43 - a pleasant class full of smiles
After lunch, two practical classes followed in the afternoon.
The first class is <
We have come to an open wasteland in the school.
"Well, I mean, missing the target is out of the question, but if you can't destroy the target, you are not qualified to participate in this class.
The portly old man explains carefully. Is it customary to threaten students in the first class? The students in this class are mostly seniors, but their faces are all tense. They don't give me a smile.
But, oh, dear.
You'll fail if you miss the mark here. What a lukewarm class.
In my quest for early dismissal, I failed the morning lecture.
So I have to show them how lousy I am in the practical skills. But this time, it'll be a piece of cake.
"I see there are two freshmen who skipped the lower classes and are taking this class.
Shhhh, shhhh, shhhh.
The old man stared at me and at Lias.
No Iris, by the way. He's not good at practicals because of his low magic level. Of course.
I'll win big if I show my lousy skills early and the old man laughs at me, saying <>. I'll be the first to raise my hand if someone says, <
"Well, Lias Orteas, shall we start with you?"
"Yes!"
Lias stepped forward with both fists clenched together.
It's a little disappointing for me, because I'd like to see him declare himself flunked sooner rather than later, but I'll take it.
At least two hundred meters away from Lias stands a wooden pole about two meters long. At the end of the stick was a crystal-like ball. That is the target.
There are several targets placed ten meters apart. Beyond them, the ground was piled up high, so that even if the targets missed, they would be protected by the magic.
The targets are covered with a small protective magic. Even if you hit the target, you will not pass the test if you do not destroy it, so be prepared for that.
Lias smiles wryly at repeated threats.
He chanted and lifted one hand above his head. When he forms his palm as if holding something, a long, thin light appears in it.
"Here I come, Lightning Arrow!"
He swung his arm like a javelin thrower and shot an arrow of light.
The arrows, which were shot at great speed, made a clear and sharp sound and shot through the target. The spherical target made a small hole and then shattered into pieces.
"Hmm. That's quite a powerful arrow. Your aim is also very accurate. I'm surprised that you can use light magic so well.
The teacher nods in satisfaction with an Ebisu face.
The crowd around him is in an uproar.
Raius is naturally proud of himself.
Well done, Raius! Well done.
The more perfect the previous guy is, the more my lousy performance stands out.
Next, let's see what you can do, Hurt Semphis.
"Yes, sir."
Here comes the real star of the show.
I made a nervous face and faced the distant target with anxious eyes. My lousy performance had already begun.
Now, I am supposed to have only [earth] attribute.
So I crouch down and put my hand on the ground.
It's a magic that turns those pebbles into stones. Actually, it covers them with wards and sends them flying, but it makes it look like I'm using the lowest level of earth-based magic.
I hummed something that sounded like an incantation.
Everyone looks at me suspiciously.
I think to myself, "I don't care, I'm just going to shoot the magic.
To be honest, I don't know how much.
From what I've seen of Lias' magic, the target doesn't seem to be much of a defense. If I hit it too hard, I might destroy it.
If we miss it and cause a big explosion on the heap, we'll be labeled a failure or something.
You know that.
The flow of "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
You must miss the target well here, and the force must be strong enough to knock it into the fill.
Be careful and make a gesture of aiming,
"Stone attack!"
He sent a pebble flying.
The pebble flew at a moderate speed. A little too powerful, don't you think? It might be thought that I intentionally shot a weak magic.
The speed of the pebble is slightly increased. I don't usually adjust the speed of pebbles, so it's difficult.
Well, this much is good enough, I thought.
"Quake!"
A bird flew in. A strange bird, about the size of a crow. It was coming very low in the sky, right in the line of fire of my magic.
Oh, no.
Even if we slow down now, I don't think we can avoid a head-on collision.
If we do, it will be hard to wake up from sleep.
Pita.
So I stopped. The pebble stops in mid-air, and the bird passes lazily in front of it.
Good grief, he's so carefree.
I cower my shoulders and move the pebble again. The speed is almost the same as before.
Hmm? You've been distracted by the bird and your aim is way off. I'm too close to the next target, aren't I?
Twisting his course, the pebble passed a few dozen centimeters away from the target and was buried in the fill.
Perfect!
I could also create the feeling that I was going right and left somehow, which is good, right?
"Oh, no, I failed."
I should have been disappointed or panicked, but I was a little happy and turned around while making a small gesture, and that's when....
Then I heard a "kiin" sound.
I heard a small, small sound behind me.
It seems that my constantly deployed protective wards were shattered by something like a very thin needle.
The protective wards only react to attack-like magic from outside of my perception.
Who and for what purpose?
I don't know if he was aiming at me or at one of the students standing in front of me.
I extended my search to the surrounding area, but could not find anything that looked like a magician. The needle-like something shattered, and the information leading to it was lost.
Ah, it could have been a stray bullet from another class.
It's no use, since we'll never know anyway, but anyway....
What's going on, gentlemen?
Shh.
Lias, the teacher, and everyone in the class with you are all wide-eyed and mouths agape.
Did you notice the mysterious attack? But they won't think it was me who prevented it, will they?
Then, what is it? Did I do something?
The old man doctor moved his head like a rusty robot and turned his face to me.
"Did you just ...... remote control ......?"
"Yes?"
"Of course!"
No, it was a question.
"It stopped and turned on a dime!"
Apparently, they were not aware of the mysterious attack, and were asking questions about the magic I had cast on them.
But why?
You can do that. Frey, Riza, my dad, they can do it. No one said a word when they saw me do it.
"You're a freshman, you can do ....... No, you are magic level 2 to begin with, aren't you? How on earth did you do it?"
"More importantly, you missed the target, didn't you? It's not very powerful, is it?"
"That one can be trained! Even if your magic level is low, you can cover it to some extent with special armors and so on."
But! Grandpa Doctor's veins are bursting.
"Remote control requires not only a high level of magic, but also a great deal of sense. Even the Princess Giselotte could not reach this level when she was a student. That! You!"
She wasn't much in her youth, was she? That's not the point.
"Great! Mr. Semphis, I'd like to make a special adjustment to your training menu. We'll work on improving your remote control accuracy. Yes, I'll share the information with the other professors in the practical classes.
The professor excitedly blurts out, "I'm not going to let you down.
"And also, I'd like to throw a wrench into the existing research on the relationship between magic level and teleoperation. I believe you specialize in--"
No.
I'm in my own world.
You're really something, aren't you?
Lias comes up to me and puts a familiar hand on my shoulder.
"But you're not really like that, are you? Were you out of shape, nervous, or just didn't want to reveal your hand?"
In a way, the last one is correct.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha."
I can't help but laugh.
The grandfather teacher also laughed, saying, "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.
Lias and the students start to laugh along with him.
The class is full of smiles and fun. I want to cry, though...