"...hold on..."

Kierul furrowed her brows and looked between the escaping girl and the shocked green-haired boy who was more stunned than anyone else after being cheered on by the young lady Helterose.

"Oh... Oh, shit... Zoemi, I think that was his fiancee...!"

The red-haired girl realized and made an awkward expression while leaning her head towards the black-haired boy.

"Mhmm, yeah... But on a more important matter, if the looks could kill that unfortunate wind magician would drop dead on the spot... I hope we didn't stir up more shit than necessary..."

Zoemi nodded dismissively, more focused on the second prince who was clenching his teeth so hard that he could crush them at any moment – all while glaring at the completely innocent examinee who ended up as an unknowing participant in Zoemi's plan...

"Proceed with the short-range test."

"Ah...! Yes, teacher Shuze!"

The elderly gold-haired teacher sitting with two other teachers by the examiners' table rolled his eyes and called out, causing the green-haired boy to straighten his back and turned to the dummy clad in the enchanted armor.

"Wind blade!"

The boy called and the vertical green line appeared in the air in front of him.

"Release!" *WHOOSH*

At his command, the line arched and shot out, hitting against the armor and causing the metal to dent in – the device hidden inside of the armor released an orange light, a sign that if it was against an actual opponent, the spell would deal a serious wound very much likely to distract or even incapacitate the target.

"Ooohhh!"

"As expected of a transcended wind magician!"

The present students let out excited gasps and even the three judges – the gold-haired elderly man, lord Shuze, the elderly brown-haired woman, lady Auequas, and the middle-aged red-haired man, lord Ikarveth – nodded with approval while taking notes. After all, the wind magicians shone the brightest when it comes to the utility of their spells – and normally didn't boast too much destructive power.

"Wind bullet barrage!"

The green-haired boy repeated the spell aiming towards the short-range target – this time there was a bit more of a wind-up – there was no line but instead, the air in front of him trembled as if hit by a heatwave.

"Release!" *WHOOSH*x12 *CLANG*x12

The boy unleashed the spell, causing countless green spheres to materialize within the trembling air and shoot at the target – every single air bullet concentrated on the same spot and combined caused quite the indentation at the center of the magic armor – the device hidden behind the enchanted metal released the orange light just like the previous target.

"My, my...!"

Teacher Auequas stroke her chin while raising her brows, pleasantly surprised.

The examinee was holding back and carefully adjusting his strength thinking ahead to show the best of his ability – exactly what he was supposed to do.

After all, if he could get an orange light from a short-range target then he should be able to get the red light - instant death – from the close combat one.

But he held back.

"...he is aiming for the orange light to the middle-range target, isn't he? Cheeky boy~!"

The brown-haired woman smiled approvingly and whispered to the gold-haired man by her side.

"Maybe even yellow for the long-range one, technically he should be able to push himself enough..."

Teacher Shuze responded, squinting his eyes while observing the green-haired boy who was taking a deep breath while going for the next target.

"Wind blade...!"

The examinee called out putting his hand forward and focusing.

The green line appeared in the air in front of him just like the first time he used it but this time instead of staying dormant until the release of the spell it was trembling, as if boiling over itself – the small air quake also appeared around it.

"Release!" *WHOOOOSH* *SHING*

The boy called out and the wind blade shot out, cutting through the air and releasing the sound just like an actual blade.

The spell hit the target – most students did not see whether there was a dent in the armor or not, but what everyone could clearly see was the orange glow lighting up the chestpiece from the inside.

"Incredible! B... master, you are amazing!"historical

"Hmm? Oh!"

Amongst the cheering people, Zoemi picked up on a familiar voice and when he looked in that direction he spotted the young black-haired, Rothilis, cheering on the green-haired examinee.

Zoemi never asked any of the three attendants that he befriended about their masters or the names of the families they are serving, so he was quite interested to learn about this, a rather interesting coincidence.

After all, it would mean that the pale-gold-haired girl that Kierul confirmed to be the green-haired boy's fiancee was the same person who saw Zoemi play around with Teofee in the morning...

|This surely won't develop into a troublesome situation, will it...?|

The scarred attendant thought to himself while the examinee was aiming at the long-range target, biting his lips.

The green-haired boy was doing his best to stay calm, he had more mana than an average wind magician but that also meant that the mana depletion would be worse for him than the others, and there were both defense and utility parts to the magic examination waiting for him. If he aimed for the top spot he could not just exhaust himself on the first part.

"Wind blade!"

He called out in a louder voice than before – similarly, the air quake that the activation of his spell caused was bigger and made his silhouette distorted for everyone watching.

"RELEASE!" *WHOOOOOOSH* *SHING*

The green-haired boy roared and the spell launched, slicing through the air locked-in on the longe-range target.

"Oh...?!"

The red-haired teacher let out an expectant voice and leaned forward to have a better look at the spell, but...

*puff*

"...!"

Although the green crescent did reach the target, it barely washed over the enchanted armor before turning into green particles. The device within the armor did release the light – but it was white – contact with an offensive spell but no damage at all.

"It's still impressive that it reached the long-range target at all."

"True."

Teacher Ikarveth pointed out while leaning back into his seat and teacher Auequas agreed with him

"..."

While examiners talked to each other and made notes the green-haired boy lowered his head and looked away from the other students in shame.

He could do another attempt and get the yellow light out of the dummy, but then he would risk his performance for the other parts of the examination.

"Do you want to try that again...?"

"...!"

The gold-haired teacher asked, causing the boy to flinch.

"N-no. That's all I want to show."

The boy faced the examiners and bowed his head while calling it quits for the offense exam, trying to make a good impression.

After confirming it with the teachers, he left the examination grounds without looking around.

It was a good thing because he didn't notice all the daggers that the second prince Surou was staring at him.

"...was... was he supposed to be on the stronger side? He was so wasteful with his mana though... I have seen bandits use mana more efficiently..."

"...!"

Kierul furrowed her brows leaning towards her attendant and whispering in disappointment... doing so, she didn't notice Surou perking up and glancing her way as if he heard a part of her sentence.

The blue-haired prince hurriedly looked away but made an expression as if he was thinking intensely about something.

It was an interesting reaction but Zoemi decided to not point it out in hopes of it developing into something even more amusing.

"Lack of experience. Remember most people that we had the displeasure of encountering were much older than him and were more experienced in combat, hence the difference."

...so that was what he said to his master instead...

"Pretty pathetic if you ask me. He just slapped a lot more mana into the basic spell and called it a day. Worst of all, he concentrated on the secondary quality of the wind magic! What, is he aiming to be an assassin? Why cutting instead of blowing away?"

"...pfft...!"

The red-haired girl complained, crossing her arms with an angry expression making her black-haired attendant snort unable to hold back.

Then, Zoemi stepped behind her and reached out to her head – ending up massaging her temples.

"Relax, Kierul. I know what you are thinking – what kind of cozy life did this guy have until now, if he was in my place he would be long dead!"

The black-haired boy smiled while speaking softly in a calm voice continuing the massage.

"...yeah... it's unlike me to get worked up over something like that..."

"Oh? Not at all – you might try to act like you are above the rest, but you are just as impulsive and emotional as every other fire magician~"

The red-haired girl breathed out and rolled her eyes slightly disappointed in herself – but then Zoemi snickered at her instead.

"Shut up! Who asked?!"

Kierul scoffed in embarrassment and decisively shook Zoemi away.

"Anyway! What's the next plan about your 'brilliant' plan?"

The girl scoffed at her attendant.

"...well... nothing. We just stay here and watch the rest of the examination until it's your turn."

The black-haired boy stepped to the side and shrugged his shoulders.

The truth was he originally intended Kierul to return to the building and only return for a moment when the second prince would take the exam to keep up the appearance and make sure that his jealousy would be maxed out... but that definitely was a bad idea now.

After all, going even a step further would cause the second prince to actually develop a grudge against the innocent green-haired boy Kierul picked randomly.