Chapter 55
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: The Mage of the Final Exam (4)
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"I wonder if you could even call this a memory."
While examining the scenes in the mirrors one by one, a small chuckle escaped my lips before I knew it.
And well, it was only natural. No matter which mirror I looked into, all I saw was myself learning magic from Grandfather.
The young me had a blank, emotionless face, as if my feelings had dried up completely.
Looking a bit closer, I noticed the corners of my mouth were slightly turned up.
It seemed Lunaris didn't hate that life all that much.
"...What is this? I thought there'd be some super touching hidden past or something."
In truth, there was no twist like Grandfather secretly cherishing me dearly.
Considering he taught me magic all day long, it was true that I'd grown up under his gaslighting.
And yet.
Lunaris was always glued to Grandfather's side.
Wherever he went, I'd cling to his sleeve, whining quietly.
Silently, timidly.
Suddenly, I felt something hot trickling down my cheeks.
Wiping my cheek with the back of my hand, I found tears flowing for no reason again.
This was probably just...
My eyes were dry from focusing too long in a way that wasn't like me at all.
"Well... if that's a memory, then it's a memory, I guess."
Come to think of it, comparing myself now to back then, I haven't grown much at all.
"Height's the same, chest is the same..."
The only thing that's grown is my hair? For real?
And so, for a while, I drifted through the dream, confronting fragments of fond memories one by one.
"As expected from Miss Lunaris. I knew she'd solve this."
In the basement of a building a short distance from Elterion Academy.
Albert Marselin, Vice-Captain of the Imperial Mage Corps, muttered to himself with a faint smile.
His gaze, directed into the empty darkness, conjured a hazy vision.
What appeared in the vision was Lunaris swimming through the dream world.
The girl with ash-gray hair was shedding tears as if reliving old memories.
Her pitiful sight made Albert's chest tighten in sympathy.
Of course, if he could read her true feelings, his impression would have been entirely different.
"I had my suspicions, but as I thought, she's the child that man took in."
He had doubted it, if only for a brief moment.
Though a certain black mage's denunciation had planted the seed, he'd felt uneasy even before that.
It didn't make sense for a child raised under someone who'd sacrificed their life for the Empire to be so indolent and self-willed.
Thinking it over, girls that age often went through a stormy rebellious phase.
Of course, he had no experience raising children.
But he'd vaguely heard rumors of one female student at the academy who could devour three Imperial Knights whole(?).
"Is that what puberty is like...?"
That laziness was probably just a temporary wandering, a brief rebellion.
"Haa... This is all because of you."
Albert's warm gaze turned icy cold as it slowly shifted downward.
Under the dim lantern light, the figure of a man tightly bound to an old chair came into view.
"Ugh, ugh... Ahh..."
The man was foaming at the mouth, eyes rolled back, body shuddering violently.
"Because of your needless babble, I ended up doubting the innocent Miss Lunaris."
The man could only let out beastly groans in response.
Albert looked down at him impassively and lightly snapped his fingers.
The man's trembling body slumped over the chair like a marionette with cut strings.
His ragged breathing echoed harshly through the basement.
"You'd better answer properly this time."
The Vice-Captain slowly bent at the waist, meeting the man's eyes at his level, and continued the interrogation.
"Alright, let's start over with an easy question. What's your name?"
"C-Chrono... MacDowell..."
"Affiliation?"
"B-Black Magic... Origin... Sin... Ah... Guhk!"
The man's face suddenly twisted as he stammered on.
His body convulsed wildly before a guttural cough erupted.
Soon, a clump of dark red blood poured out.
Albert clicked his tongue and took a step back.
"Looks like there's a gag spell on your mouth."
He irritably wiped his bloodied shoe on the floor.
"Fine. Let's try a different question."
Albert smiled once more.
That smile was astonishingly similar to the one he'd worn while watching Lunaris moments ago.
"Tell me everything you know about the Witch."
It had been seven days since the exam for [Fundamentals of Magical Theory]—a subject that barely covered the basics—began.
This interminable test, which seemed like it would never end, was finally drawing to a close today.
Even on the weekend, the area around the main magic hall buzzed with activity.
"Did you try that last problem?"
"I gave it a shot, but a week wasn't nearly enough."
"I get how to approach it, but..."
"They really nailed this one. It's satisfying to unpack each formula."
It was all because of that infamous problem number seven.
Raymond, the department head, had promised that anyone who solved it would receive extra credit at his discretion, so every eligible student had jumped in.
Of course, most had been shocked by the horrific difficulty and hadn't lasted two days.
If it had just been brutally hard, they might have vented with curses like "What kind of problem is this?"
But its exquisiteness had everyone raving.
They lamented that if it weren't exam period, they'd have hunkered down and tackled it properly.
Even some upperclassmen from the Magic Department had dropped their liberal arts exams to focus on it.
It was that impressive.
At this point, only three first-years remained in the main hall, still wrestling with the problem to the bitter end.
One of them was Princess Celestina.
"Your Highness, are you heading to the exam again today?"
The captain of her guard asked worriedly, just after she'd finished lunch.
"Of course. There's still a problem left, and time remaining."
"But staying holed up in your room for a whole week is..."
The captain was seriously considering protesting to the academic affairs office.
This barbaric exam format was abuse, not education.
But contrary to his concern, the princess looked far healthier than usual.
"I'm learning so much from this exam."
Feeling like a true student at last, Princess Celestina smiled brightly.
In truth, over the past week, she'd been filled with exhilaration.
Forgetting all distractions, she could focus solely on the exam problems and learning.
And the subject was her favorite: magic.
Each day of solving problems was joyful, like living a dream of fulfillment.
With cheers from her knights and maids, she returned to the exam room.
The moment she stepped into her private booth, the hazy memory of the lingering problem resurfaced vividly.
She was back in the dream—reality.
Unlike the other two struggling with number seven, she was still tackling number six.
The thick exam paper was filled with tiny script.
All formulas based on basic concepts.
It was an inefficient solution, like solving multiplication with addition, but she didn't think it was wrong at all.
She hadn't even doubted it. With ample time and space to write, she assumed this was the intended approach.
Besides, Lunaris had told her to solve it this way.
Thus, her solution was meticulous and faithful to the fundamentals.
It was probably closest to the professor's own answer key.
"Where was I...?"
The princess quickly immersed herself in the problem.
She planned to stick with it until midnight, when the exam ended.
There was no rush.
She felt she'd already written answers beyond her ability.
The remaining time was a bonus, to enjoy at leisure.
And so the hour hand raced like the minute hand.
Formulas filled the paper densely.
She brushed off the assistant's worried voice urging her to eat dinner.
She channeled mana into the intricately drawn magic circle...
Then, with less than five minutes left until the end.
"Done!"
The princess let out a small cheer as she penned the final formula.
The moment she set down her quill, the densely filled exam paper floated into the air.
Each carefully written letter disassembled into streams of light, reassembling in midair.
In the center of the slowly swirling sheets, the final hidden problem peeked out slyly.
"Ahh..."
Princess Celestina stared blankly at the sight.
She felt it every time, but magic was truly wondrous.
Pride in solving the problem mingled with a twinge of regret.
She couldn't ask for more time...
If only her skills had kept up a bit more.
She might have at least attempted the seventh problem.
"Lunaris must have solved the last one too, right?"
Grinning, she decided to ask what the problem was.
At that moment, a knock sounded, and the assistant entered.
He stared blankly at the swirling papers and letters before snapping to attention.
"The exam is over. You've worked incredibly hard for so long."
"No, you've all suffered accommodating my stubbornness."
As she severed the mana link to the paper, the floating sheets gathered back into a single stack.
"I'm sorry, Your Highness."
The assistant took the answer sheet with a regretful expression.
"It looked like you were in the middle of the last problem..."
"No."
Princess Celestina shook her head and continued.
"I'm more than satisfied with what I've solved so far."
Her beaming smile was the most endearing in the world.
After the assistant left with the exam paper.
The princess straightened her clothes and exited the booth a step behind.
"That was really great..."
Even after the exam ended, she felt entranced, as if still dreaming.
She wanted to rush to Lunaris, compare answers, and ask all sorts of questions.
But at this hour, that lazy genius was probably dreaming in a different sense.
Just then, doors to other classrooms opened.
One near the princess, and another farther away.
"...P-Princess?!"
"Long time no see, Princess... Gah, you were there too? Edwin Belka."
It was none other than Edwin and Claire.
The three first-years who'd clung to their papers until the very end had gathered in one place.