Chapter 6 - The Entrance Ceremony ── He has appeared

A little while had passed before it was finally time for the Genius School of Magic entrance ceremony to officially commence. This announced a fresh start for the promising youths from all over the country.

‘Is it the time for the student’s part to start?’

Clad in his brand-new school uniform, Alfie felt deeply moved by the atmosphere that surrounded him.

The entrance ceremony was held at the largest auditorium of the school. It was so big that even if a person were to raise their voice, it still wouldn’t reach every corner of the auditorium. However, the voices of the faculty members were delivered clearly to the audience thanks to a certain ‘tool’ that was installed on the podium on top of the stage. It was a magical tool imbued with the wind attribute. Thus, it possessed the ability to carry the sounds very far, and it also aided in improving the clarity of the voices, making sure they are easily understood.

‘It looks just like a [microphone], doesn’t it?’

With the passing of such occasional strange thoughts; which probably wouldn’t make sense to anyone but Alfie himself, the entrance ceremony carried on without a hitch.

And then, it was time for the brief introductions of the teachers overseeing each division. The first person to take the stage was a male teacher who was quite familiar to Alfie. He happened to be the person that scouted Alfie to the Genius School of Magic.

“My name is Wellius. I’m the teacher in charge of the water attribute. I’m not very good regarding combat matters, so I won’t be able to help you much in terms of attack magic. However, I still look forward to working with you all.”

The slightly timid self-introduction drew the scorn of some freshmen as they snickered at his humility. According to the current trend among magicians, one’s status was directly influenced by how well one could handle offensive-type magic.

This was mostly due to the fact that in most cases, the final outcome of a battle between mages was mainly conditioned by the number of spells a magician had in his arsenal and the power each of them held.

Some even had the audacity to demean those who couldn’t use offensive-type magic, insinuating that they couldn’t be considered real magicians. And from the looks of it, those who just sneered were strong believers of that supposition.

‘Hah, what a bunch of idiots.’

Standing next to one of those people who had let out those ignorant sneers, Alfie felt rather dismayed at their narrow-mindedness.

Wellius was the person who was selected by the headmaster to be an official talent scout (T/N: Aka official scout for talents) for the school. Hence, there’s no possibility of him being an ordinary teacher with mediocre abilities.

As a special scholarship student, Alfie was exempted from the entrance examinations. Even so, Alfie still took part in both parts of the exam to grasp the extent of his current knowledge and abilities. He was able to obtain one of the highest results in his grade at the end of both exams. Unfortunately, though, he wasn’t able to reach the perfect score either.

Even though he was able to correctly answer what he was taught so far, there were still some parts that were left to be taught. As such, those caused a few mistakes to be made in the written test.

And about the practical test, he was put up against Wellius, who had just stated earlier that he wasn’t good at combat matters. The end result of it was; Alfie, wielder of four attributes was thoroughly left defeated by Wellius, wielder of a single water attribute.

While Alfie indeed felt frustrated at his defeat against Wellius, he wasn’t particularly aggrieved by the fact that he lost to a person with only the water attribute, or about the fact that his opponent ‘wasn’t very good at offensive-type magic’.

After all, Alfie, even with all his four attributes, still lost to a certain boy of the same generation who only wielded non-attribute defense-type magic.

Even though that boy was a bad childhood friend with a rotten personality, he was still an extremely special case in the end. Thanks to him, Alfie clearly understood that the number of attributes, or the spells, did not necessarily amount to everything there was to a person at first glance.

And so, the teachers’ introduction continued on.

“The name’s Zest. I’m more or less the person in charge of the wind attribute. I also don’t really like fighting, just like Wellius-sensei. I prefer to study theoretical knowledge instead and those who are interested in the subject are welcome to my lab any time. That’s all.”

Compared to other teachers this man gave off a rather sloppy vibe somehow.

Following that, a female teacher took the podium.

“… I’m Hyria. I’m in charge of the fire attribute. Best regards from now on.”

After saying that, she immediately stepped down from the stage. Some students were left flabbergasted by the very brief self-introduction, which was way shorter compared to other teachers. She was probably a quite beautiful woman but sadly, what stood out more than her beauty back then was the deep dark circles under her eyes and pale skin that seemed to have lost all its vitality.

Alfie felt a strange sense of familiarity seeing her expression.

‘…That’s the face of someone who’s had their pride smashed to pieces.’

Having first-hand experience of a similar case, Alfie could guess the female teacher Hyria’s blunder by the look on her face. It seemed as if her pride, which had been the ‘core’ of her being, was shattered to bits. Once a person was put in such a state, the higher the passion they once possessed, the harder it’ll be for them to recover.

…It felt like an ominous premonition.

A sudden chill ran down his spine.

After the teachers had finished their briefing session, it was time for the new student representatives to take the stage. Following that, a girl with long jade green hair stepped up to the podium.

Her name is Kadina Alfire.

In contrast to Hyria’s sullen lifeless visage, Kadina’s face carried a smile brimming with confidence.

Her name was already quite popular amongst the freshmen. Given that she had near-perfect scores on both practical and written tests on the entrance examination. Even though it was difficult for her to win against the teacher during the practical test, she still received a perfect score on the written part of the exam.

Not to mention her family is one of the most powerful aristocrats in the country. Added to the fact that she possessed an outstanding appearance along with her beauty. For Alfie, it was honestly hard to believe that she was actually the same age as himself judging from her appearance alone. Speaking of outward appearances, one part of it, in particular, seemed really… extremely assertive, but it’s not very gentlemanly to point that out.

‘… My first goal is to surpass that woman.’

‘Had I gotten a perfect score on the written exam, the one on that podium would have been me, not her.’

Alfie felt an increasing sense of frustration eating away at the innermost part of his heart.

The entrance ceremony was finally reaching its final stages with the headmaster’s speech.

He was one of the three greatest mages of the country and the lead representative of the long-lived race of elves. A person who had reached the pinnacle of the earth attributed magic.

He is the headmaster of the Genius School of Magic, Dist Euberg.

The symbolic long ears of the elves along with a handsome face really did not seem to fit his actual age. Let alone women, his appearance was attractive even to men.

After he got on top of the podium, he unhurriedly opened his mouth to speak,

“First of all, let’s start by welcoming the new students to our Genius School of Magic. On behalf of all the school staff, we warmly welcome you all to our school.”

The auditorium hall fell into a deathly silence after that resounding voice rang inside our minds. The silence felt so delicate that even the smallest noise would feel so impolite.

“I won’t be taking too much of your time since I dislike prattling for long and since you’ll be bored as well. So, allow me to briefly present you with the words I wish to pass on today.”

The headmaster slightly closed his eyes and said,

“Study, think and learn from everything that surrounds you. Accept and affirm the reality in front of you. Magic is a mass of possibilities. Just like the future that each of you holds, the path to magic will remain boundless for as long as you never give up nor let go.”

After finishing his piece, he looked at the faces of the new students.

Everyone seemed to be intently listening to his words.

Pleased with that response, Dist nodded his head with a smile.

“…Alright. To conclude this ceremony, let us finally invite the student who achieved the ‘best grades’ in this academic year’s entrance exam to share his thoughts and aspirations about joining the Genius School of Magic. “

Eh?

The air of the entire auditorium was suddenly filled with question marks. The student with the near-perfect score on the entrance exam, Kadina, was already on the stage. Was she asked to deliver another speech again? Almost everyone in the auditorium, including Alfie, looked toward her in unison. However, Kadina herself seemed bewildered by the entire situation, as if she couldn’t comprehend what was happening.

“Well then, please proceed.”

With that, the headmaster stepped down from the podium, and ‘he’, appeared in that same place–

“Let’s see, so for the self-introduction, my name is Reese Louise. My father is a fine winemaker (T/N: sake brewer) and my mother is a regular housewife. I’m the eldest son of a commoner family of four with a younger sister as my sibling. My motto is ‘Those who enjoy life will win in the end.’

　…………………………

　…………………… NO!?

“What the hell are you doing here!?!!!?”

Alfie suddenly shouted while pointing at the person on the stage. Even though it was a public occasion, the appearance of his ‘nemesis’ whom he had not expected to meet until he returned home for a long vacation, had caused him to burst out loud.

The gazes that were focused on Kadina up till now had gathered towards the person on top of the stage, but the person himself didn’t seem to mind it in the least.

“Oh, Alfie! It’s been almost half a month. How’s everything going on for ya?”

“Everything is all messed up because of you!”

Alfie forced his way through the throngs of students and rushed up to the stage where Reese stood and grabbed him by the collar.

“Oy you! What kind of a mess up?? -Uh? Just what the hell did you do this time?”

“Hey hey, wait a minute. Don’t talk to people like they’re some sort of charismatic trouble makers… you know, you’re making me feel a little embarrassed here.”

‘That wasn’t even supposed to be a compliment’, the little voice in the hearts of everyone inside the auditorium rang in unison.

“Calm down Alfie. We’re still in the middle of the entrance ceremony, you know. I’ll explain everything as many times as you want after this. So just take your hands off me for a minute… it’s getting harder to breathe in here.”

“… I really feel like strangling this guy to death.”

Even though his words were filled with murderous intent, Alfie still reluctantly let go of the collar he was holding. Reese patted his wrinkled uniform a few times with his hand.

During the time their banter went on, the headmaster let out a wry smile while Wellius widened his eyes in surprise. Hyria was holding her head as if it was the end of the world and Zest held his stomach while laughing hysterically.

“…Looks like some handsome guy suddenly barged in, I’m sorry about that. He should have just gone off and exploded by himself, right? So anyway, can you all be quiet for a minute… I’m not finished yet.”

The aforementioned handsome guy’s shoulders shook terribly as if he was forced to witness something very irritable. But he kept his silence as he too wanted the entrance ceremony to finish as fast as possible.

“Now where was I?… Ah yes, from what I’ve heard my entrance exam had a ‘perfect score’ on both written and practical tests. Well, putting the practical test aside, I never thought I would get the perfect score on the written part honestly~”

[──Please calm down Hyria-sensei! Someone quickly Hyria-sensei to the infirmary! She’s holding her head and screaming here!]

The female teacher was escorted out of the auditorium by the colleagues around her.

After witnessing the whole event, Alfie became certain of his previous suspicions.

She must have been the one in charge of that guy’s practical test. ‘I’m really sorry for your loss, teacher.’

Soon afterward, Alfie suddenly felt a tremendous amount of bloodlust. Holding back the exclamation, he slowly peered at the direction of its origin.

With a terrifying expression on her face, the new student representative was openly glaring at them, or to be more precise, she was glaring at Reese. It might not have been a full frontal attack but the bloodlust could still be felt from throughout the whole distance between them. The other freshmen students next to that person were choked with tears at suddenly being put in such a miserable position.

Even when he was targeted by a gaze that could kill, Reese still seemed unbothered as he continued on. Seeing this, Alfie felt lost wondering if he should respect or disdain that sheer amount of brazenness.

“So as a result of that, I was given this position today. Anyhow, let me make a declaration here right now.”

As he said that, his expression went from a sloppy smile to a daring one.

He held his index finger raised above his head, pointing up towards the sky, and made his grand gesture,

“I aim to be the strongest within this school!”

“My ultimate goal is to take over the world with Defense Magic someday.”

“For those of you who can’t stand to see a commoner being cocky, I welcome you all to bring it on!”

“I’ll beat you all at your own game!”

“And finally, let’s get along with each other from now on!”

Following that, Alfie let out a deep, deep sigh, foreseeing the chaos that was about to ensue within the next few seconds.