“Starting next week, the first semester midterms will begin.”
At Professor Klein’s announcement in the top class lecture hall, grumbling erupted from all directions.
It seemed no one was particularly fond of exams.
“You all seem pretty displeased. If you’re not up for it, you don’t have to take the test.”
“Professor, is that really allowed?”
“Of course. As long as you’re okay with receiving a zero.”
“Ugh…”
“Haha, don’t make those faces.”
Klein looked around the lecture hall as he spoke.
“The midterm is 100% written. Your results will reflect how much you studied.”
“Professor, there are people who don’t get good grades no matter how much they study!”
“Is that so? I always got grades proportionate to how much I studied.”
“…”
“In any case.”
Klein was definitely an elite among elites.
He didn’t seem to sympathize much with students who felt pressured by exams.
“The midterm will take place over three days. The two days after that will be no-class days, and then comes the weekend—so you’ll get a four-day break.”
“Then that means…”
“After the midterms, you can relax for four days. You might even take a short trip off the island.”
“Oh…!”
The Ars Magna Academy was built on a remote island.
So unless it was during the vacation period, it wasn’t easy to visit other regions.
But with a four-day break… a short trip nearby might be possible.
“To enjoy a relaxing break, I hope you all do well on the midterms.”
“Yes, sir…”
With that, Klein left the lecture hall.
As soon as he was gone, the class started buzzing with midterm talk.
“Midterms… I’m worried.”
“Yeah, same here. We’re in the advanced class, after all—we need good grades.”
“Practical evaluations are important, but the written exams still carry a lot of weight.”
Senia, Charis, and Milia sighed as they chatted.
They had all earned high scores on the entrance exams to be in this class, but it seemed like they were still nervous about the tests.
“Hey, Eriol.”
That’s when Cain placed an arm over my shoulder and spoke.
“Wanna do a study group?”
“Study group?”
“To prepare for the midterms—studying together. What do you say?”
When Cain suggested it, Milia smirked beside him.
“I feel like Eriol’s the type who’d say, ‘Why study together? Isn’t studying supposed to be done alone?’”
“Yeah, he gives off that vibe. Like he’d refuse because group studying’s inefficient.”
“Y-you guys shouldn’t jump to conclusions like that…”
When even Charis agreed, Senia looked awkward and flustered.
“Eriol… what do you think? Honestly, from our side, studying with you would be a huge help.”
“I don’t mind.”
“Ah, really?”
Whether people were around or not didn’t really affect my study efficiency.
It was more a matter of my own focus.
“But I’ve got one condition.”
“What is it?”
“If we’re doing this, let’s go all out.”
“…”
As the four of them stiffened at my words, I said clearly,
“Let’s study with the goal of dominating the top five ranks. How about it?”
“Uh, that sounds like a bit much…!”
Cain withdrew in horror and raised his voice.
In the end, I ended up studying with Cain, Senia, Charis, and Milia.
My dorm room—Room 801—was chosen as the study spot because it was more spacious than the others.
“We’ll take care of snacks and everything, so just lend us your room.”
“We’ll even clean up after ourselves.”
“Huh, it’s not as gloomy as it used to be.”
“Yeah, I guess the whole ‘haunted room’ thing was just a rumor.”
There happened to be a table and extra chairs in the 8th floor storage room, enough for several people to sit together.
Once we brought those over and set them up, it made for a decent study space.
“Basically, the midterm questions come from three departments.”
Before we really started studying, Cain shared the information he’d gathered.
“Transcendental Studies, Producing, and Elemental Studies… The professors who taught us will each submit questions.”
“I thought we studied a lot of different subjects, but when you divide it by department, it’s only three.”
“Well, it’s still only the first semester of our first year. Anyway, think of it like this—Day 1 is Transcendental Studies, Day 2 is Producing, Day 3 is Elemental Studies.”
“So the first day will be about basic magic theory and history, the second will be producing or crafting-related, and the third will test elemental magic.”
“From what I found out, if you just memorize what you’ve learned, you’ll do fine on Days 1 and 2. The real issue is Day 3.”
Cain pointed to the elemental studies textbook on the table.
“Both the basic and advanced elemental studies sections are full of applied problems.”
“So we’ll need to understand elemental theory well.”
“It’s not just about understanding the theory… You’ll need to be clever to solve some of those problems.”
“In what way?”
“Well, I’m not exactly sure myself…”
“Hmmm…”
Senia, Charis, and Milia groaned in unison.
It was frustrating—not only were the problems said to be difficult, but they couldn’t even figure out how they were difficult.
“That’s why I’m saying… getting our hands on past exam papers will be important.”
“Past exams?”
“Yeah. The ones our upperclassmen had to take in the first semester last year.”
“Is it even possible to get something like that?”
Charis tilted his head.
“That’s the first I’ve heard of it.”
“They’re not openly circulated or anything. But students with connections on campus usually get them from their seniors. It’s pretty common, apparently.”
“Really?”
“Probably…”
Cain crossed his arms as he spoke.
“Someone like Monarch Orson has probably already got them by now and is preparing for midterms.”
“Here it is.”
“Thank you, senior.”
Monarch Orson bowed slightly as he received the envelope from an upperclassman.
“These are the questions from last year and the year before, right?”
“Yeah. The test questions change every year, so it’s not like the same ones will appear. But this should give you an idea of what kinds of problems to expect.”
“That’s more than enough.”
Inside the envelope were papers with transcriptions of the midterms from the past two years.
Even though the actual test papers had to be returned after the exam, some helpful seniors had recreated them from memory.
“You know this already, but don’t go blabbing that you got this. It’s not against school rules to pass these on, but it could still cause issues later.”
“I understand.”
“So… when you get the chance, tell the Duke that I helped you out, yeah?”
This upperclassman was from a count’s family closely connected with House Orson.
He handed over the past exams to Monarch to curry favor for his own family’s benefit.
“Don’t worry. I’ll send a letter right away.”
“Thanks. I’m counting on you.”
Glancing briefly at the upperclassman’s momentarily sycophantic expression, Monarch then turned his gaze back to the envelope.
‘I missed the top spot on the entrance exam… but I’ll definitely rank first on the midterm!’
Monarch burned with determination.
To beat Eriol Valencia and claim the number one spot.
“Charis and Millia, you don’t have any useful connections either, do you?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“We’re from the outskirts, after all.”
“Hmmm…”
“Cain and Senia, you two are from prestigious families though. Don’t you know any upperclassmen?”
“Well, the Trigger family’s a bit… unique.”
“As for the Artian family… we’ve always kept our distance from the magical world to begin with.”
It seemed like none of them had any useful connections.
Of course, I was in the same boat.
The only person I could remotely count as a connection was Uncle Kaisel… but I couldn’t exactly ask a professor for past exam papers.
“If I’d known it’d be like this, I would’ve tried building some connections with upperclassmen ahead of time.”
“Can’t be helped. We live in separate dorms, and there’s barely any chance to interact with the older students.”
In the first semester of first year, there were almost no opportunities to interact with seniors.
I’d heard that changed in the second semester, but still.
“Actually, there is a way to get old exam questions even without connections.”
“What is it?”
“Buy them.”
“Buy them…?!”
Everyone looked surprised at Cain’s words.
“I heard there are some upperclassmen who run a black market inside the academy. They’re the ones who first started circulating past exam papers in the first place.”
“They actually sell past papers for money? Isn’t that a problem?”
“That’s why the academy frowns on the whole business. Even when people get them through connections, they usually keep it hush-hush.”
“Hmm…”
Everyone looked conflicted.
They needed the past papers—but the idea of buying them didn’t sit right.
“Forget it.”
“What?”
“I don’t want the past papers badly enough to go that far.”
Who knows, the academy might crack down on it later. I wasn’t about to spend money on the black market just to get old exams.
“Eriol…”
Senia looked at me with an expression full of admiration.
But Cain immediately objected.
“But Eriol, won’t we be at a disadvantage in the exam without them? You said we should aim to take the top five ranks.”
“That was just to keep everyone focused and studying hard.”
“You’re seriously…”
“Still…”
I stood up from my seat.
“We will be at a disadvantage without past papers.”
“Wait, where are you going?”
“You guys go ahead and start studying.”
Leaving the four of them behind with puzzled looks, I stepped out of Room 801.
“I don’t know if it counts as a connection… but there is someone I can ask.”
It was already dark outside.
As I walked through the park holding a paper bag, I saw Charlotte Strasbourg sitting alone on a bench, eating a late-night snack.
‘She’s basically addicted to midnight snacks…’
It couldn’t be good for her health.
Worried, I approached her.
“Eriol Valencia?”
Charlotte looked up as she noticed me coming.
“Long time no see.”
“Yeah.”
I gave a short reply and sat down on the bench next to hers.
Then I pulled out the food I’d brought.
“What did you get?”
“Hot dogs.”
“Hot dogs…?”
Just as I suspected.
This noble young lady, who couldn’t even shop at the school store properly… had likely never eaten anything like a hot dog from a street vendor.
She was from the prestigious Strasbourg ducal family, after all.
“Well, guess I’ll eat then.”
“…”
I picked up a hot dog, loaded it generously with ketchup and mustard like Cain had shown me, and made it look as appetizing as possible.
I could feel Charlotte’s eyes following every move I made.
“Whew, this looks amazing.”
I said it loud and clear on purpose, then took a huge bite.
The bread and sausage, combined with the tangy sauces, created a perfect harmony.
“…”
Charlotte stared at me and swallowed hard.
But I didn’t even glance at her, just finished the hot dog on my own.
“Ah, that hit the spot.”
“…”
“Guess I’ll eat one more.”
“…!”
When I pulled out a second hot dog from the bag, Charlotte flinched.
She must not have expected there to be another one.
“Ah, but I’m feeling kinda full now.”
“…!”
As I deliberately stalled, Charlotte finally couldn’t take it anymore and opened her mouth.
“E-Eriol Valencia!”
“What?”
“If… if you’re full… wouldn’t it make sense to give it to me instead?”
Charlotte watched me nervously as she spoke.
“W-With those weird red and yellow sauces too…”
“Nah, I was planning to eat it, so I’ll just go ahead and do that.”
“W-Wait!”
Just as I brought the hot dog to my mouth, Charlotte lunged forward in a panic.
“You want it that badly?”
“Ugh…”
Realizing how undignified she’d just acted, Charlotte turned red in the face.
“Alright, I’ll give it to you.”
“Th-Thank y—”
“But in exchange.”
I pulled the hot dog back just before handing it to her.
“Do you happen to know how to get past exam questions for the midterms?”
Charlotte blinked, momentarily stunned by the unexpected question.
