10 – EZ

Who knew my popularity at Tristy Academy would be quite like *this*?

At first, the students simply stared, watching. But as the crowd began to swell, they grew bolder, peppering me with questions.

“Are you Master Esther Tristy!?”

“I heard you solved the Millennium Problem!! Would you mind sharing your secret!?”

“Until now, the Tristy Head has said the youngest master was hopeless, what was the reason for that!?”

“So handsome!! You’re the most dashing person I’ve ever seen!! Perhaps a date with me sometime…?”

Even for a simple conversation with a stranger, an introvert expends a great deal of mental energy.

But this wasn’t one or two people; it was a full-blown catastrophe with dozens descending, and I froze solid.

‘Why are you doing this to me?’

My face must have hardened because the students looked flustered.

“Um…”

Just as I was about to ask them to give me some space, Dalpi burst through the throng and appeared before me.

“My apologies for the wait, Master.”

Had there ever been a moment Dalpi seemed so welcome?

The timing was impeccable.

“I am sorry, but Master is currently busy with important matters. I must ask you all to clear the way.”

Dalpi spoke with a sharp tone, and the students parted.

“Ah, yes.”

“It’s a shame, I wanted to talk…”

Dalpi let out a small sigh.

“Shall we be going, then?”

I nodded.

And so, with Dalpi’s help, I was able to escape unscathed from the deluge of attention.

“Couldn’t you have come a little sooner…”

I grumbled to Dalpi.

I almost suffocated from the pressure of that crowd.

“This was as quick as I could manage. Entrusting one’s carriage and horse to another is not quite so simple a matter.”

“I concede.”

“And if the attention bothered you, wouldn’t it have been easier to simply say so? Tell them not to approach, with confidence?”

“Krrrk…”

Rejection was a difficult thing for an introvert.

To refuse someone who appeared to have no ill intentions required a certain resolve.

“The Young Master is more pathetic the more I see of him.”

“Dalpi doesn’t understand the heart of a *jjintta*. A sorrowful thing it is.”

“What is *jjintta*?”

Dalpi tilted her head.

“Synonymous with pathetic.”

“Young Master is a pathetic *jjintta*, then.”

“I don’t wish to torture your ribs today, cease your prattle.”

The rib tickling from before must have been a sensationally shocking experience.

“Uht, understood…”

Whenever she moves her fingers like that, Dalpi stops teasing.

“Dalpi.”

“Yes?”

“I’m already worried.”

“About what, specifically?”

It’s gotten a little better now that my past life memories have returned, but still…

“Conversations with high-ranking people terrify me…”

“Huh?”

I found etiquette difficult.

The reason is simple.

-A talentless thing like you has no business appearing at formal occasions! You idiot!

Led by Felix, my brothers and sisters disrupted every etiquette lesson they could, given the opportunity.

Once, during a meal with Porto, I misspoke to an important guest, and the Head’s glare at that moment was truly terrifying.

An academy professor was someone with standing in the kingdom.

The Magic Tower Master, whom I was to meet next, was an even higher-ranking person.

What if I make a mistake during the conversation?

“This…this is not a matter where I can offer assistance…”

“Tch, isn’t there any way…”

Ah!

“Dalphy, from this moment onward, you are the Archmage of the Magic Tower.”

“What utter nonsense are you spouting?”

“Just help me with a little practice run.”

For I possessed Nob AI.

『What can I help with?』

Asking Nob AI about etiquette was all I needed.

As the youngest son of the Tristy family, I had encountered a fair number of nobles.

Even my own family, whom I faced most often, were nobles.

I should have had ample learning regarding etiquette.

‘From now on, make all my actions and words befit a mage who solved the Millennium Prize Problems!’

『Understood.』

Nob AI began to control my actions and words.

It was a strange sensation.

Like when an automatic protection program was executed, the AI naturally manipulated my body.

When I tried to simply say, “I want to eat dinner,” it would alter the words to be quite refined.

As dignity began to seep into my actions and speech.

“Not bad, huh??”

Dalphy was impressed.

However, one thing worried me.

“Doesn’t it seem a little…arrogant?”

“No. Not at all. This is the most magnificent I’ve ever seen you, young master.”

Dalphy praised.

Good. Let’s proceed like this.

Just as Dalphy and I were about to enter the main building.

“Haa, uuut, you there!!”

Someone called out to us from behind, quite vehemently.

Dalphy and I halted in our tracks.

And then, I turned back.

“Ugh, huff, this is hard….”

She expelled ragged breaths, bent at the waist, hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath.

Hair the color of dried blood flowed down to her waist.

Eyes like polished amethyst shone in her round face.

The girl seemed to have some business with me.

Judging by her uniform, she was probably a student.

She looked even younger than the students I’d seen at the main gate earlier.

“She appears to be the same age as Master,” Dalphy whispered in my ear.

Hm, certainly.

Biologically, women reached puberty faster than men, but she looked exactly my age.

“Do you know her?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen her before…”

The accessories she wore seemed expensive, and she exuded an aura of someone raised with great care.

A face I’d never seen before.

I was, after all, a shut-in who rarely left the mansion grounds except for events requiring the entire family’s attendance.

My social circle was exceedingly narrow.

The only people I considered close friends were Dalphy and my childhood friend, whom I couldn’t meet right now.

Even if I wanted to know a girl like that, it was impossible in my circumstances.

I had a good memory.

Besides, if a girl was as pretty as she was, even someone with a bad memory would remember her.

“Are *you* Esther Tristige!?”

I was about to answer the girl, but a thought flashed through my mind.

*’Perfect timing. Let’s test the AI’s capabilities!!’*

The girl standing before me seemed to be a noble, too.

She was the perfect practice dummy.

*

Esther Tristige’s impression was intensely cold.

“That is correct. Do you have some business with me?”

“Erm, Business…?”

“Forgive me, but I have a pressing engagement at the moment. Unless it’s urgent, perhaps we could speak at our leisure another time.”

Etilla, face to face with Esther, found herself unable to utter a coherent word.

The reason she had so desperately wanted to meet Esther, after all, was because.

He was the one who had solved the millennium problem she had been diligently working on, thus sparking her curiosity.

And because, until now, she had never encountered someone possessing a talent equal to her own, igniting a competitive spirit within.

But.

Until now, people had always come to her, she had never once approached anyone else, so initiating a conversation with Esther proved an exceedingly difficult task for the girl.

‘What should I say? No, what *did* I want to say to Esther in the first place!?’

Overwhelmed by a sensation entirely new to her, the girl’s tongue seemed to fail her.

“Uuh, um, it’s….”

What was she to do?

“My name is Etilla Bedford, and…”

She couldn’t bear to let Esther leave like this.

She didn’t know why, not even to herself. She simply couldn’t.

As a prodigy, she needed to somehow resolve the feelings she had regarding Esther within her.

‘I have to keep the conversation going somehow….’

The boy didn’t wait for Etilla.

He turned away, along with the maid.

‘Ah, no!!’

Desperate to somehow detain Esther, Etilla blurted out,

“When using the highest-level spell, Megiddo, from the Flame School!! In an environment with a mana concentration of 0.3!! The caster can specify the upper limit of the output separately, right!! What do you think the most efficient minimum and maximum values are… uum… like?”

It was an impromptu magic quiz.

‘Ugh, so embarrassing. I must look like a complete weirdo….’

Etilla felt like running back to her dormitory and kicking her blanket in frustration.

It was, by all accounts, a rather far-fetched attempt.

“…….”

Esther shifted his weight from one foot to another.

Toward Etilla.

He could have easily ignored her and continued on his way, but despite his urgent business, he was indulging Etilla’s request.

It was unexpected.

“Do you possess writing implements and a notebook?”

“Ah…”

Etila blinked.

“Miss!! Why are you so… haa…”

Only then did Lang Lang belatedly arrive.

“S-Sorry.”

Etila quickly apologized to Lang Lang.

Then, she offered Ester a notebook and pen.

Ester leaned the notebook against the wall and began writing out the solution.

‘He’s even more handsome up close… Hot!!’

Now was not the time to admire Ester’s face.

Even though, it was a quiz asked out of the blue.

‘Let’s see what you’re made of.’

She was curious what kind of answer a genius who solved the Millennium Problem would produce.

Megiddo was one of the highest-level magics in the Flame School.

Because the theory was so abstruse.

Depending on the mana concentration, the mana value that must be consumed varied greatly.

The process of consuming mana and assembling it into elements was repeated countless times, and the deviation for this was also large, and it was a tedious magic that did not allow errors.

The power itself was at the top level among spells, along with Meteor Impact, but it was considered difficult because the number of formulas to memorize was overwhelmingly large compared to other magics.

Also, because the quiz asked for the maximum efficiency value, even legendary magicians thought it was a problem that would take dozens of hours.

“Here it is.”

Ester produced the answer in a mere 10 minutes.

“A-Already…?”

“Is there a problem?”

“This is an incredibly complex problem…”

Ester looked at Etila with a puzzled expression.

“Ah, ‘normal students’ might feel that way.”

Etila’s insides boiled over at Ester’s arrogant remark.

She was certain it would be a wrong answer.

Even if he were a genius who’d cracked the Millennium Problem, I thought it impossible for him to arrive at an answer this quickly.

And, frankly, I hoped it was wrong.

I wanted to knock that arrogant nose of his down a peg.

Etilla, the prodigious young sorceress destined to lead the next generation of magic, wanted to teach Esther that she was superior.

But…

“Ugh, grrrgh…”

No errors could be found in his solution.

It was, without a doubt, the correct answer.

Aria’s claim that ‘a demon of magic has appeared in this world!’ wasn’t hyperbole after all.

As the creator of this obscure problem, Etilla had no choice but to acknowledge Esther’s abilities.

Etilla squeezed her eyes shut.

In stark contrast, Esther’s expression was almost blank.

As if he had simply done what was expected of him, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Uuugh…”

Etilla had to admit it.

In magic theory and formulaic calculations, Esther before her was the superior.

Etilla grimaced, on the verge of tears…