Chapter 9
“Did you hear? Apparently there’s an archmage candidate among the freshmen enrolling with us this time?”
“Who? You don’t mean the top student from the Magic Department this year, do you? That black-haired boy sitting up front?”
“No, not him.”
“Then who?”
“I heard the top student in the Magitech Department is a high-ranking mage? The name was... Lunaris, I think?”
Inside the auditorium, the entrance ceremony was in full swing.
Several freshmen, unable to endure the boredom, started whispering.
“Huh? Why would a mage that amazing go to the Magitech Department?”
“No idea. Could just be a rumor?”
“But isn’t it true that the Magitech Department’s top student was also the overall top scorer on the written exam? Supposedly the highest score in academy history?”
“What? Really?”
The murmuring quickly spread throughout the entire auditorium.
“...”
Before long, it started pricking at the ears of a male student sitting near the podium.
Edwin Belka.
As the pride of Elterion Academy and the top freshman of the Magic Department, he should have been the brightest star at the entrance ceremony.
No, fine, he could yield first place to the princess.
But second place had to be his.
But he didn’t even manage to come in second.
And that was because Edwin’s top ranking was only the result of being bumped up.
Edwin knew that all too well, and he ground his teeth, openly showing his displeasure.
Why on earth...!
They said he was an archmage candidate, so why didn’t he come to the Magic Department?!
If he’d gone to the Department of Politics instead, Edwin could have nodded in understanding.
He would have understood it as an ambition to rise beyond imperial officialdom and become chancellor someday.
Even if he’d gone to the Department of Economics, he wouldn’t have been this annoyed.
He would have mocked him mercilessly for being so commoner-like as to value money over honor.
But what?
The Magitech Department?!
Why would anyone go to a place only the castoff stragglers who can’t get into the Magic Department end up?
The moment he realized it was nothing but a ridiculous act of “consideration,” his head went hot.
The pride of a genius had been cracked wide open.
Meanwhile, there was one other person just as troubled as Edwin.
“To have been admitted to the long and proud history of Elterion Academy...”
It was none other than Princess Celestie, standing at the front of the podium and reading the freshmen address as the representative of the new students.
“Today marks a new beginning...”
A clear, elegant voice, and a dignified smile.
The speech was perfect, with not a single flaw.
...At least on the surface.
Why the Magitech Department...?
But in truth, her mind was a mess.
What occupied the noble princess’s mind was a girl with tousled ash-gray hair.
Didn’t she say a few weeks ago, when they chatted briefly in the interview waiting room, that she would come to the Magic Department?
Then why did she go to the Magitech Department?
Could it be because I said I was going to the Magic Department?
So she was avoiding me on purpose?
I thought she wouldn’t have recognized me...
Come to think of it, the atmosphere in the imperial palace has been strange lately.
Rumors were going around that the other princes and princesses had started meeting individually with people from the Imperial Knights and the Imperial Mage Corps.
...Could the deputy commander of the Imperial Mage Corps, her guardian, also have joined some faction somewhere?
Was that why the girl had started avoiding me too?
No. It was too early to jump to conclusions.
The only saving grace was that the place she’d gone was the Magitech Department.
Because they shared quite a few classes.
And because the academic schedule had only just begun.
Time was still on her side.
With that thought, Princess Celestie brought her hollow address to a close.
After the princess received applause and stepped down from the podium, a staff member from the administration office called out through a voice-amplification spell.
“Next, we will be presenting awards to the top incoming students of each department. Please come forward when your names are called.”
Thus, five names were called.
But only four people stepped up onto the podium.
“...Top student of the Magitech Department, student Lunaris Evermoon? Student Lunaris, are you there?”
The staff member called her name once more, but no one came up onto the podium.
What is it? What’s going on? Why isn’t she coming out?
By then, the murmuring had grown louder and louder.
The auditorium doors suddenly burst open with a loud bang.
“S-Sorryyyyy...!”
The one who burst into the entrance ceremony out of nowhere was the Magitech Department’s dean, Liliana.
A line of maids in neat uniforms followed quickly behind her.
“Dean Liliana? What is the meaning of this?”
The staff member from the administration office asked with a flustered expression.
Dean Liliana, standing on the podium, wiped the sweat from her forehead and gave an awkward smile.
“W-Well... I’m here as the proxy for Miss Lunaris, the top incoming student of the Magitech Department...”
“What? Why is the dean acting as her proxy... More importantly, where on earth is she...?”
“I’ll explain that.”
One maid stepped forward quietly.
Odette.
She was the head maid in charge of Linea Hall, the academy’s highest-grade dormitory.
Odette bowed deeply, her hands neatly clasped together.
“At present, Miss Lunaris is fast asleep in her assigned dorm room.”
“???”
The staff member doubted their own ears for a very brief moment.
Was she seriously saying she missed the entrance ceremony because she was sleeping?
What’s more, it wasn’t even morning anymore—it was the afternoon.
“We’re sorry. We tried every possible method to wake Miss Lunaris, but...”
Everyone in the auditorium turned their eyes to her.
The head maid continued in a flat tone.
“...leaving only the mysterious sleep-talk, ‘Skipping the entrance ceremony and the first week of classes is the unspoken rule,’ she buried herself back in bed.”
At that moment, the entire auditorium fell silent.
Even Princess Celestie couldn’t hide her bewilderment, blinking over and over.
While everyone was confused, Odette stood there with a calm smile, hands respectfully clasped.
“Today’s ‘incident’ is entirely the fault of us maids of Linea Hall.”
...But the tips of her fingers were clearly trembling ever so slightly.
“In accordance with Article 12 of the Linea Hall dormitory rules, the resident-student study support clause, we’ll set up a dedicated team for Miss Lunaris and begin special care starting today.”
A professional maid who never wavered in any situation was wavering.
“We promise on the pride of our maids that we will never allow an incident like this to happen again.”
*
Elterion Academy’s dormitories are broadly divided into three halls.
Edelweiss Hall, where fallen nobles and wealthy commoners stay.
Sepia Hall, where ordinary nobles and scholarship students stay.
And Linea Hall, where high nobles and top achievers such as department valedictorians and runners-up stay.
As a department top student myself, I also stay in Linea Hall.
The moment I flopped onto the bed in my assigned single room, I realized it.
That it was really a good thing I hadn’t slacked off on the exam.
“Haaah...”
I was a frog in a well. An idiot.
I’d stubbornly decided that the bed in my little cabin was the best, but it wasn’t.
There’s a sky above the sky, and there’s softness beyond softness.
Ehehe... If I’m here, I could just lie here for all four years...
But even this heaven-like place had one fatal problem.
-knock, knock.
Every morning at dawn, without fail, the unwelcome visitor came.
“Miss Lunaris, it’s time to wake up.”
A gentle, businesslike voice rang out from beyond the door.
The head maid in charge of Linea Hall, Odette, had come to wake me again today, just as always.
I didn’t know why she was so determined to wake me. I’d get up on my own when the time came, after all.
No, more importantly, wasn’t it about time she gave up on me?
I pulled the blanket over my head and flicked my fingers.
-thud, rumble, rumble!
The wardrobe and bookshelf in the room rose with a swish and blocked the doorway.
Just seeing that solid line of defense somehow made me feel reassured.
What happened after that was the same as always. The maids would try to force the door open, then eventually give up and return.
For days now, it’s been a WWE match between me and the maids.
...But today, something feels different.
“That rattling sound is lasting longer than usual...”
The moment I thought I could feel the signs of UFC brewing...
BOOM─!!
A deafening explosion rang out, and the door was blown to pieces.
“...Huh?”
Startled, I sprang to my feet without thinking.
Naturally, the furniture I’d used to block the door also shattered helplessly and rolled across the floor.
Beyond the ruined scene, I saw the maids lined up with their hands behind their backs.
Standing at the very front, arms crossed, was none other than Head Maid Odette.
“Good morning, Miss Lunaris.”
I could sense a kind of madness from the head maid as she greeted me with a bright smile.
“No... what are you going to do if you smash the door and furniture to pieces...?”
“Please don’t worry. I’ll restore everything while you go through your morning routine, Miss Lunaris. I’ll cover all of the costs myself.”
“...Aren’t all of those expensive?”
“It’s fine. I get paid enough.”
Hearing her add that it wouldn’t matter even if she didn’t receive a single cent of this month’s pay—no, this year’s pay—gave me chills.
“Why are you going that far...”
“Miss Lunaris, you have wounded the pride of the maids of Linea Hall.”
When I looked at her in confusion, Head Maid Odette said firmly.
“Ever since the day you came into the dormitory, you haven’t stepped out of your room even once except during mealtimes.”
“Huh? ...Really?”
“As the head maid, I simply cannot stand by and watch such extreme laziness.”
Was I really that bad?
“What’s more, you’re the overall top student of the entire year, practically a symbol of Elterion Academy. It’s only natural for us maids to keep a dedicated watch on you.”
“But the first week is orientation, so... people usually skip it, don’t they?”
I wiped the cold sweat from my forehead and tried to make excuses.
Then the head maid smiled softly once more.
“The first week is already over. Today is Monday of the second week.”
“...It’s already been that long?”
A week. Gone in an instant.
“Yes, that’s right. And according to the resident-student study support regulations, we maids will be giving Miss Lunaris full support with her morning preparations.”
Odette snapped her fingers lightly.
“Gyaaah─!”
The last thing I saw was the maids surrounding me from all sides, lunging at me.”