Chapter 72
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: Yuna Sunrise
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[Title: Being Popular Is Exhausting]
Author: Kim Muggle
Guys, we're screwed. Didn't I say the seniors are doing mutual evaluations?
I got paired with this person called the Fourth Princess.
But what's even scarier is that she knows my name...!
Soon as we got partnered, she goes, "Looking forward to working with you, Kim Muggle (real name), junior. Hehe."
I've never seen her before, so how does she know my full name?
This guy's seducing princesses now too?
Hoooooo?!?!?
A princess shows up here?!
Nothing sweeter than the moans of a highborn lady.
Princess pretty?
Being a commoner like Kim Muggle, gotta watch out for the princess's mood.
If it were me, I'd just lay out the facts.
You guys are archmages; I'm just a commoner orphan newbie muggle;
Talrula what even is that
Just grade honestly :) No need to worry if you judge the truth^^
It's part of class anyway, don't sweat it.
Just before the second-years' full-scale field training began.
I was scrolling through the gallery for a bit when the preparations for the training were complete.
Yeah, just score based on skill.
I'd tensed up under the intimidating name of "princess," but I quickly got a grip.
"Alright, your partner's screen should have appeared at your seat. The overall field status will be shown on the big screen up front."
A small screen at my seat showed the princess's image.
The princess stood waiting in a straight posture.
A moment later, the training began.
'Not bad. As expected of A-Class.'
The princess's performance in the training was literally not bad.
She moved appropriately and cooperated moderately with other cadets to take down beasts.
Cooperation and competition among cadets unfolded intricately in the field.
A situation with magical beasts as the common enemy.
Other cadets were rivals and potential foes at the same time.
When a beast too tough for one person appeared, they'd team up with nearby cadets.
Otherwise, they'd slyly attack to knock out other cadets.
This process repeated endlessly as the field training neared its end.
In that process, the princess—to be honest—stood out more for her 'strategy' than her magic skills.
Was her magic skill top-tier among second-year A-Class? No.
But she used simple spells effectively at key moments.
She cooperated well with others and betrayed before being betrayed.
"It's ambiguous..."
Ambiguous as a mage, but good as a strategist.
Maybe because she's a princess, she has sharp political instincts.
I observed the princess's performance for a while, then began writing my evaluation.
"Ah~ Couldn't survive to the end in front of the newbies, how embarrassing."
"Shit, my partner was my direct junior, what do I do."
The second-year cadets who finished training returned to the waiting room.
The first-years who had been evaluating entered the field, and now the situation flipped.
The second-years sat at their seats.
Princess Yuna Sunrise also returned to the waiting room.
Yuna sat right at her seat without chatting with the other cadets.
Yuna always meticulously maintained her conduct flawlessly in every moment.
That was the position of a princess in the Magic Academy.
The empire's prestige was immense, but the world had archmage dukes.
In culture, economy, politics, the empire held the highest status,
but in 'magic' alone, it was the domain ruled by the archmage dukes.
The empire's relationship with the archmage duke families was quite complex.
Not enemies since their domains differed, more like collaborators.
Most royals didn't enroll in the magic academy.
There was the Imperial Academy for that.
So, a princess entering Merhen Magic Academy could be seen as the empire stepping into the mages' domain.
She'd face scrutiny, and any slip-up would invite attacks.
Of course, nobles of ambiguous status from mage families wouldn't touch the princess.
But she wasn't on great terms with direct heirs of archmage duke families.
Thus, Yuna lived her academy life in constant tension.
"Let's see what the kids rated us."
"Whoa... these first-years have no manners these days?"
"Hey, you sucked, so it's obvious. I gave good scores."
"What they wrote is kinda cute."
The second-years began checking the evaluations written by the first-years.
Yuna also opened her evaluation sheet.
'Cadet Ian Isaac... I wonder what he wrote.'
Ian was a cadet Yuna had noted beforehand.
Not just Ian Isaac, of course.
Yuna remembered all the outstanding cadets while attending the academy.
The reason Yuna entered Merhen Academy was to build her own faction.
In a mage society ruled by archmage dukes,
to attract talented mages, she had to compete herself.
Especially since her rank in the imperial family was low right now.
Ian stood out among them.
Unlike other top newbies from major mage families, he was a commoner alone.
His actions held many intriguing points.
He might fit her goals perfectly.
So when they were paired earlier, she called his name first to act familiar.
'Just a typical commoner, huh.'
But Ian had visibly panicked then.
A commoner would naturally freak out knowing royalty knew their name.
But Yuna didn't want an ordinary commoner.
She'd hoped for the guts to stand up to royalty.
The evaluation was obvious without looking. He'd pander with good scores.
But,
"...Huh?"
Yuna froze upon seeing Ian's evaluation of her.
It was scathing—no, just brutally honest.
Score: 4.1 out of 5.
But the written feedback was the real kicker.
[Politics are on point, but magic is so-so.]
A single-line evaluation.
Yuna stared blankly before bursting into laughter with a "pfft."
"Pfft... What is with this guy..."
A commoner daring to evaluate a princess like this.
Yet it was spot-on.
Yuna's magic was average, but she maintained A-Class through other means.
"Politics... Politics, huh."
Not a pleasant term for Yuna, but perfectly apt.
What intrigued her most was a commoner writing this to her.
It didn't seem like malice from disliking Princess Yuna as a mage.
The score was fair. Just his genuine impression.
"Ian Isaac."
Interest sparked.
Yuna watched Ian's training without hiding her smile for the first time in ages.
And the more she watched Ian's performance, the more convinced Yuna became.
This man—she absolutely could not let him slip away.
Field training starts with cadets dropped at random positions across a vast field.
This training's field was the "Desert Field."
Hopefully nothing like the class placement exam in the "Forest Field" happens again.
Back then, with even less experience, how did I take down a 5th-grade beast?
Beep-
The siren signaling the start of training blared.
At the same time, eerie sounds echoed from all directions.
Beasts had been released into the field. The susurrus of sand rubbing announced their approach.
"Chirup- Chirup-"
A lizard about twice my size slithered forward, flicking its tongue.
A common desert field beast from theory class: the "Red Sand Lizard."
A 7th-grade beast, and they'd said this training would mostly feature 8th to 7th-grade ones.
Meaning I drew a strong one right at the start for this training.
But that didn't make it a tough opponent.
[Stone Bullet Launch] x3
Pfufuf-
Three calculations completed before it reached me.
My speed with the 3rd-tier basic magic [Stone Bullet Launch] had improved greatly.
The Red Sand Lizard, hit three times in the head by stone bullets, died on the spot.
If it weren't the head, it'd have taken a couple more hits.
I got a rough sense of this field's beast level.
Seemed like I could survive to the end without much trouble.
"Hunt as many beasts as possible and survive to the end for max system score."
The field system's score is based on beasts hunted and survival time.
With a time limit anyway, just lasting till the end works.
Nothing I can do about the princess's score but hope she grades fairly.
I wrote the facts, so if she's good, she'll score me well.
But I'd overlooked one thing.
Swish-
I sensed someone watching me from afar.
Our eyes met, and that cadet bolted.
Field training allows attacks between cadets.
Fewer survivors at the end means higher survival scores.
But strong beasts require cadet cooperation to fell.
It's a numbers game.
In other words, pre-forming teams is possible.
Though more team members hurt final survival scores.
But if there's a shared goal beforehand, it's different.
"There he is."
"Found him right at the start—lucky."
"Desperately flailing for points? Makes sense with those midterm scores."
The cadet who'd fled earlier returned with a gang.
It was Hera Orbis and her crew, who'd picked a fight before and gotten wrecked.
I thought they'd gone quiet after the smackdown, but their approach felt ominous.
"Uh, hey. Hello."
I'm not one to hold grudges.
They'd already done the Grand Prostration, so I greeted the fuming Hera first.
"Ian. What were your midterm scores? Scribbling like an idiot?"
Puhahaha-
Hera's taunt kicked off her gang mocking me.
"You guys got early education. I'm an orphan, didn't get that. But anyway, you can't cast better than me, pfft."
But I don't tolerate anyone messing with me.
Their goal was becoming clear.
"F-Fuck. Whatever. After this semester ends, I won't see you in A-Class anyway. No matter how well you do on finals, bad evaluation scores mean demotion's inevitable?"
Aim was to ruin my training score.
Gang up and knock me out first.
They'd come prepared—about nine of them.
Old me would've whined to the gallery.
[Title: 19v1... Nah, 9v1, Here We Go]
Author: Kim Muggle
That bully chick from the smackdown last time brought her gang to field training.
Seems they wanna tank my score to demote me.
9v1 is rough, but I'll cert with smackdown video.
Gonna proper thrash 'em so they can't squeak.
Those ingrates.
Always the middling ones who strut.
Exactly. Always watch for incoming beasts too—real combat's full of variables.
People like that, nobles reveling in entitlement, need thorough punishment!
Fr, but 9v1? Kim Muggle doesn't have big AoE experience to wipe nine.
Tsk, Kim Muggle's grown, but doesn't look easy.
This is why you learn explosion magic.
"...I'll pay back that humiliation from back then exactly. If you do the Grand Prostration in front of the whole school, maybe I'll consider..."
While Hera ranted, I posted to the gallery.
That Grand Prostration must've bruised her ego bad.
Coming to disqualify me, yet venting about prostration.
Doesn't know she'll get roasted on the gallery for yapping in front of the enemy.
"Fuck off. Grand Prostration's for scrubs like you."
"This fucker...! Hey, just kill him."
"Pissing me off anyway, and field training allows cadet attacks."
I kicked back casually, and Hera grimaced, yelling.
Her gang started calculating spells.
'Definitely A-Class scrubs, but nine's not easy.'
As the gallery folks worried, 9v1's still tough.
Even if I could nuke nine with big magic, alone I can't block their potshots in between.
Field training allows one pre-approved artifact or mana stone.
Nothing too strong, just balanced tools.
If I'd brought a defense spell stone, I could've tanked a turn.
But my tool was different.
With this, unlike the gallery worries, I could handle nine solo.
It was...
"...Ha. What, a broom? He brought that retard stick?"
The broom that saved my life before.
Most don't bring flying tools to fields—too bulky.
But mine's compact, strapped to my back.
Fly away and flee? No.
Hera Orbis, that bully bitch stirring shit—time to school her proper with the magic she taught me.
"Thanks to the magic you taught me, I saved the academy."
"...What? Hey, kill him quick!"
By then, the gang's spells were nearly calculated.
But mine was too.
A massive anvil cloud.
A powerful updraft launching targets sky-high in an instant.
Of course, using it sends the caster flying too, to splat.
But I can fly.
"Fuck, die you commoner sh-"