—The written exam will be divided into common questions and track-specific questions, and the practical exam will be the same.
The admissions guideline briefing at Roteo Hall.
That day repeated itself.
Everything proceeded exactly the same.
In the middle of the briefing, the “Complete Isolation Spell Barrier” swallowed the space, and even inside it, Deculein resumed his explanation of the guidelines.
—If we enter the Tower, will we be able to take Chief Professor Deculein’s class right away~?
—No.
—Eek! Why, why? I want to take the Chief Professor’s class~!
A situation no different from before. Even as she watched it all with her own eyes, Epherene couldn’t understand it. Her mind was blank.
“Pleasure to meet you.”
Then, once again, a voice approached. The oppressive weight of cool mana. But this time, she wasn’t afraid. If anything, her questions were greater.
Epherene quickly twisted her head to look back at him.
Eyes black as ink, a wizard in a tattered robe—Murkan.
“Excuse me!”
“……”
For an instant, Murkan’s pupils widened, but they soon settled. Had he understood the situation?
“What is going on?!”
“……”
Murkan said nothing. Frustrated by that, Epherene stood on tiptoe and grabbed Murkan by the collar.
“I’m in huge trouble right now. Never mind the thesis—”
“Did the bomb explode?”
“Yes.”
Epherene answered at once. She didn’t know what bomb he meant, but something had exploded, and she had ended up like this.
“It seems you are already repeating.”
“……”
Murkan nodded, then took something from inside his robe.
“……A pocket watch?”
“An item my nephew made.”
“……”
A watch made of wood. Murkan handed it to Epherene. Epherene let go of his collar for the moment and accepted it.
“He entrusted that to me and said this: when the time comes, give it to the ‘Child of Time.’”
He was a man who had never asked anything of me in his life.
Murkan murmured in a sorrowful tone, then looked at Epherene again.
Epherene avoided his gaze and muttered.
“……What’s the Child of Time?”
“You were born on the day the meteor fell.”
“Huh? How did you know that?”
“Your fate is wound in time. Your features, your mana, your name—everything.”
“……”
There was no evidence in Murkan’s words. They weren’t scientific, either. If not for the name Murkan, he would have been a perfect fraud.
However, because his name was Murkan, every gap was resolved with the word “magical.”
“Then what is that bomb?”
“My nephew called it the Altar’s declaration of war. It seems they first intended to bomb the Emperor and eliminate her, but some providence appears to have gone awry.”
“Ah!”
Epherene nodded and, instead of his collar, grabbed Murkan’s hand.
“Please help me!”
“I do not involve myself in the mortal world. I have already sworn as much.”
“What! You already got involved!”
“I merely passed along my nephew’s request.”
Murkan released Epherene’s hand. Epherene was naturally pushed back.
“You must find the answer yourself. There is still much time.”
Leaving those words behind, Murkan vanished in an instant.
Just as he had two months ago.
—Huh? The barrier disappeared!
At that moment, a voice rang through the briefing hall.
Sighs of relief rose up all at once.
“……”
Epherene blinked blankly, then came to her senses at the sight of Deculein descending from the podium.
Deculein, too, looked puzzled by the sudden dissolution of the barrier.
But Epherene did not approach him. “This time,” she simply stood still.
“Epherene.”
Unlike two months ago, Deculein approached first and asked.
“Did you meet someone?”
Epherene did not answer.
* * *
“……Strange.”
Meanwhile, Sophien was frowning as she looked out the window. The clear blue sky remained the same, yet for some reason, it felt as though something had been “emptied.”
Not only from this world, but from within her own body as well.
“Are you all right, Your Majesty?”
Ahan asked then. Sophien shook her head.
“It is nothing…… However, Ahan.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Shall we make a wager?”
She spread the files of the knights across the desk.
“On which of them will accomplish my assignment first.”
“……But I do not know the knights’ assignments.”
“This one, Mountain Jailon.”
Sophien tapped Jailon’s file with her finger.
“I ordered this one to bring me a Basilisk.”
“……!”
Ahan’s eyes went wide.
A Basilisk, one of the rare monsters that could be considered on the same level as a Great Tiger. However, since it established a territory, a head-on confrontation was even more dangerous than with a Great Tiger.
“This one must bring the flower called ‘Rezetal,’ which blooms only in the Land of Extinction. And this one……”
Sophien recited the enormous assignments. All of them were feats worthy of being called “achievements.”
“Lastly, Yulie. For this knight.”
A smile appeared on Sophien’s lips.
“I ordered her to discover who was behind the attempted poisoning of me.”
“……”
At that, Ahan’s mouth fell open.
“Poi……”
“Yes. Of course, I feel as though I vaguely know who was behind it.”
If one carefully considered and pieced together the power dynamics between families at the time, the process of their feuds, and all the rest, it would be a fairly easy deduction. But Sophien found it bothersome.
She did not wish to waste herself on such a distant matter.
“If you know, should you not punish them at once?”
At Ahan’s question, she merely smiled. Without a word, she looked out at the lake beyond the window.
“……I have seen to all state affairs for the day, so I shall go fishing.”
Then she rose, taking with her the fishing rod Deculein had gifted her.
* * *
……Late at night, when the imperial capital had fallen asleep.
I am alone in the underground crystal cave, manipulating mana. It is training to handle 「Telekinesis」 as precisely as possible, but it is twice as difficult as I expected.
Even for me, whose patience, self-restraint, and mental fortitude are on a superhuman level, it is a process difficult to endure. An extreme that makes my fists clench on their own and my teeth grit.
“……This vermin-like…”
The so-called “moving grains of sand,” a task that makes curses slip out before I know it.
“……”
Separating an entire sack of sand “one grain at a time,” “without breaking it.”
If two grains are picked up at once, or if one breaks while being moved, I must start again from the beginning.
Tonight alone, this is the 937th time.
“Still……”
This much is not bad. The more painful it is, the more it proves the training is being done properly.
I tidied my disheveled hair. I sent the sweat soaking my whole body away with 「Cleanse」.
Then, I move the sand.
Srrrrrk—
The sand inside the sack splits, and an exceedingly tiny grain rises into the air. I move it into another sack, then the second grain. The third grain…… and as I repeat this hundreds of times.
Rustle—
One grain breaks.
“……”
I looked at it, then raised my head. Breathing deeply, I closed my eyes.
Chirp— chirp chirp——
The morning birdsong drifting in from outside the cave. I overturned the sand in the sack onto the ground.
This is a routine that makes use of my personality. Deculein would never tolerate such a miserable state, and no matter what happens, it will make him return here and repeat the training.
“……However.”
Immediately after I came out of the cave, I felt a rather strange sense of incongruity. More precisely, it was “déjà vu.”
“Before, too.”
Had there been a time like this?
I looked back at the cave entrance from the garden.
Chirp chirp— chirp chirp chirp—
Birdsong of two syllables and three syllables respectively. The dawn light illuminating the underground cave.
Déjà vu.
“Master.”
At that moment, Ren approached.
“Miss Epherene did not return tonight.”
“Did she say anything?”
“Yes. She said she had something to do for a while, borrowed the car, and went to the Magic Tower.”
“She can drive?”
“Yes. I do not know when she learned, but…”
I chuckled and shook my head.
“I’ll meet her at the Magic Tower anyway. Prepare.”
“There is no car to prepare.”
“……”
Only belatedly did I realize why Ren had said that.
Indeed, in a world where cars were rare, there was no such thing as a car for attendants.
“……I’ll ride a horse, then.”
“Yes. In preparation for such situations, I will arrange another car separately.”
I nodded.
* * *
Epherene drove all around the imperial capital. She had searched every place where a “bomb” might have been planted, combing through them thoroughly.
However, it was nowhere to be found.
“Mm……”
With no other choice, Epherene went to Professor Louina’s office. Epherene told her everything.
“……You probably won’t believe me.”
At Epherene’s words, Louina smiled bitterly.
“It isn’t easy to believe. So, you’re saying you returned from April 9th to now?”
“Yes.”
“But, well, it’s a story that’s entirely possible. If, as Murkan said, your origin is ‘time.’”
An origin called time.
Epherene didn’t know whether that was true. To begin with, an “origin” did not exist for an ordinary wizard, and she had never even imagined that an origin could be a concept like “time.”
“Then let’s think first. What is their goal? For what purpose did they plant the bomb?”
“Murkan said it was to kill Her Majesty.”
“Then, did you search beneath the Imperial Palace?”
“……No. I asked, but they said the basement of the Imperial Palace has been sealed for a long time. They won’t open it.”
At Epherene’s words, Louina smiled brightly.
“You’ve searched well all this time, haven’t you?”
“Yes……”
“But why didn’t you ask your master?”
Deculein. At those words, Epherene’s shoulders flinched.
“Ah, that’s……”
“Because you thought he wouldn’t believe you?”
“……Yes. Honestly.”
Time travel, regression—would Deculein believe such things? She had that worry, but there was another reason as well.
“But…… there’s also a chance they were targeting Professor Deculein.”
“Professor Deculein?”
“Yes. The bomb went off on the anniversary of his former fiancée’s death.”
“April 9th.”
“……You know?”
“Of course I do. We were classmates.”
Louina smiled. Epherene nodded as well and let out a sigh of relief.
As expected, coming to Louina had been the right choice.
“Still, don’t do anything that stands out for now. If the Altar or whatever they’re called really devised such a plan, you could be in danger. And…… Ah, the Professor is here.”
At that moment, Louina pointed outside the window of the Magic Tower. Epherene looked down there with her.
“……Oh, he came on a horse.”
Deculein had come riding a black horse today. All eyes in the campus focused on his solemn figure, and Epherene tilted her head.
“Isn’t it because you took the car that he came on horseback?”
“……Ah, right!”
Epherene’s eyes widened.
“Then I’ll be going!”
She gathered all the library materials she had brought and hurried downstairs……
……Five minutes later.
Epherene glanced at Deculein in his office chair and agonized. Whether to tell him or not.
On the other hand, he was going about his work as usual, his fountain pen moving swiftly. Calm as ever, exuding an aura that made him difficult to approach.
“If you have something to say, say it.”
It was Deculein, unable to endure Epherene’s gaze any longer.
“……Yes? Ah, well……”
Epherene fidgeted. After another five minutes passed in that state and Deculein finally set down his fountain pen, Epherene made her decision.
As expected, it would be right to inform the Professor.
With that thought, she sprang to her feet and was about to sit across from Deculein.
─────.
A certain sense of incongruity encroached upon Epherene’s mind.
At the same time, Deculein’s crystal orb rang. Epherene’s crystal orb also trembled.
No, at that moment, perhaps the crystal orbs of the entire world cried out.
“……”
Before long, Deculein, having received certain “words,” and Epherene’s complexion hardened gravely.
The words were as follows.
—An assassin has infiltrated the Imperial Palace and launched a surprise attack on Her Majesty Sophien.