Roman was a mage and a magic teacher. He was also one of the question setters and judges for this magic competition. It had already been six years since he took on such a role.
In his line of sight was a certain child. The age and appearance of this child were distinctly different from those of the other children around. It wasn’t just that the child was young and cute.
This girl, among teenagers in their mid to late teens, appeared as the only one in her early teens, at most 12 to 14 years old, and, unlike most elves and humans, she bore the shape of a Hyun.
To see such a young student, specifically a female Hyun, participating in this exam?
Roman didn’t think this way out of any racial prejudice. Although there were no age restrictions for the test, the various magic formulas and proofs that had to be handled freely made this exam particularly challenging for children aged 12 to 14. Thus, there weren’t many exceptionally young students in this hall, which gathered only the gifted from across the continent.
Furthermore, Hyun were not numerous because their mental distractions due to instincts hindered their studies. It had been magically proven that young Hyun are unsuitable for learning magic due to the influence of instincts, and sometimes, it’s even rendered impossible.
Given this fact, it was natural for there to be even fewer instances of combining the two factors in a single participant.
In fact, Roman had already seen this child arguing with the staff at the entrance who were refusing her entry. It had been an unusual situation, and the child’s appearance was extraordinarily unique, after all. At that time, he had thought to himself how odd of a child she was.
But upon receiving the problems, her eyes changed. A deep contemplative expression appeared on her face, and her pencil moved busily.
Roman realized that this young girl was more passionate about magic than anyone else. Observing this scene shifted his thoughts. He could at least be certain that this girl was genuinely devoted to magic. She had arrived at the exam room in a rush to avoid being late and was pondering the questions with more seriousness than anyone else.
“Mmm…”
Then, a small sound escaped the girl’s lips. Her hand, which had been writing without hesitation, suddenly stopped. Unfortunately, it seemed she had gotten stuck on one of the problems. Even from behind, her troubled expression was apparent.
Seeing this, he couldn’t help but support her in his heart, even while maintaining his neutral position as an exam supervisor.
“Hang in there, kid.”
Whether or not his encouragement reached her, the girl took a deep breath and quickly began moving her hand busily again.
The tenacity to never give up, no matter what, might be a trait that even adults should learn.
Roman thought inwardly as he looked away.
“Still, there doesn’t seem to be any ten-year-olds here.”
In fact, Roman had some expectations. Perhaps he was witnessing a veiled figure who could become the greatest genius.
“I wanted to see that child at least once.”
He was also among the few wizards who had responded to the ‘emergency summons’ of the Magic Tower on the historical day the miracle of Sharaef was unveiled.
He briefly mulled over the hints he had heard from the academy head.
“The one who proved it isn’t a wizard. It’s a ten-year-old girl.”
“The one who proved that is a ten-year-old girl who came to the magic competition, just to use the restroom for a moment.”
Based on those clues, he surmised that the girl would have certainly received an award in the magic competition without any issues. A genius girl who had even unraveled the miracle of Sharaef wouldn’t fail to win an award at a mere academy-level magic competition.
If that were the case, one could also think that she might compete in the international academy magic competition.
However, a child who looked as young as ten did not seem to be present.
He had only heard that story less than a year ago, so she couldn’t have grown too much since then.
“Then, the youngest here would be…”
Roman looked back at that girl from earlier. If there was a girl who looked the youngest, it would be her.
But surely that girl couldn’t be the one.
The age did not fit the clue, and the child, struggling with the level of difficulty of the problems indicating clear difficulty, didn’t seem like someone who could have unraveled the miracle of Sharaef.
“Well, if she accomplished such an achievement, there’s probably no reason for her to show her face in such a test.”
In a situation where the victory in the Lasan Award seemed almost guaranteed, there was probably no need for her to go so far as to take an airplane ticket to participate in this exam.
Despite the fact that the prizes of the magic competition held some prestige, they would undoubtedly be mere trinkets compared to the Lasan Award.
Roman nodded, coming to terms with his own thoughts.
Meanwhile, completely unaware that the girl was taking the exam.
——-
“Still, you could have really hurt yourself badly. Don’t ever do that again, got it?”
“I understand. I won’t go jumping around on the rooftops anymore.”
“Okay, you promised, right?”
Jumping across rooftops was genuinely dangerous. Gerard, as an adult, couldn’t help but admonish the child for such a potentially harmful act.
Luke didn’t really push back against Gerard’s reprimand and quietly listened. Honestly, it was risky.
… It wasn’t just the act of getting hurt that was a problem; the gaze of others posed a danger.
If someone had seen him gliding between rooftops with his usual wings spread out (though it would be more accurate to call it gliding rather than flying), it could have led to quite a troublesome situation.
Though it was just a brief glimpse right after the jump.
Anyway, noticing that Luke seemed to be reflecting on his actions, Gerard asked.
“So, do you think you did well on the exam?”
To be honest, wasn’t that what mattered most to Luke?
He had risked it all for that exam. But if he didn’t do well, it would indeed be very disappointing.
However, Luke’s expression was quite bright.
“Ah, of course. I think I generally did well.”
“Really? Was there nothing difficult?”
“Difficult, huh.”
Luke mumbled for a moment, then sighed heavily before continuing.
“Now that you mention it, my clothes were so uncomfortable because of the sweat. That was the biggest ordeal.”
That was genuinely an issue for Luke.
Sweating made his underwear and uniform stick uncomfortably to his body, and worrying about whether his sweat smell would waft over to others made it very hard to concentrate.
But in the end, there was nothing to be done.
The exam was important.
After all, hadn’t he faced war in far harsher conditions in the past?
Recalling those memories, he somehow managed to endure, and as a result, Luke completed the exam without a problem.
“At one point, while solving a problem, sweat dripped and soaked my working steps, and I started worrying if I smelled terrible, which made it really hard to concentrate.”
“No, not that. I meant was there a difficult problem….”
Well, for a girl like Luke, such things were certainly a major concern, but what Gerard was asking was something different.
He already knew that Luke had a strong interest in magic.
However, it was unlikely that there wasn’t a single difficult problem on the exam.
Out of curiosity about what kinds of questions would arise in recent magic competitions, he asked, but Luke was talking about her discomfort with her sweaty clothes.
However, interestingly, the international magic competition starts grading answers a few hours after the exam ends, and if there are no issues, results are announced that same day.
Because of that, despite feeling uncomfortable, Luke couldn’t immediately return to the lodging.
So, Luke had no choice but to quickly freshen up in the bathroom using clean magic and a handkerchief.
“Ah.”
Luke realized Gerard’s intent too late and coughed awkwardly to hide her embarrassment.
Now that she thought about it, there hadn’t really been a need to mention her sweat.
“Hm, it doesn’t seem like there were any difficult problems.”
“Really? Sounds like the problems were pretty easy then?”
Gerard tilted his head.
Well, it seemed Luke was somewhat confident.
Would she receive the gold medal?
It was then.
– Participant Luke Yirushi, please return to the exam room.
“Uh? What’s going on?”
“Not sure….”
Could it be that the issue was with the corrections she made due to sweating?
Luke got anxious.
