[Episode 3]
The leisurely life of the early days after my possession disappeared like fog. I asked the butler, who never slept past dawn, to wake me when he began the household chores, and I too rose at dawn to sit at my desk. My studies, begun by scraping together what I’d learned in university, weren’t all that difficult except when unfamiliar imperial names or noble houses came up.
The problem was stamina. Dietrich’s body, which had been confined to her room for quite a long time, tired far too easily. Even when I tried to start exercising, my bad leg made it difficult.
So I started chopping firewood.
“No, my lady, how could you chop firewood with such frail arms!”
The gardener, who had stubbornly tried to stop me at first, soon left the chopping entirely to me.
“My lady, that piece over there isn’t fully split. Oh, yes, yes. Right behind that chair.”
At first he had watched me without moving a muscle, his face full of worry, but now he paid me no heed except to occasionally throw in a word of advice as he passed by.
When Baron and Lady De Goff learned that Dietrich was chopping firewood, they were so shocked they nearly fainted and almost collapsed, but after I smashed about ten pieces in front of them, they began holding me back from lifting the axe again, saying that was enough.
When studying simply wouldn’t work, I would take my crutches and visit the homes of territory residents with poor mobility to chop firewood for them. The residents who had been surprised and tried to stop me had at some point tearfully said I was better than children who went far away and didn’t even come to see their own mothers.
In reality, I too was a child who had gone far away without visiting family, so I just chopped firewood even harder, by way of penance.
Baron De Goff was someone who had been granted territory in recognition of his service in the demon war in which Duke Ereksion—Roxanne’s father—and the Emperor had taken part. This meant he hadn’t been a baron for very long.
And so, even though his only child, adopted though she was, went around the whole village chopping firewood, Baron De Goff did not scold that reckless behavior.
Perhaps for Baron De Goff, what mattered more than a lord’s dignity was that his daughter, who had been locked in her room crying every day, had gained energy and brightened up. After all, when I returned from chopping the village’s firewood, he would stroke my hand affectionately and ask if I had been hurt anywhere or if anything difficult had happened.
***
Time passed quickly, and before I knew it, it was September, the month of the entrance exam.
The capital, Callos, home of the Imperial Academy, was three days away from Heillem by carriage if one drove without sleeping a wink. Naturally, Hans, Baron De Goff’s coachman, who was well past retirement age, couldn’t drive without rest, so it took about a week to arrive in Callos.
His handling, boasting fifty years without an accident, made even rocky roads pass as smoothly as ice. Of course, there were crises along the way, but after throwing up a few times, I got better.
It wasn’t as if one could only reach the capital Callos by carriage. Faithful to the genre of romantic “fantasy,” magic existed in this world too, so one could travel by teleportation. The problem was that remote places like Heillem didn’t have teleportation circles installed.
Did the mages think that old imperial citizens in the provinces would have no reason to go to the capital? Not a single teleportation circle had been installed near Heillem.
*If only I had enough mana, I would install a teleportation circle myself…*
In fact, any citizen of the Teuhompeulle Empire in this novel could use magic of their innate element. The problem was that the magic ordinary people could use was far too trivial.
For example, Baron De Goff, who could use fire magic, could cast magic just strong enough to scorch a protruding thread. The baroness, a wind mage, possessed enough strength to blow breadcrumbs from the dining table onto the floor.
Dietrich was a water mage. If she concentrated for five minutes, she could fill a teaspoon with water. Yet rather than scorching a thread, it was faster to cut it with scissors; rather than taking the time to blow breadcrumbs away with wind, it was better to just sweep them aside by hand.
Of course, this was the level of magic one could use in daily life; if one gathered mana, one could cast magic on a much greater scale. I could do it too.
There had been a time when I wanted to test my limits. So I concentrated and filled about half a cup with water created by magic. But I used up all my stamina and passed out for three days, unable to wake up.
Anyway, the citizens of the Teuhompeulle Empire, who possessed negligible magic, lived as though they had no mana. But among them were those born with innate magical power. Those born sporadically were immediately entered into the Magic Tower’s registry to receive a mage’s education the moment their abilities manifested.
That Magic Tower also served to inform Callos of the weather. It wasn’t that the mages controlled the weather; rather, on clear days the tower was visible even from afar, and on cloudy days when rain was likely, it hid its traces amid the clouds.
*When I arrive in the capital, I must see if the Magic Tower is truly visible.*
Studying what remained, lost in various thoughts, and occasionally vomiting, the week inside the carriage slowly passed.
Callos was indeed a center of culture and arts, befitting a capital.
“…that was what it was… *hiss*… Hmm? Proctor! May I have one more answer sheet?”
The human phonograph young lord, reading through his answer sheets in a continuous stream, already on his third sheet.
*Rattle. Rattlerattlerattle. Rattle-clackity-clatter-rattle.*
The trembling young lord, shaking his legs.
“Hah… Phew… No…”
The sighing young lady, doing beatboxing with her sighs.
As if weird people I had never met in my long, long history of exams had been gathered together, the young noble lords and ladies in front, behind, and beside me were creating an orchestra of noise. Fortunately, it seemed I wasn’t the only one annoyed; several students were sending them glances sharp as blades.
*So not all nobles are overflowing with refinement, it seems.*
I found the realistic appearances of these noble children a bit funny and cute in a strange way. Of course, that didn’t mean I didn’t feel choked up or annoyed at times.
Setting aside the nightmarish orchestra they created, the exam itself was easy. Fortunately, no questions I didn’t know appeared. There were quite a few topics covered in the old books I’d read diligently while smelling mold. But my goal wasn’t to answer every question correctly.
*First place… no. It stands out too much.*
I carefully examined the answers I’d written down. What was harder than taking first place was achieving the desired rank that wasn’t first place.
I needed the scholarship, but I didn’t want people’s attention. So I needed to adjust my score appropriately.
Every exam has shoddy questions thrown in to adjust the difficulty. I decided to be someone who got those shoddy questions wrong. I scratched out the answers I’d written first and filled in wrong ones.
*If I’m at the level where there are no questions I don’t know, there must be a student who knows all the answers.*
So please, get them all right. If I’m going to be second!
I entrusted my future to a top-ranked student whose face I didn’t even know.
While lost in such thoughts, the prospective students in the examination hall had all left. I had deliberately waited until everyone departed because I didn’t want to be swept away by the crowd.
*I should get up soon too.*
I should tell Hans that I did very well on the exam, that I didn’t know about first place but I thought I could expect to be admitted. Then the fatigue on the way back might be a little less.
While walking lost in various thoughts, I saw a figure approaching from afar. Be that as it may, I was walking steadily, pressing my crutches hard against the slippery marble floor.
The wooden crutches screeched and slipped against the marble floor. Annoyed by the sound, I looked at the floor and walked carefully placing my crutches, when I saw someone’s shadow standing tall before me.
“So I saw correctly.”
At the calm voice, a cold premonition that something troublesome was about to happen swept through my chest. I slowly raised my head and looked at the person before me.
“It’s been a while, Sister.”
In that instant, I met eyes with pupils flickering a piercing blue. The moment our eyes met, I couldn’t not know. Pupils that seemed to contain the sea, and silver hair that sparkled as it swayed lightly in the wind.
Roxanne’s half-brother. Evan Ereksion.
In Dietrich’s memories, Evan had been a child smaller and thinner than Dietrich herself, but he had grown up before anyone knew it and was now looking down at her. I wondered if he had come to meet Roxanne, then suddenly remembered that in the original story, Evan was a prodigy who had skipped grades and entered the Academy at the same time as Roxanne.
*I suppose he came to take the exam with Roxanne.*
When my thoughts reached that point, I realized I hadn’t yet responded to Evan’s greeting.
“Hello… It’s been a while.”
As I bowed my head politely, Evan raised his hand as if pushing my greeting aside. His standing posture was as straight as a born noble’s.
“There is no need to be so formal, Sister.”
Even though Dietrich was no longer the young lady of House Ereksion, Evan consistently called her Sister using honorifics, just as he did with Roxanne. Somehow that address felt ticklish, and I thought I should correct him.
Of course, the greater reason was that I found it troublesome to face a situation where people pointed out how an adopted daughter of some baron’s family kept receiving formal speech from a duke’s young lord.
“I heard you went to Baron De Goff’s family in Heillem.”
“I am Dietrich. I am no longer a member of House Ereksion, so please speak casually.”
“Dietrich… Dietrich De Goff.”
Paying no heed to my words, Evan repeated Dietrich’s name as if chewing it over.
“It is a name… that suits you very well, Sister.”