“There's something I'm curious about.”
Inside an old-model carriage that could not be called good even out of politeness.
Kawin asked Vilkus, who was seated across from him.
“You said Father once saved your life, right?”
“That is correct.”
“And that's why you've stayed by his side for so long.”
“That is correct.”
“That's the part I don't understand. Our family's magic is definitely…….”
“A fine rival to static electricity, yes.”
Vilkus bared his teeth in a rare smile.
The only time House Anper's magic was effective was when clothes were covered in dust or lint.
It certainly had no power great enough to save a person's life.
“It is only natural that you find it strange. Back then, the Family Head's Lightning magic was also only slightly better than a flint. However…….”
Vilkus stroked his bare crown.
A very old burn scar showed there.
“In a place piled high with things that can explode, even a flint can play a big role.”
“I see.”
The scar on his crown, and a laugh like a magic beast's.
Whatever it was, it seemed the two men shared a fiery past.
Vilkus was not a suspicious man.
Kawin had already confirmed his sincerity through his breathing and the smell of his sweat.
He simply could not picture it.
That someone had been ‘saved’ by his father's magic.
“We have arrived. Please step down now.”
As Kawin got out of the carriage, a fairly prosperous town came into view.
The city where the Academy Kawin would be entering was located.
Ashfall.
“It's a strange place.”
Kawin's azure eyes surveyed the place here and there.
“There are a lot of shops selling goods, and I can see war ruins all over the place, too.”
“It is not called the ‘City of Ash’ for nothing. Since it is a city far from the capital, raids by monsters and foreign tribes are frequent. There is a reason the Academy here is the way it is.”
Kawin nodded.
Surprisingly, this was the entirety of Tesca Academy's school rules.
[FIGHT!FIGHT!FIGHT!]
Fight without rest.
And rip your opponent's head clean off.
Beyond the competition inside the Academy, in wartime, it had served as a corps of student soldiers.
So they had no choice but to tear into each other as if in real combat.
“From now on, you must be truly careful, Young Master.”
Vilkus' voice grew much sharper.
As if worried about a child left at the water's edge, he pressed closer.
“In a city with this many people, anything can happen. No matter how much we pretend otherwise, we will not be able to hide that we are bumpkins come up from the countryside. That makes us good targets for swindlers and pickpockets.”
“Like this?”
Kawin grinned and raised his hand.
In his grip were two fingers belonging to a stranger.
“Let go of me!”
At the sudden turn of events, Vilkus' shoulders jolted.
A boy caught in Kawin's hand.
In the boy's other hand, the one that wasn't caught, was Kawin's wallet.
“Wh…… when did you!”
Vilkus' dumbfounded gaze turned to the two of them.
How long had it been since they entered the city, and already this?
But even more surprising was Kawin, who had caught the pickpocket in one go.
“Let go! I said let go!”
The captured kid looked two or three years younger than Kawin.
He gave the impression of a boy right on the verge of becoming a young man.
He struggled so hard that his sky-blue hair whipped around like a feather duster.
“I'll let go when you hand over the goods.”
At Kawin's flat reply, Sky-Blue Hair bit down hard on his lip.
Then, as if it pained him to no end, he returned the wallet with his other hand.
But Kawin shook his head.
“That's not enough. Hand over your wallet, too.”
“What? This is straight-up robbery!”
“That's not something a petty pickpocket gets to say.”
The sky-blue-haired boy.
Eir felt as though he were dreaming.
How happy he had been upon spotting two people anyone could tell were bumpkins.
Thinking today was his lucky day, he had used ‘Whisper Step.’
A 1st Circle wind-attribute spell.
It was nothing special on the battlefield, but it was perfect for lifting wallets.
It made one's footsteps nimble and hid one's presence.
He had thought everything was perfect, right up until the moment he pulled out the wallet.
Until the bumpkin snatched his two fingers.
‘Damn it. How did he know?’
The corners of Kawin's lips rose slightly.
Seeing that expression, frustrated and curious at once, made him smile despite himself.
He had not needed the grimoire's power to catch a pickpocket.
Just smell.
From far away, the kid's sweat smell had spiked explosively.
It was only natural to be on guard.
“If you're going to pick other people's pockets, you should at least be willing to bet your own, right?”
“D-don't act so smug!”
Having had his own wallet taken, Eir clenched both fists tight.
“You must've just gotten lucky, but if my sister gets hold of you, someone like you……!”
“Your sister?”
“That's right! She's a capable mage who got admitted to Tesca Academy!”
“Oho.”
Kawin stroked his chin as if troubled.
“How do you think that proud new entrant would feel, hearing that her little brother got caught pickpocketing and hauled off by the guards?”
“Y-you crazy asshole! After taking my wallet, too!”
Eir drew up all his magic power and used ‘Whisper Step.’
Then he fled as if his tail feathers were about to fall off.
“He's fast.”
Holding Eir's wallet, Kawin asked Vilkus,
“You saw it too, didn't you, Vilkus? That kid. He's a mage. He's probably already formed a 1st Circle and then some.”
“It looks that way to me as well.”
“If he's completed a Circle and he's still pickpocketing around here, it must be because of money, right?”
Instead of answering, Vilkus nodded.
The Academy was not a place you could enter just because you had talent.
It was only possible if you were a wealthy merchant company like the Prios family, or were sponsored by a noble house.
‘No wonder they lose to the Iron Empire.’
Astallon, the empire of the novel's protagonist.
There, everyone got a fair chance.
Noble or commoner, even a slave who had committed a crime gained a new status if they proved their strength.
The training was brutal, but in exchange, it cost nothing.
The complete opposite of Illumina, Kawin's empire.
Even without knowing the novel, it was plain to see who would win.
“Worrying won't solve anything.”
Right now was the time to be glad about an unexpected windfall.
Kawin shook Eir's wallet and winked at Vilkus.
***
The day of the entrance ceremony dawned.
Vilkus had gone back right after lunch yesterday.
On the way here, by carriage.
On the way back, on foot.
He had said that if he walked for three full days and nights, he could ride a merchant company's carriage for free, so he had to hurry.
“The Young Master is the pride of House Anper. Engrave that fact on your heart every morning.”
Saying it was a relief that their daily necessities had grown a little thanks to the pickpocket, Vilkus left just like that.
He had stubbornly refused the carriage fare Kawin offered him.
From his retreating back came a smell similar to the library director's.
Had the director's crown been that bare, too?
With such idle thoughts, Kawin greeted the morning alone.
“Whoa.”
He had been told again and again not to act like a bumpkin, but Kawin could not help his mouth falling open.
It was the first time in his life he had seen such a large building.
Several roofs that soared up like horns, and pure white outer walls without a trace of grime.
From the densely packed windows, a subtle emerald light glimmered.
A scale so majestic it was impossible to take in the whole building at a glance.
“If Tesca's this big, how huge is the Academy in the capital?”
Seeing a large structure for the first time makes one feel overwhelmed.
Kawin calmed himself for a moment.
He had the admission application in hand, but the procedure was not over.
He could only become an official student after proving on-site that he was a ‘1st Circle mage.’
“What is this place…… a parking lot?”
When he reached the Academy's main gate, large carriages of every color and kind stood in rows.
A display of wealth and authority, each trying to outdo the others.
Kawin whistled at the carriages.
In House Anper, even renting a single old carriage had been a struggle.
When he turned his gaze, he also saw people who had walked from afar like Kawin.
Most of them were commoners.
“There's an invisible line even before the exam.”
Should he call it fortunate?
After enrollment, all students gained equal status.
Noble or commoner, they had to call one another by name.
For Kawin, who was not familiar with etiquette, that was more comfortable, too.
“Take care, Young Master!”
“My Lady. If you have any complaints, send word anytime. I will come running at once!”
“Third son of the great House of Count Keynes! Go and show them your pride!”
He had never been to one, but was this what a military boot camp felt like?
There were those shouting at the top of their lungs with veins bulging in their necks, and those wiping away tears.
Most of the freshmen wore confident faces.
Some were already on guard and waging a war of nerves.
“I heard the top freshman spot gets decided in this test?”
“Mind your own business. I don't think it applies to you.”
“Ha! You're the third son of House Keynes who was screaming earlier, right? Embarrassing as hell, and you don't even know it.”
“……I wish they'd change the test. To killing your opponent.”
Whatever.
Kawin walked straight toward the main building.
Reminding himself of why he had come here.
‘FIGHT.FIGHT.FIGHT.’
Kawin's goal matched the Academy's school rules exactly.
One of the abilities he had gained by deciphering the grimoire.
[Passive : Current Devour]
An ability that could absorb an opponent's magic power during combat.
Tesca Academy was the best possible stage for using this ability.
‘And one more thing.’
A grimoire said to have never once been deciphered by anyone.
That grimoire, which had been traveling to various Academies for exhibition, would be kept at Tesca Academy this year.
What if that book, like Dharma's grimoire, was written in Braille?
‘Only I can decipher it.’
It was a hypothesis that gave him goosebumps just imagining it.
Since it was a grimoire called a national treasure of the Empire, it would surely be on par with Dharma's grimoire.
He had sorted through his thoughts to calm down, but his heart only beat faster.
Kawin took a deep breath and stood at the entrance test site.
-Hello, everyone!
In front of the space where hundreds had gathered, there was a towering podium.
And on it stood a young man wearing a black suit.
‘A young man? No. That's…….’
A wooden doll.
It was so intricately made that he had not noticed at first, but now he saw that its skin was made of wood.
The doll stood on the podium by itself and abruptly made a declaration.
-Ha-ha! The Tesca Academy entrance exam will now begin!
“What is that?”
“Where are all the professors, and why is there just a doll standing there?”
At that bizarre sight, not even the usual applause came.
Kawin looked at the wooden doll with narrowed eyes.
A special sense that could see through an opponent's magic power.
Through Electron Perception, he could tell.
At a glance it looked comical, but a sickening amount of magic power was surging around the doll.
‘Puppetry.’
Compared to Summoning, which calls forth a target directly,
and to Necromancy, which forcibly inserts another spirit,
it was a magic line said to be several times more difficult.
They said the level rose the more human-like the movements, and this wooden doll seemed no different from a person apart from its skin.
Which meant,
‘5th Circle. No, at least 6th Circle.’
-I am Dorothy, Headmaster of Tesca Academy. From now on, ten of you at a time will come forward, hold a Cube in your hand, and close your eyes.
A name a little awkward considering the wooden doll's appearance.
But that did not matter.
No puppeteer openly used their real name.
-There is no particular need to summon a magic array or chant an incantation. The moment you grasp the Cube, your Circle will activate automatically! Ha-ha!
With those words, ten objects appeared in midair at once.
Fist-sized Cubes glowing in every color.
The entrants' eyes were dyed in full color.
Before they even had time to go ‘Whoa’ in admiration, the Cubes settled in front of the students.
-Let us begin!
The entrants rolled up their sleeves with confident faces.
To begin with, an admission application was not issued unless a Circle had been formed.
So this was, in effect, a rite of passage.
Unless a completed Circle had suddenly been destroyed or someone had come as a stand-in, there was no way to fail.
FWOOSH!
When they grasped the Cubes, flames bloomed for some,
Whoosh!
wind swirled in front of others,
Trickle.
and in front of still others, a stream of water flowed down.
And,
“What's with him?”
“Why isn't anything coming out?”
“Could it be……?”
In front of Kawin, who held a Cube, nothing changed.