‘No—what was that just now, anyway?’
With the sole exception of Ludger, who proceeded with the lesson as if nothing had happened, every student gathered in the classroom was frozen in shock.
Even Carlo, who had harbored a peculiar sense of defiance toward Ludger, had already lowered the leg he had been resting on his desk.
The students assembled here belonged to the Special Class—children with outstanding talent even within Seorn.
They might not have understood it precisely, but they knew one thing for certain: Ludger had just done something utterly outrageous.
‘Did that teacher... forcibly drag those kids here from far away? Across space, even?’
At least, that was exactly what Hermoa had seen.
Two students who could have been anywhere suddenly appeared out of thin air and fell into the classroom.
Hermoa’s mind began to spin furiously.
From the very beginning until now, she pieced together everything Ludger had done, assembling it into a single, complete picture.
‘He spread mana extremely thin and wide. That sensation I felt—that was caused by mana dispersing.’
The act of spreading mana was probably meant to search for the whereabouts of the students who had refused to attend class.
What Ludger used was close to detection magic, but it was fundamentally different from simply scattering one-dimensional waves.
He literally scattered mana so thin and minute—like moisture in the air, invisible and imperceptible even to the skin—then fixed it in place like fog, taking control of the entire space.
‘The reason was probably to reconstruct that dispersed mana on the spot and unfold a new spell.’
If it had been ordinary detection magic, the two students who were dragged here would have reacted the moment they sensed it.
They might have hidden themselves further, or fled somewhere else.
In that case, even after locating them through detection, there would have been the risk of losing them again at the very moment of capture.
To prevent that, Ludger chose not detection magic, but the primitive method of widely dispersing mana itself.
But even using such a primitive approach, finding the hidden students was, by Hermoa’s common sense, honestly incomprehensible.
If you searched for people by manipulating mana, wouldn’t you detect the countless people within Seorn?
There were thousands of people spread across Seorn. Was it really possible to single out only the two specific students he wanted from among them?
Even if he was identifying students skipping class—mana-bearing students, no less—
What if it was simply a free period, or they were wandering around on other business?
And yet, amid those innumerable possibilities, Ludger had pinpointed exactly the two class refusers.
And then, at the same time, he wrapped those two students in the mana he had scattered—
‘And forcibly pulled them here.’
It was far removed from simply dragging them with telekinesis.
The two students had appeared in the classroom without understanding what was happening.
As if they had been moved through space itself.
‘And that scene he just showed us.’
When that tiny white girl tried to run away, the moment she stepped outside, she was forced back in.
As if space itself had been twisted.
The girl who had appeared seemed to realize it as well, because she gave up trying to leave.
She hesitated, glanced at Ludger, then took a seat in the corner.
Without any proper self-introduction, Ludger had already taken control of the entire classroom just by what he had shown.
A flame of desire ignited deep within Hermoa’s eyes.
‘That man is—far more exceptional than any mage I’ve ever seen!’
Hermoa’s thoughts raced at full speed.
Crossing countless calculations and branching choices, she quickly arrived at a single conclusion.
‘I need to get close to Instructor Ludger!’
Just becoming close to him would drastically increase the chances of her success.
Hermoa had thought this Special Class was nothing more than an old-fashioned cage meant to bind them.
But she had been wrong.
This was a lifeline dropped from the heavens.
If she grabbed hold of it, she could ride the updraft in an instant and soar far beyond the clouds.
“Looks like everyone’s eyes have changed.”
Ludger spoke with a faintly satisfied expression.
Children who were called geniuses by others—and who also prided themselves on being geniuses.
Before them, he had shown what real magic was, and the sheer difference in level.
In Carlo’s case, his initial insolence had diminished, and even Elmarra, who had planned to ignore everything and sleep, straightened her posture.
After surveying the six students, Ludger recalled their names and information.
“Then, I’ll take attendance. Hermoa Entiro.”
“Yes, Instructor!”
Hermoa raised her hand and actively made herself known.
The other students widened their eyes and stared at her.
Wasn’t she full of complaints about everything just a short while ago? Didn’t she only respond half-heartedly whenever another instructor called her ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) name?
That was the look they gave her, but Hermoa replied with a light scoff.
How could those ignorant of grand ambitions ever understand the weight of her determined steps?
Ludger, too, found it a little unexpected that Hermoa—who had seemed the least motivated—was suddenly showing enthusiasm, but he decided to let it pass, thinking it was for the best.
“Next. Carlo.”
“...Yes.”
Carlo answered in a slightly delinquent tone.
Still, compared to his initial attitude, it was a difference like heaven and earth—remarkably subdued.
It seemed he was clinging to a faintly rebellious posture out of pride.
But to others, he already looked thoroughly cowed.
Of course, the fire in his eyes was not extinguished.
Ludger felt an intuition that before long, he would clash with Carlo at least once.
‘So rebellious that even other instructors had trouble with him, huh.’
Carlo was of commoner origin, raised in the slums of a city.
Considering the harsh environment he grew up in, his rough and twisted nature felt almost inevitable.
A place where drunk husbands beat their wives, prostitutes roamed the streets, and trash and exhaust filled the air—violence, fraud, betrayal, and robbery would be rampant.
In fact, the area Carlo grew up in had an extremely high crime rate of that sort.
It was said that Carlo lived there with only his mother.
‘In a way, he’s impressive.’
From such a place, he had been born with natural talent ranked among the very best even within Seorn, where only exceptional students gathered.
A lotus blooming from the mud.
But like a rose, sharp thorns grew along its stem.
As if he would never allow anyone to try to break him.
Ludger immediately called the next student.
“Elmarra Foarle.”
“Yeees~.”
A slightly drawn-out, listless voice. Whether from fatigue or boredom was unclear.
Even so, the surrounding students looked at her as if simply responding to the call was remarkable.
Just from that reaction, one could tell how indifferent she was to everything around her.
‘Elmarra Foarle. An elf.’
Not from the Elf Kingdom, but from one of the smaller, separated tribes.
Most elves showed outstanding talent in spirit arts or druidic abilities, but Elmarra was different.
She possessed extraordinary magical talent above all else.
Especially when Ludger dispersed his mana, she had reacted more violently and sensitively than any other student.
‘Simply put, her instincts are frighteningly sharp.’
According to those around her, Elmarra was relaxed, easygoing, and even lazy.
They said she wouldn’t respond no matter who called her, and slept all the time as if living in her own world.
With the elf’s distinctive beauty and atmosphere, it created a picturesque scene.
But unlike a painting you could reach out and touch, she was like an illusion that could never be grasped.
That was why, in the evaluations written by others, she was described as a child who would not move even if the sky collapsed.
But in Ludger’s eyes, Elmarra was not lazy at all.
Rather, she was someone who observed everything far too carefully—and therefore would move swiftly when it truly mattered.
Put kindly, she was less lazy than she appeared.
‘Put unkindly, she’s quite sly.’
Even now, she was responding in line with his attitude, but Ludger read the emotion in her eyes.
She would probably wait for an opening, and if she thought he looked easy to deal with, she would revert to her old ways.
On the outside, she looked warm and gentle—like a well-fed bear just before hibernation.
But inside, she was hiding a very venomous snake.
“Robert Hirston.”
“Yes—yes!”
Robert tried to answer energetically, but his voice trembled.
Thinking he had responded oddly, he lowered his head even further.
‘Robert Hirston. A mage from a military family that produces War Mages. He has outstanding talent, but because of his overly timid disposition, he’s said to be an outsider even within his own family.’
A family that produced War Mages would naturally have a strict, soldier-like atmosphere.
And from such a place, a timid child like him had been born.
From the elders’ perspective, it must have been unbearably frustrating.
What’s more, Robert’s talent was said to be among the best in the family’s history.
What could be more regrettable than a child like that failing to realize his potential because of his personality?
The family elders had probably tried everything to hammer his personality into shape.
‘But judging by his current disposition, it seems that harsh, soldier-style training backfired.’
Robert had grown even more timid, his self-esteem shattered.
That was why, despite such talent, he stood there with his head bowed.
“In my class, if you lower your head, I’ll consider it sleeping.”
When Ludger tossed out the remark, Robert jerked his head up.
Then, meeting Ludger’s gaze, he tried to lower it again—but remembering what had just been said, he froze in an awkward position, neither lifting nor lowering his head.
That was a problem of the mind rather than talent, and for now, even Ludger couldn’t do much about it.
‘Now then... shall I take a look at the other two problem children.’
At least the four he had called so far had the decency to come to the classroom when there was class.
But the remaining two had refused the class altogether and hadn’t even shown up.
“Mina.”
When Ludger called her name, the white-haired girl sitting in the corner raised her small hand.
“If I call your name, don’t just raise your hand—answer as well.”
“...Yeees.”
Mina replied in a voice that seemed to crawl along the floor.
At the same time, the faint glow leaking from her body grew a little stronger.
‘I’d seen it in the records, but seeing it in person makes it even harder to believe.’
Mina had an extremely unusual constitution.
Namely, the amount of mana she was born with was absurd beyond measure.
So much so that, in terms of pure mana reserves, she far surpassed even Clinton, a 7th-Circle mage.
‘That light flowing out of her body is mana she can’t properly suppress, emitting light on its own. It’s almost as if it’s not that a person possesses mana—but that mana itself has taken on the shape of a person.’
Snow-white skin and snow-white hair. That was probably not her original appearance.
Because of her overwhelmingly powerful mana, even her skin and hair had turned albino-white.
Hermoa’s hair being partially dyed pink like a two-tone was impressive enough, but a case where the entire body was dyed white had no precedent.
‘And she looks several years younger despite being the same age.’
Because she carried such immense mana, her physical growth had instead been slowed.
With mana that powerful, an ordinary person might suffer burns just from approaching her.
In fact, when Ludger forcibly brought her to the classroom, he had to expend a considerable amount of mana.
If Mina had sensed it and raised her mana to resist, he probably wouldn’t have been able to bring her at all.
‘The smallest body, yet the greatest mana.’
A mana reserve that even Lexuror-class mages would scoff at.
Was there such a thing as too much talent?
Ludger took his gaze off Mina and looked at the boy with shaggy hair and thick glasses.
The last Special Class student, and one of the problem children who had refused the lesson.
“Eric Willow.”
Even his surname was anything but ordinary.
That’s right. He belonged to the family of Seorn’s Headmaster, Elisa Willow.
He was her nephew.