Chapter 30
“This is math class, not Basic Magic, but since the professor and students are the same, I’ll make the announcement together.”
Karnaroff's chalk drew numbers on the blackboard.
It was the midterm exam date.
“It’s already almost here!?”
“What are we supposed to do? We haven’t studied.”
“Still, it’s lucky Basic Magic's midterm is at the end.”
The students murmured.
Whether they did or not, Karnaroff calmly went on with the announcement.
“As with Reinhart’s classes as a rule, the midterm doesn’t carry much weight. We tend to place more emphasis on the final.”
Hm? Then maybe I can get through this pretty easily.
“First, the math midterm will be a written exam.”
That was obvious. There was nothing else it could be besides written.
The math here was almost the same as Earth’s mathematical system.
For me, who had even attended university once, it was manageable.
If anything, it was on the easy side.
“Wow. But the math exam is super early.”
“We’re doomed...”
“Guess we’ll have to pull an all-nighter starting today...”
The students didn’t seem to think so.
Well, not my problem.
Looking over there, I saw Robert and Linia looking relaxed.
So it’s only the people who didn’t study who are panicking.
You’re asking if I didn’t study either?
I studied in the past, so I’m fine.
“Next is the Basic Magic midterm, but...”
I was more curious about this one.
Karnaroff emphasized the practical application of Basic Magic a bit more in every class.
I wondered if the exam would be a little more practical too.
“The Basic Magic exam will be held in the practice yard.”
As expected.
“The exam will consist of hitting five targets at different distances in order, starting with the nearest. After that, you will be evaluated according to the grading criteria. Twenty points per target, 100 points total.”
Karnaroff filled the blackboard with the complicated grading criteria.
Holy shit.
Why is it so complicated?
Of course, if you just stick to the basics, you can satisfy all of it.
That was very much like Karnaroff, with all the little things needed to use Basic Magic skillfully packed in.
“Question.”
Karnaroff asked.
There were no questions.
* * *
The other classes also each announced their exam schedules.
Potions didn’t have a midterm, so aside from that, everything else was scheduled.
In the end, the whole thing was crammed into three or four days.
If it were just physical labor, this would be easier.
I had a book open on the table in my dorm room.
“This is brutally intense.”
Of course, I had no intention of studying.
Exams are supposed to be taken based on what you normally do.
I think studying more just because it’s exam period is heresy.
It’s absolutely not because I don’t want to study for exams!
“Kraaaah! I don’t want to... Get me out of this hell...”
“I heard midterms have low weight and are manageable, though.”
Aris said, looking at me as if to comfort me.
“Huh?”
“They say finals are much more practical and beyond imagination. Especially Professor Karnaroff—if you get caught, assume you’re dead.”
Ah, Aris’s older brothers.
So they weren’t just playing pranks on their little sister.
They were also giving useful information in their own way.
But just from the target distances, even the midterm seemed pretty extreme.
If it had to be more practical and more brutal than that, they’d have to bring in a monster and have you fight it.
Still, whatever. No problem.
“Then I guess I can take it without studying.”
“That’s not what I meant!”
Aris pressed my head back down onto the book when I tried to reach for my phone.
One of the downloaded videos was playing: a crayon being crushed under a hydraulic press.
Aris was about to throw the confiscated phone out the window...
“Noooo!”
“Magic tools that distract from studying should just be thrown away!”
“No, who do you take after to get this so violent?”
“I won’t! I won’t, okay!”
“Damn it!”
At this rate, I’ll end up studying.
“Aris, I brought in something pretty good this time too...”
I had prepared another trump card, but.
“Let’s eat it after the exam.”
“No, wait...”
“After the exam, we’ll eat it.”
It didn’t work at all.
* * *
After being put through a brutal round of 'studying'.
On the second day of midterms, I came out of the exam hall with Aris, Linia, and Robert.
Since Karnaroff gathered us last time, we’d been hanging out together whenever we met.
Yesterday was herbal medicine, and this morning was Imperial History.
“So, how did you do on the exams?”
“Huh? I got wrecked.”
“Umm. I’m ruined.”
Linia and I answered almost simultaneously.
“Yeeees? But you memorized everything, didn't you?”
“The professor is weird. He only gives what we didn't study.”
“So you didn't even open the Imperial History book!?”
In truth, I was lazy, so I only did herbal medicine and basic math.
But why didn't Linia do it too?
“Yaaawn. The noble students rig things however they want, you know. There’s no real reason to study. If you answer based on what you already know, you’ll get half right anyway.”
“I heard that professor's rumored to rewrite history too, so I wasn't especially eager, but not doing any of it at all is just because I didn't feel like it, right?”
Hm.
Hard to argue with that.
“That’s true.”
Honestly, I only need to learn magic, and I’m not even a citizen of the empire, so it’s true I wasn’t interested.
To begin with, I hadn’t even known there was such a controversy.
Robert clicked his tongue.
“Seriously, why do they pull crap like that?”
“It’s because the magic world has had a generational shift lately. Since they can’t enjoy the glory they used to, they’re staging protests...”
Linia said with sleepy eyes.
It seemed to be a pretty hot topic among the nobles.
“Did you do well on herbal medicine?”
“I solved them all.”
It seemed like it was a test designed for a perfect score to begin with.
“I have no idea how brutal the final will be.”
“It was definitely easy.”
Robert nodded.
Herbal medicine was basically a prerequisite for potions, and since the class was just memorizing the names and characteristics of basic herbs, there was nothing hard about it.
But it was a bit boring.
I heard we’re going outside the school for field practice after the midterm.
Then wouldn’t that be a bit more fun?
“What’s the next exam?”
“There’s a math exam this afternoon.”
We went into the exam hall feeling light-hearted.
And came back out thoroughly beaten.
“Gyaaah! What the hell is this!!!”
“Only ridiculously weird problems were on it...”
“Unbelievably hard. To make us solve this in 90 minutes? Are they kidding?”
“How do they even come up with stuff like this...”
Honestly, I’d heard Imperial History was manageable, and herbal medicine was similar, so I'd forgotten this was Karnaroff we were dealing with.
Linia asked me.
This is the first time I think I’ve seen her eyes open properly.
“Do you know the answer to question 8?”
“I solved it, but I don't even remember.”
Question 8? I don't even remember which number was which.
It was a test that kept going full speed from start to finish.
It was standard to apply the formulas from class.
There were even problems that required a completely new approach.
I somehow solved everything by mixing modern formulas with the knowledge I’d learned here.
“I couldn't solve them properly at all...”
“There were things on there we hadn't even been taught.”
Now I think I understand why some of the students had such strange expressions when Karnaroff came in as professor.
After splitting up at the dorm, Aris and I went to our room.
“Whew. I don't even know if I did well.”
“The other students said it was hard too.”
Still, I thought I could coast through because I had the math wizard of magical circles...
I was confident because I’d studied math quite a bit, but this test paper blew that confidence away.
It was the first time I’d ever thought that going through the ordeal of being an examinee and getting into university had been worth it.
Though I did end up with a GPA in the 0-point range at the university I got into after all that hellish effort, anyway.
“So the remaining exam is... just that one now? Basic Attack Magic?”
Potions didn’t have a midterm.
Thinking about it again, that was truly fortunate.
“Aren’t you nervous, Yumia?”
“Why would I be?”
I just go, shoot magic, and that’s it.
Honestly, I’d used Basic Attack Magic so much by now that I was even thinking maybe I should try learning some other magic on my own in the tower.
Who knows.
Maybe if I broke it down, I could figure it out too.
“You really are calm...”
* * *
The next day.
Students had gathered in the practice yard.
In fact, the place Karnaroff had called us to was also used as a sparring arena.
So there were spectator seats.
I was sitting in a chair, slurping cola with a straw.
I wore sunglasses too, just for the vibe.
To celebrate the end of the exam.
Mana potions also have a gentle calming effect on the body and mind, so cola with a mana potion in it wasn't half bad.
“You really do look like the exam's over...”
“Haaam...”
What lovely sunshine...
“Once this is over, the exams are finally over too...!”
“But I'm still super nervous...”
Hmm.
Amateurs.
They should just enjoy it.
“We’re about to start the midterm... Before that, take off those damn sunglasses, Yumia.”
“Yees...”
I quietly put the sunglasses away.
Ah. The sunlight is blinding.
“The exam will proceed as announced. When your name is called, come up and take the exam. If you can't hit the target, that's it.”
Karnaroff’s voice, with his hands behind his back, rang out powerfully.
Karnaroff singled out one person right away.
“Oliver Bernia.”
So Oliver was that bastard who copied my assignment last time.
The guy who bragged that regular assignments leave a record, even for upperclassmen in other years.
And yet he hadn’t even managed to get himself obliterated by tangling with Karnaroff.
He must have copied the assignment because he was sure he wouldn't get caught.
Let's see what you've got.
“Yes, sir!”
“Come out and demonstrate Basic Attack Magic.”
Oliver stepped out confidently.
“Casting, Bullet!”
Oliver fired his Basic Attack Magic at the first target at full power.
After a short casting time, a mana bullet shot from his wand.
—CRACK!
“Ooooooh!!”
“As expected of the House of Bernia!”
“His mana reserves are on a different level!”
Karnaroff's brow furrowed just like mine did.
“Eh?”
He moved to the side with confidence.
“Casting, Bullet.”
As expected, the powerful mana bullet flew a little farther and pierced through it.
—CRACK.
It struck and shattered the target about 40 meters away.
He then fired a mana bullet toward the next target as if satisfied.
But he failed to hit the third target, which was 70 meters away, and that was it.
For reference, the distances don’t increase evenly here because the units are weird.
“Good work.”
Wearing a face that didn't look especially disappointed, Oliver returned to his seat.
“Oh, wasn't that pretty good?”
“At least he gets 40 points in the bag.”
“That's Oliver for you. Told you he had talent!”
I stretched lazily.
Just from the first shot, I could already tell.
He’s screwed.
So you really hadn't prepared even one bit?
“9 points.”
“Eh, wh-what!? What kind of grading is that! I definitely destroyed the second target, for sure...”
Oliver protested with an unconvinced expression.
Then Karnaroff walked toward Oliver.
Karnaroff looked down at Oliver and opened his mouth.
“Let me explain the grading criteria again.”