Chapter 43: Chapter 43

The power of Ancient Magic was beyond imagination. Dane figured he could probably float about twenty marbles, but all the marbles, more than forty in number, floated.

‘It’s better than I thought.’

Dane’s magic power was originally Ancient Magic. It became even stronger thanks to the concentration of Ancient Magic absorbed from the fountain. However, being able to carefully distribute magic to more than forty beads and make them move…

It was due to Dane’s innate talent for understanding, utilizing, and analyzing magic.

“Huh.” Professor Dinavo sighed.

The marbles Dane had floated into the air scattered throughout the classroom. It was amazing that his magic could reach that far, but something even more amazing began to happen.

The scattered beads gathered in one place and then scattered again, beginning to form a picture.

A lion and snake.

It was the crest of House Sogres.

“Amazing…”

“They say he’s mad talented…”

All of the marbles in the bowl were floating. This alone would be astonishing, but he even rearranged them elaborately to create his own family crest. This was no longer something that could be compared to anyone here.

Maybe Professor Dinavo.

Professor Dinavo was also left with his mouth wide open in disbelief.

‘Even Arabella wasn’t like this.’

Of course, the field was slightly different.

Because Arabella showed tremendous talent in the ‘development’ field, such as invention and analysis, rather than magic itself.

But that didn’t matter.

He was sure of it.

Dane Sogres.

He was the best he had ever seen.

“Indeed… Cidrane, who had never had a single disciple before, said he ‘taught you’, and it was true…”

Cidrane.

At the mention of the head of the Nixion Magic Tower, which any Magic student would naturally know, a commotion arose.

“He’s the disciple of Cidrane?”

“Did you just hear? The head himself taught him?”

“Oh my! How great must one’s talent be for the head of a magic tower to teach them?”

Mages were not moved by family reputation or money.

The essence of one’s magic and whether you had the talent to utilize it.

This alone determined whether one was worthy of becoming a full-fledged disciple.

In that sense, the fact that Cidrane, who had never had a single disciple until now, taught him…

“He must have crazy talent.”

“I understand why he passed the autonomous major exam.”

“Did House Sogres receive some kind of blessing…?”

There was some envy and a little jealousy mixed in, but it was almost non-existent. If something was too overwhelming, it was normal to not even feel like comparing.

But that wasn’t the end.

‘Should I try adding some effects?’

Dane came up with a series of magic arrangement codes that were of little use in actual combat but were great for show.

Effects that instantly exploded magic power that caused overload.

By the way, this was the method that Cidrane had taught him. It didn’t seem to be of much use, so he never thought he’d use it here.

“Huh?”

The moment he made up his mind, Dane gathered his magic power even more, and dozens of beads floating up to the ceiling of the lecture room began to vibrate.

Then everyone started to react.

“Dane? Dane Sogres?”

As Professor Dinavo was flustered一

Ping, ba-bang!

A wonderful explosion erupted from the ceiling of the classroom.

“Wow!”

“A-awesome!”

“Damn!”

The magic beads exploded like firecrackers everywhere, scattering beautiful sparks. It was truly a magnificent sight. It was like seeing the magic fireworks that decorated the night sky at every Academy Festival.

Of course, it was carefully controlled so that it wasn’t dangerous at all, and the sparks exploded beautifully on the ceiling, surprising everyone.

“He really is a genius…”

“We couldn’t even float a marble…”

Professor Dinavo was speechless. Not only did he levitate all the marbles and make his family crest out of them, but he also overloaded them to create a magical explosion?

‘This boy is really…’

Professor Dinavo made up his mind to convince him to change his major from the Autonomous Department to the Magic Department.

“Alright, everyone. Applause!”

As soon as Professor Dinavo finished speaking, applause poured in. Of course, it couldn’t even be compared to the one Altur got.

“Excellent, Dane Sogres.”

“Thank you, professor.”

“If I had known this would happen, I would have fought with the other professors and forced you into the Magic Department…”

Of course, it was impossible, but everyone could see Professor Dinavo’s regret.

“Even though I’m in a different department, I will work hard.”

“Haha. Did you all hear that? Magic students need to be a little more alert.”

Professor Dinavo then whispered to Dane, “Come see me whenever you have time later.”

Dane was a man who received much favor from professors in every class he went to. When he came back, he received looks of bewilderment.

“Just what are you?”

Dane just smiled at Leila’s dumbfounded question.

Because of this, Leila seemed to have lost all interest in attending classes at the Magic Department.

“Spearmanship, magic, summoning… Is there anything else you’re good at? Tell me now.”

“Well. You need to find out for yourself.”

“So stingy…”

“You’re good, too. You have talent too.”

“You saying things like that doesn’t make me happy at all, okay?”

Of course, Leila wasn’t that upset. Even Leila had won the Dantère Cup based on what she learned from Dane about how to use magic.

“It’s your turn, Leila.”

And such a foundation was better than expected.

“Oooh.”

She levitated five marbles while other freshmen in the Magic Department floated only three at most. Unfortunately, all she could do was line up five of those marbles, but that was enough.

“Leila Thermion, you said you were in the Swordsmanship Department?”

“Yes, Professor.”

“Haha, this… It seems the first and second place of this class will be held by students from other departments this year.”

Professor Dinavo looked around at the Magic students and told them to cheer up. Of course, the expressions on the faces of the Magic students weren’t great. After all, other students had come and taken the spotlight from them.

There was no need to say anything about Altur. A rare look of shock was on his face.

Thanks to that, some students were whispering in low voices.

“Is that Sogres boy stronger by any chance?”

“Look at the number of marbles he levitated. And the professor said that the head of Nixion Magic Tower acknowledged him as his disciple?”

“But it said ‘immeasurable’ earlier?”

“That must be a mechanical failure. How can there be such an aptitude?”

Altur wanted to erase this lecture from his memory and pretend it never happened.

‘What…the heck is this?”

It was absurd. What on earth happened to House Sogres? Arabella and Clare, both of them were insanely talented, but that guy was even better.

Oh my god.

He was a first year and fourteen years old, but he not only picked up all the marbles but also moved them to make his crest and made them explode!n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Without any signs of difficulty?

“Altur?”

“Shut up. I’m thinking right now.”

Altur was quick-witted. It was why he was able to effectively become the student representative of the Magic Department now that Arabella had graduated.

‘Persuasion would be better.’

This required a change of plans. Though it wasn’t likely, if he picked a fight and lost, it would be completely humiliating.

In that case, it would be more beneficial to gently coax him to create a good impression of the Magic Department and ultimately win him over to his side.

‘If I had been a little less careful, I could have been in big trouble.’

If there hadn’t been an orientation with a test like this today, and he had just picked a fight without knowing Dane’s talent…

“There’s been a change of plans.” Altur finally finished his thoughts and spoke. “We need to get him into the student council.”

“Th-the student council?”

“Yeah. Since I’m a student council member, it’ll be easier for me to keep him under my thumb.”

The Imperial Academy’s Student Council. A group with enormous influence over things such as policy decisions, budget execution, and various privileges within the academy.

As a simple example, the student council could decide on disciplinary actions against students or whether to approve or deny approval for individual departmental events.

It could be said to be a tradition of the Imperial Academy.

The reason Altur was able to exert such great influence within the Magic Department was not only because of his outstanding talent but also because he made full use of that talent to become a student council officer.

Because of this, there was a backlash from the people next to him, including Grun.

“He’s only a first year student! You should at least be a second year student…”

“Even we can’t go there yet…”

“Isn’t it too early for a freshman? And even then, he’s still a newbie!”

Envy and jealousy, plus a feeling of resistance.

As they said, it was almost unheard of for a student to join the student council in their first year.

There were no written rules, but it was just how things were.

However, Altur was smart and boldly broke the rules and offered the enormous ‘honor’ of being invited to the student council.

“I can invite them with my authority. I don’t think the others will object.”

“Still. We aren’t even in the same departments,” Grun protested, but it didn’t work.

“So? Is there a rule that says I can’t recommend students from other departments?”

“…”

“Trust me, Grun. He might not be from the Magic Department, but he’ll definitely raise the reputation of the Magic Department.”

Altur added in his mind, ‘As a bonus, my status and path to success.’

Altur came from a barony. He believed that while talent might be great within the academy, it ultimately had its limits when it came to the outside world.

So, knowing that there was such a limit to what he could do with just his talent, he tried his best to overcome that limit.

And that method was一

‘Him.’

Altur smiled as he imagined Dane being shocked and at a loss when he received the offer. No matter how cocky someone was, they could never be indifferent to the words ‘student council’.

Altur believed as much.

“The student council?”

“Yeah, the student council. Naturally, you’ve heard of it, right?”

I nodded and said, “Yes. I’ve heard of it.”

“That’s good. I don’t need to explain. I will formally recommend you to the student council. The fact that you received high praise from the dean despite being from a different department, the fact that you are the only disciple of the head of the Nixion Magic Tower, and the fact that you are the first Autonomous student in fifty years. And…”

A string of praises from Altur.

I was looking at him, wondering what he ate wrong, and I had a general idea of what was going on.

“You’re qualified. No, you’re more than qualified. In my capacity as a student council officer, I recommend you to the student council.”

There were looks of admiration and envy from all around.

I heard about it from my eldest sister. The student council of the Imperial Academy was a very powerful group, and only a small number of students were allowed to enter.

He was recommending me to that place right now.

“For your information, if you’re a member of the student council, you can almost certainly stay in the Dantère Hall. Unless there are any disciplinary measures, student council students are always members of the Dantère Hall.”

I tilted my head at those words.

“I already belong to the Dantère Hall.”

“That’s true. But being in the Dantère Hall now and continuing to be in the Dantère Hall in the future are two different things. And that’s not all. You’ll also get some immunity…”

What followed was a long list of privileges. Just hearing about them would make a person think that the student council alone had extra rights.

“What do you think? Aren’t you interested?”

“No. Not really.”

Only then did I sense Altur’s shock.

I wasn’t refusing just to tease Altur.

“I’m not really interested unless I can get in on my own.”

I didn’t like the idea of joining based on some privilege rather than ability. If I took advantage of what I was born with, then that might be fine, but there was always a price to pay for the privilege of accepting and enjoying inexplicable favors.

I’d already learned that on the battlefield.

When was it?

Someone offered me some bread, so I accepted it without thinking, but the next day I was moved from the back row to the front row.

There was no such thing as unreasonable kindness in this world.

“…Do you know what you’re rejecting right now? The student council. I, Altur Diomet, am personally recommending you as the fifth year representative and a student council member.”

Altur looked at me as if I were crazy.

The student council. I didn’t know exactly what kind of place it was, but from what I could tell now, it was a place that only a very small number of students could go.

But I wasn’t really interested.

I told Altur, “It doesn’t really interest me.”

“It’s a position that everyone wants! It’s the student council! If you live at the Academy for just a little while, you’ll realize how great the offer you just rejected is.”

I wasn’t sure about that.

“Dane, if you’re late there won’t be any tarts. Let’s go quickly.”

“Oh, are there tarts, too?”

This sounded pretty awesome.

As expected of Leila. She was very perceptive.

“What are you two talking about right now…?”

“I have a prior engagement. We’ll go first. It’s lunchtime.”

I pushed my way through the crowd, leaving the dazed Altur behind. I thought I heard a sound behind me.

“What do you think he’s saying?”

“I’m not really curious.”

“Me neither.”

We left Hangston Hall and were finally free from the gazes. If people’s gazes had physical force, we would have been crushed to death long ago.

“But an offer to the student council? That’s a bit surprising.”

“Is it a great place? I heard a bit about it from my eldest sister.”

“It’s a great place. Only a select few students can enter.”

I had a rough idea of ​​what it was like.

“I see that person, who’s a representative, tried to recommend you to be on the student council. You did well to decline. If you had accepted, he would have used that as an excuse to treat you like his lackey.”

That level of intention was immediately apparent. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have offered me such a great position. He even personally recommended it to me.

“He’s a bad guy. I don’t like him. You can tell he’s one of those snake-like people. I’ve seen them a lot since I was little. People who would snoop around in our family, hoping to get something out of us.”

True.

Thermion was the best house in the capital and the best house in the empire. Even if Leila didn’t want to see it, she’d probably seen a lot since she was little.

In comparison, such people did not visit our house often. That was probably due to the differences in characteristics between the capital and the south.

“Those kinds of people are usually really persistent and annoying.”

“Then I’ll think about it if it comes to that.”

“Aren’t you worried? Even though we’re from prestigious houses, it’s still the student council.”

I tilted my head and asked, “What about it?”

“…That’s right. You have your older sisters.”

It wasn’t just my older sisters. There was me, too.

I wouldn’t refuse if my older sisters helped me, but I didn’t plan on always relying on them. It wasn’t like this was kindergarten.

“But couldn’t that guy see me? Why didn’t he ask me?”

I burst out laughing.

This was why I liked Leila. She knew how to speak purely and without embellishment. Others might find it embarrassing or unpleasant to say that they didn’t receive any recommendations, so they wouldn’t mention it.

“Well, I guess that’s because you’re so ridiculous.”

Leila seemed to have decided to admit it coolly now.

“By the way, are there really tarts here?”

“Of course. It’s the Imperial Academy’s student cafeteria. It must have every kind of dessert that exists in the Empire.”

That sounded mouthwatering. When I was at home, I would eat just one a day without fail. It was a shame, but I guess I’d have to do that here, too.

“Okay. Let’s go.”

But since today was the first day of class, wouldn’t it be okay to eat one more?

“Do you have class after lunch?”

“No. What about you, Leila?”

“Me neither. Good. There’s a place I want to go.”

“Where?”

“The Misty Garden!”

Where did she just say?

“They say it’s always foggy when the weather is cloudy, but if you reach the fountain through the fog and make a wish, your wish will come true!”

I began to think seriously about how I could lessen the disappointment of a little girl who was intoxicated by this romantic legend.