Chapter 45
“Yes, as Lady Miriel said earlier, her ability alone is outstanding, but that freshman is a bit... very lazy, isn’t she?”
A hint of mockery crept into Miriel’s follower’s voice.
“And because of that, her attendance and assignment scores had taken a beating. The penalty points imposed by Linea Hall were enormous, too. That’s why her conduct score is among the very lowest at the academy.”
Miriel barely held back a snort of laughter and covered her mouth with her teacup.
No wonder the penalty points had piled up. In the short time since she’d enrolled—barely over a month—she had already caused several incidents on a scale that other people might only see once, if ever, in their entire academy life.
“Still, it’s certainly disastrous...”
Miriel’s one-liner, spoken while barely suppressing her laughter.
On categories where even a mid- to upper-tier student would normally start from full marks, Lunaris had thoroughly bled points away.
“Still, Lunaris will probably be the top student. Right?”
“...Yes, that’s right. I’ve never seen test scores that exceeded a perfect score before.”
“I thought so.”
Miriel snorted softly and nodded.
The academy had a student who had been granted the title of Archmage.
There was no way the faculty would sit by and let the student at the heart of that unprecedented title be reduced to nothing more than an ‘ordinary’ student.
In the first place, the key point was that even while they were indulging this absurd ‘favor,’ no bad rumors were spreading among the students.
The test paper itself was filled not with ordinary answers, but with essay-level responses that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a journal regularly published by the Magic Tower.
Her ability to develop magical devices already far surpassed not only the second-years, but even the third-year upperclassmen.
Above all, when it came to magic, the only person in the academy who could even go toe-to-toe with her was Department Head Raymond.
The shell of laziness.
The shackles of demerits.
Bearing all of those penalties,
she was still the one who ultimately stood at the summit by talent alone.
She was the talent Miriel wanted to get her hands on so badly.
Miriel set down her empty teacup and murmured quietly.
“Now that Lunaris has proven her worth... it’s about time the top students got together.”
“Huh? Ah, you mean the Four Seasons Council?”
“That’s right.”
Miriel rose from her seat and stood by the window.
Far off, the annex of the Magic Hall was faintly visible.
That was the building where the Magitech Department’s laboratories were located.
“I’m really looking forward to this meeting.”
Her lips, red as her hair, curved into a seductive smile.
A place even Her Imperial Highness, who inherited Belhart blood, would not dare interfere with.
There, she would be able to meet that lazy, haughty ash-gray cat.
*
“Somehow, we managed to get through another exam period.”
The professors’ office right after midterms had ended was filled with a strange sense of relief.
Exam periods are hard on more than just the students.
Professors hate exam periods just the same.
Especially the junior assistant professors.
“Still, it’s a relief that fewer students came to complain this time.”
“This year’s freshmen may be a little lacking in average ability, but they’re all pretty nice, aren’t they?”
“If we set the final exam at this level too, that should be about right.”
Amid the peaceful atmosphere, they traded small talk about trivial matters.
The professor in charge of first-year magic theory suddenly let out a sigh.
“My head still hurts.”
“Any problems left? The appeal period is over by now.”
“Rather than that, professor, you’re the one in charge of freshmen magic theory, the easiest bunch of them all. What have you got to be in a headache over?”
“No, well... there just happens to be one student who really stands out.”
The professor pressed his temples as if he had a headache.
“The Magitech Department’s... the ‘Senior Mage,’ you mean.”
At that, every professor and TA in the office let out an ahh of resignation.
“I finally had some motivation this time, so I really put effort into the final essay question. Even that exacting Department Head Raymond praised it as a good question...”
The professor trailed off and suddenly tossed one student’s answer sheet onto the desk.
It was none other than Lunaris’s test paper.
Needless to say, this is a copy.
The original had been torn horrifically in half during a scuffle between the mages from the Magic Tower and Department Head Raymond.
“Do you know what Miss Lunaris wrote on her answer sheet?”
-The question itself is invalid.
It was a sentence written boldly on the first line of the answer sheet, on the very last page of the test paper.
“That’s quite an audacious answer.”
“At first I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. I figured she’d just scribbled whatever came to mind because she couldn’t solve it.”
But the formulas and theoretical explanations crammed so densely across the page that there wasn’t even any blank space left only served to bolster that arrogant claim.
“She’d written a short thesis on the answer sheet, proposing an entirely new magical theory with no room for rebuttal.”
He said he ultimately had no choice but to admit he was wrong, and he rubbed his face, lamenting that his dignity was in tatters.
There was a reason behind Lunaris’s score, which even surpassed full marks.
“No wonder not a single student came to the faculty office to protest those outrageous scores...”
“Everyone must have seen this answer sheet, seen the name on it, and then accepted it.”
Of course, no one understood the answer sheet.
But the spell Lunaris had cast still remained vivid in everyone’s minds.
“If I don’t want to be embarrassed again, I need to start making the final exam questions now.”
His complaint drew mild words of sympathy from the surrounding professors, who said he had it rough.
Even the magitech professor, who wore a thoroughly exhausted expression, wasn’t any different and kept sighing.
“I’m worried too. We somehow got through midterms by replacing them with lab notebook submissions and interim magitech project submissions... but how am I supposed to make the final exam?”
“Exactly. The clueless department head insists we make the questions to Lunaris’s level, but if we do that, all the other students will fail...”
“At this point, I’d almost rather the students just announce a final-exam boycott.”
That self-deprecating joke drew laughter from the professors.
Then someone chimed in playfully.
“Haha, if the Four Seasons Council proposed scrapping this semester’s final exam, that’d be great.”
“Would the top students approve that idea? Their grades are what give them authority.”
“Come to think of it... it really is about time for this year’s first Four Seasons Council meeting.”
The Parliament of the Four Seasons, shortened to the Four Seasons Council.
An elite advisory body that originated from comparing the top students of each year to the four seasons.
It was the highest honor granted to only four students among the countless enrolled at the academy.
These four, without interference from staff or outsiders, discuss the academy’s honor and future solely as student representatives.
The ‘recommendations’ they unanimously submit to the academy are effectively ‘orders’ that must be obeyed.
It was absolute power itself.
“Wow~ Miss Lunaris being a member of the Four Seasons Council... somehow it fits, and somehow it doesn’t, haha!”
A professor said that teasingly.
“That girl feels like she’d propose abolishing both classes and exams, doesn’t she? Saying it’s a pain.”
“Well, she could propose it.”
The professor in charge of first-year magic theory snapped back dryly.
“But would that proposal pass? There’s no way the third-year top student, the student council president, would agree to such a lazy agenda.”
Given their immense authority, the rule in the Four Seasons Council is that every top student has to agree on any motion submitted there.
“I know. I was just joking around.”
Just as that trivial conversation was about to wrap up,
a female professor who had been listening quietly until now suddenly muttered to herself.
“By the way, do you think Lunaris will attend the Four Seasons Council?”
“...?”
“A student who won’t even go to the entrance ceremony and wants to skip lectures... there’s no way she’d attend the Four Seasons Council...”
At that moment, the atmosphere in the faculty office turned ice-cold.
The same scene rose in everyone’s minds.
The first Four Seasons Council boycott in history.
The Imperial Academy’s long-standing tradition and dignity were about to be brought crashing down by a first-year student.
For professors from noble families who value honor more than life itself, this was a more serious problem than a golem incident.
“We have to get her to attend, no matter what!”
“Come to think of it, isn’t that student’s day-to-day supervision being handled by the head maid of Linea Hall?”
“We need to call the head maid immediately. This is an urgent matter.”
*
“Haaam-”
There was too much going on again today... I’m really tired.
Lately I’ve been getting tossed around from one side to the other way too much.
I only tried to get myself suspended once, and ended up getting turned into a maid and working myself to the bone. Next time, I absolutely must not stick my neck out.
Still, that’s the end of today’s volunteer work.
From tomorrow, I can go back to an ordinary life of skipping classes and sleeping.
So maybe I should go to bed early today too, just to look after my condition...
Coming back to my own room really does feel like it’s been ages.
I was sure I’d said I’d only stay in the princess’s room for one day, but before I knew it, I’d been living there for two whole weeks.
Being a full-time maid isn’t exactly great either. My body is comfortable, but my mind is all kinds of uneasy. I have to watch the guards’ faces, and Miriel-senpai’s even more.
It isn’t that I was drawn in by the imperial custom-made bed... well, actually, that is true.
A bed that makes you fall asleep the moment you lie down? Honestly, that’s cheating.
Still, my own room and my own bed are the best.
No matter how good someone else’s bed is, it’s still someone else’s bed.
This softness my body remembers is the best comfort there is.
And my beloved pillow on top of that. There’s no separate heaven beyond this.
If I sleep from now on, I should be able to get about fourteen hours in before the maid comes to wake me...
I lay down on the bed and pulled the blanket up over my head.
If anyone tries to wake me? I really won’t go easy on them... If they wake me, I’ll bite them... mmm...
...But something feels off.
For some reason, the back of my neck feels chilly today, and I have this strangely uneasy feeling.
I feel like there was some important schedule or other...
...Eh, whatever. It’s probably just my imagination.
Come to think of it, the maid corps barging in at dawn lately, saying that ‘a maid’s morning is faster than anyone else’s,’ must have left me with some trauma.
Yeah, I’d better sleep a little on guard today.
Just in case, I’ll cast double—no, triple—locking spells on the door, and lay traps with telekinetic magic too...
Then thunderous footsteps rang out from outside the door.
It sounded incredibly noisy, as if a whole lot of people had all returned to the dormitory at once.
Who on earth was making such a racket in the middle of the night.
I let out an annoyed yawn and folded my pillow over to plug both ears.
I thought they’d just stop after a bit.
But the footsteps drew closer and soon stopped right outside my door.
-Knock, knock.
“Miss Lunaris, may we come into your room for a moment?”
A familiar voice.
It was none other than Odette’s voice.
“...I’m sleeping right now. If it’s business, tell me tomorrow.”
I mumbled sleepily with my face buried in the pillow.
No way. The day’s work is already over—would they really intrude on my personal time?
...Or so I thought.
-BANG!!
The triple-locked door was suddenly smashed to pieces.
“I’m terribly sorry, young lady.”
Bright light spilled in from outside the door.
Odette said to me in a businesslike voice that sounded utterly unrepentant.
“But this is truly an urgent matter, so there was no choice.”
What an outrageous head maid...! Intruding on a maid’s private time! Isn’t that a total disqualification as a pro maid?!
So dumbfounded, I turned my head slightly and opened my sleepy eyes halfway.
...
There were way too many people outside the door.
Not only the maids led by Odette,
but even Department Head Raymond and the professors had come crowding in.
I had even been thinking of blasting them away if it came to that, but this is a lot more intense than I expected.
“I don’t know what business you’re here on, but...”
Slowly sitting up, I raised both hands slightly.
“Shall we settle this peacefully through conversation?”