
“I am Oracle, who will be in charge of your Regular Challenges from now on. If you have any questions, you may ask anything at all.”
Hum.
As soon as the brief self-introduction ended, a wide, round red light appeared on Oracle's forehead.
To anyone's eyes, it was another ‘eye.’
“Challenges will proceed simultaneously on the fifteen sparring grounds you see before you. After exactly ten rounds, the Challenges of all three hundred will be finished. It will not take as long as you think. The amount of mana freshmen possess will be exhausted in under five minutes at most.”
The freshmen each kept their mouths shut and read the room.
None of them dared ask openly, but everyone held the same question.
“I know what you are wondering. There is one newly made eyeball and fifteen sparring matches. How can all of them be checked?”
FLASH!
The moment the words ended, a thin beam shot from the red eye on the forehead.
Its destination was a green-haired student in the middle of the crowd of three hundred.
The students stepped back in surprise, but it was not a beam harmful to the human body.
It simply,
“Eek.”
The spot the red light pointed at was the green-haired student's right pocket.
Soon, a square window rose above his head.
As if filmed with a camera, the inside of the green-haired student's pocket was laid bare.
Inside his pocket, the green-haired student had his middle finger extended.
A provocation toward the teacher that no one was supposed to see had been nakedly exposed.
“Your name was Pakio, I believe? You lose points.”
“I-I'm sorry!”
Pakio bowed his head as if to slam it into the ground.
The rest of the students stared, aghast.
Detecting the inside of one person's pocket among such a crowd?
But the truly astonishing thing came next.
FLASH!
FLASH!
Multiple beams shot out simultaneously from the red eye on the forehead.
Their destination was the sparring grounds stretching far into the distance.
“Whoa!”
Exclamations burst out here and there.
Image quality so sharp that even the faintly dented floor could be made out.
Fifteen of those floated above Oracle's head.
Kawin marveled despite himself.
“Walther. I like that professor.”
“Yeah? I guess even you think it's amazing magic, huh?”
“Magic that opens up your vision. It's genius.”
“……Somehow I feel like your focus is a little off?”
While Kawin and Walther talked, the screens Oracle had spread out merged into one.
Soon, the footage of the sparring grounds changed into the Challenge rules.
[Victory Conditions]
[1. When magic power is depleted]
[2. When impacts beyond the permitted threshold accumulate on the uniform]
[3. When the opponent loses consciousness]
[4. When the opponent declares surrender]
“Simple, is it not?”
Oracle pointed overhead with a finger.
“You will make the bracket yourselves. Starting from the lowest rank, you will choose your opponents in turn. If the ranks are similar, base points are given, and if you fight and win against someone of relatively higher rank, bonus points are added. Consider your own magic type and challenge carefully, and at times, boldly.”
That was the end of the explanation.
Oracle sat cross-legged on a sofa in front of the waiting chairs.
Now it was time to choose.
Naturally, everyone's gaze turned to one side.
300th out of 300 entrants.
The first person who could choose an opponent was none other than Kawin.
Walther, beside him, advised him carefully.
“Kawin. That last part is probably a trap. Tesca Academy's entrance exam is famous for being precise. For now, it's better to pick one of the lower-ranked ones and steadily build up points…….”
“Thanks for the advice, but.”
Kawin stepped out to the very front of the students.
Then he turned around and stood facing the 299 students.
Who would it be?
Whom would he name?
Hundreds of eyes were asking that.
But not a single one guessed the answer.
“Frasel Illuma.”
“Ehh?”
At Kawin's nomination, the students' mouths fell open.
The choice of 300th place was none other than Tesca's top entrant.
***
“Ten seconds until the Challenge.”
Once again, the sound of swallowing came from here and there.
Before long, all fifteen sparring grounds had been filled.
Most of the students' rankings were outside the top 200.
No one would want to begin their historic first Challenge with a defeat.
Nearly all of the students had chosen students of similar ranking.
Except for one place.
The place where Kawin stood.
“That's unexpected.”
A lilting voice flowed from beyond the cat mask.
“I figured you wouldn't be an ordinary last-placer, but I didn't expect you to challenge me right from the start.”
“There's no grand reason.”
Kawin undid one cuff button on each sleeve and folded them back.
Then he flashed a rare smile, like a gentle breeze.
“When something's covered up, it only makes me want to see it more.”
“……What bad taste.”
With that, the greetings were over.
The top student and the last-placer each drew up the magic power within their bodies.
[Begin!]
Oracle's voice, carrying the force of mana, spread in all directions.
At the same time, full-color magic manifested across the fifteen spaces.
“Fire Arrow!”
“Wind Blade!”
Students chanted incantations in booming voices.
Conversely, there were also students who formed magic arrays with their mouths firmly shut.
And Kawin and Frasel,
“…….”
did nothing at all.
‘I see. Imperial blood is imperial blood.’
Illumina, an empire founded on magic.
The qualifications of the imperial family that reigned over it did not exist in name alone.
VWOOM!
How should that be described?
It was not water,
nor was it fire.
Nor was it of the electric line, like Kawin's.
Pouring out naturally, with no preliminary motion at all,
‘Pure energy.’
The immense energy wrapped around Frasel's body was not something a freshman should possess.
Like a rolling snowball, that energy grew larger as time passed, and people called it this.
Royal Arka (Sunlight of the Imperial House).
At a glance, it looked like a harmless energy.
But as the Royal Arka grew larger, cracks began to form in the floor of the sparring ground.
“If I were you, I'd choose to step out of the sparring ground. Stay put and you'll get crushed.”
Frasel's words were not mere bluster.
Before long, her magic power had risen above Kawin's head.
Was this what it felt like to face a tidal wave with time slowed down?
But Kawin still did not react.
He neither chanted like the other students nor manifested a magic array.
Bzzt……!
He merely raised faint sparks in his palms.
Soon, small wedges formed in Kawin's two hands.
The ‘Stormlord's’ magic, called forth in its most minimal form, small enough to grip in a palm.
‘Divine Bolt.’
He could now freely adjust the size of Divine Bolt.
He had not just been lounging and eating on his way to the Academy.
Since his past life, Kawin had always done what he did best.
That single word: ‘preparation.’
TAP-TAP!
Kawin dashed toward the Royal Arka Frasel had generated.
At a glance, he looked like a moth leaping into a fire pit,
but Kawin's two hands held an energy far hotter than fire.
When he swung both hands forcefully at the pure white energy,
RRRIP!
“!!!”
The Royal Arka, symbol of the imperial house, split apart like tofu.