Fortunately, in the wake of the kidnapping incident, the Bandon family had imposed a strict ban on her traveling alone after school. Basically, the moment she stepped out of the school gate, a Bandon servant would drag her into a carriage. This saved Hulim the daily hassle of figuring out how to shake off Fran.

  “Hulim, do you have any plans for the term break?”

  “Hmm, well...... Training?”

  “Ehh——! That sounds so boring! Wanna come hang out at my place?”

  “......”

  The current Fran left Hulim at a loss for words. Semiris had never taught her how to deal with a situation like this.

  In fact, she thought the old Fran—the one who always looked like she was annoyed with everyone—was way easier to handle.

  “Wow, look at those two glued together again!”

  “Yeah, stuck to each other like leeches~!”

  Just then, whispers of gossip drifted over from behind them.

  “Who’s that?! Who’s talking nonsense back there?!”

  Fran spun around, roaring with anger.

  ......So it seemed Fran’s personality hadn’t really changed at all—she just treated Hulim differently now.

  “Whoa, she’s so fierce! If she catches us, she’ll kill us! Let’s run~.”

  A group of boys nearby was hooting and jeering.

  Fran’s face turned scarlet with rage.

  “What did you idiots just say?!”

  Being called idiots made several of the boys bristle.

  “What’s her problem? Calling us idiots when she’s the one acting like a tag-along......”

  “Hah——?!”

  Fran cracked her knuckles, ready to teach them a lesson the physical way.

  Hulim quickly stepped in to stop her: “Fran, don’t be reckless. Killing people is wrong. At the very least, don’t do it at school—you’ll get caught.”

  “......”

  The entire scene fell deathly silent in an instant.

  Fran stared at Hulim in utter shock.

  Huh? Kill? Me? I only wanted to rough them up a little......

  The boys across from her were completely dumbfounded.

  Wait a second—we just teased them a little, and now we’re gonna get killed? And what does she mean by “don’t do it at school”? Does that mean it’s okay to do it outside......

  Terrifying! These two girls are terrifying!

  “Ahem! My apologies, they were just joking around. Please forgive them.”

  Ander, who was walking behind the jeering boys, quickly stepped forward to smooth things over.

  The boys immediately started apologizing profusely, panic written all over their faces.

  “Sorry! We were just kidding! Please don’t take it to heart!”

  “I’m sorry! Please don’t kill me!”

  “Sorry......”

  Looking at the boys apologizing to her, then at Hulim who looked like nothing out of the ordinary had happened, Fran didn’t know how to react.

  Huh? Did I ever say I was gonna kill them? Why is everyone treating me like some dangerous criminal?

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  “......Fine, fine! This is your last warning!”

  Relieved to be off the hook, the boys scurried away as fast as their legs could carry them.

  “Hmph!”

  Fran snorted at their retreating backs, then shot a sidelong glare at Ander for butting in.

  “Ander, you really love sticking your nose into other people’s business, don’t you? It’s not even your problem, yet you still went out of your way to help those guys.”

  Ander shook his head with a smile.

  “We’re on good terms, after all. I help when I can. Speaking of which, class is about to start~.”

  ......

  In Magic class,

  Colette looked at the crowd with a bright, beaming smile.

  “Do you students know what day it is today?”

  “Yes!”

  A chaotic chorus of answers rang out—some sounded confident, while others were filled with nervous trepidation.

  “Since everyone’s so excited! Then, the Final Exam begins now~!”

  “Ahhh——!”

  No matter how many groans echoed through the room, the Final Exam proceeded as scheduled.

  First up was the Magic Theory written exam, held in the classroom just like all the regular academic subjects.

  Once all the written tests were finished, it was time for the practical exam.

  The practical exam was designed to assess how well the students had mastered their magic.

  Colette had somehow procured a desk, which she set up on the training ground with a very serious air.

  A circle had also been drawn on the ground.

  “Alright, students, please come up one by one according to your lottery order~! I’ll be grading you based on your performance~!”

  Soon, a female student stepped forward first, standing inside the drawn circle. She tried to cast the magic she’d spent half a year learning, but her attempts failed again and again—probably due to nervousness.

  “Don’t be nervous~! Just cast it like you do in our regular practice sessions.”

  Colette encouraged her gently.

  The girl calmed down a little, and after two more tries—

  “【???????????????????】”

  “Gentle Breeze!”

  A light gust of wind blew forth from her palm.

  “I-I did it! I did it!”

  The girl cheered joyfully at once.

  Colette nodded with a smile: “Very good, well done. You may step down now. Next student, please.”

  “Yes, Ms. Colette!”

  The first student’s success boosted the confidence of those who came after her, and the next few all managed to cast their magic successfully.

  However, as the exam went on, not everyone was so lucky.

  Some students still couldn’t cast a single spell.

  But Colette didn’t mark them as failures right away.

  Instead, she graded them based on how well they could channel their Mana, then offered them words of encouragement. After all, being able to channel Mana meant that mastering magic was just a matter of time.

  Finally, Colette announced the rankings for the practical exam.

  As expected, Hulim, Fran, and Ander took the top three spots—no one was the least bit surprised by this, since the three of them were far ahead of the rest of the class.

  That said, there was one minor surprise: Fran hadn’t taken second place. Instead, Ander had overtaken her, forcing her to settle for third.

  Logically speaking, it made sense that Fran—who had private tutors and had started learning magic long before anyone else—couldn’t beat a multi-element mage like Hulim. But losing to Ander, a commoner, seemed somewhat unjustifiable.

  However, no matter what everyone else thought, Hulim wasn’t surprised at all.

  Although Ander’s educational conditions were nowhere near as good as Fran’s, his parents were both adventurers. Leaving aside the time before he started learning magic, now that he was studying it, his parents had definitely taken him out into the field for real combat experience.

  Magic, as Semiris had once said, was all about actual combat.

  Practicing magic over and over in a safe environment might make your casting faster and more proficient, but that was just an illusion. The only magic that could truly be called mastered was magic that you could cast stably under any and all circumstances.

  Using magic to fight humans and monsters was the process of turning that false illusion into genuine, tangible power.

  It was clear that Fran had never gone through that process. So Hulim had no doubt that if it came down to a magic duel, Fran would definitely lose to Ander.

  And Ms. Colette had probably seen this clearly, which was why Ander had gotten a better grade......

  ......

  “Well then, students, see you next term~! To those who couldn’t cast magic, don’t be discouraged—keep working hard next term~!”

  With Colette’s announcement of the end of term,

  the school immediately descended into chaos and excitement.

  Many students swarmed around Ander, asking him for tips.

  “Ander, how did you improve so fast? Do you have any secret tricks?”

  Ander had initially been worse at magic than Fran, but now he’d surpassed her. So everyone assumed he had some special method—especially those who still couldn’t cast magic, who were dying to know his secret.

  “Uh...... Speaking of tricks, I don’t really have anything that counts as a trick......”

  Ander looked a little embarrassed, but he still told everyone about his situation.

  “I just got dragged by my parents to fight some monsters. Before I knew it, my magic had gotten better.”

  “Really?! You’ve already fought monsters, Ander?!”

  “That’s so cool! I’ve never even seen a monster before!”

  “What do monsters look like? What kinds have you defeated, Ander? Tell us!”

  “Haha, it’s not as impressive as you think. Just some giant magic spiders, goblins, and slimes......”

  The noisy chatter of the classroom faded into the distance behind her.

  Hulim, who was just about to leave the school gate, was stopped by Colette.