Midterm Exams (1)
It had only been a day. Yeah. Maybe I’d been hoping for too much from the assassin guild I’d completely smashed to pieces.
The imperial family itself had worked hard to conceal Iren’s existence. But for them to fail to even notice that she was currently attending the Academy without a hitch? There were limits to incompetence.
This was something that needed patient investigation. No need to rush.
Still… it pissed me off.
“Gyaaah! I did exactly what you said, so why?!”
“Just take a few hits.”
I’d started the morning by roughing up those damn assassin guild bastards a bit. If I was going to leave them alive, they could at least do their jobs properly.
In a foul mood, I headed to the Academy. For some reason, though, the place felt unusually noisy.
A huge crowd of students had gathered in the Academy’s central hall. Something was posted on the wall, and everyone seemed to have flocked there to read it.
Kal happened to be up front, so I asked him.
“Kal, why’s everyone gathered like this?”
“Ah, Young Master Katram. Nothing major—just the midterm exam notice.”
“Midterms? Ah, so it’s already that time.”
About a month had passed since enrollment, so midterms were drawing near. But why all this commotion over a simple midterm announcement?
When I asked Kal, he answered plainly.
“Apparently this midterm won’t be a written exam. They’re running it in a special format.”
“Special or not, it’s still just a test, isn’t it?”
“From what I hear, it’ll be conducted as sparring matches against the knight class.”
“Sparring with the knight class?”
Just hearing it, the format sounded absurd. In one-on-one combat, mages were at an absolute disadvantage against knights.
Mages needed time for chanting and mana control, while knights could instantly circulate mana for physical reinforcement and seize the initiative. At a distance it might be different, but in a sparring format the two would be standing very close.
Yet if they were placed too far apart, it would tip the scales too heavily in the mage’s favor. In other words, it wasn’t a fair testing method at all.
I said as much—and right then, Iren popped up beside me with a whoosh.
“The Academy isn’t so stupid that they wouldn’t have thought of that.”
“You startled me. When did you get here, Iren?”
“Just now. But I’ve known about the exam contents for a while.”
“Royal privilege? That hardly seems fair.”
“I came early this morning, read the notice, went home, and came back.”
“Why on earth?”
“I felt like taking a dawn stroll. Anyway, it has its own flavor.”
The midterm sparring format Iren described was certainly distinctive.
Less a duel, more a trial and a field of breakthroughs.
Magic-class and knight-class students of similar standing would be paired. The magic-class student would set up various magical tricks throughout a designated space. The knight-class student would then attempt to break through those tricks.
If the knight-class student failed to break through, the magic class won. If they succeeded, the knight class won. The winning side received bonus points, while the rest of the score was determined by various evaluation criteria.
“Sounds fun.”
“Right?”
“There’s a problem, though.”
That came from Kal. Iren and I both looked at him in confusion.
“What do you mean?”
“Yeah, Raufen. What’s that supposed to mean?”
“There aren’t any knight-class students who can face the two of you.”
“Wouldn’t the knight-class students get angry if they heard that?”
“Surely not.”
The moment he said it, a knight-class student appeared. It was Irina.
“Irina.”
“Hello. And… I trust you’ve been well, Your Highness.”
“Mm, yes, Irina. I like that attitude.”
Irina carefully avoided Iren’s gaze. Ah, so she was still scared of her after all.
“Ahem. Anyway. As the current top of the knight class, I’ll vouch for it. Among the first-years, there isn’t a single knight-class student who can face the two of you.”
“My, is the top allowed to say something so demoralizing?”
Iren grinned, but Irina muttered dejectedly.
“Once I told them about the power of Your Highness’s punches, everyone fell into despair. Frey might be one thing, but if they stand in front of Your Highness, the knight-class students might just burst into tears.”
“That wasn’t my intention. Then who will face the two of us?”
“Well… a professor, maybe?”
“Th-that suggestion did come up.”
Suddenly, Professor Violet cut in. Was popping out of nowhere the trend today?
“B-but I-I opposed it.”
“Why?”
“N-no matter how outstanding the two of you are, i-it’s just not right. F-for a professor to step in.”
Ah. So a professor crushing students would look bad?
“I-if the professors get beaten in front of everyone, i-it would be embarrassing.”
Ah. That side of it.
“S-so we’re going to put restrictions in place. I-if the two of you accept them.”
Iren asked with clear interest.
“What kind of restrictions, Professor?”
“O-other magic-class students can set up tricks without limit. B-but the two of you can only set up five or fewer.”
“Isn’t that far too discriminatory?”
Kal raised the objection. Irina also looked at Professor Violet with clear dissatisfaction. Kal continued.
“There’s a limit to magical tricks. Stopping top-class knight students with five or fewer is impossible, even for the two of you.”
“He’s right, Professor. Aren’t you underestimating our knight-class students a little too much?”
“Heh… hehe.”
Professor Violet let out a laugh that didn’t suit her at all.
“Th-then you can see for yourselves during the exam. W-what do the two of you think?”
“What’ll it be, Frey?”
“I don’t mind either way.”
“There you have it, Professor.”
“Your Highness!”
“Kal, I understand you’re worried about your friends. But you’re worrying too much. Right, Frey?”
“Iren’s right.”
“Urgh!”
Irina’s face twisted.
“I’ll make sure you two regret this! There’s no way knight-class students can’t smash through a mere five! They normally break twenty without breaking a sweat!”
“Sure. Do your best.”
Iren snickered, and Irina stormed off toward the knight-class lecture hall in a rage. After watching her go, Iren sank into thought.
“Hmm, five or fewer. Even if I said that, it’s definitely going to be tricky.”
“Tricky?”
“You don’t think it is?”
Iren looked at me as if puzzled.
Ah. Maybe I could use this.
“What’s wrong, Iren? Don’t tell me you’re not confident?”
“What?”
“I think five is more than enough room to spare. Well, your magical skill is inferior to mine, so it can’t be helped.”
“Hmph. Frey. It’s true my level is lower than yours, but the gap isn’t that big, is it?”
“Then how about a bet?”
“What kind of bet?”
“Whoever neutralizes the knight-class student with fewer tricks wins.”
“Aha, so using even fewer than five?”
“Yes. If we neutralize them with the same number of tricks, the one who does it in less time wins.”
“Haha, Frey.”
Competitive fire lit up in Iren’s eyes.
“Getting a little cocky after winning a few lately, are we? Fine. What’s the prize?”
“How about the loser has to answer any question the winner asks, no exceptions?”
“I like that. I’ll dig up all those shady desires of yours, Frey.”
“Haha. Give it your best shot.”
Perfect. She’d taken the bait.
Maybe because we bet so often, Iren didn’t show a hint of suspicion. In that case, I absolutely had to win.
“Y-Young Master Katram.”
“Hm? What is it, Kal?”
“You can reduce it even further from five?”
“Of course. Ah, but since Iren’s right here, I won’t say how many I’m planning to use.”
“No… never mind.”
Kal looked at the two of us with a thoroughly fed-up expression. What’s with him?
When we entered the classroom, only a few students were there. Before long, though, students who’d seen the notice poured in like a flood, and the room grew noisy.
“Who’s going to be my opponent?”
“I heard knight-class students have incredibly high magic resistance.”
“Even Professor Violet said it’s a bit hard to land illusion magic on knight-class students.”
“Then maybe immobilize them physically…”
It had been a long time since I’d seen the classroom this lively. Students deep in discussion even crowded around my seat and Iren’s.
“Young Master Katram, what do you think about engraving a mana-nullification circuit into a magic circle?”
“That’s advanced magic—high chance it won’t activate. A circuit that disrupts mana arrays would be better.”
“Your Highness, could we make use of cold magic?”
“A bit difficult. Considering the knight-class students’ magic resistance…”
We were answering questions like that when the classroom door opened. Our gazes naturally turned toward it.
None other than Department Head Alketo had entered, a halo of light floating above his head. That was… an Agu?
“Gentlemen. You’ve all seen the midterm notice, I trust?”
The students nodded, still half-dazed. Alketo continued.
“As you’ve seen, this midterm is essentially a contest between the magic class and the knight class. Even if you lose to the knight class, you’ll merely miss out on bonus points—your grades won’t drop significantly. Unless, of course, you create thoroughly garbage magical tricks. However.”
A flicker of emotion crossed the face of Department Head Alketo, who had maintained a blank expression the entire time.
“If you show yourselves losing, it will be as good as announcing to the entire world that the magic class is inferior to the knight class. As head of the magic department, I will not tolerate that. Therefore.”
Rrrrrumble.
Black magic circles unfolded from Department Head Alketo’s hands. No—those were his specialty: multi-layered magic circles.
So many circles had overlapped that their colors mixed and mixed until they simply looked black.
“Analyze these circuits and magic circles. They will be of help. Even if you interpret a mere three percent, you’ll have done well.”
“P-Professor.”
“Raufen, what is it?”
“If a professor intervenes in the midterms, doesn’t that compromise fairness?”
Wow, this guy really loved fairness.
But quite a few students agreed with him. Alketo spoke quietly.
“Durum, the head of the knight department, will do the exact same thing. In practice, both sides will be starting from the same line. Furthermore.”
Creeeak-creak.
The dozens—hundreds—of magic circles that looked black produced an eerie sound.
“Any student who loses will not leave my research lab until they have interpreted more than half of these magic circles.”
Silence settled over the lecture hall. I glanced at Iren. Her eyes were sparkling in every color of the rainbow. Ah, so she understood all of it.
And the other students?
Oh, Elena stood up. Then she shouted.
“Crush!!!! The knight class!!!!”
Her lover Aaron rose after her.
“Victory!!!! For the magic class!!!!”
The other students stood and joined the chant.
“Crush the knight class!”
“Victory for the magic class!”
It was a desperate cry. Yeah. None of you understood even one percent of those multi-layered magic circles, did you?
This midterm period looked like it was going to be fun.