Facility of the underground space where no light enters except for artificially created light.
Though one could say it has a rather eerie atmosphere, the facility is impeccably clean to the point of not allowing a speck of dust.
This is likely because the research institute, which studies magic, enforces extreme purification magic that permits no intrusion of even the slightest foreign matter.
A state of perfect purity possesses immense magical value in itself, so most magical research facilities conduct perfect dust-proofing and sterilization processes.
The purification magic used in this dim and seemingly harsh facility is of the highest standard possible according to modern magic.
Thus, it can confidently be asserted that the facility is also of the highest level.
And in the faint light of the facility, people are walking down the corridor.
In case any foreign matter were to fall from their bodies and impact the ‘purity’ state, they all wore special purification robes that enveloped their entire bodies, making it impossible to discern their individual appearances, physiques, or even their genders.
Their footsteps echoed hollowly in the corridor, creating an eerie resonance.
“What’s the current status of Case D-3?”
“The transplant was successful, but the side effects of the Dragon Heart seem quite severe. It won’t last long.”
“What’s the prognosis?”
“It will take about a month for the bodily structure and mana arrangement to be completely destroyed.”
“That’s unfortunate. It was the most suitable subject at least. But is a month of survival the first for him?”
“Yes, that’s correct, but…”
“Alright. Let’s just continue to monitor the progress for now.”
The man thought to himself that the Dragon Heart received from the Proyton family seemed to be quite a good item.
———-
Lunch break, when all the children are noisily roaming around outside their classrooms.
Luke’s gaze was directed towards a promotional flyer stuck on the school bulletin board.
‘National Academy Magic Competition’
‘Eligible participants: Students under 18 currently enrolled in the academy.’
‘Grand Prize: 1 million Gil’
“Hmm. 1 million Gil, huh.”
The prize is appealing, and 1 million Gil is no small amount.
Though he wanted to participate immediately… Well, the age restriction of under 18 stands in the way.
“Physically, I undeniably fit under 18, but…”
He still felt somewhat reluctant to acknowledge that. No matter how childlike his body may be, his mental age is by no means the same.
It feels morally questionable.
Indeed, what should he do?
While mulling it over and stroking his chin, he heard a sound from over there.
“Ah!” Turning his head toward the source of the sound, it was Mary.
“Luke! When did you get to school? What? You have a tail now! So that’s why you haven’t come to eat lately!”
Indeed, the period when beasts grow tails means they need sufficient stability as their immune systems drop, but that wasn’t the main reason.
“Um, that’s not it. I just had a lot to do.”
During that time, he had been researching and contemplating his body, especially regarding the use of the Dragon Heart. The main reason was that he intentionally hadn’t come out of the forest to stabilize his Third Circle.
However, thanks to that, Luke’s heart now contains a nearly intact Third Circle, allowing him to exercise control over matter without difficulty.
He has reached the stage where he can directly exert physical force with his will over tangible objects.
Well, the Third Circle is still in its basic stage, and he still finds it difficult to handle ‘all elements,’ after all.
“But it looks like all the food you’ve eaten has gone to your tail. You’re really fat for a cat.”
“…It seems that way, huh…”
Inevitably, others see him like that.
Well, Luke knows that his tail is noticeable.
However, when he asked the Forest Keepers if it looked odd, he received responses like ‘It looks fine!’ or ‘How cute!’ which felt like nonsense.
But it appears he truly looks like that to honest kids.
‘Perhaps it’s better to hide it normally…’
He thought it wouldn’t be too hard to conceal it inside a long skirt.
But letting the tail out of the skirt would violate school rules, so he had no choice but to wear the uniform.
While Luke was thinking like that, Mary flustered and waved her hands as if to deny it.
“Ah, no! I didn’t mean to say Luke is fat, but the tail! Luke is still slim!”
‘I’ve made him sulk by saying he’s fat!’
Then Mary flailed around for a while before suddenly asking, as if she had thought of something.
“Oh, Luke! What brings you to the academy? Are you here to read or eat like usual?”
Of course, that was definitely part of his plan, but it wasn’t the only reason, so Luke shook his head.
“I’m here to sign up for an event. Even if attendance is voluntary, they say we must participate in school events.”
Graduation requires not only awards but also a certain level of documented school activities.
So even with voluntary attendance, it was beneficial for early graduation to attend school events unless there was a compelling reason not to, and some activities could be included in award records.
Thus, he had come to submit the application personally after a long time.
“Ah! Is it for the sports day? Right? You came to sign up for it!”
Luke nodded without hiding it at Mary’s guess.
Indeed, the sports day at Tig Academy is quite a large event compared to other academies.
In fact, many students are on the verge of becoming professionals, and the scale and facilities of the school are among the best in the country. Therefore, it stands out compared to the typical academy’s sports events.
To the extent that the profits surrounding merchants during the sports day period are not insignificant.
So it should be fair to call it not just a school event but a regional one.
“I see! Well, Luke is good at sports too, right? I signed up for running in the athletics club, but what about you?”
“I applied for everything I can participate in…”
“Wait, everything? Isn’t that a bit much? There are team events too…”
“If we’re going to do it, shouldn’t we do it seriously?”
“I see…”
Mary stared blankly for a moment, then looked again at the promotional flyer Luke had been observing.
‘Academy Magic Competition’…
“Are you perhaps interested in that too?”
“Sort of, but I’m a bit worried. I wonder if I should participate…”
At Luke’s worried tone, Mary tilted her head and asked.
“Oh. Well, it might be a bit tough for lower year students like us.”
“Why?”
“With the under-18 limit, it will be seniors preparing for the Magic Academy. They will have to solve some really difficult problems, I think. Lower year students like us probably won’t be able to solve many problems anyway. And…”
Mary animatedly exaggerated how tough it would be, giving her opinion.
‘We won’t get anything out of it.’
But to Luke, her discouragement felt like a whisper saying, ‘It’s okay to challenge yourself.’
“Oh…”
True, kids who are 18 in this era likely underwent completely different educational programs than in the past.
Thinking that made Luke realize how arrogant he had been until now.
He had merely assumed it would be at the academy level.
While a mage must be arrogant when casting magic, he should be more humble than anyone in the pursuit of knowledge.
‘We shouldn’t underestimate those who are 18 just because of their age.’
Just because he has some knowledge does not mean he knows all the accumulated knowledge of 5000 long years.
Knowledge is akin to life; new knowledge gives birth to yet more new knowledge. If there is a genius born from the foundation of knowledge developed over 5000 years, then surpassing Luke with magical knowledge is certainly not impossible.
What sort of problems would come out in a magic competition distinguishing such geniuses?
Thinking that made him suddenly feel excited about the Magic Competition.
Moreover, that great prize of 1 million Gil is a bonus.
———
“Really? Participating in all sports events, and now the Magic Competition too?”
“There’s no problem on paper, is there? I believe the periods don’t overlap.”
“That may be true… but can you manage both preparing for the sports day and studying for the competition? I’m concerned that you might be pushing yourself too hard.”
“Don’t worry, I can manage my condition.”
Reluctantly accepting the application form, Emma sighed while observing Luke’s determined expression.
“Alright… I’ll submit it for now, but remember, you can always change your mind. If it gets tough in preparation, make sure to tell me.”
“Thank you for your concern, Emma. I shall certainly win an award to elevate your honor and that of the academy.”
Rising from his seat, Luke offered a courteous bow filled with respect toward Emma’s noble demeanor.
But suddenly receiving such an exaggeratedly respectful bow typical of New Year’s ceremonies, Emma could only react with confusion.
“Uh, um… Sure.”
As Luke disregarded Emma’s awkward tone and left the teacher’s office for the classroom, he thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to see how Shirud has been doing after being away for a while.
“And didn’t he ask me to drop by if I came?”
The child wants to see him, so it feels a bit uncomfortable to just leave without saying anything.
Thinking that, Luke made his way to his classroom.
It was not particularly far from the teacher’s office, so he could reach the class quickly, but it was rather loud, probably because it was break time.
Originally, Shirud tended to be a bit out of place, blending into the class with a blank expression, but this time it was definitely different.
‘It seems he’s made quite a few friends.’
He saw Shirud joyfully chatting with a few girls, including Mary.
Luke thought it was indeed a good decision to have Mary stick with him.
While he was looking out the window with a satisfied smile, Mary looked toward him with wide eyes and whispered something to Shirud before leaving her seat.
Then, noticing Luke, Shirud turned his head and approached him.
When Shirud stepped out of the classroom, Luke greeted him lightly.
“Good morning, Shirud.”
“Yeah, good morning.”
“Those kids you were with earlier, are they your friends?”
“Yeah, sort of.”
“I thought so. Good to see you’ve made friends. Is Mary treating you well?”
Shirud averted his gaze at Luke’s words.
What would Mary say to Luke if she knew?
Moreover, the last thing she said was ‘Do your best!’ What exactly does she want him to do well in?
Shirud mumbled while looking at Luke’s tail, which was slightly moving around behind his waist.
“Um, you grew a tail. And you’re a bit taller.”
“Did you notice? Haha, everyone has been talking about my tail.”
“Really? I noticed it right away.”
Shirud thought about it.
He could immediately feel that the height at which he met Luke’s eyes was different, but were others being a bit dull?
Or is it because I’m shorter?
No. It’s not that I’m short; Luke is just taller now…
Averting his gaze, Shirud spoke.
“Are you waiting for me to say something?”
“No. I just stopped by on my way.”
“I see…”
Silence followed.
Since he had no particular words to say either, the conversation fell flat.
Now that he thought about it, this was a problem for both Luke and Shirud.
Both were passive in everyday conversation, so it ended up like this when it was just the two of them.
Moreover, even if they wanted to speak, Shirud had no idea what to say to Luke.
No matter how he looked at it, it was impossible to treat him like a peer.
Honestly, they don’t have any overlapping interests either.
As they exchanged awkward glances, the atmosphere began to turn strange when Luke made a strange expression and said.
“If you have nothing else to say, I’ll take my leave.”
“Uh, yeah.”
Just as Luke turned his body and made his way toward the library, a boy came running toward Shirud and shouted.
“Hey, Shirud! I heard you totally took down Daniel from the next class yesterday!”
“What did you hear that from?”
“Liam said he couldn’t even breathe while getting beaten and died.”
Luke halted.
‘Did I mishear something?’
He heightened his auditory sensitivity to eavesdrop a bit more.
“So, how did you kill him? He was really good at his magic.”
“Well, I ambushed him with magic while hiding in the bushes. I guess Daniel didn’t buy any armor because he died right away. It happened like that. He was a bit careless, I guess.”
“Haha, totally stupid. So now you’re the best in our grade! I really should have seen that in person.”
“Yeah, I’ll show you next time.”
“…”
Luke felt a sense of horror.
Not hesitating to kill a classmate and bragging about it as if it were a triumph. Plus, mocking the deceased while joking about ‘showing it again.’
What kind of child has Shirud turned into?
Shirud is still only 11 years old, far too young to commit murder, and they are not at war either.
Yet he treats human life as if it were mere amusement?
“Uh, Luke? Were you not heading to the library?”
Shirud looked at Luke, who had suddenly blocked his path, thinking.
‘When did he rush over here? I thought he was quite far away…’
Grabbing Shirud’s arm firmly, Luke shouted.
“Shirud, what was that conversation about earlier!”
“Uh… What are you talking about?”
“I heard everything, so don’t feign ignorance. Do you think I’ve taught you magic for you to do that?”
“W-what? What are you saying? Ouch, hey, that hurts!”
‘What kind of grip strength is this?!’
“Does it hurt this much? Do you feel pain after assassinating a classmate with magic and turning it into something to laugh about? And to say you’ll do it again? What on earth are you meaning? Aren’t you afraid of the revenge from society? Do you think just because you’re a Second Circle user, you can get away with this?”
“What? What the hell are you talking about? Ouch! It really hurts! My arm is going to break!”
As Shirud screamed that it was genuinely painful, Luke raised his voice in response.
“You said you killed Daniel!”
“What?”
Grasping for his dizzying sanity, Shirud shouted.
“What are you talking about? That was about a game!”
