"Number 13,
Called by name, I stood up along with Wilfried. We walked over to where several teachers were waiting.
Ten teachers had paired up in groups of two to observe the compression, calling students one at a time starting with the lord candidates. The lord candidates from large territories seemed somewhat accustomed to handling Magic Power, as they were able to achieve compression relatively quickly. Once they had successfully compressed, they returned to their seats and began furrowing their brows, trying to compress even further.
Glancing around, I could see three lord candidates frowning with furrowed brows as they attempted to compress their Magic Power while surrounded by teachers. One teacher held a Magical Tool of some kind, carefully watching the student who was compressing, while the other was staring intently not at the student, but at the Magical Tool strapped to their own wrist.
Frauleurm came into view, staring fixedly at a Magical Tool. Having fainted her just yesterday, I felt somewhat awkward about the situation, so I silently thanked God that Frauleurm had not been assigned to me.
...Now then, compression. What should I do?
If even more compression than before was necessary, I'd need to quickly think of another compression method—one more stage beyond what I'd already done. But what could I possibly do with Magic Power I'd already compressed using the futon-compression bag?
...If I imagined it like machine compression, it would get even smaller, wouldn't it?
When I thought of "compressed by machine," what came to mind was an aluminum can crushed into a tight square. It would certainly become smaller, but I doubted I'd be able to release the Magic Power when I wanted to use it later. The moment I felt it would be difficult, it became impossible. If I compressed Magic Power to the point where I couldn't use it myself, I'd need Jureve again just to uncompress it.
...I refuse to be Urashima Taro all over again!
Was there anything that might serve as inspiration for a new compression method?
I recalled that the teachers had just been describing their own imagery for compression techniques.
"Gathering spread-out Magic Power toward the center" and "pushing, pushing, pushing it in"—those were things I'd already been doing. So perhaps I could develop a new approach based on hints like "the feeling of squeezing water out of fruit juice" or "similar to reducing a medicinal solution."
...Hmm, what if I used the imagery of
Simmering down soup until the water evaporated and it turned into a thick, gooey consistency meant that the volume had decreased. What if I brought that "reducing" image to the first stage of compression? I would reduce the Magic Power first, then compress it further using the Rozemyne method.
...All right, let's give it a try.
Psyching myself up to pass successfully, I stood before the teacher.
Hirschur and another teacher—a muscular man who I assumed was one of the knight apprentice instructors—were there. "I'd heard the rumors, but she really is small," the man muttered, loud enough for me to hear.
"Assisting Rozemyne with her Magic Power compression will be me, Hirschur, and Rufen."
"Don't worry—with me here, you'll be fine! Just push it, push it, keep pushing and drive that Magic Power down, and compression isn't hard at all. I'll be cheering you on, so let's do our best together!"
His grinning face had the fresh energy of a gym teacher, but from his manner of speaking, I gathered he was the hot-blooded type that I wasn't particularly good with. Back in my life as Honobono Reina, I'd been dragged outside during break time instead of being allowed to read, and I just couldn't shake my aversion to that sort of person.
"Now then, Rozemyne. Please extend your left wrist. I'll be attaching this Magical Tool."
At Hirschur's instruction, I rolled up my sleeve to expose my wrist and extended my left arm.
Hirschur fastened the Magical Tool from their hand onto my wrist. The bulky, watch-like Magical Tool made a soft sound as the belt portion adjusted to fit my wrist snugly.
...It's heavy!
My arm dropped with a thud, but Hirschur caught it and stared intently at the Magical Tool.
"Everything's set. Rozemyne, please begin compressing."
"All right, psych yourself up and drive that Magic Power down! Just keep pushing it in. Conquer your own Magic Power!"
I gave a vague smile and nodded at Rufen's overly enthusiastic cheering, then lightly closed my eyes and focused on the Magic Power within my body.
"That's it—can you feel the Magic Power flowing!?"
Wishing he'd shut up so I could concentrate, I opened the lid of the deep reservoir where my Magic Power was stored.
...To compress by reducing the Magic Power, I'd first have to release it all. It was only possible because of all the Magical Tools the Chief Priest had given me.
I threw the lid wide open and released all the Magic Power stored deep within me in one burst. Then I poured Magic Power not only into the Magical Tools on my hands and feet, but also into every charm I'd borrowed.
Having filled the body-enhancement Magical Tools with as much Magic Power as possible, my body felt incredibly light. If I jumped, I felt I could fly quite high.
...For this one moment, I might actually be stronger than Grandfather.
When I slowly opened my eyes, my vision had apparently been enhanced too—I could see the faces of students quite far away clearly, and my ears were picking up every sound, noisy as anything.
"Good—your Magic Power is moving! Keep pushing it deeper! You can do it!"
I poured Magic Power into every single charm the Chief Priest had given me, not just the body-enhancement Magical Tools, until the remaining Magic Power in my body was significantly depleted. I decided to compress this remaining Magic Power using a new method.
In my mind's eye, I visualized pouring the Magic Power into a pot and lighting the fire.
...All right, now let me reduce this Magic Power down to about half its volume.
In my head, the music from the cooking show my mother used to watch during my life as Honobono Reina played in the background. I could practically hear a voice saying, "Here we have reduced Magic Power."
Once the reduction was complete, the rest was the same as my usual compression method. I carefully folded the reduced Magic Power, fitting it together with as few gaps as possible, and packed it into the bag.
...Once it was folded and packed, I applied my body weight to compress it. Pshu! Yep, it went flat.
After that, I returned the Magic Power I'd poured into the body-enhancement Magical Tools back to myself. I was accustomed to releasing Magic Power, but absorbing it wasn't something I'd practiced much, so it took a bit of time.
I managed to reclaim a portion of the Magic Power I'd poured into the Magical Tools and compressed that as well.
While I was compressing with my eyes closed in concentration, I heard Wilfried's voice receiving his passing grade from nearby.
"You pass, Wilfried. You have a real aptitude for this. Keep compressing regularly and building up your Magic Power, and you'll do well."
"Thank you very much."
Wilfried's voice had a proud ring to it, and I tensed my body with determination.
...I have to do my best too.
I compressed as tightly as I could. Once I got past that initial reduction stage, the rest was the familiar compression routine, so I was able to finish without spending too much time. Increasing the speed of compression seemed like it would be my challenge going forward.
I opened my eyes and spoke to Hirschur, who was glaring at the Magical Tool on my wrist with a troubled expression.
"How was it? I think I was able to compress more than before."
As I eagerly awaited Hirschur's reaction, the teacher—who had been staring at the Magical Tool on my wrist—lowered their gaze for a moment and slowly let out a breath.
When no word of passing came, Rufen tilted his head.
"Hirschur, is it a redo?"
"No, not at all. It's quite satisfactory. Rozemyne, you pass."
Removing the Magical Tool from my wrist, Hirschur said this in a slightly trembling voice and praised me with "You worked very hard." Hirschur's words of praise were nearly drowned out by Rufen's booming "All right! Well done!"
"You should continue building up your Magic Power as you have been. Given your small stature, your growth rate may well be the best of anyone here. The only path is effort. Compressing too much at once can make you feel ill, so compress a little each day."
"I'll do my very best. Thank you for everything."
When I bowed my thanks, Hirschur had already turned away and was fiddling with Magical Tools. Preparing for the next student, I assumed. There were still many waiting.
I returned to my seat immediately so as not to get in the way.
"I was praised for having a good aptitude."
Wilfried told me about this happily as I sat down. After that, amid the rest of everyone practicing their Magic Power compression, we could both be heard quietly compressing on our own.
"Brother Wilfried, please limit your Magic Power compression. If you compress too rapidly, you'll get magic sickness and feel terrible, just like
"But now that I've learned how, don't you want to compress as much as possible?"
Because there were always students who got magic sickness from doing exactly that every year, two teachers kept watch over students who had finished practicing.
"If you were warned by the teachers and then secretly compressed your Magic Power and ended up collapsing, it would be very embarrassing."
When I cautioned Wilfried, the other lord candidates from different territories who were seated nearby flinched the same way, and the teacher on patrol gave a small laugh.
Once the lord candidates' instruction was complete, it was the high-ranking nobles' turn to attempt Magic Power compression. Immediately, students began collapsing left and right.
"Rufen, please carry them back to their seats."
After Hirschur's voice rang out, Rufen could be seen shouldering a student who had slumped limply to the ground and carrying them away.
"Her Magic Power is running wild! Quickly, the Magical Tools!"
Frauleurm's shrill voice rang out as the other teacher hurried to attach Magical Tools. The student in between collapsed to the ground with a thud.
"Is this normal?"
Because I'd learned compression relatively quickly as a lord candidate, I hadn't realized just how difficult it was supposed to be. But for high-ranking nobles, it was clearly a struggle—cases where students finished without incident were the rare exception.
As I watched with concern, Wilfried slowly shook his head.
"I believe the biggest factor is whether they have experience supplying Magic Power to the Foundation and are accustomed to moving Magic Power around."
As Wilfried had said, the lord candidates finished their compression under their own power and walked back to their seats unassisted. But there were many high-ranking nobles who, like Wilfried after his first Magic Power supply, collapsed and couldn't stand back up.
"Don't worry—they'll recover with rest. Both
"...For even high-ranking nobles to be in this state, I'm worried about the low-ranking ones."
"I've heard from
"Oh, really? You're quite well-informed, Brother Wilfried."
Wilfried looked at me with a complicated expression at my words.
"I'm more surprised by you—someone who seems to know everything yet knows nothing at all. Two years turns out to be quite significant."
"It feels like everything you naturally learn through living is completely missing from the books. Especially since I was raised in circumstances that were somewhat different from a noble's life up until my
In my case, the period I'd lived as a noble was less than two years. It would be no exaggeration to say that my common sense and knowledge were completely insufficient.
"I've put in two years of effort, so I'd like to think I can be of some help to you."
"I'm counting on you."
Most of the high-ranking nobles did not pass. They would need to gradually acclimate their bodies to moving Magic Power. The teachers dismissed us, and we returned to the dormitory.
Having successfully cleared the day's challenge, I continued working on my reference book after returning to the dorm. As I worked, I heard from first-year mid-ranking and low-ranking nobles about their court etiquette homework, and in return I told them about the tricks to the first stage of Magic Power compression and how the high-ranking nobles unaccustomed to moving Magic Power had been collapsing all over the place.
"That sounds so exciting to hear about."
"Brother Wilfried said that those with less Magic Power have less burden."
"But that means it's harder to increase your Magic Power, right?"
"Yes. You have to push yourself to the point of being between life and death before your Magic Power will really increase."
At my words, voices rose saying, "It's scary to risk your life just to increase your Magic Power." We eventually settled on the conclusion of increasing it within a reasonable range, and that was when Hirschur entered the multipurpose hall.
The purple eyes that swept the room after opening the door gleamed as they locked onto me.
"Huh?! Hirschur?!"
"Is something wrong?!"
The appearance of the rarely-seen dorm supervisor caused a stir in the multipurpose hall. Normally, it would be nothing unusual for a dorm supervisor to be present in the dormitory, but at the Ehrenfest Dormitory, it was actually unusual for one to show up.
Hirschur stared at me without so much as an audible footstep, gliding over with an elegance that was terrifyingly fast. The questions thrown by students along the way were completely ignored—they probably weren't even visible.
Perhaps startled by the speed, or perhaps triggered by the intensity of that gaze and the sharp atmosphere,
Angelic, who had come out to protect me with light movements, placed her hand on the magic sword Stinklug with an eager expression.
Perhaps because they weren't yet accustomed to their roles as guard knights, or perhaps because they were still lowerclassmen, Judit and
"You've assembled quite capable retainers, haven't you?"
Hirschur said with a smile, looking over the guard knights.
"Good day, Rozemyne. I have an urgent matter to discuss with you. May I come to your room?"
She wore a pleasant smile, but the intensity of her gaze hadn't changed at all. There was no way I could refuse, so I nodded.
"Yes, of course."
The moment I gave my assent, I caught sight of
While Rihyarda and Lizelotte prepared the room, I rose slowly and surveyed the hall filled with a tense atmosphere.
"
I gave these instructions with an elegant smile, but internally I was in a complete panic.
...I have a bad feeling I'm going to be scolded. Why? What did I do?
Could it be about fainting Frauleurm yesterday? When I'd shown Hirschur the Lesser Beast yesterday, they'd been delighted and said admiring things, so I thought I'd dodged any lecture. But perhaps Frauleurm had filed some kind of complaint after recovering.
...Just thinking of them as the Chief Priest's teacher is terrifying!
Clutching at my aching stomach, I led my guard knights back to my room, guided by Brunhilde. Rihyarda and Lizelotte, who had returned to the room ahead of us, had already prepared to receive our guest.
I had Rihyarda brew tea, took a sip of tea and a bite of a sweet myself, and offered them to Hirschur. Hirschur ate one bite of the sweet on the plate and slightly narrowed their eyes.
"...What is this sweet?"
"It's called a quatre-quarts. It's a sweet that's been trending in Ehrenfest recently."
"My, my..."
Seeing Hirschur's eyes widen and the atmosphere soften with that, I felt relieved and asked the purpose of the visit.
"What is this urgent matter?"
"I would like to discuss today's Magic Power compression. Please have everyone leave."
Topics related to Magic Power compression often required confidentiality. I nodded and gave a light wave. My retainers filed out of the room.
On top of that, Hirschur placed an anti-eavesdropping Magical Tool on the table before me with a clunk.
"This is a Magical Tool that prevents eavesdropping."
"I'm aware. Ferdinand uses them quite often."
"Oh my—so you're on such familiar terms with Ferdinand that you use Magical Tools to have secret conversations?"
Hirschur's purple eyes sparkled teasingly, but the next instant, they let out a sigh and shrugged.
"I imagine they were prepared for the same reason I needed one. ...Now then, to get straight to the point, please explain what you did during today's Magic Power compression."
Being pressed for answers by those sharp purple eyes as they leaned forward was honestly stressful. I had done nothing other than compress Magic Power. There was nothing to explain.
"No matter what you say... I only did Magic Power compression. What would you like me to explain?"
At my words, Hirschur shut their eyes tightly and murmured, "Unaware?" It seemed I had indeed done something.
"Um, my Magic Power compression was a pass, wasn't it? Was there something I fell short on?"
"No, it wasn't that you fell short. Quite the opposite—it was more than sufficient. I simply wish to analyze an unprecedented situation that I've encountered for the first time in my long teaching career."
"Unprecedented situation?"
"Yes."
I could tell they were pressing me to explain, but I genuinely couldn't think of what had been so unusual. I truly had no idea.
"What was the unprecedented situation? I probably did something out of the ordinary, but I don't know what it was."
Hirschur's eyes widened in surprise, then they unclipped a Magical Tool from their waist and placed it before me. It was the same one that had been on my wrist during compression.
The face of that Magical Tool, which Hirschur had been staring at so intently, had a dial and needle like a voltmeter. Now the needle pointed straight up.
"The Magical Tool I used this time measures the concentration of Magic Power. When strapped to the wrist, the Magic Power at the moment of attachment becomes the baseline, and from there it can measure whether compression has occurred."
Rather than converting concentration or quantity into numerical values, it determined whether compression was successful based on whether the needle moved.
"When compression is successful and the concentration increases, the needle swings to the right. Since once you know the method, the rest is up to the individual's effort, basically any slight movement of the needle to the right counts as a pass."
Once a basic compression was achieved, improving efficiency or compressing large quantities was the individual's responsibility and outside the scope of teacher involvement.
"The Magical Tool I attached to Rozemyne was a special one that I created specifically to measure Ferdinand's Magic Power concentration."
During his time at the
...I'm sorry.
"And sure enough—or perhaps I should say, exceeding all expectations—something unexpected happened. The very moment I told Rozemyne to begin compressing, the needle swung all the way to the left and bottomed out. The needle on a tool made for Ferdinand bottoming out because the Magic Power concentration dropped—it was something I had never seen before. The needle movement was simply impossible for children performing compression."
...Ah, right. Because I released the Magic Power to compress it, the concentration dropped temporarily.
"And then, as if accustomed to compression, the needle returned to its original position in no time, and further still, the needle fell over to the right side."
"That means the concentration ended up higher than the initial state, right? My compression was successful, wasn't it?"
"Without question."
It had been improvised, but it seemed the Rozemyne compression method, expanded to four stages, had been a genuine success. As I did a little happy dance inside, Hirschur murmured, "As expected of Ferdinand's protégé."
"Now then, Rozemyne. Please give me a proper explanation of what exactly you did."
"Yes. When I was taught about Magic Power compression, they said the concentration of Magic Power would be measured, and if I could compress it beyond that level, I would pass. So I thought I needed to compress even more than ever before. To do that, I released all the compressed Magic Power and then compressed it again from scratch, aiming for even greater compression. Ah, Hirschur's advice was extremely helpful."
When I explained what I'd done, Hirschur's shoulders drooped and they shook their head slowly.
"That was well done. However, Rozemyne. If you had already been able to compress, all you needed to do was dilute it first and then restore it to its original state."
"Ah!"
...That was a blind spot.
"No one would normally think to compress beyond that."
"I'm terribly sorry. It simply never occurred to me."
Hirschur looked at me with an exhausted expression.
"Still, you really are Ferdinand's protégé. Extraordinary, or rather, unexpected... Has the era of Ehrenfest's name rising once more arrived? Though I worry that Rozemyne, being so unaware, may cause even more trouble than Ferdinand."
After murmuring this, Hirschur straightened up and their purple eyes gleamed with interest.
"Rozemyne, you mentioned earlier that my compression method was helpful, didn't you? In that case, I would very much like to use your compression method as a reference."
"...I'm terribly sorry. My compression method is an Ehrenfest secret, and it cannot be taught without the approval of six members of the leadership."
"Oh, how disappointing. Who are these six in the leadership, I wonder?"
Though they said it was disappointing, Hirschur's expression showed no sign of giving up. They looked like they were already considering where to obtain the information.
"Would it be the Lord and Lady, and the Knight Commander and his wife? As Rozemyne's guardian, would Ferdinand be included as well? That's one more person I can't quite place. Rihyarda, who was the Lord's chief attendant? Or perhaps
Having originated from Ehrenfest, Hirschur seemed well-informed about its inner workings. I broke into a cold sweat as I listened.
"Getting permission from Ehrenfest's Lord and Lady should be simple enough. They owe
As they spoke, Hirschur fixed me with a stare and the corner of their lips curled upward.
...Ugh! Hirschur seems to know all sorts of secrets and weaknesses of Ehrenfest's leadership! Help, Chief Priest!
Staring back at Hirschur with the expression of a frog mesmerized by a snake, I watched as Hirschur gave a small smile and rose swiftly to their feet.
"Ridebeasts, Magic Power compression, these sweets... I'm quite looking forward to seeing what kind of changes Rozemyne will bring."
The Magic Power compression method has been expanded to four stages.
And Rozemyne is in tears knowing that Hirschur, who is familiar with Ehrenfest's inner workings, is onto her.
Next up: Library registration.