The time at the Academy quickly passed, and it was soon time for the end-of-day announcements.
The students wrote in their notification books, received announcements, and were reminded by their homeroom teacher to return home safely after thanking them for the day’s efforts.
It was now time to head home.
“Okay, everyone, study hard for your exams.”
“Yes!”
The children’s responses lacked energy.
There seemed to be a reason why the atmosphere among the kids hadn’t been very happy lately.
I thought it was just quiet because Py wasn’t there.
“Luke, have you been studying for the exams?”
Mary had approached Luke and asked.
“No, I’m not studying separately for the exams.”
“I mean, you don’t really need to.”
Luke usually studied a lot anyway.
“Hmm.”
Luke rubbed his chin, not fully understanding the term “exam period.”
For Luke, studying was something he always did whenever he was bored, so he had never set a specific time for it nor did the system of “exams” operate like this at the Academy in the past.
At the old Academy, where every day was literally like an exam, all knowledge and ideas were discussed and shared with a mentor daily.
And Luke knew the level of the Academy well by now.
The questions on the exam papers no longer contributed to the improvement of his magical knowledge.
If it were him, he would surely score full marks in the exams without any preparation.
That wasn’t arrogance but a fact.
A truth clearly revealed through the Magic Competition.
So Luke disliked the exams of this era.
He had been disappointed every time he had expectations for exams, so by now, he couldn’t help but dislike them.
Well, disliking exams is a universal sentiment, so it wasn’t particularly strange.
“Why do exams even exist?”
“Right?”
Shirud lamented, and Mary chimed in agreement.
“You guys must be struggling a lot with studying.”
At Luke’s words, Mary forced a smile.
“Studying for the exam is bearable, but I dislike that there are no club activities.”
“Is that so, Shirud? What about you?”
“I just dislike studying.”
Shirud wasn’t particularly good at scoring high on exams.
Even so, lately, with Luke’s advice and a desire to properly use circle magic, he showed quite remarkable growth in magic subjects, but his scores in languages and social studies remained relatively low.
“Isn’t it enough to just do well in magic?”
Shirud mumbled grumpily.
From a child’s perspective, exams seemed quite tough.
Luke, who was already regarded as a genius at the age of ten, couldn’t empathize much with that, but he understood.
He knew that kids generally preferred playing over studying.
Still, Luke replied with a very mage-like thought that as long as one handled magic reasonably well, there shouldn’t be any discomfort living in this world.
“Well, doing well in magic should be sufficient.”
Then Mary shook her finger at him in a scolding manner.
“Shirud, if you keep this up, you’ll end up in remedial classes during vacation! Work hard. And Luke, you can’t just blindly cover for Shirud.”
Luke asked, “Remedial classes? What’s that?”
He thought.
Remedial, is that a penalty given when one doesn’t meet a certain standard?
Speaking of which, there was a similar system in the former Royal Knights Order.
They used to take those who lagged behind in training and put them in a remedial class for retraining.
Remedial classes usually included corporal punishment and thus featured even harsher training, and those who failed there had to seriously consider retiring.
Is there such a remedial system in this Academy as well?
“If you have low scores in certain subjects, you have to come to school during the break to attend classes. That’s called remedial classes.”
“I see.”
…As expected, it didn’t seem like a big deal in terms of the Academy’s standards.
Coming to school during breaks, is that really all there is to it?
Well, in this peaceful era, they likely couldn’t do anything particularly severe to kids.
“But after the exams, we will have experience learning soon.”
“Then there are more exams afterward.”
At Mary’s words, Shirud sighed.
Why does the Academy have so many demands?
“Experience learning? What is that?”
“You don’t know what experience learning is?”
“…I don’t.”
Luke scratched his jaw and avoided Shirud’s gaze.
It felt odd not to know something so obvious.
What? You don’t know about experience learning!
Though Luke excelled in his studies, he surprisingly didn’t know much about such things.
“Right. Luke is only ten! If you haven’t attended a preschool, you might not know.”
“Oh, right.”
Sometimes I forget Luke’s age; he seems much older due to his maturity, so it’s easy to lose track.
“So, what exactly is it that you learn by experiencing? Are we going to, like, go to a mana spot and feel the mana together?”
“Haha! That could be it! But usually, it’s just a picnic! I heard that this time, we are going somewhere a bit far.”
“Far?”
“It seems we are going overseas; if we’re lucky, we might even take a plane or a warp train!”
“Oh, a plane, a warp train! That sounds exciting.”
Mary eagerly answered Luke’s questions.
The way Luke’s eyes sparkled with excitement in response to her explanations was no different from usual.
I had been worried because his expression today hadn’t been very good.
What a relief.
“How about it? Aren’t you excited?”
“Yeah, I am.”
If it’s a day when the kids are happy, then Luke is happy too.
Children’s smiling faces; how adorable they are.
Moreover, a plane and a warp train. I still vividly remember that word from a magazine placed in the hospital.
I had hoped that one day I would get to see it for myself.
Imagining that scene, Luke smiled.
Mary also thought how looking at Luke made her really excited.
However, Shirud was more concerned about the immediate problems at hand.
“Anyway, I really dislike exams.”
—
Late at night, Gerard found himself at a noisy bar.
He had been quite busy recently and had almost forgotten, but he made time for the birthday of a college friend he usually hung out with.
When Gerard arrived, the man was already quite red in the face, likely due to pleasant intoxication.
Waiting a bit longer for him to finish drinking before joining isn’t such a bad thing, but he was still as impatient as ever.
Well, there was no need to worry about that guy getting drunk.
Dwarves don’t get easily intoxicated on any strong alcohol.
With that familiar sight, Gerard chuckled and patted him on the shoulder.
He turned to Gerard with a big smile, looking very pleased, and pointed to the seat next to him.
“Hey! You came! Hurry up and sit down.”
“Yeah, it’s been a while. Sorry I couldn’t make it last year, Gilbert.”
“Why should you apologize? But what’s that?”
Gilbert was pleasantly greeting Gerard when he seemed distracted by the black shopping bag Gerard had placed on the table, immediately checking its contents.
He narrowed his eyes as if reading unfamiliar letters, sounding them out one by one.
“Oh, what is this, ‘Lilis de Aitumen’? Am I reading this right? Dude, how much did this wine cost?”
“Well, it’s not that expensive, so don’t worry about it.”
“Haha, do you think I’d be worried about that? Anyway, thanks. I’ll enjoy it.”
Gilbert laughed heartily and placed the shopping bag under his chair.
“By the way, you’re busy these days? The Institute of Artificial World Tree is still going strong?”
“More than ever. I guess it’s time for me to order a drink.”
“Right. Let’s drink and chat like old times!”
—
As is common with drinking parties, the topics of conversation were all over the place.
How have you been lately? Did you hear about this new car? Someone bought a house, and other mixed topics.
While humans should live with intellect, sometimes conversations that require no intellect like this are necessary.
After catching up and unloading all the stories they had bottled up after not seeing each other for a while, the atmosphere calmed a little.
“So, how’s work going these days? Are you still that busy?”
“Ugh, don’t even get me started. The Sephiro 02 seems to be nearing the end of its life; the mana supply has been unstable lately.”
“Hmm, I bought shares in World Tree-related stocks. Should I get rid of them?”
“Ugh… well, it’s not necessary to do that… no, just get rid of them. Quit the stocks.”
“That’s harsh! This time, I’m sure I’ll make a profit.”
“You’ve already lost 10 million gil, you idiot.”
“Shut it! I can just drink a little less!”
“Is that even possible?”
Despite just saying that, he was filling his glass to the brim and downing it immediately.
Gilbert seemed a bit embarrassed, licking the droplets of booze that had gotten on his beard, mumbling in an unusually small voice.
“It’s impossible.”
Maybe it was due to the alcohol, but after they had a laugh over something trivial, Gerard managed to calm down and asked.
“Are you still writing fairy tales these days?”
“Sometimes. Why?”
“Just curious.”
A magic academy-educated, alcoholic dwarf writing fairy tales; there probably isn’t anyone else living such a peculiar life as him.
However, his writing skills were decent enough that he was likely making enough to get by.
He had an active personality, typical of a dwarf, and enjoyed traveling.
Because of that, he had a lot of travel experiences, and his braggart manner would positively influence his stories, so even when telling the same events, he had a flair for making them more entertaining.
But more than that…
“It’s funny that you came out of the Magic Technology department and ended up writing fairy tales.”
“Hey, are you trying to diss me?”
Gilbert raised one eyebrow in disbelief.
“Well… I plan to stop writing fairy tales and try to write long novels instead. A stable income. How sweet that sounds.”
“Then why are you in stocks?”
“Because I need a stable income for that. Unstable returns are scary now.”
“Pfft!”
It was funny but not foolish talk.
To him, Gilbert clearly appeared to need a stable income.
He offered a kind word wishing him well and then slowly lifted his drink again, when suddenly one thought crossed his mind.
“Oh, speaking of which… Do you know where the word ‘Ere’ comes from?”
“Ere? What’s that out of the blue?”
“No, a little kid I know is curious about the name ‘Ere.’ It seems like it’s related to fairy tales, but you’re the only one I could ask.”
Luke, who had later asked him to find out about ‘Ere,’ he had searched a few times in his free time but hadn’t gained any useful information.
He had asked if there was something beyond the name, but all he got was a mention of it being related to spirits.
He had no idea how to look for it.
Maybe Gilbert would know?
“Have you heard of it? They say it’s related to spirits.”
“Um… I feel like I’ve heard that name before.”
“Really? Where did you hear it?”
Upon hearing this, Gilbert seemed to have some inkling.
‘I should have asked him earlier.’
Gerard quietly drank from his glass while waiting for Gilbert’s answer.
Gilbert stroked his beard and knitted his brows.
That was his habit when he was deep in thought.
However, after a while, Gilbert shook his head.
“Um… I don’t know. I can’t think of it right now. But I’m sure I’ve heard it somewhere.”
“Then let me know if you think of it later.”
With a friend he hadn’t seen in a while and their drinks in front of them, it wasn’t that important to decipher what ‘Ere’ was right away.
