The Blazing Transfer Student

Normally, the magic academy doesn't have a transfer student system. While there is technically a start of the academic year, plenty of people enroll partway through. However, such people require something special—in this case, that meant needing Carla's letter of introduction.

Incidentally, he also had letters of introduction from Ria and Guinevere, but he ended up not using those. He decided to hold onto them just in case something happened.

"Alright, we will now begin the written examination."

As expected, he couldn't enroll without any testing at all, so he had to take both written and practical exams.

The practical exam was one thing, but Serge thought the written exam would be his biggest hurdle. However, he had a secret technique.

Namely, cheating through spacetime magic.

By using this to reference the grimoire he'd received from Labyrinth, he could score considerably above average even without getting a perfect score.

Don't call it unfair. Serge's goal was to become stronger, not to get good grades.

Now for the crucial practical exam. This measured two things: output and control.

For output, they prepared a special crystal ball and had him pour magic power into it to measure the total amount, but…

As expected, his magic power was too strong and the crystal ball exploded.

Carla had apparently done the same thing, making him the second person to accomplish this feat since they'd started this examination.

(Well, there's still quite a gap between me and Carla-san though.)

He'd used Identify beforehand and knew that his magic power would destroy it. He considered hiding his true strength, but when he thought about his purpose for coming to this academy, it would be meaningless to do so.

The control test was also simple.

Hit the center of a target with concentric circles drawn on it with a single shot. Destroying too much of it would be bad, and so would missing.

By using guidance magic with Longinus, he was able to pierce exactly the center point.

The instructors were astonished. Well, that was only natural when he'd pierced the target at a speed too fast for the eye to follow.

Even after doing all this, there were still people far above him.

Not only was there Carla's absurd magic, but he probably couldn't hold a candle to those two demon generals either.

That werewolf had taken him down in a single blow.

Even so, he wanted to at least prepare to fight alongside his comrades in time for the Millennium.

A curriculum was assembled by the academy's masters, but it wasn't satisfactory for Serge.

Given his abilities' tendencies, Serge's expectation was to start with actual combat, but the masters seemed intent on having him practice basic magic.

Frankly, with his boosted intelligence, magic power, and his Gift for magic, he could perform well in that field too, but he wanted practical lessons to prepare for the Millennium.

But when he voiced this opinion, they earnestly lamented that young people always rush toward the flashy fields.

Those immediate concerns were important right now, but these elders didn't know that the Millennium was right around the corner.

They probably thought this peace would last for the rest of their lives.

But if he told them the truth, chaos would descend upon the city. There was also the possibility he'd just be labeled a liar.

Reluctantly, along with basic magic, he took spacetime magic, fire magic, and magical theory. Though apparently, hardly anyone besides Great Sage Azelford researched spacetime magic.

And so, that's how he ended up being brought to a homeroom-style classroom before heading home.

Surprisingly, mixed in among the older mages was none other than Miss Chrystina.

Well, considering her magic power capacity and Gifts, it was only natural she'd be among them.

Even so, it made him a bit uneasy that this was the magic academy's highest tier, but thinking of them as merely students made it understandable.

Their levels were 70 at the highest.

For reference, Serge's current level was 118. Moreover, factoring in his skills, you could consider him ten levels higher than that.

Even so, as a fellow mage, he didn't think he could fight that dark elf and vampire.

"I am Sagittarius Crystal Crowley. Pleased to meet you all."

He gave a light bow to students three or four years older than him.

"Crowley, huh. Never heard of it. What country are you from?"

A student asked with a smirk. Level 70, huh. Quite impressive.

Well, if they actually fought, it'd be an instant kill though.

"Crowley is a newly established baron house in the Ogress Archduchy. I hear he received the title directly from the Archduke of Ogress for his own distinguished service."

The one who followed up was Chrystina.

They had already become close enough to call each other Chrys and Serge during the previous night's dinner, but he hadn't expected her to so obviously defend him here.

"That's rare. Weird Face Chrys getting involved with someone else."

Since the persistent boy kept talking, Serge was getting rather annoyed and was about to shut him up by force, but—

"He enrolled here after receiving a letter of introduction from Carla Raparb Uslan-sama. Is there anyone else like that?"

Carla-san to the rescue in times of trouble.

The boy tried to grumble something after that, but he was stopped by the teacher and fell silent.

Chrys told him that boy's name was Alexi during dinner that night.

Though he had ability, his personality was troublesome, and even the teachers had difficulty managing him. Moreover, his family was nobility.

Serge couldn't help thinking, "What the hell."

"If anything happens, just tell me or one of the masters and we'll handle it."

No, no. That's not right.

Even if Serge excelled at hiding behind girls' skirts, this was different.

"It's fine. At worst, I'll just resort to force, right?"

"He is a magic user capable of destroying even iron golems."

Iron golems.

What a small fry.

"Chrys, you don't seem to understand, but…"

He struck a deliberate pose.

"I'm someone who's conquered the labyrinth."

The basic magic lessons were surprisingly useful for Serge.

Up until now, the only ones who'd taught him were the village mage and non-standard people like Valis and Carla, so the fundamentals had been completely missing.

Without the underlying theory, applications to actual combat often don't work well.

Also, since Chrys was taking this class too, she helped him out a lot.

Even in combat classes, he focused on control and refrained from purely destructive magic as much as possible.

The offensive magic here also seemed to be truly for offense rather than for actual combat.

Despite feeling considerable dissonance, there was still something to be gained, so he attended the lessons diligently.

It was one such afternoon.

Having finished his meal, Serge was thinking "alright, time to work hard again" as he opened his locker key and—

Bang!

He instinctively shut it.

Opening it again, there was a pink envelope inside.

Ooh, the stuff of urban legends.

A love letter in his locker. But Serge remained calm.

For someone to write a love letter at this age, they'd either have to be quite precocious or a shotacon. The latter would be fine, but the former was a bit outside his strike zone.

Besides, there was a higher possibility that this was a summons disguised as a love letter.

"What's wrong, Serge?"

"Uwahyaa!"

"Eh!?"

He'd been so distracted by the love letter lookalike that he hadn't noticed someone's presence. Right beside him, Chrys was looking at the letter in Serge's hand.

"… The day after yesterday, and you're already popular."

"No, no, this is definitely a trap."

When he peeled open the letter, it said to wait behind the training grounds in the evening…

No name, and the handwriting wasn't very girlish either. This was definitely a trap.

"This is… Alexi?"

"Probably."

He didn't remember doing anything to deserve such a grudge, but people like that were just like that.

"Want me to go with you?"

Then again, there were people like her too.

You're kind, Chrys-chan. Or rather, could this girl possibly be easy to win over?

Shaking away his rude thoughts, Serge made a request of Chrys.

"Are you sure about that?"

Despite acting cool, he could already see her worrying about him. As expected, she was different from Carla.

But that was that and this was this. Both were good things.

"Well, it'll be fine. If I get serious, I can definitely beat an opponent of that level."

When he said something a bit boastful, Chrys looked slightly taken aback.

"Understood. But Alexi has fire magic at level 6. Don't let your guard down."

"My fire magic is level 9, you know."

Chrys's expression seemed to say "you're joking again," but it was the truth. In the process of training his spacetime magic, he'd had Valis and Carla teach him fire magic since it was the most practical for actual combat.

As Serge walked away with more than enough composure, Chrys found his retreating figure dazzlingly impressive.

"So you actually showed up, brat."

Everything was as expected.

Waiting at the place written in the letter was Alexi and his five lackeys.

He'd expected them to say various things, but if he had to summarize it all: he was being insolent.

He could understand that. On top of the special treatment of being a transfer student, he'd enrolled with an introduction from the legendary magic warrior Carla. He knew the masters were looking at him with special eyes too.

But understanding didn't mean he had to agree with them.

"So? What are you going to do? I haven't particularly done anything wrong."

"Kneel."

At the overwhelmingly high-handed demand, Serge couldn't help but laugh.

"What's so funny!?"

"No, it's just that after going to all this trouble, all you want is for me to kneel?"

Well, his lack of dignity that let something like this slide might be one of his bad points.

"Making someone kneel isn't about ordering them, you know. It's done like this."

At that moment, Serge released his [Intimidation].

Starting with the Cyclops, then Divine Dragon Valis, the showdown between Ria and Carla, the demon generals' attack.

Through all those experiences, Serge had already acquired this skill.

Even so, Alexi still showed some backbone. But the other five collapsed on the spot.

"I-impossible…"

This immense intimidation was beyond anything even the masters could produce. The only person at the academy who might be capable of something like this would be Great Sage Azelford…

"D-damn you!"

In his panic, Alexi used his fire magic at full power. It was so fast that even the masters who had been secretly watching didn't have time to stop it.

"White Prison Flames!"

"Dimensional Fault."

And that magic was blocked effortlessly.

The magic was sucked into the gap between dimensions. Before he could even be surprised by what he'd seen, Alexi was hit by Serge's magic.

"Flame Circle."

A ring of fire surrounded Alexi and the others. Normally, this magic could be easily dispelled, but the output was on a different level.

Serge maintained the magic until all six people inside collapsed from oxygen deprivation.

"What a ridiculous person…"

Chrys said in a tone of utter exasperation.

When Serge gave a "tehe" laugh, she just stared at him coldly.

Being stared at coldly by a glasses girl is great!

In the end, this incident was settled with stern warnings to both parties.

In terms of right and wrong, Serge, who had deliberately prepared witnesses, shouldn't have been at fault, but since the other side was making a huge fuss, it was decided to punish both sides equally.

From then on, Alexi continued to avoid Serge until graduation.

And as the details of this incident spread somewhat exaggerated, Serge earned a peculiar nickname.

That being "The Blazing Transfer Student."

"A man's soul charge: complete!"

Saying incomprehensible things, Serge became known as a person of eccentric behavior.