The morning of the magic exam.
True to its reputation as the crown jewel of Porca Academy's curriculum, even the venue was different.
A vast circular auditorium. Tiered seating rising in rings around a wide central arena.
A great many students had gathered inside.
When Classes A, B, and C all assembled together, the space was packed to the brim. The murmur of voices and tension-laced breathing bounced off the domed ceiling and swirled through the air.
A grim-looking middle-aged man appeared.
Professor Kennedy.
"I will now explain the examination."
His low, sunken voice cut across the auditorium.
"This magic exam will be evaluated through one-on-one duels. Each student will duel twice."
He swept his gaze across the students and continued.
"However, the spells you may use are limited to the three I distributed during lectures: Fireball, Barrier, and Strength."
Since the students' individual spell repertoires varied wildly, they had been standardized to three.
"Regardless of whether you win or lose, I will be evaluating everything. Combat instinct, casting, resource management, and so on. So fight fairly, and give it your all."
The matchups had apparently been arranged by Professor Kennedy to pair students of comparable ability.
I checked my assigned opponent.
*Leon?*
The name felt oddly familiar.
I checked the surname.
Kasalina.
Who was that.
I knew the name, but…
*Ah.*
It came back to me.
Huana's original fiancé.
The man who, had I never gotten involved, would have been naturally paired with her under the banner of tradition and diplomacy.
In the original story, he was the type who tried to forcibly claim Huana for himself, only to be stopped by the protagonists.
Too significant to be a third-rate villain — more like second-rate.
"Hey."
Speak of the devil.
He appeared right on cue.
Leon Kasalina.
Flashy looks.
A half-unbuttoned shirt, immaculately styled hair, an excessively polished smile. The word *gigolo* suited him rather well.
The man whose engagement to Huana had fallen through because of me.
Two female students clung to either side of him.
"Leon~ we're having lunch together later, right?"
"I know this great restaurant. I made a reservation… what do you think?"
Leon ignored the girls and looked down at me.
"You're Matyos?"
"That's me."
His tone was grating.
I looked up at him sideways.
One glance was enough to tell he had no regard for me whatsoever.
Leon made a point of looking me up and down.
Then he let out a short, audible laugh.
"To think something this *pathetic*… stole my woman. Laughable."
"?"
I was speechless.
"*Your* woman?"
Since when was Huana anyone's woman.
More than that, the attitude of treating a woman like property was thoroughly irritating.
"By tradition, and by all rights, Princess Huana should have been engaged to me."
I gestured with my chin for him to keep going.
"She is not someone to be snatched away by some lowborn adopted child who crawled out of nowhere."
"Then go petition the King of Hispanya. Beg him to cancel the engagement."
His eyebrow twitched.
"It doesn't sit right with me. A man with nothing to his name but a drop of bloodline, making off with our kingdom's princess without a shred of effort."
"Is that all you have to complain about?"
"If you have any conscience, you'll dissolve the engagement. It's what's best for Princess Huana — and for you."
"Or what's best for *you*?"
"…Hmph."
Leon gave me one last contemptuous once-over, then turned away with the two girls in tow.
What an insufferable person.
Sticking his nose into someone else's engagement.
But setting his words aside —
The engagement with Huana was always going to end eventually.
That engagement had been built on the premise that I would inherit the Moretti family name.
I had no intention of taking that position.
So this relationship, too, would end someday.
Just.
It won't be *you* who decides that. You little prick.
"Hey."
A clear voice struck me from behind.
I turned, and a pair of vivid blue eyes was right there in front of me. Huana.
"Were you talking to him?"
She tilted her chin toward Leon — the one over there, grinning with two girls on his arm.
"Briefly."
"He didn't start anything, did he?"
Her eyebrow was slightly raised. The expression of someone who already knew the answer.
She was right.
"It's nothing."
"It's definitely something."
"There you go."
A short click of her tongue.
"Good grief, and he's still pulling this at the Academy…."
Huana wrinkled her nose.
"You're used to it, it seems."
"That guy — still the same even here. He's always been like this. Hovering around for no reason, getting under people's skin."
She crossed her arms and tilted her head to one side.
"Even back when my father tried to arrange the engagement, he was like that. Just thinking about it makes me sick."
"And I'm fine?"
Huana's gaze snapped up.
"Well… you're not bad, I suppose. No — that's not — I mean, that doesn't mean I *like* you. I'm just saying you're better than *him*. Don't get the wrong idea."
Huana rattled off the words in a rush, her face going red.
A reaction that made me want to tease her even more.
She snatched my matchup sheet out of my hand.
"…Of all people, you're paired with him."
"Who do you think will win?"
"Ugh… that guy, looks aside, he's actually pretty good at magic. He comes from a distinguished family in Hispanya. But — b-but you never know! The spells are limited to just three. Don't go getting scared for no reason."
"I'm not scared."
"Really?"
"Really."
"What about your second opponent?"
Right on cue, my second opponent shouted across the room and fixed me with a glare.
"Prepare yourself. Matyos."
It was Ohen.
"I'm going to grind you into dust this time."
"Hey."
Huana's eyes narrowed.
The playfulness from a moment ago had vanished entirely.
"What did you just say to my fiancé?"
"Wh — huh? Princess Huana?"
"What did you say."
"I — you were here too… ah, it was nothing. Nothing at all. I'll be going now!"
Huana was petite.
She'd been hidden behind me — Ohen apparently hadn't noticed her.
Ohen stumbled back in a hurry.
Huana let out a sigh.
"Fiancé."
"Yeah."
"Don't lose to people like that. If you're my fiancé, you'd better beat those types without breaking a sweat."
"Got it."
"If you win… I'll give you a special reward."
"A reward?"
"Th — that's for after you've won everything!"
With those words, Huana disappeared in a hurry.
Shortly after, the exam began.
Students sat in the spectator seats and watched the duels from above.
*Whoosh!*
Flames erupted across the arena.
Three spells were permitted for the exam.
The most fundamental attack, defense, and enhancement magic.
The purpose was to measure each student's basic combat instincts and fighting ability as a battle mage.
A skilled mage does not rely on spells alone. They control their own thoughts and actions to produce a perfect result.
*BOOM!!!*
Huana crushed her opponents with an overwhelming gap in ability.
A fireball the size of a house came crashing down like a falling star.
Her opponent's Barrier shuddered, then shattered into pieces.
"Wow…."
"As expected of Princess Huana."
"Isn't she stronger than Senior Ofilienne?"
"Come on, it's not quite at that level."
"I'd love to see those two duel sometime."
The students chattered away with idle commentary.
*Our sister is definitely the stronger one.*
Huana's genius was undeniably brilliant, but surpassing Ofilienne was another matter entirely. She was, in the truest sense, the reincarnation of a sorcerer-king who appeared once in a century.
*Her end was intense, too.*
Once all of her crimes came to light, Ofilienne became a fugitive.
The protagonists followed the trail of clues and confronted her.
The Pilrn siblings, Huana, Yuri, and even soldiers. After a grueling raid, they barely — just barely — managed to subdue her.
Ofilienne had nearly won, but a moment of carelessness cost her the fight.
Had she been in her full condition, the protagonists would have lost.
The subdued Ofilienne was dragged to the guillotine.
At the very end, she let slip a self-mocking smile….
*Pathetic. To meet such a worthless death.*
"…."
Thinking of her end left a hollow ache in my chest.
"Hey, you're next."
Huana shook me out of my thoughts.
I snapped back to myself and stepped down to the arena floor.
My first opponent was Ohen.
"Just because the Princess is watching doesn't mean I'll go easy on you. Matyos."
"Good. Don't go easy. Give it your best."
Shu murmured from the side.
"Oh, is that the one? The guy who supposedly wet himself when he saw me in the Thorn Forest?"
"…I didn't wet myself."
I let Shu's comment go in one ear and out the other and focused on the duel.
Combat between mages is a battle of psychology.
While casting an attack, you are completely defenseless.
Because of that —
The standard opening was to raise a Barrier first, then begin casting an offensive spell.
"Barrier!"
Ohen deployed his Barrier swiftly.
A translucent shield erected itself in front of him.
*That guy…?*
He looked across at Matyos.
*He didn't raise a Barrier?*
Matyos was already casting Fireball.
Heat condensed at his fingertips.
The mana spun rapidly, darkening to black.
*Idiot! Victory is mine!*
The corner of Ohen's mouth curled upward.
Fundamentally, defense had the advantage over offense.
*I'll take his Fireball, then counterattack.*
Magic combat was akin to a turn-based game.
Victory was decided by how efficiently you used your own turns and how well you deflected your opponent's.
*I'll layer a second Barrier on top to reinforce it. That way, his Fireball won't even—*
*Shhhhk!!!*
At that moment.
A compressed bolt of black flame tore through in a straight line.
*BOOM!!*
The solid barrier split apart as though detonating from within.
Ohen's eyes went wide.
He stumbled back in shock.
That Barrier should have held against at least three Fireballs.
And yet, this easily….
*Whoosh….*
In the meantime, a completed Fireball came sailing in.
*CRACK!*
A Barrier shattered.
Not the one Ohen had cast.
It was the sound of the exam-issue Barrier provided by Professor Kennedy breaking apart.
Which meant —
"Matyos Binna Moretti. Victory."
Ohen's defeat.
"…What the hell?"
How does that make any sense?
Professor Kennedy, watching from above, was no less taken aback.
After Huana's fierce duel, he had been expecting Matyos's exam to be a dull affair. Matyos's potential had registered as close to zero, after all.
He hadn't expected much at all, and yet —
*…Oh.*
He watched Matyos and slowly ran his tongue across his lips.