Chapter 1: Shion Ichinose
In the practice room of Gilbert Royal Crofford Magic Academy, Lina Restia, a faculty member, was intently observing the actions of a male student.
The student’s name was Shion Ichinose. He was a student in Restia’s second-year Class C.
He slowly raised his right hand and pointed his palm straight at a target 18.4 meters away.
Then, a white, mist-like light began to emanate from his outstretched palm. The misty light gradually took shape over several seconds, eventually forming a magic circle slightly less than 30 centimeters in diameter.
“Fireball”
As he uttered the spell, a fireball about 30 centimeters in size was released from the magic circle, which shimmered with a reddish-orange color, towards the target.
The fireball flew straight and slowly, directly hitting the target. It dispersed around with a whoosh before quietly disappearing.
After confirming the sequence of events, Restia wrote “C” in the “Fire Attribute Magic” section of the paper in her hand.
The magic evaluation scale ranged from S, A, B, C, to D, with C being the level equivalent to “can handle basic magic.”
He continued to cast water, earth, wind, and lightning attribute magic.
After confirming these spells, Restia wrote down C, C, C, and B respectively.
Shion’s overall evaluation after completing all the magic tests was C.
When Restia informed him of the result, he nonchalantly said, “I understand. Thank you very much,” bowed his head, turned on his heel, and headed straight for the exit of the practice room.
“……”
Restia watched him leave the practice room with a questioning gaze, as he showed no sign of being either pleased or frustrated, as if he had no interest in his own test results.
— “There’s something about Shion Ichinose,” Restia was convinced.
A calm and quiet demeanor that seemed beyond his years, having just turned seventeen. Black hair and eyes, plain at first glance, but upon closer inspection, well-proportioned features. And occasionally, a gaze that seemed to see through one’s inner self, with an unfathomable depth.
Over the past two years of interaction, Restia had clearly sensed that the air surrounding Shion Ichinose was distinctly different from that of other students.
Always calm and unperturbed, his clearly mature attitude and cool features for his age accentuated his mysterious aura.
Above all, the main reason Restia suspected there was something about Shion was the content of his practical exams.
There was nothing unnatural about the magic he used in this test or the test results themselves.
However, Restia, who had seen many types of magic and magicians, had an almost certain doubt.
— Was he holding back during the magic practical exam?
His expression and the degree of effort when casting magic were clearly not those of a person giving their all. Even a layperson unfamiliar with magic would probably think, “Isn’t he holding back?”
However, in a magic academy where ability is paramount, it’s utterly inconceivable for an enrolled student to deliberately try to get a low evaluation.
Within the same year, there are four classes ranked A, B, C, and D from the top. If one’s evaluation in the tests improves, their class affiliation changes, the facilities of the school building and dormitory improve, and ultimately, it greatly affects their career path after graduation.
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Above all, in the magic academy where many are highly prideful, discrimination against lower-ranked magic students, such as contempt and mockery, is severe.
Given these circumstances, while many strive for higher classes, it’s absolutely unthinkable for someone to deliberately remain in a lower class.
All students in the academy face practical exams with all their might, either to advance to a higher class or to avoid demotion from their current one.
There’s no benefit whatsoever in deliberately receiving a low evaluation in the exam, and it’s extremely unnatural to intentionally underperform.
So why on earth is Shion deliberately holding back in the practical exam?
Perhaps…
“(Could it just be my misunderstanding…?)”
After staring at the exit of the training room where Shion had left for a while, Restia nervously began preparing for the next student’s exam.
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“Lightning attribute is B… Indeed, it’s a bit difficult to control the power.”
Having left the training room, Shion muttered to himself alone in the hallway.
It was as if he was saying, “I couldn’t fully control the power that should have been more restrained, and unintentionally unleashed magic equivalent to B-rank.”
If Restia had heard his current muttering, she would surely think, “So he really was hiding his true abilities during the exam!”
…However, that would be a complete misunderstanding.
He was merely acting as if that were the case.
Receiving the exam results that “the evaluation of lightning attribute magic was slightly higher compared to other attributes,” he acted precisely as if he “had difficulty holding back his power to hide his true abilities, and ended up getting one B or higher evaluation.”
There’s no special intention or reason for this series of incomprehensible actions.
To conclude, all of his actions are simply a hobby.
For him, living his academy life while fantasizing and acting as if “he’s actually an SSS-class talent, but hiding that fact from everyone around him” is the ultimate pleasure, and he’s just taking these actions to obtain that thrill.
Even after leaving the training room and muttering to himself earlier in a place where no one was watching, it was just to immerse himself in his fantasy by committing fully to the act.
In short, he’s an eccentric with a severe habit of fantasizing.
However, the fact that he succeeded in making his homeroom teacher Restia misunderstand as he intended is not a coincidence, but can be attributed to his efforts.
Even in the recent practical exam, he was giving his all to the performance. He truly can only handle C-class level magic. However, to make it appear as if he’s hiding his true abilities and holding back in the exam, he was desperately straining himself while trying not to let it show, maintaining a completely unchanged expression as he unleashed his magic to the fullest.
If he had truly held back in that exam, he would have easily produced such miserable results that he would have been demoted from the current C-class to D-class.
If he were to actually hold back and act as if “I’m just holding back, but I’d be amazing if I got serious,” he would truly become a small-timer.
For him, there was a big difference between actually holding back and putting on airs, and giving it his all while acting as if he’s holding back.
Such a person succeeded in producing results at the limit of his abilities while making his homeroom teacher Restia misunderstand that “he might actually have more ability.”
“Huff… huff…! Haaah…”
…And now. As proof that he had truly unleashed his magic to the fullest, after leaving the training room, he’s sweating profusely all over his body, breathing heavily with his shoulders while severely distorting his face.
Despite such an unsightly state, it was remarkable that he managed to deceive the eyes of Restia, who had seen many magics and magicians.
A peculiar magic student who revels in behaving as if “he has SSS-class abilities despite pretending to be a C-class student.”
That is the man named Shion Ichinose–.
Shion Ichinose’s parents came from a lineage that had been in business for generations, completely unrelated to magic.
The sense for handling magical power and magic is inherited genetically, and children born to excellent magicians are blessed with these abilities.
Conversely, children born to parents who are not magicians and have no magical power basically do not possess magical power or the sense to handle magic.
Not an exception to this rule, Shion’s parents, born into a family line of merchants for generations, had absolutely no magical power and had never handled magic even once in their lives.
And naturally, Shion, born to these parents, was born without a shred of magical power or talent for handling magic.
It is said that only about three percent of the total population has the aptitude to handle magic above the beginner level, and Shion was undoubtedly one of the other ninety-seven percent.
Fourteen years ago, when Shion turned three, he gradually became able to read and write, and understand the stories in somewhat difficult books.
Shion read heroic tales of magicians, admired their figures, and became excited, saying, “Someday I want to become the strongest magician who can help someone.”
It was a very common, adorable dream that anyone might have. His parents knew that Shion would absolutely never become a magician, but thinking “it’s a child’s dream” and “he’ll eventually understand reality,” they didn’t tell the harsh truth to the three-year-old and instead offered words of encouragement for his dream.
In his childhood, Shion only wanted magic textbooks and picture books about magicians. As he showed no interest in anything else, his parents gladly bought these for him.
Shion’s persistence was impressive from childhood, and the young boy spent every available moment poring over magic textbooks.
However, even though he could understand the composition of magic and construct correct spell formulas, Shion couldn’t activate any magic.
To activate magic, one needs to channel magical power through the created magic circle, but of course, he lacked such a skill, and more fundamentally, he had no magical power at all, which is essential for activating magic. Naturally, it was impossible for him to handle any magic.
Even so, Shion’s enthusiasm for magic never cooled, and the year after he turned six, his parents enrolled him in a local magic school.
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