Chapter 76

After the first class ended, the children busily ran around looking for partners to team up with for this practical exam.

Undoubtedly, Sihoo and Seori were popular among both boys and girls.

“Isn’t this too much…?”

“Then you should have teamed up before us.”

“Sihoo, I’m sorry! Can I borrow your seat just for this time?”

I had already made a promise to team up with Yuna, so I chased Sihoo away and had Yuna sit next to me.

However, Yuna seemed quite anxious as she fidgeted with her legs even after sitting down.

“Are you nervous?”

“Um, a little…”

“Magic is fun. You don’t need to be so tense.”

“I wish I could think like Nama.”

Although the practical exam’s importance wasn’t high, it was an evaluation whose results would affect the entire semester.

The obsession with grades that had entangled Yuna for a long time wasn’t something that could be easily resolved overnight, even if her situation had improved.

There was a promise made with her mother to ensure Yuna can enjoy her school life, and it was something that could be gradually corrected.

“Hey, stop biting your nails.”

“Oh, sorry. But isn’t it a bit cold in the classroom?”

Now she was shaking from chills too.

How pitiful.

It seems the time has come for me to pull out my secret weapon.

“Yuna, could you please look to the right for a moment?”

“Huh? Like this?”

Yuna followed my command without knowing what I was up to.

Occasionally, she would glance back, showing curiosity.

It may be a bit early for elementary school children, but it’s an essential item for middle school students.

It’s called a ‘tail comb.’

“From now on, your hair is mine.”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t turn your head and keep looking forward. You can’t move.”

“Ah!”

Before starting to comb her hair, I began to gently detangle the knotted sections.

Yuna’s hair wasn’t very thick, so just a little brushing took care of the tangles easily.

“Brushing should be done on dry hair. Doing it right after washing is bad for your hair and scalp.”

“Really? I always brushed my hair while drying it!”

I brought the tail comb to her nape.

Starting from the nape and going up to her crown, I untangled her hair in the opposite direction.

“How is it? Nice and cool, right? Brushing from bottom to top helps remove dust and dead skin from the scalp.”

“Oh wow, that’s interesting! But isn’t brushing straight down bad for your body?”

“If you start from the crown, it stimulates the sebaceous glands too much, which might lead to hair loss later.”

“I don’t want to have hair loss…!”

As I continued to brush, the tension in Yuna’s shoulders began to ease.

It was a sign that she was starting to feel comfortable.

I meticulously tidied even the sides of her hair that could easily be overlooked, and at the end, I stood up to style her bangs into the trendy see-through bangs.

Without hair rollers, I didn’t achieve the perfect shape I wanted, but instead, I layered a few pencils together and curled Yuna’s hair.

[Spell Circle: Heat Transfer]

I used a small magic circle to gently hold her hair at a suitable high temperature so that the teacher wouldn’t catch us.

“All done. Want to take a look in the mirror?”

I took Yuna to the full-length mirror at the back of the classroom.

Yuna’s eyes widened as large as marbles.

“Wow! You’re so pretty! Like a princess.”

Of course, she should admire it. It was a skill praised even by the picky princesses of the empire.

Yuna was unable to touch her bangs for fear they might get ruined, just staring intensely at the mirror.

“How about I do your hair every morning from now on?”

“Really? No, no, that would be too much trouble for Nama, right?”

“No, I want to do it. I enjoy brushing your hair.”

I was sincere about that.

Normally, brushing is effective when done around 50 to 100 strokes, taking about 5 minutes.

If I added another 5 minutes for styling time, that’s a total of 10 minutes.

Every day, I’d have a rewarding time where I could feel stability for both mind and body.

I had a nightmare last night and wasn’t in the best mood, but seeing Yuna’s cute smile lifted my spirits and relieved my stress.

“Should I do yours too? I’ll brush Nama’s hair!”

“…I’m okay.”

“Why…?”

“My hair is too long. It’s better if I do it myself with magic.”

I felt a little bad for the sulking Yuna, but allowing her to touch my hair was a bit difficult.

* * *

The long-awaited practical exam time.

For the 20 children paired in groups of two, the teacher handed out 10 sets of model magic circles, one for each pair.

They looked like ordinary magic boxes on the outside.

However, each box was a different color, and the children were eager to get their hands on the color they wanted.

In the end, the contents would be the same, so what was so important?

Children’s minds can be hard to understand.

“Each of you has a different type of set, so remember which color you received to avoid confusion. Is everyone clear?”

“Yes!”

“If you think you might forget, you can write it down on your desk or notebook. Now I will hand them out one by one, so open them up and start your experiment.”

The teacher moved around between the desks, distributing the boxes according to the children’s preferred colors.

“What color do you want, Nama?”

“I don’t really mind any color.”

“Just pick one, come on!”

“Then, red?”

“Is it okay even if it’s red?”

I just answered any color, but upon hearing this, Yuna looked worried and asked.

“What’s wrong with red?”

“Everyone hates bright red. It’s not pretty at all…”

“But your hair is red too! I like this color.”

Your character doesn’t change based on hair color.

But my words made the corners of Yuna’s mouth lift.

“Is my hair really not weird? Really, really? Last year, the kids in my class kept asking me why I always dyed it red, and they all hated it… Even though it’s natural, no one believes me.”

“I used to be blonde before, so I can say this: if you have pale skin, bright colors suit you better.”

“Blonde? Did you dye it before?”

“Well, something like that.”

“Hey, can you pick quickly? We need to share with the other kids too!”

In the midst of our small talk, Teacher Jackie interrupted us, and we quickly had to select from the remaining four boxes.

Unfortunately, red was taken first by Sihoo’s group.

We chose the black box that matched my hair color as a second option.

“Ugh, I hope we get an easy magic circle. Do you know how to use a model magic circle, Nama?”

“The teacher just explained it a little while ago.”

“No, I’ve used it a few times last year, and it’s more challenging than I expected. Sometimes the numbers won’t come out correctly even if you place it perfectly in front of the box.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’ve seen cases where it only outputs zero even when the magic circle works fine. I’ll show you how it’s done first!”

With childlike excitement, similar to explaining what they learned at school to their parents, Yuna was just as energized as she opened the box.

Even though she was saying she was nervous before the practical exam, seeing her truly enjoy herself confirmed that magic suited Yuna very well.

“Hmm… what should we do first? They all look too complicated. Let’s start with the smallest one?”

The model magic circle’s appearance was a dull teal disk.

It had sparkling crystals embedded all over it, reminiscent of the Nebra Sky disk.

All five had diameters between 20cm and 40cm, and as the teacher said, there was a red button in the center that somehow made you want to press it.

Yuna took a deep breath and pressed the button to activate the magic circle.

With a clattering sound of gears, the teal cover that blocked the front of the disk disappeared into the sides.

The disk had completely taken on the form of a ‘model magic circle.’

As there was another circle inside the main circle, this magic was a two-circle magic.

Runes were etched one at each cardinal point, effectively serving as the fuel for the magic circle’s circuit.

“Wow… I really have no clue what to do. How do we start? Should I inject mana somewhere?”

“Yeah, want to give it a try?”

“Okay…! I’ll start with 10kE from the north.”

“Will that work?”

“Do I need to put in more?”

Since it was a two-circle magic, the optimal amount would be around 100kE.

I shouldn’t give her hints so easily, but I felt the urge to do so.

It felt like taking a child to the movies but desperately wanting to spoil the ending, so I suggested to Yuna.

“Let’s raise the output a little.”

“Okay! Should I start with 50kE then?”

Yuna closed her eyes to read the currents of mana in the world.

To understand how she manages mana, I focused my senses and closed my eyes too.

Waves of mana shimmered through the world.

Yuna plunged her hand into that wave.

Just as a human cannot control the constantly rolling waves at the beach, it’s impossible for a weak human to change the currents.

But you can ride the waves.

It’s like surfing, letting your body ride atop the waves.

In terms of what humans can do, all we could manage was to ride the board while brushing our hands against the waves, but that alone was sufficient for everyone.

And those who conquered all the waves were often referred to with respect as the ‘Great Sage’.

Beep-

[0.3]

“How did that come out?”

It seems Yuna was still just a beginner surfer, with a long way to go.