Rumours that Eli and Dein Edwick would face off spread quickly among all the new students at the academy, but on the actual day of the event, only about 50 students showed up at the stadium, which also served as the exam hall.
Eli looked over the audience and thought.
‘As expected, it’s smaller than what I’m used to.’
According to what Melrit had told her, the academy’s new intake is usually around 100 students every year.
In contrast, a typical school in Seoul would have about 200 to 300 students per grade, so it’s no surprise that it feels like there are fewer people here.
Of course, the purpose of public education for regular citizens is different from that of an academy meant to nurture only the most outstanding wizards.
If anything, it’s closer to a school for gifted students.
‘Well, should I say half the new students showed up, or should I say only half came? I guess some of them still haven’t arrived?’
Among them were five of Dein’s group, whom Eli had seen earlier that day.
“Dein, blow them away!”
“Ahh! Edwick-sama, you’re amazing!”
Eli, who had no interest in them, passed by when she noticed a familiar face.
‘Ah, it’s Clea.’
She waved her hand at the girl with the dark hair, and Clea, looking a bit surprised, waved back.
Had they become friends because of this?
If Eli were asked, she would say yes, but if Clea were asked, she would probably hesitate and avoid the question.
On the opposite side of the students, a few faculty members were sitting in the stands, watching.
Among them were headmistress Skaha and Melrit.
Eli waved at them as well.
Melrit, though shy, waved back, and the headmistress raised her small hand briefly.
‘Is Philia not here?’
Eli looked around, trying to spot the girl with the red hair who had been working hard the day before to close the distance between them, but she couldn’t see her.
‘That’s just mean. It’s not a big deal, but it’s a place where my friends are standing.’
Eli bounced lightly to warm up, thinking that if Philia had heard, she would have probably pointed out that they were never actually friends in the first place.
“Well then, if all the participants are ready, let’s begin. I, Count Prad Lissant, will be the referee for this event.”
Eli looked at Lissant’s mustache and thought, ‘Oh, he’s the one trying to take the professor position that Melrit was supposed to get.’
“Yes, we’re ready!”
Eli shouted more cheerfully on purpose.
As expected, Lissant showed a brief, displeased expression.
‘Hahaha, this guy is so predictable.’
‘He probably thought she shouldn’t act so familiar when she’s not even his student.’
‘And by introducing himself as a count, he probably wanted to assert some dominance over the orphans in front of him.’
However, Eli had enough common sense not to openly express her thoughts in front of everyone.
“Then…”
Lissant cleared his throat and looked at Dein.
Once the boy nodded, Lissant began speaking.
“Since most of the students, including the contestants, probably don’t know the rules or learned about them at the last minute, let me explain the rules of the Triad Comparison.”
He raised three fingers.
“The match will be played in three rounds, and the one who wins two out of the three rounds will be the final winner. In the case of consecutive wins, the last round may or may not be played. However, since the results are already clear today, we’ll continue with all three rounds.”
Eli couldn’t help but smile bitterly inside.
It was obvious that Lissant thought he couldn’t give Dein only two chances to show his skills.
“Of course, the competition will be held entirely with magic. The first round will be distance, the second will be precision, and the third will be strength.”
Lissant gave a serious warning.
“Let me say it again, you must only use magic. If you use any other means, you will be disqualified immediately, so be careful.”
The stern face was directed mostly at Eli, as if to say, ‘Don’t even think about resorting to physical force if magic doesn’t work.’
Eli kept smiling inwardly.
“Well then, let’s begin. The first round: the distance test.”
Lissant removed the cloth covering two balls and revealed them.
They were about the size of bowling balls, made of iron.
“These balls.”
Lissant pointed toward a line drawn on the far side of the stadium.
“The winner will be the one who throws the ball farther in the direction indicated by this line. Only the distance in that direction will be measured, so be careful.”
“I have a question.”
Eli raised her hand and asked.
“…What is it?”
Whether or not she was considered a student, there was no way he could refuse to answer a question in this situation.
“Can I touch both balls for a moment? I want to verify that they have the same weight.”
“…Didn’t I just say I’m the referee?”
“Yes.”
Eli smiled and continued asking.
“I’m a bit of a nervous type, you see. Could you kindly allow me to do this, Count Lissant?”
“…!”
In the academy, calling him Count instead of Professor was essentially Eli’s way of saying, ‘If you don’t treat me like a student, I won’t treat you like a professor either.’
‘This orphan…!’
But Lissant couldn’t scold her, and had to suppress his anger internally.
After all, he had introduced himself as both a count and a professor, so there was no way to argue. I
f he got angry at the title he himself had given, it would be incredibly embarrassing.
Skaha, in the faculty stands, couldn’t help but stifle a laugh.
“Eli, I’m starting to really like her.”
The person next to her, Professor Ottomar, nodded.
“She has quite a strong character and good wit. I’d love to see her in class sometime.”
While they were talking, Eli had finished comparing the two balls.
***
“Yes, this is fine. Thank you, Count Lissant.”
Lissant, gritting his teeth, proceeded.
“Let’s start. Dein, go ahead.”
“Hmm.”
Dein stepped forward and took out his wand.
He took a deep breath, gathered his mana, and prepared to begin.
“Zetaplus Leanne!”
The magic activated.
A chunk of iron, the size of a bowling ball, flew with a whoosh…! and soared into the distance.
A gasp rose from the audience.
“Oooh…”
“Edwick, Your Highness!”
The reason why Edwick was one of the most anticipated new students wasn’t for nothing.
Dein’s ball rolled and rolled until it finally stopped.
It looked tiny from the distance, almost like a peppercorn.
Rensanti gestured to Ellie.
‘Does she not even want to talk?’
Ellie took a deep breath.
And since there was no wand, she would just use her bare hands.
“Fly!”
Both the professors and students alike tilted their heads.
“Did she just say…”
“Is that a magic language?”
“Professor Teleman, have you ever heard of this language?”
“Yes, it seems to be a magic language unique to that student.”
However, the result was unfortunate.
Ellie’s ball also flew far, but when measured, it was a loss by just about a meter.
The student spectators cheered for Edwick.
“Of course, His Highness Edwick!”
“Seems like that other student never really learned magic properly!”
“Someone with no background like her should be taken out of here!”
In contrast, the professors in the audience let out disappointed murmurs.
“Hmmm…”
“Hmm…”
“Ugh…”
The professors were thinking.
‘That student, did she not learn any magic language at all?’
Of course, as a raw gem, she probably didn’t get systematic training.
That’s obvious.
But at the very least, she should have heard a proper magic language or learned from books over the shoulder of someone else.
However, the professors reached a very different conclusion from Edwick’s followers about the same situation.
‘And yet, she managed to send it that far?’
‘Did she just match the output of a student raised with the support of a duke’s family?’
She hadn’t been taught properly, but she still showed promise?
Any teacher would surely want to teach such a student and help them develop.
Two of the professors were already resolute in their decision.
‘Even if Ellie loses this contest, I’ll find a way to admit her.’
‘Forget the contest, I’ll get her into the academy no matter what.’
At this point, there was no way Ellie wouldn’t be admitted to the academy.
But Ellie couldn’t know this, and even if she did, it wouldn’t change her actions in the slightest.
‘Alright.’
She had no intention of losing.
‘I’ve got the hang of it now.’
Ellie had a restriction where she couldn’t reveal the color she inherited when using magic.
So, she had been experimenting with Melrit the previous night, figuring out how much mana she could gather before the color seal would lift and what was acceptable.
But it would take a real-life attempt to adjust her senses, and that moment had now come.
***
“Now, the second event: Precision.”
Rensanti pulled out a course with several rings set up in succession, and a metal ball about the size of a baseball.
The radius of the rings was exactly 1 cm larger than the radius of the ball, and they were not only in order but at different heights as well.
“The winner will be the one who can pass the ball through the most rings without touching them. The prince will go first.”
Precision.
This event was harder than the first and third, where all you needed was brute strength.
The students began muttering numbers, wondering how many they could pass through.
“Four…?”
“I’m aiming for five.”
“Honestly, I think I’ll only manage three.”
Some students exaggerated out of pride, while others downplayed their abilities to hide their true skills, but in the end, it was around four.
There were fifteen rings, but most of them were there just for formality.
Dein took a slow breath and picked up his wand.
“Sarva, Mosion Dr Wand Mro.”
He spoke in the common magic language, “Follow the movement of my wand from now on.”
Then, Dein skillfully moved his wand, leading the ball through a total of seven rings.
“Oooh…”
“…”
The professors nodded.
He might not have had formal education, but he was still an excellent student.
Then it was Ellie’s turn.
Except for a few, no one expected Ellie to win, or even succeed.
Rensanti, Dein, most of the students, and several professors all thought the contest was already over.
The exceptions were Dean Skaha, who wasn’t even a professor, Melrit, who silently prayed for Ellie’s admission, and a few other professors.
Among the students, only one, Clea, with her bright yellow eyes, was watching Ellie intently.
Ellie shouted.
“Pass through in order!”
Once again, she used her unique magic language.
This time, it was even shorter.
However.
The ball began passing through the exact center of each ring, as if it had been made to do so from the very start.
Its movement was so smooth that the students, who had been talking among themselves, didn’t even realize what was happening until the ball was almost at the halfway point.
“One?”
Soon, astonishment spread through the entire audience.
Ellie’s ball had already passed six rings and was now on its way through the seventh.
And at this moment, the one who was most desperate was Rensanti, not Dein.
‘I-I have to stop it!’
In the instant he tried to use his magic to deflect the ball, a sudden chill ran down his neck.
A pair of eyes was staring at him.
If he attempted that, he would either be severely injured or even killed, and not only would the fact that he tried to cheat be exposed to everyone, but his and his family’s honor would be tarnished as well.
The golden eyes of the academy’s founder, Skaha, conveyed this cold truth, not in anger or heat, but just calmly.
“Ugh…!”
As Rensanti froze, Ellie’s ball passed smoothly through the fifteenth and final ring.
Not only did she win, but she did so with a two-ring lead, and if there had been more rings, she would have easily passed them as well.
A stunned silence fell over the arena.
Before the silence could settle fully, Rensanti hastily shouted.
“F-Final event: Power! The winner will be the one who damages this giant rock the most!”
Instead of invalidating the match itself, he introduced the third event, which was known for being difficult to judge objectively.
If one side argued that their rock was bigger, the other could claim their damage was deeper, leading to a forced draw with a score of 1 win, 1 loss, and 1 draw.
Afterward, the negotiation and politics could allow for compromises, like admitting her into the academy but not granting her a professorship.
“Due to the nature of the event, only one punch is allowed! Now, on the count of three—”
“Enhance!”
Boom!!
The sound of destruction echoed through the arena, a noise that seemed completely out of place in an academy setting.
Ellie’s rock shattered into pieces.
Even the stone dust didn’t have a chance to scatter—it was immediately dispersed by the shockwave.
“…Huh?”
The overwhelming violence left Rensanti stunned, and a dumbfounded sound slipped from his lips.
“Mm~”
Then, the girl who caused such unbelievable destruction smiled first at the professors, then at the students, and finally at her opponent and the audience.
“My victory, right?”
Her hair and eyes, which had always been black, sparkled under the autumn sun.