NOVPUBRine found herself in quite the awkward position.
While on her way to the next exam, she had encountered a familiar figure at the lecture hall entrance.
On one side stood a beautiful girl with sharp eyes and a cold aura—Flora Lumos.
On the other, the complete opposite: Sheryl Wagner, who looked like she didn’t have a single care in the world.
They were both her seniors and took Professor Ludger’s class as well.
Normally, Rine would’ve passed by without giving it a second thought, but today was different.
And that difference was Flora.
'Uh... Did I do something wrong?'
Flora Lumos, with whom Rine had practically no interaction, was now glaring at her with thinly veiled hostility.
Until now, Flora had responded with little more than disinterest. What had changed?
Rine began to wonder if she’d unknowingly offended her somehow.
Sensitive to others’ emotions, Rine had never picked up anything from Flora before—not even the slightest shift in mood.
Which made this situation all the more bewildering.
'It’s not outright hostility, but... she clearly has something against me.'
Rine couldn’t figure out why. Could it be because of the second test? That they both received an A+?
That seemed like the most likely explanation. She honestly couldn’t think of anything else.
'What should I do...'
Rine hesitated.
Flora Lumos, glaring at her with half-lidded eyes, seemed far more difficult to deal with than anyone Rine had clashed with before.
She wasn’t exactly attacking her, but she was certainly making it clear she wasn’t pleased.
If Rine said something too casually, she risked provoking her further.
Just as Rine stood there frozen in indecision, Erendir stepped forward beside her.
“Do you have business with us, Lady Lumos?”
“...”
Flora shifted her gaze to Erendir.
The sharp look she had given Rine softened slightly when it landed on Erendir.
Or rather, it became a strange mix of frustration and pity.
Flora felt sorry for Erendir, who was spending her time with someone like Rine.
'The Third Princess... After spending her whole life in her older sister’s shadow, the one person she finally opens up to turns out to be her.'
But Flora didn’t say that out loud.
Not because she was being polite, but because she herself was in no position to pity the Third Princess.
“Um... Flora?”
Sheryl, having picked up on the tension, called her friend carefully.
Flora didn’t respond. She simply walked through the open door into the lecture hall.
“A-Ahaha... Sorry about that. I think Flora’s in a bit of a mood today.”
Sheryl gave them an awkward laugh, apologized on her behalf, and hurried after her friend as if fleeing the scene.
Erendir frowned at the backs of the two girls as they left.
“What the hell was that? First they block the path, then they just ignore us and walk away when I ask.”
“Yeah, I know...”
Rine could only smile awkwardly and agree.
Meanwhile, in the lecture hall, Sheryl sat beside Flora and immediately pressed her.
“Flora. What was that just now? That wasn’t like you.”
“What wasn’t like me?”
“You don’t normally care about other students at all. Why are you so worked up over that girl—Rine, or whatever her name is?”
“...”
If she denied it now, Sheryl would just keep digging.
Having known her since they were young, Flora was well aware of how persistent her friend could be.
There was only one way to shut her down.
“By the way, Sheryl—did you prepare properly for this test?”
“Uh, what?”
Caught completely off guard, Sheryl’s face twisted in confusion.
She loved gossip and hated studying, so the question hit hard.
While not a total slacker, she definitely wasn’t the most academically dedicated either.
“You know Professor Marie Ross is the one handling this exam, right?”
“Why are you bringing her up all of a sudden?”
Marie Ross, the longest-serving teacher at Seorn, was beloved by students for her gentle nature and kindness.
She taught pharmacology under the [Curses and Disenchantment] department.
But her class didn’t just cover basic pharmacology—she included a wide range of related fields.
Marie was so generous that she rarely gave out grades lower than a C+, even for poor performances.
Her lectures were known as “sweet classes,” and competition to get into them was fierce.
There were only a handful of classes where you could secure a solid grade with minimal effort.
“It’s just... Didn’t she say this year that if someone takes the test lightly, she’ll lower their grade and transfer them to another teacher’s class?”
Some students had taken advantage of Marie’s kindness and coasted through her exams for easy grades.
So she’d made a change.
From now on, students who didn’t take her class seriously would be forcibly moved to another professor’s course.
A measure that, under normal circumstances, wouldn’t be allowed. But someone like Marie Ross had the seniority to make it happen.
“You sure you’re ready for this?”
“Ah...”
Sweat broke out on Sheryl’s brow at Flora’s reminder.
“W-What do I do, Flora?”
“What do you mean, what do you do? Why are you asking me?”
“Come on, Floraaa~. Help me out, please? We’re friends, right? Just this once?”
“Ugh. Get off me. What are you even doing?”
“But Flora, if I bomb this, I won’t get any credits! Please, just one favor~.”
In the end, Sheryl did what she always did—cling to Flora.
Flora decided that was enough to redirect her friend’s attention and handed over the notes she’d prepared.
“Here. Take it. I only summarized the key points, so even a last-minute cram session should keep you from flunking.”
“Thank you!! I love you, Flora!”
As Sheryl dove into her frantic cramming session, Flora’s eyes drifted to Rine, who was seated on the far side of the lecture hall.
A commoner, with an unusual hair color and a surprisingly pretty face.
If she were a noble, she’d probably be swarmed with admirers by now.
At that moment, Rine seemed to feel Flora’s gaze and looked back.
Their eyes met across the room.
Flora turned her head sharply, suddenly feeling embarrassed about having started a power play with a commoner.
'Enough. What the hell am I even doing, worrying about a commoner?'
Resting her elbow on the desk and propping her chin on her hand, Flora mumbled to herself.
“What kind of food would be good for someone who's not feeling well?”
“Huh? Flora, are you sick?”
Sheryl, her face still buried in the notebook, popped her head up instantly.
Flora, seeing her friend’s supernatural ability to pick up on this kind of thing even while cramming, replied dryly:
“Just curious. I was wondering if there’s any kind of tonic or something worth recommending.”
“Hmm~.”
Sheryl eyed Flora suspiciously.
Very suspicious. Flora Lumos, the queen of apathy, suddenly caring about someone’s health?
But as a friend, she decided not to point it out directly.
“Well, I guess there’s stuff like that. I’ve heard nobles in their 40s and 50s are taking a lot of supplements lately. Like powdered mandragora root?”
Mandragora, a top-tier ingredient in pharmacology, was so rare it couldn’t even be bought with just money.
Sheryl was half-joking by suggesting such a ridiculous ingredient.
“So mandragora really is the best option, huh...”
“...Huh?”
Sheryl had tossed it out there just for fun, but Flora’s serious response caught her completely off guard.
Then a mischievous grin spread across Sheryl’s face, like a cat that had found a mouse.
“Heh. So Flora Lumos actually has someone she cares about? Who is it? Who~?”
“W-What?! That’s not it!!”
Flora’s pale face flushed red.
Her rare outburst only confirmed Sheryl’s suspicions.
“Oh please. I’ve known you forever—you can’t fool me. I smell something.”
“Shut it already. And aren’t you forgetting there’s less than five minutes until the exam starts?”
“Ah!”
Realizing her situation a beat too late, Sheryl frantically flipped through Flora’s summary notes.
She looked at her friend with pitiful eyes, silently begging for more help.
“F-Flora, what was the exam range again?”
“From the basics of potion-making to precautions for mana transfer.”
“Ugh, that’s way too much!”
“Well, maybe you should’ve studied regularly instead of cramming.”
“You didn’t study that much more than I did, so why is it just me who’s struggling!”
“...If I say it’s because I’m a genius, you’ll get mad, right? Don’t think I didn’t notice how you spent every weekend goofing off instead of studying.”
“Eeeek!”
As Sheryl let out a pitiful wail, the classroom door creaked open like the sound of a death knell—the exam proctor, Professor Marie Ross, stepped inside.
She carried her usual aura of gentleness and grace, but today, there was a subtle charisma behind her smile—one that warned against disobedience.
“Everyone’s prepared for the test, I hope?”
Sheryl went pale.
* * *
Professor Marie Ross’s exam finally ended.
Teaching assistants gathered the completed papers while students stretched out in relief, delighted that the day’s tests were finally over.
Everyone, that is, except for Sheryl, who had her face buried in her desk like a corpse.
“Uuuuugh... I barely finished it all somehow.”
She wasn’t actually dead, but her voice made it sound like she was halfway there.
“Hoho. You’ve all worked hard today.”
At Marie Ross’s gentle words, the tension in the room melted as the students turned to her with respectful attention.
Even though the test was over, no one left their seat.
“Sheryl. Get up. It’s tip time.”
“Oh, right!”
Sheryl shot up from her desk, straightened her back, and fixed her eyes forward like a model student.
Normally, students would bolt out of the classroom the moment an exam ended, but today, everyone stayed behind.
There was only one reason they remained seated, eyes ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ shining with anticipation as they stared at Marie Ross.
This was a special moment—one only offered in her lectures.
At Seorn, there was a well-known story passed around between students.
After exams, Professor Marie Ross always treated her students to something extra—off-the-record lessons filled with hidden knowledge she didn’t cover in class.
This so-called “tip time” was not only fun but often extremely useful, which made it incredibly popular.
They weren’t just ordinary tips. Sometimes they included insights that could become future breakthroughs in the world of magic, so students paid rapt attention.
“As you noticed in today’s exam, I’d like to offer some additional explanation regarding the topic of mana transfer.”
Students perked up, some even readying their notebooks for more.
“Mana transfer usually takes place between mages. However, if the one transferring mana lacks control, it can become extremely dangerous.”
These days, most people relied on mana recovery potions. But in emergencies, direct mana transfer was still sometimes used to save lives.
It was inconvenient and slightly risky—but it saved money on expensive potions.
“But did you know? When mana is transferred—or when two sources of mana collide and intermingle—something mysterious can happen.”
“Professor, what kind of mysterious thing?”
“You can read memories.”
...You could read memories by transferring mana?
The class fell into stunned silence. Some of the more well-read students reacted with half-recognition.
“This is known as Memory Storming, and yes, it’s been published in papers from the Mage Tower.”
“No way, that’s real? Not just a rumor?”
“I think I’ve heard of it before...”
Professor Marie Ross smiled warmly, amused by their reactions.
“Did you know? Mana can carry memories. It stores far more than we understand—especially mana that’s been within a magician’s body for a long time. The longer it resides, the more of that magician’s memories it contains.”
“Professor, how does mana even retain memory?”
At the question, she shook her head.
“Unfortunately, that hasn’t been explained yet. Research is still limited, and the paper only came out recently.”
“Aww, that’s a letdown.”
“Mana is still a mysterious force. Our role as mages is to continue exploring it. Still, the New Mage Tower has reported successful applications of this Memory Storming phenomenon, even if the mechanism is unclear.”
She spoke lightly, but her words carried enormous weight.
The New Mage Tower—an organization that split from the original one—was known for its radical research. For Marie Ross to casually cite them said a lot.
'As expected of Professor Marie Ross, the longest-serving teacher at Seorn...'
'I heard tons of her students ended up in the Mage Tower.'
'She still keeps in touch with them even after graduation, huh?'
Excited whispers buzzed through the classroom.
“The fascinating part is, there’s actually a talisman that can reproduce this Memory Storming effect, albeit faintly. One of my former students sent it to me as a successful prototype.”
She pulled out several white slips of paper that resembled traditional spell tags, covered in geometric patterns.
This was the catalyst—a talisman that could trigger Memory Storming.
“It’s a prototype, so it’s not especially strong or dangerous. But if anyone’s curious, would you like to try it?”
So this talisman could supposedly extract the memories embedded in someone’s mana?
While most students looked intrigued and hesitant, only Flora Lumos had a different reaction.
Her eyes gleamed with interest.
'That thing... can it be used on someone else?'
Her brilliant mind was already exploring possibilities.
