Chapter 44

“Imperial standard time 14:20, we will now conclude the midterm exam for the Basic Elemental Magic lecture.”

With Professor Beatrice’s announcement, the magitools that had been dangling by the students’ sides rose to the sky, merged into one, and returned to Professor Beatrice’s arms.

“I will announce the exam scores immediately.”

Have you ever seen such a cruel professor?!

Well, it’s much better to have it revealed refreshingly rather than wasting time anxiously waiting for the scores.

Professor Beatrice enlarged the paper with the scores written on it and showed it to us.

Next to my name, written at the very end, was a proud 100!

I barely swallowed the cheer that was about to burst out, and in my joy, I hit Zephyros’s shoulder a few times before stopping.

Ah, my hand hurts like hell.

I waved my hand back and forth and glared at Zephyros for no reason.

At that moment, someone who had checked their score shouted out.

“How can this be!”

So, since the scores were revealed immediately, you could apply for a grade correction right away.

However, the atmosphere couldn’t be said to be good. In fact, it was enough to make one frown at the sharp attitude, as if they were about to cause harm at any moment.

“Ignatz Schreiden, what is your complaint?”

Professor Beatrice tilted her head, striking a pose as if she would at least listen.

“How is it that Theo Lisitoel and Lord Zephyros Nevera, who used only the most basic forms of elemental magic, have the highest scores!!”

At those words, I immediately looked for Zephyros’s name.

Next to Zephyros’s name was a 97.

It wasn’t a 100, but it was certainly the second-highest score.

In fact, you could hardly find any student who scored over 80, and there weren’t many 70s either.

“So?”

“It’s unfair! We used much more difficult magic!!”

At Schreiden’s shout, voices of agreement slowly flowed from among the students.

It was only natural for the voices of complaint to rise, as there were only two people with high scores, and the rest had barely passed 70 or not even reached it.

“…You guys, do you even know the name of my lecture in the first place?”

“Of course, it’s Basic Elemental Magic─”

“Yes, Basic Elemental Magic.”

Professor Beatrice said indifferently. She ran a hand through her hair as if she was annoyed and let out a sigh.

“What I teach is the most basic elemental magic.

The most basic elements, commonly called the four great elements, have a direct or indirect influence on all magic. What is this indirect influence? Explain.”

“It refers to cases where elements influence magic other than elemental magic.”

“Yes, Kairon Kneisel. Give an example of an indirect influence.”

“…In the case of teleportation magic, it is influenced by wind, and healing magic by fire, so magicians with mana of those properties can learn these magics more easily.”

“Yes, Basic Elemental Magic is the magic that will become the foundation for all of you who will walk the path of a magician in the future. But─”

Beatrice’s aura suddenly turned fierce. Her hair, which held the light of flames, seemed to burst into flames.

“In the Basic Elemental Magic lecture, you attempted intermediate magic when even the most basic magic wasn’t perfect.

I wouldn’t know if it were perfect, but it was immature and you couldn’t even distinguish between the most proper and reverse order! Why? Did you think you could do well enough without following the order?”

Should this be called getting a pound for a penny?

It was even a little pitiful to see them get hit in the solar plexus after protesting once.

“You should at least be at this level!”

With those words, Professor Beatrice threw a ball of fire in this direction.

I was surprised by the sudden attack, but perhaps thanks to the week of hardship, water magic came out easily and nullified the attack.

“I wonder how many of you can use elemental magic in a split second, less than a second?”

“That… if we practice….”

“Yes, you could do it if you practice.”

The basics are, literally, the basics. Anyone could do it if they practiced.

“But, you can’t do it now. The exam is over.”

“Ugh─”

“I said it clearly, Imperial standard time 14:20, I will end the midterm exam.”

It meant that since the midterm scores had already been announced, there was nothing the student could do.

“Magic is the most honest thing. Remember that fact.”

With those words, Professor Beatrice left.

And so, the first midterm exam ended.

* * *

There was still a lot of time until dinner, so Zephyros and Theo returned to the hideout.

“Was that what you were preparing for all week?”

“Yeah.”

Theo lay down on the hideout’s sofa and closed his eyes.

For a week, he had only slept three or four hours a day. It was truly a week faithful to the saying, ‘Sleep is for the dead.’

“The Imperial History thesis?”

“I finished writing it. That thing was damn hard.”

The times my magic control failed during the week were mostly when I was tearing my hair out writing the Imperial History thesis.

“Magical Engineering?”

“I’ve finished the disassembly, now all I have to do is write down the final formula…”

Theo, who had been barely stringing his words together, fell asleep just like that.

How much sleep had this guy been missing?

The magic he showed earlier was certainly amazing, but it was a crazy thing to do just to do well on one exam.

“Crazy bastard.”

Zephyros, clicking his tongue, found Lerwon trudging in through the door.

“Did you take the exam too, sunbae?”

Lerwon, who didn’t answer, took out a randomly thrown blanket, covered the snoring Theo up to his nose, and shrugged his shoulders.

“You take exams with what you usually study.”

At the utterly relaxed answer, Zephyros looked at him with an exasperated expression.

In the first place, Lerwon was already a complete alchemist, without even needing to enter the Academy. The reason he entered the Academy was because of Iris’s obsession with finding the Elixir.

“But you’re not the top student, I see.”

When Zephyros taunted him, Lerwon smiled without a word and opened a book.

Although there was no title written on the book, Zephyros could well guess that it was at least not a book for exam preparation.

“Being the top student stands out.”

Iris had instructed that it would be good to be within the top 5 among the alchemists, as standing out too much wasn’t good, and to maintain around 30th place among all the third-years.

There was no reason for Lerwon not to follow that instruction. No, it would be a more correct expression to say that he had no choice but to follow the instruction.

“I’m thinking of aiming for it this time, though.”

“The top student?”

“I guess so. Since I can’t receive support from Golden anymore.”

Tak, closing the book with a sound, Lerwon glanced at Theo.

“I never thought you’d ever make friends, though.”

“Are you picking a fight?”

“Rather than picking a fight… it’s a normal observation.”

Lerwon, taking out another book from his bag, mumbled monotonously.

The young Zephyros Nevera that Lerwon had seen was like a hedgehog.

A noble bloodline, the blessed talent of manifesting the Duchy’s unique power at the young age of four, and even the position of the Duchy’s sole heir.

There was no need to flatter others, nor to exclude others. In such a position, one could simply choose to associate with people who caught their eye, and discard those who didn’t.

Even if he did so, no one would curse or blame Zephyros.

If Lerwon had not been born into an unhappy family, if he had not ended up murdering his parents, unable to bear the violence, and thus had not become the adopted son of a rising merchant guild master, if his adoptive mother had not built a friendship with the Duke of Nevera at the Academy─

The two children who would never have met, thus met.

“I thought I’d get pricked if I got close to you.”

“You approached me regardless.”

Zephyros grumbled softly.

“I wouldn’t have even approached you if it hadn’t been for my mother’s orders.”

In Lerwon’s eyes, Zephyros was just throwing a tantrum.

Never having been beaten to the point of being covered in black and blue bruises, never having starved for two days straight and then eaten even a hard piece of bread full of mold while shedding tears.

He felt disgust at the purple eyes that glared at Lerwon with a look of being the most unfortunate person in the world.

When he learned that the young Zephyros Nevera was sufficiently unhappy and had his own reasons for looking at Lerwon with such eyes, only laughter could come out.

“So I hated you, sunbae.”

Zephyros brought out the words he had to say honestly.

“I knew full well you were approaching me because of that woman, and I heard from the Duke that you had killed your own parents, so how evil of a person must you have seemed in my eyes.”

It was a biased view. A terribly self-centered thought that knew only one thing and not the other two.

“I don’t intend to make excuses, but… I’m sorry.”

He hadn’t expected Zephyros to apologize.

Lerwon, forgetting to even control his expression, stared blankly at Zephyros.

At Lerwon’s expression, which was shaking with agitation, a bitter taste filled Zephyros’s mouth.

“It seems I really did participate in your hell, sunbae.”

In this moment, he wanted to go and really kill Iris Viden. Though it would be impossible.

“There’s no need to say that. It’s all in the past anyway.”

Lerwon would not be returning to Golden.

Nor would he be swallowed by the pain of the world, become a monster, and die.

Because there is one absurdly crazy person who arbitrarily interfered in another’s life, called him a friend, and saved him.

“You’ve changed.”

“You too.”

At Lerwon’s words, Zephyros fell silent.

Well, he still hadn’t changed. He had just decided to stand as ‘Zephyros’ in front of his friends, not as ‘Zephyros Nevera’.

However, as long as he was ‘Zephyros Nevera’, one day─

Yes, there were things that did not change.

* * *

I barely came to my senses when it was dinner time.

“Hwaaaam.”

“You’re tired even after sleeping for four hours straight?”

At Lerwon’s question, I just rested my forehead on my sunbae’s shoulder.

“I’m still sleep-deprived.”

This weekend, I plan to be passed out for two days straight.

“Theo… I’m sorry. It’s taking some time to prepare the materials.”

As the exam period suddenly started, Lucian became busy, so he couldn’t have an audience with the Emperor.

He apologized so many times, saying he would meet him as soon as the exams were over, that I felt sorry instead.

I was the one who asked for the favor, so if he feels that sorry, it makes me feel like I’m a bad person.

“Tomorrow is ‘Utilization and Understanding of Mana’, right?”

“Yes. It’s simpler than I thought.”

Analyze the magic shown by Beatrice and use it in the same way.

Since the theme was ‘Utilization and Understanding of Mana’, I was less worried because she said it wasn’t a very difficult magic.

And since my understanding of magic had already increased to some extent from the Basic Elemental Magic exam, I had no worries.

Then the midterms are pretty much over.

Advanced Magic Studies and Understanding of Fief Management only have final exams, and Imperial History and Magical Engineering are simple assignment submissions.

Although, when you think about the fact that I have to write a thesis, it’s a bit far from simple.

“It’s going more smoothly than I worried.”

“I hope it continues to be so.”

I was worried because I had missed a lot of classes due to transferring and all, but I was glad it seemed to be going smoothly.

I avoided failing, and maybe my grades will be quite high?

I was walking with high hopes when a wall hit my shoulder and my body went tumbling.

“Ugh!”

Was there a wall?

No, it’s not a wall.

“Sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

It was a person.

“No, it’s fine─”

It was a clearly intentional accident, with hostility.

—————–

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