Chapter 16 - Entrance Exam (2)

"Personal items that can be brought to the entrance exam are limited to three. You can't take the rest."

"Who decided that?"

"Oh, Senior. Please."

Norium glared at Ena, wrinkling his already wrinkled face. Ena met his gaze directly without backing down.

"I'm just trying to keep my disciple safe, what's wrong with that?"

"It's the headmistress' decision."

"Contact them."

"This is driving me crazy, really."

Norium shook his head, downing the hot tea like water.

Acel slowly removed the artifacts he was wearing while watching the two. Ena looked at him with a dissatisfied expression, but Acel continued to place the artifacts neatly on the table.

That alone filled half the table. He returned the rest of the potions to Ena, keeping only three in his backpack.

Ena received the bottles with a pout.

"...Even war mages don't pack this many magic tools, geez," Norium said with a deep sigh, then smiled at Acel.

"Are you nervous?"

"...A little, but not too much."

"Don't worry. There's no way you'll fail the exam. If you fail, it would be the same as saying there are no successful candidates."

"Aren't you praising me too much?"

"I'm just stating facts."

Acel chuckled at Norium's banter.

"When should I depart?"

"In 10 minutes. The exam candidates should be gathering now. As the protagonist should appear last, it's best to arrive as close to the deadline as possible."

Norium said this as he poured tea into Acel's cup. A bitter fragrance wafted up with the steam, lingering at the tip of his nose.

"I'll be preparing the magic, so spend these 10 minutes saying your goodbyes. You should comfort your master who's acting as if you're going on a long journey."

I wonder how she'll act on the day of academy enrollment.

Norium added this while clicking his tongue, then entered the back room of the reception room. Soon after, magical power began swirling inside. As it wasn't a short-distance move, even an archmage like him seemed to need to draw the spell formula directly.

In fact, this was correct for ordinary mages. They needed to draw spell formulas and chant incantations for each magic they use. He had forgotten because most mages in Wyheim use magic without incantations and mental spell formulas. Perhaps he had become too accustomed to this.

"Acel," lost in thought for a moment, Evelyn, sitting next to him, called out with slightly teary eyes. 

Acel answered with a bitter smile, "Why are you crying?"

"Just... because I'm proud. It feels like just yesterday we were picking up bugs to eat in the slums, when did you grow up so much?"

"We grew up together."

Acel wiped Evelyn's tears and pressed his forehead against hers.

"I haven't even enrolled in the academy yet, why are you like this already? Save the crying for later. Just cheer me on."

"Okay... I will."

Evelyn roughly wiped her face with her hands, then smiled brightly and kissed Acel's forehead. As she did so, she shouted, "Fighting! Do well!"

"Do your best, kiddo~"

Haley waved her hand with a smiling expression while munching on cookies. Acel nodded back with a smile.

There was still one more person to say goodbye to. Acel turned his body to the left and met eyes with Ena, who was looking straight at him. Ena stared intently into Acel's obsidian-colored eyes and spread her arms wide. Understanding the meaning of this action, Acel gently hugged Ena.

"I believe in you," Ena whispered in his ear while patting Acel's back. 

Recognizing the trust contained in those few words, Acel smiled and answered, "Yes."

With that, the farewells were over. Soon after, the promised 10 minutes passed. Norium opened the door and called Acel, who bowed once to the three people before entering the room where Norium was. In the center of the room floated a round, black rift. The space around it was shattered like broken glass, and an enormous amount of magical power could be felt from within the rift.

"Are you ready?"

Norium grinned and tapped the rift. Acel exhaled deeply, then hardened his expression and nodded. He then immediately moved towards the inside of the rift.

***

"Have all the participants arrived?" Ross, the chief supervisor of the academy entrance exam, asked his colleague.

His colleague, Allon, who was wearing glasses and flipping through documents with a cold expression, instantly assessed the faces of those gathered in the forest clearing and shook his head.

"One is still missing."

"Who is it?"

"The mage from Wyheim."

Ross clicked his tongue and tapped the sword at his waist with his fingertips. 

Allon, the bespectacled supervisor, asked while watching this, "The distance between Wyheim and here is quite far. Should we start anyway? Or wait longer?"

"It's true that a mage from Wyheim is a valuable talent, but we can't delay the exam for one person. Moreover, there are some nobles in this exam too," Ross said this as he looked down from the platform. 

Various warriors and mages with diverse characteristics were preparing for the exam, refining the items they had brought. Ross identified the faces of key figures among them.

A woman with long red hair and a gloomy expression. Grace Bydel. A genius who recently renewed her title as the Empire's youngest Expert, and the daughter of Duke Bydel. She was sitting on a neatly cut tree, looking up at the sky and sighing deeply.

Besides her, there was the disciple of an elder from the Aurora Magic Tower who handled constellation magic, a pureblood vampire sucking on blood packs, the daughter of Count Hargelin with a huge double-bladed axe on her shoulder, a warrior from a mercenary background, and others. After confirming the status of those likely to compete for the top spot, he looked at his wrist watch.

About 15 seconds left until the exam started. One person still hadn't arrived, but they couldn't wait for him. Regrettably, they would have to disqualify him. Ross thought this as he prepared to imbue his voice with magical power.

That was when it happened.

Crack!!

The intact space split open in a round shape. Fragments of broken space fell downwards, and a black rift suddenly appeared. At this sudden anomaly, as Ross and the other supervisors sharpened their eyes, a young man fell from the rift. He landed on the ground with light movements and cleared away the spatial fragments scattered around.

"Have I arrived?" He muttered this as he looked around. 

Then he tightly closed his mouth. It was because everyone gathered at the exam site was staring at him.

"..."

"What's that?"

"Quite a flashy entrance."

Whispers spread discreetly. The young man scratched his cheek in embarrassment and threw himself into the appropriate crowd. Allon, who spotted him, cleared his throat and said, "Acel? Is that correct?"

"Yes, yes. That's right."

"Confirmed. I'll check your belongings once."

"Okay."

Acel was released after having all the contents of his backpack and the items he had on his clothes checked by the supervisor.

"Three potions. Confirmed. No problem."

Allon pushed up his glasses once, filed away the documents he was holding, and stood behind Ross.

“...Acel?”

At that moment, a low voice was heard from somewhere. But it disappeared, buried under Ross' subsequent words.

"Everyone, be quiet. I will now explain the contents of the exam."

The mana contained in his voice roughly surged through the air. The chatter of those who had been whispering stopped, and everyone's attention focused on Ross.

There was no need to continue with an introduction. Ross immediately informed everyone about the exam matters.

"The conditions for passing the exam are simple. Deal with the golems released in the forest, recover a specified amount of their cores, and place them in the center of the forest. The exam is scheduled to last for a total of one week, and it's okay to form alliances with other participants."

"..."

"Looting is also allowed. However, murder is strictly forbidden. If this is violated, you will be executed on the spot at the discretion of the supervisors or go through proper administrative procedures, so be sure to keep this in mind."

As Ross finished speaking, the supervisors lined up around him came down and handed black bracelets to the participants.

"If you want to give up the exam midway, inject magic power into the bracelet. Then you can escape to a safe place through the built-in teleportation magic. Don't worry if you're seriously injured, it will operate automatically."

"..."

"Does anyone have any questions?"

Someone raised their hand. Ross gestured to her with his chin.

"How should we distribute the cores if we form an alliance?"

"Figure it out yourselves."

"...Pardon?"

"The number of cores each individual needs to submit doesn't decrease just because you formed a group. So you'll have to deal with more golems than someone moving alone. Decide on the distribution carefully."

"..."

Hearing Ross' words, a girl with ash-gray hair lowered her gaze as if deep in thought.

After finishing speaking, Ross asked the participants once more if they had any questions. But this time, no one raised their hand. Ross nodded with satisfaction and clapped twice with a smile.

"Then let's begin. I wish you luck."

The next moment, the bracelets they were wearing lit up. Acel realized that this was because the teleportation magic built into the bracelets had activated.

A teleportation spell that randomly selected and dropped participants within the designated forest. It was similar to spatial magic, but different in its fundamental framework. Spatial magic had a strong character of “skipping over”, while teleportation spells had a strong character of “omitting the process of moving”.

This magic was the same. Acel examined the spell formula inside the bracelet with interested eyes.

At that moment, he heard someone shouting from behind, "Acel! Aceeel!!"

"...?"

Acel turned his head at the voice calling his name. A woman with a fancy sword at her waist and long red hair fluttering was running urgently towards him. Despite calling his name familiarly, she was a complete stranger.

Ah geez, who is this?

He searched his memories in case he had met her in the past, but he had never seen a face like hers before. She was a complete stranger.

Perhaps reading the thoughts contained in his gaze.

The woman shouted while pounding her large chest with her hand, "It's me! Grace! Grace Bydel!"

Hearing the name made him even more confused. Acel frowned and took a step back. At this action, Grace's face was tinged with despair.

"Why, why are you running away? Don't you know me? Your wi—"

Whoosh!!

Her words disappeared with the activation of the teleportation spell. Acel stared at the place where she had been for a moment, then lost interest. 

Why is some crazy bitch clinging to me before the exam even started? 

He sighed deeply and lightly stretched his body.

"...Excuse me," as he was doing this, one of the supervisors cautiously spoke to him. 

Acel looked at her and asked, "Yes?"

"Why didn't the teleportation work..."

"Ah. It's because I rejected it."

"...Pardon?"

Her face twisted strangely. The other supervisors were the same.

"...What do you mean?"

"It seems to be a method of activating magic using the magical power built into the bracelet. I forcibly stopped the magical power in the bracelet at the same time as the spell formula activated. That's why I didn't teleport."

"...Is that possible?"

"Yes," Acel answered nonchalantly, then looked around and nodded.

"This seems to be the center of the forest. That device on the platform. Is that where we put the cores?"

"Huh? Ah, yes... that's right..." she answered in a dazed voice, still not having regained her senses.

Acel thanked her for the information, then slowly moved his steps to enter the forest.

And so the exam began.