Chapter 7: Chapter 7. Spiritual Origin (2)

After leaving the measurement room,

I headed back to where I had been talking with Kane and Senia earlier.

But neither of them was there.

Instead… a man stood there, drawing everyone’s attention.

“Uncle.”

Flawless features.

An imposing height and a perfectly proportioned physique.

An air of cool composure and elegance that radiated from his entire body.

Kaisel Valencia was waiting for me, making no effort to conceal his presence.

“Come with me, Eriol.”

The moment he spotted me, Kaisel turned and left.

I hurried after him.

“I’ll take you to your lodgings. Get in.”

Outside the First Research Building, I saw a vehicle parked on the road.

But it wasn’t a horse-drawn carriage.

There were no horses to pull it.

“This is…”

“A magical automobile. It runs on a magical engine.”

“I know that. I didn’t realize they were already practical enough to use. Especially one this compact.”

“It’s a prototype from the academy’s Fabrication Department. They gave it to me on the condition that I test it myself. Apparently, they’ll begin mass production if there are no problems.”

“So you got it for free, then?”

“Essentially.”

The magical automobile looked different from an ordinary carriage.

For one thing, it had no roof, and its body was long.

Its luxurious, glossy black paint suited Kaisel well.

“Take the passenger seat.”

“The passenger seat?”

“The one without the steering wheel.”

Since Kaisel had already climbed in, I simply sat beside him.

“We’re leaving.”

I felt a tingling sensation, and the magical automobile began to move.

As we drove down a road normally used by carriages, the cool wind sent my hair flying.

“Uncle.”

“What?”

“The seat is more comfortable than I expected.”

“I imagine so.”

“May I read a book?”

“No.”

“…”

With no other choice, I looked around.

Come to think of it, this was my first chance to take a leisurely look around the academy.

It certainly is… big.

Ars Magna Academy was an entire city built on an island.

Students and staff weren’t the only people living here. All sorts of merchants and tradespeople had moved in, and the large population supported an economy of its own.

I had even heard that one corner of the island had an entertainment district full of taverns and gambling dens.

I’ll be staying in the visitors’ lodgings tonight… but will I be sleeping in a dormitory starting tomorrow?

With that thought, I was about to look toward the dormitories when

a cool voice came from the seat beside me.

“What were your aptitude test results?”

“Reading comprehension.”

“As I thought.”

Kaisel didn’t seem particularly surprised by my answer.

“Had you suspected that reading comprehension would be my origin, Uncle?”

“Yes.”

“How on earth did you know?”

“Let me tell you something, Eriol.”

Kaisel spoke with his hands on the steering wheel.

“A true mage doesn’t show others his cards so easily.”

“I’ll remember that.”

Did it have something to do with the research assignment for professors that had been printed in the magazine by mistake—the one I had solved?

“They finished grading this morning’s entrance exams thirty minutes ago.”

“That was fast. How is that possible? Magic?”

“No. We worked the teaching assistants to the bone.”

“…”

For a moment, I felt sorry for them.

“Do you want to know your scores?”

“Won’t I be able to check them tomorrow morning anyway?”

“You scored one hundred in the first session, ninety in the second, one hundred in the third, and one hundred in the fourth.”

“…”

So… three hundred and ninety out of four hundred.

“You made a calculation error in the second session’s mathematics exam. That cost you ten points.”

“So mathematics was my weak point.”

“You still placed first in mathematics, Eriol.”

Still looking straight ahead, Kaisel continued.

“And in every other subject, of course. Which means… you placed first overall.”

First place.

That was more than I had hoped for.

“Shall I tell you why you did so well?”

“Please do.”

“The difference in reading comprehension.”

“Reading comprehension?”

“The entrance exam is difficult because the questions themselves are hard to understand. Most students need nearly ten minutes just to understand a single question. Put another way, once you understand the question, writing the answer isn’t particularly difficult.”

Now that I thought about it… he seemed to be right.

“How long did it take you to understand the questions?”

“I just… understood them as I read.”

“You little monster.”

It sounded like an insult at first, but he probably meant it as a compliment.

“Once these results are announced, the academy’s professors won’t sit idly by.”

“You think so?”

“Yes. They’ll all start taking an interest in you.”

A carriage was crossing in front of us at an intersection, so the magical automobile stopped for a moment.

“As you know, new students are initially divided into classes according to their entrance exam scores.”

“Yes, I know.”

“But those classes only last for the first year. Once that year is over, you enter the department of your choice.”

“That depends on grades too, doesn’t it?”

“Yes. Each department has a fixed number of places. Even if you want to join a particular department, you won’t get in if enough students with better grades apply.”

“Students with middling grades must have a hard time second-guessing each other.”

“That doesn’t apply to the top students, though. The departments end up fighting over them instead.”

“Fighting over them…”

“Of course, I’m not saying they’ll start fighting over you on your first day. One entrance exam isn’t enough to judge the extent of your talent.”

“That makes sense.”

“They’ll test you in various ways, trying to establish whether your talent has any real value.”

Kaisel set the magical automobile moving again.

“It’s inevitable. At present, the only people who truly grasp your talent are myself… and perhaps Professor Horizon of the Elemental Department.”

“I met Professor Horizon in the measurement room earlier.”

“Yes. Something about yesterday’s incident must have caught Horizon’s attention. The professor handled the aftermath, after all.”

“Professor Horizon made an aptitude for reading comprehension sound quite extraordinary.”

“What did you make of that?”

“Well, for the time being, I let it go in one ear and out the other.”

And I had.

Professor Horizon had made all sorts of grand statements, but I had simply replied, “I see,” and left the measurement room.

“I didn’t know enough to take everything Professor Horizon said at face value.”

“Good. For now, that’s the right answer.”

Kaisel nodded at my response.

“All you need to remember is that you have potential others don’t. As a new student, you should exercise your abilities to the fullest and distinguish yourself.”

“But if I distinguish myself, won’t everyone start fighting over me? That sounds like a headache.”

“Does that frighten you?”

“I’ve been considering simply reserving a place in your Principles Department now.”

The Principles Department.

One of Ars Magna Academy’s ten departments, it studied the fundamental principles that made up this world.

Kaisel was its head.

“How amusing. Who said I’d let you in?”

“Oh… I suppose I do need good grades to get in.”

“No. The Principles Department only admits students I want. Even if a student ranks first in the entire school, I reject them if they don’t appeal to me.”

“Are you allowed to do that?”

“Remember this, Eriol. A department head is king within his department.”

“I hope it becomes a constitutional monarchy soon.”

“Even so, if you want to join the Principles Department, you’ll need to rank first in the school at the very least.”

“First in the school at the very least… What if I don’t come first?”

“Then I have no particular need for you.”

We had already arrived at my lodgings.

With the magical automobile stopped, Kaisel looked at me.

“If I want you, it will be because you possess a truly unique value.”

“…”

“If your grades are merely middling, I won’t go out of my way to recruit you.”

At those imperious words,

I gave a small chuckle.

“I could come first and simply choose another department.”

“That’s your choice. If you wish to join another department, so be it.”

Kaisel was surprisingly relaxed about it.

“But make sure you come first.”

He met my eyes as he spoke.

“That’s what I expected of you when I called you to the academy.”

“Uncle…”

“Of course, you’ll need a proper reward to motivate you.”

A reward.

Just what sort of reward could this man offer me?

“You know that the Six Forbidden Books are kept in the Deep Library, which is open only to those of professorial rank and above.”

“Yes.”

“How about this?”

Against the darkening night sky, Kaisel narrowed his eyes and said,

“If you finish your first year with the highest overall evaluation score… I’ll arrange for you to read one of the Six Forbidden Books.”

At those words,

I couldn’t speak for a while.

But as Kaisel watched me… a faint smile touched his lips.

“I like that look in your eyes, Eriol Valencia.”

He looked thoroughly satisfied.

“I look forward to seeing what you do.”

From a man like Kaisel Valencia… that was the greatest encouragement I could have received.

---

The next day,

I headed to the Main Square in front of the academy’s main building for the entrance ceremony.

There were over a thousand new students alone, along with families who had come to celebrate their admission and people there to watch. The crowd was enormous.

I made my way through it to the entrance to the Main Square.

When I entered my examinee number into the artifact installed there, it told me where to sit.

“Hey, Eriol!”

While I was looking for my seat, I heard Kane’s voice.

“You’re over here too?”

“Yes, I’m…”

Checking the numbers on the chairs, I found that I seemed to be in the very front row.

“Are you sitting here too, Eriol?”

And Senia was in the seat next to mine.

As I sat down, Kane leaned forward from the seat behind me.

“I think the higher your entrance exam score, the closer to the front you sit.”

“Really?”

“From the looks of it… I think we’re all in the top class.”

We didn’t seem to be seated by examinee number, so he was probably right about the seating being based on grades.

“Eriol, we had to leave first yesterday because your uncle showed up. He told us to go on ahead.”

“I thought that might be it.”

“Did something happen to you, though?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, the look in your eyes… seems different.”

“Oh, you’re right.”

Kane and Senia studied my face, tilting their heads.

“It’s nothing.”

While we were talking, the entrance ceremony began in earnest.

“We will now begin the Ars Magna Academy entrance ceremony.”

A young man had taken the stage and begun presiding over the ceremony in a calm voice.

“First, the dean will formally declare your admission. This will be followed by the new students’ oath. After that…”

Just then, a voice came from the side opposite Senia.

“Hey.”

It was Monark Orson, whom I had met yesterday. Since he was sitting nearby, he was apparently in the top class too.

“So you’re in the top class after all.”

“…”

“I’m sorry about yesterday. We’ll be competing as classmates in the top class now. I hope we can get along.”

Monark spoke in an easy tone, but when I didn’t respond, he frowned.

“Hey, are you listening?”

“Be quiet.”

I kept my reply brief.

“The ceremony’s in progress.”

“You little…!”

Just as Monark’s eyes widened in anger,

the voice of the man onstage rang out.

“The new students’ declaration will be read by the student who achieved the highest score on the entrance exam, as the representative of the incoming class.”

His gaze swept along the front row… then settled on me, seated in the middle.

“Examinee number 321, Eriol Valencia. Please come up to the stage.”

“Yes.”

I rose from my seat.