Application, and Another Application
An underground facility where no light entered save for the artificial glow of carefully placed lamps.
Anyone looking in might have called the place rather eerie for its gloomy atmosphere, yet the facility itself was so immaculately clean that not a single speck of dust would have been tolerated.
That was because every research institute devoted to the study of magic enforced extreme purification magic that refused even the tiniest foreign particle. Perfect purity held tremendous magical value in its own right, so the majority of magical research facilities underwent complete dust-proofing and sterilization.
The purification magic used in this dim, seemingly shabby facility was the highest level modern magic could achieve. Therefore one could confidently declare the facility itself to be of the highest caliber.
And through that facility’s faint light, people walked the corridors.
Fearing that any foreign matter from their bodies might disturb the state of “purity,” they all wore special purification robes that covered them completely, making it impossible to discern appearance, build, or even gender.
Their footsteps echoed hollowly down the corridor, creating a lonely resonance.
“What’s the current status of Case D-3?”
“The transplant succeeded, but the side effects from the Dragon Heart look quite severe. It won’t last long.”
“How long?”
“About a month before the body’s mana array is completely destroyed.”
“A pity. It was the subject with the highest compatibility rate so far. Still, lasting even a month is a first, isn’t it?”
“Yes, that’s true, but…”
“Good. Let’s keep monitoring the progress for now.”
The man spoke those words and thought to himself that the Dragon Heart obtained from the Freuten family had turned out to be quite a fine specimen after all.
It was lunchtime, when all the children had left their classrooms and were noisily milling about and chattering.
Luke’s gaze was fixed on a certain promotional flyer pinned to the school bulletin board.
National Academy Magic Competition
Eligibility: Currently enrolled Academy students age 18 or under
Gold Prize: 1,000,000 gil
“Hmm. One million gil, is it.”
He needed prizes, and a million gil was no small sum. He would have liked to enter right away, but… well, the “age 18 or under” clause was a sticking point.
Physically speaking, I am certainly under eighteen…
Acknowledging that still felt a little reluctant. No matter how much this body was that of a young child, his mental age was anything but.
It felt morally a bit off.
So what ought he to do?
While he fretted and stroked his chin, a cry of “Oh!” came from the other direction. Turning his head, he found the source was Mary.
“Luke! When did you even get to school? What’s this—you grew a tail! So that’s why you haven’t been coming to eat lately!”
It was true that the period when beastfolk grew their tails left their immune systems weakened and required plenty of rest, but that hadn’t been the reason at all.
“Mm, that isn’t it. I simply had a fair amount of work to do.”
There had been the stretch of time spent researching and contemplating his own body—especially the use of the Dragon Heart—and the larger reason was that he had deliberately stayed out of the forest in order to stabilize his third circle.
Thanks to that, an almost complete third circle now sat in Luke’s heart, a stage at which he could freely exercise dominion over matter. He could now imbue physical objects with his will and exert direct physical force upon them.
Well, the third circle was still a foundational stage, and handling “every element” remained difficult.
“But Luke, everything you ate must’ve gone straight to your tail. It’s ridiculously fat for a cat.”
“……So it looks that way to others as well, does it……”
So that was how everyone saw it, after all.
Luke himself was well aware that his tail stood out. Yet whenever he asked the forest keepers whether it looked strange, all he got back was nonsense like “It’s fine!” or “It’s cute!”
Honest children, however, apparently saw it for what it was.
Perhaps I ought to keep it hidden most of the time…
Wearing a slightly longer skirt would make tucking it inside easy enough. The problem was that the school uniform required the tail to hang outside the skirt, so the uniform itself left him no choice.
While Luke was thinking that, Mary flapped her hands in a flustered panic.
“Ah, no! I didn’t mean Luke is fat—I meant the tail! You’re still slim!”
I said he was fat and now he’s sulking!
Mary flailed about for a while before suddenly lighting on a change of subject.
“Ah, Luke! What brings you to the Academy? Just reading books and eating like usual?”
He did plan to do those things as well, but that wasn’t the only reason, so Luke shook his head.
“I’m here to submit event applications. Even with free attendance, they say one still has to take part in school events.”
Graduation required not only award records but also a certain level of noteworthy campus activity. Even under free attendance, participating in such school events—unless there was an unavoidable reason—was advantageous for early graduation, and some activities could even count toward award records. Tempted by that, he had come to school for the first time in a while to submit the applications in person.
“Ah! Is it for the sports meet? That’s it, right? You came to sign up for the events?”
At Mary’s guess, Luke nodded without hiding anything.
The sports meet—come to think of it, Teag Academy’s sports meet was a considerably larger affair even compared to other academies. With many students on the verge of turning professional, and with the school’s scale and facilities ranking among the best in the country, it operated on an entirely different level from an ordinary academy sports day.
How different? The profits surrounding merchants made during Teag Academy’s sports meet period were nothing to sneeze at. At that point it was less a school event than a regional festival.
“I see! Well, Luke’s good at sports too, right? I’m on the track team so I signed up for the races first—what about you?”
“I’ve signed up for every event I can enter for now, but…”
“E-every event? Isn’t that a bit much? There are team events too…”
“If one is going to do it, one ought to do it in earnest, don’t you think?”
“I see……”
Mary wore a slightly dazed expression as she looked at the flyer Luke had been staring at earlier.
Academy Magic Competition…
“Are you interested in that one too?”
“I am, but I’m a little worried whether I ought to enter…”
At Luke’s anxious tone, Mary tilted her head.
“Ahh. Yeah, for lower-years like us the level might be a bit much.”
“Hm?”
“If it’s up to age eighteen, it’ll be the older students preparing for Magic Academy. They’ll have to solve super-super hard problems, you know? Lower-years like us wouldn’t even be able to solve a few. And…”
Mary launched into exaggerated gestures, earnestly explaining just how difficult it would be and offering her opinion that “we wouldn’t stand a chance if we entered.”
Yet to Luke, that very discouragement sounded like a whisper of “It’s all right to challenge it.”
“Oho……”
After all, the eighteen-year-olds of this era would have walked an entirely different educational path from those of his own time. Realizing that made him see how arrogant his earlier assumptions had been.
He had simply presumed it would be no higher than Academy level.
A mage ought to be arrogant when wielding magic, yet more humble than anyone when pursuing knowledge.
I mustn’t look down on them merely because they are eighteen.
Just because he possessed a little knowledge himself did not mean he knew all the knowledge accumulated over five thousand years. Knowledge was like a living thing—new knowledge was born from new knowledge. If a genius had arisen from the foundation of knowledge newly born over those five thousand years, it was by no means impossible that such a person might surpass Luke in magical knowledge.
What sort of problems would a magic competition that screened such geniuses present?
The thought suddenly made the Magic Competition exciting.
And the million gil was a nice bonus.
“Really? Entering every sports-meet event and the Magic Competition?”
“There is no problem on paper, is there? The periods do not overlap, as I understand it.”
“That’s true, but… can you really handle sports-meet prep and competition studying at the same time? I’m worried Luke might be overdoing it.”
“Do not worry. Condition is something one can manage.”
Emma took the completed application forms with a reluctant air and sighed as she looked at Luke’s resolute expression.
“Mm… all right. I’ll submit them for now. But remember you can change your choices anytime—if it gets too hard while you’re preparing, be sure to tell me.”
“I am grateful for your concern, Emma. I shall most certainly win awards and raise the honor of both you and the Academy.”
Luke rose from his seat and offered a bow filled with the full respect of aristocratic etiquette.
Suddenly receiving a New-Year’s-level extreme courtesy left Emma nothing but flustered.
“Uh, well… yes. Go ahead.”
Leaving Emma’s awkward voice behind, Luke exited the faculty office and headed for his classroom.
Having come after so long, he thought it wouldn’t hurt to check how Sirud was doing.
And he did ask me to talk to him if I came, didn’t he?
The child wanted to see him, so simply leaving without a word would feel a little uncomfortable.
With that thought, Luke set off toward his class.
It wasn’t particularly far from the faculty office, so he arrived quickly. Being break time, the atmosphere was quite lively.
Normally Sirud would have been sitting blankly, never quite blending into the class, but things were clearly different now.
Looks like he’s made quite a few friends.
He could see Sirud chatting happily with several girls, Mary among them.
Pairing him with Mary had been a good decision after all.
While Luke watched through the window with a fond smile, Mary spotted him, her eyes widening slightly. She whispered something into Sirud’s ear and then left her seat.
Sirud, noticing Luke’s presence as well, turned his head, stood, and came over.
When Sirud stepped out of the classroom, Luke offered a light greeting.
“Good morning, Sirud.”
“Yeah, good morning.”
“Those children earlier—are they friends?”
“Well, yeah.”
“I thought as much. Making friends—that’s wonderful. Did Mary help you well?”
Sirud averted his eyes at Luke’s words.
If Luke ever found out what Mary had actually said to him, what on earth would he say?
And that last “Do your best!”—do his best at what, exactly?
Sirud muttered while watching the tail behind Luke’s waist twitch and fidget.
“Mm, you grew a tail. And you got taller too.”
“You noticed? Haha, everyone else only talked about the tail.”
“Really? I could tell right away.”
Sirud thought: he had immediately felt that the height at which he met Luke’s eyes had changed. Were other people just a bit dull?
Or was it because he himself was short?
No. Short? Impossible.
This was Luke getting taller, not him getting shorter…
Sirud spoke while still avoiding Luke’s gaze.
“Did you wait around because you had something to say to me?”
“No. I simply stopped by on my way past.”
“I see……”
And then silence.
Since he hadn’t particularly had anything to say either, the conversation simply died.
Come to think of it, that was the problem with both Luke and Sirud. Both of them were passive in everyday conversation, so whenever they were left alone it always ended up like this.
Moreover, even if he wanted to start talking, he had no idea what to say to Luke.
No matter what he did, he simply could not treat him like a peer.
Honestly, they didn’t even share any hobbies.
As they stood staring blankly at each other and the atmosphere grew stranger, Luke made an odd face and spoke.
“If you have nothing more to say, I shall be going.”
“Y-yeah.”
The moment Luke turned and started toward the library, a boy came running toward Sirud and shouted,
“Hey, Sirud! I heard you completely wrecked Daniel from the next class yesterday!”
“Who’d you hear that from?”
“Liam said so—Daniel got beaten so bad he couldn’t even breathe and died.”
Luke’s footsteps halted.
Did I mishear?
Luke heightened the sensitivity of his ears to catch more of the conversation.
“So how’d you kill him? That guy was pretty good.”
“Well, I hid in the bushes and ambushed him with magic. Daniel hadn’t even bought armor, so he died right away. That’s how it went. He was pretty careless.”
“Heh heh, total idiot. So now you’re the best in our year! I wish I’d seen it myself.”
“Yeah, I’ll show you next time.”
“…….”
Luke felt utterly devastated.
Killing a classmate without the slightest hesitation, then boasting about it. Mocking the dead and casually saying he’d “show them again.”
What kind of child had Sirud become?
Sirud was still only eleven—far too young to commit murder, and this was not even wartime.
Yet he was treating human lives as if they were mere entertainment?
“Uh, Luke? Weren’t you going to the library?”
Sirud looked at Luke, who had somehow already blocked his path, and thought,
When did he run all the way over here? He was definitely really far away…
Luke’s hand clamped tightly around Sirud’s arm as he shouted,
“Sirud, what was all that talk just now!”
“Th… what talk?”
“I heard everything, so do not try to wriggle out of it. Do you think I taught you magic so you could do such things?”
“W-what are you talking about? Ow, hey, that hurts!”
What kind of grip strength is this…!
“Does this much pain register? You assassinate a classmate with magic, turn it into a joke, and still feel pain? Moreover, you say you’ll do it again? What kind of outrageous nonsense is that? Do you not fear society’s retribution? Do you think you’ve become something special with a mere second circle?!”
“What? What the heck are you even saying? Ah, ow! It really hurts! You’re gonna break my arm!”
When Sirud cried out in genuine pain, Luke shouted right back even louder.
“You said you killed Daniel!”
“What?”
Sirud clung to his spinning senses and yelled,
“What are you talking about! That was about a game!”