Chapter 105 [Entrance Exam -Magic Department- (1)]

Two days after Ethan and Caraham took the Noble Swordsmanship Department Entrance Exam…

Once again, Ethan and I prepared to depart for Luminor Academy to take one of the other academy entrance exams.

Of course, we didn’t depart for Ethan’s Swordsmanship Department exam, which had already ended, but for my Magic Department Entrance Exam.

By the way, it rained all day yesterday, so we couldn’t go outside the inn. That meant I had to spend most of the day in the same space with Ethan.

Resting and talking together in the same room, or going down to the first floor of the inn together for meals… come to think of it, even if it hadn’t rained, the day probably wouldn’t have been much different.

We’ve already been living like this for the past three days; it’s almost like we’re living together.

We’ve even reached the point where we eat meals together these days. He says there’s no need to be overly formal, even when we’re outside.

 

‘It might not be bad to get used to this kind of daily life.’

 

Since Ethan’s admission to the Swordsmanship Department was almost certain, my entry into Luminor Academy was also practically confirmed.

The only difference would be whether I enter as a student of the same academy as Ethan, or enter as just an exclusive maid if I fail the exam. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

Either way, I had already made a prior agreement with Harold to maintain my role as his exclusive maid, so “living together” during our time at the academy was already confirmed.

Of course, since there are separate rooms for exclusive maids in the academy’s noble dormitory, we won’t have to share the same bed as we do now.

The difference between whether I enter the academy or not… would probably be whether Isabel follows us to Luminor Academy or not.

If I happened to fail the Magic Department Entrance Exam, there would naturally be no need to call Isabel, who was supposed to share my exclusive maid duties, to the academy.

…I think Isabel also seemed to want to come to the academy when I saw her before, so I should try to pass somehow to avoid being resented later.

 

“Today is the Magic Department exam, right, Maid?”

“Yes, young master.”

“I’ll be rooting for you to pass. …No, since it’s you, Maid, you’ll definitely be able to pass, so you might as well aim for the top spot.”

“Thank you for your support, young master.”

“I think it’s better if we walk today too. I saw earlier that there’s a line of carriages in front of our inn as well. It would be a waste of time to wait in a carriage for too long.”

“I think so too, young master.”

 

So, with Ethan’s encouragement, we left the inn and walked to Luminor Academy, avoiding the line of carriages that stretched to the front of our inn.

Regardless of Ethan’s encouragement to aim for the top spot, I didn’t really expect to be able to take first place in the Magic Department entrance exam.

This was because there was a good chance that at least one, maybe even two characters with a higher magical aptitude than me would be entering as new students in the Magic Department this year.

One of them was “Hellfire Agnes,” whom I had met before.

The other was, of course, the protagonist character *1. …Although it wasn’t confirmed yet whether they would enter the Magic Department.

Anyway, neither of them were characters that Lilith could beat in terms of magical aptitude. In other words, no matter how well I did in the entrance exam, reaching second place after Agnes would be my limit. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

By the way, the protagonist character had such cheat-like basic aptitudes that they could enter 7 out of the 8 departments that exist in the academy. Of course, they inevitably grew into a character specialized in one ability depending on which department they entered.

In this respect, Luminor Academy really brought out its unique charm as an academy-themed game.

Except for the Theology Department, which trains prospective priests of the Aurelia Church, it meant that the protagonist character could essentially enter all departments of the academy.

Of course, among those seven departments, there were departments that were helpful for gameplay or good for pursuing specific heroines, so in the end, the departments that were frequently entered became standardized.

 

‘If it were me in my previous life, I probably would have proceeded with the Swordsmanship Department route.’

 

In fact, the Swordsmanship Department route was the route I played the most when playing Luminor Academy in my previous world.

There were two main reasons for this. One was that by entering the same department as “Swift Sword Natalie,” my favorite character, it became much easier to pursue her.

The other reason was that when proceeding with the Swordsmanship Department route, it was possible to get involved with Lilith a little faster.

Although I’m lucky enough to be preparing for the Magic Department Entrance Exam now, Lilith wasn’t originally a student at Luminor Academy in the game.

She was just a character who entered as the disgusting guy’s sexual… no, as an exclusive maid.

Moreover, she was a character whose treatment in the game was so consistently and extremely negative that it seemed intentionally cruel.

The later the first encounter with Lilith occurred, the more irreversibly intense the disgusting guy’s “training” of Lilith became. So, my past self, who didn’t want that, chose the route that met Lilith as early as possible most often.

Even if she had already been defiled by one disgusting guy, which was unavoidable as it had already happened, I couldn’t bear to see her being violated by the disgusting guy’s underlings or even dogs. 

It was important to me, who had made all sorts of efforts to find Lilith’s virgin route.

…Of course, for me now, I desperately hoped that the protagonist would not choose the Swordsmanship Department.

I absolutely refused to get involved with the protagonist now and get tangled up in the main story, and above all, if Ethan got involved with the protagonist, there was a possibility that things wouldn’t turn out so well.

 

‘If the protagonist and Ethan happen to meet in the Swordsmanship Department and the story flows into something ominous like in the original game…’

 

If Ethan were the disgusting guy like in the original game, it would be a different story, but the current Ethan, who is my master, is a necessary existence for me.

In that sense, I didn’t want them to confront each other at all.

For now, the current Ethan is the heir of the Blackwood main family who can maintain my noble status. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

He also played the role of protecting me, who had to enter with the awkward status of a quasi-viscount daughter.

Moreover, personally, I didn’t want to see Ethan, who hadn’t done anything wrong in this world, and the Blackwood family meet a tragic demise, so if the protagonist were to face Ethan in a life-or-death battle in the Swordsmanship Department, there would be no worse situation for me now.

 

As I was thinking about this while walking towards the academy to take the Magic Department entrance exam, Ethan turned to me with a slightly worried expression and asked.

 

“Are you worried about something, Maid?”

“Pardon?”

“You look serious. Are you perhaps worried about the entrance exam?”

“…A little bit, yes.”

 

To be precise, it wasn’t my entrance exam I was worried about, but the protagonist’s.

 

“It’s okay, Maid. I’m sure you’ll pass.”

“Thank you, young master.”

“…And if you do well in the entrance exam, I’ll grant you one wish.”

“…Pardon?”

“You granted one of my wishes the day before yesterday. This makes it fair, right?”

 

…I don’t think there’s a need to be this conscientious.

Of course, refusing kindness that’s being offered would also be against etiquette, so I gladly accepted Ethan’s offer.

 

“I understand, young master. Then I will gladly accept your kindness.”

“Yes, good luck with the entrance exam.”

“You don’t need to worry. You already know my magic skills well, don’t you, young master?”

“…That’s true, but I’m still worried that you might suddenly cause trouble again.”

“Pardon?”

“…No, it’s nothing.”

 

Ignoring Ethan’s out-of-context remark for now, I first completed the registration process for taking the Magic Department Entrance Exam.

…Well, the entrance exam should be a piece of cake for Lilith.

Unlike the Swordsmanship Department’s entrance exam, where you have mock duels with each of the other three people in your group, the Magic Department’s entrance exam was conducted quite simply.

You just needed to hit targets placed at a certain distance using magic, and the pass/fail grade cut was determined by how many points you scored within the given chances.

Of course, it wasn’t an absolute evaluation but a relative one, and since Luminor Academy’s Magic Department had a fixed quota, it was important to hit as many as possible. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

If you tried to control your power and pretended to be ordinary, you would end up failing.

Especially in the case of the Magic Department, due to its nature, it was a department where all sorts of nobles gathered. It could be said that the average skill level of the department was superior compared to other departments.

 

“You need to destroy as many of the ten scarecrows you see in front as possible. You can cast magic a maximum of five times, and if you destroy all targets within those five chances, you can receive a higher score the fewer attempts you use.”

 

After hearing explanations of other rules, such as targets further away are worth more points than closer ones, and moving targets and sturdy targets are worth more points than other targets…

Looking at the ten targets visible in front of me, I tried to get a rough idea of how to approach them.

There are ten targets but I only had five chances.

It was clearly a means to distinguish between applicants who could use multi-casting or AoE magic and those who couldn’t.

Seeing that the farthest target is 300 meters away, it seems that they’re also evaluating our maximum range.

Moving targets and such are probably for evaluating how quickly you can use offensive magic or how well you can use it at the timing you want.

Sturdy targets would be the standard for evaluating the power of one’s magic itself.

Although it was a simple test of destroying just ten targets, it had sufficient discriminatory power as an evaluation.

 

‘If I use triple casting well, I should be able to hit them all somehow.’

 

Three at a time. The one furthest away needs to be shot with concentration, so that one will have to be dealt with separately.

After roughly planning in my head, I briefly chanted the spell for Magic Arrow with triple casting above my right hand.

 

“Hoooh…”

 

The exam supervisor looked with quite an interested gaze at the three magic arrows created above my hand with a single chant. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

It was a natural reaction. While double casting might be understandable, there would probably be almost no applicants who could do triple casting.

It was time for the magic skills I learned while peeling potatoes in the kitchen at dawn to shine.

 

“Pierce, arrows of magic!”

Whoosh!

 

As soon as I finished chanting the spell while swinging my right hand forward, three magic arrows flew forward.

At first, I aimed at the three closest targets to warm up.

If I just repeat this two more times, I should be able to easily destroy up to nine targets…

 

Thud, Thud, Thud!

 

“…Hm?”

“…Eh?”

 

However, unlike the scene I had imagined in my head, the three magic arrows that flew from my hand all traced strange trajectories and fell to the ground.

For a moment, unable to grasp the situation, one of Lilith’s ability stats flashed through my confused mind.

 

『Luck: 2』

 

Ah, right.

This cursed accuracy stat…