episode_0016

“Personal items you can bring to the entrance exam are limited to three. You can’t take the rest.”

“By whose authority?”

“Oh, Senior. Please.”

Norium furrowed his already wrinkled face and glared at Ena. Ena did not back down and met his gaze directly.

“I’m saying I won’t let my disciple get hurt, what’s he got to say about it?”

“The Academy Headmaster.”

“Contact him.”

“This is driving me crazy, really.”

Norium drank the hot tea like water and shook his head.

Acel watched the two of them and slowly took off the artifacts he was wearing. Although Ena looked at him with a face full of dissatisfaction, Acel continued to stack the artifacts neatly on the table.

That alone filled half the table. He returned the rest to Ena, keeping only the three potions he had put in his backpack.

Ena pouted her lips and took the bottles.

“……Even war mages don’t pack this many magical tools, seriously.”

Norium sighed deeply as he said that, then looked at Acel and smiled.

“Aren’t you nervous?”

“……I am a little, but it’s not too severe.”

“Don’t worry. There’s absolutely no chance you’ll fail the test. If you fail, it would be the same as saying there are no successful applicants.”

“Aren’t you praising me too much?”

“I’m just stating the facts.”

Acel let out a chuckle at Norium’s banter.

“When should I depart?”

“In 10 minutes. The scheduled test-takers are probably gathered by now. The protagonist always appears last, so it would be best to go as close to the wire as possible.”

Norium said that and poured tea into Acel’s teacup. A slightly bitter aroma rose with the steam and lingered around his nose.

“Then I’ll be preparing the magic, so say your goodbyes for 10 minutes. Don’t you have to soothe a master who’s acting like he’s going on a long journey?”

Wonder what he’ll do on the Academy entrance day.

Norium clicked his tongue disapprovingly as he added that, and entered through the door behind the reception room. Before long, magic power swirled inside. As it wasn’t a short-distance move, it seemed even he, a great mage, had to draw the spell circle himself.

In fact, that was correct for typical mages. For every magic used, they had to draw a spell circle and chant. Most mages in Wiheim used magic without chanting and by mentally calculating spell circles, so he had forgotten. Was it because he had become too used to this?

“Acel.”

While he was briefly lost in thought, Evelyn, who was sitting next to him, spoke to him with a face slightly filled with tears. Acel answered with a wry smile.

“Why are you crying?”

“Just… because I’m proud. It feels like just yesterday we were picking up bugs to eat together in the slums, when did you grow this big?”

“We grew up together.”

Acel gently wiped away Evelyn’s tears and put his forehead against hers.

“You haven’t even entered the Academy yet, why are you acting like this already? Let’s cry later. Just cheer me on.”

“Okay… I will.”

Evelyn roughly wiped her face with her hand, smiled brightly, and kissed Acel’s forehead. Then she shouted.

“Fighting! Go and do well!”

“Do well, kiddo~”

Hailey chewed a cookie crunchily and waved her hand with a smiling face. Acel smiled back and nodded.

There was still one more person to say goodbye to. Acel turned his body to the left and met the eyes of Ena, who was looking straight up at him. Ena stared intently into Acel’s obsidian-colored eyes and spread her arms wide. Understanding the meaning of her action, Acel gently hugged Ena.

“I’ll trust you.”

Ena patted Acel’s back and whispered in his ear. Acel, sensing the trust contained in that single word, smiled and replied.

“Yes.”

With that, the farewells were complete. Before long, the promised 10 minutes had passed. Norium opened the door and called Acel, and after bowing once to the three people, Acel entered the room where Norium was. In the center of the room, a round black crack was floating. The space around it was broken as if glass had shattered, and an enormous amount of magic power could be felt from within the crack.

“Are you ready?”

Norium grinned and tapped the crack. Acel took a deep breath, hardened his face, and nodded. Then he immediately moved his steps towards the inside of the crack.

*

“Are all the participants here?”

Ross, the chief supervisor of the Academy entrance exam, asked his colleague. Ross’s colleague, wearing glasses and reviewing documents with a cold expression, quickly assessed the faces of those gathered in the forest clearing and shook his head.

“One person hasn’t arrived yet.”

“Who is it?”

“The mage from Wiheim.”

Ross clicked his tongue and tapped the sword at his waist with his fingertips. Alon, the supervisor wearing glasses, saw this and asked.

“The distance between Wiheim and here is quite far. Should we just start? Or wait longer.”

“While it’s true that the mage from Wiheim is a valuable talent, we can’t delay the test for one person. Especially since there are quite a few nobles in this exam.”

Ross said that and looked down from the platform. Warriors and mages with various characteristics were preparing for the exam, tidying up the items they had brought. Ross identified the faces of the key individuals among them.

A woman with long red hair and a gloomy impression. Grace Videl. Daughter of Duke Videl’s family and a genius who recently renewed the title of the youngest expert in the empire. She was sitting on a neatly cut tree, looking at the sky and letting out a deep sigh.

Besides her, there was the disciple of an elder from the Aurora Magic Tower who wielded Star-Rank magic, a pure-blood vampire who was gulping down blood packs, the daughter of Count Hargelin’s family who carried a large double-edged axe on her shoulder, a mercenary-turned-warrior, and others. He checked the status of those with a high probability of taking the top spot and looked at his wrist watch.

Approximately 15 seconds remained until the start of the exam. One person still hadn’t arrived, but they couldn’t wait for him. Unfortunately, they had no choice but to disqualify him. Ross thought so and prepared to infuse his voice with magic power.

It was then.

Crackle!!

The perfectly fine space cracked in a round shape. Fragments of the broken space fell downwards, and a black crack suddenly appeared. The moment supervisors, including Ross, sharpened their eyes at the sudden anomaly, a young man fell out of the crack. He landed on the ground with light movements and cleared away the scattered spatial fragments around him.

“Did I arrive?”

He mumbled that and glanced around. Then he clamped his mouth shut. It was because everyone gathered at the exam site was staring at him.

“……”

“……What is that?”

“Quite a grand entrance.”

Whispering spread discreetly. The young man scratched his cheek in embarrassment and threw himself into the suitable crowd. Alon, who spotted him, cleared his throat and spoke.

“Acel? Is that correct?”

“Yes, yes. That’s right.”

“Confirmed. We will perform a baggage check.”

“Yes.”

After having the contents of his backpack and the items he had brought in his clothes checked by the supervisor, Acel was released.

“3 potions. Confirmed. There are no issues.”

Alon adjusted his glasses, tidied up the documents he was holding, and stood behind Ross.

-……Acel?

Just then, a low voice was heard from somewhere. But it was buried and disappeared by the words Ross uttered right after.

“Silence everyone. I will inform you about the exam contents.”

The mana contained in his voice surged roughly through the air. The conversations of those whispering stopped abruptly, and everyone’s gaze focused on Ross.

There was no need for an introduction. Ross immediately informed everyone about the matters concerning the exam.

“The condition for passing the exam is simple. You must defeat the golems released in the forest, collect their cores in the specified amount, and place them in the center of the forest. The exam is scheduled to take place for a total of one week, and forming alliances with other participants is permitted.”

“……”

“Looting is also allowed. However, murder is strictly forbidden. If you violate this, you will be executed on the spot at the discretion of the supervisors or subjected to appropriate administrative procedures, so be sure to keep this in mind.”

As Ross finished speaking, the supervisors who were lined up around him came down and handed black bracelets to the participants.

“If you wish to withdraw from the exam midway, inject mana into the bracelet. Then you will be able to escape to a safe place via the built-in transfer magic. If you are seriously injured, it will activate automatically, so there’s no need to worry.”

“……”

“Does anyone have any questions?”

Someone raised their hand. Ross gestured to her with his chin.

“If we form an alliance, how should the cores be distributed?”

“Handle it yourselves.”

“……Excuse me?”

“The number of cores each individual must submit does not decrease just because you form a party. Therefore, you must defeat more golems than someone who moves alone. Decide on the distribution carefully.”

“……”

Hearing Ross’s words, the girl with ash-gray hair lowered her gaze as if deep in thought.

After finishing his words, Ross asked the participants once again if they had any questions. But this time, no one raised a hand. Ross, nodding satisfactorily, smiled and clapped twice.

“Then let’s begin. I wish you good fortune.”

The next moment, the bracelet he was wearing glowed. Acel realized the reason was that the transfer magic built into the bracelet had activated.

A transfer spell circle that randomly selects a location within the designated forest and drops you there. It was similar to a spatial spell circle, but its overall framework was different magic. Spatial magic has a strong characteristic of ‘jumping over’, while transfer spell circles have a strong characteristic of ‘omitting the process of movement’.

This magic was also similar. Acel examined the spell circle within the bracelet with interested eyes.

Just then, a voice shouting was heard from behind.

“Acel! Aceeeel!!”

“……?”

Acel turned his head at the voice calling his name. A woman, wearing a fancy sword at her waist and with long red hair fluttering, was urgently running towards him. Contrary to the familiar way she called his name, he had never seen her before.

‘Ah crap, who is this?’

He searched through his memory in case he had met her in the past, but he had never seen a face like hers. She was a complete stranger.

As if reading the thoughts in his gaze. The woman slapped her large chest with her hand and shouted.

“It’s me! Grace! Grace Videl!”

Hearing the name made him even more confused. Acel furrowed his brows and took a step back. At his action, Grace’s face was tinged with despair.

“Why, why are you running away? Don’t you know me? Your wi—”

Whooosh!!

Her words disappeared simultaneously with the activation of the transfer spell circle. Acel briefly looked at where she had been, then lost interest. Why was some crazy person latching onto him even before the exam started? He let out a deep sigh and lightly stretched.

“……Excuse me.”

As he was doing that, one of the supervisors cautiously spoke to him. Acel looked at her and asked.

“Yes?”

“Why didn’t you transfer……”

“Ah. That’s because I refused.”

“……Excuse me?”

Her face contorted bizarrely. The other supervisors were also the same.

“……What do you mean by that?”

“It seems like the method is to activate the magic with the mana built into the bracelet. Simultaneously with the spell circle activating, I forcibly inhibited the mana within the bracelet. That’s why I didn’t transfer.”

“……Is that possible?”

“Yes.”

Acel replied nonchalantly, then glanced around and nodded.

“It seems this is the center of the forest. That device on the platform. Is that where I need to put the cores?”

“Yes? Oh, yes…… That’s right……”

Still unable to collect herself, she answered with a dazed voice.

Acel thanked her for letting him know, then slowly moved his steps and entered the forest.

And so, the exam began.