CHAPTER 101
CHAPTER 101
Wounds from School Days….
Magic Academy x Tyrant Young Lady
Idnia felt bewildered as she heard other students say they felt a stinging pain from the magical wind unleashed by Baroness Vilem.
‘Stinging? It just feels refreshing to me.’
Even Marie, who possessed strong mana, was voicing discomfort.
‘Is it because I’ve learned aura?’
Idnia entertained the thought, but other students who had learned aura as well—such as students like Pacifier—were also suffering.
Why was the magical wind, which was threatening to others, only refreshing to Idnia?
‘No, but still… as a duke’s daughter, isn’t it a bit problematic to be this sturdy?
Since she’s from a ducal royal house of the principality, she could practically be considered a princess, but at this level she’s supposed to be a noble young lady who has never lifted anything heavier than a teacup.’
Idnia, far from being delicate, was capable of taking down a bear with a single hand.
She assumed that the magical wind felt refreshing simply because she was unusually robust.
Idnia focused on reading her book while casually enduring the magical wind.
No matter how efficiently one used time, it was never enough.
Having fought against time to raise her stats as much as possible in the harsh environment of Betelgeuse, and having experienced life as a student preparing for exams on Earth, Idnia understood the importance of time all too well.
After Baroness Vilem’s class, it immediately continued into Vice Principal Dneuve’s class.
Vice Principal Dneuve’s magic theory lecture was a class that most students struggled with.
Only top-tier students like Isolde and Fiona, and students like Idnia who independently reviewed and prepared in advance, could keep up with it.
For that reason, Vice Principal Dneuve often assigned a large number of homework tasks, and checking them was no easy matter.
“Now then, let’s review last week’s assignment. It was the functional transformation task of a spell that maintained rotational magic, where you input duration and modify the point of effect when casting the spell, correct?”
Rather than a standard example from a textbook, she had assigned a task that required adjusting the spell’s power and target application range.
It was essentially a starting point for combining spells and ultimately creating one’s own magic.
However, the students… had copied their answers.
Even though there were countless ways to implement a single function, the solutions within each dorm were nearly identical.
It raised suspicion that students within the same dorm were sharing and reusing good ideas.
“Everyone, this again. Rudolph student. All the students from the Zephyrus dorm have submitted magic implemented in the same way. What does this mean? As dorm leader, please explain.”
Given the limited space within dorms, such coordinated copying would be impossible without the involvement of the dorm leader.
Vice Principal Dneuve held Rudolph responsible for that point. However, Rudolph responded calmly.
“In the Zephyrus dorm, we operate study groups.
All students support and uplift each other so that everyone can achieve good results at the academy—or at the very least, keep up with their studies.
This assignment was also completed through everyone’s combined efforts.
It wasn’t simply copying results; we collectively studied and practiced the process of deriving them, and through this assignment, everyone was able to grow.”
“But this assignment was designed for you to think independently.”
“Not quite. Professor, you assigned the task so that we could gain knowledge and insight through the process of solving it, didn’t you?”
Rudolph firmly countered Vice Principal Dneuve’s argument.
Though he was the crown prince, one might think it reckless, but Rudolph did not back down.
“If we had not worked together, those who could not cross the threshold of truth on their own would have been left behind in magic and would fall behind in future studies.”
As the crown prince, he had to cultivate all the talented individuals of the empire to serve as the foundation of the world he would rule.
It was only natural that he could not allow students to fall behind due to difficult assignments.
As Rudolph strongly asserted his position, Vice Principal Dneuve was momentarily at a loss for words.
“Ah. That was an excellent answer. Honestly, it struck at the heart of the matter.
As a reward for Rudolph student’s fresh perspective and eloquence in challenging the professor, I award 2 points.”
Rudolph received 2 points immediately, and no one considered it favoritism due to his status as crown prince.
At that critical moment, Rudolph had skillfully overcome Vice Principal Dneuve’s criticism.
Everyone agreed that earning 2 points after delivering such a decisive rebuttal to the professor was well deserved.
‘Rudolph, who has such firm conviction at his age, is impressive, but Vice Principal Dneuve is equally remarkable.
She has been teaching in this manner all this time, yet she acknowledges a student who directly opposes her teaching philosophy.
Even if the opponent is the crown prince, she could have easily suppressed him with her authority as a professor.’
Idnia admired Vice Principal Dneuve for recognizing Rudolph’s open defiance of educational policy and awarding points for it.
“Everyone, this was my mistake. It seems better to assign theoretical study as homework and conduct practical training during class.
I will not be grading the assignments.”
Vice Principal Dneuve realized that her assignment method was instead diminishing students’ interest in learning and revised her approach.
She decided to assign textbook study as homework and focus on individual creative thinking during class.
Though it was merely a change in the placement of assignments and lectures, for someone with years of experience in education to completely reverse her teaching approach required a highly flexible mindset.
“Now then, everyone, let’s think about this in relation to Wizard Ball. Are you familiar with a technique called the Dispel Ball?”
Vice Principal Dneuve quickly adjusted her teaching method.
It seemed she was conducting the class based on what she had originally intended to assign as homework.
However…
“Wizard Ball?”
At the mention of Wizard Ball, the students of Dunaise Academy fell silent.
Before their first appearance, everyone had been excited. But after suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of the Dunaise examinees, enthusiasm for Wizard Ball had cooled off.
Only the Wizard Ball club members regained some morale, buoyed by the anticipation of the lunch gathering, and showed interest.
“Among the magic commonly used by batters is a rebound-enhancing spell.
This enhances the bat’s repulsive force so that when the ball is struck, it flies an enormous distance.
The spell created to counter this is the Dispel Ball.”
Vice Principal Dneuve demonstrated the situation using illusion magic.
An illustrated batter and pitcher appeared in the air of the classroom. The pitcher threw the ball.
The batter applied absorption and rebound magic to the bat, absorbing the ball and then striking it.
However, the moment the bat made contact, the Dispel Ball on the ball activated, canceling the bat’s magic, turning the ball into a normal fly ball, which was then caught by the fielders.
“Do you understand the subtlety of the magic theory behind this? Ah, Fiona student.”
Idnia also raised her hand, but Fiona was faster.
“The batter’s magic is already extremely precise.
The absorption magic that pulls in the ball would normally interfere with hitting it, yet it is adjusted so that it deactivates at the moment of impact—that’s impressive.
Furthermore, rebound magic is pre-arranged in sequence to activate conditionally at the same time.
However, the pitcher’s magic is even more precise. The pitcher anticipates the absorption magic and ensures that the Dispel Ball does not activate against absorption magic, only triggering through impact.
In addition, at the moment the Dispel Ball activates, a mana discharge occurs, so even if the bat makes proper contact, the timing is disrupted and the result becomes a fly ball.”
Fiona accurately analyzed the magical exchange between pitcher and batter from that brief illusion.
After suffering a crushing defeat in the Wizard Ball match, she had apparently been studying the game extensively on her own.
“Excellent. I award 1 point to Fiona student.
As you can see, magic is not simply about reciting activation words. One must properly define activation conditions, effect ranges, durations, and more to fully master a spell.
Even something as seemingly simple as a ball game like Wizard Ball contains the essence of magic.
Let us give Fiona student a round of applause for explaining that so well.”
Fiona continued to dominate the quizzes posed by Vice Principal Dneuve, earning an additional 2 points.
This brought Fiona’s personal score to 5 points, and the total score of the Notos dorm to 9 points.
“Well done, Fiona. Thanks to you, Notos has regained some dignity.”
Dorm leader Lorenzo of Notos praised Fiona.
Fiona responded shyly.
“No, you flatter me, sir. And we still have a long way to go.
Our dorm’s current score is 9, which is still behind Euros with 23 points, Boreas with 21, and even Zephyrus, which now has 14 points after His Highness the Crown Prince earned 2 points.
We must strive even harder.”
“That is entirely due to my shortcomings as dorm leader. My apologies.”
Lorenzo apologized to Fiona.
“However, something seems odd.”
Fiona voiced her suspicion.
“What do you mean?”
“No… Isolde seems unusual.
Normally, she would not remain so quiet.”
Fiona observed Isolde, whom she had unilaterally considered a rival, sitting blankly and taking notes like someone whose mind had gone elsewhere while Fiona was monopolizing Dneuve’s questions.
‘Now that I think about it.’
Idnia also felt that Isolde’s condition was strange.
She seemed absent-minded, as if her soul had wandered.
‘Come to think of it, Isolde said she met a relative during the match. Could it be because of that?’
Meanwhile, Baroness Vilem gathered mana into her signet ring and sealed an envelope with it.
“Mr. Gibbles. Could you deliver this… to Sir Caller of the Dunaise Imperial Palace Guard?”
“Y-yes, Baroness.”
Gibbles accepted the letter, flustered. He had always run errands for Baroness Vilem, but today he seemed unusually tense.
“Did Vice Principal Dneuve say something in the meantime?”
“W-well, the headmaster is here.”
“Pardon?”
Baroness Vilem turned around to find Headmaster Ludwig standing behind her.
Even indoors, he stood holding an umbrella, shielding himself from sunlight.
Despite his conspicuous appearance, he had somehow appeared silently behind her.
“Headmaster?!”