Chapter 54
The required course for first-year students in the Elterion Academy's Magic Department and Magitech Department, <Basic Concepts of Magic Theory>.
There was a hidden problem on the final exam for that class.
This fact came to light on Tuesday, a day after most first-year students had turned in their test papers.
That unusual news quickly spread both inside and outside the academy.
In particular, the mages of the Magic Tower couldn't hide their curiosity this time either and all flocked to the academy.
As a result, the area in front of the main building of the Magic Hall was packed with visitors from outside.
“Wow~ It's been a while since a really incredible exam question came out!”
In front of all those people, Dean Raymond of the Magic Department unusually held a small briefing and personally stepped up onto the podium.
“Heh-heh. Yes, exactly. What can I say? We went out of our way at the department level for the child who entered this year as an 'advanced mage'.”
There was no other reason he had stepped forward in person.
The man had simply come out to show off.
“Elterion Academy is! The best educational institution in history, one that can provide the right instruction to whatever student comes to us!”
Even if an archmage came to us, our academy could still teach them, Dean Raymond said, laughing loudly.
“Well, as you can see, everyone seems to have plenty of questions, so I'll take just a few~”
Soon, hands began shooting up here and there.
Dean Raymond reveled in his sense of superiority as he looked at the impatient crowd, then picked out one person.
“You there, go ahead and ask.”
“That student isn't from the Magic Department but from the Magitech Department, isn't that right?! I'd like to hear Dean Liliana Gearhart's opinion on the Magitech Department, if possible!!”
“...Looks like some troublemaker has mixed in. That person. Remove them immediately.”
There was a brief commotion.
Troublemaker, cut.
Dean Raymond coughed awkwardly and then pointed to someone else.
“I heard the exam period has been set to one week. Is that true?”
Fortunately, this time it was a normal question.
“Yes, that's true. I asked the professors from the other departments for their understanding because I wanted the students to have time and take the problems at their own pace.”
Dean Raymond nodded and continued speaking.
“If it were up to me, I'd love to give them a full two weeks, but then it would just look like I'm tormenting the students.”
Dean Raymond burst into oh-ho-ho-ho laughter, saying that if the exam target hadn't been first-years, they never could have adopted such an unconventional format.
“Dean, I heard from my kid that you deliberately hid the questions. Isn't it unfair to give only some students a chance?”
“Hm~ unfair, you say?”
What, there are still troublemakers?
But this was the sort of polite troublemaker he could handle himself, so for now he decided to let it go.
If he drove out everyone like that, his reputation would probably suffer.
“That was done out of consideration for the students.”
Saying he had hoped they wouldn't waste their time needlessly, Dean Raymond curled the corners of his mouth.
“If they can't even notice the test paper is odd to begin with, it means they don't even have the qualifications to touch Question 7.”
In other words, the untalented ones should quietly stick to the basic problems.
“For reference, as of now, 24 hours after the exam began, a total of 10 first-year students are challenging Question 7.”
Those 10 included.
Princess Celestina Belhardt.
Edwin Belka, heir to the mage family.
And.
“The youngest archmage candidate among the students you all know so well is still wrestling with the problem!”
At those words, the crowd began buzzing all at once.
“Huh, just what kind of question is it...”
“Looking at the answers she wrote on the midterm, she was clearly no ordinary talent...”
“I'm not sure they even included a problem solvable by the first-year curriculum.”
“Exactly. Could they have shoved in one of the seven Devil's Riddles registered with the Magic Tower?”
“Even so, that wouldn't make it a good test paper.”
Amid the buzz, one senior mage sent from the Magic Tower couldn't hide his excitement and asked.
“Are you planning to reveal the exam question later on?”
“Of course! Naturally.”
Dean Raymond nodded as if he'd been waiting for that question.
Having personally checked the question, he had no qualms at all about making it public.
He was sure everyone who saw it would be impressed just as he was.
“Before that, though, we'll give the chance to our academy students first.”
Of course, the opportunity was not given to every academy student.
It was only for students who had scored in the top 10% or better in at least one magic subject in the previous semester.
“We've prepared private rooms in the main building of the Magic Hall, so please give it a try. Ah! If any of the students who take on the challenge figures out the answer during the exam period, I'll grant extra credit at my discretion.”
As people murmured over Dean Raymond's unprecedented proposal, the entrance to the main building of the Magic Hall suddenly opened.
Soon, one student trudged out.
What came out was Claire, looking haggard.
Her hair was wet with sweat and stuck to her cheeks, and both eyes were bloodshot.
“Student! Student!”
“You there, are you a first-year in the Magic Department? Are you coming out now after taking the exam?”
“How was the problem? Was it solvable?”
The sharp-eyed mages approached Claire and bombarded her with questions.
They didn't care in the slightest that she wasn't in any state to answer. Mages are selfish creatures by nature.
Claire blinked blankly.
As if she couldn't even see the people crowding around her, she stared into space with unfocused eyes.
Then she muttered in a cracked voice.
“Wait... let me go get something to eat...”
At that pitiful voice, the area around her went quiet.
“Nutrition... replenishment...”
Claire staggered as she pushed her way through the crowd.
“I need to go back in... and solve the problem...”
The mages who had been firing off questions just moments before could only gape, unable to bring themselves to speak to her.
*
When was the last time I'd stayed this immersed in something for so long?
In my past life, that had been routine, but in this one, this was probably the first time.
Of course, I had been pretty focused when making magic tools too, but that had never lasted even half a day.
This was definitely the first time I'd focused on something for days on end.
The last time I checked the clock was around two days after the exam began.
Since I never came out, a teaching assistant had come to check whether I'd collapsed, and after seeing the state of the room, he turned pale and ran off.
Right now my body wasn't sprawled on the classroom floor, nor was it sitting in a chair.
I was floating gently in midair, manipulating the mana filling the space around me.
Around me, paper scraps, characters, and magic circles were scattered in all directions like a huge nebula.
All of it was the solution process for the final Question 7.
To be honest, I hadn't touched Questions 1 through 6 at all.
No, to be exact, they'd solved themselves.
The key to revealing this hidden Question 7 was writing down the answers to the first six questions.
But I had charged straight at Question 7 from the start.
It was like forcibly smashing the lock and then reverse-engineering its structure to make a new key that fit.
As I worked through it, I figured out why this problem was so tricky.
This was Vice Dean Albert's doing.
No wonder there'd been a strange sense of déjà vu from the illusion magic hanging in the classroom.
That old man—does he have that much free time lately? Just how little does he have to do to be making problems that torment the kids?
My head was starting to feel foggy.
By this point, I couldn't tell whether I was solving the problem or the problem was solving me.
More importantly, why the hell was I working so hard to solve this problem...?
I'd already found perfect answers to the other six questions.
I could just write those down on the test paper and leave.
And if I neatly organized what I'd worked out so far, partial credit on the last question would be guaranteed.
That'd be enough to get me into Linnea Hall, no problem.
And yet I still couldn't stop solving.
It wasn't that I'd gotten stubborn over a problem that wouldn't solve.
Nor had some desire to grow as a mage suddenly welled up in me.
It was just, well.
I couldn't explain it exactly, but...
I had a feeling that if I solved this problem, I'd somehow understand more about myself, about 'Lunaris'.
That was the instinct I had.
To say I was relying on nothing but a hunch would be wrong, since I'd already depended on intuition for far too many things.
Right now, I was even solving the problem before me by going with my instincts.
And so I wrote out yet another core formula in full.
That brought the total to ten core formulas already.
More than twenty large magic circles were also supporting those formulas.
Countless formulas and magic circles meshed together like gears, turning with exquisite precision.
And yet the answer to the final question still wouldn't take shape.
What else am I supposed to do here...
“Ugh, this is annoying...”
The complaint slipped out of my mouth without thinking.
...Should I just give up?
A thick wave of exhaustion crashed over me, sweeping away my resolve.
It felt like I'd been cursed with sloth.
At this moment, what came to mind was the heavenly bed in Princess Celestina's room.
If I lay down there, I felt like I could sleep for about a week.
Thinking of the princess's bed naturally brought that night's events back to mind.
The moment I tried to think of Grandpa, tears suddenly started pouring out.
I hadn't even felt particularly sad, so why had that happened?
So in the end, what kind of person was Grandpa to me?
If I could meet him even once in a dream, I'd feel less frustrated.
...Wait, a dream?
Just one word.
That utterly meaningless word began to sparkle in my mind.
I quickly came to my senses and looked around.
“Storage, oblivion, and dream...”
The formulas and magic circles I'd created began to look completely new.
Until now, I'd only drawn empty shells meaninglessly, never properly capturing their meaning.
I wasn't writing magic at all, only the answer to the problem.
The purpose of this grand magic was to project the subconscious mind.
It was magic that shows dreams before your eyes.
“An archmage is someone who knows why they should use magic before using it...”
Only now did I feel like I understood that meaning a little.
Of course, the person who made this problem probably hadn't intended that.
A new formula began to take shape at my fingertips.
At the same time, the half-collapsed wall that had been sitting in my mind was now tattered.
The scraps of paper scattered around me whirled once more and wrapped around me.
Thus, two newly added formulas, now imbued with meaning.
And one more large magic circle that encompassed every formula and magic circle under the keyword dream.
The very moment I sequentially inscribed mana-woven formulas and magic circles onto every blank space of the test paper.
I felt the magical power inside my body get sucked out in a rush.
-Fwoosh!
At the same time, the scenery of the lecture hall changed.
Within a dreamlike space tinted in five colors.
The answer sheets floating in the air had somehow become transparent mirrors reflecting me.
No, to be exact.
They were reflecting my younger self.
What lay inside the mirror was none other than the memories of 'Lunaris'.