Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 24
>Chapter Title: What a Brilliant Load of Bullshit
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As Professor Jeira left the classroom, the teaching assistant took charge of leading the students.
“Just follow me.”
Unlike Professor Jeira, who was dressed in the proper academy uniform, the teaching assistant stood out sharply in full mage’s garb.
He had a robe draped over his academy uniform, a staff jutting out from his belt.
“Magic power measurement! Let’s go!”
“Yeah, we have to. Get up.”
“…A little longer.”
Leaving the excited Chenby behind, I slung the still-sleeping Damian over my shoulder and started walking.
There was a magic word that could wake Damian instantly, but overuse dulled its effect. Better to save it for later.
How long had we walked like that?
We soon arrived at the Second Mage Tower.
The Second Mage Tower was packed with magic division students who had come for their measurements, just like us. I scanned the scene carefully.
Magic division students herded along under the teaching assistant’s lead. Academy servants and passersby occasionally slipped through the crowd.
Among them, I spotted knights in imperial uniforms, and a pleased smile crept onto my face.
‘Looks like they’re here to investigate after all.’
Last night.
Before heading back to the dorms, I’d paid a visit to Professor Parun’s office.
Of course, not through any normal means.
‘The security was a real pain.’
I smashed it.
Broke the window leading to Professor Parun’s lab and trashed the place just enough.
Rifled through drawers like I was searching for something, even fiddled with the safe in one corner of the lab.
Something I wouldn’t normally do. I’d left traces on purpose, to direct the academy’s suspicion toward the Decullan family.
‘Like adding a dash of spice to Henji’s plan.’
In any case, the academy seemed eager to quietly bury the fact that an intruder had hit Professor Parun’s office.
“Up you go.”
I paused to watch for a moment, then shifted Damian to my other shoulder.
Was he growing? He was pretty heavy. Or maybe my body was just weak. Either way, I figured it was good exercise.
A decent weight.
‘Not looking to build muscle, but getting some exercise in advance never hurts.’
We arrived in the basement of the Second Mage Tower.
Creak, thud.
As M3 Class filed into their assigned chamber, the heavy iron door ground shut with a metallic clang.
“Pleased to meet you all. I’m Yorbi, the magic division teaching assistant assigned to assist Professor Jeira and guide M3 Class. Remember it.”
With the belated introduction from the teaching assistant, the academy’s first official class began.
* * *
“As I said earlier, we’ll now measure your magic power. Two aspects in total. Does anyone know what they are?”
At Yorbi’s question, one student shot her hand up.
She was the one who hadn’t put her book down even in class.
“Your name?”
“Arjen.”
“Right, Miss Arjen. Go ahead.”
“The quantity and quality of magic power. Those two elements.”
Yorbi nodded.
“Correct. Quantity and quality of magic power. We measure both. Now, for you all: which is more important?”
Whoosh.
Arjen raised her hand again.
“...”
Yorbi eyed her for a moment, then nodded. Go on and answer.
Arjen pushed up her glasses perched on her nose bridge, clutched the book to her chest, straightened her back, and cleared her throat.
“There’s no single right answer, but… if there’s a certain level of magic power quantity as a baseline, I believe quality becomes relatively more important.”
“Why?”
“Because, in a matchup against a peer mage, the one with superior magic power quality holds the advantage.”
A solid answer.
‘It’s the standard theory, after all.’
In a fight between equals, it’s quality, not quantity, that decides the victor.
What good is a ton of magic power if you can’t land a single hit? One solid shot ends it.
And that one shot is easier to land for the side with better quality.
Quality affects the strength of barriers, spell potency, and so on.
The other students, excluding me, nodded in agreement.
The question itself wasn’t that tough.
Nor was there a definitive right answer.
‘Shift a few variables, and quantity trumps quality sometimes.’
For mages in large-scale battles, quantity matters more. In one-on-one duels, quality takes precedence.
Arjen’s answer wasn’t perfect, but it was straight out of the textbook.
Yorbi, however, didn’t seem to agree.
“Tch.”
The sound echoed through the chamber.
“...?”
Arjen flinched, shoulders trembling at the noise. The other students did too, and soon Yorbi continued.
“Miss Arjen, any family?”
“P-Pellaim Viscountcy.”
The Pellaim Viscountcy wasn’t a prestigious house.
I didn’t know every noble house, but most great families valued their name over any title.
They saw themselves as nobility above nobility, looking down on crowns bestowed by kings.
Still, being noble carried weight on its own.
But Yorbi’s gaze was ice-cold.
“No wonder…”
“...”
He didn’t finish, but the implication was clear enough.
‘Not a great house, so of course the level’s low. What would a viscount’s kid know anyway.’
…Something like that.
Not just me—most students picked up on it.
Especially Arjen herself.
“...”
Yorbi turned away from her, but Arjen’s wide eyes shimmered with inner shock.
Whatever.
“Anyone else want to answer?”
Yorbi pressed on with the lesson.
But no one shot their hand up like Arjen.
“...”
They just clamped their mouths shut, glaring at Yorbi with dissatisfied eyes.
Yorbi, arms crossed, stared back unflinchingly, as if daring someone to step up.
When no one did.
“You there, student.”
“…Me?”
“Yes. From now on, when the teaching assistant calls you, state your name. Now, say it, and share your thoughts. Speak freely.”
The student he pointed to looked like obvious rich kid material. Flawless skin, pricey accessories.
She panicked at first.
But only briefly.
Soon, chest puffed out, she gave her name and answered Yorbi’s question.
“I think… quantity is more important. In large-scale battles, magic power volume has a huge impact…”
The polar opposite of Arjen.
She’d probably guessed the “right” answer from Yorbi’s reaction. But for some reason, his response was much the same.
“Tch.”
A short tongue-click.
“Family?”
“N-No, none.”
“Then, does your family run a merchant guild?”
“…Y-Yes.”
“If you’re not bragging about money, skip the jewelry at the academy. Worry less about appearances and more about cultivating that scant intellect.”
“...”
The blunt insult twisted the boy’s face.
Unlike Arjen’s shock, this was pure resentment, but Yorbi ignored it.
He didn’t stop there.
“Next.”
The questions kept coming.
He randomly picked students, stood them up, and lobbed the same query.
The picked ones referenced prior answers to guess what Yorbi wanted, but his reaction never changed.
“Tch.”
A quick tongue-click.
“Family?”
He probed their backgrounds.
By then, the students’ faces were grim.
New semester, first class excitement—utterly deflated. Irritation, humiliation, anxiety over being called next dominated.
And amid it all.
“…Mmmn.”
Damian, sleeping soundly.
That’s when Yorbi wrapped it up.
“I heard all your answers.”
“...”
No response.
The room’s mood had chilled thoroughly. But Yorbi addressed them anyway.
“Truth is, every answer you gave was close to right. Or rather, it wasn’t a question with a right answer to begin with. So what I wanted wasn’t a specific answer either.”
He met the eyes of every student who’d spoken.
“Think about it. What did you say to me? Did it truly match your own thoughts? Probably not.”
Right. It hadn’t.
The students’ words were just desperate bids to guess what Yorbi wanted.
He nailed it.
“A mage must never lose their convictions, no matter the time or place. They mustn’t bend to others’ gazes, must push their own will through purely. But you all? Is that the mindset of a mage?”
“...”
Silence blanketed the chamber.
A different kind from before.
Those who answered, those who didn’t—all seemed struck, lost in thought.
“You all must become true mages from here on. That’s what I wanted to impart today. Keep it in your hearts.”
Yorbi concluded.
The students’ expressions softened.
Not everyone, but most looked deeply moved by his words.
“Wow… I see.”
Even Chenby.
The guy who’d been fidgeting in fear of being called now shone with eyes locked on Yorbi, no eye contact shied away.
Anyway, with that wrap-up.
“I’ll handle you all this way from now on too. Toughen yourselves before me. But one thing: know that I don’t enjoy this.”
Hm.
As I listened, a thought crossed my mind.
‘What a brilliant load of bullshit.’
Truly an abundant harvest of it.