“If you have eyes, compare the practical-grading results of the other Knight School professors with Professor Pontius's. You will naturally see whether this is favoritism or not. He has simply scorched the whole place, that's all.”
Garahevi was anxious.
It was not only because Lloyd had received a high score on the Knight School practical placement test.
'What if Lloyd ends up entering the Knight School at this rate?'
If, somehow, just in case.
Lloyd turned his back on the Magic School like this.
Then the rose-colored future he had already planned out—spending the rest of his days at a sunlit villa in the south—would be warped from the very beginning.
Ordinary people made requests to make up for what they lacked.
If Lloyd was the same.
It would mean he had approached Garahevi to make up for Magic School grades that were weaker than his grades in other subjects.
There was an extremely high possibility that, once he reached his second year, he would choose the Knight School, where he excelled even without favors.
'That hyena Pontius......!'
He could not even imagine that Lloyd would choose another school, such as the dumping ground among dumping grounds: the School of Administration.
There was no reason for a hexagonal talent who had earned a perfect score on the written placement test and possessed practical skill as well to choose the civil-servant-training school that only tile students chose.
He had to protect Lloyd from the clutches of the Knight School somehow.
Then he would naturally come to the Magic School.
'This is favoritism. It has to be favoritism. I will definitely drive this as favoritism.'
For that, Garahevi was ready to spark an opinion war in the administrative office as much as he pleased.
“To be honest, it does seem a little like that......”
“Giving passes to only two people in a group does seem too strict.”
“I can hear the poor freshmen already losing heart. I can hear it.”
Fortunately, the quick-witted Magic School professors and professors from other schools who were simply bored joined in with supporting fire.
It was already an open topic of conversation that Lloyd had earned a perfect score on the written placement test.
And such blatant backing could only look, to anyone, like the Knight School's ugly attempt to claim a promising prospect first.
“As far as I know, Professor Garahevi has never once drawn a sword from its sheath in his entire life, so why is he acting this way?”
Pontius was stung.
It was not only because Garahevi and the other professors were pressing him over whether he had favored Lloyd.
'No one other than me should know that Lloyd has ties to the Emperor......?'
If, somehow, just in case.
He wondered whether Garahevi was taking shots at him because he too knew Lloyd's identity.
Not long after Lloyd's entrance-ceremony speech ended, he was immediately taken away by the Imperial Guard Knights.
Naturally, in the utmost secrecy.
So much so that anyone other than someone with dynamic vision honed in real combat, like Pontius, would never have noticed at all.
(In truth, he saw it by chance because he had been hiding out of a desire to avoid a showy event like the entrance ceremony.)
He could be certain that he himself was the only person in this administrative office who knew Lloyd's backing.
'No, these old men who normally have no interest in something like placement-test grades!'
Still, it would have been awkward to snap back, “No, what am I supposed to do when Lloyd is actually good?!”
After all, he had done it. Favored him. Quite openly, at that.
Not only had he taken the strength out of his hand for Lloyd, he had also driven the other freshmen to the point of half beating them up to make Lloyd stand out.
He had even half-forced the mock duel's result into a draw.
“Honestly, you people are going too far after I have listened and listened.”
“The Knight School has not voiced even a single word of complaint over other schools' placement-test results, so you are making things difficult by continuing this.”
“If you want to raise the freshmen's spirits, then raise them yourselves. We are a school focused on real combat, so we only evaluate them as they are.”
The other Knight School professors stepped forward to defend Pontius.
Along with the Magic School, the Knight School was one of the Academy's two most popular schools.
Naturally, it had long drawn the envy and jealousy of professors from other schools.
The Knight School professors had accumulated a quiet amount of dissatisfaction and stress as well.
Then Garahevi had stepped up first and practically slapped them across the face with an opinion war.
“What......?”
“Did I say anything wrong? If the Knight School doesn't go into real combat, who will?”
“So what, our schools do nothing but babble theory at desks?!”
“No, why are you twisting it around like that?”
“In any case, I absolutely cannot accept these practical placement-test results!”
“I don't know what you will do if another school cannot accept them, but do whatever you want.”
In an instant, the administrative office became a coliseum where professors from each school briefly set aside their dignity and said only what they wanted to say.
Amid the argument, which no longer had anything to do with Lloyd.
'......Just how many people did Mr. Schultz bribe?'
Sophia Cotiar could only sip coffee with her fellow assistant professors and conceal her surprise.
After arriving at the Magic School practical-placement-test site, Maya Bjork finally stopped running.
“Haa......”
Her chest felt tight as though a huge boulder had settled inside it, and it seemed that if someone so much as touched her, tears would pour out like a waterfall.
Even so, Maya Bjork barely managed to keep her dignity.
- Maya, you are the daughter of a great person.
- A great person?
- Someone who protects the Solarian Empire from the Soundless Winter.
When she listened to her mother's voice in her heart, her wildly pounding heart calmed as well.
'Lloyd Schultz......'
Honestly, she had thought he would be nothing special.
Those whose words preceded their actions were usually all alike.
Maya Bjork's assessment of Lloyd had scraped the bottom of the barrel when he gave that agitation, too crazy to even be called a speech, at the entrance ceremony.
But the outcome revealed before her lightly surpassed her expectations.
'To think he would disarm Professor Pontius in one stroke......'
Pontius was a knight formerly of the Imperial Guard, and in keeping with his reputation, no freshman could even touch him, let alone disarm him.
No, few freshmen could even last one minute, much less touch him.
Even Maya Bjork, who had run her entire life toward becoming a knight since childhood, had only barely passed.
But Lloyd was different.
Astonishingly, he sent Professor Pontius's wooden sword flying as easily as twisting a child's wrist.
What shocked her even more was that, to Maya Bjork, Lloyd's upward swing had looked exactly like the clumsy movement of a beginner.
It had been the same even when they crossed wooden swords directly in their mock duel.
Yet she had not ultimately won.
What did that mean?
'My training was lacking....'
Just as a beginner could not understand the movements of a master when they saw them.
It clearly meant that the gap between Maya Bjork and Lloyd was far greater than she thought. (It was not.)
The instant she realized that, the pride of passing Pontius's placement test vanished like melting snow.
But shame was momentary, while learning remained long.
For the goal of becoming an excellent knight and proving herself, Maya Bjork admitted her shortcomings and asked Lloyd directly.
Since when, and what kind of training had he undergone?
Her question also contained a greeting as a fellow Academy freshman who would work alongside her toward becoming a knight from now on.
But the answer that returned was something the word shocking dared not fully express.
- If you tell me your real name, I'll answer you too.
Lloyd drove a sharp answer into Maya Bjork's heart.
If it had been another student, she might have challenged him to a duel at once.
Treating Bjork as a false name was an insult to her mother.
But Maya Bjork could say nothing, frozen as a statue.
'Why......?'
Was it because he was skilled enough to disarm Pontius in one stroke?
Because she had already directly confirmed the gap in their skills through their mock duel?
Because it was obvious she would lose embarrassingly even if she challenged someone like him to a duel?
Because getting angry here would amount to admitting that “Maya Bjork” was not her real name?
Anger followed the momentary bewilderment.
Of course she could not help being angry.
At Maya Bjork herself.
'Why couldn't I refute him by saying Maya Bjork was my real name......?'
It was true that she had not been granted her family's surname.
But that did not mean the precious name her mother had given her was false. Never.
Yet what forced its way through Maya Bjork's lips was no different from a child's sulk.
Grief, anger, shame, and even helplessness.
The emotions, all mixed together, disorderly painted over her mind like cheap paint.
Perhaps she had been expecting something.
At the entrance ceremony, he had denied the inheritance of the eldest legitimate son and said that sons of concubines and illegitimate children could represent a family according to ability.
Perhaps Lloyd, who had burned like a fierce flame upon the podium, would understand “Maya Bjork.”
Perhaps he would understand her circumstances—a girl who had inherited the blood of the Margrave of Rheinland but had not been granted the surname—and extend a helping hand.
“Whew......”
Once she clearly understood what her emotions were, the tightness eased somewhat.
Thanks to that, she felt she understood a little why Lloyd had asked her for her “real name.”
'He must mean I should not be shaken by something this small.'
The more Maya worked.
In the course of attaining the goal of becoming an excellent knight and earning her father's recognition, though she had been born an illegitimate child.
Hardships and trials that would make what happened today seem like child's play were bound to come.
If she intended, as Lloyd had said, to hone her ability and challenge the authority of the eldest legitimate son.
Then it was sharp advice that she needed mental fortitude far stronger than she had now.
“......Just wait, Lloyd Schultz.”
It was the same vow as before, but Maya Bjork's expression shone much more brightly.
Like a plain glinting pure white after a heavy snowfall.
Clear competitive spirit rippled in her eyes.
***
I arrived at the Magic School practical-placement-test site.
Maya Bjork's expression had been somewhat strange after she ran ahead first with sprinting ability that put Bolt to shame.
But I did not need to pay much attention to it right now.
If my guess was right and she was a daughter of a concubine or an illegitimate child, that would be one thing, but until I had confirmed her family.
The category “Maya Bjork” was not a high priority.
'For now, the Magic School practical placement test comes first.'
I did not know what Pontius was plotting, but thanks to the WWE performance he put on, I had ended up passing the Knight School practical placement test.
A perfect score on the written placement test and an excellent score on the practical placement test?
If things went wrong, I might hear something like, “Hm, I smell Aura on you,” and be forcibly admitted to graduate school. No, the Knight School. The possibility was not zero.
If I entered the Knight School like that, I would naturally be assigned to the Imperial Army the instant I graduated from the Academy.
For some reason, I had the chilling sense that the claws of the Empire's version of conscription were at the nape of my neck.
'I have to avoid being drafted again somehow.'
To do that, I had to pass not only the Knight School practical placement test, but the Magic School practical placement test with an excellent score as well.
Only then would the Knight School be unable to take me as it pleased.
Even if I said nothing, the Magic School would tell the Knight School, “That is enough,” and keep them in check.
The Academy's most popular schools would squabble over a freshman, and in the end respect and praise my self-sacrificing choice of the School of Administration.
It was the setup for a beautiful ending.
Fortunately, Garahevi himself had appeared as the proctor for this Magic School practical placement test.
“Next freshman, come forward.”
“Yes, I am Number 22, Lloyd Schultz.”
Of course, I did not know the first thing about magic. But it did not matter; a request was faster than magic.
For the Magic School practical placement test, I wanted an excellent score—not high enough for the Knight School to seize me at will.
But not the highest honors that would make the Imperial Army's mage corps or a mage tower covet me, either.
It would be enough to receive the sort of score that made people say I was reasonably good.
“If you produce a mana body in a shape as close as possible to the mana body I made, you will pass.”
“Yep.”
I gave Garahevi a meaningful look, and he returned a look that said he understood everything.
'This is why I like quick-witted professors.'
Whatever I did—or even if I did nothing—he would clearly handle it himself.
I took the Magic School practical placement test without the slightest burden.
“......This is!”
“Yes?”
Then I despaired.
“D-Divine Magic?!”
“No, fuck.”
Because a talent had bloomed in a direction I had absolutely no need for.