Chương 33: Testing Troubles - Page 3

"You will watch your tone before her highness," the maid demanded.

Kir froze in place. The maid was faster than Darlae. Getting in a fight now, in front of the Chancellor, was sure to get him expelled... if not killed.

The regal girl giggled, "Mercy, please don't threaten the other students." The maid instantly removed the blades. "It would seem I've been found out. I suppose it was bound to happen..."

"You could have made it less obvious," Kir had no idea what she was talking about, but he decided to play along.

"Tell me, what is your name?" the girl asked.

Kir as a rule tried to be honest. He told her, "Kir Gale."

Hiding her mouth behind fanned fingers, the girl's eyes widened in interest. "My my... son of the great Brigit Gale, I assume. The woman they called the "Human Hurricane" when she attended the Academy..."

Inside, Kir cringed at that name. He started to wonder how much his mom's reputation would affect expectations of him...

"I'm sorry, you have me at a disadvantage..." Kir said. "May I ask what your name is?"

The girl giggled, a not unpleasant sound. "Oh, but I assumed you knew." She offered a hand. "Lapins van Montmorency, Princess of Montmorency."

"Nice to meet you," Kir said. Her hand was offered palm down, and he knew he was supposed to take it and kiss it. Instead, he placed his hand in hers from below, turning it for a handshake.

Some instinct from his past life told him never to trust royalty, and he'd long since learned to trust whoever he had been, even if their inclinations were mysterious at times.

"How odd," Lapins said.

"A gesture of respect," Kir explained. "I am not your subject, nor one who wishes to be involved in your affairs. So respect for you as a person is what I choose to give."

Mercy bristled at Kir's words, "The insolence..."

"No, Mercy. The boy is not wrong. All are equal in learning at the academy, and we are far from home. It would do best not to cause trouble." She turned to Kir, "As the saying goes: 'All mortals are equal in the eyes of magic,'" she quoted.

Kir didn't get the reference. "Equal to what?" he asked.

"To our efforts, of course," Lapins smiled.

"From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs," Kir said, the quote rising into his thoughts as if in resonance with Lapins' argument.

Lapins tilted her head. "What a very... interesting turn of phrase, Mister Kir."

"Thank you... I think I read it in a book once..." He replied, a partial truth, since that book did not exist in this world.

"Attention candidates!" The professor who'd led the group out shouted for everyone's attention. The man's voice boomed just a little from sound-amplification magic. "I'm Professor Crow Lee, and this year we have a very special test in store for every one of our candidates. I will let Chancellor Lumin explain."

He stepped aside, handing Lumin the spell, which came to float in front of her.

Kir watched as the Chancellor muttured something under her breath, before casting out her hand, and little copies of the floating blue-white circle flew toward the colliseum.

"Attention candidates. I am Chancellor Lumin. This year, it has been decided that students of particular talent will be allowed to skip the basic magic courses required for first-years. You will, of course, be given the option to pursue a normal five-year course should you wish."

"For those of you that have been sent here on behalf of your lands, I invite you to consider the needs of your people and to put your best effort forward. The minimum criterion will be demonstrated master of the basics, or an original spell of undeniable utility or power. As we say here at Norneau Academy, 'All mortals are equal in the eyes of magic.'"

Kir's respect for Chancellor Lumin shot up, since offering everyone else the same chance he was getting was fair and just in his opinion.

However, he also read between the lines. News of Hell marshaling for war, the seemingly lowered criterion of entry according to his moms, the rumor that every nation was trying to get as many mages and witches as they could... It spoke to some desperate need taking place in the background. One thing that hadn't been mentioned in all the talk of a new Heavenswar, however, was Heaven, and Kir wondered what might be happening on that front...

"Lapins van Montmorency," Professor Lee called out.

Kir watched as the princess stepped forward.

Chancellor Lumin stepped past the small crowd, walking by Kir. Before she could pass him fully, she stopped. "Do your best, child of Brigit and Darlae. I'll be watching from above."

She walked off without waiting for a response, and Kir turned to see her taking an unhurried pace toward the main tower. Looking up for the first time, Kir saw that there were a pair of other platforms about two stories diagonal from the one he was on, and on them were students in uniform, gathering to watch the show.

Kir watched as Lapins first manipulated a barrel full of rocks, casting the stones at an illusory dummy that shattered under the force of her assault. She did the same again using water, air, and fire, each time destroying the illusory man, to a healthy round of applause from above. Kir noticed that she didn't use worded spells a single time, and that Professor Lee was wearing a strange pair of green glasses in front of his own normal ones.

As he moved closer, Kir heard the Professor say, "Excellent marks for mana efficiency and wordless casting. I believe I'll be seeing you amongst the second-years."

"Hold on, Professor, I have an original spell I wish to demonstrate," Lapins said.

"That isn't necessary, but if you insist..." Lee gestured back toward the middle of the bridge.

"May I have four targets, Professor?" Lapins asked.

Kir kept his hands in his pockets as he watched Lapins start to chant a spell. It was rather poetic, and Kir watched as from the barrels of water and earth, the respective substances gathered and swirled around a spherical vortex of air and fire. At the end of it, she called out the name of her attack.

"Destruction by Four Elements!"

The attack swept sideways across the bridge, taking out each of the illusion dummies in turn.

From above, cheers and applause rained down on Lapins, and she took a bow to each side and then to her fellow candidates.

Everyone else from there on struggled a bit in some way or another. Some simply didn't have the capacity, and others had more than enough capacity but were clearly sloppy on the execution. The pair of small twins showed off a unique spell that they cast together, making a massive fireball that they shot out at a parabolic trajectory.

Kir suspected he was being saved for last when Ann went ahead of him.

While she struggled to handle earth magic, she presented Professor Lee not with an original spell but rather an original potion, explaining that she had a knack for healing.

A small light appeared next to Lee as he looked up, asking Chancellor Lumin about whether or not potions counted. When she answered in the affirmative, he congratulated Ann on being the fourth candidate to be skipped to second-year studies.

After Ann was Claud. He wasn't capable of wordless casting, but he could use abbreviated spells, which he did with many unnecessary flourishes.

Kir didn't know what was worse, the fact that Claud was showing off or the girls watching above that seemed to find his behavior attractive. Kir was surprised when Claud produce his his own version of an original spell, a beam of water mixed with just a hint of fire magic to produce sparkles all around it.

It was powerful, but one shot was all it took to drain the remainder of Claud's mana and leave him a giggling mess.

But with Claud out of the way, it was Kir's turn.

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