(CLYDE ASTLEY POV)

I prepared myself to go to class after I finished my breakfast.

I was kind of nervous about what Viria would say about our work. The magic thesis was my biggest worry. I did my research that we had to study before completing the thesis but I was still anxious. I wanted to get full marks in my work just like Bridgette.

Although comparing myself to her was blasphemous itself. I just had to do what my limits allowed me to do. Bridgette was only inferior to me in magic. When it came to actual academic work, she beats me by a mile. She’d score full marks on each and every test. This had been going on ever since she came to the academy two years ago. The Mage Tower sent her recommendations throughout the three years she’d been here.

It was decided that Bridgette would be one of the candidates for the next student council president. That meant that Charlotte had competition. This was the academy so that wasn’t rare between students. The two of us might just work together in the future as well. Although I didn’t want to stand out, after that meeting with Victoria, I had no choice but to truly work hard to pass the year.

My mother and father was expecting me to make them proud. Since I had a family that adored and loved me I would do whatever it takes to fulfil their expectations of me.

‘Instead of being an idiot and trying to cast god rank magic like last time, I should take it slow.’

I was still a child after all. I had a long life ahead of me. Although I wasn’t interested in becoming an official under the Mage Tower, there were other jobs that needed the skills of a mage. Like alchemy and magic stores.

I could help alchemists with imbuing mana into catalysts and in their research. You didn’t really need an alchemist class to work in an alchemist store. All that was necessary was having knowledge in magic and science.

Who knows? Maybe I’ll enlist into the Magic Empire’s academy and become Jacob’s assistant.

‘But the problem with that is that it’s too far.’

Plus, I wanted to work at a place that was near my family.

The Magic empire was on the southern side of the continent on the very edge of the continental border. What separated the Magic Empire from the continental border were many mana rich environments like Ice Fields, Volcanoes and areas covered in water.

Here comes the scary part. Past those dangerous mana environments lies the Demon Continent. That was the continent that the demon lords rule. We had minimal information regarding the demon lords. It was a relief that the demon lords weren’t psychos that invade human nations just because they hate humanity.

Wasn’t it a common trope in isekai for demon lords to be the main villains? That said, the demon lords are almost on the same level as the dragon lords so they were the mini bosses. Rodion was their ruler so he would’ve classified as the main boss.

Near the Magic Empire lies the Draconic Kingdom that Edna went to. The Ancient Dragon, Fafnir protects the kingdom from other nations invading them.

The Kingdom of Colchis lies on the Northern side of the map. We lay between the Beastkin Dominion and the Elca Kingdom. The three nations are neighbours with the Kingdom of Dwarves. The dwarves lived underground and rarely interact with us humans. I heard that it’s hard to even request a blacksmith from that kingdom.

As described in most fantasy books, dwarves had the most dexterous hands out of all the races on the continent. Human blacksmiths existed but their skills didn’t match the craftsmanship of a dwarf’s hands.

By the way, the Hermit Sage collection staff and magic gloves that I currently had was crafted by a famous dwarf called Dallar. He was one of the few dwarves to be born with magical power.

It wouldn’t be bad to put in a request for new equipment. That was if they allowed a human near their kingdom. There weren’t really any dwarves in our kingdom. None that I knew of anyway.

After I finished with my preparations, I left the dorm house.

Everyone was running towards the third year building. This was because Viria announced that she’d be giving a special reward to those who passed with flying colours. Besides the third years, the other grades were also interested in knowing what the reward was.

It was a reward given by the Head Mage after all. It was bound to be something ground-breaking.

As I walked past the first year classes, I saw something at the academy gates.

‘Why are there so many students?’

There were many of the juniors surrounding a white carriage which I could see from where I stood. I sent mana into my eyes and saw a golden lion insignia on the back of the carriage.

“Oh! You’re here!”

A voice called out to me.

“Ah, miss Bridgette.”

“Hello. I turned in the work earlier this morning at 5am before the students headed to class. Professor Viria said that she’d make our work mark priority after all.”

The two of us walked down the corridor while hearing the noise coming from the gates.

I asked Bridgette the question on my mind.

“Do you know who owns that fancy carriage standing by the gates?”

The two of us were standing on a bridge that connected two buildings.

I pointed to the carriage. Students were swarming the person that was walking towards the academy.

“Oh. That’s the prince from the Sky Kingdom.”

“The Sky Kingdom?”

“He’s transferring as a fifth year.”

‘Isn’t that nation on the other side of the world?’

They were a nation located on the other continent. Their kingdom was a literal humungous flying island. They were the ones who came up with airships that occasionally fly over our kingdom.

“Yes. That’s the crown prince.”

Bridgette repeated her words with emphasis on the word crown.

“...”

I saw a handsome young man with blonde hair walking out of the crowd. There were three other young men walking behind him as well. Maybe I repeated this word too much. All of them were handsome young men. It was like seeing idols walk through those gates.

“Why is the crown prince here?”

“That’s because the birthday party of His Majesty is happening in a few weeks.”

‘Oh, right. The king’s birthday party.’

Many officials from all over the continent would come to this kingdom to celebrate. That wasn’t all there was to it. The king wanted to celebrate his first wife’s recovery as well. The Divine Elixir seemed to have worked.

The Holy Kingdom, the Dominion and even the Elca Kingdom’s royal family will attend. Melodia was a great figure of the continent after all.

“Rumour has it that the crown prince will propose to Her Highness, Charlotte.”

I almost laughed.

‘Good luck to you, man. She won’t accept.’

“Let’s get to class.”

◇◇◇

“Morning everyone.”

Professor Viria came through the door as the students were getting noisy.

She had a bright smile on her face.

“Let me announce what this mysterious reward will be to the top students.”

Everyone sat on the edge of their seats.

“I am considering a successor to my title.”

Everyone gulped.

‘Huh?’

“I will tell all of you now instead of waiting for the official announcement.”

Viria’s eyes sharpened as if she recalled something unpleasant.

“The enemies we faced were on the level of the Great Sage and Alucard. One of them was an extremely powerful magic caster while the other one was in a class past Master Rank.” Viria held up her hand. “Before asking questions, let me finish speaking.”

Those who raised their hands lowered it after what Viria said.

‘Someone on the level of the Great Sage and Alucard?’

Anyone with access to the library knew the legends of those two. Odette was a magic caster that was able to destroy armies with her diverse range of spells. What made her dangerous wasn’t her mastery in magic alone; it was her near infinite pool of mana.

They say that she was able to last four days against armies on the battlefield before her core could overheat itself. When your core overheats, your body blocks off your pores and restricts any mana from entering your core. This is to prevent combustion caused by using too much magic.

It was said that the Great Sage died due to that but it was unknown if it was actually the truth.

As for Alucard, well... He was known as the Light Hero who wielded the legendary king’s sword, Excalibur. He was the one who taught many in the past a swordsmanship that was still used today. The 《Light Dance》style is what it’s called. The academy still teaches the style but there had never been a person who was able to learn it at all. Not even Iris, who was known to be the strongest swordsman in the kingdom could learn it.

Only by using the power of light will you be able to use the sword style.

Alucard was also the only swordsman in existence to be born with divinity.

‘Now that she mentioned those two, was one of them the presence I felt back then at Charlotte’s birthday party?’

I still remembered that gaze that seemed to look down on all of humanity from his seat. I couldn’t see him but I knew he was there.

That overwhelming aura was the proof of that.

“It’s known by many by now already but we have recently lost to a strong opponent so I feel like my duties as a member of the White Order is much more important at the moment. That is why I am looking for a successor. What better place to start than at the academy?”

She walked to the student sitting at the front desk and looked up at all of our faces. She made a small smile when her eyes met mine.

“Since that is the case, I will pick the candidates from the top students of my classes.”

The students began whispering.

“She’s giving up her seat at the Mage Association?”

“Who would be good enough to even succeed her?”

“There are multiple talented people at the academy besides the ones in our class.”

“I hope it’s not that Clyde bastard. Look at him looking smug. It’s like he knows he’ll pass.”

“Miss Bridgette is better than that commoner though.”

‘Ugh... I can hear all of you.’

I decided to let it go. They weren’t worth paying attention to.

I looked to my desk mate. Bridgette’s eyes and mouth were wide open.

This was her dream after all.

“I teach third up until the final year students so I gave all of you a test. That test was the ancient magic project. So far, only four groups have managed to give satisfactory results. But only one was able to truly exceed my expectations.”

‘She already graded our work? That’s amazing.’

Viria could identify the effect of a spell just by glancing at its runic patterns. She was that good. It wasn’t surprising that she was able to grade our work in a few hours.

“Out of those individuals, I will pick only ten to receive tuition under my master.”

‘Her master?’

Viria , who was the greatest mage of this century was bound to have a master but it was unknown who this person was. She had never made it public who taught her magic.

I won’t lie, I was looking forward to finding out as well.

“I will undergo a rune ascension as announced in the official article we released. It is now the perfect time for us to enter the Red Abyss since we are starting training in a few months. Eredhel returned to inform us that there were no threats that would need our attention in the dungeon. I won’t have time to teach all of you but this is why my master has visited the academy for this very reason.”

She flicked her wand, causing a piece of paper to fly towards her from her desk.

“When I call your name, come to the front.”

Bridgette and I made eye contact. She also had a confused expression on her face.

“Bridgette von Bathurst.”

Her eyes opened wide when her name was called.

‘As expected of a genius.’

The one who was called was still frozen in her chair.

“Miss Bridgette.”

I shook her shoulders.

“Ah, yes!”

She hurriedly stood up.

“Marcus Wesley.”

“Yes!”

An excited voice answered her. I saw a boy with elf ears go towards the front. He was a half elf from the Elca Kingdom who migrated here with his family. They were a fairly famous family of mages. His specialty is fire magic. He was actually better than me in fire magic.

The two of us hadn’t talked much before in the past even though we had been classmates for two years now.

He stood there with a proud grin on his face as he played with his green hair.

His expression seemed to say: “As expected of this great me!”.

“Next. Clyde Astley.”

“...Ah.”

Although I didn’t want the title, this was my chance to learn magic from the master of the Head Mage. Naturally I wouldn’t let this opportunity pass me by.

“Yes...”

I stood up from my seat and headed down.

“And finally Isabel Capell.”

“Coming!”

Isabel ran towards the front with a hum.

“The other classes student have already been instructed on what to do before I came here. Out of the five that I chose out of the other classes, some refused my reward like princess Miya which is a let-down. Anyway, please follow me.”

She pointed at the door.

“W-Wait! Professor! What about our group!?”

A familiar voice interrupted Viria.

“Hm?”

I could see Nate coming into the classroom. His entire appearance was unkempt. His eyes were half closed as if he hadn’t slept in days. He was also wearing clothes I saw him wear on Tuesday【Birth of a Nameless Star】.

“Y-You said that If I was able to produce satisfactory results after our first failed attempt then I’d pass!”

He took out a scroll from his storage bag.

“Look!”

“...”

Viria opened up the scroll. I peeked at it from the side.

It wasn’t even a second later that she tore the scroll after checking its contents.

“What are you doing, you bitch!? Ah! Our research!”

“Doping is not allowed.”

“I-I didn’t...!”

“Do not act innocent with me. I can see it in your eyes.”

‘Huh?’

His eyes were bloodshot. There were purple veins on his eyelids.

‘No way... Nate seriously doped?’

Doping meant using drugs to forcibly pump your core full of mana. It’s fairly expensive at five gold a bottle but it’s effective.

These things were commonly used by adventurers if they didn’t have enough mana for quests. This was fine since they were free from any laws of the tower but for a mage division student of the academy... it was disgraceful.

“Gyahaha! You seriously doped yourself? Are you that much of a trash that you can’t even use your own abilities!? Aren’t you the son of the great Dragon-Human?”

Marcus laughed mockingly.

“Oh, god! I’m going to die laughing like this!”

“I-I...!”

Nate tried to explain himself as he picked up the pieces on the ground.

I silently walked towards him and tried helping him pick it up.

‘Maybe if I used Restoration magic...’

“Don’t touch it!”

He smacked away my hand.

“N-Nate?”

“Get the fuck away!” Nate violently shoved me aside. “I fucking hate you, you arrogant bastard!”

“H-Hey calm down.”

“SHUT UP! SHUT UP!”

Nate screamed his lungs out when I tried to approach him.

The classroom was filled with silence as everyone looked at him in disbelief.

“Nate Alexander. I think it’s best if you leave for today. Take a few days off. That is not a suggestion but an order. I will contact your mother and tell her of this.”

“...I...”

Tears streamed down his eyes.

“Go.”

The two who were standing behind him helped him up.

“Let’s go.”

“....."

They silently took him out of the classroom.

‘What the hell is up with him?’

I heard Viria sigh.

“Now that that’s over, please follow me. We need to hurry before homeroom starts.”

◇◆◇

Viria led us up to the tallest building of the academy.

The Academy Laboratory. It was the building where the top scholars gather to share their ideas, create new spells or do projects together.

Today it seemed empty as we walked the halls.

“She is a very old woman so pay attention to your manners. Especially you, Marcus.”

Marcus harrumphed and turned his head away from Viria when she looked at him.

“Everyone seems to have already gathered.”

There were multiple people standing outside the classroom when we approached.

“Ah, professor!”

An assistant teacher came towards Viria.

“Penelope, is this everyone?”

Besides the ten of us who were students, there were other people who were wearing mage uniforms. They must’ve been observers.

“Y-yes. We’ve been knocking for a while now but Lady Viria’s master isn’t opening up.”

Viria sighed.

“I’ll go in for now. Maybe she was waiting for everyone.”

We walked with the assistant towards the large wooden door of the academy’s lab.

All of them turned to Viria when she approached.

“Lady Viria!”

“Professor!”

“Hello, everyone.” Viria smiled. “I hope all of you are doing good this morning. Anyway, I’ll see if she’s okay.”

After she said that, she opened the door without knocking and closed it again.

“Will your friend be okay?”

Bridgette came up to me and asked a question.

“You mean Nate?”

“Yeah. He was acting a bit too hysterical. Maybe it was the drug?”

“Haa... I wonder what his father will do when he finds out about this. News spreads quick in the academy after all. I’m sure by lunch break that the whole city district will know.”

Students were allowed to leave the academy premises if they wanted to head to a café or eat at a restaurant. This was allowed if they didn’t like the cafeteria. Students from other schools also meet with students of our academy. It wouldn’t be long before the news reached Nate’s father. His siblings were also students here.

The Dragon-Human, Leonard Alexander was said to be a strict father. It was obvious how much he’d punish Nate once he found out about him doping. Leonard might not care about his son, but he’ll undoubtedly give a harsh punishment to Nate for embarrassing his family name.

That Leonard Alexander’s youngest son used drugs just so he could pass a project at the academy.

It wouldn’t look good for their family once people found out about this. Nate might even get kicked out of the family. The only reason he was still an Alexander was because of his mother.

‘Why did he say he hated me...?’

It was a heavy blow coming from a friend of mine. Sure, we didn’t interact much after my journey to the Elca Kingdom but I still considered him a friend. We survived the Divide together after all.

‘Should I visit him to ask him what’s wrong?’

Viria’s head peeked out when the door opened.

“Please come inside. Sorry for taking so long.”

The doors opened revealing a plethora of books behind her on the ground. There were things scattered everywhere.

“Please browse around if you would like to while I fetch my master.”

Viria disappeared into a room on the left side of the lab.

‘Huh?’

I suddenly saw something strange. Those threads that I saw from the puppet’s body was leading somewhere. They were similar to hair strands back when I first saw them but now they were as thick as ropes. I followed the blue threads and ended up going up the stairs...

I saw a young girl of maybe 14 years of age sitting on a chair while writing something down.

She looked like a middle schooler but her chest was as flat as cutting board.

She had long blue hair and bright blue eyes. Judging by the multiple wrappers of food, she’d been there a while.

‘Viria?’

There was no doubt in my mind that she was the real Viria. The mana threads were connected to her body after all.

She suddenly sensed movement and turned towards me.

“W-What are you doing back here!?”

The book she read fell as she stood up from the chair.

“I’m looking for the toilet...”

I narrowed my eyes as I looked at the mana threads.

“O-Oh! I-If that’s the case. Please follow me then!”

She coughed awkwardly and walked past me.

“By the way, do you work here?”

She almost fell when I asked that question.

“Y-Yes. I’m an assistant professor. My name is Naomi. I’ll be helping miss Ingrid for the time being. Y-You’re one of the students chosen as a candidate right?”

“Hm... I see. And yes. My name is Clyde Astley. I’m a third year.”

‘What kind of assistant reads the Great Sage’s books without permission?’

To be able to read any of the Great Sage’s books or diaries, you’d have to be at least an elite of the Mage Tower or a six star mage. That book Solphia gave me when I visited her residence was one of the book written by Odette in the past. Since Solphia was an elite mage in her younger years, she had the book gathering dust in her house.

I saw her stealthily weave the mana threads while guiding me. She must’ve been directing the puppet.

I already knew she was lying. Those threads made it obvious.

“Clyde.”

While I was following the girl, a voice called out to me.

‘I knew it.’

“L-Lady Viria?”

Fake Viria stood there with a glare on her face. She lowered her glasses.

“The third floor is restricted to students. Get back down there. Why didn’t you tell him this, Naomi?”

“I-I’m sorry, Lady Viria!”

‘This timing is weird. You’re really making it obvious, Viria. Your acting also sucks.’

I decided to play along with her game.

‘Maybe her real body can’t hold mana? Or could it be that she likes to be a shut-in?’

Maybe there was another, much darker secret to why she was using a clone. Like she might’ve been holding a power within her real body that could’ve potentially wipe out this entire kingdom so she chose to use puppets to divide her power.

‘Maybe I’m thinking too much about this. I should stop reading fiction so much.’

Viria tightly held my shoulder after she grabbed me.

“Stay away from the third floor, understand?”

“Yes...”

The two of us walked back down. I heard a sigh of relief come from the real body.