Saikyou Mahoushi no Inton Keikaku (LN) - Volume 1 - Chapter 2

Second Chapter: The Difference Between the Ideal and Reality 

Alus found himself inside a room in a newly constructed building for experiments, looking around with his recently arrived luggage. 

The room was different from the teachers’ laboratory. No matter how he looked at it, it was larger than the room the teachers used. In fact, it was an entire floor. And the fact that it was designed to be used by one of their incoming freshman students didn’t sit well with the teachers. 

To begin with, the regulations stated that all students without exception were to be assigned to the dormitories. With the country being the Institute’s governing body, that was one of the measures taken to prevent any scandals from happening. 

Novice Magicmasters had the tendency to see magic as something to be used for themselves, due to their still immature minds. Even minor difficulties had the possibility of developing into a catastrophe, which had happened more than a few times. If civilians got caught up in the crossfire, not even the country could overlook it. 

“All of the equipment here is cutting edge. Huh, I can’t say I wanted to enter this Institute, but I can’t complain about this,” Alus muttered. 

Being a facility for training Magicmasters, the Institute naturally had secret connections to the military. In the end, Alus wouldn’t be able to get away from their influence. As someone who’d been raised as a Magicmaster since infancy and who’d joined the military at the age of six, he still felt relatively free though. 

After putting his small amount of luggage into his bedroom, he got to work rummaging through the bookshelves. There he found the books he’d ordered ahead of time neatly put in place. All of them were books in the field of magic, far more advanced than the basics, and none of them covered practical applications of the field. 

Most of them were old books. Some covered completely impractical or questionable theories that wouldn’t even catch a second glance from professionals. 

Now, the possibilities of magic were split into many different branches. That’s why Alus was going to start by learning from his predecessors. Any theory, no matter how preposterous or absurd it might be, could have a hint of genius in it that he wasn’t going to overlook. 

Alus seriously believed that these peculiar concepts could lead to the next level of magic. The research he’d done himself had gotten results. 

The most extreme of those preposterous books on the shelves were three of the Four Books of Fegel. It was rumored that the last of the four books didn’t even exist. They were copied books, but even that was enough for Alus to feel indebted to the Governor-General. And if there were any books he needed for his research that he didn’t have, he could just use the library. 

When it came to researching the field of magic, there was no place better suited than here. 

As Alus started getting excited over his future plans, he could feel more and more ideas gushing out from the spring that was his inquisitive mind. 

All of the books he flipped through contained precious articles. Normally, preparing all of this for a single person would be out of the question. But Alus had submitted several theses and research results, so this was a hospitality extended to him for his achievements in the field of magic. 

Just as Alus thought to himself, Looks like I can lead a fulfilling life here, just like the Governor-General said... the sound of several light knocks on the door from an unexpected visitor echoed through the room, interrupting his line of thought. 

“Come in.” 

Immediately after he said that, a young woman in formal wear entered. “How do you do. I’m the principal of the Institute, Sisty Nexophia. Nice to meet you, Alus.” 

Alus knew of her name as well. She was a famous Magicmaster who went by the alias ‘Witch.’ Supposedly she had withdrawn from active duty, but her mana that leaked out was still as sharp as ever. 

“I know of you, Madam Witch Sisty. I’m Alus Reigin. I was thinking of paying you a visit after I’d tidied up.” 

She’d retired from active duty and now served as the principal of the Institute. There was no way she would be this young, but the fact that she appeared to be in her mid-twenties was the reason she was still called Witch. Her lustrous, light brown hair was gracefully waved and reached all the way down to her waist. 

She had a good chest, which her narrow waist only helped to emphasize. Her looks and actual age didn’t match in the slightest. 

The principal smiled at the unaffected Alus. At the same time, the mana floating about vanished. “That’s a Single Digit Magicmaster for you. I guess this isn’t enough to faze you. Also, my title isn’t Witch but Principal.” 

“Excuse me. But still, you say the strangest things, Principal. I recall you were a Single Digit when you were in active duty, too.” 

“That was a long time ago. And I was 9th. I was only a Single Digit for a brief period of time.” She shrugged her shoulders modestly with a smile, but in Alpha there were none who didn’t know her name. 

When she was active, she was one of the most prominent Magicmasters in Alpha, and with her many connections in the military she was naturally elected as Principal of the Second Magical Institute after retirement. She had produced a great many excellent Magicmasters. 

“More importantly, are you sure you should be here? The entrance ceremony is being held right now.” 

“My turn on stage is over, you see.” 

Alus didn’t think that the principal leaving the entrance ceremony halfway through was such a good idea, but he’d never had much interest in it either, so he chose not to say anything. 

Just having been a Single Digit was enough to earn the admiration of the students. She must have bathed in their intense gazes. Thank you for your hard work. 

Now that he thought about it, she did look mentally fatigued. Maybe some words of appreciation would be apt, but showing care would make her less reserved the next time. Sensing that risk, Alus decided to pretend he didn’t notice the principal’s expression. 

“If you’re going to point that out, I’ll note that you’re absent from the ceremony too, Alus,” Sisty said, looking somewhat disappointed at not getting the results she wanted, just as Alus had expected. 

“I just want to advance my own research. I have no intention of attending the same classes as the other students, nor do I have time to make friends.” 

“We can’t have that. I have instructions from the Governor-General that you are to rejoin the frontlines should you slack on your studies.” 

“—!! What a tyrannical old geezer.” Retiring from the army was supposed to be Alus’ freedom. That said, he was well aware how much his contributions meant to the military, as well as to all of humanity. The Governor-General not letting him retire was only natural. That’s exactly why they had reached a compromise. 

Up to now, he’d been working nonstop on missions. It appeared a crack had risen in his fleeting plan to spend the rest of his life peacefully. 

The principal covered her mouth with her hand and laughed seductively. “Please don’t worry. All you need to do for your credits is to attend the bare minimum of classes and complete your report assignments. And as for your ranking... I’d like you to keep that confidential, so as to avoid any unnecessary confusion.” 

Rankings were a way to display a Magicmaster’s power... and the identities of the Single Digits were normally kept a secret from the public. 

That’s why, even though it was the principal’s order, Alus had no objections. “Of course. I’m not one to brag about my ranking. Nothing bad could come from avoiding trouble.” 

“Haha... that’s true. Then I wish you a meaningful student life.” 

After telling Alus to come to the principal’s office should anything ever happen, Sisty left with a smile on her face. 

Before long, an empty feeling filled the room, as he worried for his future prospects. Alus let out a heavy sigh. “My time...” 

* * * 

The Institute required the roughly 400 freshmen to attend lectures on courses in their curriculum. Classes were split for the most part, and would only come together for the practical subjects such as mock training. 

Three weeks had passed since classes began. Today was the first time Alus attended class. 

Not a single subject caught his interest, and he’d been cooped up in his laboratory, but last week he figured that if he didn’t attend something soon he wouldn’t have enough attendance days. 

Today was a day for a lot of practical subjects. The first period was on the fundamentals of magic. 

By now, Alus was well beyond the need to study the basics. He’d received special education for gifted children in the military ever since he was six; on top of that, he’d rapidly advanced in the field of magic through self-study. Though that was primarily in the militaristic department, focusing on lethality and aggression. 

When he entered the classroom, circles of friends had already formed. 

The basic configuration for classes in freshman year was to have 10 classes, with 40 students in each class. Class hadn’t even started, but the room was already abuzz with discussion about magic from yesterday’s lectures. 

Alus picked a seat at random in the back, and started reading a thick book. 

His classmates, who were seeing him for the first time today, gave him suspicious looks, but Alus didn’t mind. He’d never had any intention of getting along with them. 

That was when a girl with chestnut-colored hair approached him with graceful movements. “Good morning. It’s nice to meet you... again. Allow me to reintroduce myself. I’m Alice Tilake. You’re Mr. Alus, right?” 

“Hm? Yeah.” Not realizing at first she was talking to him, Alus gave her a delayed nod, his eyes still locked on his book. 

The girl’s use of the words “again” and “were” suggested they’d met somewhere before, but since he couldn’t remember right away, he returned his focus to his book. 

Alice seemed unsure of how to react to that. She changed the topic to shake off her dejection. “Were you feeling under the weather? Either way, I’m glad you’ve recovered.” 

“No, I was just skipping class. There didn’t seem to be any decent lectures. Anyway, sorry but you’re distracting me. I would appreciate it if you didn’t bother me.” 

“...!! I’m sorry.” 

Those blunt words of his paid no heed to the atmosphere, making them sound all the more like they were his true feelings. 

Alice’s mood dropped like a rock, and she quickly lowered her head. When she turned around with a still-gloomy look on her face, another voice suddenly rang out. 

“Who the hell do you think you are!!” A female student with lustrous red hair stood up with enough momentum to send her chair falling backwards. 

The class immediately looked their way. All eyes were focused on the two. 

A strong-willed redhead was making her anger known. She had a clear refinement to her, as she looked at Alus with an unyielding glare. Though that lacked a bit of impact due to her being not quite tall enough. 

“What...?” Alus said. This was getting tiresome. 

“Don’t give me that. Alice was looking out for you, so don’t give her that attitude!” 

After thinking about it for a moment, Alus decided that leaving this be would come back to bite him in the ass. He had no intention of getting along, but being involved in a disagreement would eat away at his precious time. 

He got up from his seat and faced Alice, who stood frozen some distance away. She looked back and forth between Alus and the redhead who was glaring at him. 

“I’m sorry. Just... in the future, you don’t have to worry about me.” 

“Of course! I’m sorry for approaching you suddenly, too.” 

The redheaded girl immediately addressed the bowing Alice. “You don’t have to apologize, Alice!” 

Having heard the relieved girl’s answer, Alus had sat back down and began reading again. But— 

“I’m Tesfia Fable,” the redheaded girl continued. Her tone was still dangerous. 

“...” 

What a pain, Alus thought, clicking his tongue in his mind. He’d already told the first girl ‘not to worry about me,’ and now this. 

Seeing as how she wasn’t getting an answer, the girl shook with anger and stomped up to Alus. She grabbed the book out of his hands. 

This is the worst. The focus he’d had was severed now like a fragile thread. Alus instinctively sensed that this red-haired girl... was probably the type he hated the most. The kind that forced their own will onto others, demanded obedience from others. 

“Can I have my book back?” 

“I, a noble, have gone through the trouble of giving you my name. Isn’t it only courteous that you do the same?” 

“Forcing your courtesy onto others... the nobility sure are tyrannical. No, I guess that’s what makes you ‘esteemed nobility.’” 

“—!!” 

The pages of the book the girl had taken flapped about as the book flew toward Alus. But he caught the book without any trouble. “Thank you for returning my book. I’m Alus Reigin. There, I introduced myself. Happy now? I don’t have any interest in you anymore, so could you go away?” 

“N-No interest?! And you called me... tyrannical?! How dare you make such abusive remarks towards me!” 

Alus had introduced himself in kind, but the girl was only getting angrier. Just then, the chime signaling the start of class rang out. 

The students that had been watching the two settled down despite the disappointing finale, and resumed their seats. 

The redhead, Tesfia, was extremely reluctant to do so, but relented when Alice moved to calm her. However, even after sitting down at her seat, she continued to send angry glares at Alus. 

Having gotten back his book, Alus had already put Tesfia out of his mind. 

The first period teacher had them open their coursebooks, but Alus hadn’t brought his. He’d only brought this one thick book with him, which he used to study in his own way. To him, a rudimentary lesson like this was just tedious. 

Unfortunately, he was unable to completely block out the teacher’s voice. 

“Upon admission, you were given your Magicmaster license. These licenses are the same as those used by the Magicmasters serving the country, but if you pass mana through them... they show the most important thing to Magicmasters: their ranking. This is calculated by the strength of your mana, and your disposition, resulting in a number signifying your combat strength.” 

The teacher poured mana into the license in his hand. The distinctive light of mana was emitted, creating a three-dimensional projection in the air that displayed the figures 778/119550. However, the teacher wasn’t a soldier, so technically speaking a ‘Former’ was attached to the number. In other words, it was the number he’d had upon retiring from the military. 

As proof of that, the color of the ranking was different from the students’ color. Now it was merely data that showed he was a former Magicmaster. Color was used to differentiate between student Magicmasters, retired Magicmasters and active duty Magicmasters. 

“Of course, the ranking is always changing in accordance with your results in training and in missions. I’d like you all to aspire to always be raising your rank.” 

Magicmasters’ standings were all dependent on that ranking. Because of that, the students’ futures and possibilities relied heavily on their rank. Their rank was both their report card and social status in one. 

The truth was that fighting against Fiends wasn’t all there was to being a Magicmaster. Those who’d reached the Triple Digits like this teacher had the ability to retire from the military to serve as teachers. A lower rank often meant a lower wage and more difficulty in getting assigned to important posts. In that sense, the teacher’s Triple Digit rank was enough to astonish the class. While it was a little immature to show it, it was a ranking worth speaking proudly of. 

Soon enough, the class was filled with students eagerly holding their licenses in hand to check their own rankings. 

But one area in the class was particularly rambunctious. 

“8867th!!” 

“4521st!!” 

Voices of surprise were raised when they discovered four-digit rankings amongst the freshmen, who usually had five- or six-digit rankings. 

“Alice and Tesfia have four digits!!” 

Alice scratched her cheek in an embarrassed fashion, while Tesfia sported a triumphant expression. 

Then the teacher called out to them. “This is quite a surprise this year as well. I recall that you excelled during the entrance exam, Alice. And you are from the Fable family, aren’t you, Tesfia... that explains your rank. I hear that the examiner was challenged in dealing with you two. Do continue to polish your talents without becoming conceited.” 

“Thank you very much.” 

“But remember that your rankings were only decided during your entrance examinations. Even if you are in the six digit rankings, there’s no need to feel disappointed. After all, you’ll be able to raise your ranking depending on your efforts. I want you to continue down the path of Magicmasters, well aware that you are the guiding lights of humanity.” 

The teacher looked over the class with a satisfied smile, then cast a suspicious glance at Alus. “Hm? You there, what happened to your license?” 

Being the only one not confirming his rank to the class made Alus stand out, whether he liked it or not. Pretty much all of the Institute’s students were outstanding talents that would go on to work for the survival of the human race. They were up-and-coming Magicmasters. That’s why they were all, without exception, highly ambitious honor students. 

So it was only natural for somebody who sat there silently reading a book to stand out in a bad way. 

All eyes in the classroom focused on Alus. 

“I’m sorry. I lost it.” That was the truth. The license fundamentally also served as a money card in place of a wallet. In this day and age, it was a necessity. 

But in Alus’ case, not having it didn’t hurt him in the slightest. If there was anything he needed, he only had to request it and the military would provide it; and with his extremely high wages, Alus had more money than he could spend in a lifetime. 

As for his ranking, the principal had already told him to keep it confidential. And since he planned to spend the rest of his life at the Institute, he didn’t need to care about his ranking. 

“I bet you’re too embarrassed to show it. Even if you have a six-digit ranking, it’s nothing to be ashamed of right now,” Tesfia loudly declared with disdain. She laughed scornfully. 

Spurred on by her, the other classmates began looking down on Alus. This was the result of the fact that circles of friends had already formed in the class. When faced with the choice of siding with someone who was alienated from everyone, and someone they were at least acquainted with, their choice was clear. Moreover, with all of them being so serious and excellent students, they didn’t find Alus’ flippant attitude amusing. 

“Ridiculous.” 

“Are you a sore loser? If you’re so vexed, why don’t you show us your ranking?” Tesfia argued vehemently, following Alus’ brush-off statement. 

However, Alus knew that a higher ranking only meant you’d be assigned more dangerous missions. Since the others saw that as their reason for existence as Magicmasters, he and they would fundamentally never see eye to eye. 

The newbie Magicmasters here hadn’t seen Fiends and Monsters striding around in the Outer World. Double or Triple Digits were one thing, but four-digit rankings and below were powerless anywhere but on the Institute grounds. 

No matter how strong they were, once they stepped outside, those who would die would die. 

That was all. 

A heavy sigh escaped Alus’ lips. Now he’d completely lost his focus. 

He could handle the teacher alone, no problem, and once done the lecture could go on without disruption, but it seemed that it was in this Tesfia girl’s nature to snap at people. 

Alus slammed his book shut, stood up, and started to leave the classroom. 

“Wait—you!” 

In contrast to the flustered teacher, Tesfia turned her back to Alus and spoke to the teacher with a triumphant expression. “Sir, dealing with an unmotivated loser like him will only be a hindrance to the lecture. So please continue.” 

Leaving the classroom behind, Alus headed for the library rather than his laboratory. Being in the same building as the classroom, he’d be able to spend his time there and make it back in time for second period. 

As expected, the library was filled with books wherever he looked. All of these books were on magic, without a single unnecessary volume present. To Alus, it was a room full of treasure. 

Of course, the unfortunate reality was that most of them would be of no use to him. In fact, it was very possible that he’d already committed all of the knowledge recorded in these books to memory. That said, it could be fun to try and see if there were any excellent finds to be had here. And because that would be a treasure, there was meaning in truly digging for the knowledge to be had in these books. 

This was the perfect place for him to resolve the frustration he’d built up in class. But in the end, Alus didn’t manage to find anything good. 

Time flew by, and the chime signaling the end of first period mercilessly rang out before he knew it. 

“I guess I’ll come back later.” Though unsatisfied, he reluctantly left the library behind.

The second period was training in the form of mock battles. 

Everyone was changing into the Institute-specified training uniforms in the locker room... but the men’s locker room was filled with sharp glances directed at Alus. 

“Tsk, if you don’t want to be here, then get the hell out already.” 

Alus could hear rude remarks like that, but he didn’t feel the slightest bit of discomfort. Having served in the military since childhood and achieved more than anyone else, hostile glares like these had been an everyday occurrence for him. 

Of course, as his achievements continued to pile up—and his ranking with them—the ridicule and scorn was silenced. 

In the past, he had feigned calmness, but now that wasn’t even part of his plan. He simply had no interest. He even felt somewhat nostalgic when bathed in that hostility and disdain. Swiftly changing his clothes, he stepped out of the locker room with a smaller book under his arm. 

In the dome-shaped training grounds, any physical damage was substituted with mental damage through magic, so while fainting was a possibility, no physical harm would be done. 

Mock battles were battles that made use of martial arts, weapons or magic. Your opponent in these battles was displayed on a panel in the middle of the dome. 

A teacher was present, but with the Institute students being so serious and dedicated, the chances of anyone using prohibited moves or cheating was very low; and since these were merely mock battles, the teacher paid only the minimum of attention. 

The teacher pushed the shuffle button. The display showed the names of all the participants that would be matched against each other at random. 

Ten groups were formed to hold mock battles out of the class of 40. In order to prevent groups from coming into contact with each other, magical barriers divided up the training grounds. 

Incidentally, weapons were allowed on the training grounds. Of course, these were restricted to weapons with mana applied to them. These assist weapons had their efficiency in conducting mana enhanced, and were intended to bring out the original performance of magic. These weapons were called AWR (Assist Weapon Recovery), or Aura for short. 

Swords and spears made from material whose only property was their hardness were useless against Fiends with their super-hard outer shells, so no Magicmasters favored them. Those kinds of weapons were purely for use against people, and carrying one around was like announcing they were just normal civilians. 

In the training grounds were all kinds of weapons prepared by the Institute. Being freshmen, very few students had their own personal Aura. Any that did, were those who had been trained to become Magicmasters before their admission into the Institute. 

Of course, Alus was one of those. But in his hands wasn’t a weapon, but a book completely unrelated to the purpose of this exercise. 

“That’s nobility for you.” 

Suddenly, a voice of admiration rose from someone in one of the corners of the training grounds. 

Glancing over, Alus saw Tesfia in the center of a group of students, with a single katana hanging from her thin waist. 

A katana, how old-fashioned... 

Even Alus, who’d seen all kinds of weapons in the military, only knew of a few Magicmasters that used a katana as their AWR. When it came to AWRs, a double-edged sword was more usable than a single-edge katana, and was becoming more commonplace. 

“This weapon has been passed down in my family for generations. Since I’ve always used this, it’s what I’m most used to.” Tesfia was probably the only one on the training grounds who had her own AWR. The only one in her class, and maybe even the only one in her class year. 

Students on their way to becoming full-fledged Magicmasters were going to have to discover their own magical characteristics as they kept studying, while also figuring out what kind of weapon worked best to draw out their full potential. That was why it was common to only get a personal AWR upon graduating from the Institute. 

Conversely, that meant that almost all full-fledged Magicmasters had their own AWR. The role of an AWR was to assist with the conduction of mana. It enhanced the conductivity. 

Rather than directly creating fire or water, passing mana through your AWR reduced leakage. Nor did you need to use an incantation to serve as the trigger each and every time. 

In fact, development of the AWR began before the systemization of magic. The traditional weapons humanity had used, firearms and bladed weapons, proved completely useless against Fiends. Though they might be able to scratch their hard outer shells, they couldn’t deal a fatal wound. 

AWRs were created by working under the principle of how to break through the Fiends’ outer shells and kill them. 

At the time, an AWR simply consisted of a hard, unbreakable weapon, with its lethality increased by endowing it with mana, but modern-day AWRs had developed far beyond the originals. By engraving a blade all over with magic formulas that were created through a combination of unintelligible forgotten characters—also called Lost Spells—it was possible to use magic with the weapon as a catalyst. 

Through that process, humanity succeeded in omitting the chanting step, and gained enough power to face the Fiends. 

That’s why, though they were Magicmasters, there were none that used wooden wands like you’d see in fairy tales, the reason being that they weren’t practical to use as weapons. AWRs prioritized magic assistance. It was difficult to engrave wands with magic formulas, further making them unsuitable. 

As admiration rained down upon Tesfia, she glanced at Alus and flicked her blade with a schhhing sound. The blade sticking out from her scabbard was full of engraved Lost Spells. 

She seemed to be provoking Alus, but he was planning on peacefully getting through this period as well. He didn’t want to let go of the book he was reading for even a moment during the breaks. 

Eventually the shuffle ended, and the names of his classmates that he didn’t know appeared on the display one after another. First training ground, second training ground, and on the third training ground, Alus’ name appeared. 

Tesfia’s name was listed for the eighth training ground. Fortunately, they weren’t on the same training ground, but since they were close, it was clear he’d end up being compared to her by the spectators. 

By looking down on him, they could reassure themselves of their own possibilities. Forming clear rankings allowed everyone to come to an understanding about who was superior. 

Without grabbing a weapon, Alus headed for the third training ground, while flipping through the pages of his book. 

His opponent was a boy he didn’t know. He was a classmate, but Alus had no interest in him. 

The boy’s crude short hair was a distinctive reddish-brown, and as expected his slanted eyes filled with contempt as he looked at Alus. In his hand was a borrowed sword-type AWR. 

The 20 students that were unmatched became spectators, and it was just as Alus had expected. Half of them chose to watch Tesfia’s match on the eighth training ground, while the other half watched Alus’ match. They were hoping that he’d eat dirt. 

Usually spectators would be bustling with expectation and analysis, trying to guess who would win, but the eyes on Alus were all jeering at him. It was like a distasteful freakshow for making fun of the weak. 

What to do...? 

The reason for Alus pondering what to do was because he felt a particularly sharp gaze on him. Alice was among the students spectating his match, but he didn’t feel it from her. 

That dubious glance was glued to him, closely following his every move. While it was uncanny, Alus’ worries lay elsewhere. 

He had actually already given up on this match. If anything, he wanted to lose on purpose so he could get this over with quickly. Though hiding his rank was part of it, he really didn’t want to waste his time. 

That said, even though he wanted to lose, he had no intention of taking any damage. 

He was thinking of a way to lose without taking an attack, and without letting the spectators catch on to his real objective... Deceiving the spectators and the teacher was easy for Alus, including Alice and Tesfia. 

The only one who weighed on his mind was the owner of that sharp gaze. 

He didn’t know who it was, but their skill was probably Triple Digit level. If that was the case, they shouldn’t be able to realize what Alus was doing... but he sighed at how uncomfortable it was to be watched. 

“Talk about lucky. This is perfect for me to try out the fruits of my daily efforts to my heart’s content. Ha, this is like going up against a punching bag,” Alus’ opponent said with a scoff. 

One contestant had a sword AWR, while the other contestant held only a book. To the onlookers, the outcome was already determined. 

The alarm rang signaling the start of the match, without giving either of them time to confirm the other party’s weapon. 

The male student began running. His amateurish movements were unbearable for Alus to watch. He was impressed that his opponent wasn’t embarrassed to do that in front of the spectators. 

It seemed like he was imbuing mana to his sword AWR, but the mana covering the sword was horribly sluggish. Not even the assist functions could help him. 

Alus matched the overly slow sword speed and made it look like he had just barely dodged it in the last second. In between attacks, his eyes ran through the pages of his book as he continued his reading. In fact, he didn’t even need to follow the sword with his eyes. 

His opponent backed up, putting distance between them, and poured a lot of mana into his sword. Responding to that, the magic formula engraved on the blade started glowing red. 

“‹‹Burn Edge››” 

Following that voice, flames wrapped around the blade. 

Normally it was possible to omit the incantation, but since Alus’ opponent had gone ahead and used an incantation anyways, he was either on the level of a five-digit or he was simply an idiot. 

Of course, even though it could be omitted, using the magic name had the effect of helping establish the phenomenon; but the satisfied grin on the male student’s face made it clear he didn’t understand what he was doing. His being able to exercise power with just the magic name was all thanks to the AWR’s assistance. 

Doing that without assistance put you on the level of a Triple Digit. To begin with, he probably didn’t even know that Burn Edge was an inferior spell. It was a simplified version of the advanced spell Flame Blade, its power being several levels below it. 

Seeing his opponent look so satisfied over using something like that was pathetic to Alus, and he almost felt embarrassed for him. The spectators weren’t particularly surprised, but they held their breath thinking the conclusion was near. 

Passionate cheers were coming over from the eighth training ground where Tesfia was fighting. 

Meanwhile, over at the third training ground, the spectators were muttering things like “almost had him” each time Alus barely dodged an attack. 

There was no tension to be had here, making for a large gap between the two training grounds. Neither that large gap nor their voices even registered as noise to Alus. 

Only Alice restlessly watched over the fight. Force poured into her fingers, and her firmly clasped hands seemed to be praying for Alus to stay safe. That was a glimpse of her natural kindness. 

The male student’s sword harboring magic approached. 

Since nothing good would come from prolonging the battle, Alus snapped his book shut, ready to finish things. He purposefully took on the sword swinging at him diagonally, but at the same time, he placed the book between his body and the blade. 

The resulting shock wave kicked up a cloud of dust. When it cleared, Alus was lying face up on the ground, and the heavily breathing male student was exiting his stance. 

The buzzer signaling the end of the match rang. 

“—!! Mr. Alus...” Alice voiced her concern. Since she believed he’d taken the attack head on, it was only natural that she sounded so distressed. 

Even seeing a lovely girl so worried for the defeated, the other students that had been looking on couldn’t restrain themselves from ridiculing the loser’s ungraceful blunder. Their expressions changed to those of contempt for the weak. 

But in contrast to Alice’s worries— 

“—!!” 

Alus got back up as if nothing had happened, much to the surprise of everyone present. He then opened his book back up and left the training area, without taking his eyes off the pages. 

Anyone who happened upon that sight would have asked themselves who the winner really was. 

Noticing the spectators’ dumbfounded expressions, Alus realized that he had made a mistake ending the match too quickly. The truth was that the students were astonished by how composed Alus was, but he failed to understand that. 

Alus thought to himself, how would anyone be damaged by a magic attack of that level. The best choice was to take the attack. If the fight had gone on, he might have ended up counterattacking by reflex. Trying to match the opponent’s lower level was unexpectedly difficult. The urge to continue reading had also played a part in his rush to finish the fight. 

Well, while I did act like I was defeated, it’s true I didn’t pay heed to the details and pull it off perfectly. After all, this match was a complete waste of time. 

Meanwhile, the dubious glance that had been on Alus vanished as soon as the battle ended. 

“Are you okay, Mr. Alus? Are you hurt anywhere?” As soon as Alus reached the outer edge of the training ground, Alice came running up to him, carefully examining his body. 

“You don’t take any physical damage on these training grounds.” 

“... Ah! Right you are.” The suspicious look on Alice’s face told him that something was still off. 

Glancing at his body, Alus realized he’d made a trivial mistake. He had of course been the one who created the shock wave just before the battle ended. That was meant to keep people from realizing that he was taking the attack on purpose, but since he hadn’t wanted to dirty his clothes over a farce like this, he’d unconsciously coated his body with mana. 

That said, it was nothing strange for a Magicmaster to do this. Whenever he was on a mission in the Outer World, he’d always emitted enough mana to cover his body. 

As a result, despite having been covered in a cloud of dust, Alus didn’t have so much as a speck on him. In the spur of the moment—“More importantly, don’t you have to look after your friend?” 

“Fia will be okay. She’s really strong.” 

Fia? Alus figured that was a nickname, but since he had no interest in the ongoing battle in the eighth training ground, he turned to look at his book. Since he’d used it to block the sword in the mock battle, he checked the cover for damage. Even though he’d covered it in mana, paper was paper. Fortunately it didn’t have any cuts, or even any dirt on it. 

Relieved to see it undamaged, Alus switched gears. “Alice, was it? It should be your turn soon, right?” 

“Yes.” 

Since Alus wanted to return to his own focus as soon as possible, he’d skillfully changed the topic. “I may have lost, but good luck. I hope you win.” 

“Of course! I won’t hold back. You don’t get a lot of chances as a freshman, after all. And Mr. Alus, even if you weren’t hurt, don’t force yourself.” Alice gave him a broad smile and rolled up her sleeves, as if to say, ‘leave it to me.’ 

He’d said things he didn’t mean to her during the flow of their conversation, but he didn’t want to drag this out any longer. He parted ways with Alice, and leaned against a wall near the door. It seemed he was feeling a little fatigued having spoken more than usual. 

To Magicmasters, mock battles were one of the most exciting lessons. As the use of magic was forbidden outside of the training grounds, it was the perfect place to test your growth. That’s why the freshman Alus, who’d already lost interest, not joining in with the rest of the spectators must have been seen by the others as a loser resigning himself to his fate. 

Tesfia’s battle appeared to be over, and the cheers from before had turned into praise for the victor. As Tesfia left the training ground in high spirits, Alice ran up to her and began talking about something. At the same time the edges of her lips raised, and she cast a glance towards Alus, smiling at him. 

Alice then stepped into the eighth training ground. Her opponent was a male student, but gender didn’t matter in a battle between Magicmasters. That was because magic skills played a much bigger part in the outcome than sheer physical strength. 

Unlike the students that had watched Alus’ battle to laugh at him, Alice was the definition of serious. Considering it gratitude for her worrying about him felt a little strange, but Alus devoted some of his precious time to watch her match. 

Alice was holding a naginata in her hands. 

That’s another old-fashioned one. 

However, Alice’s naginata handling was a sight to behold. It wasn’t that her attacks were fast, or her skills polished, but her movements were very fluent. She still had plenty of room to improve, but her switches between offense and defense were brilliant. It looked like acrobatics, but she’d refined her movements to reduce her openings as much as possible. 

The naginata was something she’d borrowed from the Institute, but she wouldn’t be able to handle her weapon like that if she were unused to it. Seemingly, she excelled at using long weapons like spears. 

Martial arts at this level was worth seeing, but that alone wouldn’t decide the outcome of a battle between Magicmasters. Magic was what would determine that. 

Against Fiends in a real battle, using a technique to imbue your weapon with mana—also known as an enchantment—was effective, but fundamentally speaking it didn’t compare to a direct hit from a spell. 

There were also many Fiends that could reduce the damage from cuts and gashes, or even regenerate from such wounds. 

When fighting Fiends, you either needed to accurately strike their weak point, their core, or destroy it entirely through a high-powered attack. In that regard, the use of magic was effective both in power and extent. The position of the core varied depending on the Fiend, so getting an accurate grasp of its location was difficult. 

Alice’s opponent was using a knuckle duster. It was one of the major weapons used by Magicmasters that preferred close combat. An ‹‹Ice Arrow›› was created at the tip, then the arrowhead was punched and sent flying. 

It was a first-rank spell that beginner Magicmasters often used—Magicmasters that had only received an elementary education. It was the first spell that was taught, and it could be used with any of the basic attributes: fire, water, ice, wind, lightning or earth. 

Alice spun her naginata around. As she did, the blade began to faintly glow. 

“...!” 

The moment the Ice Arrow touched the naginata, it shattered into pieces. But that wasn’t all. The shards of ice bounced back and assaulted the male student that had launched the attack. 

He took a direct hit. 

His eyes closing, he collapsed to the ground, unable even to break his fall. The match had been settled in an instant. 

As with Tesfia, cheers erupted at the prowess of the class’ two four-digit rankers. 

Alice exited the training ground with a spring in her step, high-fiving Tesfia, as if they’d decided it beforehand. 

That was ‹‹Reflection››... No, it was ‹‹Reduction››, wasn’t it. 

Reflection, commonly referred to as Counter, was an intermediate level spell. Reduction, which was one step higher, wasn’t the kind of spell that students could use. Both belonged to the light attribute. 

However, there were few who could use light attribute magic. A person’s suitability for most magical attributes was acquired after birth, but the light attribute required an inborn quality. As such, there were few Magicmasters who could use it. 

As for magic attributes, apart from earth, water, fire, wind, ice and lightning, there were also light and dark, which were also called elements.

There were also natures that didn’t belong to any of the above. 

Like what Alus had... 

As the training entered the second half, it switched almost completely to self-study. It was time set aside for learning new spells, or to polish the ones you already knew. No matter how much you practiced magic, none of it would go to waste. 

While there were differences between people, the mere act of repeatedly using mana increased your vessel’s maximum capacity. 

Mana was created endlessly within the body, but it only filled up your vessel until you reached the upper limit of your capacity. Once full, the upper limit would halt any further creation of mana. But it was possible to expand your vessel by expending and recovering mana. 

While one’s upper limit was what it was at birth due to individual differences, mana capacity could be increased due to the ability to expand it through training. 

It was normal for freshmen students to not have clear-enough challenges for them to study on their own, so they passionately continued their mock battles even into the self-study period. 

Amongst them—Alus was shamelessly indulging himself with reading. 

The training grounds were pretty much uniform, with an abundant amount of dirt spread out on the ground. This was out of consideration for Magicmasters of the earth attribute. So while it was a little dusty, it was nothing a little mana couldn’t solve. 

Right now, there should be no one who would bother him. They should all be too busy spectating matches or finding opponents, so the loser who had distanced himself from them should be out of sight, out of mind. 

... Or at least that’s what Alus thought. 

“Leave him be!” 

“This will be the perfect medicine for him. Hey, come with me for a minute.” 

Suddenly, voices. Alus looked up to see Tesfia staring down at him, with Alice trying to stop her. 

Alus didn’t even try to hide his fed-up expression. He put his finger in-between the pages and sighed. “You really are persistent. I wish you’d put yourself in my shoes.” 

“Don’t dismiss lightly what you did.” 

“Hm? What are you talking about?” 

“Wha—! I won’t let you say that you’ve forgotten about insulting the Fable family!” 

I guess something like that did happen. It had only been a few hours, but it had been something so minor that it still took Tesfia mentioning it for Alus to remember. “What about it?” 

“—!! What about it, you say... Don’t mess with me! You have no idea what it means to bear this name. It’s not something you can brush off so easily!!” 

Even with her saying that, it was Alus’ true opinion, and it really was just a minor thing to him. If anything, he was more upset about her getting in the way of his reading over something like this. 

Alus was starting to run out of patience. Today is a rotten day. He reluctantly stood up, and because of their difference in height, wound up looking down at her. “That was my bad. So just stop bothering me.” 

After coughing up this empty apology, his eyes returned to his book. 

“Don’t look down on me!!” She angrily slapped the book out of his hand and sent it flying. 

The spectators turned to look in their direction, as they heard Tesfia’s angry voice. They wondered what was going on, surprised by her menacing look and the seriousness of the situation. 

Everyone fell silent. Even the students locked in mock battle stopped what they were doing. Getting their focus disrupted over something like this, even though they were in the middle of training, was a sign of their inexperience. 

The pages of the book he’d been reading fluttered about before rolling around on the ground, collecting dirt. 

“Fia!!” Alice shouted out, warning that Tesfia had crossed the line and gone too far. 

Tesfia sensed the serious anger in her best friend’s sharp voice, and took a step back. But her eyes still blazed with furious resentment at Alus. 

Since the redheaded Tesfia was flaring up this much at Alus, she must have a lot of pride. It had only been a trivial thing to him, so he felt she was being conceited. However, it was different to her... still, that just showed how immature she was. 

She had never seen a Fiend and was completely complacent about living in peace, ignorant of the noble Magicmasters that stopped the Fiends from invading. She was unaware of just how valuable and meaningful the barrier was that kept them out. She was just a child. Her nobility was immature and incomplete, as she had no idea how harsh reality actually was. 

After entering the army, Alus had been subjected to hazing by adults who were one or two times his size. These adults had felt jealous or inferior and made Alus go through a trial by fire. As such, he’d acquired the mental fortitude to brush off most things. It certainly hadn’t been smooth sailing for him. 

But even with his self-restraint, his displeasure with Tesfia’s conduct won out. 

“Face me!!” 

Alus felt like the situation had advanced to the point where neither side was going to back down. He slowly walked over to where his book had fallen and picked it up, wiping the dirt off of it. 

This wasn’t going to be settled by giving up the win like he had against the male student. Either way, he didn’t intend to lose. He’d need to make things clear once and for all so she wouldn’t mess with him anymore. 

In the military there were methods of domination through force or fear. Those methods though tended to evoke antipathy, not to mention how barbaric it was. 

There was a tendency among Magicmasters to use their ranking to determine who was superior, and look down on those below. As such, seniority was pounded into everyone to ensure that there was no effect on command. 

That was something Alus could do as well. And while it wasn’t something praiseworthy, he could expect it to bring success. He figured he could at least go that far. 

In fact, if he didn’t, he’d end up wasting a lot of the next three years dealing with unnecessary meddling and trouble. 

It looked like this girl who had treated these precious pages so callously would need to be taught the value of power born from the wisdom of magic research.

Alus stroked the cover of the book with care, as he looked up at the girl who still glared at him with hostility. “After school. I’ll get hold of the training grounds, so you can’t complain about that.” 

“That’s fine.” 

“Fia. Not you too, Mr. Alus...” 

“Let’s put down some conditions before a witness. It’ll just be you against me. Don’t bring your gaggle of fans in. Sorry, but—Alice, was it?—you’ll be our witness.” 

“I don’t mind that, but...” While it was clear from Alice’s expression that she wanted to stop them, she refrained from saying anything further. 

In the end, this was what they both wanted. Regardless of how it started, Alus accepted Tesfia’s one-sided demands so their showdown was decided on by the consent of both parties. And because of that, Alice could only watch over them. 

The option of avoiding it altogether had dwindled away. Tesfia’s anger wasn’t going to subside. Neither would Alus’... Difficult situations like these often led to breakdowns. 

“I accept a duel after school on these training grounds. Only the three of us here will be present...”

There was still an hour left before lunch break, but Alus swiftly changed clothes and left the grounds. His destination was the principal’s office. 

Normally, use of the training grounds was requested by going through official procedures at the reception desk, but as Alus needed to keep his rank confidential, his circumstances were special. In order to stop any curious onlookers from attending, he needed to reserve the entire grounds. 

“I don’t mind, but do spare me from things developing in the worst direction possible.” 

“Of course. If anything, I’m offended that you’d think I’d get serious against a child.” 

“A child, is it... So, who’s the idiot that managed to get you angry?” 

Alus was treating someone his age as a child, but Sisty was painfully aware that he didn’t mean it literally. The worlds the students and he lived in were different, and as such neither of them found any fault with asking the question. “I think she was called Tesfia or some such...” 

“—!! That’s the daughter of the Fable family!” Sisty’s wide-open eyes were filled more with unease than surprise. She suppressed the urge to cradle her head. “I don’t suppose... I could get you to call it off?” 

“Not possible. She’s the one gunning for me. If anything, I’d like you to say it to her. Besides, mock battles between students are officially recognized by the Institute. If the principal arbitrates the matter, that’s only going to make things even more problematic.” Driving the point home further with the principal, Alus’ gaze implied that her intervention would be useless. 

He then closed his eyes and let out a gloomy sigh. As Alus opened his eyes again, they were full of despondency and annoyance, showing that he’d had enough. “I’m already losing out on my precious time, so I’d like to make this the only time.” 

The principal seemed to have more to say as she opened her mouth, but then she resigned herself. She did add—“The Institute’s training grounds aren’t as effective as the military’s, so do make sure you don’t go too hard on her.” 

Physical damage taken in the training grounds was converted to mental damage, but if a Single Digit so pleased they could cause serious aftereffects even with the substitution. 

“I know.” With that, Alus turned to leave, but on his way out he found a convenient weapon to use for his after school duel. “Do you mind if I take this?” 

“I don’t, but what will you use it for?” 

“For the mock battle of course... all the books I have on hand are precious, you see.” As he said this, he casually grabbed an Institute pamphlet off the table. It wasn’t even a centimeter thick, but that shouldn’t be a problem. 

“Are you sure about that...?” 

“This will be enough. I know what she’s capable of.” Showing the pamphlet to the principal, Alus clad it in mana. The pamphlet that had been curving slightly as paper will, suddenly shot straight up and remained unmoving. 

Seeing that, the principal’s eyes shot open. Her anxiety eased a little. “Looks like I don’t have to worry. That’s the first time I’ve seen a mana bestowal so beautiful.” 

“Thank you very much. Well, as you can see, this should be more than enough.” 

“Very true.” 

The smoother the flow and conduction of mana, the more effective the power and structure of a spell. Even the most trivial of objects could become powerful weapons with perfect mana control. 

So if Alus were to imbue a common sword with mana, it would be more powerful than a first-class sword. That’s why limiting himself to paper should allow him to better balance the difference in strength between him and Tesfia. 

That said, Alus’ idea of balancing wasn’t quite applicable here. In a battle, the clashing weapons’ true worth was only brought out when the opponents were somewhat equal. In this case, Alus was only using a worse-performing weapon for the sake of lowering his attack power. Paper imbued with mana wouldn’t be able to deal any serious damage to Tesfia’s mind like the principal had worried about. 

Of course, things would be different if Alus didn’t use the pamphlet as a catalyst, instead hitting her with magic directly. 

Alus stopped himself from saluting, but that wasn’t because he was being polite, but more due to his time in the military. Instead, he bowed and took his leave. “See you.” 

“...”

Returning to the classroom was a pain. 

That wasn’t because Alus was bothered by his classmates’ stares, but rather because the lessons were tiresome. If attendance didn’t count toward his credits, he would never so much as step foot in the classroom. 

He left the building and went to his laboratory. His movements unlocking the door were smooth. It didn’t take that much time either, as all he had to do was pour some mana into the panel next to it. Locking it worked the same way. 

Of course, you couldn’t use just any mana. Like the differences in mana capacity that people had, there existed magical information such as the arrangement of mana that differed between people, which was used to confirm their identity. 

As this was something Alus used daily, the moment he touched the panel he poured enough mana to confirm his identity. 

With a misshapen sandwich in his hand, Alus had a lonely—though he didn’t think anything of it—lunch in his room. If he went to the cafeteria on the Institute grounds, he’d be able to enjoy a good meal, but he’d never paid it a visit. That was because he preferred to read books and rummage through documents, even while eating. Even now, he hadn’t so much as cast a glance at the bread he was eating. 

Suddenly, Alus recalled the dubious gaze he’d felt during his mock battle. Who was it? 

Then again, it wasn’t really a problem. The principal would know of anyone who was persistently observing Alus at the Institute. 

Maybe it was a grudge or jealousy, but assassination or terrorism was too outlandish. And if the other party had no intent of harming him, there was no need to go out of his way to investigate. If the situation ever became urgent, he’d find out anyways. That’s all it was to him. 

Alus cut his thoughts short, and cast a glance at the adjoining bedroom. He could see a black attaché case in there. Inside it was his only partner that he had fought with at the frontlines. 

Alus’ AWR was special-made. It was a unique existence that was a result of his research, and he had added his own touch to it. Its name was Night Mist. 

Having decided to retire from the frontlines, he hoped he’d never have to use it again. But the reason he’d brought it with him might not have been because he simply couldn’t escape his habits developed in the military, or because it represented his precious research results. 

Those were only justifications, as Alus might instinctively feel that the harsh outside world was the place where he belonged. 

Fifty years had passed since the White Tower was erected, and a barrier to stop the Fiends’ invasion put in place. The sky seen from inside was fake. It was a vivid blue sky every day, a filtered fake sight. That’s why those who didn’t know of the outside world knew not of rain or snow. They didn’t know the existence of thick clouds, nor of a sky dotted with scattered clouds. 

They didn’t even know the smell of greenery that the wind brought with it. All they knew was the sky with the same clouds traveling in the same direction every day. 

The real world was the Outer World that the Fiends ruled. 

He didn’t know how many times he’d gone to the Outer World on missions. 

But every time he did, he was greeted with sights that made his heart dance. This had sunk deep into Alus’ mind.

Before he knew it, lunch break was over and the lessons had already started. 

Alus had been so focused that he hadn’t even heard the chime. Still, he wasn’t in a rush as he reluctantly headed for the classroom, still holding the book he hadn’t finished reading. 

Having taken his time, the lecture had begun in full by the time he got there. When he entered, though it was for his own convenience, he did have enough sense not to disturb the others. He opened the door and sat down on a chair without making a sound. Though even then, a person entering in the middle of the class hour stood out. 

The glances thrown at Alus were far from friendly. They were so intimidating one might even hear the clicking of tongues from them. 

Alus brushed it off with a composed attitude, but he thought he heard whispers cursing him out. Maybe rumors of his quarrel with Tesfia had spread. 

Tesfia’s and Alice’s rankings were already known throughout the Institute, which was only natural. Freshmen having four-digit rankings was more than sufficient to expect them to have a promising future. 

On top of that, their looks were more than enough to call them beautiful. 

It wasn’t hard to imagine that their beauty only spurred the rumors on more, immediately granting them celebrity status. 

The atmosphere around Tesfia was noble and attractive, her unyielding eyes were far from a flaw, and only helped to bring out her grace. Her height was on the short side, but even that added to her loveliness. 

Alice’s tender smile that she always showed on her face was full of affection. Meanwhile, her long slender limbs were alluring, giving off an adult charm. 

Together they made for the perfect picture. 

Alus, having ended up in a confrontation against them, had made an enemy of practically all the first-year students. Moreover, his attitude toward the lectures rubbed the serious students the wrong way. It didn’t sit right with him, as he hadn’t caused trouble for anyone. 

He wasn’t open-minded enough to be considerate of students whose motivation was affected by other people’s attitude toward studying. It was a waste. An effort in futility. 

Alus didn’t concern himself with people whispering behind his back. But if it started to get in the way of his research time, he had no choice but to take action. 

Even now, a crumpled scrap of paper flew past Alus. 

It flew past him—because of course, he had avoided it. 

Another one followed. 

If this was something Tesfia had instructed people to do, he could just repay the favor after school; but the person in question was fully focused on the lecture at hand. It didn’t look like Tesfia was pretending not to notice, either. Her gaze was solely on the characters projected on the display in front, and she was fervently writing them down. 

While Alice had noticed what was going on, she couldn’t bring herself to speak up about it. 

Finding the culprit and firing back would only make the situation worse. But not even Alus was thick-skinned enough to maintain his focus despite having things thrown at him. 

Even if he could, that would be a defect instead. Magicmasters required keen senses to survive on the battlefield. Missions in the Outer World lasted longer than a day. You needed to endure the fear and anxiety of Fiends attacking while you ate and slept. 

Because of that, Alus’ senses had been trained to the point of not missing so much as a footstep as long as he stayed focused. That’s why these students were bandits stealing Alus’ time. 

He straightened up the first paper ball that had flown at him, tearing it into strips and crumpling them up. He then poured mana through them. 

Covering an object in mana was one of the most basic techniques, but it relied heavily on one’s innate disposition; and those that struggled with that at the start had a hard time moving forward. But once learned, it was like riding a bike and you wouldn’t forget the trick to it. 

Alus put his mind to it and covered the scrap paper in mana. 

This technique was used with weapons as well. When covering an object in mana, the most important thing was to see the object as being a part of your body. Magicmasters were able to sense the mana generated inside of them. So while there were differences in skill, everyone should be able to consciously circulate mana through their body. But after the mana left the body, it became difficult to perceive. 

It was possible to perceive it through the materialized phenomenon after activating a spell, but that was due to one’s mana being converted through the magic formula into magic. While there was no doubt that mana passed through magical phenomena, it wasn’t mana itself. 

Alus could feel the rugged surface of the paper scraps, now hard as rocks in his palm. With a dull, thin membrane stretched across them, Alus manifested a minor amount of basic wind magic at the tips of his fingers so that nobody would notice, and flicked his thumb. 

The scraps looked like they flew off in random directions, but then ricocheted and struck the necks of five students. 

The five that had been pegged as the culprits thanks to their whispering, trembled like they’d been shocked, and in the next moment they collapsed onto their desks all at once. 

That was only on the level of a peashooter. Just some scraps of paper made a little harder, but he’d been able to knock them out by accurately targeting the neck joint. 

As for power, it was on the level of a chop to the back of the neck. No external injuries, the only evidence was crumpled paper, and nobody had noticed. 

Even Alice, who had anxiously been throwing glances in Alus’ direction was less suspicious about how the prank had stopped and simply looked relieved. She showed no signs of having discerned the truth. 

After that, Alus was able to peacefully spend the next two lectures until school ended for the day. 

The five still showed no signs of waking up, but of course he hadn’t killed them. By the time homeroom ended, they finally came to. All of them had confused faces, wondering why they’d fallen asleep in class as they rubbed their eyes. 

But in the next moment their expressions changed. When they realized that they’d missed the entire lecture, the panic on their faces made their aspirations clear. 

Then again—the moment they decided to play stupid pranks on Alus, their aspirations couldn’t have been all that serious.

Finally, it was after school. 

Perhaps because it was a daily routine, or maybe it was only natural, but the students that should’ve been making their way home all gathered around Tesfia and Alice, discussing magic. 

Tesfia was the very picture of an honor student during the lectures. That’s why it made sense to presume she was smart. That wasn’t all, as on top of that her personality and Alice’s personality also attracted everyone. 

Moreover, rankings served as a clear hierarchy for these aspiring Magicmasters. While the saying “if you can’t beat them, join them” may have been exaggerated, there was a tendency to follow those with a higher ranking, while working toward raising their own as much as possible. 

Those seeking to become Magicmasters naturally ended up in a structure bound by ranking, so it couldn’t be helped. 

This time, however, the two had plans after school. “I’m sorry. We have some business to attend to,” Tesfia quietly told the circle, and Alice followed with, “The teacher called for us. See you tomorrow.” 

Tesfia gave Alus a glance and urged him on with her eyes. Her powerful gaze seemed to be telling him not to forget their promise, but also intimidation to keep him from running away. 

The students around them protested for a moment, but with a legitimate reason like the teacher calling for them, there was no one that stopped the pair. 

“Can’t we wait until you’re finished?” The female student saying this was holding a textbook on magic basics. Her petite and adorable appearance was like that of a small cute animal, but that likely would only have an effect on the male students. 

Why not just approach the teacher directly? Alus thought to himself, but that was expecting too much worldly wisdom from the Magicmaster students. The idea was to get close to these two with promising futures. Of course, there might be some who simply wanted to be friends with them, too. 

“I’m really sorry. I don’t know how long it will take. But I intend to finish it as soon as I can.” The last part had some implications embedded in it, but only Alus and Alice noticed that. “I’ll meet you tomorrow.” Feeling bad about it, Tesfia gently tried to smooth things over. 

Hearing that, the female student bloomed into a smile and gave her a “Thank you” as she grabbed her bag. 

“Let’s go, Alice.” 

Alice, who’d been restless the entire time, gave Tesfia a nod and sighed. 

Normally, a single student wouldn’t be able to reserve the entire training grounds. That’s why even for Alus, this was one-time special treatment. 

So there was nothing strange about the principal hiding herself in one of the second-floor corners and watching over the duel, nor was it anything for Alus to bring up. Though she may have been hiding, she was well aware that Alus had noticed. 

In short, she was hiding so that Tesfia and Alice wouldn’t notice. 

And one more thing. Alus had a hunch about the gaze he’d felt during his mock battle. That was most likely someone working under the principal’s direction. 

“Does she really think I’m going to mess things up?” It didn’t sit right with Alus, but he supposed that was just how influential the Fable family was. 

And Tesfia’s own ranking only helped back that assumption up.

A disposition towards magic wasn’t necessarily tied to one’s bloodline. 

There were no guarantees that an excellent Magicmaster’s children would be the same, and vice versa. 

Some things were inherited, such as mana capacity and basic ability, but the skills for handling mana and magic were in large part formed after birth. 

So it was common for children with exceptional Magicmasters as parents to receive training from early childhood, the idea being that if their vessel for mana was large, it was easier to get the know-how and skills to sink in. 

On top of that, influential families had the time and funds for training, so even without an inborn sense or talents they could still raise an elite Magicmaster.

“Sorry to have kept you waiting.” 

Tesfia, having changed into her training uniform, entered the field with her katana in hand. 

Alus had already changed as well. Normally there was no need to actually get changed. But if they’d gotten into yet another quarrel because of it, that would just waste even more time. 

Tesfia and Alice looked around the training grounds with perplexed looks, having noticed that nobody else was around. 

With all combatants present, the principal should be locking the entrances around now. 

“How unusual for there to be no one around,” Tesfia mumbled to herself, unaware that Alus had reserved the entire training grounds. “Well, no matter. Let’s hurry and get started.” 

Since there was no need to divvy up the training grounds, they could use all of it to their heart’s content. However, Alus didn’t think there’d be a need for that, and Tesfia seemed to be imagining herself striking him down in an instant, as she had a mocking smile on her face. 

That’s when something caught her glance, and her smile turned to one of displeasure. She raised her eyebrows as she stared at Alus’ hand. Seeing the pamphlet in it, she questioned him... “What are you playing at?” 

“Don’t worry about it.” 

“You really like making fun of me...” 

A flustered Alice hurried in between them and managed to make each take a few steps back. 

Alus then quietly said, “I have some conditions before we start. If I win, don’t interfere with me anymore.” 

“IF you win. If you like, I could even look over your studies.” 

“No, no need. And if you win?” 

“I’ll of course have you apologize.” 

“Got it.” He’d already apologized once before, but it seemed that wasn’t good enough and that he’d need to be more earnest about it. 

Thanks to Alice, the loud buzzer signaling the start of the match rang out through the training grounds. 

—At the same moment, Tesfia unsheathed her katana and flew straight at Alus. Compared to the male student he’d gone up against, her physical skills were far superior. 

Alus rolled up the pamphlet in his hand and covered it in mana. 

When evaluating Magicmasters, there are commonly used approximations of ability. One of those is the quality and degree of perfection of the AWR. The AWRs had strong connotations with being assist weapons, and they all without exception made use of rare materials, which excelled in conducting mana. 

Blending those in with the core as it was being formed led to an increase in mana conductivity. On top of that, by writing magic formulas directly on the surface, AWRs could assist by allowing the immediate use of complex spells. 

The surface of Alus’ rolled-up paper was also covered in mana. It wasn’t like other objects couldn’t conduct mana; it was only harder to pass through. And since the pamphlet didn’t have any magic formulas engraved on it, it wouldn’t assist with the use of magic. 

Another approximation was the skill used when covering an object with mana. Wrapping mana around an object like what Alus had done to the scrap papers, was fundamental for enhancing mana conductivity. And that action also led to improving the strength of a weapon. 

It was possible to measure skill to a degree by observing any stagnation of the mana covering the object, the total mana around it, the state of the flow and so on. 

But this was only useful up to Triple Digit Magicmasters. And Double Digits required perfect mana control. 

So in this situation, since Tesfia was still in the four digits, measuring the workmanship of her mana coating was perfect to approximate her skill. Then again—Alus had already confirmed some of it during her mock battle. 

Like Tesfia herself said, her katana was of really high quality. But her skill with it wasn’t up to par. At her current state, the katana was a waste on her. 

The way she moved her body was one thing, but her mana covering the katana was only somewhat better than the other students. Her latent mana capacity was rather high for a four-digit though. There was clearly surplus mana leaking from the katana, distorting its shape. 

Double Digit Magicmasters were able to limit mana output to the bare minimum required, leaving the mana coating just barely visible, but... the only benefit of using more mana was increasing the strength of the AWR. 

And since the sharpness dropped instead, she was practically putting her inexperience on display for all to see. 

But worse than that, more mana than necessary was wasted. 

By increasing the power, you had to accurately model the mana after the blade, or it would be unusable. As a result, though Tesfia’s katana was beautiful, she was turning it into a blunt instrument. That katana of hers would be useless in the Outer World, even if it was an AWR. 

“Haaaaa!!” 

Alus didn’t dodge the katana swinging down from above. 

Immediately after, a grin appeared on Alus’ face— 

“—!!” 

Tesfia was astonished by her blade being stopped in the middle of her attack. 

As was Alice, who’d been looking on from a distance. 

After all, the sharp katana had been blocked by a mere pamphlet. And instead of tearing it apart, she’d been unable to so much as put a scratch on it. 

Alus waited a moment until Tesfia could return to her senses. He’d served down a punishment for her rough treatment of a book, a well of wisdom. That’s why the Institute pamphlet was just right. 

Quickly recovering from her shock, Tesfia leapt back and distanced herself from him. “You’re kidding!! ...That’s no normal paper, is it?!” 

“Oh no, it is. It’s an Institute pamphlet. You got one too, didn’t you?” 

“—!!” 

Alus unrolled the pamphlet and showed it off. On the cover was a picture of the Institute’s buildings. 

“That’s a lie! There’s no way some scrap paper can block my sword!” 

“Yet it did...” 

As if gritting her teeth, Tesfia squeezed her katana harder. “It’s not possible!” 

No matter how much mana covered some paper, there was a limit to its durability; even if Alus made it harder, it would easily lose against Tesfia’s katana. Though that was under the assumption that your average Magicmaster was doing it... 

Just passing mana through a roll of paper was challenging. These kinds of aberrant skills were a sign of Alus’ Single Digit Magicmaster status, but Tesfia quickly came at him again, dragging her katana behind her. However, no matter how many times she swung her blade, every swing was blocked by the pamphlet in Alus’ hand. 

She swung down from above one last time— 

“...” 

Alus secretly let out a sigh in his mind. Despite being at such close quarters, Tesfia was unleashing wide swing after wide swing. There should be a limit to how many openings she could have... 

And Alus wasn’t patient enough to wait for her attack. 

“—!” 

His pamphlet powerfully struck Tesfia’s cheek. 

A loud sound slashed through the tense air, filling the training grounds. Based on the difference in sound, that wasn’t a slap from a paper roll but more like the impact from a blunt weapon. 

After a momentary pause, Tesfia was sent flying off to the side as if she’d been run over, rolling across the ground before collapsing. Her red hair was sprawled across the ground. 

“Fia!!” Seeing Tesfia roll like that caused Alice to instinctively raise her voice. 

That wasn’t the force of a rolled-up pamphlet. Even taking the training grounds’ damage substitution into account, it was a strike equal to one you’d use against a Fiend. 

Which was why it was more than enough to send Tesfia’s small body flying. 

Having been watching objectively, Alice was convinced that it wasn’t a magical attack. There’d been no incantation, and no sign of any mana flow. Yet a roll of paper didn’t have anywhere near the strength to easily send a person flying through the air. 

Alus felt some guilt in hitting a woman’s face. But on the training grounds that was all turned into mental damage, so there would be no injuries or marks. 

Most importantly, there was practically no difference in power between men and women looking to become Magicmasters. 

As he’d faced her, acknowledging that she was a Magicmaster, while Alus might have held back because her skills were below his, he didn’t treat her any differently because of her gender. 

A short silence ensued. As Alice started to run over to her friend— 

Tesfia’s hand shook a little. She slowly raised her head and feebly stood up. Using her katana to support herself, she rubbed her cheek while staring in amazement. She probably still hadn’t grasped the situation. 

Alice seemed to be perplexed by what had happened to send Tesfia flying. “Are you okay, Fia?” 

“...Y-Yes.” While she’d grandly soared through the sky, she shouldn’t have taken any physical damage. In the end it was just a roll of paper, even with mana coating it, there was a limit to its power. 

Remembering that she was in the middle of fighting Alus, Tesfia glared at him and spoke in an angry tone: “What did you do?” 

“I only hit you with this.” 

“Don’t try to fool me, that didn’t feel like paper. It was like I was hit by something hard...” Tesfia stroked her cheek again, remembering the sensation and seething with anger. 

Magicmasters were able to perceive mana as light. As such, Tesfia’s katana also had a faint light, showing mana was passing through it. 

The pamphlet also had mana covering it, which was why it had blocked the attack, and had normally unthinkable power behind it. 

But to Tesfia, it was only natural that it’d look like mere paper. In fact, it did just look like a normal pamphlet. 

Alus had used his overwhelming technique to maximize the efficiency of his enchantment. 

Four-digit Magicmasters were one thing, but it was still too much for a freshman like her, so she couldn’t be blamed for not noticing. 

And since he had only enchanted it the moment before it came into contact with his opponent, to onlookers the rolled-up paper looked like a hard rock completely rejecting the sharp blade. It was an exquisite performance made possible by the vast difference in skill. 

“Maybe you’d figure it out if you’d have read that book you slapped out of my hands,” Alus said accusingly. The book Tesfia had hit was the fruit of labor born from the long years of ceaseless efforts by researchers. Desecrating the wisdom that could be gleaned from it was a matter of morals to Magicmasters. 

“Kuh...” 

“So are you going to give up?” 

“I don’t know what you did, but don’t get full of yourself because you managed to get a hit in.” 

“Fia! Isn’t that enough?” Alice tried to pacify her, but as expected, Tesfia didn’t seem to care. As if linked to her anger, the mana overflowing from her body increased. 

“What are you saying, Alice, he only managed to hit me through luck... I’m going to defeat him right now.” Tesfia took a deep breath and thrust the katana in front of her. Using two of her fingers, she stroked across the length of the blade. The magic formula characters engraved in the sword began to light up from where she’d stroked them. 

“Fia, that’s going too far!” Alice must have guessed what Tesfia was doing. But her shouts didn’t reach her, as Tesfia’s fingers went all the way to the tip of the blade. 

Tesfia quietly turned the edge horizontally, gathering mana throughout it. It coursed through her body into the AWR, gradually creating some light. The mana that was gathering residual mana from the surroundings into a single point was already bringing about a spell activation phenomenon. 

A massive lump of ice was created in the air, with a crackling noise. 

And when Tesfia slightly swung her katana down, the surface of the ice broke, revealing a large and transparent ice sword. 

‹‹Icicle Sword›› 

As the unique names of spells were recorded in an encyclopedia, that name was already well known to Alus. But since it was an old-fashioned spell not really suited for combat, this was the first time he’d seen it up close. 

Another reason why he hadn’t seen it was because this was part of the Fable family’s forte, and also because it was a traditional spell. 

“That’s amazing.” Alus didn’t just praise the skill in creating the block of ice, but also the shaping of the ice sword. In practical terms they were naïve forms, with wasted parts standing out like sore thumbs, but they also had a mysterious attraction that charmed those who saw them. 

To someone like Alus who used magic for the sake of lethality, it was like he was bearing witness to the original beauty of magic. 

Most of all, considering it wasn’t the kind of magic an ordinary freshman could use, he gave Tesfia a straightforward compliment. Though it remained unclear if she’d heard him, as she wordlessly swung her katana all the way down. 

In response, the ice sword rapidly accelerated straight towards Alus. While it was fast, it still looked like a sluggish, simple attack to him. So dodging it was easy. 

Alus only had a single goal in this duel-like mock battle. That was less to keep Tesfia from interfering with him, and more to retaliate against her for her desecration of humanity’s precious wisdom. Well, from his point of view. 

This was most likely the strongest spell she could use. As proof of that, she had a pained expression, and her shoulders were trembling from the large amount of mana she had used. 

Alus boldly faced the attack. It wasn’t even a gamble. That was just how feeble the attack was to him. 

“No! Look out!” Alice screamed, with a pale face. Seeing Tesfia’s reckless attack as a danger to Alus, she seemed to be chanting a barrier spell, but she didn’t have anywhere near enough time. 

Freshmen weren’t that used to chanting, what with the popularity of AWR and their omittance of incantations... but halfway through her incantation Alice abruptly stopped, emitting a loud scream as Tesfia’s attack was about to hit Alus. 

Alus expelled some air from his lungs. He focused his mind on his knife-hand. 

Its form was a sharp blade. Strong steel capable of cutting through anything. The mana covering the hand began to slightly increase, forming a short blade of mana. 

The steadily flowing mana had created a sharp mana blade. 

The clash lasted for an instant. Alice turned away, while Tesfia had an expression that seemed regretful for going too far, as well as resigned to see things through to the end. 

However, the outcome the girls expected didn’t happen. 

A moment later, Alice opened her eyes. Not because she’d prepared herself to see the worst possible outcome, but rather due to hearing an unthinkable smashing sound. 

Alus was still standing with a cool look on his face, perfectly safe. And behind him was the ice sword, cleanly cut in half and reflecting the ambient light. With the mana composing the sword cut apart, the sword was unable to maintain its shape and began to crack with a snapping sound. 

The sound grew louder as the cracks ran across the sword, until they reached the end. The sword didn’t shatter, but rather dispersed into mana. 

“—!! No way...” Tesfia let out an astounded gasp, while Alice stared on in confusion as she let out a sigh of relief. 

What did Alus do? Sisty was probably the only one that understood it. 

Normally, mana was only the source required for using magic. Putting the mana itself to use required something far beyond common sense. 

Most Magicmasters fixated on the world as they saw it, and tended to balk at creating something new. Since scholars existed as well as Magicmasters, this offered a great excuse for Magicmasters who saw defeating Fiends as their job and who considered devising the magic for it the job of the scholars. Any phenomenon a Magicmaster came across that they didn’t understand, they could leave to the scholars to figure out. 

What Alus had done was a delicate manipulation of mana. Fundamentally, it worked on the same principle as coating a weapon with mana, which involved imbuing the physical form of the weapon to give it a sharper edge and stronger durability. By making the mana independent of the object it covered, it was possible to form a mana blade. 

Generally speaking—that was a contradiction. But that’s where a loophole made possible by Alus came into play. 

Realistically, it was impossible to use affinity-based mana on organic matter to create a mana blade. But hidden within the process was the wisdom of negating mana. 

In other words, this was how it worked. First, one temporarily impaired the properties of the mana covering the object by overlaying it with more mana. By doing that, the underlying mana lost its property of being absorbed by organic material and became inorganic residue. 

In a way, it was a technique to change the nature of mana, the rest being just general application of enchantments, covering the now inorganic residue of the first layer of mana with mana form. 

That’s all it was... and yet... 

That required command over the mana generated within, and enough mana control skills to casually and freely control it at will. 

And Alus was likely the only one capable of that. After all, it wasn’t based on the common concept of how to use mana. For most people, mana was seen only as the energy required to use magic. As a result, it was normal for them to devote themselves to the mastery of magic itself. 

That’s why the girls couldn’t understand what happened. 

In the midst of the silence, Alus walked up to Tesfia without a trace of aggression or fighting spirit. 

Tesfia still failed to understand what had happened to her. She hurriedly readied herself at Alus’ approach. 

But there was no tension in the air, no hostility coming from him. 

Tesfia’s body stilled. She closed her eyes as Alus raised his arm. 

The pamphlet in Alus’ left hand gently struck Tesfia’s shoulder. 

The battle was over. 

Alus didn’t really have any intention of knocking her around. All he wanted to do was teach her about reality and destroy her pride. That’s why his finishing move was a gentle one. “I’m sorry.” 

“—!!” Taken aback by Alus’ sudden apology, Tesfia was so surprised she was at a loss for words. 

Alus wasn’t admitting defeat. He was simply apologizing. Tesfia understood the outcome of their match better than anyone. That’s why he didn’t need to make it clear, and say it out loud. 

“It wasn’t like I was trying to insult you, but I’m sorry if it sounded like it.” Alus bowed to Tesfia, giving her an earnest apology. 

While he meant to fix any misunderstandings with this, Alus also had an ulterior motive. He hoped everything would be resolved with this. Tesfia had the apology she wanted, and Alus wouldn’t have her interfering with him any further at the cheap cost of some pride. 

They’d each achieved their demands, so now they had settled things without any future problems. 

“... R-Really? I’m sorry for getting so worked up, too,” Tesfia apologized, a surprised expression still on her face. 

While she had a headstrong side to her, it seemed Tesfia also had a solid understanding and grace to her, too. That’s why she apologized despite the unsatisfying ending. 

“Then, I’ll take my leave here.” 

“Wai...” 

Alus moved past Tesfia, but as he did, she grabbed hold of his sleeve. He reluctantly turned to face her, an annoyed expression on his face. “What?” 

“... How did you do it?” Tesfia meekly asked, with her face turned away. 

It was an unspoken agreement between Magicmasters not to pry into each other’s mysteries and specialties, even if they were classmates. Tesfia’s knowledge of her own novice status made her ask timidly. 

Alice, equally curious, had come closer so that she too could hear Alus’ answer, quietly perking up her ears. 

Alus tried shaking off Tesfia’s hand with a couple of light shaking moves, but she must’ve been holding on tight as her hand didn’t budge. Not sure what to do, Alus glanced toward the seats in the corner. 

He didn’t have high hopes, but this wasn’t something he could decide on his own. If he revealed the trick to his technique, the girls might pry into his rank. 

Fortunately, Sisty understood the circumstances. In the next moment she revealed her presence in a nonchalant fashion, clapping her hands in praise. 

Tesfia and Alice looked over at Sisty. “Principal Nexophia!” 

Sisty ceased her applause and easily jumped down from the seats, from several stories up. Just before she landed, she gradually slowed down her fall, making it look like she was floating for a moment before touching down. 

“That’s the Fable family’s daughter for you! What a high-level mock battle you’ve shown me.” 

While Sisty was now the principal of the Institute, her personal history was something everyone who aimed to become a Magicmaster looked up to. However, Alus was unable to read her true intentions and so he stared at her dubiously. 

Principal Sisty seemingly pushed aside Alus’ reaction, stepping forward as if to say ‘leave this to me,’ while telling Tesfia, “To think you’d be able to use such a high-level spell as a freshman.” 

“... Thank you very much. But why are you here?” Tesfia’s bitter expression at being defeated turned to glee at being praised by a former Single Digit Magicmaster. 

“That’s because Alus asked me to reserve the training grounds. And I came to observe.” 

“—Hey!” Alus panicked for a moment as his secret was revealed. 

Now the two girls were staring at him, as was Sisty. 

“Alus Reigin, wasn’t it? Who are you? You even sliced my Icicle Sword in half like it was nothing...” 

“That sort of thing is no trouble for him. I came here to observe because I was worried about you,” the principal told Tesfia, with a radiant smile. 

Remembering Sisty’s look from before, Alus decided to leave it to her. Besides, it was the Institute that had asked him to keep his rank confidential. He himself wasn’t all that fixated on it. As long as he could secure time for himself... 

However, the conversation appeared to be heading in a turbulent direction. 

“What do you mean?!” Tesfia was closing in on the heart of the matter, and Alice came up next to her. This was the question they were both wondering about. 

“Well, it would be faster for you to see it with your own eyes.” The principal turned to Alus, and pulled out a card. 

“A license?” 

“Yes. This arrived from the military this morning with instructions to hand it over to Alus.” 

“...” 

Alice had realized what the card was, and had asked a question she already knew the answer to. But the principal’s statement made her and Tesfia wonder where the military came into this. 

Alus, on the other hand, had an idea as to the principal’s intentions. That’s why he wasn’t particularly surprised when her finger touched the rank on his card as she handed it over. 

“—!!” 

Pure mana light leaked from the card, forming a holographic screen in the air. Displayed on the screen were the numbers... 1/119550. 

“No way!!” 

“—!!” Tesfia let out a yelp of surprise. Alice couldn’t even make a sound. 

“Do you understand now?” 

“... Eh? ... He’s...? But...” Tesfia pointed at Alus with a trembling finger, while staring at the principal. 

Out of all the Magicmasters, numbering more than 100,000, he was only one of nine Single Digits. 

And the greatest of them all, at that. The current No. 1 of all the Magicmasters. 

It wasn’t strange that Tesfia’s words turned into a groan. 

“Haha... that’s an interesting reaction. I was surprised when I saw his profile, too. And his achievements.” Sisty acted bright and cheerful, but she couldn’t help but feel depressed when she remembered it. She easily imagined the heavy responsibility on his shoulders, and his solitude. It was no doubt a harsh fate. She felt her chest tighten when she thought about it. 

“Eh, but we’re the same age...” Tesfia’s finger was still pointed at Alus’ face. 

Generally, Magicmasters didn’t get into the details of learning magic until they entered the Institute. Of course, elite nobility like Tesfia were exceptions to that. 

As for Alus, he was an exception among exceptions. Even the fastest-advancing Magicmasters usually only awakened to their true potential after graduation. 

There was no way a Single Digit Magicmaster would be the same age as her. This was what showed on Tesfia’s face. Yet the No. 1 on the license had an overwhelming presence, and with the principal’s affirmation there remained no room for doubt. 

Alice, in contrast to Tesfia who was at a loss for words, had managed to calm down a little. 

Alus didn’t want to brag, but he was curious at Alice’s reaction and asked her, “Alice, you don’t seem too surprised.” 

“... Ah. Yes! What might it be...” Her response was full of respect, and she sounded more than surprised enough. 

Where did that friendly tone of hers go... “You don’t have to be so humble, that would only trouble me.” 

“... O-Okay.” Her cheeks turned red as her expression eased up a bit, but she still seemed a little stiff. 

“Alus is an exception. I don’t know what the cause of this quarrel was, but he’s achieved a lot at the frontlines... So his values might be too different from yours.” 

As the principal said this, Tesfia looked at Alus suspiciously, and with scorn in her eyes. Her doubtful stare pierced him. 

Her attitude towards Alus, who ranked higher than the principal, probably wasn’t just because she’d hated him up to a moment ago. But Alus decided to leave it be, figuring this was a typical attitude for Tesfia. 

He turned to Sisty. “More importantly, I believe you were the one who told me to keep my rank confidential.” 

“I changed my mind. I felt like we could tell these two. This might be some twist of fate.” 

So Alus’ question of why was clear now. It was Sisty’s whim. 

“Make sure you don’t reveal this to the other students or teachers, you two. I’d rather not hand down punishment to Institute students.” 

“... Yes.” 

“I understand.” 

There was a strange threat mixed in there. Tesfia answered the principal in a still-unsatisfied tone, while Alice mechanically nodded, her answer immediate. 

Having received their word, Sisty turned to Alus. “For what reason are you doing research?” The question seemed sudden, but her tone made it sound like she already knew the answer. Her goal appeared to be to have Alus say it himself, so the two girls could hear. 

“Because I want to take it easy.” 

“...!!” The two had stupefied looks on their faces, while Sisty sighed as if she’d expected as much. Alus’ accomplishments were abnormal even if you didn’t take his age into account. Sisty was, of course, aware of that. In the modern era, where 16 year-olds were treated as adults, Alus just happened to be 16. And it was common for Magicmasters to be considered full-fledged professionals upon graduation from the Institute. 

In other words, Alus had been thrown out into the Outer World where the Fiends ran rampant while still only a child in the eyes of society. There was no way that wasn’t abnormal. 

In the minds of the military’s top brass, protecting humanity’s domain from the Fiends and reclaiming lost territory was always the top priority. There was no leeway for letting a powerful Magicmaster play around. 

Alus and his overwhelming talent for magic had gotten him quickly thrown into live combat. His achievements were the result of that, and, Sisty felt, his request to retire was the inevitable consequence. When she received the military’s instructions to enroll Alus in the Institute, she’d also received secret directions that went against those received from another source. 

Using humanity’s sake as a justification—those directions were to have Alus return to the battlefield at a point in the future. 

Sisty had slammed her fist on her desk in anger when she received these secret directions. 

Her Institute had produced countless excellent Magicmasters who were used to relieve the Magicmasters on the frontlines, yet the pigheaded top brass relied on a single overly-superb Magicmaster. 

Of course—it was because of him that many of her former students hadn’t been thrust as often into hostile lands, and that the general Magicmaster death toll had dropped. 

Sisty felt unbearable, complex feelings in this matter. She understood Alus’ desire, the super-clever freshman’s plan to put the adults to shame. 

So she temporarily put aside the military’s secret directions. Wrapping her arms around Alus from behind, pressing her body into his body, she whispered something in his ear. 

Sisty had created this sensational-looking sight on her own accord, though Alus was unmoved. He heard the sweet voice whispering in his ear, but he simply looked off into the distance, indifferent to her charms. 

Of course, Tesfia and Alice didn’t have the courage to intervene between two Single Digit Magicmasters, mostly out of respect for the principal. 

Sisty’s whisper said the following: “Then, won’t you be able to take it easier if you don’t just focus on your research, but... also make these two stronger?” 

Alus smiled bitterly. This was the real reason Sisty had revealed his rank to them. 

Of course, Sisty had her own self-interest at heart as well. No matter how promising Tesfia and Alice were, they wouldn’t be able to replace Alus. If the army insisted on eventually bringing Alus back to the frontlines, then cultivating bonds so he would have more of a reason to fight wasn’t a bad idea. 

Sisty had her own reasons for empathizing with Alus. When still in the military, eight years ago... she’d met a young Alus. But it seemed he didn’t remember, and she didn’t see the need to remind him. After all, it probably wasn’t a good memory for him. 

Alus glanced at Tesfia and Alice. Like Sisty said, they might have exceptional talent, even among all the Institute students. They might not be able to win against third-years close to graduation, but they could put up a good fight. 

However... “No can do. Training these girls won’t help me to take it easy.” 

“But that’s only if they live their lives as normal and go on to graduate.” 

“... What do you want me to do?” No matter what Sisty suggested, Alus was sure it would only chip away at his research time, yet he chose to listen. Because there was still a faint chance he’d be able to take it easy. 

“Why don’t you try guiding them so that they can fight in actual combat?” 

“Not possible. I don’t have the knowledge to pull that off.” He wasn’t being modest. He’d never taught anyone anything. 

But Sisty insisted otherwise. “Don’t worry. When it comes to combat skill, there’s no one that compares to you.” Along with her sweet smell, Sisty’s bewitching lips came closer to Alus’ ear, and she tightened her arms around him. 

Tesfia and Alice, looking on, blushed a little at the somewhat immoral scene. 

It wasn’t forced, but there was an irresistible will behind it. 

“If the time between my research sessions would work...” Alus reluctantly yielded. If he ignored the principal, who was the highest authority at the Institute, he might end up losing even more time than this. 

Besides, it might not be so troublesome after all... Alice was one thing, but Alus’ wishful thought was that Tesfia wasn’t the kind of girl that could honestly ask him to teach her. 

“I thought you might say that.” The arms that held him finally let him go. 

Through this exchange, a clear hierarchy had been established for Alus’ time at the Institute. I guess Sisty’s age-changing abilities aren’t just for show. Alus realized Sisty was a step or two ahead of him when it came to bargaining. Thanks to her, Alus’ condition of Tesfia not interfering with him anymore was practically guaranteed. 

“Can I go now?” Having been defeated in this, Alus wanted to leave as soon as possible. He also wanted to avoid losing even more research time. 

“For now, yes.” 

“... For now, is it.” Alus was fed up with the thought of more trouble, but he returned the rolled-up pamphlet to Sisty and began walking toward the training grounds exit. 

As he passed Tesfia and Alice, the two looked his way with great interest. 

Tesfia opened her mouth, seemingly about to say something, but in the end she said nothing. Quietly, but so the principal could hear, she muttered to herself, “What is this world coming to if that’s No. 1?” On top of that, Alus had retreated from the frontlines for the purpose of taking it easy. She found that unforgivable. 

—In that instant, she winced as something assaulted her body. A freezing killing intent was directed her way. 

It was Sisty who was directing it. 

A small bit of the former Single Digit Magicmaster Witch’s power had assaulted Tesfia. 

Alus could feel the killing intent directed at the girls behind him. He found it immature, but kept walking. 

The two girls remained behind. Alice felt as much dread as Tesfia, to the point that she couldn’t look the principal in the eye. 

Tesfia got that she’d angered the principal, but didn’t understand the cause. Or, it was more accurate to say that fear had stopped her head from working properly. 

“He’s gone through a lot, too.” Sisty, after a small sigh, broke the tense air. She smiled wryly at Tesfia and Alice. “If you two are looking to reach the top of the Magicmasters, you should ask him for advice. I’ve already told him, so don’t hold back.” 

“—!!” Tesfia was surprised, but couldn’t really rejoice either. She still didn’t understand his greatness. And that killing intent from before—she actually considered the principal to be more amazing. 

Alice, on the other hand, was enthusiastic. “Eh?! Can we really?” 

“—!! But Alice, he’d be the one teaching us!” 

“Isn’t it amazing though? We’d be the only ones taught by the strongest Magicmaster.” 

It was an unbelievable stroke of luck, being able to receive guidance from the top of the Magicmaster world. It was rare even to be taught by a Double Digit Magicmaster. Even getting close to a Double Digit was difficult, unless you joined the army and became strong enough to fight by their side. 

“That’s true, but...” There was still a part of Tesfia that couldn’t accept reality. She was aiming for a high rank so as not to bring shame to her family name. While she’d never dreamed she could become a Single Digit, she’d at least wanted a ranking close to a Double Digit. 

It was the perfect chance, but it didn’t sit right with her. Though Alus was a Single Digit Magicmaster, because of their heated argument Tesfia still couldn’t imagine herself being his student. 

“I won’t force you. But there would certainly be things you could gain by having him teach you.” Sisty saw Tesfia’s easy-to-read expression, admonishing her like a child. 

“Can’t you be the one to teach us instead, Principal Sisty?” Tesfia asked, making it clear this was her foremost wish. Of course, Sisty was the principal, so Tesfia didn’t really think it was possible. The principal had asked her to turn to Alus for guidance because Alus was a fellow student. 

“I’m a busy person, you know. And even if I were to listen to your request, I can’t just give you favorable treatment.” 

“Yes... of course.” As Tesfia already knew she’d say that, she didn’t say anything else. 

* * * 

Alus quickly returned to his reading upon arriving back at his room. 

He’d planned on devoting himself to his research and regain the time he’d lost, but couldn’t get into it. That was because of the principal telling him to teach those two girls how to fight. 

Alus wasn’t enthusiastic about the suggestion. In fact, he disliked it and felt uneasy. Even if he were to try to instruct them, there wasn’t much he could do. 

The most effective way to train Magicmasters was to have them fight Fiends. That’s how it had been for himself, after all. 

It was common for Magicmasters to get trampled on by the abnormal Fiends without being able to lift a finger, no matter what kind of powerful magic they used. There were a lot of Magicmasters, but fewer than half showed true guts by not backing down in their first battle against a Fiend. 

Fear of death was an emotion that got in the way of using magic. Magicmasters needed to stay calm in any circumstance. As long as they believed in their possibilities, there would be hope regardless of how desperate their situation was. 

True despair came from not being able to believe in yourself. In those cases, Magicmasters wouldn’t be able to make use of their greatest weapon—magic. That was the inexperience, or rather the fault, with those Magicmasters. 

Alus believed they could refine their abilities if they improved their magic skills, but that point of view didn’t allow for a person’s mental aptitude for being a Magicmaster. 

He hated himself for making a promise without considering it first. Although it was too late for it now, he couldn’t imagine that he’d be able to take it easier while training the girls. 

“What do I do?” He figured Tesfia wouldn’t come beg him to teach her, but Alice on the other hand almost certainly would. It was an extremely troublesome situation for him.

The next morning, Alus was greeted with the same suspicious looks as yesterday when he’d entered the classroom. The chatter he heard before opening the door turned into silence. 

The hostile glares mostly came from the other male students. That just meant that the female students had a clearer view of what to prioritize. This kind of difference between men and women was noticeable in the behavior on the frontlines, too. But those differences were better for lacking the harassment factor. 

Alus, of course, ignored that Tesfia’s glance was among the ones directed his way. That there was no hostility in her gaze was a more than good enough result. But he also felt a kind of expectation mixed in there. He had a bad feeling about it, but decided to dismiss it as his imagination. 

Anyway, as one not to shrink from people’s stares, Alus got to studying. Nearly all of today’s subjects were standard lectures. None of the subjects interested him, so he participated as little as possible.

Third period. The lecture before lunch. 

If Alus had to say it was better or worse, he’d clearly call it for worse. Because somehow, all of his lectures were the same ones that Tesfia and Alice had. 

Alus wondered where Tesfia’s honor student behavior had gone. She kept glancing at him, despite being several rows ahead of where he sat in the corner of the furthest row. It was happening so often that Alus was getting annoyed by it. 

“Hey!” 

Unfortunately, Alus’ call out to Tesfia got picked up by the teacher’s sharp ears, who misinterpreted it as a reaction to a class question. 

A chain of misfortune ensued. 

“You’re... you’re Alus, was it... I see, I see.” The teacher looked down at his register, taking a brief pause before continuing, “Then how about you answer this question.” He pointed out the liquid crystal display. 

Alus could tell it was a lecture on Fiends based on the abnormal appearance on the screen, but he hadn’t been listening to the lecture. He needed to surmise the question based on the flow and what the point of the question was. 

However, it was still just a lecture on the basics. With Alus’ wealth of knowledge, there was no way it could be a challenging question for him. From what he could tell, it was a lecture on the Fiends’ origin and the threat they posed. 

Alus put a bookmark in the book he’d been reading and stood up. “Fiends suddenly appeared around 100 years ago. There are theories as to their origin, but with humanity so cornered, our current technology and knowledge aren’t enough to be able to draw conclusions. However, the technology of the time was unable to stop the Fiends’ advance, and it wasn’t until the deployment of magic in the military that we could successfully obstruct them. Fiends are rated based on their strength and how much of a threat they pose, with eight classes ranging from F to SS. A sighting of an SS-class Fiend has only been confirmed once, 50 years ago.” 

Alus wasn’t sure what the question had been, but seeing as how this was an elementary lecture, this answer should be enough. He tried to sit back down. 

However, the teacher seemed dissatisfied with the answer. “That’s insufficient to answer the question.” 

The liquid crystal display changed, showing several types of Fiends. The caption read, “Subjugation,” revealing the footage’s theme. 

A sigh escaped Alus’ lips. Here he’d gone and lowered the level of his answer to match the elementary level of the lecture... 

The teacher was feeling a sense of rivalry, probably fueled by envy in regards to Alus’ mysterious treatment, and he’d already forgotten about using questions and answers to guide the students. If anything, that whip of malice he called a teacher’s pointer was swung down solely on Alus. 

“Depending on the class, the army divides Magicmasters into subjugation squads and dispatches them. Squads are normally formed of four or more. This is the smallest number of people needed to maintain a formation in case of an unexpected event. Against A-class Fiends, squads are mostly composed of Double Digits; for B- and C-class, Triple Digits make up the main force with a Double Digit captain for the most part. For Fiends ranked below that, Triple Digit Magicmasters and below are most commonly assigned.” 

Alus’ already hostile tone had now completely lost all the formalities typical of a student-teacher relationship. 

The students were left behind and dumbfounded. They all turned to look at Alus. 

The teacher ground his teeth. His cheek twitched. “T-Then answer what the procedure is to request a Single Digit Magicmaster.” Considering his desperate expression, the teacher was either trying to protect his pride as a teacher, or trying to satisfy himself by driving Alus into a corner. 

Information regarding Single Digits was confidential and kept from the public. There was no way a student should be able to know the answer. 

But it wasn’t the kind of question to pose to an active duty Single Digit. 

Tesfia cast an interested glance Alus’ way, while Alice had her whole body turned his way, eager to hear his answer. 

“The nine Single Digits have the same rank as a general, and the Governor-General is the one with authority over them. Normally, they are assigned S-class Fiends and above, but if there are no orders they can move around freely. They are also referred to as a commando unit. A difference between them and ordinary Magicmasters is that their missions are primarily not the extermination of non-essential Fiends, but the reclamation and expansion of a nation’s domain.” 

Seeing as how the teacher’s jaw was practically touching the floor, there was no doubt that Alus’ explanation had completely stunned him. 

Alus turned to look at the screen showing the differently-classed Fiends. “Returning to the topic at hand... Fiends become stronger by eating mana. That’s why they target humans. As Fiends also have an organ that generates mana like humans, cannibalism amongst themselves isn’t unusual. I mentioned there were eight classes, but there is also a special type of Variant class. This is when two or more Fiends merge, or more rarely when a Fiend cannibalizes another Fiend or eats a human. It’s difficult to give them an accurate class, and their class is estimated by summing up the classes of the individual specimens. So unfortunate events such as letting a Fiend escape, only to find them again after they’ve become stronger, is something that happens from time to time.” 

Then Alus let something unnecessary slip. 

“Because of that, even low-classed Fiends can reach a higher class through repeated cannibalism or other methods. And high-classed Fiends will stop being on guard against the barrier. The Fiends’ advance is currently being obstructed by the barrier deployed by Babel in the center of the seven nations, but scholars believe that the barrier’s overall potency is weakening every year...” 

After saying this and looking around, Alus noticed that everyone was intently listening to him. And he realized that if he said any more, he’d end up talking about top secrets even the teacher had no idea of. “Is that enough, sir?” 

“... Y-Yes. Take a seat.” 

Alus feigned calm and silently sat back down. 

He could hear curious conversations going on around him.

That was right. Babel’s barrier, responsible for stopping the Fiends’ advance, was growing weaker with each passing year. 

It was said that the reason was the barrier had to be expanded to cover the regained territories, with the result being the overall strength of the barrier weakened as the area it covered increased. 

In the past, weak Fiends hadn’t even tried to approach the seven nations’ territories, but that trend was gradually starting to change. In parts of the barrier that were especially weak, even B-class Fiends had managed to invade. 

This was something only a few in the military knew. 

Of course, all the Magicmasters had noticed the increased number of missions to deal with invading Fiends, but none of them speculated aloud about it. 

Alus had ended up divulging that information, but since his rank was confidential, his remarks would be brushed off as the idle gossip of a freshman student. 

There were now, however, some that knew Alus’ position... and Tesfia’s and Alice’s faces had gone pale. They’d stopped glancing his way. 

Alus cursed himself for letting something like that slip, but since it had freed him from their staring, he decided to let it be. 

However... 

Once the lecture ended, when lunch time began, Tesfia ran up to him. She forcibly pulled at his arm and dragged him up to the roof, with Alice following closely behind them. 

From an onlooker’s perspective, a man and two women running off like that looked as though it might develop into something indecent... but since two of the three were Tesfia and Alus, most of their classmates figured it was just more quarreling. 

Fortunately, since classes were just ending, there was no one on the roof. 

Tesfia flung the door open and pushed Alus onto the roof. Though it might not have been their intention, the way Tesfia and Alice stood at the door blocked his escape. 

Tesfia said, “What do you mean by what you said before?” 

“What are you talking about?” 

She showed no signs of apologizing for rudely forcing him onto the roof, but Alus wasn’t particularly offended by this. He’d already resigned himself for something like this when he’d let the matter slip. 

“About Babel’s barrier weakening.” 

“Did I say something like that?” He felt a light headache coming on when he realized he’d have to pay for his blunder, but he gave feigning ignorance a try. In fact, it was the only choice he had left. 

“You did!!” 

All he could do was shrug at Tesfia’s assertion. 

“Mr. Alus, is it true?” 

“So what about it? It has nothing to do with you two.” He tried to make it ambiguous, but that only confirmed it in Alice’s mind. 

Alice looked at him with a sorrowful face. The wind rustled her chestnut-colored hair as she took a step forward to make her determination clear. “It does have something to do with us. We’re striving to become Magicmasters to fight against Fiends too... so don’t say something so sad,” she boldly said, with grim resolution. 

But those were just the words of someone who still hadn’t come face to face with the unknown. It was a hollow sentiment, not backed up by substance. 

But it was too late to smooth things over now. 

“Again, so what. It’s not something the likes of you can do anything about right now.” 

“That’s true, but...” 

Alus’ retort was harsh, but if he didn’t go that far she’d only keep hanging on. He had said ‘the likes of you,’ but now that they knew his abilities they weren’t going to argue with him about it. 

They had no choice but to calmly accept the difference in ability between them, and grit their teeth over the unfavorable reality. 

“You’re wrong!!” Tesfia rejected Alus’ statement. 

She wasn’t being rash and emotional like yesterday. Instead, she was refuting his way of thinking with earnest eyes. “If there’s no time, then leisurely spending the next three years at this Institute is something to be ashamed of. Shouldn’t we be prepared to fight at a moment’s notice?” 

Her red hair glowed in the sun, and her eyes shone with seriousness. 

While Alus thought she was being unreasonable, he found her appearance refreshing. 

But when she followed this up by thrusting her finger at him, as if to say ‘how about that,’ Alus smiled wryly at her haughtiness. The deep impression he’d received for a moment disappeared, leaving behind what was merely a very competitive girl. 

When you thought about it, the fact that she said that meant that she indeed had been spending her time in a leisurely fashion. Of course, if she had the skills to back it up he wouldn’t have anything to complain about. 

While he made fun of her in his mind for being a mere student who’d never even seen a Fiend, her self-awareness was worthy of praise. It was worthy of praise, but— 

“That’s why you’ll train us to fight against the Fiends.” 

“No way,” Alus immediately refused. 

“—!!” 

It was only obvious, looking at it objectively, that he’d refuse considering the way she was acting wasn’t the way you asked for a favor. 

However, to Tesfia, that way of asking was the result of her clashing with her pride, and ultimately bearing the shame of it. That’s why she never expected she’d be rejected. 

The way she was rendered speechless, with her eyes darting around, was the very definition of flabbergasted. She was completely dumbfounded and rendered spiritless. 

“Mr. Alus, please.” 

“... I’ll think about it. The principal did ask me, after all.” 

“—!! Hey!” Since Alice had asked, and Alus’ answer left room for consideration for her, Tesfia returned to her senses and fiercely protested, “Why is it okay if Alice asks you?!” 

“I don’t care if you’re nobility or what, but that’s not how you ask someone for a favor.” 

“Urk...” 

It appeared Tesfia was unable to offer a rebuttal after Alus’ perfectly valid point. Fortunately it didn’t look like she was going to condemn him for insulting nobility again. As proof of that, Tesfia seemed like she wanted to say something, but swallowed her words. 

“To begin with, devoting time on the likes of you would be a waste.” 

Even though these two were undoubtedly the top rankers in their class year, they still couldn’t say anything back to a Single Digit Magicmaster. 

“... But the principal said that you would take care of us!” 

“...” Alice gave Alus ‘puppy eyes.’ Those clear eyes fluttered with enthusiasm and expectation, giving off a dazzling light. The look invited compassion while at the same time being strangely meek. It was a little unfair. 

And she did have a point. Sisty had indeed asked him, and Alus had also given her a somewhat affirmative answer. 

Maybe I was being too hasty, Alus thought to himself, while shaking his head. “She did say that... I think... well, fine, and what about you?” 

“Eh?!” 

He’d heard Alice’s intentions, and the principal had asked him. But the red-haired girl was still sulking and pouting, so he demanded a redo from her. 

Tesfia straightened her posture, a beat off. Her glance drifted away from Alus, possibly compromising her pride as she began to blush. After putting a hand on her chest and exhaling, she put one of her legs back and lowered her head. “Can you please teach me...” She then raised her chin, turning on ‘puppy eyes’ and blinking repeatedly. 

“...” Alus looked her over blankly. What an obvious act, it was clearly a rehash of Alice’s successful ask. 

After several seconds of silence, Tesfia’s mental fatigue, or sense of shame seemed to get to her as she turned her face away and started blushing again. Her lips trembled, like she was just barely holding back a storm of complaints. 

Meanwhile Alice had decided to keep quiet, scratching her cheek with a wry smile. 

“That’s some prideful humility there,” Alus said sarcastically, seeing her put on such an obvious display of humility she couldn’t possibly be sincere about. 

Tesfia reacted sharply, quickly shooting a hateful glare at him from the shame she was feeling. 

But as Alus saw the beginnings of tears forming in her eyes, he decided to help her. “I was joking...” 

“Y-You really are the...” 

“Well, I did say I’d take care of you, but I will prioritize my own research. There’s no guarantee that you two will become useful Magicmasters.” 

“Wha...” 

Alus’ one-sided manner of speaking must have sounded horrible to the two girls striving to become Magicmasters. 

Alice let out an awkward sigh and scratched her cheek, but the unyielding Tesfia obviously wasn’t going to be able to accept it. Or rather, if she didn’t say something back and vent her frustrations, her red face would never return to normal. 

“You can’t tell until we try. Maybe we’ll become strong enough to be able to fight side by side with you.” Her tone was meek, and she showed no signs of flaring up like before. 

Alus figured she’d learned at least that much. “That’s not what I meant. You two are considered excellent, right?” 

While they still had reservations, this completely unexpected praise coming from Alus momentarily put a surprised expression on their faces. 

“... O-Of course,” Tesfia responded, putting on as much of a face as she could. 

Normally, this was where she would confidently declare as much, but with the Magicmaster before her being No. 1 himself, nobody could blame her for faltering. 

But Alus sighed, and corrected the misunderstanding. “That’s not what I meant. There’s no guarantee that all excellent Magicmasters will be useful in battle. You two have never seen Fiends, right?” 

His tone of voice wasn’t looking down on them. Neither was he flaunting his own power. If anything, it was more the tone of someone older speaking to children, with some caution mixed in. 

While the two should have seen Fiends in their classroom material, that wasn’t what Alus meant. The two obviously knew that, and nodded their heads. That was only natural. 

It wasn’t just the two of them, either. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say none of the Institute’s students had. Alus was saying they were still inexperienced. He believed that you weren’t a full-fledged Magicmaster until at the very least you had completely dispatched a Fiend. 

In fact, that was the junction at which you could tell if a person would be useful or not as a Magicmaster. A mountain all Magicmasters crossed. 

That wasn’t all there was to a Magicmaster, but Alus left that aside for now and continued, “There are those who can’t use magic when faced with a Fiend. If that happens, it will be very difficult for that Magicmaster to step out into the Outer World. So even if I go forward with your training, and your ranks increase a little, there’s no telling if it will actually lead to something.” 

“Hmph... that’s not a problem. If anything, that’s something we’ll find out when we try.” 

Tesfia shrugged the matter off, but based on Alus’ experience that was the kind of person that was useless in live combat, and he gave her a cynical look. He didn’t say anything out loud because he didn’t want to repeat the same mistake as before. 

People accepted things differently. Alice, unlike Tesfia, accepted Alus’ words as those of the No. 1 Magicmaster with a meek look on her face. 

Someone like Tesfia who underestimated their opponent was a problem. And nothing could be gained when acting timid before a battle even started, like Alice. It wasn’t a matter of one being better than the other, but Alus believed the former was more likely to die early. 

“We’re going to start today.” 

Alus’ light headache took a turn for the worse as Tesfia took control. Not even the dignity of being ranked No. 1 stood a chance. Of course, this was just limited to Tesfia. 

My time... 

Suddenly, Tesfia showed hesitation, mumbling “Alus and Alice...” She began talking to herself, ruminating over something. “... It’s too confusing.” 

What’s this redhead saying? Alus thought to himself, as a serious urge to hurry back to the classroom began to bubble up inside him. But with the girls in front of the door, his escape route was blocked off. Which was why he silently waited for her to continue. 

“It’s too confusing, so change your name.” 

This out-of-the-blue order was given to him, from someone who’d known him for two days. 

This suggestion left even Alice dumbfounded, and her jaw went slack before turning to a bitter smile. Finally, she gave Alus an apologetic look, as if to say she was used to her best friend’s pushiness. 

Even if all logic was disregarded, Alice should be the one changing her name, not him. Or I’d like to say, but this isn’t the time for that. In fact, why do I have to get involved in something this illogical, Alus thought to himself as a fed-up feeling washed over him. “Keep talking.” 

Just answering Tesfia felt like a waste... but saying so would upset her. Or perhaps not, as she put her finger on her chin and said, “Then how about Al? You’re Alus, so... Al.” 

“How am I even supposed to answer that?” Alus struggled to respond to a nickname he’d never been called before. When he’d been in the army, there was a period when they called him by his number, but he’d been called by his name far more. 

No, there was one who’d casually called him something like that... 

Alice, in contrast to the confused Alus, looked happy. “Yes, that’s good. Mr. Al sounds more approachable.” 

“Then it’s decided.” The surprising suggestion somehow received approval after Alice got involved. It seemed Alus’ own will and assent were completely unnecessary for the decision. 

However, Alice’s “Mr.” was something that he couldn’t overlook, so he decided to straighten that out. “Alice, you don’t need to add a Mr. to my name. I’m not adding a Ms. to yours.” 

“That’s true, it does feel a little formal.” As a smile broke out on Alice’s face, any stiffness from yesterday disappeared. 

“Al, huh...” Alus moved his mouth, but he wasn’t sure if his voice came out. The only thing he was sure of was that Tesfia and Alice hadn’t heard him. It was just one fewer syllable, yet it sounded completely different and left him with a strange sensation. It was an emotion he hadn’t felt before, almost vexing or ticklish. 

Maybe it was because they were his age. Either way, he wasn’t feeling any strong feelings of rejection towards it. At most, he felt a silly concern over his dignity as No. 1 seemingly dissipating. 

As a result, Tesfia and Alice were likely the only ones who felt relieved and refreshed by that. 

“Ah!! We have to hurry back!!” 

It didn’t feel like that much time had passed, but Tesfia shouted this out, then quickly rushed and put her hand on the door knob before turning back to Alus. “T-Thank you, Al... sorry for taking your time.” Her words of gratitude sounded far from happy. 

Well, that would probably improve with more experience, but if she was going to feel embarrassed about a nickname she came up with herself, she shouldn’t have said anything to begin with... Alus exasperatingly thought to himself. 

But as he was thinking that, Tesfia had already gone through the door. 

And before Alice followed her, she politely bowed to Alus with a face full of joy. “Thank you, see you after school, Al!” 

“What are you doing, Alice! If you don’t hurry, lunch time will be over.” 

Alice responded to Tesfia’s voice on the other side of the door with an “I’m coming,” and left the roof. 

Leaving just Alus behind. “Talk about self-centered,” he muttered to himself. 

Of course, those words were directed toward Tesfia. She’d forced him up on the roof, and as soon as she was done she just left him behind. Someone looking on might misinterpret the situation as Alus being rejected by Tesfia and Alice.

It was a little while longer until Alus thought of returning to the classroom for lunch. 

“... I guess I’ll go to the cafeteria today.” His resigned voice had a hint of mental fatigue mixed in with it. Something that a lunch meal couldn’t fix might have been building in him. 

But he ran out of luck on the route he’d chosen to avoid any attention. 

Alus had decided to pass down the second floor hallway near the faculty’s research lab, commonly used only by the staff. 

“Sir, about your lecture on Fiends...” The voice of a girl he’d heard only moments ago reached his ear. 

With the door ajar, her voice reached well into the hallway. The image of a passionate honor student popped into Alus’ mind. These were things Alus already knew, and she could have just asked him, but he was a student and had different responsibilities from a teacher. 

Well, it couldn’t be helped. In fact, just hearing it made him want to grumble a little. 

Alus passed by without stopping, simply glancing into the laboratory. There he saw the small girl with the red hair, opening a text with both hands. Her tone was enthusiastic as always, and her eyes were serious. 

Geez, how eager... 

As he thought this, it occurred to him that he might have to revise his opinion of her. 

In the end, she was immature and inflexible, and she was trying to be sincere toward herself while her pride as a noble and her face as an honor student weighed her down. 

She was, in her way—upright, pure and innocent because of it. 

Alus was further along than the path, but he felt like he shouldn’t get in the way of a young sprout being raised. Though, that was a way of thinking that didn’t match his age. He even felt old, thinking it. 

As someone who’d only lived for 16 years, he was too young to have that state of mind. 

“I believe you touched on this during the lecture, but there’s something I didn’t understand about the A-class. What I’m curious about, is this text that mentions ‘mitosis’...” 

“Ah, yes, about the clones produced through asexual reproduction...” 

Alus didn’t stay to listen. He walked away with a wry smile as the teacher seemed hesitant to speak. 

It was a matter related to the origin of Fiends, in other words, embryology. And when it came to clone technology, which humanity was unable to perfect, there was no way a teacher would be able to answer. If he could, it would answer multiple mysteries around the Fiends. It would result in humanity’s knowledge of the Fiends dramatically improving. 

But that question born from pure doubt made Alus question her sense. 

Even if she kindly received an explanation from the teacher, she most likely wouldn’t understand any of it. 

Alus continued to head straight for the cafeteria, but when he got there... 

“It sure is crowded.” But turning back immediately upon arriving felt like too much of a waste. While he winced at the congestion, he chose to endure it and line up for the sake of future reference. 

The cafeteria was like a food market, with famous food companies lined up next to each other, including plenty of well-known restaurants fit for the prestigious Second Magical Institute. 

Alus felt he was wasting his time, but he still ran his eyes across the multiple menus on the illuminated board. Fundamentally he only needed to get nutrition, but with so many choices he wasn’t sure what to choose. 

After deciding on the daily lunch special, Alus’ turn was up. A tidy old lady was at the counter wearing a triangular bandana and an apron, with a broad smile on her face. 

“I’ll have the daily lunch special.” 

The old lady had a dubious look in her eyes as she held her hand out. 

“What?” 

“Where’s your meal ticket? ... Is this your first time?” 

“That’s right.” 

After nodding understandingly, the clerk pointed with her thumb, as if to say ‘Over there.’ In that direction was a meal ticket vending machine, with yet another line of people. 

Catching her drift, Alus left the counter with his head hanging low. A bothered expression appeared on his face at the thought of lining up again. 

In the military cafeterias, all you had to do was bring a tray and the food would be put on top. But it seemed an ordinary institute was different. 

As the afternoon lectures were quickly approaching, Alus reached the vending machine, but then he frowned in confusion. The vending machine was filled to the brim with touch panel buttons. Just searching for the daily lunch special was a pain. 

“Pfft, just having a lot of choices isn’t all that great... hm?” 

Perplexingly enough, no matter how many times he pushed the button, no meal ticket came out. Having waited this long, with his frustration piling up, Alus felt irritation building inside. 

For some reason, the people around him looked at him like he was a country bumpkin. Some even seemed to be sneering at him. 

He didn’t care about that, but with this being the result of his efforts, the edge of his mouth twitched. And his index finger was already folded into his fist. 

“H-Hey! What are you doing?” 

“Hm? Why are you here?” 

When Alus turned around, he saw the redheaded girl he’d passed by earlier. And she looked somewhat dumbfounded. 

“I give up. Just how much attention are you trying to attract to yourself, acting this way in front of so many people?” 

“What am I supposed to do? This thing broke just as it became my turn.” 

“Move over.” 

Looking down at Tesfia cutting through the line, Alus shuffled to the side. 

Keeping a good distance from Alus, she put her hands on her knees and bent over as she looked at the vending machine. 

She had long eyelashes, fine skin and a straight nose. Objectively, her attractiveness as a woman stood out. But Alus still felt a measure of doubt. 

Just then, Tesfia, perhaps feeling his gaze, cautioned him with a whisper: “The principal told you not to attract any unnecessary attention to protect your secret, right?” After that, she turned back to the vending machine as if she had no choice. 

Seeing Tesfia examine the machine, the show appeared to be over as the ridiculing stares disappeared. However, there were of course no error messages. 

After a few seconds, Tesfia let out a sigh. “Have you never used a vending machine before?” 

“I know of them, but I’ve never actually used one. To think I’d get rejected on my first attempt...” 

“Geez, have you been living under a rock?” 

As Tesfia said that, she pointed at the ‘Inserted Balance’ message in the corner of the screen. “Were you planning on eating without paying?” She sounded amused over Alus’ behavior, as much as she also sounded astonished. 

However— 

“Huh? You’re telling me this place is trying to charge me?” 

“Hey!!” Tesfia pulled at his sleeve and forced him down. She then crouched down to the same level, putting her hand around her mouth. “Are you insane? All of these are high quality restaurants, of course they won’t feed you for free! If you want to eat, you pay. That’s common sense here. Even if you don’t have the money in hand, you can use your money card nowadays. Over here, see?” She explained all of this as if warning a child. 

“I’m not walking around with my license.” 

“Huh? Have you never bought anything on the Institute grounds?” 

“Of course I have. But I’ve never used money for food. Besides, I was planning on throwing my license in the trash when I entered the Institute.” 

Hearing Alus’ erratic remark, Tesfia glanced around their surroundings. Fortunately, it appeared no one was eavesdropping on them. 

And of course, they wouldn’t. In another universe, Alus might have been a six- or seven-digit. And faced with that kind of result, Tesfia might understand that someone would want to throw their license away out of sheer disappointment. 

No, she wouldn’t be able to understand that either. 

Most importantly, he’d received his license from the principal. She didn’t know if he’d thrown it away again, but it was hard to imagine that someone who would throw out something so valuable would normally be walking around with it. 

“Which means...” 

“I don’t even have a penny.” 

“Of course not...” 

Tesfia had expected as much, but hearing Alus say it out loud made her shoulders slump. She then pulled out her license from her pocket and frowned for a moment, before pressing it against the vending machine’s sensor. “Urk...?!” A bitter yelp escaped her throat. 

After that, her shoulders sank even lower. “What are you having?” 

Her yelp must have been from seeing the remaining balance, and Alus recalled seeing people in the military reacting the same way over their account balances. “What about you? Didn’t you come here to eat?” 

“I’m over there. I had Alice buy something for me to take to the classroom, so I’d like to hurry this up already.” Tesfia was probably on her own because she had a question for the teacher. She pointed in the direction of a somewhat cheap kiosk among the large number of lavish shops. It looked like the kind of kiosk where the financially troubled students would eat. 

“Aren’t you nobility? Surely you’re not strapped for lunch money?” Alus blurted out reflexively, before cursing himself inside. It was the truth that he didn’t have a high opinion of nobility. But considering Tesfia’s pride, his remark was probably unwise. 

He’d already gathered enough attention with the vending machine trouble. But contrary to his expectations, Tesfia’s reaction was calm. “Hmph, of course not. I asked my mother the impossible to be allowed to enter the Institute. She’s already paying for the tuition, so I’m doing the rest by myself.” 

Her words sounded rebellious, but her tone wasn’t harsh. She had accepted her situation as a result of her own choice. All while wearing a smile. 

She wasn’t putting it on, either. She was doing the best she could by her own strength, so she could honestly praise herself. 

Alus felt like he had seen an unexpected side to Tesfia. That said, he wasn’t the sort to be reserved. “All right, then I’ll borrow lunch from you. Also, I might as well eat at the kiosk too.” 

“It’s fine. I’m just repaying the favor...” 

After whispering this, Tesfia suddenly put on a serious expression before continuing, sounding somewhat mortified, “The truth is that... I know. You were holding back during the mock battle, right?” 

“Hm? No, that’s—” Alus began, then his look turned sullen at the unexpected topic. 

In contrast, Tesfia smiled broadly. “I’m still a four-digit, after all. Well, I couldn’t tell right away, but after taking the time to think about it...” 

“—I see. Sorry.” 

It wasn’t anything he had to apologize for, but Alus felt strangely restless. 

“Well, if you don’t like it, why don’t you think of it as my tuition fee for your lessons?” 

“Hmm...” 

Alus considered the suggestion for a moment. It did sound reasonable as a point of compromise, but normally the tuition fees for lessons under the currently-ranked No. 1 were far higher than a lunch. 

However, he could consider it an investment in her faint future prospects. Alus had a bad habit of always viewing these sorts of things in a calculative fashion. After forcibly convincing himself, he accepted her suggestion. “Then that’s what I’ll do.” 

He figured there was no need to respond to her goodwill with cynicism. 

As he did, he headed for the kiosk, following Tesfia’s small back some steps ahead of him as a guide. While gazing at her bouncing ponytail, he thought to himself that she sure was sincere despite being out of money. 

When he thought like that, he could no longer feel that prickly side of her coming from her petite frame. 

Meanwhile, Tesfia stopped dead in her tracks. “What?” She turned around and her suspicious glance showed clear distrust, though her movement was timid and awkward. 

“What do you mean, what?” 

“... If there’s something you want to say, just say it. You’ve been staring at me.” Apparently she’d been keenly aware of Alus’ glance. 

In fact, there was something he’d thought of while looking at her. “Well...” Alus hesitated for a moment, but the suspicion in Tesfia’s eyes didn’t disappear. If anything, it just got stronger. 

But Alus’ next words brought about an unexpected situation, despite him not meaning much by it. He put his hand on his chin and spoke what was on his mind. “When I look at you, you’re pretty cute. You’re just naturally beautiful and you look like you’d be popular with the guys... is what... I was thinking.” 

Tesfia’s shoulders trembled, and she spun around as if to run away instead of waiting to hear all of what he had to say. 

That was right—compared to most girls, there was a clear difference between her beauty and theirs. That much was obvious from the looks she was getting from those around. Even her unyielding eyes were adorable. 

Of course, that was just a general evaluation and not something Alus himself was particularly aware of. And that’s why he didn’t understand the looks of envy he was getting from the male students. 

That was most likely because Alus, having grown up in the Outer World, didn’t feel any attraction to the beauty of an untouchable jewel. But he did feel his heart being cleansed by her naïve and innocent smile. That’s why he’d so casually mentioned it. 

There hadn’t been any deeper meaning lying under it; it was just something that had come out of his mouth. 

Their surroundings had unexpectedly become quiet. Likely because they had heard what Alus said. As the cafeteria that had been full of hustle and bustle was now silent, Alus’ voice reached all the way to the hallway. 

“Wha—! W-W-W-What are you saying...?” Tesfia’s voice was feeble, her back still turned to Alus. 

Seeing that, Alus spoke in a puzzled tone. “Hey, what now.” He walked past her and looked back. As he did, he saw her pushing her license against her chest to calm her racing heart. Her face was visibly red, her eyes cast down and her lips were trembling. “If we don’t hurry, lunch time’s going to end.” 

“S-Shut up!! ... Idiot... This is your fault...” Tesfia muttered, while quickly walking up to the kiosk and wordlessly picking up some food. Next, she put her license down, saying, “Here you go, Ma’am,” and paid the bill. 

“Hey, my food...” 

Tesfia had already finished her transaction, so Alus’ voice was in vain. 

The next moment... “Fia, hey!” A voice called out from afar, perhaps having gotten tired of waiting. 

Looking in that direction, Alus could see Alice waving her hand with a bright smile. “Oh, looks like your friend’s here—Hey?” Alus tried to peek at her face again. 

But her body jumped like a jack-in-the-box. 

He had no idea what she was thinking, but after her jump she ran over towards Alice. Tesfia’s face was beet red, but Alus had no way of knowing that. 

“Uhm, so what should I do?” He scratched his cheek with a puzzled look as he stared at the redhead bouncing away. 

In the end, with no choice but to chase after her, Alus had lunch with a suspiciously-behaving Tesfia and a confused Alice who watched over her. 

* * * 

After school that very day, Alus ended up looking after the two excellent novices. 

It need not be said that this threw a wrench in Alus’ plans. 

He had already braced himself to sacrifice his sleeping hours to make up for it. That said, with the events that happened at lunch, it wasn’t all that hard to change gears. He’d expected something like this, which was why he’d skipped class for the fifth and sixth period. 

Spending the time effectively and stopping at a good spot, Alus rummaged through the luggage he’d brought with him when he moved in. “I’m sure I brought it with me...!!” 

In front of him was a case big enough to fit a person in. When he moved to the Institute, he had forcibly stuffed it with his personal articles. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything in it that would interest boys and girls of his age. 

But it might have been a mountain of treasure to those deeply involved in magic. 

In reality, as Alus had always been in the military, he’d never had the time to devote to fashion, hobbies or other recreations. Then again, he didn’t have the disposition to enjoy hobbies or amusements. 

Getting the rank of No. 1 wasn’t something done haphazardly. He couldn’t spend time on a bunch of hobbies just because he had the talent. 

Eventually, Alus found what he was looking for. It was lying deep in the case, sticking out like a sore thumb. Some people might even call it trash. 

It looked like your average piece of wood. But its surface was different. 

If it had just been a piece of bark, it would’ve been one thing; but nobody sane would want to touch this. 

“Bringing this with me was the right choice.” 

This was something he’d used during training in the military. It wasn’t something the military had supplied, but a personal belonging. It wasn’t made out of wood, nor was it something as simple as a training weapon. 

After all, the material used was part of a Fiend (Variant, estimated A-class) called Salqueroit that Alus had killed. 

Alus had had it specially made, with the Fiend’s shell as the main component. It also had the effect of disrupting mana. More accurately, when it sensed mana it rapidly oscillated and dispersed it. 

Either way, this would be useful for Tesfia’s and Alice’s training; and most of all, Alus wouldn’t have to waste his precious time in the meantime. 

It would be an irresponsible training menu, but the two would just have to deal with that as something inevitable. 

The chime, signaling the end of today’s merciless onslaught of lectures, rang out. 

But all the students were ambitious. The lectures might have been over, but only a few students went home right away. 

Many students gathered at the training grounds after school. Yesterday, it had been reserved for three students—plus one person—but usually it was a hot spot for the students regardless of their class year. 

Of course, if one didn’t reserve a spot ahead of time, there would be no free space. Also, the third years close to graduation were prioritized in reservations. The reason so many lowerclassmen watched them was to study their techniques in their mock battles. 

As such, it was unavoidable that freshmen made up most of the spectators. 

Tesfia and Alice were convinced that Alus’ training would take place at the training grounds, which was why they headed straight there. However, the grounds were already full of upperclassmen. 

“Huh?!” 

The two had already changed into their training uniforms. But upon seeing the packed-full training grounds, they almost dropped their AWRs in sheer disappointment. 

At the same time, they were bombarded with stares. Though it was unclear if it was due to the upperclassmen being smitten by the two beautiful girls, or if they were being looked down on for arriving late. Regardless, most of the students stopped what they were doing as the two girls arrived. 

“That guy didn’t run off, did he?!” 

“I don’t think he would. And now that I think about it—we didn’t really decide on a location.” 

Tesfia was suspicious, though Alice calmed her down with sound reasoning. But even Alice couldn’t help but smile bitterly at how Tesfia called the No. 1 Magicmaster ‘that guy.’ She figured Tesfia was embarrassed about using his nickname. 

Well, if it wasn’t for what happened between Tesfia and Alus, Tesfia might have shown more respect and used his proper name. 

Of course, Alice didn’t know what had gone down at the cafeteria. 

“Then where is he?!” 

“...” Alice didn’t have the answer to that question, so all she could do was tilt her head questioningly. 

A while later, the two arrived at a new building that had been constructed on some spare space on the Institute’s vast grounds this year. It wasn’t far from the main buildings, and seemed to be intended for a newly-appointed faculty member. As a result, with so few teachers present, it wasn’t a place that students would approach. And it took quite some time until the two reached the building’s top floor. 

It had been harder than they would’ve thought to track Alus down. Leaving the training grounds, they’d headed to the men’s dorm and asked for Alus Reigin’s room number at the desk. They were told there was no such student in the dorm. 

After walking around for a while, they passed by the principal’s office, realizing they could just ask Principal Sisty. 

The principal was taken aback by them not even knocking before entering her office, but it was probably inevitable, though Tesfia doing something that rash was unbefitting of nobility. 

Principal Sisty could more or less guess their circumstances, and didn’t admonish them. If they had been anyone other than Tesfia and Alice, the outcome likely would’ve been different. To maintain order in the Institute, she would have grilled them thoroughly... or so she wanted to believe. 

The two were finally told where Alus was, and hurriedly left the principal’s office, unaware of Sisty fondly gazing after them. 

“Is this really the place?” Tesfia asked Alice. It was a rhetorical question. After all, no one could mistake the place the principal had told them about. 

The top floor of the building was an entire floor made for just one person. 

There was a cutting-edge security door, but they didn’t feel any heavy or oppressive atmosphere. If anything, it felt abnormally simple. The panel to the side of the normal-looking door was obviously a security lock. It worked by putting your palm over the panel, which then read your mana information. And the door would only open to authorized users. 

Tesfia pushed the doorbell. 

Shortly thereafter, the door slowly slid open. While the door looked plain, it was as thick as a person’s hand. 

The two timidly peeked inside, and saw machines and tools they’d never seen before. In contrast to the room’s brand-new look, they smelled mold. Looking closer, they saw small piles of books so old they would never be placed on a shelf. The walls were white, and looked like they were glowing. 

“Tsk, so you’re already here.” 

Tesfia and Alice heard a tongue-click from somewhere. They looked around, but couldn’t find Alus. 

Upon closer inspection, they saw that the room was four times as large as a regular classroom that could fit 40 students. The size was abnormal in and of itself; after all, it was much too big for one person’s use. Even the piles of books and the machinery only took up half the space. 

Eventually, they found the owner of the voice, beyond all the things that were in the way. 

By that time, Tesfia’s anger had dissipated somewhat. Instead, a question popped into her head, which she rudely threw at Alus. “What’s with this place?” 

Alus was seated on a special-order recliner, behind a massive desk that looked as expensive as the principal’s desk. If someone who didn’t know Alus’ ranking saw his treatment, they would have complained. In fact, some teachers had already complained to the principal, so Alus gave the two girls, who knew his circumstances, a curt description. “... It’s my laboratory, so what? Well, that and my private room.” 

He tilted his head, wondering why she was asking the obvious. 

“Why is it just you... even I have to live in the dorm.” 

The laboratory was huge, but Alus’ bedroom wasn’t all that different from your average dorm room. The kitchen was very advanced, but as Alus was the opposite of a gourmet, it was completely wasted on him. 

That said, the main point of Tesfia’s complaint was that Alus was the only one not living in a dormitory. 

“Tesfia, Mr. Al is...” Alice interjected, speaking up for him and trying to make Tesfia understand the hierarchy in play. 

“It’s only natural. Considering my achievements, even this is shoddy.” 

“Grr...” As expected, Tesfia was at a loss for words. She didn’t exactly know what his achievements were, but she could surmise they were greater than she could imagine, considering his ranking. 

“Anyway, Al, we were sure the lessons would be held at the training grounds.” Pressed for time, Alice returned to the main topic. 

They had changed back into their regular uniforms by now. Since Alus was in his own room, he didn’t have to mind the time; but it was frowned upon to keep a girl in your room late into the night. It was bad to earn that kind of reputation at the Institute. 

“She’s right. How long do you think we were looking for you? If you say now that the training will start tomorrow, I won’t forgive you.” Tesfia clenched her fist tightly, as if to retaliate against him for verbally cornering her. It didn’t work as a threat against Alus, but it was true that over an hour had passed since the last lecture of the day. 

Considering the season, it was still bright out... but since Tesfia lived in a dorm, Alus figured she had a curfew. “I know,” he said, while looking about as if searching for something. 

Suddenly, Tesfia’s and Alice’s expressions changed. Finally... lessons from the strongest active-duty Magicmaster. It made their hearts pound, and their expectations made them grasp their AWRs even harder. 

“Put those dangerous-looking things away. What are you planning to do in my laboratory?” 

“What!!” Both girls had stupefied voices, seeing Alus holding a strange stick, and having no clue what he was planning. 

Alus tried to ensure they were all on the same page. “I’m only going to be teaching you techniques for fighting Fiends. Well, your ranks may rise as a result, but if that’s all you want then you’d be better off training on your own.” These were his final words. The only choice he was giving them was whether they would do it or not. 

“Huh?” Tesfia had been the one who brought up fighting Fiends, but she appeared disappointed upon hearing she’d be better off training on her own if she wanted to raise her rank. “!!” 

Alus instinctively smacked Tesfia across the head with the piece of wood in his hand. “Are you an idiot? ... For starters, what do you think are the components for estimating a person’s rank?” This was a question that had even been in a lecture, so... 

“I believe it was mana capacity, how many high difficult spells you can use, the number of defeated Fiends, and the number of completed missions!” 

The question was much too simple to determine if someone was excellent or not, but Alus still gave it a passing grade. 

Alice added to Tesfia’s answer. “The class of the defeated Fiends is also taken into consideration.” 

With that, they’d covered everything they’d been taught in class. “Well, that’s about right. But it’s not enough.” 

The two girls thought back to what they’d been taught, then looked at Alus questioningly. 

It couldn’t be helped. No lecture would have touched on Alus’ additional supplementary information. “You’re right in respect to the subject. Then, what do you think you should stress to raise your rank?” 

Tesfia immediately answered, “Mana capacity and the number of spells you can use.” Her overwhelming confidence could be heard in her voice. 

“I think so too...” Alice, meanwhile, suspected there was more to the question, and gave a more timid answer. In her mind, she was probably saying to herself, ‘but that’s probably not it.’ 

Alus sighed at the predictable answer. He’d at least wanted them to guess that he didn’t want such a simple answer. Well, if they’d gotten it right the first time he wouldn’t be able to go on as smoothly... 

He was confirming what level Tesfia, the so-called honor student, was at. In that sense, Tesfia’s reaction didn’t betray his expectations. From their statements, Alus could tell that Tesfia was straightforward and simple, and that Alice was more careful and capable in terms of getting a better read on things. 

But in Alice’s case, while she could presume things, she couldn’t effectively use her hunches and so it still wasn’t at a usable level. 

“That’s wrong. The defeat of Fiends and their class is the most important point.” 

“...!!” 

Tesfia was shocked, but Alice wasn’t as surprised. That meant she had felt that her answer probably wasn’t correct. 

“The number of Fiends is stressed, yes, but there’s only so far you can go by defeating small fries. In short, defeating high-classed Fiends will have the biggest impact on your rank.” 

“But then we won’t be able to raise our rank!” 

“While it’s not completely impossible, you still won’t be able to catch up to the Magicmasters who are out in the field.” 

But that was why their rank was so excellent. Without any defeated Fiends taken into account, earning that ranking from pure mana capacity and magic ability showed that they had the potential for greatness in the future. 

That was partly why Alus had listened to Sisty. This was just how hopeful Alus, or rather Sisty, was for them. “That’s why the techniques to kill Fiends will lead to raising your rank in the future. But if you’d rather quit so you can just focus on raising your ranking right now, I wouldn’t mind in the slightest. If anything, I’d love it if you did.” 

Tesfia’s rebellious spirit had gotten stirred up, but Alice was motivated, and Alus was planning on watching over them. In which case, there wasn’t much difference between one person or two people. 

“Bring it on then. If our ranks go up as a result, then there’s no problem.” Tesfia was still fixated on ranking. Alice, on the other hand, looked somewhat concerned. 

The Magicmasters participating in combat in the military weren’t too mindful of their ranking. Of course, a higher rank meant more pay and better treatment, and most of all—a high ranking was a great honor. 

But in return, the high-ranking Magicmasters were assigned to more dangerous missions. Considering humanity’s hopes and wishes, they may have rejoiced. But to Alus, it simply meant being in a hurry to die. 

Though with Alus being assigned to the elimination of high-classed Fiends, no other high-ranking Magicmasters should have been given reckless missions. 

But these were Alus’ values, and he wasn’t going to push those onto Tesfia and Alice. It wasn’t his business, so in short, it was their responsibility. He wasn’t going to interfere in their way of life and say something unnecessary. 

As Alice nodded in agreement, Alus continued with his explanation.