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　The Second Academy of Magic welcomed new students, and a month has already passed.
　There had been an uproar when it was announced to the whole world that Ars was wanted in error, but now it was beginning to be a thing of the past.

　The top floor of the research building, however, still lacked a landlord.
　The luggage temporarily seized by the military had returned, but it was no longer a reminder of those days; it was simply stacked or shoved into an empty space in the room.

　Still, Tesfia and Alice made sure to clean it regularly to keep the dust from accumulating - so that it could come back at any time.

　As expected, if they unpacked and decided to place it on their own, that hateful little thing would come bouncing in.
　However, it was a sad sight to see him gone. He should have been allowed to come home at last.

　While it seems like only yesterday that the suspicion was cleared and the report that Ars intercepted the mastermind of the Rusalka attack shook the whole world, in terms of time, it was a long time ago.


　As sophomores, Tesfia and Alice had moved up to first and second place overall in their grades.

　The fact that the two of them are no longer in a good position to only train to improve themselves is another growth factor.
　With sophomores in the academy, active participation in events is of course, and just like last year, the new students have competency exams waiting for them as soon as they enter the academy. Of course, this is essentially none of Tesfia and Alice's business.
　However, it was perfectly natural for Tesfia and Alice to have a white feather in their cap, just as the top-ranking examiners in the university at the time had been given the examiner's job.

　The current rankings of the two of them, Tesfia is in the three thousandth place and Alice is in the four thousandth place, which is a big improvement for students who don't go out into the outside world.
　However, those two also steadily completed the training menu that Ars had left behind. As for the total amount of simple magic power, it could not be increased in a short period of time. Even more so, the acquisition of high-level magic is still inefficient on its own.

　If you take the method of learning simply outputting from an image, even two people could probably get it into shape. However, if you want to master it as taught by Ars, you need to understand the structure contained in the magic correctly.
　This is basically the kind of method that is not taught in the academy, hence the two of them struggled with it.

　The intention was to surprise them when they returned, but they couldn't neglect their other training. The thick manual left notes like principles in it.
　If you can't even use the basics, you can't use magic effectively, which is how it's translated. I can't help but feel that it was a bit more harsh.


　That's the first thing on the page and it's noticeable even if you don't like it.
　I need to train my body, and I can't neglect my magic manipulation as part of my daily routine. The tasks imposed on me are piled up like a mountain because Ars isn't there.

　Even so, I have the motivation to complete them, but I'm on the verge of having smoke coming out of my head.

　That's why I willingly agreed to be my opponent for the competency test just to relieve myself. However, as they experienced last year, the only thing they have to do is to take on new students to accomplish each item in order to accurately measure their rankings.

　To do that, they must at least be more competent than the freshmen in the standings. Of course, Felinella was to participate in this partnering role as usual.
　More to the point, if she hadn't approached me about it, I'm sure the two of them would have forfeited it.


''Well, you two take care of each other. I don't want you to mess up the new students.

　So it was Felinella who smiled softly. She told him what to keep in mind that would not be in the manual. This year, the number of new students had been reduced far less than expected compared to last year.
　Originally, there should have been a large number of aspiring mages pouring in after the Seven Nations Friendly Magic Competition. Of course, the reason for this was due to one incident with Ars. More than anything else, it was also due to the bad timing that cleared my suspicions.

　The applicants who had decided on the school they wanted to apply to and started working on it had avoided the Second Academy of Magic and applied to other schools. Since Ars was cleared of the charges just before the deadline, it was still only a bad time.

　However, the headmaster didn't show the slightest sign of being concerned about such concerns. I'm sure you'll be able to find out more about this in the future.


　The Tesfia was burning with rivalry that would not have been possible before with Felinella. No, there is a section of him that does not understand what it is.
　Perhaps it is a bit of an exaggeration to call it rivalry. Tesfia simply set Felinella as a target at hand - both as a magician and as a woman.

　As for her outward traits, though, she couldn't catch up fast enough.

　Nevertheless, Tesfia was still wearing a more mature atmosphere. She's grown a little taller, and she's trying to be more careful about how she behaves.
　But inevitably, when I see the remarkable growth of my best friend standing next to me, I don't know what girlishness is all about.

　Alice was the only one who had a new uniform for the academy.

　Thespian responded with a deflated "Hah!" as she stabbed only a part of Alice's eyes with an abhorrent stare.
　Alice did her best to pretend that she was oblivious to Tesfia's gaze as best she could. After all, if the comparison with last year was this noticeable in the body measurements that had recently been in place, it would make Tesfia feel weirdly uncomfortable.

　That and this story has already been going on day after day.
　So, Alice awkwardly opened her mouth while digressing from the conversation.

''Hola, Fia, if you don't get fired up, you'll get your foot in the door.
'Alice needs to let the new students show their full strength. A man would be dumbfounded anyway.
You care about it too much.　Do you want to ask Al when he gets back?
I'm not going to ask that question!

　With a hollow smile, Alice immediately poked Tesfia's head with a pokari and a lightly clenched fist. As expected, she didn't join in for fun.

''But there's no need to cut corners, is there?

　Sharply, Alice asks Felinella. Last year, it was Felinella, no matter what, who served as Alice's opponent during the competency exam.

You're going to be able to get the best out of it. But you have to refrain from using offensive magic as much as possible. The only thing that matters is the accurate ranking.
'Feri-senpai, may I have a word?'
What?　Fear.
What about after you've cleared the measurement items?
I don't mind if it ends there, but...

　Felinella thought she saw the extra meddling in Tesfia's eyes. It's not a very good trend.

　--Arus-san's influence.

''Hah~ I could at least give you a light rub up, but don't leave a weird common practice.

　The reason why Ferrinella would say something like this is because there is certainly already some semblance of a rite of passage. I was there last year as well, but strangely prideful and uppity new students are often present. It's troubling that it's so common in the aristocracy, though.

　The point is, if you're a daughter of a great nobleman like Felinella, you wouldn't be so rude because of your fame, but if you're a senior student who's not so famous, there's always a new student who's irreverent to you as an instructor.
　As expected, there wouldn't be a nobleman who could be that arrogant against the Fevers, who stand alongside the Socarent family.

　And since the number of new students is small this time, I didn't dare to warn them.
　If you look at it, you can hear them agreeing with not only Tesfia, but also the students who were gathered as instructors.

　In a way, I guess I have no choice but to tacitly approve of this as well as what I think will be good for the new students.



　The inside of the training area is divided into ten sections and the examinations begin.
　Tesfia and Alice split into two groups and moved to the compartments they were in charge of. The rotation is set up so that they can take turns after taking on five to ten people first.

　I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make it work.

It's not a good idea to take that with you, Fia?
There's no use in that.

　This AWR [Snow Princess] given to me by Ars was initially lamented as defective because it started its owner's configuration program before it did.
　However, once it became clear why it was such a situation, it was indeed his typical elaborate prank.......no, Tesfia decided to take this as an expectation.

　That's right, [Snow Princess] reads the composition program on her own, and her speed exceeds the composition speed of Tesfia as a magician. Therefore, the magic would not be able to sustain the process during the composition process.

　More than anything else, just by lowering this 【Snow Princess】 to the waist, it absorbs and accumulates a small amount of magic power.

　To put it simply, this AWR is made to try to get the magic of a higher level that follows a complex structure. That's the kind of magic formula it's built for.
　That's why it's always converting magic power into an ice system and keeping it in its sheath.

　That's why Alice asked if she was going to use a higher level of magic on the new students without saying a word.