Chapter 12
“Your response during today’s lecture was a bit excessive.”
As soon as Princess Celestina entered her room, a space like a tiny private imperial palace, she sat down on the sofa and snapped at the people assigned to guard her.
“Didn’t I clearly tell you not to make any rash moves during the lecture?”
At the princess’s sharp voice, the knights all shrank back at once.
A gracious princess who was always gentle with her subordinates.
The sort of person who was terrifying when angered.
“I apologize, Princess. But the situation at the time looked far too urgent, so we just...”
The captain of the guard offered what was more of a justification than an excuse, his face tense.
“There were explosions where you were, Princess. How could we have just stood by and trusted some professor?”
“I know. It’s not as though I don’t understand your loyalty.”
A faint sigh slipped into Princess Celestina’s voice.
“Still, I’d like you not to move so recklessly in the future.”
The captain of the guard and the knights lowered their heads in silence.
“More importantly, has the situation been dealt with?”
“Yes. We coordinated with the academy staff and handled the aftermath. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured, though repairs to the facilities will take some time.”
One side of the building’s wall had collapsed entirely.
It would take quite a while before it returned to its original state.
“...Princess, may I dare offer a word?”
“Go ahead.”
“I think separate measures are needed for that senior mage.”
Princess Celestina’s eyes flashed sharply for a moment.
It was obvious whom the captain meant.
‘Lunaris Evermoon...’
For one entire side of the wall to have vanished, not a single person had been badly hurt.
But there were quite a few who complained of lingering mental aftereffects.
The students all said similar things.
That she was nothing short of a monster.
“It was truly dangerous. That mage is a dangerous element who could have hurt everyone inside the building before we arrived.”
At the knight’s words, Princess Celestina could not bring herself to say anything.
The princess herself had been one of the victims there.
Especially that mysterious magic that hadn’t just shattered the wall but warped space itself... it looked like something out of a nightmare.
It was truly a nightmare spell.
Just thinking about it made her body tremble on its own.
But it wasn’t because she was afraid.
“Haaah...”
If she had to put this feeling into words.
Princess Celestina was, just a little, excited.
‘What beautiful magic...’
It was the first time she had ever seen magic of that caliber so close up.
Of course, the imperial palace was so full of high mages you could practically trip over them.
When she was still a child, she had even toddled over and begged them to show her some magic.
But the high-level spells they showed her were all hollow shells.
They were boring.
They merely scattered massive amounts of mana for no real reason.
Which, of course, made sense.
High-level magic usually affected a wide area. If it went wrong, the tiny, precious princess would get caught up in it, so they had no choice but to hold back.
But today, the magic etched before her eyes was real.
The thrill of taking one wrong step and feeling as though her body might shatter made her chest tremble before she even noticed.
Before she knew it, her face was flushed, and she let out an excited, breathy “Haaah—”.
If only she could wield that power as she pleased.
Before she knew it, the thought in her head spilled out through her lips.
“As expected, you’re a talent worth coveting.”
Princess Celestina barely managed to calm her pounding heart and called for the head maid.
“Odette, did you give the invitation to that girl?”
The head maid tightly shut her eyes in a guilty expression and bowed her head.
“I apologize, Princess. Miss Lunaris returns after finishing her daily duties, does only a quick wash, and then goes straight to bed...”
“...”
In other words, they hadn’t even managed to hand over the invitation.
Princess Celestina let out a sigh before she realized it.
Come to think of it, she hadn’t even shown up to the entrance ceremony.
Expecting her to read the invitation was asking too much.
Of course, there was also the last resort of forcing her with an imperial order, but Princess Celestina did not want to do that if she could help it.
She didn’t want to flaunt her authority at Elterion Academy, the academy of equal education personally established by the previous emperor.
‘The moment I move as a princess rather than a student, the other royals will definitely start watching me.’
She had gone to great lengths to buy herself four years by avoiding the palace power struggles, and she didn’t want to draw attention for nothing.
The rumor that those attached to imperial institutions had begun privately supporting other royals from the shadows was also deeply troubling.
There had still been no news that Albert Marcelin, deputy commander of the Imperial Mage Corps, had joined any other faction.
But she had to be careful not to unnecessarily pressure Lunaris, whom he was watching over, and end up getting on his bad side, and that was something she absolutely had to guard against.
Above all else.
She wanted to stay friends with the person who would become her right hand.
That would be a bond even firmer than a vow of loyalty.
But...
“In truth, just getting Miss Lunaris to follow a normal academy schedule is already more than our maids can handle.”
“...”
“We somehow managed to drag her out of bed today, but...”
Tomorrow was going to be another struggle for Head Maid Odette, who was already worried about how to deal with Lunaris.
“All right. Everyone, stand down for now. I’d like to... rest a bit.”
At the princess’s words, the head maid and the guards lowered their heads and headed outside.
Left alone in the room, the princess sank into thought.
In the end, the only way to meet her naturally, as a student, was to sit beside her in class.
Although today Lunaris showing up in the lecture hall had been unexpected, she had no intention of missing the next chance.
The problem was.
“There may not be as many next chances as I thought.”
The only classes the Magic Department and the Magitech Department shared were on Mondays and Thursdays.
Even then, Lunaris never showed up in the lecture hall on Thursdays.
That was because Raymond, the head of the Magic Department, had opened a special class just for Lunaris and forcibly enrolled her in it.
That left only Monday.
The problem was that Lunaris had effectively been dismissed from her afternoon classes.
In the end, that left only half a day a week.
If the maids failed to wake her on time, the whole week would be wasted.
A slight alarm had gone off.
At this point, all Celestina could do was silently cheer on the maids.
“Should I send some anti-magic equipment to Linea Hall or something...?”
If Lunaris heard that, she would be horrified enough to tear her hair out.
*
Wednesday came after a day had been skipped.
My record against the Linea Hall maids was currently one win and two losses.
Yesterday, I had succeeded in beating those damn combat maids.
Thanks to my trump card, ‘feigning illness.’
-I used too much mana... my condition is... cough cough!!
-What?!
-Mana exhaustion... ugh, uueeek...
-Eek! Miss Lunaris!!
During class, I had lain down, claiming I’d overused a high-level spell and was feeling unwell.
The fact that an entire wall of the main building’s auditorium had collapsed, combined with my flawless, Best Supporting Actress–level performance, meant no one suspected it was feigned.
But today that trick didn’t work.
-Uuugh... my body’s acting up again today...
-That’s odd. If it were mana exhaustion, shouldn’t your body be burning with fever?
-...Ah. I got caught.
-I’ll help you get ready, miss.
It was because I’d been caught by the sharp-eyed head maid.
Since I’d confirmed that the same strategy wouldn’t work, I’d need to study this a bit more from now on.
Today’s class is a solo lecture for the Magitech Department, held in the annex auditorium of the Magic Hall.
As soon as I entered the auditorium, the professor on the podium looked extremely tired.
His eyes were so sunken he looked like he’d been up for at least two nights straight.
Glancing over the students with that face, he said in a voice worn out by fatigue.
“Fortunately, everyone’s here today. Haaam... Since there’s also a student who was absent last week, I’ll briefly explain it again.”
The professor’s gaze paused on me for a moment.
“The Magitech Department’s major classes are run in a master-apprentice system. Second-year students serve as the masters, take first-year students as apprentices, and make one magitech item per semester.”
To put it bluntly, they were dumping the first-year curriculum on the second-years.
This is going to make sleeping impossible... tsk. What a pain.
“All right, then. Second-years, come on in.”
Soon, the Magitech Department second-years poured into the auditorium all at once.
Maybe because the proportion of commoner-born students was fairly high, the atmosphere was rather distinctive.
The professor suddenly gestured toward one of them.
“Haaam... Hey, top student. Come here for a second.”
“Yes, Professor~”
A petite girl with brown bobbed hair stepped onto the podium.
The drab black-and-white auditorium suddenly felt bright the moment she appeared.
“Actually, I’ve come out because I was in the middle of a very important experiment. I’m leaving the rest to you.”
“Huh? Is it all right for me to do it?”
“Wouldn’t you, the ‘star of the Magitech Department,’ be better for the rookies to look at than a lowly professor like me?”
I perked up at the title that slipped from the professor’s mouth.
Star of the Magitech Department.
A very familiar phrase.
It had definitely been a title from the original story.
Who was that again...?”
“Ahaha~ Professor, really, what an embarrassing thing to say...”
“Anyway, just roughly check the teams and send them off. Good work.”
The professor waved his hand and hurried out of the auditorium.
Left alone on the podium, the senior scratched her head in embarrassment, then awkwardly cleared her throat.
“Well~ the professor’s gone, so let’s wrap things up quickly and head to the workshop too. Sounds good, everyone?”
At the senior’s words, the first-years looked around in bewilderment, while the second-years erupted in cheers.
“Yaaayyy—”
I wasn’t a second-year, but I cheered along too.
I felt energy suddenly surge through my body. A half-day would be impossible, but for about an hour, I could definitely work up some enthusiasm.
The Magitech Department really was a great department.
“As the professor already explained, every Wednesday we second-years will be taking class together with our juniors. Such a beautiful tradition! That tight-knit bond you can only feel in the Magitech Department...”
Before the speech could get any longer, all sorts of criticism and jeers began pouring in.
“Your speech is too long!”
“Boo—boring.”
“Cut it out and get down here, jerk!”
“Hey, I have to tell the juniors how decent a place the Magitech Department is, don’t I? They’re already probably worn down from being tormented by the Magic Department kids!”
The senior on the podium continued, giving a little cough.
“Sigh. Fine. Let’s get this over with quickly. I’ll announce the teams now. For the record, the professors assigned the teams at random based on your entrance exam scores.”
The senior laughed playfully, telling them not to go whining over there and demand a change.
“Then first, let me introduce the apprentice I’ll be in charge of. Lunaris! Could you come up here?”
The students all began buzzing at once.
Someone muttered softly, ‘That high mage?’
I scratched my head and walked forward.
I had more or less expected this. Of course they’d pair the top student with the top student.
“Nice to meet you!”
As I stepped onto the podium, the senior facing me smiled brightly and held out her hand.
“I’m Estelle Belmayer. Let’s get along for the next year, junior.”
A startled exclamation burst from my mouth before I even realized it.
Hearing the name brought it back to me.
The reason I hadn’t been able to recognize her immediately from the title alone was that she only appeared briefly at the beginning of the original story.
The star of the Magitech Department, Estelle.
By the end of next year’s first semester, she would no longer be here.
She was the main villain of the original story’s first major event.