Mages Stir Up Trouble During Exams Too (1)

Lily was in a good mood.

And the reason was simple.

For once, she was the one who could help Owen — with information about the exam that he knew nothing about!

People say friendship should be an equal exchange, but Lily had always felt uncomfortably indebted from receiving so much help without ever giving any back. So this opportunity was a godsend.

Hurrying along, Lily spotted Owen sitting in Gode's Workshop.

Her face lit up.

She'd had the rotten luck of running into a noble's tantrum on the way over, but her sour expression bloomed bright again in an instant.

Hands clasped behind her back, she crept closer like a cat that had spotted prey — then suddenly thrust her face right into his field of view.

Owen, noticing her, greeted her without so much as a blink.

"Oh, hey, Lily."

No hint of surprise. Disappointment.

Every beat of it played out plainly across her face.

She'd been hoping to finally startle Owen — the guy who teased her every single day — just once, but there wasn't the slightest trace of it.

Why am I always the one who ends up on the losing end?

"Do you have eyes on the back of your head or something?"

"No eyes back there, but I can pick out your footsteps just fine."

"What's that supposed to mean."

It was unnerving, yet somehow there was an inexplicable little thrill in it too.

Owen pulled a low chair over and set it beside him. Lily perched down onto it, sinking into a crouch.

"You looked happy for a second, then suddenly awful, and now happy again."

"......No, I didn't."

How did he even notice that?

Is it really that obvious on my face?

Lily prodded at her own cheeks, but poking at them didn't exactly tell her what her expression looked like.

"Anyway, Owen. This is your first practical class, right?"

"Yeah."

Owen had never paid much attention to the practicals to begin with.

It was academy-level coursework, after all. No student here would be able to stand against him, and nothing about it posed any real threat.

There might be something worth picking up, so he'd participate in good faith — but he'd be lying if he said he had any real expectations.

Well. There was one thing he was interested in. And that was Lily.

More precisely, Lily's magic.

His interest began and ended with one question: whether her soul-infusing power could bring Muriel's Doll (AI) to life.

"Then let me fill you in."

"I'd appreciate that, honestly."

"You know Trinity Academy values theory, but values hands-on combat even more than that, right?"

"Can't say I did. That's news to me."

"......Well, regardless. The point is, the practicals are run just like real combat."

Why "just like" combat rather than actual combat was a simple matter.

No matter how you sliced it, an academy packed with the sons and daughters of every noble house in the empire could hardly afford a student dying mid-lecture.

So the exercises were conducted with a minimum of safety measures in place.

"They use illusion magic. So even if you get hurt during the practical exam, you're not actually hurt."

"Oh. Illusion magic."

To sum up Lily's explanation: the practical exam was conducted safely through illusion magic.

But apparently the theme of the illusion-based exam changed every time, and even she had no idea what form this one would take.

However.

"They give you hints before the exam. Clues about what kind of exam it'll be are scattered all over the academy grounds."

"So if you figure out the clues, you know how the exam is going to play out?"

"Mm-hm. That's why it's best to find them beforehand."

Owen rummaged through his pocket.

What came out was a piece of paper creased to within an inch of its life.

He smoothed it open with his hands and asked,

"You mean a clue like this?"

Dead center of the paper, a single word was written: 「Survival」.

"Uh... yeah, that looks like one. How did you find it? On purpose?"

"I just picked it up off the ground — there was a mana reaction as I walked past. Call it dumb luck."

Lily put on a face of exaggerated disappointment.

She'd brought it up hoping hunting for clues together after class would be fun, but Owen had already gone and found one on his own......

Owen caught her mood in a heartbeat and added,

"Then should we go look for more of them?"

"We already found a clue, though. Why?"

Lily tilted her head, puzzled. Owen answered with a smile that looked villainous at a glance.

"Because it keeps other people from finding them."

A practical was still an exam, after all.

And if it was an exam, one way or another, getting a better grade simply felt better.

And watching students who got terrible grades get laughed at felt even better.

Back in his university days, Owen had monopolized the lone A+ in every course by an absurd margin — and he still hadn't forgotten that particular rush.

Watching him, Lily recoiled in horror.

"Owen, sometimes you genuinely seem like a terrible person......"

"My personality is bad, sure. But hey, did you know?"

"Know what?"

As if sharing some great secret, Owen leaned in and whispered by her ear.

"I'm never like that with my people."

Endlessly sweet to the people who were his — that was the kind of man Owen was.

At those words, every kindness she'd ever received from him flashed through Lily's mind like a revolving lantern.

And then the phrase "my people" — which sounded uncannily like my love — layered itself on top, and her face felt like it was about to catch fire.

Did he say that on purpose?

Was that calculated?

Lily whipped her head to the side. Owen was grinning mischievously, clearly savoring her reaction.

Okay, that was absolutely deliberate.

"Do y-you do this kind of joke to everyone?"

"What kind of joke?"

"The joke you just made......!"

"I don't know what joke you're talking about? Could you explain it for me?"

"You-said-you're-never-like-that-with-your-people-which-totally-sounded-like-you're-never-like-that-with-your-love-that-was-on-purpose-wasn't-it-you-did-that-on-purpose-didn't-you......!"

"Never happened."

At his smug, knowing response, Lily bit her lip and thumped her tightly clenched fist against Owen's shoulder, again and again.

"Anyway, I'm choosing to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠understand this as us going to look for more. Bothering other people is one thing, but we should do our own preparing too, right?"

"Preparing?"

"Yep. Preparing."

Owen held up the crumpled paper pinched between two fingers, the word 「Survival」 written across it.

"One look and you can tell — this is a survival exam, isn't it?"

Now that he had a rough idea of the theme.

We'd survive it our own way, of course.

Luxuriously and lavishly.

The hour when the sun hid its head bit by bit beyond the horizon.

On any ordinary evening, the chirring of crickets under a reddening sky would have made for a peaceful time.

"Damn it! Why can't I find a single one?!"

Today, however, was different.

The quiet streets, usually empty after classes; the overgrown grass where people's hands rarely reached; even the tree trunks where cicadas might cling — everywhere was crawling with people.

They were students, all of them playing treasure hunt across the vast grounds, desperate to get their hands on a clue to the practical exam's theme.

"I've dug through this much ground, something should've turned up by now — why is there nothing?!"

And every last one of them was throwing a tantrum.

The sun had set, but the air was still thick and muggy — and they were drenched in sweat from combing bug-ridden thickets in this weather. It would have been stranger if they weren't irritated.

"You think somebody already grabbed them all?"

"As if. Every year it's a tradition that the clues stay hidden no matter how hard people search. And now you're telling me every single one got found already? Does that even make sense?"

"Couldn't it have happened, though?"

"Excuse me?"

"Or not. Whatever."

What is with this guy.

The student whose face had been provoked by that inflammatory tone checked him out — thinking he looked like easy prey and maybe he'd pick a fight — but the guy was tall and handsome, and his nerve somehow withered before the fight even started.

Among lions, after all, there are individuals brimming with charisma, and individuals who simply look weak. The male student who'd just been provoked belonged squarely to the former category.

"Ugh, damn it."

Cursing under his breath, the student kept searching the area.

It occurred to him that someone might have stashed a clue in the trash, so he swallowed his disgust, shoved his hand in, and rummaged around.

And then—

"Huh?"

His hand came back out of the trash can clutching a single folded sheet of paper. He shook the food scraps off his hand, unfolded it, and found — presumably — a note bearing a clue to this practical exam's theme.

"Ha! Got it!"

Clutching the paper protectively to his chest, the student glanced urgently around.

Wary of anyone who might try to snatch it from him by force, he carefully unfolded the paper to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠check its contents.

"...Huh?"

The student made a strangled, furious sound.

Because the paper wasn't a clue at all.

No — if he'd simply been mistaken, that would have been one thing. But this was unmistakably a trap someone had hidden specifically to mess with students hunting for the practical exam's theme.

Drawn there was a face designed to be utterly infuriating.

A magnified drawing of an expression that could only be described as mocking.

And that infuriating drawing had this to say to the student who'd fallen for it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hook, line, and sinker:

The duped student tore the paper to shreds and flung the scraps to the ground.

Unable to suppress the fury boiling up inside him, veins standing out on his neck, he roared.

"WHICH SON OF A BITCH DID THIS?!"

That bellow rolled out across the nearby grounds, and similar curses erupted from all corners in answer.

Naturally, every word of it reached Owen, who had been enjoying a front-row seat to their wasted efforts from the underbrush nearby.

Watching the student work himself into a live rage in real time from within the bushes, Owen couldn't hold back a wicked little snicker.

Then he turned to Lily beside him and asked,

"Pretty entertaining, isn't it? This too?"

"......"

Lily couldn't bring herself to say a word — scandalized by Owen's sheer viciousness, making students run themselves ragged only to reward them with a slap in the face.

And yet.

"......Pfft......"

Between her tightly pressed lips, the laughter bursting out was impossible to hide.