"Speaking of which, how did that thing you guys prepared for this afternoon go? Hmm... it should be today, right?" After submitting the application, on the way back to the dorm, Ayia suddenly mentioned this without any context to me and Wakaka.
"Ah, is it time already...? Well, of course we've been prepared for a long time, even before entering the academy, right?" Wakaka first seemed confused, then snapped his fingers with an expression of knowing everything.
"That's something you don't need to worry about at all!" Hey... wait a minute, that flag... Usually when someone says things like that, it means there's something I have to worry about even though I have no clue about it... Ayia also seemed relaxed and carefree -
"You're right, it's a quite simple thing. I'm just a little curious, what kind of magic did you both prepare for this magic expansion? Kakachan can create flames from his hand to read simple fortunes, and I reshape my body by ingesting it from my mouth. But I have no idea what Molly Ann sweetheart has prepared."...
Ah, here it comes... that kind of trouble that I had no knowledge about before but will give me a headache once it appears...
"Hey, what exactly is magic expansion? I've never heard of it before..." "It's a test that the headmaster told us about before the opening ceremony. We're all super genius intermediate-level magicians, right? We've already mastered those low-rank magic before entering the academy," Ayia talked as if she didn't realize it could be embarrassing to praise oneself as a genius, "so the headmaster asked us to come up with our own magic by using our brains. It must be ingenious and not too similar to other magics. And we can even give it our own name and have it recorded in history! Like my 'Chaotic Unrestrained · Scattered · Manifesting Black Flame,' it will be recorded as a great magic!"
It's so long! Is there really no limit to the number of words for a magic! Can I design one with an over the top name, full of second-year syndrome or embarrassment or just plain crazy!
"Well... as long as it's not a too crazy name, the Magic Guild generally accepts it... So what did Molly Ann sweetheart prepare?"... My words... I prepared a certificate of an intermediate-level magician acquired by cheating... I'm sorry, I apologize for only knowing a few magics, and... "I had no idea about this at all!"
"Well, that's true... This was announced only right before the headmaster appeared, but it's a hidden rule of the School of Balancing. Most people usually know about it, right?" "Well well! Molly Ann sweetheart, don't worry. It's not a mandatory test!" Upon hearing Wakaka's words, I relaxed a little.
"It's just that you'll be laughed at by those who know about it throughout your magician career! After all, you've given up on this rare opportunity to create a magic that will be recorded in history! The Magic Guild has other ways to increase the number of magics, so giving up on this isn't really a big deal! Other methods may be more difficult, maybe tens or hundreds of times harder, but you can say that not participating in this test is a self-challenge!"
...
In this comforting message, I didn't really feel any "don't worry" atmosphere at all, did I?! It's like my whole magician career after this is being denied!
