Chapter 107
“What?”
She wore black robes, had blue eyes, and a long, mature figure.
On top of that, she had purple hair and stared at me with an irritated expression.
It was understandable that she’d be angry when some brat butted in while she couldn’t solve the problem.
But I had plenty to say too.
“That magic circle is wrong. If you’re going to use Malaia’s formula, you need to adjust the magic circle to match.”
A magic circle is the geometric implementation of a formula.
Therefore, if the formula changes, the magic circle must change as well.
But she was using the standard magic circle format as-is.
“Really?”
“Yep. Could you lend me your pen?”
She hesitated while looking at me, but seemed to decide she had nothing to lose.
“If this doesn’t help, I’m going to give you a real scolding.”
“I think it will.”
I could even solve it outright.
I drew a new magic circle with a quill.
The book was somewhat unhelpful, too.
It had been a problem I only managed to solve after discussing it with Linia.
“Wait. If that’s the case…”
She completed the magic circle on the paper.
The problem was practically solved already.
She wrote the answer below it, then raised her wand and tried to implement it.
“Is this right?”
I cast a magic circle using the same method.
As soon as I did, her face filled with surprise.
“You… what are you?”
“I’m a magic school student.”
“A magic school… student? Don’t tell me Reinhart?”
She seemed to have noticed the emblem attached to my cloak.
Then I felt the gazes of the people around us.
“Right?”
Just being a Reinhart student was enough to attract this much attention?
As expected, it paid to attend a good school.
No matter what kind of hooliganism I got up to, the school’s name covered for me to some extent.
“Th-then can you solve this problem too?”
She took out another book.
Then she showed me the problem marked by a bookmark.
[Introductory Barrier Studies]
As luck would have it, it was barrier studies.
It was a problem with a complex magic circle drawn on it.
It was difficult, but not impossible.
Problems of this level had only been placed around the middle of Karnarof’s mathematics exam.
“It’s doable, but my throat’s a little dry. I think a nice cold beer would do the trick.”
“I’ll order you one if you solve it.”
“Promise?”
I had wanted to try beer.
I didn’t give up.
Of course, interpreting the magic circle was a tedious and time-consuming task, but…
[The Mathematician of Magic Circles is activated.]
That wasn’t a problem for me.
Before long, I had an answer.
And a completed magic circle, too.
“Domain Casting, Gravity, Reverse.”
A cube-shaped space just large enough to fit in the palm of my hand appeared.
Gravity was reversed inside it.
“If you want to enlarge the barrier, you just need to adjust the values.”
Ten minutes.
That was how long I spent solving the problem.
“You, you… are you a genius!?”
“Huh?”
“I’ve seen someone from Reinhart before… but even they couldn’t do something like this outside their specialty!”
“I am pretty good at barrier magic.”
I figured even Karnarof would consider this worthy of praise.
Of course, the greatest contributor to improving the quality of my barrier magic had been the generator.
“…Weren’t you a first-year?”
“I am, but I’m older than I look, so it’s fine.”
“Well, if you got into Reinhart, you’ll be an adult soon enough.”
As I chatted with her and killed time, an employee approached and spoke to me.
“The wanted criminals have been processed. Please collect your payment and register your mana pattern.”
“Yep.”
Apparently, a mana pattern served as a password here.
I received a heavy sack of silver coins and engraved my mana pattern.
For reference, it was the same as the pattern on my phone.
—Crack.
But the terminal I was engraving the pattern on cracked.
“Huh? Huh? Why is it doing this!?”
The guild employee exclaimed in surprise.
“Is there a problem?”
“It’s a natural occurrence when the durability is depleted, so it isn’t a problem… but it was only recently replaced…”
Watching that, she spoke as though she understood.
“You’re pretty high-ranking at Reinhart too, huh?”
“Right?”
Because I was the top student.
“Order me a beer.”
“…Well, a promise is a promise. Boss, one beer here, please.”
And so, a cold beer came out.
“Blegh, it’s bitter!”
It tasted even worse than I expected.
I learned the uncomfortable truth that the beer at Reinhart had been comparatively good.
“Good grief, what does a kid need beer for? Boss, warm me some milk mixed with strawberry jam.”
“No, it’s not because I can’t handle it.”
But this is tasty.
Reinhart aside, the milk here was definitely high quality too.
“Sigh, I’ll have to settle for what I brought. Boss, one mini-pig skewer here, please.”
When an appetizing skewer came out, I took a can of beer from my Inventory.
I shoved half the skewer into my mouth and chewed it down.
Then I drank the canned beer, and happiness surged through me along with the sensation stimulating my taste buds.
“Kyaa! This is the stuff!”
“What’s that?”
“Want to try some?”
I was feeling generous. I could spare one can.
“It’s incredibly good. What kind of drink is it? It seems like alcohol.”
“It is alcohol.”
“This is alcohol?”
“That’s beer, you old lady.”
“What? I’m a big sister!?”
Judging by how touchy she was about her age, she seemed to be older than she looked.
I kind of liked her.
“Shall we introduce ourselves?”
“My name is Rowen. I’m a Rank 2 adventurer. As you can see, I’m a mage.”
“I’m Yumia, a Reinhart student.”
“Reinhart really is on another level. I suppose it’s difficult unless you formally study magic…”
I probably shouldn’t use myself as the standard.
After all, I was the top student.
Well, it probably didn’t matter.
“Are you an adventurer, ma’am?”
“Yeah. I taught myself magic. And I told you, I’m a big sister.”
Her mana was definitely just so-so.
It wasn’t particularly low, but it wasn’t especially high for a mage either.
But things would be different if it was backed by technique.
She looked like a fairly seasoned adventurer.
“What brings you to Lien?”
“I’m here to take the battle mage exam.”
“What rank?”
“Rank 1. Do you know anything about it?”
“If you’re skilled enough to catch wanted criminals… it’ll be difficult, but you should be able to pass.”
“Passing isn’t the problem.”
“Huh?”
“I was told to get a perfect score.”
“Who?”
“My professor.”
Of course, if I failed to get a perfect score, the assignment would be replaced with writing a report.
But wasn’t being told to get a perfect score an extremely difficult assignment in itself?
Her reaction was similar.
“What kind of insane professor assigns a perfect score on the battle mage exam—not even the regular mage exam—as homework?”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
Of course, if I said that in front of Karnarof, I had no idea what I’d hear from him.
“Hmm. Still, I might be able to help.”
She said that while tidying her bag.
“How?”
I wondered if she would fight alongside me.
But it was a little different from that.
“I have a Rank 2 battle mage certification. Naturally, I cleared everything from Rank 1 onward.”
“Huh?”
She was more capable than I’d expected.
“Then give me some tips.”
The notice only listed the names of the exam subjects, after all.
Knowing what would appear and how it would appear was bound to help.
“You want them for free? I’d like to say that, but since you’ve already solved everything you were stuck on…”
She passed on some tips for the practical Rank 1 battle mage exam.
In much more detail than I’d expected.
“It’s quite a practical exam.”
“Right? A regular mage can get by with just casting magic, but battle mages are professionals who fight. They have to go much deeper.”
Was it like the difference between a craftsman and an engineer?
…Thinking of it that way, the gap was huge.
That was how Rowen and I became fairly close.
By the time Rowen had finished all the beer I’d taken out, I asked her while ordering more snacks.
“Do you have any other alcohol?”
“The cocktails here are pretty good. At least better than cheap beer.”
When we ordered some alcohol, something fairly drinkable came out.
It was a fairly strong liquor with a floral aroma.
Intrigued, I made a proposal.
“How about making a bet with this?”
“What?”
“The first one to pass out pays the whole bill.”
“Haa, you think I can’t drink as well as someone much younger than me? I was once known as Rowen, the God of Drinking…”
Okay.
She took the bait.
* * *
Naturally, I didn’t pay.
I didn’t return to the lodgings late, either, and showed up at the exam site in perfect condition.
There were a great many people on the way to the exam.
This was the outskirts of Lien, near the eastern gate.
I had heard the exam site was here.
“There sure are a damn lot of people.”
“They hold adventurer promotion exams here too.”
“I heard a lot of other exams are held in Lien as well.”
As we walked, I suddenly noticed something strange.
We should have turned left at the fork over there, but we were going right.
“Aris, isn’t our exam site this way?”
“Huh!? Was it? I thought I was going the right way…”
At my words, Aris blushed as though embarrassed.
“Did you study too hard?”
“I thought I got plenty of sleep…”
Then I pointed in the other direction.
“The exam site is this way.”
And so Aris and I headed toward the correct exam site.
Aris probably came with me too.
If Robert hadn’t spoken up with an awkward expression.
“I’m sorry to interrupt this heartwarming atmosphere.”
“We were going the right way, though?”
“Huh.”
I checked the map again.
But of course, there was no way it was wrong.
[Rank 1 Battle Mage Exam [Practical]]
“I was going the right way too?”