episode_0030

Even the lives of nobles are exhausting.

From the age of ten until death, they must attend countless social gatherings, engage in conversations, win favor, and battle enemies.

But as with all things, there are exceptions.

If you become a noble on the “hosting” side of social gatherings, you don’t have to work hard to win others’ favor.

Even if you stay still, even if you make no effort to be friendly—

They’ll cling to you on their own.

“…”

“…”

At 6:30 in the morning, I stood in front of the girls’ dormitory, glaring coldly at a crowd of dozens of gathered students.

Naturally, my eyes met Firunea’s, who stood at the very front of the group.

Firunea tapped her cheek lightly with a fan—a body language only the two of us shared. Its meaning was clear:

[Not my fault.]

“Sigh…”

Well, it was bound to happen.

The colossal prestige of the Serlatus family.

A beauty so striking it could turn any young lady into her maid at first sight.

Unlike other nobles who hadn’t yet secured their position in internal conflicts, she was a true family head, on an entirely different level.

…And above all, the talent unanimously acknowledged by those who had seen her.

In magic, she was peerless.

A once-in-a-century genius, the future Archmage… Phrases sweeter than honey.

It was only natural for influence to gather around her.

But to this extent in just one night?

It seemed Firunea’s reputation was better than I’d thought.

“Good morning, my lady.”

“…And this gentleman is?”

“Ah, that’s the butler from the Serbus family. The one mentioned yesterday…”

The moment Firunea spoke to me, countless eyes turned my way.

For some reason, young ladies of all sorts instantly surrounded me, looking at me with keen interest as they struck up conversations.

“Yes. This is Birdeum. As I mentioned last night, he’s my butler.”

“I see, hee~…”

The young ladies seemed unsure how to treat me.

Should they dismiss me as a mere lowly butler, or treat me as Firunea’s closest confidant?

Normally, it would be the former, but if he was skilled enough to pass the special admissions test, perhaps he was someone she favored. They wouldn’t want to offend her by treating him carelessly without knowing.

A clear signal was needed to establish my position in Firunea’s newly formed faction.

“My lady, your earring has fallen.”

I naturally stepped closer to Firunea. The height difference forced her to look up at me.

Her elegant silver hair and lake-like eyes gazed at me with amusement.

Tap. I reached out with both hands and touched her earlobe.

A faint scent of lavender wafted through the air.

“Thank you, Birdeum.”

“Not at all.”

Actions speak louder than words.

Even if I reached out and touched her skin without permission, she wouldn’t scold me. This little act was enough to illustrate the nine years we’d shared—far beyond a simple master-servant relationship.

I glanced at the young ladies, thinking this should suffice.

“…Hic.”

“Eeek…!”

…?

Not the reaction I’d expected.

The young ladies’ faces flushed red as they frantically hid behind their fans or hands, muttering strange things under their breath.

“It’s… really true…”

“I wasn’t doubting Lady Firunea, but later…”

“My lady.”

I quickly called Firunea.

But she feigned ignorance and walked away.

“We shouldn’t be late for the first class. Let’s go.”

“Ah, yes…!”

“…”

Perhaps they weren’t staring at me because they were unsure how to treat me.

It seemed they’d heard something about me from Firunea last night.

…Just what had she told them? With an uneasy feeling, I followed Firunea.

The lecture hall, fitting for an academy, was a tiered structure capable of seating at least hundreds.

The unusual detail was—

“…Candles?”

A single candle was placed at each seat.

A white candle made of wax—no magical treatment whatsoever. No matter how you looked at it, it was just an ordinary candle.

The students took their seats with bewildered expressions.

Naturally, Firunea’s vicinity was packed.

Not that I had any intention of yielding my spot.

“Birdeum, sit next to me.”

“…Pardon?”

What was she saying?

“I’m a butler.”

“And a student. This is the academy. So you’re just going to stand behind me doing nothing, using your butler status as an excuse?”

“…”

Her logic was sound. I had no rebuttal.

Hesitantly, I sat to Firunea’s right.

…The fact that I, a butler, was sitting beside my master, Firunea, in the same manner was an indescribably strange feeling.

Honestly, it was far more uncomfortable than physical contact.

Meanwhile, Firunea seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood.

As the rest of the students filed in and took their seats, the hall grew slightly noisy—

“Gooood morning, everybooody…”

The professor shuffled in, dragging his feet.

Judging by appearances was a bad habit, but this man was undeniably peculiar.

Dark circles so deep they nearly reached his cheeks, a slouched posture, and unkempt reddish-brown hair so messy you could hang a wristband on it.

His clothes were filthy beyond words. Only slightly better than Arin when we’d first met.

Naturally, the students frowned. But the professor paid no mind as he trudged to the center of the hall and—

“…?”

—suddenly pulled out a pillow from his bag and lay down.

Stunned by the audacity, everyone fell silent as the professor muttered in a half-dead voice:

“First lecture… canceled, I guess…”

“Uh, excuse me.”

“Yeees…?”

“Shouldn’t you at least introduce yourself or…?”

“Leray’s the name~ No surname… yawn…”

No surname—meaning he was a commoner.

The students’ displeasure deepened. Given the merit-based admissions, commoner professors weren’t unheard of.

But acting like this without any backing was bound to provoke resentment.

Some students openly voiced their complaints.

“Excuse me, is this really acceptable behavior in front of students here to learn?”

“Huuuh…? You’re not my students yet, though?”

“What do you mean? I clearly enrolled in Advanced Thaumaturgy—”

“Advanced Thaumaturgy is~ super hard~ But academy students~ have such big egos~ They sign up without knowing a thing~ Should’ve just stuck to Beginner or Intermediate~ But nooo, they see famous names in Advanced and rush in~ That’s just not how it works…”

Leray lazily tore into the students with his soft, drawling tone.

“So~ if you wanna take my class, light that candle and leave~ Real lectures start next time~”

“…The candle?”

“Yep~ Use ignition magic, or whatever~ Figure it out yourselves~ yawn… You can ask questions if you want~ but preferably don’t…”

And with that, he rolled over and went back to lying down.

So, you had to pass a test just to attend the lectures?

“Birdeum.”

“Yes.”

I exchanged a glance with Firunea.

“Want me to light it for you secretly?”

“I can do it myself.”

“Alright, then.”

—Whoosh!

The candle in front of Firunea burst into flames.

The first to ignite. Firunea asked coolly:

“This counts as passing, right?”

“So fast~ You’re free to go… Student Firunea…”

Leray glanced at the candle and mumbled.

Firunea ignored him and stayed seated.

“Wait, that’s it? Easy.”

“Why bother with something so trivial…?”

Encouraged, the other students attempted ignition spells.

Since it was the most basic magic, most tried casting it without incantations…

“…Huh?”

Nothing happened.

They could grasp the mana.

But the flow of magical energy wouldn’t form.

In other words, the phenomenon of “magic” wasn’t occurring.

“Wh-what’s going on? Why isn’t it working?”

“Burn, ignite…!”

Panicked, the students tried incantations, other spells, and various personal methods—but no one could light the candle.

…By this point, the more magically adept students realized the truth.

—An area-wide dispel.

That ditzy professor was pulling off a feat straight out of fairy tales.

“No way. How is this possible?”

“There must be some tool blocking magic activation. Finding and destroying it is probably the test.”

Seeing Firunea succeed should’ve made it clear this wasn’t some crude trick, but denial ran deep.

This was far more brute-force. Leray had enveloped the entire lecture hall in his own mana.

We were already drowning in Leray’s ocean.

In that state, no matter what lighter or matches you had, fire wouldn’t ignite.

It was a roundabout way of saying: if you can’t even carve out your own safe space in any situation, you don’t belong here.

I took out a pen and began scratching the desk.

Firunea watched me and laughed, amused.

“Trying to escape that way?”

“My apologies if you’re disappointed. My magic skills aren’t exceptional.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. No mage in the world could pull that off. Only you can.”

“…Is that a compliment?”

“Obviously.”

About halfway through my scratching, Leray suddenly sat up from his lying position and stared directly at me.

His eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“…That’s weird.”

“Is it not allowed?”

“No… It’s more like, if I told you to ride a horse, you’d kill it, separate the bones and hide, and build a carriage out of them… Hmm…”

After a moment of contemplation, he lay back down.

“Whatever~~ You clearly don’t need my lectures, but if you’re this desperate to attend… Fine…”

“Thank you.”

The process took a while, so other students began passing one by one in the meantime.

“Ugh, aah…!”

The second to pass after Firunea, nose bleeding profusely, was a familiar face.

Emily. She’d been holed up in a corner, so I hadn’t noticed her earlier.

“Student Emily~ You pass…”

“…Ah, uh, yes.”

Startled at being called, Emily nervously glanced our way.

Firunea didn’t even spare her a look, focused solely on me.

I didn’t pay her much mind either. She’d likely exhausted all her resources hiring Michelini, and with that failure, she was no longer a threat to the Serlatus family.

If she dared overstep again in this state…

This time, I’d make sure to rip out her fangs.

Several other names were called.

“Student Portia~ You pass…”

“…You know my name?”

“Yep~ Memorized everyone who enrolled at a glance~ Though half would’ve been enough…”

Desperate, some students tried bargaining.

“W-wait, Professor Leray. I didn’t enroll in any other thaumaturgy courses. Maybe…?”

“Sorry~ No idea…”

Hopeless.

By the time around twenty students had passed, the desk’s engraving was complete.

“Phew… Ignite.”

—Whoosh!

The candle lit effortlessly as I stretched.

Unlike the others, Leray called my name with clear discomfort.

“Student Birdeum~ You pass… Ugh…”

“If I’ve disturbed you, I apologize. I had no choice but to use this method, as I must attend this lecture. I’m sorry.”

Fully aware I’d taken a shortcut, I bowed my head in apology.

Leray blinked in surprise before slowly shaking his head.

“Like I said~ Doesn’t matter… Just baffled, is all~ Don’t worry about it…”

“Understood.”

“Sigh, so jealous~ If I had a butler like that… Money printer… giggle…”

As Leray lost himself in delusions, the remaining students left in despair.

They were mages too—they understood.

Even if given a month instead of an hour, casting magic here was impossible.

When less than half remained, Leray sat up and scanned the room.

“More of you left than I thought~ Well then, for the next year… Do your best~”

“…Can we leave now?”

“Yep~ Time’s left, but~ Just go~ yawn…”

Watching Leray lazily wave, I massaged my temples.

If a commoner professor was this capricious…

…The other professors must be outright monsters.

Minutes later, the lecture hall stood empty.

“…”

Leray rustled as he got up.

“Yawn…”

What disturbed her sweet rest was intellectual curiosity.

She’d sensed it through her mana net, but—

She wanted to see it with her own eyes.

Did he really do that? Really? Really?

With a slightly pounding heart, she headed to Birdeum’s seat.

“…He really did it~…”

Rubbing the desk covered in Birdeum’s bizarre engravings, Leray was stunned by the lingering mana.

“Psycho~ Who carves a 20-minute… just to pass a test…?”

Of course, he couldn’t use mana. Her mana net prevented it.

So why did this wooden desk, scribbled on with a pen, radiate magical energy?

“…He made an artifact.”

A crude one, due to limited time and effort.

A two-minute safe zone within the mana net before becoming scrap. A single-purpose, yet flawless… artifact.

Mechanized magic—something only the greatest dwarven craftsmen could forge by imbuing their souls.

With dwarves nearly extinct, their value had skyrocketed beyond reach.

“Why the hell is he a butler…?”

Leray couldn’t fathom why Birdeum was wasting his time as a servant.

If he sold artifacts, he’d be among the empire’s wealthiest. If she had his skills, she’d quit teaching in a heartbeat.

Buy a tower, fill it with grimoires, research all day, and when bored, buy a pretty male slave to…

“Giggle…”

Her thoughts soon devolved into unsavory fantasies.

…A chronic condition of hers.