Chapter 7

Nearly a thousand examinees—likely almost everyone applying this time—had gathered on the school grounds.

I stepped onto the field at the exact same time as Kirio.

For the record, it was purely by chance that we left the classroom at the same moment, resulting in our synchronized arrival; we hadn’t exchanged a single word on the way here.

Perhaps due to the excitement of the upcoming magic exam, the grounds were dominated by a restless buzz.

Even in the midst of this feverish crowd, Kirio remained unchanged. Or rather, the moment I glanced sideways to check on him, our eyes met and he glared back at me. I hurriedly looked away.

Averting my gaze, I spotted Bob’s face.

The curly-haired boy was acting just as restless, chatting away with his lackeys, but the moment he saw me and Kirio, his face puffed up red and he started shouting something at us along with his entourage.

What a comforting character.

Leo Baal, too, was far removed from the general commotion.

Even in a crowd, his massive frame and mane-like golden hair stood out. Leo simply stood there, his back straight as a rod. He wasn’t talking to anyone. Yet, through that silence alone, he radiated a presence far greater than anyone else’s.

“Now then, everyone.”

The chatter was abruptly silenced by an old man clad in a black robe.

His raspy, low, yet incredibly resonant voice caused a hush to fall over the grounds. I had no idea when the old man had appeared or how he had reached that spot. By the time I noticed him, he was standing in the center of the grounds like a withered tree.

He wore a tattered black robe that looked like ancient rags. His white beard was so long it almost touched the ground. Aside from that beard, his face was completely hidden within the darkness of his hood.

The old man held a long, rugged staff with both hands. His hands were gaunt, covered in countless wrinkles and cracks. His fingers were long, with nails as thick and sharp as a beast’s.

Merlin.

It was my first time seeing him in person, but even I knew the name. The headmaster of the military academy, a professor of magical theory, and the Chief Court Magician. A man respected even by royalty and warily watched by other nations—Shark’s grand strategist and a first-class mage. A man with no past, whose real name was known to no one.

Princess Victie, Leo Baal, and Merlin. In the current Kingdom of Shark, only these three were more famous than the King himself.

“We shall now begin the magic exam,” Merlin announced with utmost brevity. “‘Ice’ and ‘Explosion.’ Those closest to me shall demonstrate first. Direct your explosions into the sky.”

Ice and explosion, huh? Standard for an exam.

There was a reason I thought so. Both are perfect themes for gauging magical skill.

Take ice, for example. You can’t manifest ice just by imagining a drop in temperature. You can freeze water that way, sure. But to manifest ice out of thin air, you have to gather the moisture in the atmosphere while simultaneously lowering the temperature. In other words, you have actually to invoke two types of magic at once. The difficulty of the mental imagery increases significantly.

Explosion, too, requires a mental image similar to using fire and wind magic simultaneously.

Immediately, examinees who felt confident began handing their slips to Merlin and demonstrating their magic.

Bang! Bang! Small-scale explosions went off in the sky. Others conjured ice in the palms of their hands. Most of the explosions were about as loud as firecrackers, and most of the ice crystals were about the size of a bottle cap.

Once they finished, Merlin would silently write something on their examination slips and hand them back. About half of the students who received their slips trudged away with slumped shoulders, while the other half suppressed smiles, their faces flushed with excitement.

Surprisingly, some examinees couldn’t even trigger an explosion or create ice at all. It was incredible to me that someone would show up for the exam without being able to do the very things anyone could predict would be tested. Perhaps they were just here for the experience.

Regardless of their results, the examinees moved to the edge of the grounds one by one. It seemed the flow was for those who finished to observe the remaining applicants.

As the center of the grounds cleared, Merlin gradually drew closer. It was almost my turn.

Before me, Bob handed his slip to Merlin. After casting a fleeting, mocking glance at me and Kirio, Bob turned his palm toward the sky.

BOOM! An explosion clearly a level louder than any before it rang out.

“Whoa,” the other examinees stirred. So that pudgy guy wasn’t just talk; he actually had the skills to back it up. I’d misjudged him. For his ice demonstration, he conjured a shard roughly the size of a baseball.

After receiving his slip back, Bob didn’t even try to hide his smugness as he looked over at me and Kirio.

Kirio, glaring back with a terrifying expression, stomped over to Merlin. Meanwhile, Bob moved to the edge of the field with a nasty smirk. He clearly intended to stay and mock whatever results me and Kirio produced.

Then, Kirio’s magic began.

Bang! The sound of an explosion. Kirio had successfully triggered one in the air. It was a decent size—certainly among the top tier of examinees so far—but it was smaller than Bob’s. His ice manifestation was about the size of a golf ball. It was more than enough to pass, but it couldn’t beat Bob.

Still, the surrounding examinees voiced their admiration. Kirio himself, however, kept his eyes fixed on the ground with a bloodshot gaze, looking as if he wanted to glare himself to death. He was frustrated. That much was obvious.

When I checked Bob’s reaction, he was laughing delightedly. He was clutching his stomach, pointing at Kirio while saying something to his lackeys. What a piece of work. I already knew that, though.

Biting his lip, Kirio took his slip and retreated to the edge of the field with his reddened eyes.

Merlin approached.

Before I could step forward, Leo Baal handed his slip to Merlin. It wasn’t so much that he went to hand it over, but rather that he naturally offered it as Merlin came before him.

The fact that Leo was about to use magic drew the attention of everyone on the field. Whether he was conscious of the spotlight or not, Leo’s demeanor remained unshakable and dignified as he turned his palm to the sky.

BOOM! An explosion occurred, roughly the same magnitude as Bob’s.

Cries of awe rose from the students, and I saw Bob’s face twist with resentment. Serves him right.

Leo was about to proceed to the ice magic, but—

“Wait,” Merlin said. It was the first time he had spoken since the magic exam began.

He then handed the slip back to Leo after writing something on it. Leo blinked in surprise for a moment, then gave a smirk and moved to the edge of the grounds.

What was that exchange all about?

While I was wondering, Merlin arrived right in front of me.

“Ah…”

Even from this close, the depths of Merlin’s hood were pure darkness. Only the white beard and the hands emerging from the sleeves proved there was a human inside.

I was next.

Alright, let’s do this.

I’m calm. Yeah, I’ll be fine.

I handed my slip to Merlin.

I felt all the attention on the field shift toward me. It was the opposite of the attention Leo had received. This was the gaze of people hoping to see a lowly commoner, who had the audacity to show up at the military academy, fail miserably.

Bob was making exactly that kind of face. He was the most obvious, but almost everyone else had the same look in their eyes.

Fine then. I’ll show you all.

Slowly, I raised my hand toward the heavens. I turned my palm upward and glared at the sky.

Explosion. The key to the mental image is compression. Something compressed to the absolute limit is suddenly released and detonates. That’s the image. Yes… right there. I compress everything into that single point. The magical power flowing from my hand compresses something meant to explode into that spot. Yes—a substance that expands hundreds or thousands of times when heat is applied. Such a thing exists right there, compressed to its limit.

I visualize it. So strongly it’s almost visible.

A grinding sound reached my ears. I wondered for a moment what it was, only to realize it was the sound of my own teeth gnashing together.

I’m going to do it. The biggest explosion yet.

The explosive, compressed like a black hole, was now in the sky. I held that image.

And then, right there, right now… intense heat.

Fireworks.

If a massive firework detonated at point-blank range, it would probably feel like this.

A thunderous roar and a shockwave that rattled my entire body. Then, a flash of light that painted the sky white.

Despite being the one who caused it, the impact made me stagger.

“Whoa!”

I should have been shouting, but I couldn’t hear myself.

Wait, why?

I realized it immediately. Tinnitus. All I could hear was a high-pitched ringing.

Looking to the side, I saw the majority of the examinees collapsed on the ground, clutching their ears. Even Bob, whose face usually flushed red in an instant, was pale as a ghost, his mouth moving like a fish out of water.

Did I go a bit too far, maybe?

Kirio was still standing, but perhaps because the shock was so intense, he was hugging himself with both arms as if for protection. His sharp eyes were wide open for once. He was shocked.

Leo, however, was laughing.

He stood firm, a confident smile plastered on his face.

“Magnificent!”

Leo praised me at the top of his lungs and even started to clap.

Stop it, seriously, this is embarrassing.

“You there.”

A voice spoke, and I pulled my gaze away from Leo. Merlin was addressing me.

“How did you master your magic?”

It was the first question Merlin had asked since the magic exam began.

“Ah, well, with this…”

I hurriedly held out the “Fundamental Magic Research” I had been clutching under my arm.

“I studied with this book. Including the practical applications.”

“…You studied with this?”

A hint of a chuckle filtered through Merlin’s low voice.

“Y-yes. It was very easy to understand.”

I started to feel anxious, wondering if something was wrong.

“Easy to understand, was it? I see… Heh, heh.”

Merlin finally broke into an audible laugh.

“This notorious book that everyone called far too difficult, to the point I never even got the chance to publish the subsequent ‘Applied Magic Theory’… To think, despite it being one of my failures.”

“Eh?”

Wait, so the author of this book is…

“Forget the ice. Do you intend to become a scholarship student?”

“Uh, y-yes!”

“I thought so. Very well. You are this year’s scholarship student.”

With those incredibly blunt words, Merlin handed back my examination slip. The slip was now marked with the word “Pass.”

When I took it and looked around, the stares that had been directed at me earlier had completely transformed. Everyone was looking at me with eyes full of fear. Even Bob quickly averted his gaze the moment our eyes almost met.

Only two people among the examinees showed no signs of fear. Leo, who was still clapping, and Kirio, who was glaring at me with bloodshot eyes.

Regardless, in that manner, the entrance exam came to an end.

Did I really become a scholarship student? It didn’t feel real at all. But anyway, it was over. For now, I’d head to an inn. Starting tomorrow, I’d be studying at this school.

As soon as the exam ended, the examinees began filing toward the school gates. I headed that way too, but people moved away from me as I approached. Instead, they surrounded me from a distance, whispering among themselves.

I couldn’t hear them clearly, but I caught snippets like “a commoner,” “dark arts,” and “cheating,” so whatever they were saying, it wasn’t good.

As if I care. I’m the one who got the scholarship.

I tried to keep my chin up, but I still felt a bit dejected.

Suddenly—

“Just as I expected. You were beyond my imagination.”

A man approached me, speaking in a booming voice. It was Leo.

The lion-like man fell into step beside me with ease and gave my back a heavy slap. The impact nearly sent me sprawling.

“The stunned faces of those fools who looked down on you because you’re a commoner with no background… it was the best.”

He said such things loudly, seemingly uncaring that he was making enemies of everyone around us.

“Ah… well…”

“My eyes did not deceive me. Isn’t that right?”

He peered into my face with those powerful eyes. I reflexively stopped walking.

“Yeah, Meijin’s idiot son was especially priceless. The look on that brat’s face after he grew arrogant just because he has a little talent for magic. Hey, Kirio, it was great, wasn’t it?”

He called out to Kirio, who was attempting to leave through the school gates alone.

Hey, hey, if you talk like that, that knife-like boy is going to glare at us with that raw bloodlust again.

I worried for a moment, but—

“…It’s frustrating, but it was refreshing.”

Kirio turned toward us and, while his gaze remained sharp, he surprisingly agreed with Leo’s opinion.

“Right? Exactly. Hey, Kirio, Van.”

Leo gestured for Kirio to come over. Though he looked suspicious, Kirio approached me and Leo.

I don’t mean to complain, but the three of us have been drawing an insane amount of attention from the other examinees for a while now. In a bad way, obviously. My display was part of it, but Leo’s tendency to make enemies with every word didn’t help.

Then, looking back and forth between the approaching Kirio and me, Leo made a proposal.

“What do you say? How about the three of us grab some dinner tonight?”