-chapter 65-
“Using equations for a magic spell with a single target, it’s one-sided to use inequalities for area-effect magic.”
Professor Owen neatly wrote the formula for a system of linear inequalities on the blackboard, explaining the theory before turning to the students.
“Does anyone know the reason for this?”
Kasena Page felt the urge to hide behind her book. She wanted to avoid making eye contact with Owen, fearing she would be called upon to present.
“Isn’t there anyone here who knows? Not one of you knows this reason?”
For some reason, the muscular professor looked as if he was about to cry. Suddenly, his gaze landed squarely on Kasena.
“Hm, well.”
Oh, no.
A shiver ran down her spine as an ominous sense of foreboding wrapped around her body. To punctuate that feeling, Owen gave a grim smile.
“The unfortunate monkey who just transferred to my class—”
“—Professor.”
In that moment of crisis, a hand shot up. It was Rain Ludwig. Owen’s attention immediately turned toward him.
“May I explain?”
The deal here was to prevent Kasena from being humiliated, so… as annoying as it was, there was no other choice.
Usually, Krista would have raised her hand and boasted, but she seemed oddly out of sorts after exchanging kind remarks with Kasena earlier.
Owen’s eyebrows rose at Rain’s assertive statement.
“Confidence is impressive! Go ahead and enlighten this ignorant professor, you turd who smells less like shit.”
“The inequalities can be divided into absolute inequalities and conditional inequalities.”
“Even my cat who licks its own ass knows that, Rain Ludwig!”
“In the case of conditional inequalities, it has the property where you can find a solution by substituting certain values within a specified range.”
“Hm, and?”
“Because area-effect magic does not require precise calculation of the impact point, it fits perfectly with the properties of such inequalities.”
As the students blinked in bewilderment at his explanation, Kasena, too, stared blankly at Rain beside her.
‘I knew he was good at studying, but is he this capable?’
Impressive… Owen also mulled over Rain’s explanation with renewed admiration.
‘The ability to grasp and convey the core clearly and simply enough for a child to understand…’
It was so straightforward that it could easily find its way into a reference book. However, Owen’s twisted personality prevented him from merely complimenting him.
“Correct! As expected from the top student. I had thought of 130 different ways to break your character if you got it wrong, but it’s unfortunate!”
Had he gotten it wrong, it would have been a moment of major embarrassment, and Owen licked his lips in disappointment.
“Indeed, it’s a pity.”
That was genuine. Since their first meeting, Rain had taken a keen interest in Owen’s artistic use of language.
Owen’s assistant began writing down what Rain had just explained, but the motions were oddly sluggish.
Perhaps it was because the material he had prepared was more complicated and difficult than what Rain had just described. Being compared is truly a sad affair.
* * *
In the southeastern border harbor area of the continent.
A grotesquely half-destroyed mansion filled with the stench of rotting bodies and the echoes of powerful mana thrummed within it, where a man sat.
His face appeared somewhat frail and commoner-like, but if someone from 300 years ago were to see him, they might mistake him for the great archmage Lin. He was tall and robust.
“What did you just say?”
The moment he spoke, his voice erupted vigorously, echoing in the material world only to the ears of the corpses around him.
But in the spiritual world where the man was connected through a spell, five companions heard his voice.
What the man saw was not a mansion filled with corpses and maggots, but the interior of an underground temple with myrrh smoke rising.
[It was said that we need to stay watchful a bit longer.]
The figure in Seat One repeated what had just been stated. Immediately, the man’s voice grew a threatening heat.
“Watchful? What more do we need to watch? We can just capture that brat, Rain Ludwig, and find out for sure!”
[What if we catch him but it turns out he’s not the person we’re looking for?]
“What’s the problem with that?”
[It’s a problem. For my current position infiltrating the school, it’s an even bigger problem. How about thinking for once?]
“What, you little brat?”
As the magical powers of the two clashed, the runes that formed the spiritual world began to writhe painfully. It was the voice of number five that intervened in that situation.
[Leave it to Valensidis. He’ll take care of the most important task in our plan. It would be problematic if we were exposed now.]
“Leave the bastard who killed Libeni alone?”
[Oh, if it’s proven he did indeed kill him, Valensidis will take care of it. What’s the rush? What’s the hurry?]
The man glared. The other cowards kept their mouths shut, as if they would rather follow Valensidis’s lead.
“Useless, pathetic mice without a backbone.”
Then, before the companions could even react, the man’s figure vanished from the spiritual world. At the same moment, he rose from the corpse he had been sitting on.
‘Valensidis, if that coward doesn’t do the job, I’ll take matters into my own hands.’
He would go into the school, take down the ones blocking the way, and bring the man in too.
There was a chance she might scold him for sudden action, and he could end up in trouble, but as long as he wasn’t caught, it wouldn’t matter.
After all, he was the son created by Tureina from nothing, like Libeni.
* * *
“Ugh, I don’t know, I don’t know!”
At lunchtime, on the bench in the courtyard.
Kasena, staring intently at the study notes Rain had organized, eventually leaned her back against the bench and let her head droop backwards.
“If you don’t know, then just study until you do. Isn’t that the basics of studying?”
Hearing Rain’s annoyingly cheerful remark, she glared at him while he casually flipped through pages of a thick reference book.
“Why aren’t you wearing the glasses I gave you?!”
“Why would I wear them when it’s not even nighttime?”
“Just put them on!”
What nonsense is this? Just then, something pure and cheerful caught Rain’s attention, and they both felt a presence flitting by.
Swish.
With a flutter of wings, a whimsical creature swooped down from the lazy summer sky. It was Pipi.
“Peechee, did you sleep well?”
“I slept well. I slept well. I slept well.”
Perching itself lightly on Rain’s shoulder, Pipi wiggled its head, prompting Rain to burst into laughter as he affectionately stroked it.
However, a burning gaze settled on them. Kasena was intently watching the scene unfold.
“What’s that? Isn’t it a sun parakeet? I’ve seen it in a book!”
“Exactly! It’s my companion.”
“Where did you get it? Let me, let me touch it too!”
“No way.”
As Kasena reached out with her hands, Rain quickly stood up, protecting Pipi with his arm.
“Why not?”
The imposition of the noble lady’s command, and her stubborn tone, were truly intimidating.
He could just let her touch Pipi, but he thought he should put her rotten personality in check a bit first.
“It’s time for you to study.”
“Study, study, study.”
“If you want to take a break, you should at least earn it!”
“Break, break, break, break~!”
Pipi rubbed its face against Rain’s cheek as Kasena drooled at the sight.
“There’s no resting for those who haven’t finished their tasks. You have piles of work left to do, don’t you? Peechee, I’ll see you later in the dorm!”
Following an absentminded glance, Kasena found herself staring at Pipi disappearing into the distant sky, pouting as tears threatened to spring into her eyes.
‘No, this is unfair! It’s not like I’m banning you from touching it…’
Kasena fumed as she glared at the two, sprawled back against the bench, exposed like a noble’s dozing act.
“Hmph, what do you know?! You think a genius like Rain can understand my feelings?”
“Excuse me?”
“The truth is, I’m just not aware of things! I don’t even know basic math! Every day feels like my head’s about to split!”
Kasena held the notebook over her face, blocking the sunlight, and then softly added with a melancholic tone,
“It seems like it was just pure greed. I should have postponed coming to school. I’m in over my head!”
Oh, so she had her burdens too.
Rain contemplated for a moment, realizing he understood her pain.
“That being unknowledgeable—why is it suffering?”
“What?”
“If you know a lot, it means there’s much to learn, right? And learning means you’ll only improve from now on.”
A silence lingered, though Rain hadn’t intended to convince her from the outset. He only hoped to create even the slightest crack in her defeatist mentality.
How much time had passed since?
About five minutes later, Kasena shot up, glaring at her study notes with determination.
‘Hmm…’
Teaching has its rewards. Watching a growing sense of satisfaction blossom in her was greatly fulfilling, even as Rain felt a strange warmth swell within his chest.
‘Tureina, should I have treated that lively girl with more kindness?’
* * *
Two weeks passed in a flash. In that time, one notable development occurred.
Elin Ludwig returned to school.
While she sighed heavily in the professor’s office, managing an unsorted pile of documents stacked high after fifty days, she shot a sharp glare at Rain upon his entrance.
“You, what trouble did you cause while this genius professor Elin Ludwig was absent?”
“?”
“Kasena Page! That little brat tried to run away with that cutie pie?! Wait, that’s not what’s important! How does she even walk around? How on earth did it come to this?”
With knowledge of the genius mage lineage, Elin comprehended that Kasena’s recovery would undeniably cause a major issue.
Upon explaining how their paths crossed, Elin stared at Rain in disbelief before pinching both his cheeks tightly.
“Ugh, how on earth did you have the gall to make me go through such awful hardships?! I’m the reason behind those endless struggles! If you do these things, do they really amount to nothing?”
“Uh, I-I’m sorry…”
When Elin finally released his cheeks after huffing, Rain rubbed his red face.
“They say that rumors of you dabbling in dark magic are spreading. I thought I had to do something for your sake.”
“Wha-what?! Not at all!”
“Of course, this isn’t true. If it were anything minor, antiquity would have remained intact; yet if you act like this, confusion is inevitable!”
Elin’s fatigue seeped into her expression, along with joy at seeing her clever nephew.
“I don’t mind the families like Page being close; it won’t be a bad thing.”
Wasn’t this a descendant of the historic family? Even the Page family could strengthen their bonds by maintaining friendships.
“Ugh, fine, go. You must be busy! You’ll be busy with finals in two days. Busier than I am.”
What awaited was Kasena once again, and how she walked was the pressing matter at hand. She would have to defend her actions against the strong opinions of why Elin brought her to .
But how exactly had Kasena begun walking again? The rumors suggesting she was injured were mere gossip, but could the truth behind her problems simply be false?
Ah, this is bothersome. I might just think about it later; my head’s killing me.
“But Auntie…”
“Hmm?”
“What are the inquisitors saying about Tureina? I’m curious if any mistakes were made.”
Simply putting forth a quiet inquiry caused Elin to rear back, the papers in her hand stilling.
– Tureina is alive. I missed my chance…
– Joins Tureina with Lin; it’s understandable that she became the leader of the dark church.
Having remembered that troublesome narrative, Elin closed her eyes unwittingly, aware that the information was sealed tight in silence with none to discuss it openly.
‘When Tureina re-emerges, I can only speculate the chaos that shall ensue…’
Kasena waited for a reply with an air of impatience. She, too, adored Tureina, who inspired many, even in their lively dispositions.
‘If her state was derivatively unknown, this risks accusing her falsely.’
“That’s… not true. Those sorcerers used Tureina’s tome as coded communication. That was the rumor.”
“Really?”
“Ugh, if it weren’t for that nonsense, how could I have endured all this torture and returned to the school swiftly?”
Dismissing his remorse for overstepping, Rain had learned the return of Elin Ludwig emphasized privilege not only to their families but also the maddening school process he currently navigated.
“I will return to my class,” Rain announced.
Kasena turned slightly. “What did you say?”
“Didn’t hold back on entertaining guests? How very extravagant?!” Elin teased, turning her attention back to the stack of papers.
I could have answered dozens of times, but…
With time swiftly approaching, Rain hurriedly left, leaving them behind.
“Why exactly is there so much in a short period?”
There had never been such a brand of interest captivating his attention toward the school before.
Ultimately, he laid his hopes on the upcoming exodus of Tureina and the inquisitors shooing the incident away.
Just before that moment arrived…
He had been summoned forth when the day of reckoning finally came.
“Now we’ll begin explaining the mid-term exams, which will start in two weeks, to the first-year students.”
In the grand Yonggum Hall, as the first-year students took their seats, Vice Professor Kyle stepped onto the stage, signifying the start of a grand ceremony.
“The final exams may fundamentally mirror the mid-terms, but everything changes. It’s crucial for you to recognize this.”
The judging panel for the finals would include not only professors from but also esteemed mages from across the empire to assess the examinations.
“The final examination is an opportunity to display your names to the world! Many students choose their future mage tower affiliations based on their performance in the finals.”
The atmosphere thickened with anticipation, infused with anxiety.
Yet, this too was a double-edged sword. Leaving a feeble impression before such notable figures could lead to devastating results… just imagining it made chills run down their spines.
“Now, let’s review the examination methods.”
Snap! Kyle snapped his fingers, and the assistants began affixing pamphlets to the wall behind the stage.
Group A:
• Rain Ludwick.
• Krista Warden.
• Nora Ledon.
…
Those assigned to Group A were members of prestigious mage families as well as gifted students embarking on their studies. All were among the top-performing students in the school.
‘ implements a superior educational framework based on merit, yet this hardly means lower-achieving students evade attention.’
Krista propped her chin on her hands, her gaze darting between her name and Rain Ludwick’s above.
‘This dilemma is heightened during finals; higher-ranked students often find themselves in less advantageous positions than lower-ranked ones.’
Final scores would consider entrance scores, mid-terms, and all prior evaluations to name the top thirty students in Group A.
From there, the remaining students were shuffled randomly into Groups B, C, D, E, and F while preserving the average score.
“First, the preliminaries for the finals will begin in two weeks. Only the top four from each group will advance to the final.”
In total, twenty-four students would proconted through to the finals…
‘This would be another hurdle to tackle before I can meet Lista.’
As he glanced at Rain’s eyes sparkling with interest, Rain bore no hint of tension.
The finals would determine the final victor through a tournament competition initiated by a drawing of lots.
“Now I’ll reveal the proposed topics for the preliminary rounds.”
Kyle waved his hand, and magic circles erupted from his palm, casting enchanting strings of light across the air.
[Scroll]
Scroll? Unlike the other proficient students, Rain and those ranked lower stared in confusion, their brows furrowing.
It was only natural, as the topic appeared to be quite abstract.
“You will someday become arch mages capable of creating scrolls that assist many people. This serves as a valuable training exercise in preparation for that day.”
“…?”
“This year’s topic centers around ‘Magic Suitable for Creation into Scrolls’! Reflect deeply over the next two weeks and return with your finest contributions.”
Magic suitable for scroll creation?
Rain rubbed his chin, pondering without quite grasping the implication.
‘Are they implying we create citizen relief magic?’
Meanwhile, the skilled upper-tier students, accustomed to this kind of examination since childhood, began brainstorming ideas, glimmers of inspiration dancing in their eyes.
‘Hehe♪ I can try that approach once again.’
‘This time I must experiment with that one.’
‘Looks like I’ve got a field in which I excel.’
Yet there was a singular piece of news that would rattle the assembly of students, leaving them utterly astonished.
“Now, I have concluded my explanation of the final exams, and to wrap it all up, I will introduce the new transfer students.”
Transfer students? The candidates suitable for that approach are typically few and far between.
They must be important mages , cannot afford to overlook or someone receiving unending support from their family.
Amidst subdued whispers of speculation, the sound of a crutch striking the wooden podium echoed, and when its owner appeared, everyone stared in disbelief.
“Eh?”
“Uh?”
“Hmm?”
The vibrant cascade of lavender hair caught in the spotlight, an impeccably symmetrical visage left quite an impression regardless of gender.
“Page…?”
“Is it the Page family…?”
“It has to be Page!”
Amongst the shocked students, Rain Ludwick absorbed the wave hit hardest.
“Kasena…?”
Kyle, with a slight rueful smile, added, “And following tradition, the top-performing student will assist the new transfer student for one month.”
