Before the Entrance Ceremony
Before the Entrance Ceremony
Location: Faculty Office.
Time: Early morning.
It was a time when some might still be asleep, but the Faculty Office of Grand Arc Academy was already filled with intense heat.
"Hoo, there's always this feeling every year, but this year is especially hectic."
"Well, that's true. It's because an unusually large number of big shots are enrolling this year."
"Honestly, I never expected even the Beastkin would send students abroad."
"Exactly. The royal family exchange students from other kingdoms are already a handful, but that one group is particularly concerning."
"Come to think of it... I heard there's a special student among the commoners too? The Knight Department feels like it's going to be quite eventful this year."
"Hahah, even if the Knight Department is eventful, can it compare to the Magic Department? That 'author-nim' is enrolling, after all."
"Hmm..."
"Hehe, who would have thought a special course would be urgently created because of a student who hasn't even enrolled yet... Truly, a remarkable student is entering the Magic Department this year in many ways. The Department Head-nim must be having a headache."
"Don't tease me. As if I'm not already troubled because the old geeks at the Magic Tower are all in an uproar over the 'game' that Homeros author—that Grace freshman—introduced."
"That's surprising. The Magic Tower is stirred up because of a freshman, not a promising graduate? I'm as amazed as when I heard that the Saintess-nim would be enrolling this year."
"Just that much, the Grace freshman has caused a stir in the magic world. A 'game machine'... Would you believe me if I said one decaying school of magic came back to life thanks to it?"
This was the faculty meeting proceeding with final checks, held just before the most important event for an educational institution—the entrance ceremony welcoming new students.
This year's entrance ceremony would be observed by numerous VIPs.
The faculty meeting was being conducted as a final inspection of various matters, ensuring there were no issues with preparations.
From a slightly removed position, the Artifact Department Head, Lucia Bennett, quietly watched this scene and suddenly felt a question arise.
"What about Principal-nim...?"
Because the one person who shouldn't be absent from such a gathering was not visible.
"Ah, Principal-nim is..."
At Lucia's question, the Vice Principal let out a small sigh.
"She said she wanted to see the condition of this year's new students, so she went on a new student play— ahem, an incognito inspection."
He was trying to phrase it nicely for the Principal's sake, but anyone on the faculty, not just Lucia with her Elven wisdom, knew what this meant.
It meant the old geezer was being improper and going to play around pretending to be a new student—essentially, it was like a senior soldier nearing discharge who can't stand boredom and messes with new recruits, commonly called checking their condition via undercover play.
How could an 8th-circle Archmage, praised as blessed by mana, be so undignified... Lucia had already given up trying to understand.
More accurately, she was too distracted by the fact that the student famous under the pen name Homeros—who had turned the Empire's cultural world upside down a year before enrollment—would major in Artifacts, leaving no brain cells to allocate to anything else.
In truth, treating all students equally is just a theoretical ideal.
There was no way not to be concerned about Lady Noel Grace's existence.
You could tell just from the Magic Department Head's complaints right now.
The Magic Tower was already drooling over a freshman about to enter the academy.
Everyone was scrambling to recruit her into their school of magic after graduation.
Because even if she didn't continue on the path of magic, just having Homeros affiliated with their school felt like honey would pour in.
As Lucia, who ended up managing that honey pot, she had no time to worry about the Principal's eccentricities.
If she had the leeway to care about other things, it would be better to allocate it to the upcoming entrance exam—more precisely, the new student evaluation.
The Knight Department: sparring.
The Art Department: creation.
The Administration Department: written exam.
And the Magic Department—.
"Department Head-nim, do you really intend to do this?"
"I'm not unaware of your concerns, Ms. Lucia, but what can I do? It's a decision made by Principal-nim."
"And it is quite an empirical method, isn't it?" The Department Head laughed as he said this, and Lucia found it headache-inducing.
"Haa, even so..."
For kids who want to study magic, they need talent in magic to actually use it. To confirm whether they can or can't, they plan to forcibly bloom their potential temporarily and have them use magic.
It's certainly an intuitive and clean method, but what if an accident happens? She wondered why they'd do this.
Still, she could somewhat sympathize with the reason for using this method.
Giving students the opportunity to quickly confirm their talent early in the enrollment period and change their major is better for them, too.
Some are satisfied with just studying theory, but there are also students who sincerely want to become true mages.
Yet, magic is still a realm of talent.
Considering there are students who work hard but despair late because they lack talent... although it's a somewhat extreme method, it is efficient for the students' sake.
In the future, the Magic Department planned to consistently conduct new student evaluation exams this way, and this entrance ceremony marks the first implementation.
'Why of all times...'
If it were a method verified through trial and error, it might be fine, but conducting a prototype exam this year, when so many VIPs attend the entrance ceremony.
Lucia thought it would be better to just do a general talent test this year and save the empirical method for next year, but due to various other factors, it went ahead anyway.
They wanted to show off the splendor of magic in a gathering full of high-ranking officials.
If it were truly about confirming whether a student has mage talent, a general test would suffice.
Of course, existing testing methods are hard to convince the stormy youth.
『I can do it! I can!』
Even if you tell them they lack magical talent and can't use it, they often waste their lives insisting.
They think they might grasp it eventually.
It's the age of youth where rebellious spirit explodes the most...
In that respect, if talented peers around them can use magic but they can't, it's intuitive, so they'd give up and accept it faster.
Times have changed, and even without using actual magic, a magical revolution has occurred allowing one to major in magic as an academic study, but it's still an era where many children dream of becoming true mages.
She agreed to some extent that shock therapy is necessary...
'But politics of humans...'
She knew that such demonstrations were necessary for increasing the department's competitiveness and promotion, but as a displeased Elf professor.
If a problem occurred and the proposer, the Principal, got her head chopped off, she'd watch happily, but Lucia knew that even if a problem arose, only the working staff would suffer, so she couldn't enjoy it.
She looked over the documents for today's Magic Department new student evaluation exam once more, checking for any issues.
Honestly, she wanted to nitpick, but the plan proposed by the Principal was clean.
So, oddly, Lucia felt even more displeased and couldn't avoid a stiff expression.
It was irritating that this plan came from that undignified Principal.
"Hoo..."
There's no helping it now.
She had no choice but to pray that things go smoothly without any problems.
They had already prepared countermeasures assuming that a student who made a mistake in casting magic might cause an accident.
It's too late to back out now; she had no choice but to accept it.
'This year feels like it's going to be a tiring academic schedule from the start...'
Other departments are similar, but the Magic Department has too many big shots incoming.
The Homeros author, who not only proposed new possibilities for magic with games and magical crime investigation but even created a new subject called criminology.
Not to mention Princess Lydia, who originally planned to major in administration but suddenly switched to magic, and the Saintess-nim is also coming to the Magic Department.
It's obvious whose influence caused this, considering who the Princess and Saintess are close with.
'If there's any consolation, it's that the Count's daughter recognized in the arts world went to the Art Department as planned...'
She sighed at the premonition that she'd end up being a babysitter on top of being a professor.
At least the Saintess and Princess aren't majoring in Artifacts, so that's a relief—.
"Alright, everyone, let's move now."
Just as her unnecessary worries were about to increase, the Vice Principal checked the time and clapped his hands to draw attention.
It was time to welcome the distinguished guests and conduct the entrance ceremony and new student evaluation.
Meanwhile, the Principal and Archmage Elara Belmont, who had dumped all her work on the Vice Principal and infiltrated among the students claiming to personally check the caliber of this year's new students, was...
"Activate trap card. Domain Expansion: Trans On. This card allows you to select one of the spells the player has used over the last 2 turns and reactivate it once more."
"Domain Expansion heeere?! My Servant! The field I had firmly grasped...! This is too much!"
"The world of duels is cold by nature."
She had come to check on the famous Homeros group, only to end up getting thoroughly thrashed in a duel by Noel.
Originally, there was a kind of tradition among new academy students.
They would deliberately arrive a bit earlier than the entrance ceremony time, spend time on the street in front of the academy, and build camaraderie among themselves even before the academy life began.
Noel's group faithfully followed that tradition, and with excited hearts, they toured the vicinity of Grand Arc Academy before stopping at a café to rest.
While resting, instead of just chatting, they played the best time-killer, 「Magic & Servant」, and Elara Belmont, watching from the side, couldn't help but give advice and ended up in a duel.
And as you can see, despite only having a sharp tongue to give advice, she was getting absolutely crushed by Noel.
At the end of it,
"Again...! It was just bad luck! If we go again..."
"Hmm, is that so? I don't mind playing once more, but it's no fun without stakes. Should we make a bet?"
"Just what I wanted!"
She ended up falling into Noel's trap.