Chapter 6
“Would you mind telling me the reason now?”
Beyond the gentle smile, the deputy commander’s curious gaze was fixed on me.
“Why you changed your mind and decided to go to the academy, I mean.”
“I don’t really have any grand reason. If I turned down the deputy commander’s offer, other people would just keep pestering me.”
I let out a quiet, resigned sigh as I spoke.
If I could have avoided going, I’d have held out to the very end.
But what could I do? This damned original story was holding the world hostage and threatening it.
“If you don’t go to the academy, everyone dies~” and all that.
“After thinking it over, the academy really was the best option.”
It was truly sad that there was only one option.
“Haha, that is certainly true.”
The deputy commander burst out laughing at my half-baked excuse.
I rested my chin on one hand and looked out the window.
Beyond the window, fields sparkling in the warm sunlight and peaceful villages drifted by.
“Miss Lunaris, how much do you know about Elterion Academy?”
“Just the name, more or less.”
In truth, I knew it very well.
Too well, which was the problem.
“Is that so? Hmm, I see. Then I have no choice but to give you a brief explanation of what kind of place the academy is, for your sake, Miss Lunaris.”
Ah, no, there was really no need to go that far—
But before I could even get the words out, the deputy commander launched into a tedious, pedantic explanation.
“His late Majesty provided commoners with opportunities so that a wide range of talents could shine, and...”
Every sentence sank in like a lullaby.
I lowered my head, subtly covering a yawn with the back of my hand.
The sunlight streaming in from outside the window had started to warm my head.
“...and the academy is made up of five faculties, including the Faculty of Economics, the Faculty of Diplomacy, and...”
...Ah, I can’t take any more.
My whole body grew languid, and the deputy commander’s voice drifted farther and farther away.
My eyelids were closing on their own...
Closing... I’m...
“...and except for the Faculty of Swordsmanship, the rest of the faculties have written exams and interviews... then a practical exam...”
If I just buried my head in a pillow like this... zzz...
“Hold on, Miss Lunaris. Are you listening to me?”
...Ah.
“U-uh... I wasn’t sleepin’... I was listenin’.”
I really wasn’t sleeping.
I had just closed my eyes for a moment—just a moment.
“Really? Then could you explain what I was just talking about?”
“Well... you were talking about how there are five faculties and about the entrance exam, right?”
“So you were listening to everything even while sleeping.”
See? I told you it was already something I knew.
I sighed and grumbled.
“By the way, do I really have to take the entrance exam too?”
“Of course. Did you think you could just get in without taking any exams?”
Looking at the deputy commander’s incredulous expression, I became even more incredulous.
“I’m being forced to go there to escort the princess, and now you want me to take an exam too...”
“Forced? You came of your own free will. And strictly speaking, Miss Lunaris, you’re not even technically an escort.”
“I’d call it a choice I had no choice but to make under pressure...”
“And besides, for you, isn’t the entrance exam just child’s play?”
Honestly, it was a little daunting.
For one thing, I could barely remember the last time I had studied magic.
After mastering telekinesis, I had sold off every proper magic book I owned.
I muttered in a deliberately indifferent tone.
“If I fail the entrance exam, can I go back to the village?”
The air turned cold in an instant.
The deputy commander narrowed their eyes and stared straight through me.
“Do you mean that seriously?”
“I was just asking.”
Of course I’d take it seriously. I had to get into Elterion Academy, after all.
But honestly, I wasn’t exactly confident.
If it were just a practical exam like the Swordsmanship Faculty’s, I could at least try to bluff my way through with telekinesis.
...Well, something would probably work out somehow.
Worrying about it wouldn’t turn a fail into a pass.
*
It had already been several days since I arrived in the Imperial Capital.
So if you asked what I did after coming to the capital...
I just slept.
I really slept well.
Wow, the bed was better than I’d imagined.
The moment I lay down, I fell straight into a deep sleep.
When I finally came to my senses again...
“We will now begin the entrance exam.”
...Before I knew it, exam day had arrived, and I was sitting at a desk in the testing hall.
Time really does melt away.
Glancing around out of the corner of my eye, I noticed some rather solemn expressions.
Students chewing their lips, students closing their eyes and murmuring prayers, even students who looked as though their souls had been drained away and gone white.
Everyone was waiting tensely for the test papers.
I rested my chin on my hand and let out a long yawn.
The pressure of the exam didn’t really matter; the biggest problem was that no matter how much I slept, I was still sleepy.
“I will now distribute the test papers.”
The proctor lightly raised a hand.
Bundles of test papers floated up on the wind and landed gently on each student’s desk.
When I checked what kind of trick this was, I found a magic circle engraved in the upper-right corner of the test paper.
I hadn’t intended to, but my brain analyzed the magic circle on its own.
Anti-theft, placing the test paper at the assigned spot, and retrieval on schedule...
Seeing magic engraved into every single sheet, this was extravagance at its most absurd.
They could have just scattered the papers around with telekinesis, more or less.
Suppressing the urge to tamper with the magic circle, I looked over the questions on the test paper.
The ash-gray parchment had surprisingly little writing on it.
It meant I was supposed to make full use of the blank space.
The smell of ink was strangely strong.
After taking a breath, I looked down at the first question.
“...Huh?”
The instant I read the first sentence, I was wide awake.
A sentence that should have been unfamiliar, a question I was seeing for the first time, somehow felt incredibly familiar.
Why on earth...
did the answer seem to be right in front of me?
Before long, my head had started calculating the answer on its own.
The tip of the quill I was holding began to tremble.
Before I knew it, my hand was scribbling numbers and letters on its own.
The feel of ink soaking into the paper, and the sound it made.
A bizarre sense of immersion, as if I were about to be sucked into the test paper itself.
Half-dreaming, I blackened the blank sheet with ink.
*
After the exam was over.
The faculty office was buzzing more than ever.
“I heard this year’s written exam was pretty tough?”
Howard, the chief professor of the Political Science Faculty and the overall person in charge of the entrance exam, said as he loosened his tie.
“That’s right. The general-section questions were fairly standard overall, but the magic-section questions were especially difficult this year.”
“Well, there were a lot of complaints last year that it didn’t separate the candidates well enough.”
“We had the assistants in our lab try only the magic-section questions, and not a single one of them finished within the time limit.”
“Then... how on earth did this student finish all of that within the time limit?”
The professors’ gazes were fixed on the thick bundle of papers.
They were test papers packed with tiny writing.
“Was there any sign of cheating?”
At that, a professor from the Department of Arcane Engineering who had set up the exam hall snorted and waved a hand dismissively.
“Of course not. There are dozens of surveillance devices installed in every exam hall. We also put magic on the test papers.”
If there were an applicant who could get past all of that, they’d have no reason to cheat in the first place.
That alone would be proof that they were top-scorer material.
“More importantly, look at the answers this student wrote for questions 9 and 10 in the magic section. This solution would be more than worthy of being submitted as a research paper to the Magic Tower.”
By then, the professors from the Magic Faculty and the Department of Arcane Engineering were printing out the answers written on the test paper and passing them around separately, marveling over them nonstop.
“Indeed, this isn’t the kind of answer you could copy from anyone.”
Even Chief Professor Howard, who knew next to nothing about magic, could tell the solution was ‘beautiful.’
“What’s even more surprising is that their score in the general section is top-tier as well.”
“What did you say?”
“They’re just below the perfect scorers. That says it all.”
“Hoh. I’m actually more surprised by that.”
Perfect scorers in the magic section are usually geniuses with a screw loose—the kind with no common sense.
After all, once you start studying magic, you don’t have time for anything else.
The one who pulled off that impossible feat was none other than Lunaris Evermoon.
“If they hadn’t gotten question 1 wrong in the general section, we’d have had the first-ever perfect score across every field in history.”
“What? They got question 1 wrong? Wasn’t that the easiest question?”
“Strictly speaking, the ink had smeared because of saliva, so we couldn’t tell what answer they’d written.”
For a moment, silence fell over the faculty office.
“...Saliva?”
“It seems they must have dozed off for a moment during the exam.”
“Good heavens, falling asleep during the entrance exam. Just how tired must they have been?”
“They must have been up all night researching magic. A hardworking genius, huh! Well, well...”
At this point, even the saliva stain on the test paper seemed to have a philosophy of its own.
“Leaving their magic talent aside, even the answers they wrote in the general section alone make them a talent we’d love to have.”
“Did you see the answer to question 7 in the general section? I was shocked by its fresh perspective.”
“If there’d been no limit on the points we could award, I would’ve given extra points for that answer.”
Chief Professor Howard clicked his tongue, looking thoroughly regretful.
“At this point, I want to bring them to my personal lab. I’d kidnap them if I had to.”
“That would be difficult, Chief Professor Howard. After all, this applicant has already caught the eye of the Magic Faculty...”
Then, with a loud bang, a shrill voice rang out.
“Oh~ hohoh!! So I hear there’s a truly amazing student among this year’s freshmen?”
The one who burst into the faculty office, throwing the door open roughly, was Raymond Cloud, the dean of the Magic Faculty.
At the appearance of this big shot, who was being talked about as the academy’s next chairman, most of the professors in the office bowed their heads.
To the fresh-faced rookies who had just shed their assistant titles and been appointed junior professors, he was a figure far beyond reach.
“Hmm-hmm~ Now then, may I take a look at that student’s submitted answer sheet?”
Dean Raymond snatched the original copy of Lunaris’s answer sheet from among the professors.
“Mm~ Oh? This method is pretty fresh... It’ll need verification, but it could drastically shorten the calculation time...”
As she flipped through the pages, the corners of her mouth rose higher and higher.
By the time she finished checking the last problem in the magic section, Dean Raymond had a broad smile on her face.
“This means the best freshman in the history of the Magic Faculty has appeared, doesn’t it?”
Covering her mouth with one hand as she laughed aloud, she looked infuriatingly smug.
“Dean Raymond. Isn’t it still not confirmed that applicant Lunaris Evermoon will go to the Magic Faculty?”
“No, it’s confirmed, Chief Professor Howard. I looked into it briefly, and this applicant is a student sponsored by the deputy commander of the Imperial Mage Corps. The applicant is already an advanced mage, too.”
Already using advanced magic? At that age? Impossible!
The faculty office began buzzing again.
If that were true, then in terms of ability alone, they would already be at the level of an academy chief professor.
“At this rate, would there even be anything left to teach in the Magic Faculty? It seems it would be better for that student to learn something from another faculty.”
Chief Professor Howard jeered, unable to hide his disappointment.
Of course, Dean Raymond didn’t even blink.
“It’s not like there’s absolutely nothing to teach. I’ll somehow make time and teach them personally.”
“Hah! Aren’t you the one who always says you never have any time?”
“If it’s for the youngest archmage, then I’ll make time out of thin air. No matter how late it gets, I’ll make sure they graduate as an archmage, so just watch.”
At those words, the other professors didn’t even dare to argue anymore.
If it was Raymond Cloud, one of the few top-tier mages in the Empire and the dean of the Magic Faculty, then it was certainly possible.
“Then I’ll see you on freshman interview day. Ohohoho!!”
Leaving behind Howard, who coughed in frustration, and the economics professor, who kept sighing heavily, Dean Raymond neatly folded Lunaris’s answer sheet and tucked it into her robes.
“I’ll say this in advance: I’ll be the one personally sitting in on Lunaris’s interview. So tell your superior there’s no need to bother making time to come, Chief Professor Howard.”
“Grrr...!”
Watching Dean Raymond leave the faculty office with a wicked laugh, Chief Professor Howard ground his teeth in resentment.