“Everyone. Meet Master Ingrid.”

The doors opened as we stood there in the middle of the lab.

“Oh, dear. So many people today.”

I could see an old woman wearing a purple mage robe and a magician’s hat coming towards us. A bunch of books were floating next her.

‘So this is the rumoured master of Viria.’

I couldn’t wait to ask her questions regarding magic. My inner mage was burning with curiosity.

“Are these the ten candidates?”

“Yes, master.”

“Hmm...” She walked towards the ten of us who were lined up in a row. The observers were standing further away from us. They had to wait before they could approach Ingrid.

I saw Bridgette sweating profusely next to me.

‘It looks like she’s about to faint.’

Her eyes quivered ever so slightly as she bit her nails.

“State your name, aptitude and class.”

She stopped in front of Marcus.

Naturally he proudly declared his identity.

“I am Marcus Wesley. I am in my third year. My specialty is fire magic. I am currently at the lowest 5th grade mana stage–“

She walked past him as he was about to finish. Her attitude was cold and indifferent towards his answer. Marcus looked like he had the greatest shock in his life.

“State your name, aptitude and class.”

The one she stopped at next was Bridgette.

“M-My name is Bridgette von Bathurst! I am also a third year, madam!”

Ingrid nodded for her to continue.

“My specialty lies in all the four elements.”

Only then did she show a hint of surprise on her face.

“Quad elemental mage... Can you fuse your elements and cast spells like 『Firestorm』?”

Firestorm is an advanced ranked spell and is a combination of lightning and fire magic. It was famous for its destructive power.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Interesting...”

“P-Pardon?”

Ingrid patted Bridgette’s shoulder and walked towards me in the next moment.

“My name is Clyde Astley. My aptitude is space magic.”

I gave her the rundown of all the spells I could cast. Since I mainly studied magic out of Solphia’s book, no one else had access to the same spells.

Ingrid whistled in amazement.

“Besides your bizarre magic that I’ve never seen any one cast before, your space magic is still amazing. There hadn’t been that many people who could do anything extraordinary with the magic though. They have only been able to lift objects the size of humans.”

‘I wonder what she’d say if I told her that I could stop time.’

Ingrid glanced at me with curiosity before shifting her attention to the next person. It was Isabel.

“Hoh? The sister of Clark, the Spear God.”

“Yes!”

She gave an energetic reply.

“Proceed to introduce yourself.”

“I specialize in the destruction series magic, madam! That means I can blow stuff up like pow! I have recently entered the 5th mana grade stage! I don’t gave a lot of mana but I’m very strong if I synchronize with someone and borrow their mana! Clyde taught me how to do it!”

Ingrid’s eyes seemed to narrow as she glanced at me for a second.

“I see.”

Ingrid nodded and walked past Isabel.

Destruction series magic. It would explain her destructive attack power. That meant she had spells that focused on large area damage. Basically an AOE mage.

“T-That was so close. I thought I was going to faint...”

Bridgette muttered next to me.

“You’re that excited?”

“Of course I am! I can finally learn magic from the one who taught the Head Mage.”

Ingrid finished getting everyone’s details and walked towards Viria again.

She clapped her hands once.

“I have only found three of you interesting enough to teach. But since this is a candidacy, all of you will be taught magic until only one remains. Those three will be interviewed privately in the future once the candidacy comes to an end. Viria.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s review their grades. Start with the ancient spell assignment.”

“Very well.”

Viria took out a bunch of documents out of her dimensional ring and gave it to Ingrid. Ingrid put on her glasses and started looking at our results.

While she was looking over the papers, she spoke to us. Her eyes were still glued to the papers.

“Magic is the power of apparently influencing events by using mysterious or supernatural forces. That was the basic definition if you were to look in all the records ever recorded regarding magic. However, where did it all originate from?”

Everyone listened to her without saying anything.

Bridgette raised her hand.

“From the Great Sage, right? She was the first to use magic after all.”

“Wrong. She was the first human to manipulate elements and nature, yes. However, she was not the originator.”

Ingrid pointed to the map that hanged on the wall.

“The Red Abyss is the originator of arcane magic.”

Everyone looked at her in confusion.

“It seems no one gets it. Do you know that the very first spell that Odette casted was a rune she found near the ocean of the Red Abyss? By using that rune as a basis, she created her very own spells using her intellect alone. It wasn’t long before she found out that she had a core.”

Ingrid’s raw mana was released from her body as she spread it out into the surroundings.

“Did you know that if she were to do this then half the kingdom would be covered in mana? They might say that her mana was infinite but that wasn’t the case at all. Her vessel was large enough to contain that much mana. Do you know why? The final grade for a person’s core. That was why.”

‘The 9th stage?’

“If I were to compare the 9th stage to the 8th then it would be like the heavens and the earth we stand on. God rank spells can influence disasters on this world depending on the type of spell used. Many of you may know this, but Ragnarok has the potential to destroy all life on a continent. There are limitations, however.

That was how the Great Sage was able to destroy five nations on her own. They said that she drew magic circles over those nations at the same time and casted the spell. The nations were destroyed in one night. After her rage-filled revenge, she willingly accepted imprisonment. The Sky Fortress was built for this very reason. To house national threats.

After that magic was banned for a certain time period. People were forbidden to use magic in public. This had a multiplying effect on the populace. Raid parties couldn’t recruit mages or priests. The adventurer guilds, magic towers, appraisal shops and temples suffered the most from this stupid law that was implemented by the second king of the Kingdom of Colchis. This made the people revolt against the royal family.

That was how the First Revolution started in this kingdom. It was called the Magic Revolution. The non-mages and the mages had a fierce battle that continued for days until a conclusion was reached. After the death of the second king, the magic ban law was removed from the kingdom laws and life returned to normal.”

‘People just lived normally after killing their king? The people of the past were really savages.’

Ingrid finished her explanation.

“That was how important magic was to the people. The Magic System we have today identify the rank of your core and the type of magic your are capable of. If you are found to be capable of casting god ranked spells then you will be strictly managed by the Magic Association. This was because the people were worried that another Great Sage revenge incident may take place. If you were to ask me what I think then I’d say that she did the right thing to the nations that slaughtered innocents. The Saintess had to stop the war herself and died for it. But that’s only my opinion. I hope all of you understand the importance of magic now. Humans—no—all the races would suffer if magic didn’t exist. This was why academies were built. To nurture future mages and perhaps the future heroes of tomorrow.”

‘She seems to know more about that day than anyone else.’

Maybe she had access to the Great Sage’s records or something. I heard that only mages with ranks above six starts could enter Odette’s Tower that was located next to the Royal Palace.

“Let’s move on.”

Ingrid continued checking our results as we sat there. Bridgette whispered to me.

“She’s really wise, isn’t she? Now I know why she was worthy enough to train the Head Mage.”

“I guess you’re right.”

She gave us a history lesson without even looking at a book.

Ingrid spoke again.

“Your students have a long way to go, Viria.”

“This was why I asked for your assistance, master.”

Ingrid nodded.

“Since she will be busy with her ascension, I will teach all of you. I’m sure that she mentioned this to all of you.” Ingrid tapped on the test results. “This assignment was supposed to be a final year exam but due to the current circumstances, all of you received it now. I’m amazed that there was one of you that managed to score 98 points out the full 100. Congratulations to that person.”

All of them looked at Bridgette. The latter averted her eyes but I could tell that she was proud. That wide smirk was visible for all to see.

“Well, I’ve seen enough for now.” Ingrid checked her pocket watch. “All ten students may leave. Meet back here at the start of next week.”

“””Yes!!”””

“I will now take questions from the observers.”

“Then...!”

All of the observers who were quiet until now, swarmed around Viria and Ingrid. All ten of us stood up from the seats and walked out of the door.

**

Bridgette and I came to the cafeteria after lunch break arrived.

“Ugh...! I want next week to come now! I’m hungry for knowledge!”

“Are you that excited?”

She even took notes of what Ingrid told us.

While the two of us were happily conversing with each other, a maid suddenly came up to us.

It was a young girl with a bob cut hairstyle.

“Young master Clyde?”

She called out to me.

‘Huh? She looks familiar. Ah, it’s Charlotte’s maid. I think her name was Kendall.’

She was the new personal maid that got assigned to look after Charlotte. She was in her early twenties. Her hair was a long black colour that was made into braids and her eyes were green like a jade crystal.

“Yes?”

She held out a letter with both hands.

“Please accept this. Her highness instructed me to deliver it.”

After I took the letter, she walked away.

“That’s odd. Why would she send me a letter...”

“What does it say?”

Bridgette asked curiously.

I opened it up.

I heard you managed to succeed in restoring your core. Congratulations. Arielle was the one who told me. Now your path as a mage has reopened once again. You better study diligently from now on. Anyway, I wanted to know if you were interested in having a cup of tea with me in the future. I feel like it’s important to bond with the people who were with you from the very beginning. My faction has grown immensely after I got active in recruiting people. I now possess a faction strong enough to take on either of my siblings. Once I win over a duke then my future as the queen in secure. I hope to see you standing next to me once I ascend to sit on that throne.

Charlotte.

-

“...She wants to meet me.”

“Didn’t she coldly swat you aside after you lost your core?”

“Maybe it was out of consideration for me. Things could get dangerous while I work as her knight without any power. Now that’s changed...”

‘Would she have sent the same letter if my core wasn’t restored?’

Now that I thought about it, did future me become Charlotte’s knight as well? Given his strength, that might’ve been the case back then. People were bound to seek help from the strong. However, due to probability, that might not have happened. I could still remember my conversation with Artoria back then.

I wasn’t around in the second and fifth timeline which meant that Charlotte might’ve been killed long before being able to take on her siblings. If it wasn’t for me meeting with Helen then she’d never have joined our group. She wouldn’t have become Charlotte’s knight either. There weren’t any other capable young talents in the knight order that I knew of besides Artoria.

‘I knew it.’

My existence itself brought change upon a lot of things. Even though I thought I was a mob amongst the true protagonists, I felt like the roles had been reversed.

I looked at Bridgette who was eating her lunch. She tilted her head when she saw me looking at her.

“What’s wrong?”

“Miss Bridgette, tell me honestly...” I looked into her black eyes. “Is the Magic Empire summoning people from another world?”

“H-How do you know that!?” Her eyes widened.

She put her hands on my mouth and looked around with a startled expression on her face. Thankfully, the cafeteria was noisy so no one paid attention to what I said. We were at the back as well.

“So it’s true?”

She sighed and nodded.

“Since you know anyway, it doesn’t matter if I lie. Yes, people from another world was summoned to our empire a few years ago.”

“...What was the purpose for their summons?”

“The same as any nation seeking power. To protect themselves against powerful foes. As you know, the Demon—or it's popular name—Dark Continent is near our empire. We’re practically neighbours. There has been a fear of the demon lords invading us given our national power that grew over the years. They asked the goddess, Artemis for permission to summon people from that world.”

‘Don’t tell me...’

“How many have been summoned?”

“Well, one was recently summoned. Including her, there are four.”

‘It’s a woman as well. No, just because it’s a female doesn’t mean that it could be that person I saved.’

“Keep this a secret from the common folk. Only the high ranking people of this kingdom knows of their existence. If someone from our nation hears that you know this..."

I could tell what she meant without her finishing her sentence.

“I’ll keep that in mind...”

‘Wait a second. Something doesn’t add up.’

“Did the Magic Empire start using these summoning rituals only recently?”

“Where did you get this information...” She rubbed her forehead. “No. They have been doing it for a few decades now.”

“Ah...”

-People have been disappearing lately and no evidence gets left behind. The victims are always high schoolers.

“I finally found the reason why they have been disappearing...”

“Did you say something?”

“Ah, nothing.”

Before I was reincarnated, there had been multiple mass kidnappings happening around the city I lived in. The kidnappings were random and only high schoolers were targeted. This made some parents hesitate to send their children to school because of what happened.

“What happened to the others if only four are left?”

Bridgette’s face distorted.

“They were thrown out of the empire for being useless...”

‘Bastards...’

“It’s unknown what happens to them afterwards. Sometimes they have weak blessings or none at all. There was a low possibility of them surviving in a world foreign to them. I tried locating some of them but my efforts didn’t bear fruit.”

“Your emperor is really scum.”

Bridgette smiled wryly.

“Well, many have called her as such.”

I steered the conversation to something else. She didn’t look comfortable talking about her nation. Maybe she left the Magic Empire because she didn’t like their rules?

“Besides that, I have something I need to inform you of.”

She rolled her eyes as of she was about to hear another bizarre story.

“I’ll need to take off from classes for next week.”

“Huh? Why?” Bridgette beautiful eyebrows creased as she frowned.

“Ah, that’s...”

To get my revenge.

I couldn’t phrase it like that.

“I have to get ready for my age of coming ceremony. It’s happening next week.” I gave her a vague explanation with a stiff smile.

‘Let’s go with that.’

“Oh. Well, it is your special day so I can understand. I’ll need to work alone then...I’m not confident in that.”

I smiled wryly.

“Why not ask Marcus? He seems capable enough.”

“Eeeh...No way. That might be true for practical tests but there’s no way I’m working with him.”

“Why not?”

“Have you seen the guy whenever he’s in a group? He’s a piece of trash that takes all the group’s achievements for himself. I know of that first-hand since I worked with him for a few months last year.”

“He’s that much of a scumbag, huh...”

“Yeah. He’s a phony as well. He might be talented in magic in practical tests but his brain can’t be said to be the same. Hell, I bet he probably doesn’t even know what the use of a mana reactor agent is.”

For the record, those kinds of things are used to forcibly extract the impure mana out of a person’s core that combusted. This is needed so that the condition of the affected doesn’t worsen. In most cases, you could die.

My guess was that Marcus might’ve used mana elixirs to get to his current level. In a way, he was the same as Jacob. I say in a way because Jacob had the brains for magic but not the right quantity of mana to qualify to become a mage. In Marcus’ case, he had none of that. All he had was probably just his family's wealth to take the easy path.

“He sounds like quite the interesting fellow. Anyway, is it alright with you?”

“Haa...Fine. Let miss Ingrid know so she can set your work aside. You’ll need to take extra classes as well to catch up.”

I sighed in relief.

“Thanks, Bridgette. I’ll definitely make it up to you.”

“Humph. You better.” She made a cute pout and crossed her arms.

The bell rang a few minutes later as we enjoyed our time together. The two of us finished our lunch after our brief discussion and left the cafeteria to head to class.

We attended normal classes since Ingrid said that we’d start the special courses next week.