The written exam began, and Anna solved the questions without a hitch.
Scratch, scratch.
Her quill moved faster than usual. After finishing various subjects like language, mathematics, theology, and natural studies, only ‘magic’ remained. Everyone had said the magic questions would be difficult, as it was the Imperial Academy of Magic, but...
‘This is much easier than the problems brother gave me...’
It felt like running after taking off sandbags. It was so easy she felt like yawning. Now, she was nearly finished with the last subject, magic.
Only one Wind Magic problem was left. Anna fell into thought before the question.
‘Should I... solve this?’
To be honest, she couldn't see the answer using the standard method. But she could find the answer itself. Anna recalled her conversation with Isaac.
"The natural studies textbooks say the cause of typhoons is unknown, but they actually form from the principle of air rising when the ocean near the equator is heated by the sun."
"What does it mean that air rises when it's heated by the sun?"
"Ah. I need to start from there."
That day, Anna learned Boyle’s law and Charles's law. It was the first time she realized that the wind, which had always seemed complex and annoying, had such a beautiful side.
‘I can solve it if I apply what I learned that day, but...’
Is it really okay to solve it like that?
‘That’s knowledge only brother knows. What if it causes problems...’
‘You don’t have to hold back anymore. I can handle most problems.’
Trusting her brother’s words, Anna silently lifted her quill. Anna’s goal was to enter Isaac’s lab as soon as possible. To do that, she had to get the best grades and graduate from the Imperial Academy of Magic early.
If she hesitated and avoided everything, she would be too late.
‘I can just make it look like I guessed correctly.’
Anna solved the problem just as Isaac had taught her. Afterward, she scraped off the solution process with a scraper. And so, the exam ended.
Most of the students dispersed, but a few children from noble families remained in the classroom, checking their answers.
"Hey. Did you solve number five for Wind Element?"
"I guessed on that one as soon as I saw it."
"Crazy... you're a pro. I spent twenty minutes on it and still couldn't solve it."
It was the question Anna had contemplated whether to solve or not. It seemed to have been difficult even for the children of nobles who had learned magic their entire lives.
Tap, tap.
Anna’s steps became light. For some reason, she felt good.
After the written exam, this year’s Imperial Academy of Magic exam was made public. A certain salon in the capital.
"Everyone's here. Shall we begin?"
Though they hadn't gone as far as the Magic Tower, nobles who considered magic an important part of a cultured education often enjoyed certain eccentricities. One of them was gathering in a salon to solve ‘this year’s Imperial Academy of Magic entrance exam.’ Of course, they skipped the other bothersome subjects and only solved the magic part.
They received the parchment exam papers and leisurely moved their quills.
"Haha, this brings back memories of my active days."
"Weren't you the one who got the magic circle disassembly problem wrong back then, too?"
"Ahem! Quiet."
The salon was filled with pleasant laughter. But that leisure did not last long. Everyone had gotten stuck on the same problem.
In the silent salon, only the occasional sound of a shaking leg could be heard. Thump, thump, thump, thump.
‘Weren't the Wind Element Magic problems supposed to be freebies? What is this.’
A noble cleared his throat and peeked at the answer sheet of the person next to him, but it was just as empty. Everyone was just watching each other. Though it was just for fun, it was a blow to their pride that they, graduates of the Imperial Academy of Magic, couldn't solve an entrance exam problem.
The one who broke the silence was the eldest, a count. He put down his quill and declared.
"I can't solve it. I surrender."
Starting with his brave surrender, the others let out sighs of relief and put down their pens.
"To be honest, I was stuck too. To think they made something like this for children to solve."
"Don't you think they just wrote it down without knowing the answer themselves?"
"... Still, it's a question made by the chief professors. Surely that's not the case?"
The count who had surrendered spoke up.
"How about we put our heads together and solve it?"
"Excellent. If we all work together, it won't take even ten minutes." ...
Three hours later. They were just repeating magic circle transformations with hollow eyes. Then, one noble said.
"Oh. I solved it."
"Really? Let me see. ... Nonsense. According to your solution, the number of circles would have to be negative one."
No matter how they looked at it, this problem didn't seem intended to be solved. Another three hours later.
"I think this time it's really finished."
"Really?"
"Yes!"
They gathered in a circle around the exam paper and verified the answer.
Scratch, scratch.
The quill danced across the parchment.
"It's correct."
"... For now, it seems we have solved the problem theoretically."
"But... is this magic that can actually be activated?"
Everyone’s expression was grim. A problem this twisted... it might be a magic that was impossible in reality.
"Are we... actually going to try casting this?"
"Don't. What if a rebound occurs?"
Everyone hesitated.
Of all things, it was the notoriously difficult Wind Magic. But they couldn't just shelve the result of six hours of racking their brains without checking it.
"Ah, whatever. I'll go first!"
The youngest baron mustered his courage and cast the spell. The magic circle drawn from his fingertips was bizarrely complex, but surprisingly, it operated stably. And finally, when a part of the magic circle was changed, the volume of air was reduced by exactly half.
"... Truly, there's no rebound."
The baron muttered. Even the caster himself was just bewildered. Only then did the other nobles burst into admiration.
"Good heavens, it's a success!"
"The solution is messy, but the result is clean."
"Usually, it's the other way around."
Wind Magic is usually constructed using widely known structures. Even so, the magic often fails. No one knows why.
Everyone just memorizes that that’s how Wind Magic is. But that prejudice might end today. They stared, mesmerized, at the transformed Wind Magic.
"It's beautiful."
"I agree. I wonder who created such a spell."
The six hours of solving it didn't feel entirely wasted.
At the same time, in the headmaster's office of the Imperial Academy of Magic.
"Therefore, compared to previous years, it is seen that more talented individuals have entered..."
The headmaster of the Imperial Academy of Magic held back a yawn as he received the report on this year's new students' grades. Working at this old age is truly tiring, the headmaster thought. The headmaster spoke.
"That's enough. You may leave. I'll check the rest myself."
"Yes, sir."
The headmaster nonchalantly scanned the names of the nobles that filled the top ranks.
"Looks like it’s nothing but chaff again this year..."
The headmaster remained unconcerned even after making such a highly dangerous remark. A person with less than ten years left to live fears only death. Then, the headmaster's eyes stopped at a certain name.
'Anna Upperhills… a perfect score?' A perfect score was quite a rare thing. Commoners who staked their lives on their grades usually didn't have the means to study, and the children of noble families who did have the means didn't stake their lives on grades.
A sort of dilemma. The dilemma of the perfect score. He became a little interested.
The headmaster called his secretary and had him bring Anna's exam paper. The headmaster's brow furrowed as he carefully examined the paper. There was no cheating.
"They put out a problem like this...? For students?"
The problem was the high-difficulty question in Wind Element Magic. It was a problem that was daunting even for the headmaster, who could transform magic circles as easily as breathing. Still, he somehow managed to solve it within five minutes.
"It doesn't feel like Wind Magic at all."
To the headmaster's eyes, this magic seemed like one devised by a new school of magic that didn't exist in the world.
"It's a great question, but... isn't it a bit much to give something like this to exam-takers?"
Do the chief professors not know the hearts of men? As a former school head, he even felt sorry for the children. But something was strange.
The new student, Anna Upperhills, had gotten this problem right.
"... She must have just guessed, right?"
Since there was no solution process visible, she must have guessed correctly. The headmaster slowly caressed the answer sheet.
"The thickness is different."
It seemed the parchment had been scraped off for a correction. If she had really just guessed, there would be no need to erase the solution process. The headmaster stared blankly down at the exam paper.
There was only one procedure when such a talent was discovered. To report it to the Dean.
The Dean was reading a letter from the headmaster of the Imperial Academy of Magic. It contained news that a new student named Anna Upperhills might have solved a problem that even the headmaster himself found perplexing. The Dean looked at the exam question the headmaster had sent.
"So this is what it feels like."
The moment she saw the problem, the Dean deduced the answer. She did it in two ways. One was the classical method of reaching the conclusion through 'magic circle transformation,' and the other was a solution using 'Isaac Upperhills's new thesis.'
A smile graced the Dean’s lips.
"Beautiful."
She didn't think Anna Upperhills would have solved it using the classical method. She must have seen 'Isaac's thesis.' Now, the Dean felt she could understand the princess's heart.
Isaac.
It was Isaac Upperhills again. The corner of the Dean's mouth twitched. To devise a new problem without excluding the existing method, and to have a magically talented orphan enter the academy at the top of her class.
"He shows talent in nurturing the next generation as well."
Was he not a talent specialized not only as a researcher but also as a professor? How could one not covet such a gem? Moreover, Isaac hadn't rested even during the break and had written papers.
Two of them, no less. Even if one was a thesis on magical devices written out of interest, the other was bound to have significant repercussions.
[The Relationship Between the Volume and Temperature of a Gas – Regarding the Definition of Absolute Temperature] This was the thesis that formed the theoretical basis of the Wind Magic in the problem from a moment ago.
"If it has even been proven through a problem... it must be truly soon."
The Dean could see the future. A future where, with this one thesis, the School of Wind Element Magic, which had been stagnant for thousands of years, would be split in two.
One morning.
When the Head of the School of Wind Element Magic awoke from a comfortable sleep, he discovered that his villa’s mailbox was on the verge of bursting.
"What is this..."
Although the break was almost over, there should have been no one to contact him yet.
"Was there a series of deaths from rebound?"
With Wind Magic, that was certainly a possibility. With a trembling hand, he picked up one of the letters. The senders were all familiar juniors, but their affiliations were different.
"School of Ideal Gas Magic? What's this now..."
All the other mail had also come under the same affiliation name.
"These bastards... are they engaging in collective action?"
They had been an eyesore lately. If you've decided to practice Wind Magic, you should naturally study 'blowing wind,' so why do they keep studying things like 'still wind'? He tore open the letter in a state of anger.
[... Therefore, we have decided to no longer follow a blind wind, but a clear law. Thus, we wish to break away from the existing School of Wind Element Magic and pioneer a new path under the name 'School of Ideal Gas Magic.']
"... What is this."
And so, the great escape of the School of Ideal Gas Magic began.