A Genius Recognizes a Genius
A Genius Recognizes a Genius
Rote Saliere.
Born the eldest daughter of House Saliere, she had heard the call to practice Noblesse Oblige from her parents with almost tiresome regularity.
At first she had not understood what it meant, but words heard from a young age were enough to shape young Rote's values. Despite being born into noble blood, the girl never treated people differently because of their station.
Moreover, unlike her older brother, Rote had a natural gift for Fire Magic.
Her brother was certainly skilled at magic—as befitted the bloodline of House Saliere. But students with his level of talent were a dime a dozen at Tillet. Rote, on the other hand, had grown up burdened with the expectation that she would one day leave her mark on the history of Fire Magic.
Rote threw herself into refining her Magic Arts, determined to meet those expectations.
Rain or snow, she trained her spells and studied theory.
Rote's acceptance into Tillet Academy was, in some ways, a foregone conclusion. Yet the girl never grew arrogant, nor had she ever disparaged her brother by comparison.
Her ambition was simply to become a mage who could defeat Magic Beasts and save people—not a pursuit of status or networking.
That was why, even after passing the exam, she still relentlessly reviewed her written answers. Rote spent days brooding over those problems, which she had secretly reconstructed in her head right there in the examination hall.
'I understand why I got the other problems wrong, but...'
Question 50 from Basic Magic Theory.
The final killer problem had been drawn from Fire Magic. It was a high-difficulty question that asked how to adjust the amplification range of a given circuit using a Magic Stone called a 'Transistor.'
She had solved almost every entrance-exam problem on Fire Magic she could find, and she had indeed gotten every Fire Magic question right.
Except for this one.
She knew nothing about the Transistor stone itself. She had never even heard of it. After extensive inquiries, she had confirmed that it was a top-grade Magic Stone whose applications were only just beginning to be understood.
That was not the real problem. The problem text had given a rough idea of the Transistor's purpose.
The real issue was how to deduce the correct answer using only the information listed in the answer choices.
'Maybe it requires some basic knowledge I simply don't have...?'
Unfortunately, she had not come up with a clear solution even by the time the acceptance announcements were posted.
"Lady Rote, you've already been accepted. Are you still hung up on the exam questions?"
"I'm just curious. About why this works the way it does."
Pure academic passion, wholly independent of her exam results. The young noblewomen who had long accompanied Rote were frequently moved by this side of her.
"There's no need to figure it out so quickly. You can simply seek out the teacher who wrote the question later and ask for an explanation."
"I could, but I'd prefer to solve it on my own if possible."
She felt that if she could at least identify the underlying theory behind the Transistor, she could work it out by herself.
But even when she searched the municipal library, she found no books detailing the specific applications or theory of a Magic Stone named Transistor.
'Could it be a hypothetical Magic Stone?'
She had briefly entertained that notion, but she discarded the hypothesis immediately after her own brother confirmed that it was, in fact, a real Magic Stone.
To celebrate her acceptance, Rote visited a tavern with young ladies from other houses. One of their party was absent, which allowed them to take a table near the counter.
A golden-eyed girl was seated in front of the counter. Her face seemed familiar.
Rote remembered: this was the female student who had taken the Combat Magic practical exam alongside her.
'A member of the Gold-Eye Tribe who uses Unique Magic Art. No wonder she applied to Tillet Academy.'
Even after settling into the restaurant, Rote's academic fervor knew no bounds. The girl pulled a few sheets of paper covered in scrawled equations from her bag and began reviewing her work.
"Now that you mention it, did you hear the news?"
"What news?"
Rote's ears perked up at the conversation between the two girls who had accompanied her.
"Someone scored full marks on the written exam for the first time in a thousand years. From what I hear, they still placed only second overall in the entrance rankings."
"A perfect written score and they're only second? Lady Rote is third."
Rote herself thought she had worked hard, but when she checked the entrance results, there had been two people who had placed above her with even better performances. Seeing geniuses like that made you realize the importance of staying humble.
"They say that person got a perfect written score, but their practical was barely above the failing line, so they ended up with around 440 points."
Receiving this information from her friend set off a chain of calculations in Rote's head.
'A perfect written score is 400 points. The practical is worth 100 points... So they only got about 40 points on the practical? How can someone do so well on the written portion and then bomb the practical that badly?'
No matter how lacking in talent, every person was born with a minimal amount of mana in their body. Whether human, elf, beastman, or any other race—all received the blessings of the spirits.
Initial mana was determined at birth, but it could be expanded to some degree through study and training. It was said that the Tillet Academy practical exam was effectively an absolute evaluation. Even a student with no confidence in mana control could push their score up to 50 points with grueling effort.
Yet this person had aced the notoriously difficult written exam and then scored around 40 points on the comparatively easier practical. It was a contradiction.
A possibility suddenly flickered through Rote's mind.
'What if... it's a race that cannot use magic on its own...?'
The Gold-Eye Tribe.
Of all the races in the world, there was exactly one that could not circulate mana inside its own body.
No one knew why the Gold-Eye Tribe alone had been cursed by the Goddess. The details were likely known only to those who lived a thousand years ago.
There was a saying: what you lose, you gain elsewhere. While the Gold-Eye Tribe could not wield magic unaided, the entire race possessed vastly superior computational ability and memory. Their capacities far outstripped even the mechanical calculators developed in the modern era.
If someone had scored perfectly on Tillet's hellish written exam, then that person had to be a member of the Gold-Eye Tribe.
Furthermore, the Gold-Eye Tribe was a rare race, occasionally found only in the northern Elankaya Mountains or the western Beastkin Federation. Outside of that girl tending the counter, you would be hard-pressed to find a single golden-eyed person in the capital.
'If it's not her, it's impossible.'
The deliberation did not last long. The only way to confirm it was to summon the person in question directly.
"Service over here."
Rote raised a hand and waved the golden-eyed girl over. The girl approached with a soft smile, set down the beer mug she was holding, and picked up a menu.
"What would you like?"
"I would like to purchase a little of your time."
Rote produced a tip.
Two silver coins. It was no trifling amount to offer as a gratuity.
The golden-eyed girl scanned the room, saw that other tables had been quiet lately, and collected the coins.
"I'll take your order."
"There's something I wanted to ask you. Do you happen to know what this problem is about?"
The girl's eyes skimmed across Rote's papers before she spoke.
"The last problem from Basic Magic Theory. It was a tough one this time."
"Yes. Were you accepted into Tillet this cycle?"
"I was fortunate."
"Did you manage to solve this problem?"
"I couldn't resolve it within the time limit."
The girl scratched the back of her neck and seemed ready to brush it off...
But she had figured it out somehow. She was only answering that way because she was not rock-solid certain. Rote saw through the girl's psychology in an instant.
People recognized their own kind, and were drawn to them by nature.
Good people kept good company; the beautiful surrounded themselves with beauty. It must have been because those within a given circle instinctively recognized another of a similar disposition.
It was the same here.
A genius recognizes a genius.
Realizing that her approach had been wrong, Rote decided to change the question.
"I wanted to ask you what the Transistor Magic Stone is."
Once she understood its definition, she would be able to solve the problem on her own.
A thin laugh escaped the girl as she toyed with the silver coins. Then she gave an answer worth the money.
"...A Transistor is a Magic Stone that functions like a dam."
"A dam? You mean a dam like the ones built across a river?"
The girl nodded and continued her explanation.
"A Transistor is a dam that stores and releases Mana Particles instead of water. Just as you can control how much water is released downstream by adjusting the dam's floodgates, you can make the flow of magic amplify like a bursting reservoir by properly controlling the stone's central region."
"Is that why the circuit won't operate unless you push a certain threshold of mana into the input?"
Exactly like a reservoir needing a certain water level.
"That's correct. When you first work out the equations, you shouldn't assume the circuit gradually comes online starting from zero Sievert. Because of its characteristics, a Transistor will not allow a Magic Current to flow unless a certain minimum Bias is applied."
"It sounds like it has a threshold."
"That's why the central region that controls the Magic Current is called the Gate. It acts as a kind of floodgate."
The girl's knowledge might well have been ancient and widespread among the Gold-Eye Tribe. Rote asked about that too, but the girl evaded the question, saying she could not answer further.
In any case, it was enough. Hearing the theoretical background that had not appeared in the problem choices, she felt the two silver coins had been well spent. Rote felt deeply satisfied.
With a little more thought, she felt she could solve it.
**
Rote was smarter than I had imagined.
She clearly seemed to have been born and raised in a good noble house, yet she showed not the slightest hint of discrimination toward commoners.
It was maybe a little early to judge, but from what I had seen, she had a good character.
The evidence was in the faces of the girls beside Rote. The fact that they used formal speech with her made it obvious there was a gap in status, but apart from that, they seemed to treat her like a friend.
There was a saying: birds of a feather flock together. The connotation was not exactly positive, but it was a convincing statement all the same.
Rote was the student who had taken the Combat Magic exam alongside me during the practical. From just those few minutes, I could estimate how formidable her total mana reserves were.
On top of that, she used Silent Casting Stock as well as Multi-casting. She had remarkable talent.
I also knew that talent like that did not manifest easily without effort. I could clearly picture the ceaseless grind Rote must have put herself through to reach that level of magical power.
Look. Even now, was she not still agonizing over a finished entrance exam problem, trying to figure out why she could not solve it? To put it in terms of university admissions, it was like someone who missed one question on the Suneung obsessively analyzing why they got it wrong—while everyone else was already checking their placement charts.
As we exchanged this and that, we had somehow progressed to the point of speaking informally with each other. Before we parted ways, Rote and I shared a smile.
"It was a good meeting. I'll see you when classes start."
"You get home safe too."
This kind of farewell was cringey, but so what? I had just met a good friend, and we'd be able to help each other out.
If I played my cards right, I could dramatically shorten the time it would take me to return home.