Chapter 44: Chapter 44

Professor Dinavo recalled the events that had just occurred in class.

He still couldn’t believe it. Was it really possible for a fourteen-year-old freshman, the minimum age for admission, to not only pick up all the marbles in his class but also move them to express something?

‘Was it like that with Arabella, too?’

It must have been so. However, things were slightly different at that time, making a direct comparison difficult seeing as how that magic measuring device itself was invented by Arabella.

Before Arabella created it, Professor Dinavo had been measuring the students’ magic power himself and asking them to cast the magic they were confident in.

“What an unbelievable talent…”

If he had been born about twenty years earlier, wouldn’t the war have ended a few years earlier?

“No. Fortunately, he was born in a time of peace.”

The war was terrible. Talented children were taken away and forced to receive military training in the name of the glory of the empire.

Professor Dinavo thought it was fortunate that Dane had appeared at this time. He would be able to freely display his talents as he wished.

“What an amazing family.”

House Sogres, one of the families of heroes who supported the empire together with House Thermion. It was no exaggeration to say that their status was comparable to that of House Thermion. Still, the fact that even the youngest Dane Sogres, following Arabella and Clare, showed such great talent…

“Perhaps in the future, no house will be able to touch them.”

Rumor had it that Count Sogres had turned down a dukedom to stay in the south, but Professor Dinavo couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“If I had known this would happen, I would have really tried to persuade him to come to the Magic Department.”

He felt very sorry for losing such a talented person. Since he was in the Autonomous Department, there was no way that a student would give up that honor on their own.

Of course, Dane chose it not because of the honor, but because he wanted to do what he wanted without restrictions, but Professor Dinavo had no way of knowing that.

“No. There is a chance.”

If there was a will, there was a way. Professor Dinavo wanted to further elevate the already high status of the Magic Department.

“Altur. Can you hear me? Can you come to the dean’s office right now?”

⸢Professor? Yes, I understand!⸣

Professor Dinavo immediately called Altur through the crystal ball and muttered, “I’m not really used to it. But whatever, it was a gift from my beloved disciple.”

He looked at the compact crystal ball developed by his beloved disciple and his greatest pride, Arabella, with affectionate eyes.

After some time…

“Professor, may I come in?”

“Oh, Altur. Come in.”

Click.

The door opened and Altur came in. He had a big smile on his face.

Professor Dinavo smiled and offered him a seat, saying, “Sit down.”

“Yes, Professor.”

“Did you see Dane earlier?”

Altur, who was about to sit down, hesitated for a moment, before answering, “Yes, he is quite a talent.”

“Haha! Right? Maybe even better than Arabella.”

“Do… you really think so?”

“Hmm. I can’t tell right now. Magic is such a vast field. Rather than asking which of them is more talented, maybe it would be better to compare how much talent they have with ‘magic power’ itself?”

Actually, this one was more amazing. Having a great talent for magic meant you could use magic more easily. However, Altur could not admit that Dane’s talent was superior to that of Arabella, whom he greatly admired.

Arabella.

She was like the sun to Altur.

“So, Altur. How about you take good care of him?”

Altur suddenly raised his head. Professor Dinavo smiled broadly.

“You are a student council member and also the fifth year representative. Above all, aren’t you trusted by everyone in the Magic Department?”

The conversation continued while Altur remained silent.

“So, you take good care of him. Convince him to come to the Magic Department.”

“…”

“Yes, I suppose it’s acceptable to recommend him to the student council first. Wait, is there a precedent for a first year student joining the student council? Well, if there isn’t, we can just create one. That boy’s very existence seems to break all precedents. Hahaha… But why is your expression like that?”

Altur eventually confessed the truth that he had started off on the wrong foot with Dane.

“…Haha.” Professor Dinavo muttered, laughing for a moment. “He turned down the student council offer… Did Arabella tell him anything?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Hmm. He is getting more and more interesting.”

Still, he was just a child. Professor Dinavo did not give up easily.

“Well, we can’t just give up just because of one rejection. Altur. Try hard.”

“…Yes, Professor.”

Altur had no choice but to accept it.

“Oh, about that recommendation letter. I guess it won’t be that simple.”

“I-is that so?”

“Yes, don’t be so impatient. Don’t you still have sixth and seventh years left? Think about it slowly. With your talent, magic towers will be lining up by the time you graduate.”

Altur cursed inwardly.

‘You said something like that last year, too.’

If you had talent, Magic Towers would take an interest in you. In fact, two magic towers had shown interest in Altur when he was in his third year.

However, when he became a fourth year student and began to receive Professor Dinavo’s ‘favor’, their interest suddenly disappeared.

The reason was probably simple.

If he interned at a magic tower early, Professor Dinavo would lose a student he could comfortably order around, so the dean was preventing it from happening. Even without that, he had tremendous influence as the head of the Antallion Magic Tower, so how many people would dare to go against his wishes?

Then he would often subtly mention his house. It was a sad thing, the complex of being from a barony.

This was why Altur so strongly disliked bringing up houses while emphasizing the ‘rules of the Academy’.

‘Shit.’

In the end, that meant that he had to follow this old man’s words whether he liked it or not.

“Is there a problem?”

“No, of course not. I’ll try to persuade him.”

“Haha. That’s right. Altur, you can do it.”

Altur internally shouted, ‘Damn old man.’

Leila and I walked through the square on our way to the cafeteria. The square was literally teeming with people. When I met Leila earlier, there weren’t this many people.

“Wow, isn’t this great?” Leila was very excited.

It was definitely a different reaction from mine. I just glanced around and found it fascinating.

“Dane, look at that! The water is rising so high!”

As I watched her, I felt like I was being too cynical, but then I would also get carried away by her brightness and find myself smiling without realizing it.

She really was a kid. It was really amazing when I thought back to the dignified way she spoke before the magic class started.

“Do you think they shoot the water out with magic?”

“Probably? But these days, there are also mechanical fountains!”

Mechanical engineering.

I hadn’t heard those words in a long time. It was the pride of the Drenik Empire, which I belonged to in my previous life, and it was a discipline full of wonder in a different sense from magic.

I was secretly glad to hear of it, as I hadn’t had much to do with it after being reborn in the Altheon Empire, where almost everything was solved with magic.

By the way, mechanical engineering was also taught in the academy. As expected of the academy.

“There are so many amazing things.” Leila was so excited that she forgot about lunch and just wandered around.

She stopped in front of a stand selling cookies, bought one, and munched on it. Then, she squatted in front of a stand with strange toys.

“Are you that happy?”

“Yes! Aren’t you excited?”

“Yes, I am.”

Oh, so exciting. Also, I was hungry, but Leila didn’t seem to want to go.

“Dane, Dane. Look at that. It’s so cool.”

“What is it?”

“Magic tricks! It’s different from magic!”

Something called ‘magic tricks’ existed, a different concept from magic. I guess it was a kind of trick that provided enjoyment without any magic power used?

“Hey, did you pick this card earlier?”

“Wow! That’s right! Oh, how did you know?”

“Magic tricks are mysterious, my dear. If you want to know more, why don’t you join the magic tricks club?”

Oh, so it was a club invitation. Such a method was truly interesting. Better than sweating profusely in the middle of the day and taking off your clothes like that in a shameful manner.

“A healthy mind resides in a healthy body! These beautiful muscles! This wonderful body! This fantastic balance! Do you want a perfect body? Then you should come to ‘Physical Beauty’!”

I tried hard to ignore the guys from the bodybuilding club, who were flexing their bronzed muscles with their shirts off.

“Alright, take this! Before and after! See? This skinny, reedy guy over here turned into this cool guy!”

“Oooh!”

Unfortunately, it seemed like there were a few guys who were interested.

By the way, was it just me or was it that all the clubs seemed strangely desperate?

Beep-! Beep~!

A sharp whistle rang out.

“This is the Academy Student Council! The members of the Physical Beauty Club are under arrest for disrupting the Academy’s morale!”

It seemed as if the apostles of justice had appeared.

“Damn it, run! If I get caught this time, I’ll be in big trouble!”

“Apply more oil so that even if they catch you, you’ll slide away!”

I watched the student council chase after the bodybuilders and get further away, laughing in vain.

Meanwhile, the square was still bustling as if nothing had happened.

Was this a common occurrence?

“I heard that if a club has too few new members that year or if it can’t prove its activity results, it gets shut down.”

So that was why they were so desperate. I thought I could understand.

I wasn’t sure about those muscle freaks though.

Anyway, it was a unique experience. I figured this was what my eldest sister meant by ‘the romance of the academy’.

“Dane, let’s just stop by there and go for lunch.”

“What is it?”

I looked in the direction Leila was pointing.

What should I call that? There was a disc, divided into several areas, and each area had something written on it.

“I guess if you hit it, you get a prize!”

“Aha.”

There was quite a crowd of students, and each time a dagger was thrown and hit the disc, sighs erupted from all directions.

“Ugh! What a waste!”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“You almost got it!”

“How on earth am I supposed to hit that?”

As we got closer, I could see that the disc was spinning at a fast speed and the students had to throw a dagger at the spinning disc.

You received the item written on the spot where the dagger was stuck.

“Oh my, what a shame! But please take this keychain with you!”

Naturally, the areas were of a different size.

There were areas where it was so big that I thought I could hit it even if I threw it without looking, but there were also areas where I wondered how on earth anyone could land a hit.

There was even a single dot.

I looked through the item lists.

Keychains, cookie sets, lecture hall teleportation scrolls… There were some strange and unique items, but among them, there was one item that really caught my eye.

“Academy Treasure Map?”

It was the prize given when you hit the area corresponding to that ‘dot’.

A treasure map.

Maybe it was because I went to the fountain and heard from Ernest about the secret places within the Academy, but I became very interested.

“Let me give it a try.”

“Then, me too! Um, I want a Lecture Hall teleportation scroll. If I have that, I can teleport right away, right?”

“I think so.”

“What do you want?”

“Me? The Treasure Map”

Leila’s eyes widened and she asked, “Can you hit that?”

I answered with a shrug.

So Leila and I stepped forward.

Throwing daggers, huh?

I should thank my mother, right?