“My name is Clyde Astley. I come from a small village called Belmor. I hope to get along with everyone and make my parents proud!”

I stood on the podium and did my introduction.

“”””””…..””””””

The whole class was quietly looking at me.

“Heh…”

Then I heard a snicker.

“Thank you, Clyde. You may sit right there.” Professor Gunther pointed towards my left.

“!”

It was a seat next to the same girl who is the sister of that Clark guy.

‘Is this a coincidence??’

“A-ah, okay.”

I hid my awkwardness by coughing a few times and went to my seat.

“Hellooo~ I’m Eris.”

The girl next to me greeted me with a smile.

I greeted back a little stiffly.

The class proceeded smoothly. I understood mostly all of the things being taught since it’s just basic equations.

The theory parts were a bit confusing but due to our patient professor, I managed to understand it in the end.

Compared to her scary brother, Eris is a nice girl who even offered to help me with the work. Throughout class, I was sometimes thrown with papers but Eris would scold that person for me. The others seem to cower before her probably because they’re scared of inciting the wrath of her brother.

..

“…”

The cafeteria was silent and suffocating. The reason?

“He wants to eat mine, right? Clyde-sama?”

Charlotte shoved a piece of meat into my face.

“Ara? But he even asked if we could share our meals earlier.”

Eris thrust a grape to my face.

These two seem to be resentful of each other. Just earlier, Eris and I were sharing our lunch when Charlotte came in screaming “Clyde-samaaaaa~!”.

Both of them froze when they saw each other. Fun fact: Eris’ family is also a duke household called Pennings. Her father is also close with the king so the two of them see each other very often. Plus, her brother is married to the second eldest princess.

You’d think that’ll make them become friends too…

On the other side of the table is Arielle. She may look calm from her face but when I asked for her to pass the salt, she politely opened the top of the bottle and threw all the contents onto my lunch. I lost my lunch. That caused Charlotte and Eris to now compete over who is gonna give me food.

‘Ugh… my stomach… so hungry….’

In the end I just took both of their shares to which that led to them asking whose was the best. I chose Charlotte and my heart ached when I saw Eris’ puppy dog eyes.

My headache was getting even more ridiculous as the two of them argued.

“Clyde-sama, I’ve thought of an award~”

“Hm? You did? What is it?”

“A kiss~ Muuu~” Charlotte puckered up her lips.

“Hiik!? What are you doing!?”

Arielle hurriedly stood up and shoved Charlotte’s face away from me.

“It is unbecoming of a lady to act that way!”

“Hoho~! But I just want to prove my love for the man that saved my life and captured my heart at the same time~”

“You’re not an adult yet!!”

Arielle screamed as Charlotte teased her. I’ve never seen her so worked up before. No, I’m lying. She has a very short fuse and she’s more tsun than dere.

Just as the two were arguing, the clock tower bell rang. That means it’s practice time.

We’ll be having a training session outside to see the capabilities of the first years.

The four of us hurriedly moved. If we stayed here we’d incur the wrath of the headmaster and I heard that person is scary. Even the nobles fear that woman.

**

“Welcome, children.” When I got my staff from my room and came back, a new teacher wearing light clothes was standing in the middle of the training grounds.

“I will be the one supervising your magical training.”

She must be a magic arts user. What differs them from ordinary mages are that they use their mana to strengthen their bodies instead of firing spells. They are far different from martial artists that naturally have stronger bodies.

“What’s up with that large staff?” Just then, the teacher pointed to me.

“Ah, this? I just thought I’d need it.”

“The academy distributes wands for use so why use your own?” The teacher looked at me like I’m an idiot. The others laughed at me and mocked.

I popped a vein but hid my anger.

She lost interest and began teaching the class.

“If you are able to destroy those Earthen Golems then you have a passing grade and that’ll convince me you’re qualified for this class. Destroy half then it’s a C. If you can’t even give those things a scratch…” she then smirked. “You’ll be expelled.”

I heard several gulps.

The first person went up and used [Higher Gale]. The person managed to destroy golem by half and then slumped down.

I forgot how minuscule the mana of growing children are. I shouldn’t compare myself with others since I’m an abnormal case.

Since there were other first years as well, it took some time for everyone to finish.

Just then, a lone girl was called to the stand.

She had a plain appearance. Her hair was kind of unkempt while her clothes were a little dishevelled.

Erica… the girl who is the descendant of the Saintess.

“Tch. These commoners. Just because they have a little magic power, they think they have the right to join us elites.”

“Just look at her face. I’d rate her a 3 out of a 100.”

“Hahahaha!”

..

While the peanut gallery were mocking the girl, she was busy muttering something while moving her hands.

‘Hm?’

I noticed what she was doing. Light particles were gathering around her fingers and changing their fundamental structure when they entered her hands. The light turned into fire particles.

‘How is she altering the nature of an element?’

The teacher was watching everything, amused at the cackling students. I could guess that all the teachers know why this girl was accepted.

‘To think this girl is so talented. I have to find out who recommended her.’

It’s just curiosity but still…

The girl finished her chant and pointed her hands at the golems.

“[Sapphire].”

A giant flame shaped like a rose manifested itself when she lifted her hands.

I was left dumbfounded. She managed to do something an elite elder mage couldn’t even do even until death. Magic Spell Altering.

It’s kind of like changing the nature of a spell using the raw mana particles hidden within the spell.

‘Who the hell taught her that?’

The teacher’s smile was even bigger as Erica shot her spell towards the moving golem.

Boom

Boom

“””””…..”””””

“Did you see~!?”

Just then she turned her head towards me and looked at me with sparkling eyes.

“Y-Yeah. It was amazing…”

“Yaay~”

The entire class was silent when they saw the destroyed golem. It was only chunks of rocks when the dust settled.

It’s true what they said. The Saint is a highly talented individual.

‘I bet she just read it somewhere and got it right.’

I grumbled and also went up onto the platform.

At the end of my demonstration I destroyed a chunk of the ground and made the golem vanish into nothingness with my spell. That left the students who mocked me, speechless.

I received the same grade as Erica.