Entrance Ceremony and Class Division

 
 
 ☆
 
 
 Inside a room in the Runefelt Magic School.
 
 A man and a woman stood in front of an elderly woman, who was seated on a chair that truly looked like something used by an ancient witch.
 
 “Then please confirm, Headmaster Friedale.”
 
 As the woman, in her early thirties and wearing glasses, said this, the old lady gave one glance at the papers stacked on her desk,
 “Yes, I’ll give it a look. Thank you for your efforts”
 and praised the teaching staff before her.
 
 “There were a lot of unique kids this year. It was a bit difficult to split them into classes.”
 
 The old lady smiled at the words of the casually-dressed middle-aged man.
 
 “And they’re all magicians from other countries, right?”
 
 “That’s right.”
 
 Fufu, the man and the old lady chuckled.
 
 “Arrold, which of them do you think is the most interesting?”
 
 “Probably the kid from Heielland.”
 
 The male teacher, Arrold, responded.
 
 “Which one?”
 
 “The younger sister… Marcus said 『the older sister seems to also be hiding something』.”
 
 Saying this, Arrold pulled a note from the pile and placed it on top.
 
 “And Jessica?”
 
 “I have the same opinion as Instructor Variendar… I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I didn’t know a thing about 『composite magic』, and was overwhelmed by her magic.”
 
 The female teacher spoke as she looked down at the application form.
 
 Friedale picked up the form, and read out the girl’s name once again.
 
 “Letia Ainbell. Born in Heielland. Written Exam B, Magic Manipulation S, Magic Practical A. Special note: Has not acquired sorcery. Used composite magic in the practical. Aspires to be a magic toolsmith. Helped out test-taker Renee Janson, who was being harassed by Freya Astrid… Understood. I will be especially careful with class placement this year.”
 
 Saying this, she once again showed her appreciation for the two and then had them leave.
 
 
 
 “… Now then.”
 
 Now alone, Friedale picked up a notebook from the bookshelf nearby, placed it on the desk, and began flipping through the pages.
 
 The notebook was a scrapbook.
 Newspaper articles from various countries, past and present, from all over the world, have been cut out and neatly pasted on its pages.
 
 And then, her hand stopped on a certain page.
 
 “Letia Ainbell… 『Letia Einwell』^[1], huh.”
 
 Muttering that,
 “That’s a bit simplistic, young lady”
 She laughed in amusement.
 
 
 ☆
 
 
 There is a preparation period of about two weeks between the results announcement of the Runefelt Magic School and their enrollment.
 
 During this time, the new students prepare for their new lives by completing the procedures to move into their dormitories and preparing uniforms.
 
 Of course, that includes us.
 
 That said, Runefelt is a boarding school, so there aren’t that many things to prepare. You’re only allowed to bring one suitcase’s worth of luggage.
 
 For that reason, the only things I had to buy were clothes and textbooks.
 
 Naturally, textbooks are sold by the school, but there are also many second-hand textbooks for sale in town, where I was able to get them at reasonable prices.
 
 So as for what we did with the rest of our time… Anna went off to her 『secret training』 with Johanna, while Renee and I worked on practicing sorcery.
 
 ——— and as usual, I tried using sorcery but kept invoking magic.
 
 It’s been ten days since we started practicing sorcery.
 In the end, I was not able to invoke sorcery properly even once.
 
 (This really feels unpleasant…)
 
 『Being able to use sorcery』 is not a requirement for graduating from Runefelt.
 If you earn the required number of credits and pass the graduation exam, you can graduate.
 
 The enrollment period is two to five years.
 As long as tuition is paid, one can remain at the school for the maximum five years to continue studying and researching sorcery.
 
 However, seeing as I came here to study sorcery after feeling that there were limitations with using magic as a base in magic tools, I’d be getting my priorities backwards if I were to graduate without being able to invoke sorcery.
 
 The backbone of a magic circuit is the magic formula that generates the magic circle, but that can be written only because the magic has been verbalised as a chanted incantation.
 
 On the other hand, although sorcery also uses incantations, the core attribute conversion relies on the practitioner’s intuition.
 
 Unless that conversion mechanism is verbalised as an incantation and implemented as a magic circuit, sorcery won’t be able to be used in magic tools.
 
 In other words, I needed to acquire sorcery myself and verbalise the attribute conversion of magic power.
 
 
 
 (If I can’t do it myself, I’ll have to think of another way…)
 
 At a loss, I decided to create a magic tool for myself.
 
 That is, a sorcery training wand exclusively for me.
 
 Ordinary sorcery wands are made by shaving a wooden branch into shape, then drawing mistreel from the handle to the tip.
 
 The apex of the circuit was made spherical, designed such that magic power would more likely concentrate at one point.
 
 The practitioner amasses the needed magic power at the tip of the wand, converts its attribute and then fires it.
 
 In contrast, the training sorcery wand I made has the same basic structure, but has a thicker handle and a single magic circuit embedded into it.
 
 So what magic circuit did I put in?
 
 To be frank, it was a circuit to suppress the activation of magic.
 
 This prevents magic from being mistakenly invoked, and encourages the magic power to properly get its attribute converted and activated as sorcery.
 
 The plan was to continue practicing and practicing, so that the way to use sorcery gets hammered into my body.
 
 And as a result, my plan worked for all but one point.
 
 When magic power was channelled into the wand, the magic circuit was activated.
 The magic was suppressed.
 
 ——— But as usual, sorcery did not get invoked.
 
 (This alone won’t do. I have to get the hang of attribute conversion first…)
 
 I was once again at a loss.
 
 
 ☆
 
 
 And in the meantime, that day arrived in the blink of an eye.
 
 The entrance ceremony for Runefelt Magic School.
 
 Aboard the same large boat that operated during the exams, us new students were ferried across the lake.
 
 “It’s finally here. I wonder what kind of lessons await us, I’m so excited!”
 
 When I said that, Renee smiled from beside me.
 
 “I’m worried about keeping up with the studies, but I hope I can be as positive and hardworking as you, Letia-san.”
 
 “I came all the way here because I was reaaally interested in sorcery, so I probably can’t serve as much of a reference. Why not just do your best for your own reasons, Renee?”
 
 “My own reasons, hm?”
 
 “Yeah, that’s right… uh, Anna nee-san, what are you doing?”
 
 I was startled to see Anna standing next to Renee with her fingers clasped and eyes closed, as if praying.
 
 “I am praying to the goddess.”
 
 “To the goddess? For what???”
 
 “I’m praying 『Let me be in the same class as Letty』 of course.”
 
 Huh?!”
 
 Anna said that as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, and I couldn’t help but cry out in surprise.
 
 Anna opened her eyes, and gave me a firm look.
 
 “Because, if we were in different classes, who would protect Letty from the bad bugs? If in the worst case I were put in a different class from Letty, I think I might just burn down the school.”
 
 My older sister said that with a serious face.
 … well, my attendant disguised as such.
 
 “I won’t allow that, Nee-san.”
 
 “But….”
 
 “No buts.”
 
 I tried to stop this waiting maid, who was announcing crimes in broad daylight.
 
 And then———
 
 “Hehe. You two really get along well.”
 
 Renee was giggling.
 
 “Well, we are 『family』 you see?”
 
 “Family… Letty’s family. That sounds nice. Hehe.”
 
 Hearing what I said, Anna had an ecstatic smile upon her face.
 
 (Hey)
 
 Anna seems to be acting strange lately.
 Like she’s flooring the accelerator or something.
 Since coming to this country ——— no, since we started the setting of us being sisters.
 
 (I hope it doesn’t come unravelled in some strange moment.)
 
 I put my hand to my forehead and let out a sigh.
 
 
 ☆
 
 
 The entrance ceremony was held in a large hall reminiscent of a church chapel.
 
 The school headmaster gave a greeting, followed by congratulations to the current students and then a speech from the representative for the new students.
 
 What surprised me was that the granny who said my reason for enrolling was 『unusual』 during my interview was actually the school headmaster… Professor Friedale.
 
 She certainly had a strange impact during the interview as well, but seeing as I now know who she is, it gives you that 『I see』 kind of feeling.
 
 And the greeting from Professor Friedale was,
 “To all the new students, congratulations. You’ve done well to be enrolled in our school. In this school, how you pass your time and what you learn is up to you to decide, so act such that you at least do not have any regrets.”
 
 Grinning as she finished saying this, it was a short greeting with impact.
 
 Thanks to that, the ceremony itself ended in a flash.
 
 And at the end, a portable bulletin board with class placements posted appeared before the lectern, and so we headed over to confirm our own classes.
 
 
 
 “Letty! We’re in the same class!!”
 
 My waiting maid dashed towards the bulletin board with great force, and turned back to face us with a radiant smile.
 
 “Renee is also with us!”
 
 Hearing Anna’s words, Renee and I looked at each other.
 
 “Uhm, I look forward to working with you in class too!”
 
 Seeing Renee look so happy, I took her hand.
 
 “Same here, hope to get along from here on too.”
 
 And so, as we were rejoicing being placed in the same class, it happened.
 
 
 
 “My, oh my. It’s the 『Idiot Uglies^[2]』, all gathered in one place. For the lowborn girl and her friends, truly, I think it’s a suitable class.”
 
 
 A very unpleasant voice called out from behind us.