Chapter 4
When Emily returned to the classroom, fortunately, the lesson had barely progressed and the teacher was explaining the practical assignment.
The teacher, who saw Emily during class, seemed to have been informed by Miss Kira beforehand, as he nodded slightly and gestured for her to take her seat.
“Now, we’ll form pairs for the practical. Each team will submit an assignment by infusing the necessary magic into a pendant.”
As Emily awkwardly crossed the classroom, her classmates, who had been glancing at her with peculiar expressions, quickly forgot about her presence, distracted by the sudden assignment from the teacher.
“The deadline is this week.”
The entire class let out anguished cries that the deadline was too short, but the teacher didn’t even blink.
Liam Calroph, in charge of the Illusion Magic class, was a capable young teacher. With his gray hair and rare sky-blue eyes, he was quite popular for his handsome appearance, but was known for being indifferent to anything other than magic.
Calroph pushed up the glasses he was wearing and distributed number tags to the students, one by one.
Then, after tapping the classroom table to quiet the noisy students, he continued.
“Those with the same numbers will form a team. Once you’ve received your papers, move to your new seats.”
Emily also stood up after receiving the paper handed to her by the student in front, while Miss Kira, sitting next to her, leaned over to check Emily’s number and looked disappointed.
“It would have been nice if we were on the same team. I could have done all the work for you.”
“Haha. Indeed. We could have produced a good result together, Miss Kira.”
Kira knew that Emily had been drenched because of her. She seemed restless, worried that Emily might be upset, but Emily’s gaze as she looked at Kira seemed somewhat complicated.
Emily, unsure whether to be relieved or disappointed about not being paired with Miss Kira, couldn’t help but furrow her brow when she saw who her actual partner was.
“Ah… Miss Emily.”
“…Miss Sophia.”
Sophia stood in front of Emily, her hand holding the paper trembling like a squirrel faced with a predator, her face filled with shock.
The perpetrator and victim of the morning’s water incident unexpectedly faced each other, leaving both of them very flustered.
They called each other’s names and then fell into a moment of silence. When Calroph tapped the lectern and told them to take their seats quickly, they snapped out of it and sat down side by side.
“Alright, now that you’ve formed your groups, let’s start the assignment. This task will be reflected in your midterm exams, so it’s best to work hard. And if you try to change teams, I’ll deduct 5 points because it’s troublesome for me.”
Once again, the entire class let out resentful cries at Calroph’s words, but he just waved his hand as if annoyed.
The new students, who had keenly felt Calroph’s ‘if I say it, I mean it’ personality over the past two months, wailed but eventually sat down and started working on the assignment in earnest.
Of course, Emily and Sophia also sighed and gave up on changing teams.
“Um… Lady Emily, I’m really sorry about earlier.”
At Sophia’s words, Emily glanced at her.
Sophia flinched, her shoulders trembling as she lowered her gaze. Seeing this, Emily let out a short sigh and casually changed the subject.
She didn’t particularly want to accept her apology.
“Is water magic your primary magic, Miss Sophia?”
“Huh? Oh, yes. That’s right. What about you, Miss Emily?”
“Mine are wind and light, but my main magics are ‘sound’ and ‘illusion’ rather than directly handling the basic forces. If I had to choose, sound is a bit stronger.”
“Oh… I see.”
Emily had little mana, so despite being able to use two types of magic, neither was particularly useful. Sophia nodded in response to Emily’s words.
“Then… shall we focus on my magic? I’ll make a pendant containing water.”
“Yes, that sounds good. But just water alone might not score well, so how about adding a bit of wind energy to create water with purifying properties? Honestly, I thought of it because it’s something I need lately.”
At Emily’s words, Sophia, who had been writing curse letters day and night recently, flinched and shuddered.
Glancing up at her, Emily was smiling casually as she looked at Sophia.
‘Right, of course Miss Emily would notice.’
Sophia lowered her head in resignation.
Water can become a curse or purification depending on the medium. Of course, Sophia’s ability was very weak, so even her curses only caused near-misses or stubbed toes rather than actual falls, but still, every time Sophia created curse letters at Astina’s request, she was plagued by strong guilt.
‘…This isn’t why I’m studying so hard here.’
But Sophia had no choice but to follow Miss Astina’s words because her father, Baron Fons, was receiving support from the Mille Count family for his business ventures.
As the only water mage among Astina’s group, it was natural for Miss Emily to notice.
Moreover, strangely, Emily often ended up being the one affected by the curses intended for Miss Kira. Continuously targeting the wrong person with clumsy magic had made Astina even more agitated, and she was now hounding Sophia.
“…Yes. Let’s do that, Miss Emily.”
Nodding to Emily’s request, Sophia volunteered to take on most of the assignment.
Watching Sophia, whose lips trembled slightly with a smile as she shouldered the burden of the assignment, seemingly easing some of her guilt, Emily thought that it must be hard for everyone caught in the middle, but she didn’t voice this thought out loud.
* * *
After finishing their Magic History class, it was lunchtime, and Kira and Emily were eating in the student cafeteria.
Kira, who had been focused on eating her salad, seemed concerned about the first assignment from the Illusion Magic class and looked at Emily as she asked.
“How are you planning to approach Professor Calroph’s assignment, Miss Emily? I’m thinking of containing fire in the pendant, with the intention of making it for offensive purposes.”
“Certainly, your fire power is quite strong, Miss Kira. It should turn out well. Our team will be containing water. Since Miss Sophia is a water mage, I think she’ll be able to do it better than I could.”
“I see. It’s a shame though, as your magic is excellent too. Isn’t the trendy magic these days the kind that can be delicately combined like yours, Miss Emily? It might be good to try creating a combination for commercial use.”
“I’m not at that level yet. But commercial magic, that does sound quite good.”
Convinced by Kira’s suggestion, Emily nodded in agreement with her words.
Indeed, these days, powerful magic isn’t unconditionally preferred. In the old days, they say powerful magic was used to defeat enemy countries or protect humans from monsters by burning, cutting, or blowing things away. But as the periods without war lengthened and the number of monsters gradually decreased, monsters became rare sights except in areas far from the capital, like the Academy, or deep in forests.
As the demand for offensive magic decreased, mages began to move away from blindly increasing magical power and started honing techniques for more refined applications.
For example, magic for everyday convenience, like magic letters or teleportation magic.
There was a growing trend of mages becoming wealthy by commercializing such magical techniques.
Certainly, in that respect, Emily’s ability to handle two types of magic was quite useful.
“Come to think of it, for commercial magic, wasn’t there a Practical Magic class?”
“Yes, that’s right, Miss Emily. I believe it’s still possible to sign up for additional classes. Why don’t you look into it later?”
“Yes, I should take a look. Thank you, Miss Kira.”
Emily finished her meal, thinking it might not be a bad idea to take the Practical Magic class as an additional course. Kira, who had been watching Emily with a satisfied expression, returned her focus to eating her salad.
* * *
“Miss Kira, out for a walk again today?”
After finishing lunch, Emily and Kira were taking their usual stroll in the main building’s garden when suddenly a familiar voice called out to them.
“We greet Your Highness, the Second Prince.”
“Ah… We greet Your Highness, the Second Prince.”
As Emily and Kira turned around, they saw Lucas with his bright blonde hair, smiling at them.
Behind him followed Eden Valenti with his expressionless face and William Chase, looking somewhat sleepy.
As they approached, Kira lowered her gaze and gave Lucas an informal greeting, while Emily, tense behind her, hurriedly offered her greetings as well.
It was fortunate that an informal greeting was sufficient within the Academy; Emily moistened her dry mouth with saliva, thinking that if this were outside, she might have tripped over her own feet from nervousness while greeting him.
“Why are you both being so formal? I’d prefer if you could be more at ease.”
When Lucas spoke as if feeling hurt, Emily and Kira smiled awkwardly, unsure how to react to his words. Lucas then stepped closer to Kira with a gentle smile.
“Today, I didn’t just happen to run into you during your usual walk. I came looking for you on purpose. I have a favor to ask of you, Miss Kira.”
“What…?”
As Kira raised her head to look at Lucas in confusion, he gave her a warm smile.
“Would you be my partner for the new student welcome party that will be held in a few days?”
Kira’s eyes widened at his words. Emily, standing behind, also raised her head in shock. Even in the Academy, it was unprecedented for a member of the royal family to take a commoner as their party partner.
“…Pardon? Me?”
When Kira, surprised by the unexpected proposal, reflexively questioned him, Lucas elegantly raised one eyebrow and looked at her while touching his lips.
“You’re not going to refuse, are you?”
Seeing Kira hesitate, at a loss for words, Lucas seemed to take her silence as agreement. He told her that it was decided and that he would send her a dress matching the concept of his outfit, then looked at Emily standing behind Kira.
“Miss Emily, as you’re a close friend of Miss Kira, I hope you’ll attend as well.”
“Ah…! Yes, Your Highness. Understood.”
Emily, who had been frozen with stiff shoulders hoping for him to leave quickly, was startled when her name was suddenly called, and immediately bowed her head.
“Yes, as always, the friendship between you two is truly impressive.”
“Ah, no. Thank you.”
Emily replied to his words with trembling lips. Lately, Lucas always made a point of complimenting Emily on her friendship with Kira whenever they met.
Whatever his true intentions might be, his compliments felt to Emily not like a carrot and stick, but like being assaulted with carrots. It was praise, but it hurt to receive and she couldn’t even eat it, so to speak.
“Well then, have a good afternoon, both of you.”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ll be on my way.”
Satisfied with Emily and Kira’s responses, Lucas turned and left. Valenti, who was following Lucas along with William, suddenly stopped and turned to look at Emily.
