"An impertinent examinee dares to mimic an examiner?! And he was talking to the Crown Prince, Ronald, and Duke Kruger's son, Alan. This cannot fly!"
So it's come to this. Siegfried Granbull blatantly wore his displeasure towards the incessantly whining vice-principal on his face and knit his eyebrows.
"Hm, this is certainly bad."
The fact that nobody raised any objections to the vice-principal's statement didn't stem from them carefully choosing their words around him or anything. Besides the few like the vice principal, whose stiff mentality stemmed out of their origin from the Imperial Guards, the faculty at this magic academy were extremely talented; they understood just how deep Grey's abnormalities extended.
In that short period of time, he had taught those children who might as well have been amateurs a completely new type of magic that not even the empire recognized. And what's more, they should be aware of the cataclysmic effect his magic will bring.
In addition, almost all of the professors here were the head of their own territory or city's magic academy, and if they could get Grey for themselves, they might even obtain enough power to stand equal with the Imperial Magic Knight Academy. In short, their plotting had already begun.
"We might as well just deduct points from him. As the vice principal so eloquently put it, he really went and did as he pleased in the last martial arts exam."
"I agree. And while we're at it, should we pretend his silver emittance in the magic exam was white?"
"Well, he did fail several times before getting silver."
"But to make silver white..."
The professor with a crew cut mockingly tossed his documents onto the table. It was understandable; silver only appeared when the measuring device detected the magic power as unmeasurable, and there were only a few in the entire world who had silver magic. He could only take it as some kind of bad joke.
"But following the rules, we're forced to give him full points for the target practice," declared the bald professor.
"Ah, when he created eight fireballs with a single incantation, not to mention the fact that they consisted of the strongest type of fire, azure."
"I though the professor in charge of him was daydreaming when he told me that."
The sound of someone gulping echoed through the now quieted room. Azure flames were the pinnacle of fire magic. It was the strongest spell that the first emperor, Phillip Rose Archive, often used. Anyone who could master that spell would definitely have their name carved down in history as a flame master.
Moreover. Moreover. With the events that transcribed during the practical exam, even the students might become able to use the spell if they go through Grey's instructions.
"So what!?" yelled the vice principal. "He dared to say that our magic talent, bestowed upon us by none other than God Himself, was just another subject! I'll never allow someone like that into this academy!"
We wouldn't get anywhere at this rate.
"Calm down a bit, vice principal. So? What were Grey's results on the subject tests?" Sieg asked Rebecca, who was wordlessly reading through several sheets of paper.
"......"
Rebecca remained silent and continued reading on with intense concentration.
"Rebecca!?"
"Ah, yes. Sorry. His subject test scores. Truthfully, it doesn't really matter what we give him."
"What does that mean?" Sieg furrowed his eyebrows.
It wasn't often that Rebecca said such vague sentences.
"He got full marks on history, carefully explained everything, and his general knowledge is spot on. However, he threw out several questions."
"He's questioning the etiquette behind our traditions!? What a rude brat!" shouted the vice principal as he shot up from his chair.
What a loudmouth. Sieg wished he would just shut up.
"That's not even the most surprising of it. Everything he wrote about magic is just plain strange."
"Yes," Rebecca replied. "That's there too."
After that, she said no more, and everyone in the room soon found out why.
"No......did he recreate it?"
"......"
"Impossible! But that's lost magic!?"
The blonde-haired battle magic instructor with a crew cut shot up and slammed the table after Rebecca wordlessly nodded.
"I get why you don't believe me. I, myself, can barely even believe I'm saying these words."
Rebecca's hand twitched.
"Give me a break! If that's true, then we shouldn't be sitting here debating about whether to pass him or not!" he replied before beginning to storm off.
"Where are you going?"
"Do I really need to say?"
"To beg for his teachings?"
"Then let me ask you this. Is there any other option?"
"Do you really think you'll be forgiven if you break your code of chivalry?" spat the vice principal.
A vein bulged on his forehead as he began to rattle on, before the battle magic professor shot back, "This isn't a knight school, but a magic knight academy. You old knights need to keep your mouths shut!"
Having been alienated from the other professors for the first time, the vice principal flapped his mouth in surprise.
"Although, personally inviting someone who knows the details behind lost magics over to my academy is sure to bring about backlash," said the old professor with black hair.
"So that really was your intention?"
"And you're different?" the battle magic professor shot back.
The professors looked around with wry smiles.
"Are you planning to turn your back on the emperor emeritus's wishes!?" the vice principal stood up and shouted. Certainly, to the emperor emeritus who ascribes to the lineage above all ideology, he'd need to eliminate any heathens like Grey.
"No, Grey had unmistakably been acting on his own during the martial arts exam. He fails. That's fine with everyone, right?"
Everyone silently agreed. It looks like everybody was thinking the same thing Sieg was. Yes, everybody except for one.
"Hm, then that's fine."
The vice principal crossed his arms and, as if his wailing before were all but a lie, meekly returned to his seat.
Now, things would get busy from here on out. Sieg would have to somehow persuade that monster in human clothing, not to mention the emperor and the prime minister. He'd need to be prepared from any resistance on the emperor emeritus faction as well.
Yes. Sieg and the others were trying to do something incomparably more difficult that pass him. Still, this was an obstacle they'd have to face for both the future of the empire and the development of magic.
"I'll show you!"
Sieg steeled himself and bounded out of the conference room.
[1] Previously translated as chant revocation, but I feel like incantation has been a much more suitable word with these recent chapters.