- Hello, everyone! We're here again this year! Welcome to the most exciting big event of the first grade first semester, the Familiar Race! I'm Runba Tes, a third-year student in the Summoning Department, and I'll be your commentator!
Wow!
The students who filled the summoning practice area cheered.
Celia wore a troubled expression.
"Is this really an exam?"
While there were spectators during the Knight Studies combat exam, the scale of the Summoning Studies practical exam was different.
There was not only a commentator but also a proper audience stand.
Even a video magic device was installed in a place visible from the audience stand.
Lis, who sat next to Celia, burst out laughing.
"The Familiar Race is a popular tradition in the Summoning Studies exam. Moreover, it's also adopted during the exchange matches with other Heroic Cadet Schools, so there's a lot of interest."
"President of the Student Council! The newspaper club is here! Is the first-year student next to you really Celia Gerdinger?"
A male student with a video recording magical tool around his neck approached with a notebook and pen.
"Right."
"Oh! Would you two like to give an interview?"
The newspaper club student made a request.
"We have popcorn! We have refreshing drinks!"
"Come on! Choose! Choose! Who will be the first? The current odds are as follows!"
In addition to the merchant club students, who were not only selling but also organizing gambling.
'What kind of exam is this!'
The first-year students, who had been in a solemn exam atmosphere until now, inwardly screamed at the completely different market-like atmosphere.
Meanwhile, the first-year students in the Summoning Department were the ones suffering the most mental distress.
"Hey! Why are they all gathered here, making noise and preventing us from concentrating!"
When Taid shouted, gripping his head, the surrounding first-year students nodded in agreement.
The first-year students, who had been extremely nervous, were at a loss when the entire school gathered to enjoy the atmosphere.
They were feeling even more pressure because of this atmosphere.
Of course, there were those who were relaxed.
The most representative of these was Eliza and Woredden, the aces of the Summoning Department.
"It's unpleasant to be treated as mere entertainment by the daughter of the Herghin family."
Eliza, frowning delicately, was nodded at by her followers.
Woredden, on the other hand, merely stood there with an expressionless face.
Eliza then glanced at Woredden and saw Leo stretching on one side.
Leo, bending and straightening his knees, stretched as Eliza sneered and asked.
"I heard you showed outstanding skills in the Knight Studies practical exam. Did you prepare well for the Summoning Studies practical exam?"
"Of course."
"Indeed, the class representative is full of confidence."
Eliza opened her eyes lazily.
"But I didn't see you at all during the practical exam practice... Do you think the practical exam is a joke?"
The Familiar Race is originally a competition where participants ride their contracted familiars.
However, many first-year students had yet to contract flying familiars.
So, the Lumern side provided flying familiars.
The key to this exam was how quickly one could tame the provided flying familiars.
Yet, while the Summoning Department gave training time during the exam period, Leo had never participated in the practice.
"Your words are harsh."
"Ha! Are you defending him just because he's the class president of the same class?"
When a student from Class 5 got angry, a student from another class sneered.
"The atmosphere isn't good."
Chen Xia stepped in to mediate.
"I understand that everyone is on edge before the exam, but still, insults..."
"Chen Xia, since your Knight Studies grades are good, you don't need to worry much about Summoning Studies, right?"
A female student sneered.
When she became the target, this time, the students from Class 10 got angry.
The Summoning Department students glared at each other, creating a hostile atmosphere.
As Leo clicked his tongue at the sight, a low, heavy voice rang out.
"It's noisy."
Everyone's gaze turned to one side.
Woredden, who had been standing with his arms crossed and eyes closed as if he didn't care, had now opened his amber eyes.
"If you're going to bark and take sides over just riding a familiar a bit more, do it somewhere else, not in front of me."
"What? What did you just say, Woredden!"
"I said it's annoying to hear you brag about riding a familiar a bit more."
Seeing Woredden's expressionless face, Sen Liu, a male student from the eastern continent, representing the Summoning Department, got angry.
"Huh? You're feeling guilty, aren't you? You hardly showed up for the taming training, too."
Seeing the Summoning Department male student curling his lips, Woredden smiled slightly.
"What? What's that smile for?"
"Want to know why I didn't show up for the taming training?"
"What?"
"Because it wasn't worth the effort. I'm not a mere fool who can't even handle a griffin like you."
At those words, Liu and the other students' eyes flared.
"You bastard!"
The male student punched Woredden.
Thud!
But just before his fist reached Woredden, it was caught by Leo's hand.
"Getting into a fight before the exam will only end in punishment."
"Ugh! I don't want to hear that from you!"
Liu shook off Leo's hand and went to where the Summoning Department students were.
Watching his back, Leo sighed and said to Woredden.
"Shouldn't you be more careful with your words?"
"Is telling the truth a problem?"
"I don't know how great you are, but you don't have the right to mock others' efforts, Woredden."
Looking up at Woredden, who was a head taller than him, Leo spoke. Woredden gave him a cold smile and walked away.
"The atmosphere is worse than I thought."
Leo had just listened diligently in summoning classes, but the relationship among the department students was worse than expected.
Taid sighed at Leo's words.
"You probably didn't know because you took all the other majors, but the Summoning Department in our year is not in a good mood."
"Why?"
"In our year, the top students in Summoning Studies are you, Xia, Woredden, and Eliza, right?"
"Right."
"Summoning Studies is a department where the difference in ability between majors and minors is significant. Since you and Chen Xia are at the top, the second-year seniors gathered us once."
"You gathered because of that? That's completely old-fashioned."
"Exactly! And during that, Woredden even blatantly ignored the seniors!"
As a result, the second-year students got even angrier and bullied the first-year students.
"Anyway, I was already upset because of that... and since you and Woredden almost didn't participate in the training while preparing for this exam, the atmosphere got even worse."
"The atmosphere is bad for a reason."
"Right. So, please understand."
"Got it."
Saying that, Leo looked around at the students preparing for the competition.
Amidst the tension, he felt a strange hostility.
'Such problems arise.'
Indeed, he might have seemed negligent to others.
'Of course, I don't plan to take it lightly.'
His goal in the competition was always to be first.
***
- Ladies and gentlemen! The moment has finally arrived! The athletes are all lined up at the starting line!
Inside the starting line, the first-year students stood in a row.
A fence with griffins could be seen in the distance.
At the start, the students would tame the griffins in the fence and begin their race.
The Summoning Department students prepared to start, their faces tense.
"Brats! Don't be nervous, just do what you practiced! If anyone gets nervous and fails to show their skills, I'll kick their ass after the exam!"
Yura, the referee, raised a flare and shouted at her students.
At her words, laughter erupted among the Summoning Department students.
Thanks to Yura, the tension eased.
"Alright, then!"
Yura raised the flare.
"Three, two, one!"
Bang!
Crack!
At the start, elemental magic spells rained down around Leo and Woredden.
Leo hesitated at the sudden situation.
- Ah! What's happening! Summoning Department students! It seems they're ganging up on the class representative, Leo, and the top student from the southern region, Woredden, as if they had a pre-arranged plan!
The audience murmured at this unprecedented situation.
The Summoning Department students from Class 5 also wore shocked expressions.
"Ah! What's that!"
"Despicable! Summoning Department bastards!"
"Hey! Don't you feel ashamed!"
"Fight fair!"
- Ha! Boos pour in from the first-year Class 5 side!
The students watching from the audience stand were in an uproar.
"Ba, Class President!"
"Hey! Leo! Wait! I'll help you now!"
"Don't worry about me, just go quickly!"
Leo shouted urgently when his classmates, who were trying to free him from the elemental magic, didn't start.
"This is an exam! I'll handle it myself, so don't fall behind! Go quickly!"
"Ugh!"
"Leo! I'm sorry!"
The Class 5 students, with angry expressions, started belatedly.
The ground, turned to mud by water, held Leo's feet.
Fire and wind blocked his path.
Woredden, who received the same level of interference, summoned his mana.
"Pathetic."
Whoosh!
Despite the Summoning Department students deliberately using elemental magic, Woredden easily dismantled it.
It would have been impossible without overwhelming power.
"Looks tough. Need help?"
Woredden curled his lips and asked, and Leo smiled wryly.
"No, I'll handle it myself."
"Is that so? Then I'll go ahead."
Woredden walked leisurely toward the griffin enclosure.
Meanwhile, other students had finished taming their griffins and were taking off.
Leo, who watched from the starting line, summoned his mana.
"I thought I was disliked, but I didn't expect them to gang up like this."
Yura, watching Leo's wry smile, clicked her tongue.
'This will be tough.'
If this weren't an exam, he could have broken through this level of interference.
However, in this competition, there was a restriction to use only 'summoning magic.'
Moreover, based on Yura's observations, Leo's main summoning magic was summoning familiars, not elemental magic.
Amidst this, he received interference from the department.
It seemed difficult for Leo, who was still considered inexperienced in practical situations, to overcome this obstacle.
'The rift among the first-year students is deeper than I thought. Even if they're upset, to gang up like this...'
It wasn't a foul, but it wasn't a good sight.
As a professor, she had been concerned about the students, but it seemed she had fallen short.
Feeling self-reproach, Yura thought she needed to calm the students down.
"─!"
Hearing Leo's voice, Yura felt her hair stand on end.
The language, which sounded like a soft melody, was not human.
"──! ─!"
The longer the melody continued, the weaker the elemental power became.
Whoosh!
Eventually, the force hindering Leo disappeared.
The elementals, who had been following their summoner's orders, laughed and danced around Leo before vanishing.
The power to influence elementals contracted by others.
'Did that crazy guy just use the elemental language? Something taught in at least the second-year elemental magic class?'
Seeing Leo's belated start, Yura couldn't help but laugh bitterly.
'Real talent, talent! Leo must definitely be made to study Summoning Studies!'