Chapter 02
Orcheta, which occupied the western part of the continent, was a kingdom with a deep history that had continued its lineage for nearly a thousand years.
Its capital was the city of ‘Orchen’ in the northeast, but when people at home and abroad were asked what place best represented Orcheta, the name ‘Zenios’ was always the first to come up.
The academic city of Zenios, located in the midwest of Orcheta, was also famous for the school of the same name. It had been founded about 130 years later than the Royal Orchen Academy, but that was because it produced far more talent.
That talent ranged widely—from the king of Orcheta himself to mages, knights, administrators, artists, merchants, all manner of know-it-alls, sycophants, and even smooth-talking con artists and various white-collar criminals.
These people, who seemed to have nothing in common besides having graduated from the same school, shared one thing: a school spirit so deep it bordered on blind devotion. Even the high and mighty who had been fiercely fighting over the empty throne for years would briefly become friendly when Zenios came up in conversation.
Zenios, called a true educational institution that valued academic discipline over a person’s status or background, bustled every year with prospective students who came to take the entrance exam with a desire to learn.
Since admission was possible from age thirteen, most were children who hadn’t quite lost their baby fat or had just entered puberty, and they were so preoccupied with the hellishly difficult entrance exam that they often forgot that ‘Zenios’ referred not just to the school but to the city.
Which meant that not all the school buildings were neatly gathered on a single campus—the entire city was the school. Taking the central plaza, with its library and Sunflower Hall nearby, as the reference point, the buildings of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, the School of Arts, the School of Swordsmanship, and the School of Magic stood in clockwise order.
Between them were evenly distributed dormitories, shopping streets, restaurants, bookstores, parks, and so on—it was fair to say that half the city was school personnel and the rest were merchants doing business with them.
So then, which school was the most famous at such a prestigious Zenios?
Everyone had their own opinions, but in the end they all chose the School of Magic with reluctant expressions. Compared with the schools of magic across the entire continent, its academic achievements were far superior, and its level was so outstanding as to be beyond comparison.
Students from other schools were secretly proud of that too. They just didn’t say so in front of the School of Magic. That was how many talents who had driven the School of Magic’s reputation had entered and graduated, making their names known across the continent.
Just when things had quieted down somewhat in recent years and jealous insults like “the Zenios School of Magic is past its prime” could occasionally be heard, the appearance of a fifteen-year-old genius turned the school upside down.
A perfect score on the entrance exam’s written test, plus a profusion of bonus points that even the professors—called inhuman—had rarely received. He sat calmly in the interview and held a discussion on equal footing with the professors, so he was truly a talent worth drooling over.
The promising prospect who entered amid everyone’s expectations, Noah Hayworth, had one fatal flaw.
“Don’t bark so noisily—if you have eyes, look at the formula you wrote. Can’t you see you left out a sign? And what did you do that it takes five lines to solve this? If you apply ‘Alenga’s Theorem,’ it’s done in one line.”
“What kind of thought process do you have to go through to ruin a basic-level ‘Mood-Lifting Potion’? I don’t understand. Do you have dyslexia? Or an intelligence problem?”
“I was about to go blind reading the beginning of your report, so I just rewrote it myself. No depth, wrong direction. I couldn’t tell what on earth you were trying to say.”
“I don’t want to hear your garbage logic, so get lost. Talking with a moron who doesn’t even know where his own hypothesis is wrong—I’m afraid the stupidity might rub off.”
Right after admission, students were dying to find some way to talk to him. It was out of curiosity about the top entrant of the school, not to mention his dazzling looks, as if a statue had turned into a person.
It was, of course, not long before their curiosity was shattered one by one. Barely half a year into his first year, Noah stunned everyone with a sharp tongue that was inversely proportional to his handsome face and neat attire.
And that wasn’t all. Seeing his magic skills far beyond expectations in every class, along with advanced knowledge beyond his level, even those who had been called prodigies back home could only feel their spirits crushed.
People who felt a sense of disparity—because he wasn’t just outstanding but extraordinary—began to quietly avoid him. And well they might, for the moment you stood next to Noah, even an ordinary student was instantly reduced to a fool.
Though they were still young undergraduates, armed as mages with strong pride and stubbornness, they hated to admit they were wrong, so it was only natural that coexistence with Noah was impossible.
And so it took exactly one year for everyone, high and low, to be floored by his equal-opportunity rudeness, his tongue-lashing so spicy it made your ears bleed, and his abnormal superiority. By the end of the first-year winter break, Noah had become, in the shortest time possible, the notorious figure and public enemy number one of the Zenios School of Magic.
Even so, there were always eccentrics with astonishing challenger spirit wherever you went, and despite the countless ghost stories circulating like urban legends, there were those who issued challenges to become his friend.
There was a rumor that a certain senior had once come close to becoming something like that, but for some reason had ultimately failed. However, since they had quietly graduated, no one knew the exact circumstances.
“So, that’s why Mr. Hayworth, who is twenty-one this year, is a Golemancy researcher and is sometimes spotted in the School of Magic building. How about it, I researched hard for you—does it help at all?”
“Alina Bellin. Thanks to you, my appetite is completely gone…”
Rosia set the half-eaten smoked salmon sandwich down on her handkerchief with a sour expression. Her mouth felt gritty, as if she were chewing sand.
The sunlight settling overhead in early spring was warm, and the breeze tickling her cheeks was lukewarm. It was perfect weather to sit on a bench and eat lunch like a picnic. In a little while the magnolias and cherry blossoms would be in full bloom, making the city even more radiant.
But she couldn’t enjoy the spring with an easy heart. To be paired with that senior Noah Hayworth for a year-long group project. She had thought she’d lived a fairly good life so far—why did this trial have to come in her senior year?
It had already been three days since she ran into him like a bolt from the blue, and it was already Thursday. According to the group project rules, they had to meet at least twice a week and spend at least an hour together each time.
Rosia hadn’t dared to go find him first, and the senior had been completely silent as well. Did he even have any intention of participating in this class? No, why had he shown up in an undergraduate class in the first place? Hadn’t he already taken it?
Should I go to the Golemancy Research Lab tomorrow or something…? Whatever he might do, she absolutely had to properly complete ‘Understanding Others.’ After all, repeating a year just because of this one thing would be… She let out a deep sigh with a tearful face.
Even with a partial scholarship, Zenios’s tuition was still expensive. Thanks to her parents, who ran a fairly well-known clothing shop in the capital, she was paying her tuition on time, but it was still true that money was tight.
And besides the financial issue, there was another reason she absolutely had to graduate this year. It was her younger brother by four years, Yurick. She knew well that he was preparing for the Zenios School of Arts entrance exam in between helping their parents design and sew clothes, so she felt even more strongly about it.
It would be wonderful if he became a fine arts freshman next year as he hoped. Of course, by then she should already have graduated so they wouldn’t be paying double the tuition.
“I should’ve known better than to drink the night before the semester started, huh?”
Alina smiled subtly and glanced at her. The moment she saw that sly grin, Rosia’s hand tightened, and the filling of the sandwich she’d just picked up again half-squirted out.
“Who was it that dragged along someone who said she had a morning class and needed to sleep early?”
“Rosia Willen, who became an adult last month and can now legally drink—there’s no way I could resist.”
Her black eyes sparkled with mischief. Rosia pretended to glare at Alina’s shamelessness, then burst out laughing. Even if she looked like that, Alina must have felt some responsibility for the oversleeping incident, because she’d bought her lunch and was trying to cheer her up—it was rather sweet, and it made her laugh. Well, she wasn’t the type to get angry over small things anyway.
She and Alina had grown close since the fall semester of their first year and were still close friends now, on the verge of graduation. Until the end of their second year they had gone to school together every day, and in their third year, when they chose different majors, their classes split. Hers was Potion-Making, and Alina’s was Magic Theory.
She’d wondered whether someone with a lazy personality would be okay choosing such a complicated and difficult major, but Alina was surprisingly quick-witted and somehow always finished her assignments on time. Her grades were quite high, too—it was almost awe-inspiring.
Come to think of it, Alina had taken ‘Understanding Others’ early, before her third year. Must be nice. If I’d known, I would’ve just taken it in advance too.
“Anyway, I don’t know…”
Rosia rummaged in her pocket and pulled out the round badge she’d received from Professor Lorphin. The silver lettering on a navy background glinted faintly in the sunlight. It bore her name and Mr. Hayworth’s.
This was why lying about following the rules of ‘Understanding Others’ was useless. This badge, which was also a magical tool, was something shared with your partner—when it detected its paired badge within a certain distance, it automatically recognized the owner and recorded the date and time.
Of course, the trick of keeping the badges close while the people stayed far apart didn’t work either. She’d heard that historically many students had challenged themselves to test the badge’s capabilities. But without a single exception, they’d all been given zero and marked ‘cannot complete,’ ending in spectacular failure. Because of those rumors, she didn’t want to try anything funny.
“Still, out of everyone I’ve seen, you’re the most positive, and you’ve got a bit of a crazy streak, so you’ll be fine—”
As Alina patted her shoulder, saying something that might have been comfort or an insult, a letter made of light flew over from afar and stopped in front of her.
It was a method mages often used to contact each other within short distances. Since the form could be transformed in various ways, it sometimes took on overly creative or ridiculous shapes. A roaring bell pepper, for instance.
“Oh, is it a love letter? Has spring finally come for Rosia too?”
“What love letter. This year I’ll be lucky just to keep my head down and graduate.”
“Why? You’re surprisingly popular, you know.”
“No, it’s not that…”
Even as she said that, she was secretly a little hopeful. Such a neat letter shape, too. Alina would often send her bizarre sea creatures and startle her—it had happened more than once or twice.
[After 5 p.m. today. Golemancy Research Lab]
The moment Rosia raised her hand and touched the envelope, glowing letters floated up into the air and then slowly faded. A strange silence hung between the two of them.
“Oh, no, I guess not. Looks like a duel challenge.”
Alina smiled awkwardly and glanced at her sideways as she took a bite of her ham and cheese sandwich. Her eyes seemed to be offering condolences. Rosia buried her face in her hands.
Can I go and come back alive…?
