THE day of the final step in my entrance exams arrived. I ranked 230th in the practical exam and learned that only those up to two hundred would be accepted to the school. I was walking on thin ice for this last part. Frankly, I wasn’t confident I could close that final gap, but all I could do was my best.
Today might be the last day I ever cross these gates… I thought as I entered Vizer for my exam. It made me feel inexplicably lonely. No! I can’t be so negative! I’ll be in the top two hundred, get accepted, and attend!
When I got to the waiting room, I spotted Ehr, and a sense of relief washed over me.
“Ehr! You made it to the final step, too!” I cried with delight.
“Yeah, just barely got through,” he replied.
His rank was even lower than mine, and we tried to cheer each other up. I also spotted Alice von Kirsten. She was looking my way. Our eyes met for a second, but she huffed angrily and turned away. What did I even do to you? I don’t get it.
“Hey, Misha, I got you something,” Ehr said. “Here. It’s a good luck charm.”
He handed me a magic jewel with a faded green hue. It looked quite dirty, and the stone was cloudy, but with a bit of polish, it’d shine brightly in no time. Some kind of spell was engraved within, but the letters were too small for me to make out. I had no knowledge of magic stones, but even I could tell it was an incredibly splendid item.
“If it’s a good luck charm, wouldn’t you need it too?” I asked.
“Nah, I’m fine,” Ehr replied. “If I fail, I can try again next year. But the same doesn’t go for you, does it?”
I did tell him that this was my only shot. I wasn’t thinking of trying my luck next year.
“I’m really grateful to you, Misha,” he said. “You gave me a wand, you talked to me, and you even cheered me up.”
“I feel the same about you!” I replied. I wished to attend this school with Ehr, which motivated me to try hard on my exams. “Isn’t this expensive, too?”
“Yeah? Dunno,” he replied.
Magic jewels were far more expensive than magic stones and were imbued with high amounts of mana. The jewels could also take on magic of higher quality, but it seemed Ehr didn’t know about that.
“My late mom told me to hand it over to someone that I’m deeply indebted to,” he said. “If you don’t get in, I’ll never see you again, will I?”
“That’s not true!” I insisted. “We’re friends, aren’t we?”
Though we promised to be friends if we both got in, I already considered him a good friend.
“If I don’t get into magic school, I’m thinking of training under a bread artisan until next year,” Ehr said.
“Then I’ll be there to eat the bread you bake,” I said. “Can’t we share a bite together?”
“I’d like that. Thanks.”
The ideal scenario was for us both to get in, be classmates, and attend school together.
“But you might get in, and I might fail,” I said.
“Then I’ll head over to your place during summer break,” Ehr offered.
“That’s a promise!”
He’d be shocked that it was a ten-day carriage ride to and from the royal capital. I kept quiet about that. He was the first friend I made since I came into this world, and I wanted to keep this bond.
“Ehr, we shouldn’t think about failing,” I said. “We should think about what to do when we both get accepted.”
“You’re right,” he replied.
I imagined a fun magic school life. We’d eat lunch together in the cafeteria, borrow or lend each other some textbooks, or maybe even share ideas for reports and homework.
“Doesn’t sound bad at all,” he said.
“Right?”
I had to pass to lead a wonderful school life.
Ehr was called up first, and I waved as I watched him go. Alone, I became more nervous by the minute. Would I be able to speak well? I practiced with my mother countless times since I came to the royal capital, but my mind might go blank the moment I was at the real deal. Just as I tried to calm myself down, I heard someone call out behind me.
“Are you attending Vizer in search of a fiancé?”
I turned around and spotted Alice. “A fiancé? Why would you think that?”
“You’ve been quite…close with a man this entire time!” Alice snapped. “Everyone’s here for the exams! How could you act so uncouth?”
“Uncouth? He’s just a friend.”
“Ah, so one of your candidates out of many.”
“No! Wait, what? No, nothing like that.”
Why did she take it in such a weird direction? My head’s starting to hurt.
“Um, are you not aware that a school also functions as a place to find potential marriage partners?” I asked.
Wizards and witches had a penchant for staying indoors and keeping to themselves. Many were engrossed in their research and never tried to stand in the limelight. As a result, the number of wizards and witches decreased over the years, and the king hastily had them marry members of the nobility so as to continue this precious bloodline of magic. And so, the magical bloodline was preserved. However, noble houses tended to be very protective of their magic and secret techniques, so much so that it was often only passed down to their child. And so, many families with magical bloodlines tended to marry close relatives, keeping the magic among them—this prevented the spread of magic to other families.
The magical community was thus kept small, and the king, at his wits’ end, strongly prohibited marriage among close relatives and established magic schools as a means for the magical community to meet others. This encouraged the bloodline of wizards and witches to spread to more people. Almost all of the graduates of Vizer searched for a potential marriage candidate within the school—even if I was searching for a marriage partner, Alice had no right to pick a fight with me.
“In any case, you’re being called by the proctor,” I pointed out. “Shouldn’t you head over there?”
Her face turned bright scarlet as she rushed toward the proctor. I’d spoken with her several times now. Despite being a bit prickly, I didn’t pin her as malicious. I was going based on instinct, but she seemed like a clumsy person who just couldn’t choose the right words.
My turn was finally up. The interview was a one-on-one session with the proctor, but the proctor I’d be paired with was randomized. I hoped for the stern yet actually gentle, bespectacled, middle-aged proctor. My second choice is the young man. So long as it’s not the elf, since I don’t know what she’s thinking. Anyone else, and I’ve got this! But when I opened the doors to the interview room, the beautiful elf proctor greeted me with a wave of her hand and a smile.
“Good day,” she said in a breathy, carefree voice. “Now then, take a seat.”
“Th-Thank… No, I mean, e-excuse me! Thank you! Sorry!” I stammered.
I was so caught off guard that anyone could tell how tense I was, and I was anxious about the rest of the interview. She asked a few questions, and I managed to answer them. I breathed a sigh of relief, happy that it was going better than expected.
“Very good. You’re doing very well,” the elf said. Her praise made me hopeful, but at once, the elf groaned with concern, making me worry. “You’ve got a relative who dropped out, I see.”
Who in the?! Wait… My uncle…
“If you have a relative who has dropped out, you won’t be able to get any financial support,” the proctor said.
“Wh-What?!” I cried.
I came from a poor household—we didn’t have nearly enough money to pay the costly tuition fees of Vizer. When I desperately pleaded my case to the elf, she gave me an apologetic smile.
“I’m sorry,” she said languidly. “Rules are rules. There are three types of scholarships. One is a loan to be repaid upon graduation; the second is a partial grant, where some of the student’s fees are paid; and the third is a full ride. That’s basically free tuition.”
“C-Could I hear more about the last one?!” I asked.
“It’s an academic scholarship. A very special one, at that. Only students with exceptional grades are granted this one.”
“Oh…”
The elf chuckled when she saw my reaction. “Right. As you might have guessed, with your grades, you won’t qualify.”
Which means… I won’t be able to attend. I was willing to give up if I didn’t make it in, but after making it this far, I was desperate to attend this school. The shock was great; I didn’t think that my uncle’s actions would hurt me like this.