Inside the carriage traveling from the Imperial Palace to Blackmore.
“……”
Selena Lugrite exhaled a deep sigh with an expression of utmost caution. For some reason, her eyes began to feel brimming with tears, only for her to bite her lower lip and suppress them. She couldn’t refuse, after all, since it was an order from the royal family.
‘Why me of all people…!’
Luke Richter—how could she not know him? She had watched him for five long years during her time as the headmaster at the academy. Five years—a not too long but certainly not short period during which she observed him. It was certainly enough time to firmly grasp what kind of person he was.
And what kind of person was Luke Richter to her?
‘Crazy bastard…!’
For five years, he flipped the academy upside down, then, as if nothing had happened, left to become an inspector and wiggled his way into the empire’s most fearsome Magic Realm. Selena faintly guessed his intentions.
What exactly was he planning this time by crawling into that dreadful Blackmore? Perhaps his becoming an inspector from the start was a ploy to initiate something within the Magic Realm.
At the very least, the Luke Richter that she knew was akin to a sudden mutation—a mad eccentric who appeared normal on the surface yet caused all sorts of trouble.
“Are you alright, Dean?”
“Do you think I’m alright?”
“No, in the grand scheme, he’s just one inspector, right? I didn’t find anything noteworthy in my investigation.”
“Frustrating. Those notoriously ruthless bastards in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, why do they seem so averse to bringing just one inspector out of all people?”
“It’s probably just them wasting time out of boredom.”
“No, not likely. Those guys know full well—being involved with Luke Richter is asking for a complicated life.”
Even when Special Forces Commander Derek Baldwin had approached her, she was surprised. Now the Emperor himself was personally ordering his summoning. Selena shook her head in disbelief. What on earth had he done to reach this point?
She sighed and recalled an incident from five years ago. It was a memory she preferred not to revisit, but she would soon face him, so she had no choice but to retrace the threads of her past involving him.
*
The academy’s faculty is divided into two large categories: the swordsmanship department and the magic department.
Of course, there are other disciplines like social sciences, liberal arts, and linguistics, but the basic classification of its curriculum was based primarily on magic and swordsmanship. Other courses were elective credits one could take in addition to these core subjects.
In a world where demon beasts roam, filled with all manner of threats, where one superhuman being can rival the strength of an entire nation—what is the fastest and most efficient route to power?
Undoubtedly, it’s physical force.
Even the heart of power itself, the noble families, are based on this foundation. What are nobles if not warriors?
They are the ones who have drenched their swords in blood to protect the nation. They are the legendary heroes who have slain countless enemies. These monsters from the past are the ancestors of today’s noble families.
The center of power has always been force. Thus, the academy is not merely a place of learning but an opportunity—a place where even commoners can seize power. This is the product of the law of strength. Discussions about academia and research are ultimately just superficial.
The academy’s real core lies in one thing: mastering the essence of power—mana.
That’s why a student’s rank is essentially determined by the innate amount of mana they possess.
What can a person with weak mana hope to achieve upon entering the academy, after all? Avoiding expulsion due to poor grades would be commendable.
While this was rare due to the academy students being mostly extraordinary talents, if such an event were to occur, it was clear that the family involved would be ridiculed for generations. Hence, having at least enough mana to avoid scorn became the minimum unwritten rule before entering the academy.
And yet…
“Luke Richter?”
Selena read through the documents with a somewhat bewildered face.
“A viscount family, the Richters…”
The Richters—a family with a long history steeped in magic, indeed a distinguished family.
Given that they are from this family, one would expect a person whose talents everyone would envy…
But…
“He’s a bastard?”
He was illegitimate—born to a commoner mother. While he may have had flaws in his birth, it was not certain that his abilities were flawed too. If he had inherited his father’s blood strongly, surely there was something hidden within him…
“Let’s see, his rank is… ‘Neophyte’…?”
When magic users are evaluated, three primary criteria exist: speed, precision, and power in deploying sigils. However, these are only formal standards. The single overarching measure is their mana capacity. The more mana one has, the more powerful their spells become, the more precise their sigils, and the faster they can deploy them.
Magic users are classified into five ranks, with the lowest being ‘Neophyte.’
“So, what do we have here? A washout, huh?”
Selena said this with a look of disappointment. The reasons were simple: she had high expectations because he came from the Richter household, but it turned out the contents didn’t live up to the hype.
“Tch.”
Because of this, Selena erased him from her memory. For Selena, who judged people solely by their abilities, Luke Richter was someone who didn’t need to be remembered.
Time passed, and soon came the day of the entrance examination.
“Dean Selena! This way!”
Guided by the vice-dean, Selena made her way toward the entrance examination hall.
“Dean Selena, you’ve seen it too, right? This year’s roster of entrants.”
“I’ve seen it—it’s a group worth calling ‘golden.’”
From the princesses of the royal family, to children of renowned distinguished families—this year’s lineup genuinely warranted being called a “golden generation.”
“Here, take this. These are the entrance examination papers submitted up until yesterday.”
“What, how are there so many?”
“Well, of course there are! That’s why you should make the exam easier already. Asking students to solve a drought we ourselves can’t handle is a bit much, don’t you think?”
“That wasn’t intended to be solved from the get-go.”
The academy is an educational institution under the royal family, so naturally, there was always royal influence in its administration. Asking students to solve a drought across the continent—something even she, who had reached the third rank, couldn’t solve—was quite ridiculous.
Thus, the key point of this entrance examination was creativity. Isn’t the wisdom of the crowd often considered the greatest wisdom?
The creative ideas of the top talents gathered at the academy were bound to help the royal family considerably.
Selena slowly skimmed through the documents.
“Still, there are quite a few usable suggestions.”
“That’s why it’s called a golden generation, after all.”
“Filter out the usable ones and send them to the royal family. Oh, before you send them, send a copy to the Red Magic Tower first.”
“Ugh, what a pain.”
Indeed, the children of educated families were different. Unlike herself, who had become rigid with old age, they showed some unique ideas. Of course, these ideas were insufficient to solve the nationwide drought, but the accumulation of such small ideas could create something new.
“…Luke Richter?”
While skimming the documents, Selena stopped momentarily upon seeing a familiar name. She knew the name—it was, after all, the only Richter in this year’s intake.
“That bastard?”
“Bastard?”
“There is. A single Neophyte.”
“Huh? What has he been doing to still be a Neophyte?”
“How should I know?”
…But why is his essay so thick?
There are always people like this: those whose abilities aren’t up to par, so they try to cover their shortcomings with theory.
“What is this?”
Selena stopped her hand mid-scan and burst out with a hollow laugh.
A giant orb of mana floated in the air, emitting heat so fierce it could melt steel—it was an artificial sun constructed by Luke Richter for his entrance exam, using pure, high-purity mana crystals, five silverstones, aerodynamic artifices, and resonant stones for the spells. Well, it looked more or less like an artificial sun, or rather, some similar contraption.
It began to ascend slowly, its heat making the air ripple around it akin to summer heatwaves, distorting the space around.
Then he deployed an artifice that directed the winds, altering the airflow which, in turn, created a spiraling, vortex-like updraft. Selena and the other professors watched, speechless, as clouds began to form slowly in the sky.
How long had it been?
It began raining.
It was no lie—the rain really came down.
However…
“…”
Selena felt an uneasy sensation with the increasing wind pressure. The clouds were forming too fast, expanding in size.
“Wait, what is this…”
KAAAAAAAAAAH!
Before she could finish her sentence, a sudden gale force wind swept everything around. Instantly, a massive whirlwind formed. It was like a miniature typhoon, with winds powerful enough to rip up trees by their roots and throw them into the air, tearing apart roofs, and shattering windows of nearby buildings.
“This… Damn it…”
And so, that was their first meeting.
