“Please give me a little more of this.”
“Here you go.”
“Thank you.”
Meals at the academy take place in the dining hall.
A massive hall capable of accommodating up to 2,400 people at once, it is a place where the lights never go out, following the rule that the Empire’s seedlings must always be provided with quality meals.
Skilled chefs, supplied with high-quality ingredients, work tirelessly to serve delicious and nutritious meals three times a day.
Students residing at the academy can eat their fill whenever they desire, allowing them to focus better on their studies.
“Wow… this looks delicious.”
Rosaria, visiting such a dining hall again today, was salivating at the sight of her tray piled high with today’s main dish, lamb steak. It was her way of soothing her stomach after a morning of classes had left her hungry.
Even back at the mansion, she wasn’t dissatisfied with the meals—
Well, not entirely. As a native Korean, she had grown weary of meals lacking kimchi and rice.
Still, the various meat dishes, salads, and bread were plentiful, and as she gradually got used to them, she managed to force them down.
But the academy was on another level.
Unlike her still-impoverished count’s territory, the academy offered a new menu daily, using specialties sourced from across the Empire, adding a unique twist to every meal.
Tomorrow, it would be fish dishes. Today was lamb steak. The day after tomorrow, roasted duck was on the menu.
“Now then… where should I sit and eat?”
Holding a tray brimming with lamb steak, Rosaria scanned the surroundings, pondering where to sit.
Although the semester had started over a week ago, she was still eating alone.
The students in her classes were so intimidated by her that they would flee the moment they encountered her outside of class, leaving her with no chance to make friends with her peers.
“Not that it matters… Honestly, at my age, what’s the point of hanging out with kids like them? Being alone is better!”
‘Is this what it feels like to be a returning student?’
Even as she tried to rationalize the situation, Rosaria couldn’t help but feel a lump rise in her throat.
And then—
“Huh? Isn’t that you, ma’am?”
“…Hm?”
A cheerful voice called out to her, breaking her train of thought.
“What the Lettin, is that you?”
“Yes! Hello there!”
The voice belonged to none other than Lettin, the student who had been thoroughly beaten by Rosaria on the first day of class.
Lettin, who had initially picked a fight with Rosaria and even challenged her to a duel, had, strangely enough, changed his demeanor completely after being defeated by her.
Instead of holding a grudge, he began to treat her with utmost respect.
“By the way, don’t you hate me? I beat you up pretty bad.”
“Not at all! Before I challenged you, I was like an overconfident pup. You taught me a valuable lesson when I was too arrogant to even gauge my opponent’s strength properly. How could I possibly resent you for that?”
“Uh… well, if you say so.”
Rosaria felt slightly overwhelmed by Lettin’s enthusiasm as he prattled on excitedly, his eyes sparkling as if he were recounting a glorious tale.
“Well then! Enjoy your meal!”
“Yeah, see you around.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“…Still, he’s quite polite.”
Watching Lettin bow deeply at a perfect 90-degree angle as they parted ways, Rosaria smiled to herself, feeling secretly pleased.
“Anyway, I should eat my meal… Huh?”
Distracted by Lettin, Rosaria returned her focus to her rapidly cooling steak. As she searched for a place to sit and quickly devour her food, her eyes landed on a familiar figure.
“What’s he doing here?”
In a secluded corner, far from the bustling center of the dining hall, she spotted Felix sitting alone.
The dining hall was a space where not just students but also the professors could eat comfortably.
“Should I join him? It’s been a while since I’ve seen him.”
Feeling a flicker of warmth at seeing her relative, whom she hadn’t encountered much since the semester started, Rosaria headed toward him.
“…So if I rotate this formation here… and add a formula here…”
“Hey, what are you doing?”
“…Huh? Oh, it’s you.”
“…Are you even sleeping these days?”
Approaching Felix, who was mumbling to himself while scribbling fervently in a notebook, Rosaria plopped down across from him.
She was taken aback by the sight before her. His dark circles, paired with his dazed, half-blinking eyes, made it clear he was seriously sleep-deprived.
“I’ve just been a bit busy. Nothing too serious.”
Felix waved off her concern as if it were nothing.
“What’s keeping you so busy?”
“They asked me to tweak the magic circles for the midterm exams. When I looked at them, the configurations were all over the place. Fixing them took more time than I thought, so I’ve been losing some sleep.” Felix yawned mid-sentence, clearly exhausted.
“Midterm exams? You mean that combined exam or whatever?”
“Yeah, that’s the one. The magic circles are for that.”
“What exactly is this combined exam thing?”
Catching on to the term, Rosaria’s curiosity prompted her to ask Felix for more details.
“Well, the combined exam is for students, especially those in combat-focused fields like frontline battle mages. They form teams to tackle a dungeon as part of the test. Think of it like… an RPG game format?”
“…Oh? A dungeon? RPG? That already sounds fun! But how do they pull that off? This world has real monsters, right? Do you fight them for real?”
“Not exactly. It’s not real but… close enough.”
“…What?”
“Simply put, it’s kind of like virtual reality. The academy creates a test field similar to a dungeon. They use magic stones to conjure creatures that resemble real monsters, and students fight against those.”
Students in the combat department of the academy typically have two career paths after graduation:
Joining the Empire’s military and heading to the battlefield or becoming mercenaries who explore dungeons in search of treasures.
To prepare for this, the academy emphasizes training on monster ecology, dungeon strategies, and team dynamics for dungeon exploration.
The combined exam evaluates teamwork, combat skills, survival tactics, and adaptability in dungeon-like scenarios, making it an ideal comprehensive assessment.
“That does sound interesting.”
“Anyway, they asked for help with the magic circle that powers the creature, so here we are.
Since its behavior patterns are predictable and obvious, students got tips from seniors who had taken the test in the past, making it too easy for them and causing problems.”
However, since the academy uses a type of golem made from magic stones to replicate the creature for the tests, the patterns became repetitive.
Also, the labyrinths’ designs have developed certain recognizable patterns over time.
As a result, students nowadays rely heavily on advice from close seniors or even secret guidebooks for labyrinth strategies that circulate, making it difficult to assess their real abilities. This has been giving the academy a major headache.
Amid this, Felix, who showed exceptional genius in reinterpreting magic circles and creating new spells, was called upon for assistance almost immediately.
“So basically, they’re making the tests harder because cheat sheets are floating around everywhere?”
“Exactly. But the magic formulas they’ve come up with are like spaghetti code… It’s fun rebuilding them from scratch, but I’m running out of time.”
“Ugh… Sounds rough. I don’t get any of this.”
As a result, Felix was thoroughly enjoying himself as he developed new magic circles, though he was also exhausted, losing sleep over the process.
However, Rosaria, who had no understanding of magic whatsoever, could only guess it must be tough.
At that moment.
-Pop!
“Oh, Ariel. You’re here?”
-Mom! Food!
“Alright, alright. I’ll cut you a little.”
-Hehe!
Suddenly, the wind spirit Ariel appeared out of nowhere on Rosaria’s shoulder, begging for food. Rosaria promptly sliced up the meat she had brought and handed it to Ariel, who happily devoured it.
Amazingly, Ariel always appeared right on time at mealtimes, even without being called, and delightedly shared Rosaria’s meals.
-Yummy! Yummy!
“Is it good?”
-Yeah! More, Mom!
“Okay, eat as much as you want.”
“…The more I think about it, the stranger it seems.”
“Huh?”
Watching Rosaria deftly slicing up meat to match Ariel’s endless demands, Felix muttered to himself.
“I mean, it’s a spirit. How can it even eat food? What happens to the food it eats? Why would a spirit even need food in the first place? The more I think about it, Ariel—”
“The more curious I get.”
“Ariel is off-limits. If you must experiment, play with Tené instead.”
As Felix’s muttering grew faster, and his eyes started gleaming with curiosity, Rosaria quickly stopped him, bringing up Tené.
“Why, why, whyyy… Do you know how rare spirits are?”
“Dragons are rarer.”
“But Tené is always available when she feels like it…”
“Treating a dragon like that—there’s probably no one else in the world like you.”
“If that’s the case, there’s probably no other dragon in the world like Tené, either. She’s the one who wanted to come to school, dressed up as a maid, and started cleaning!”
“Well, uh… You’ve got me there.”
“Exactly. Honestly, I think she’s enjoying being a girl, even if she doesn’t say it outright.”
“What… It’s less about being a woman and more about being a dragon, right? That’s what I’m more jealous of.”
“What about you, though? How’s being in a woman’s body treating you?”
“Hmm… Not much, really? It’s fun to look in the mirror, but that’s about it. Mostly, it’s just inconvenient.”
“Is that so… I was thinking, maybe I’d finally get to see you with a boyfriend.”
“…Are you out of your mind? Why would I date a guy? I’m not gay!”
As their conversation went on, Tené, startled by Felix’s words, scrunched her face in genuine horror. No matter that she was currently in a woman’s body….her mind was still male, and the mere thought of dating a man made her feel sick.
“Your mind eventually follows your body, though.”
“If that’s the case, what about you?”
“Me? Right now, I’m only interested in magic.”
“Tch. Anyway, I like women.”
“Of course you do~ Not like you ever had a girlfriend back when you were a guy, though.”
“You wanna die?”
Despite meeting after a long time, the two carried on their usual banter without missing a beat.
“By the way, bro, have you tried using that since coming to the academy?”
“Uh… that? Not really.”
Out of the blue, Felix gestured toward the weapon strapped to Rosaria’s back as he asked.
“In sparring or whatever, using it would just feel too overwhelming. Even Master Gordon could barely block the non-lethal rounds from it.”
“Hmm… Still, I’d like to gather some data on it.”
The magical artifact Felix had crafted for Rosaria was extraordinarily powerful. In fact, its exceptional performance made her hesitant to use it carelessly.
“…Hey, do you have any classes this afternoon?”
“This afternoon? Nope, today’s free. Why?”
“I just had a good idea.”
At Rosaria’s sudden remark, Felix paused, deep in thought, before smiling and closing the notebook he had been scribbling in for a while.