Another year passed.
Rest threw himself into studying for the academy entrance exam, poring over reference books time and again, looking up anything he didn't understand not only by asking his sisters but also by searching through the archives.
In parallel, his daily routine of brawling with Diebl the butler continued.
He had already mastered the majority of the magic Diebl knew.
Viola and Primula would occasionally join the sparring sessions, and once in a while even Lady Irish herself would barge in and chase him around the grounds — all in good fun.
Thanks to accumulating ample real-world combat experience, he now won roughly one out of every two bouts against Diebl.
In hand-to-hand fighting he still couldn't win, but in pure magical skill he had already surpassed his teacher.
He had received a firm stamp of approval that he could hold his own as a court magician even now.
"Given your current abilities, Rest, you should pass the entrance examination without any trouble. However…"
"A full stomach breeds mischief. The moment you grow complacent is precisely when you must let your guard down."
"…No matter how weak the opponent, never let your guard down — that's the lesson, right, Diebl?"
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
A deafening shriek drowned out Rest's murmur.
Following his gaze, several deformed humanoid figures emerged from the forest and charged in his direction.
Ash-brown skin, smooth hairless heads, and swollen bodies that looked like balloons yet were armored with thick layers of muscle. They were not human. They were ogres — a type of monster.
One after another the ogres burst from the forest, bellowing war cries as they rushed straight at the waiting Rest.
"Come, then. Let's fight."
Everything was prepared. The enemy was raring to go.
There was no reason to wait. Rest cast his spells and kicked off the ground.
"[Body Reinforcement]. [Acceleration]."
He activated magic to enhance his physical capabilities while simultaneously boosting his speed.
Through parallel spellcasting in a double incantation, he shot forward at a speed the eye could barely follow and closed in on the lead ogre.
"Ggyahh!?"
"[Wind Blade]."
At point-blank range he unleashed a blade of wind that sliced clean through the ogre's head, sending it spiraling through the air.
Seeing their comrade fall, another ogre raised the club in its hands and swung down.
"Gahh!"
"[Earth Wall]."
Without panicking, he cast the spell.
An earthen wall surged up from the ground and caught the club the ogre had swung down.
"Co—me—on— [Earth Spear]!"
"Gyaahn!"
Rest placed his hand on the earthen wall that had shielded him and activated the next spell.
A pointed stake shot through from the other side of the wall, piercing the attacking ogre clean through.
"[Fire Cannon]. [Ice Cannon]. [Thunder Cannon]."
For the ogres lurking at a distance, he turned to long-range magic.
Red, blue, and yellow flashes of light fired in rapid succession, punching through ogre after ogre.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Realizing they couldn't win as individuals, several ogres lunged all at once, trying to crush Rest under their combined weight.
"[Smoke Screen]."
A cloud of white smoke erupted around Rest, shrouding his figure from view.
"GGAH!?"
Enveloped in the same smoke, the ogres cried out in confusion.
They swung their clubs wildly, striking each other in a chaotic free-for-all.
"Hah!"
Rest crouched low and dashed through the cauldron of chaos.
Thanks to the [Presence Detection] spell, he could track every enemy even inside the smoke without issue.
Dodging the fists and clubs the ogres flailed about, he fired off spells and steadily picked them off one by one.
Before long, the majority of the ogres that had come out of the forest lay defeated.
"That doesn't look like the end…"
"GUU-GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
A tremendous shriek echoed from deep within the forest.
An ogre more than twice the size of those he had just felled appeared, crashing through the trees as it charged.
The red-skinned ogre was most likely a mutant variant — one of those monsters known as an "Ogre General."
(A higher-ranked monster than the White Fenrir. If one of these showed up near a settlement, it could wipe a village or two off the map.)
When Rest had just been taken in by House Rosemary, he might not have stood a chance.
But Rest was no longer the boy he had been back then.
Showing not the slightest trace of haste, he fixed his gaze on the Ogre General and refined his mana.
"[Body Reinforcement]. [Iron Arm]."
Magic to strengthen the body. Magic to enhance arm strength.
"[Earth Armor]."
A spell that coated his body in a layer of earth.
He wrapped the area from his right elbow onward in soil, generating a massive gauntlet.
The tip of the earth gauntlet was studded with sharp spikes, further amplifying its destructive power.
"[Acceleration]!"
And then, the spell to boost his speed.
In an instant he closed the distance to the Ogre General's inner guard and swung his right arm.
The spiked gauntlet buried itself into the Ogre General's thick torso, and the sickening crunch of shattering bone rang out.
"GUU-GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!?"
The Ogre General screamed.
It could not fathom how Rest — who should have been far away — had closed the gap in the blink of an eye and landed a hit.
(Still got enough breath to scream, huh…!)
"[Fire Cannon]."
A follow-up blow.
From the tip of his buried fist, he unleashed a torrent of flame.
"SSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH—!!"
Flames erupted from the Ogre General's mouth, its nose, its eyeballs.
A scream that was no longer even a sound.
Cooked from the inside out, the Ogre General toppled backward with a resounding crash.
"…I won."
To be safe, he swept the surroundings with the [Presence Detection] spell.
In this place, only one living presence remained besides his own.
Every last ogre had drawn its final breath.
"Impressive."
The sound of slow, deliberate clapping came from a figure that emerged from behind a tree.
"A truly magnificent fight. I have no choice but to give that a passing grade."
"Thank you, Master Diebl."
The man who appeared wore a butler's uniform.
It was Diebl — Rest's combat mentor.
Though the ogres had burst from the forest of their own accord, it was Diebl who had driven them out here in the first place.
For some time now, Rest had been fighting monsters in real combat as part of his training, always accompanied by Diebl.
Every monster they had faced was a formidable foe.
Using intelligence that Marquis Rosemary had obtained through his connections at court, the pair had embarked on numerous expeditions.
"Full mastery. There is nothing left for me to teach you."
Diebl smiled with satisfaction as he spoke those words.
"The academy entrance exam is next week. From now on, you will meet many people at the academy, accumulate experience, and forge yourself in your own way. I am truly glad I could be the one to teach you."
"That is my line, sir. I'm the one who's grateful to have learned from you…"
Rest held back the tears that threatened to well up and sniffed hard.
Ever since arriving at House Rosemary, he had been blessed with nothing but wonderful encounters.
He resolved in his heart to spend a lifetime repaying this debt of gratitude.
"Now then, let us head back. The young ladies will be waiting."
"Yes. The two of them should be finishing their exams and heading home by now."
The Royal Academy entrance exam was held one week earlier for nobles than for commoners.
Today was the day of their exam, so they would already have returned to the mansion.
"I'm sure the two of them are fine, but… I'm worried, so let's get back quickly."
"Agreed. Shall we race to see who reaches the mansion first?"
"You're on."
Rest and Diebl both boosted their speed with magic and rocketed toward the city at tremendous velocity.
At the edge of the forest, a mountain of ogre corpses lay scattered about, waiting to be cleared away by the servants of House Rosemary who would arrive afterward.